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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3), by 
+Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
+
+Author: Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+Editor: The Earl Of Beaconsfield
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21615]
+Last updated: January 16, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+BY
+
+ISAAC DISRAELI.
+
+
+A New Edition,
+
+EDITED, WITH MEMOIR AND NOTES,
+
+BY HIS SON,
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.
+
+
+IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+LONDON:
+
+FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.,
+
+BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.
+
+LONDON:
+
+BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
+
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------+
+|Transcriber's Note: In this text the macron is represented as |
+|                                                              |
+|[=u] and [=o]                                                 |
+|                                                              |
+|[R 'c'] represents a reverse 'c'                              |
++--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+This is the first collected edition of a series of works which have
+separately attained to a great popularity: volumes that have been always
+delightful to the young and ardent inquirer after knowledge. They offer
+as a whole a diversified miscellany of literary, artistic, and political
+history, of critical disquisition and biographic anecdote, such as it is
+believed cannot be elsewhere found gathered together in a form so
+agreeable and so attainable. To this edition is appended a Life of the
+Author by his son, also original notes, which serve to illustrate or to
+correct the text, where more recent discoveries have brought to light
+facts unknown when these volumes were originally published.
+
+                                                    LONDON, 1881.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ON THE
+
+LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MR. DISRAELI.
+
+BY HIS SON.
+
+
+The traditionary notion that the life of a man of letters is necessarily
+deficient in incident, appears to have originated in a misconception of
+the essential nature of human action. The life of every man is full of
+incidents, but the incidents are insignificant, because they do not
+affect his species; and in general the importance of every occurrence is
+to be measured by the degree with which it is recognised by mankind. An
+author may influence the fortunes of the world to as great an extent as
+a statesman or a warrior; and the deeds and performances by which this
+influence is created and exercised, may rank in their interest and
+importance with the decisions of great Congresses, or the skilful valour
+of a memorable field. M. de Voltaire was certainly a greater Frenchman
+than Cardinal Fleury, the Prime Minister of France in his time. His
+actions were more important; and it is certainly not too much to
+maintain that the exploits of Homer, Aristotle, Dante, or my Lord Bacon,
+were as considerable events as anything that occurred at Actium,
+Lepanto, or Blenheim. A Book may be as great a thing as a battle, and
+there are systems of philosophy that have produced as great revolutions
+as any that have disturbed even the social and political existence of
+our centuries.
+
+The life of the author, whose character and career we are venturing to
+review, extended far beyond the allotted term of man: and, perhaps, no
+existence of equal duration ever exhibited an uniformity more sustained.
+The strong bent of his infancy was pursued through youth, matured in
+manhood, and maintained without decay to an advanced old age. In the
+biographic spell, no ingredient is more magical than predisposition. How
+pure, and native, and indigenous it was in the character of this writer,
+can only be properly appreciated by an acquaintance with the
+circumstances amid which he was born, and by being able to estimate how
+far they could have directed or developed his earliest inclinations.
+
+My grandfather, who became an English Denizen in 1748, was an Italian
+descendant from one of those Hebrew families whom the Inquisition forced
+to emigrate from the Spanish Peninsula at the end of the fifteenth
+century, and who found a refuge in the more tolerant territories of the
+Venetian Republic. His ancestors had dropped their Gothic surname on
+their settlement in the Terra Firma, and grateful to the God of Jacob
+who had sustained them through unprecedented trials and guarded them
+through unheard-of perils, they assumed the name of DISRAELI, a name
+never borne before or since by any other family, in order that their
+race might be for ever recognised. Undisturbed and unmolested, they
+flourished as merchants for more than two centuries under the protection
+of the lion of St. Mark, which was but just, as the patron saint of the
+Republic was himself a child of Israel. But towards the middle of the
+eighteenth century, the altered circumstances of England, favourable, as
+it was then supposed, to commerce and religious liberty, attracted the
+attention of my great-grandfather to this island, and he resolved that
+the youngest of his two sons, Benjamin, the "son of his right hand,"
+should settle in a country where the dynasty seemed at length
+established, through the recent failure of Prince Charles Edward, and
+where public opinion appeared definitively adverse to persecution on
+matters of creed and conscience.
+
+The Jewish families who were then settled in England were few, though,
+from their wealth and other circumstances, they were far from
+unimportant. They were all of them Sephardim, that is to say, children
+of Israel, who had never quitted the shores of the Midland Ocean, until
+Torquamada had driven them from their pleasant residences and rich
+estates in Arragon, and Andalusia, and Portugal, to seek greater
+blessings, even than a clear atmosphere and a glowing sun, amid the
+marshes of Holland and the fogs of Britain. Most of these families, who
+held themselves aloof from the Hebrews of Northern Europe, then only
+occasionally stealing into England, as from an inferior caste, and whose
+synagogue was reserved only for Sephardim, are now extinct; while the
+branch of the great family, which, notwithstanding their own sufferings
+from prejudice, they had the hardihood to look down upon, have achieved
+an amount of wealth and consideration which the Sephardim, even with the
+patronage of Mr. Pelham, never could have contemplated. Nevertheless, at
+the time when my grandfather settled in England, and when Mr. Pelham,
+who was very favourable to the Jews, was Prime Minister, there might be
+found, among other Jewish families flourishing in this country, the
+Villa Reals, who brought wealth to these shores almost as great as their
+name, though that is the second in Portugal, and who have twice allied
+themselves with the English aristocracy, the Medinas--the Laras, who
+were our kinsmen--and the Mendez da Costas, who, I believe, still exist.
+
+Whether it were that my grandfather, on his arrival, was not encouraged
+by those to whom he had a right to look up,--which is often our hard
+case in the outset of life,--or whether he was alarmed at the unexpected
+consequences of Mr. Pelham's favourable disposition to his countrymen
+in the disgraceful repeal of the Jew Bill, which occurred a very few
+years after his arrival in this country, I know not; but certainly he
+appears never to have cordially or intimately mixed with his community.
+This tendency to alienation was, no doubt, subsequently encouraged by
+his marriage, which took place in 1765. My grandmother, the beautiful
+daughter of a family who had suffered much from persecution, had imbibed
+that dislike for her race which the vain are too apt to adopt when they
+find that they are born to public contempt. The indignant feeling that
+should be reserved for the persecutor, in the mortification of their
+disturbed sensibility, is too often visited on the victim; and the cause
+of annoyance is recognised not in the ignorant malevolence of the
+powerful, but in the conscientious conviction of the innocent sufferer.
+Seventeen years, however, elapsed before my grandfather entered into
+this union, and during that interval he had not been idle. He was only
+eighteen when he commenced his career, and when a great responsibility
+devolved upon him. He was not unequal to it. He was a man of ardent
+character; sanguine, courageous, speculative, and fortunate; with a
+temper which no disappointment could disturb, and a brain, amid
+reverses, full of resource. He made his fortune in the midway of life,
+and settled near Enfield, where he formed an Italian garden, entertained
+his friends, played whist with Sir Horace Mann, who was his great
+acquaintance, and who had known his brother at Venice as a banker, eat
+macaroni which was dressed by the Venetian Consul, sang canzonettas, and
+notwithstanding a wife who never pardoned him for his name, and a son
+who disappointed all his plans, and who to the last hour of his life was
+an enigma to him, lived till he was nearly ninety, and then died in
+1817, in the full enjoyment of prolonged existence.
+
+My grandfather retired from active business on the eve of that great
+financial epoch, to grapple with which his talents were well adapted;
+and when the wars and loans of the Revolution were about to create those
+families of millionaires, in which he might probably have enrolled his
+own. That, however, was not our destiny. My grandfather had only one
+child, and nature had disqualified him, from his cradle, for the busy
+pursuits of men.
+
+A pale, pensive child, with large dark brown eyes, and flowing hair,
+such as may be beheld in one of the portraits annexed to these volumes,
+had grown up beneath this roof of worldly energy and enjoyment,
+indicating even in his infancy, by the whole carriage of his life, that
+he was of a different order from those among whom he lived. Timid,
+susceptible, lost in reverie, fond of solitude, or seeking no better
+company than a book, the years had stolen on, till he had arrived at
+that mournful period of boyhood when eccentricities excite attention and
+command no sympathy. In the chapter on Predisposition, in the most
+delightful of his works,[1] my father has drawn from his own, though his
+unacknowledged feelings, immortal truths. Then commenced the age of
+domestic criticism. His mother, not incapable of deep affections, but so
+mortified by her social position that she lived until eighty without
+indulging in a tender expression, did not recognise in her only
+offspring a being qualified to control or vanquish his impending fate.
+His existence only served to swell the aggregate of many humiliating
+particulars. It was not to her a source of joy, or sympathy, or solace.
+She foresaw for her child only a future of degradation. Having a strong,
+clear mind, without any imagination, she believed that she beheld an
+inevitable doom. The tart remark and the contemptuous comment on her
+part, elicited, on the other, all the irritability of the poetic
+idiosyncrasy. After frantic ebullitions, for which, when the
+circumstances were analysed by an ordinary mind, there seemed no
+sufficient cause, my grandfather always interfered to soothe with
+good-tempered commonplaces, and promote peace. He was a man who thought
+that the only way to make people happy was to make them a present. He
+took it for granted that a boy in a passion wanted a toy or a guinea. At
+a later date, when my father ran away from home, and after some
+wanderings was brought back, found lying on a tombstone in Hackney
+churchyard, he embraced him, and gave him a pony.
+
+In this state of affairs, being sent to school in the neighbourhood, was
+a rather agreeable incident. The school was kept by a Scotchman, one
+Morison, a good man, and not untinctured with scholarship, and it is
+possible that my father might have reaped some advantage from this
+change; but the school was too near home, and his mother, though she
+tormented his existence, was never content if he were out of her sight.
+His delicate health was an excuse for converting him, after a short
+interval, into a day scholar; then many days of attendance were omitted;
+finally, the solitary walk home through Mr. Mellish's park was dangerous
+to the sensibilities that too often exploded when they encountered on
+the arrival at the domestic hearth a scene which did not harmonise with
+the fairy-land of reverie.
+
+The crisis arrived, when, after months of unusual abstraction and
+irritability, my father produced a poem. For the first time, my
+grandfather was seriously alarmed. The loss of one of his argosies,
+uninsured, could not have filled him with more blank dismay. His idea of
+a poet was formed from one of the prints of Hogarth hanging in his room,
+where an unfortunate wight in a garret was inditing an ode to riches,
+while dunned for his milk-score. Decisive measures were required to
+eradicate this evil, and to prevent future disgrace--so, as seems the
+custom when a person is in a scrape, it was resolved that my father
+should be sent abroad, where a new scene and a new language might divert
+his mind from the ignominious pursuit which so fatally attracted him.
+The unhappy poet was consigned like a bale of goods to my grandfather's
+correspondent at Amsterdam, who had instructions to place him at some
+collegium of repute in that city. Here were passed some years not
+without profit, though his tutor was a great impostor, very neglectful
+of his pupils, and both unable and disinclined to guide them in severe
+studies. This preceptor was a man of letters, though a wretched writer,
+with a good library, and a spirit inflamed with all the philosophy of
+the eighteenth century, then (1780-1) about to bring forth and bear its
+long-matured fruits. The intelligence and disposition of my father
+attracted his attention, and rather interested him. He taught his charge
+little, for he was himself generally occupied in writing bad odes, but
+he gave him free warren in his library, and before his pupil was
+fifteen, he had read the works of Voltaire and had dipped into Bayle.
+Strange that the characteristics of a writer so born and brought up
+should have been so essentially English; not merely from his mastery
+over our language, but from his keen and profound sympathy with all that
+concerned the literary and political history of our country at its most
+important epoch.
+
+When he was eighteen, he returned to England a disciple of Rousseau. He
+had exercised his imagination during the voyage in idealizing the
+interview with his mother, which was to be conducted on both sides with
+sublime pathos. His other parent had frequently visited him during his
+absence. He was prepared to throw himself on his mother's bosom, to
+bedew her hands with his tears, and to stop her own with his lips; but,
+when he entered, his strange appearance, his gaunt figure, his excited
+manners, his long hair, and his unfashionable costume, only filled her
+with a sentiment of tender aversion; she broke into derisive laughter,
+and noticing his intolerable garments, she reluctantly lent him her
+cheek. Whereupon Emile, of course, went into heroics, wept, sobbed, and
+finally, shut up in his chamber, composed an impassioned epistle. My
+grandfather, to soothe him, dwelt on the united solicitude of his
+parents for his welfare, and broke to him their intention, if it were
+agreeable to him, to place him in the establishment of a great merchant
+at Bordeaux. My father replied that he had written a poem of
+considerable length, which he wished to publish, against Commerce, which
+was the corrupter of man. In eight-and-forty hours confusion again
+reigned in this household, and all from a want of psychological
+perception in its master and mistress.
+
+My father, who had lost the timidity of his childhood, who, by nature,
+was very impulsive, and indeed endowed with a degree of volatility which
+is only witnessed in the south of France, and which never deserted him
+to his last hour, was no longer to be controlled. His conduct was
+decisive. He enclosed his poem to Dr. Johnson, with an impassioned
+statement of his case, complaining, which he ever did, that he had never
+found a counsellor or literary friend. He left his packet himself at
+Bolt Court, where he was received by Mr. Francis Barber, the doctor's
+well-known black servant, and told to call again in a week. Be sure that
+he was very punctual; but the packet was returned to him unopened, with
+a message that the illustrious doctor was too ill to read anything. The
+unhappy and obscure aspirant, who received this disheartening message,
+accepted it, in his utter despondency, as a mechanical excuse. But,
+alas! the cause was too true; and, a few weeks after, on that bed,
+beside which the voice of Mr. Burke faltered, and the tender spirit of
+Benett Langton was ever vigilant, the great soul of Johnson quitted
+earth.
+
+But the spirit of self-confidence, the resolution to struggle against
+his fate, the paramount desire to find some sympathising sage--some
+guide, philosopher, and friend--was so strong and rooted in my father,
+that I observed, a few weeks ago, in a magazine, an original letter,
+written by him about this time to Dr. Vicesimus Knox, full of high-flown
+sentiments, reading indeed like a romance of Scudery, and entreating
+the learned critic to receive him in his family, and give him the
+advantage of his wisdom, his taste, and his erudition.
+
+With a home that ought to have been happy, surrounded with more than
+comfort, with the most good-natured father in the world, and an
+agreeable man; and with a mother whose strong intellect, under ordinary
+circumstances, might have been of great importance to him; my father,
+though himself of a very sweet disposition, was most unhappy. His
+parents looked upon him as moonstruck, while he himself, whatever his
+aspirations, was conscious that he had done nothing to justify the
+eccentricity of his course, or the violation of all prudential
+considerations in which he daily indulged. In these perplexities, the
+usual alternative was again had recourse to--absence; he was sent
+abroad, to travel in France, which the peace then permitted, visit some
+friends, see Paris, and then proceed to Bordeaux if he felt inclined. My
+father travelled in France, and then proceeded to Paris, where he
+remained till the eve of great events in that capital. This was a visit
+recollected with satisfaction. He lived with learned men and moved in
+vast libraries, and returned in the earlier part of 1788, with some
+little knowledge of life, and with a considerable quantity of books.
+
+At this time Peter Pindar flourished in all the wantonness of literary
+riot. He was at the height of his flagrant notoriety. The novelty and
+the boldness of his style carried the million with him. The most exalted
+station was not exempt from his audacious criticism, and learned
+institutions trembled at the sallies whose ribaldry often cloaked taste,
+intelligence, and good sense. His "Odes to the Academicians," which
+first secured him the ear of the town, were written by one who could
+himself guide the pencil with skill and feeling, and who, in the form of
+a mechanic's son, had even the felicity to discover the vigorous genius
+of Opie. The mock-heroic which invaded with success the sacred recesses
+of the palace, and which was fruitlessly menaced by Secretaries of
+State, proved a reckless intrepidity, which is apt to be popular with
+"the general." The powerful and the learned quailed beneath the lash
+with an affected contempt which scarcely veiled their tremor. In the
+meantime, as in the latter days of the Empire, the barbarian ravaged the
+country, while the pale-faced patricians were inactive within the walls.
+No one offered resistance.
+
+There appeared about this time a satire "On the Abuse of Satire." The
+verses were polished and pointed; a happy echo of that style of Mr. Pope
+which still lingered in the spell-bound ear of the public. Peculiarly
+they offered a contrast to the irregular effusions of the popular
+assailant whom they in turn assailed, for the object of their indignant
+invective was the bard of the "Lousiad." The poem was anonymous, and was
+addressed to Dr. Warton in lines of even classic grace. Its publication
+was appropriate. There are moments when every one is inclined to praise,
+especially when the praise of a new pen may at the same time revenge the
+insults of an old one.
+
+But if there could be any doubt of the success of this new hand, it was
+quickly removed by the conduct of Peter Pindar himself. As is not
+unusual with persons of his habits, Wolcot was extremely sensitive, and,
+brandishing a tomahawk, always himself shrank from a scratch. This was
+shown some years afterwards by his violent assault on Mr. Gifford, with
+a bludgeon, in a bookseller's shop, because the author of the "Baviad
+and Mæviad" had presumed to castigate the great lampooner of the age. In
+the present instance, the furious Wolcot leapt to the rash conclusion,
+that the author of the satire was no less a personage than Mr. Hayley,
+and he assailed the elegant author of the "Triumphs of Temper" in a
+virulent pasquinade. This ill-considered movement of his adversary of
+course achieved the complete success of the anonymous writer.
+
+My father, who came up to town to read the newspapers at the St. James's
+Coffee-house, found their columns filled with extracts from the
+fortunate effusion of the hour, conjectures as to its writer, and much
+gossip respecting Wolcot and Hayley. He returned to Enfield laden with
+the journals, and, presenting them to his parents, broke to them the
+intelligence, that at length he was not only an author, but a successful
+one.
+
+He was indebted to this slight effort for something almost as agreeable
+as the public recognition of his ability, and that was the acquaintance,
+and almost immediately the warm personal friendship, of Mr. Pye. Mr. Pye
+was the head of an ancient English family that figured in the
+Parliaments and struggles of the Stuarts; he was member for the County
+of Berkshire, where his ancestral seat of Faringdon was situate, and at
+a later period (1790) became Poet Laureat. In those days, when literary
+clubs did not exist, and when even political ones were extremely limited
+and exclusive in their character, the booksellers' shops were social
+rendezvous. Debrett's was the chief haunt of the Whigs; Hatchard's, I
+believe, of the Tories. It was at the latter house that my father made
+the acquaintance of Mr. Pye, then publishing his translation of
+Aristotle's Poetics, and so strong was party feeling at that period,
+that one day, walking together down Piccadilly, Mr. Pye, stopping at the
+door of Debrett, requested his companion to go in and purchase a
+particular pamphlet for him, adding that if he had the audacity to
+enter, more than one person would tread upon his toes.
+
+My father at last had a friend. Mr. Pye, though double his age, was
+still a young man, and the literary sympathy between them was complete.
+Unfortunately, the member for Berkshire was a man rather of an elegant
+turn of mind, than one of that energy and vigour which a youth required
+for a companion at that moment. Their tastes and pursuits were perhaps a
+little too similar. They addressed poetical epistles to each other, and
+were, reciprocally, too gentle critics. But Mr. Pye was a most amiable
+and accomplished man, a fine classical scholar, and a master of correct
+versification. He paid a visit to Enfield, and by his influence hastened
+a conclusion at which my grandfather was just arriving, to wit, that he
+would no longer persist in the fruitless effort of converting a poet
+into a merchant, and that content with the independence he had realised,
+he would abandon his dreams of founding a dynasty of financiers. From
+this moment all disquietude ceased beneath this always well-meaning,
+though often perplexed, roof, while my father, enabled amply to gratify
+his darling passion of book-collecting, passed his days in tranquil
+study, and in the society of congenial spirits.
+
+His new friend introduced him almost immediately to Mr. James Pettit
+Andrews, a Berkshire gentleman of literary pursuits, and whose
+hospitable table at Brompton was the resort of the best literary society
+of the day. Here my father was a frequent guest, and walking home one
+night together from this house, where they had both dined, he made the
+acquaintance of a young poet, which soon ripened into intimacy, and
+which throughout sixty years, notwithstanding many changes of life,
+never died away. This youthful poet had already gained laurels, though
+he was only three or four years older than my father, but I am not at
+this moment quite aware whether his brow was yet encircled with the
+amaranthine wreath of the "Pleasures of Memory."
+
+Some years after this, great vicissitudes unhappily occurred in the
+family of Mr. Pye. He was obliged to retire from Parliament, and to sell
+his family estate of Faringdon. His Majesty had already, on the death of
+Thomas Warton, nominated him Poet Laureat, and after his retirement from
+Parliament, the government which he had supported, appointed him a
+Commissioner of Police. It was in these days that his friend, Mr. Penn,
+of Stoke Park, in Buckinghamshire, presented him with a cottage worthy
+of a poet on his beautiful estate; and it was thus my father became
+acquainted with the amiable descendant of the most successful of
+colonisers, and with that classic domain which the genius of Gray, as it
+were, now haunts, and has for ever hallowed, and from which he beheld
+with fond and musing eye, those
+
+    Distant spires and antique towers,
+
+that no one can now look upon without remembering him. It was amid these
+rambles in Stoke Park, amid the scenes of Gray's genius, the elegiac
+churchyard, and the picturesque fragments of the Long Story, talking
+over the deeds of "Great Rebellion" with the descendants of Cavaliers
+and Parliament-men, that my father first imbibed that feeling for the
+county of Buckingham, which induced him occasionally to be a dweller in
+its limits, and ultimately, more than a quarter of a century afterwards,
+to establish his household gods in its heart. And here, perhaps, I may
+be permitted to mention a circumstance, which is indeed trifling, and
+yet, as a coincidence, not, I think, without interest. Mr. Pye was the
+great-grandson of Sir Robert Pye, of Bradenham, who married Anne, the
+eldest daughter of Mr. Hampden. How little could my father dream, sixty
+years ago, that he would pass the last quarter of his life in the
+mansion-house of Bradenham; that his name would become intimately
+connected with the county of Buckingham; and that his own remains would
+be interred in the vault of the chancel of Bradenham Church, among the
+coffins of the descendants of the Hampdens and the Pyes. All which
+should teach us that whatever may be our natural bent, there is a power
+in the disposal of events greater than human will.
+
+It was about two years after his first acquaintance with Mr. Pye, that
+my father, being then in his twenty-fifth year, influenced by the circle
+in which he then lived, gave an anonymous volume to the press, the fate
+of which he could little have foreseen. The taste for literary history
+was then of recent date in England. It was developed by Dr. Johnson and
+the Wartons, who were the true founders of that elegant literature in
+which France had so richly preceded us. The fashion for literary
+anecdote prevailed at the end of the last century. Mr. Pettit Andrews,
+assisted by Mr. Pye and Captain Grose, and shortly afterwards, his
+friend, Mr. Seward, in his "Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons," had
+both of them produced ingenious works, which had experienced public
+favour. But these volumes were rather entertaining than substantial, and
+their interest in many instances was necessarily fleeting; all which
+made Mr. Rogers observe, that the world was far gone in its anecdotage.
+
+While Mr. Andrews and his friend were hunting for personal details in
+the recollections of their contemporaries, my father maintained one day,
+that the most interesting of miscellanies might be drawn up by a
+well-read man from the library in which he lived. It was objected, on
+the other hand, that such a work would be a mere compilation, and could
+not succeed with its dead matter in interesting the public. To test the
+truth of this assertion, my father occupied himself in the preparation
+of an octavo volume, the principal materials of which were found in the
+diversified collections of the French Ana; but he enriched his subjects
+with as much of our own literature as his reading afforded, and he
+conveyed the result in that lively and entertaining style which he from
+the first commanded. This collection of "Anecdotes, Characters,
+Sketches, and Observations; Literary, Critical, and Historical," as the
+title-page of the first edition figures, he invested with the happy
+baptism of "Curiosities of Literature."
+
+He sought by this publication neither reputation nor a coarser reward,
+for he published his work anonymously, and avowedly as a compilation;
+and he not only published the work at his own expense, but in his
+heedlessness made a present of the copyright to the bookseller, which
+three or four years afterwards he was fortunate enough to purchase at a
+public sale. The volume was an experiment whether a taste for literature
+could not be infused into the multitude. Its success was so decided,
+that its projector was tempted to add a second volume two years
+afterward, with a slight attempt at more original research; I observe
+that there was a second edition of both volumes in 1794. For twenty
+years the brother volumes remained favourites of the public; when after
+that long interval their writer, taking advantage of a popular title,
+poured forth all the riches of his matured intellect, his refined taste,
+and accumulated knowledge into their pages, and produced what may be
+fairly described as the most celebrated Miscellany of Modern Literature.
+
+The moment that the name of the youthful author of the "Abuse of Satire"
+had transpired, Peter Pindar, faithful to the instinct of his nature,
+wrote a letter of congratulation and compliment to his assailant, and
+desired to make his acquaintance. The invitation was responded to, and
+until the death of Wolcot, they were intimate. My father always
+described Wolcot as a warm-hearted man; coarse in his manners, and
+rather rough, but eager to serve those whom he liked, of which, indeed,
+I might appropriately mention an instance.
+
+It so happened, that about the year 1795, when he was in his 29th year
+there came over my father that mysterious illness to which the youth of
+men of sensibility, and especially literary men, is frequently
+subject--a failing of nervous energy, occasioned by study and too
+sedentary habits, early and habitual reverie, restless and indefinite
+purpose. The symptoms, physical and moral, are most distressing:
+lassitude and despondency. And it usually happens, as in the present
+instance, that the cause of suffering is not recognised; and that
+medical men, misled by the superficial symptoms, and not seeking to
+acquaint themselves with the psychology of their patients, arrive at
+erroneous, often fatal, conclusions. In this case, the most eminent of
+the faculty gave it as their opinion, that the disease was consumption.
+Dr. Turton, if I recollect right, was then the most considered physician
+of the day. An immediate visit to a warmer climate was his specific; and
+as the Continent was then disturbed and foreign residence out of the
+question, Dr. Turton recommended that his patient should establish
+himself without delay in Devonshire.
+
+When my father communicated this impending change in his life to Wolcot,
+the modern Skelton shook his head. He did not believe that his friend
+was in a consumption, but being a Devonshire man, and loving very much
+his native province, he highly approved of the remedy. He gave my father
+several letters of introduction to persons of consideration at Exeter;
+among others, one whom he justly described as a poet and a physician,
+and the best of men, the late Dr. Hugh Downman. Provincial cities very
+often enjoy a transient term of intellectual distinction. An eminent man
+often collects around him congenial spirits, and the power of
+association sometimes produces distant effects which even an individual,
+however gifted, could scarcely have anticipated. A combination of
+circumstances had made at this time Exeter a literary metropolis. A
+number of distinguished men flourished there at the same moment: some of
+their names are even now remembered. Jackson of Exeter still survives as
+a native composer of original genius. He was also an author of high
+æsthetical speculation. The heroic poems of Hole are forgotten, but his
+essay on the Arabian Nights is still a cherished volume of elegant and
+learned criticism. Hayter was the classic antiquary who first discovered
+the art of unrolling the MSS. of Herculaneum. There were many others,
+noisier and more bustling, who are now forgotten, though they in some
+degree influenced the literary opinion of their time. It was said, and I
+believe truly, that the two principal, if not sole, organs of periodical
+criticism at that time, I think the "Critical Review" and the "Monthly
+Review," were principally supported by Exeter contributions. No doubt
+this circumstance may account for a great deal of mutual praise and
+sympathetic opinion on literary subjects, which, by a convenient
+arrangement, appeared in the pages of publications otherwise professing
+contrary opinions on all others. Exeter had then even a learned society
+which published its Transactions.
+
+With such companions, by whom he was received with a kindness and
+hospitality which to the last he often dwelt on, it may easily be
+supposed that the banishment of my father from the delights of literary
+London was not as productive a source of gloom as the exile of Ovid to
+the savage Pontus, even if it had not been his happy fortune to have
+been received on terms of intimate friendship by the accomplished family
+of Mr. Baring, who was then member for Exeter, and beneath whose roof he
+passed a great portion of the period of nearly three years during which
+he remained in Devonshire.
+
+The illness of my father was relieved, but not removed, by this change
+of life. Dr. Downman was his physician, whose only remedies were port
+wine, horse-exercise, rowing on the neighbouring river, and the
+distraction of agreeable society. This wise physician recognised the
+temperament of his patient, and perceived that his physical derangement
+was an effect instead of a cause. My father instead of being in a
+consumption, was endowed with a frame of almost super-human strength,
+and which was destined for half a century of continuous labour and
+sedentary life. The vital principle in him, indeed, was so strong that
+when he left us at eighty-two, it was only as the victim of a violent
+epidemic, against whose virulence he struggled with so much power, that
+it was clear, but for this casualty, he might have been spared to this
+world even for several years.
+
+I should think that this illness of his youth, and which, though of a
+fitful character, was of many years' duration, arose from his inability
+to direct to a satisfactory end the intellectual power which he was
+conscious of possessing. He would mention the ten years of his life,
+from twenty-five to thirty-five years of age, as a period very deficient
+in self-contentedness. The fact is, with a poetic temperament, he had
+been born in an age when the poetic faith of which he was a votary had
+fallen into decrepitude, and had become only a form with the public, not
+yet gifted with sufficient fervour to discover a new creed. He was a
+pupil of Pope and Boileau, yet both from his native impulse and from the
+glowing influence of Rousseau, he felt the necessity and desire of
+infusing into the verse of the day more passion than might resound from
+the frigid lyre of Mr. Hayley. My father had fancy, sensibility, and an
+exquisite taste, but he had not that rare creative power, which the
+blended and simultaneous influence of the individual organisation and
+the spirit of the age, reciprocally acting upon each other, can alone,
+perhaps, perfectly develope; the absence of which, at periods of
+transition, is so universally recognised and deplored, and yet which
+always, when it does arrive, captivates us, as it were, by surprise. How
+much there was of freshness, and fancy, and natural pathos in his mind,
+may be discerned in his Persian romance of "The Loves of Mejnoon and
+Leila." We who have been accustomed to the great poets of the nineteenth
+century seeking their best inspiration in the climate and manners of the
+East; who are familiar with the land of the Sun from the isles of Ionia
+to the vales of Cashmere; can scarcely appreciate the literary
+originality of a writer who, fifty years ago, dared to devise a real
+Eastern story, and seeking inspiration in the pages of Oriental
+literature, compose it with reference to the Eastern mind, and customs,
+and landscape. One must have been familiar with the Almorans and Hamets,
+the Visions of Mirza and the kings of Ethiopia, and the other dull and
+monstrous masquerades of Orientalism then prevalent, to estimate such an
+enterprise, in which, however, one should not forget the author had the
+advantage of the guiding friendship of that distinguished Orientalist,
+Sir William Ouseley. The reception of this work by the public, and of
+other works of fiction which its author gave to them anonymously, was in
+every respect encouraging, and their success may impartially be
+registered as fairly proportionate to their merits; but it was not a
+success, or a proof of power, which, in my father's opinion, compensated
+for that life of literary research and study which their composition
+disturbed and enfeebled. It was at the ripe age of five-and-thirty that
+he renounced his dreams of being an author, and resolved to devote
+himself for the rest of his life to the acquisition of knowledge.
+
+When my father, many years afterwards, made the acquaintance of Sir
+Walter Scott, the great poet saluted him by reciting a poem of
+half-a-dozen stanzas which my father had written in his early youth. Not
+altogether without agitation, surprise was expressed that these lines
+should have been known, still more that they should have been
+remembered. "Ah!" said Sir Walter, "if the writer of these lines had
+gone on, he would have been an English poet."[2]
+
+It is possible; it is even probable that, if my father had devoted
+himself to the art, he might have become the author of some elegant and
+popular didactic poem, on some ordinary subject, which his fancy would
+have adorned with grace and his sensibility invested with sentiment;
+some small volume which might have reposed with a classic title upon our
+library shelves, and served as a prize volume at Ladies' Schools. This
+celebrity was not reserved for him: instead of this he was destined to
+give to his country a series of works illustrative of its literary and
+political history, full of new information and new views, which time
+and opinion has ratified as just. But the poetical temperament was not
+thrown away upon him; it never is on any one; it was this great gift
+which prevented his being a mere literary antiquary; it was this which
+animated his page with picture and his narrative with interesting
+vivacity; above all, it was this temperament, which invested him with
+that sympathy with his subject, which made him the most delightful
+biographer in our language. In a word, it was because he was a poet,
+that he was a popular writer, and made belles-lettres charming to the
+multitude.
+
+It was during the ten years that now occurred that he mainly acquired
+that store of facts which were the foundation of his future
+speculations. His pen was never idle, but it was to note and to
+register, not to compose. His researches were prosecuted every morning
+among the MSS. of the British Museum, while his own ample collections
+permitted him to pursue his investigation in his own library into the
+night. The materials which he accumulated during this period are only
+partially exhausted. At the end of ten years, during which, with the
+exception of one anonymous work, he never indulged in composition, the
+irresistible desire of communicating his conclusions to the world came
+over him, and after all his almost childish aspirations, his youth of
+reverie and hesitating and imperfect effort, he arrived at the mature
+age of forty-five before his career as a great author, influencing
+opinion, really commenced.
+
+The next ten years passed entirely in production: from 1812 to 1822 the
+press abounded with his works. His "Calamities of Authors," his "Memoirs
+of Literary Controversy," in the manner of Bayle; his "Essay on the
+Literary Character," the most perfect of his compositions; were all
+chapters in that History of English Literature which he then commenced
+to meditate, and which it was fated should never be completed.
+
+It was during this period also that he published his "Inquiry into the
+Literary and Political Character of James the First," in which he first
+opened those views respecting the times and the conduct of the Stuarts,
+which were opposed to the long prevalent opinions of this country, but
+which with him were at least the result of unprejudiced research, and
+their promulgation, as he himself expressed it, "an affair of literary
+conscience."[3]
+
+But what retarded his project of a History of our Literature at this
+time was the almost embarrassing success of his juvenile production,
+"The Curiosities of Literature." These two volumes had already reached
+five editions, and their author found himself, by the public demand,
+again called upon to sanction their re-appearance. Recognising in this
+circumstance some proof of their utility, he resolved to make the work
+more worthy of the favour which it enjoyed, and more calculated to
+produce the benefit which he desired. Without attempting materially to
+alter the character of the first two volumes, he revised and enriched
+them, while at the same time he added a third volume of a vein far more
+critical, and conveying the results of much original research. The
+success of this publication was so great, that its author, after much
+hesitation, resolved, as he was wont to say, to take advantage of a
+popular title, and pour forth the treasures of his mind in three
+additional volumes, which, unlike continuations in general, were at once
+greeted with the highest degree of popular delight and esteem. And,
+indeed, whether we consider the choice variety of the subjects, the
+critical and philosophical speculation which pervades them, the amount
+of new and interesting information brought to bear, and the animated
+style in which all is conveyed, it is difficult to conceive
+miscellaneous literature in a garb more stimulating and attractive.
+These six volumes, after many editions, are now condensed into the form
+at present given to the public, and in which the development of the
+writer's mind for a quarter of a century may be completely traced.
+
+Although my father had on the whole little cause to complain of unfair
+criticism, especially considering how isolated he always remained, it is
+not to be supposed that a success so eminent should have been exempt in
+so long a course from some captious comments. It has been alleged of
+late years by some critics, that he was in the habit of exaggerating the
+importance of his researches; that he was too fond of styling every
+accession to our knowledge, however slight, as a discovery; that there
+were some inaccuracies in his early volumes (not very wonderful in so
+multifarious a work), and that the foundation of his "secret history"
+was often only a single letter, or a passage in a solitary diary.
+
+The sources of secret history at the present day are so rich and
+various; there is such an eagerness among their possessors to publish
+family papers, even sometimes in shapes, and at dates so recent, as
+scarcely to justify their appearance; that modern critics, in their
+embarrassment of manuscript wealth, are apt to view with too
+depreciating an eye the more limited resources of men of letters at the
+commencement of the century. Not five-and-twenty years ago, when
+preparing his work on King Charles the First, the application of my
+father to make some researches in the State Paper Office was refused by
+the Secretary of State of the day. Now, foreign potentates and ministers
+of State, and public corporations and the heads of great houses, feel
+honoured by such appeals, and respond to them with cordiality. It is not
+only the State Paper Office of England, but the Archives of France,
+that are open to the historical investigator. But what has produced this
+general and expanding taste for literary research in the world, and
+especially in England? The labours of our elder authors, whose taste and
+acuteness taught us the value of the materials which we in our ignorance
+neglected. When my father first frequented the reading-room of the
+British Museum at the end of the last century, his companions never
+numbered half-a-dozen; among them, if I remember rightly, were Mr.
+Pinkerton and Mr. Douce. Now these daily pilgrims of research may be
+counted by as many hundreds. Few writers have more contributed to form
+and diffuse this delightful and profitable taste for research than the
+author of the "Curiosities of Literature;" few writers have been more
+successful in inducing us to pause before we accepted without a scruple
+the traditionary opinion that has distorted a fact or calumniated a
+character; and independently of every other claim which he possesses to
+public respect, his literary discoveries, viewed in relation to the age
+and the means, were considerable. But he had other claims: a vital
+spirit in his page, kindred with the souls of a Bayle and a Montaigne.
+His innumerable imitators and their inevitable failure for half a
+century alone prove this, and might have made them suspect that there
+were some ingredients in the spell besides the accumulation of facts and
+a happy title. Many of their publications, perpetually appearing and
+constantly forgotten, were drawn up by persons of considerable
+acquirements, and were ludicrously mimetic of their prototype, even as
+to the size of the volume and the form of the page. What has become of
+these "Varieties of Literature," and "Delights of Literature," and
+"Delicacies of Literature," and "Relics of Literature,"--and the other
+Protean forms of uninspired compilation? Dead as they deserve to be:
+while the work, the idea of which occurred to its writer in his early
+youth, and which he lived virtually to execute in all the ripeness of
+his studious manhood, remains as fresh and popular as ever,--the
+Literary Miscellany of the English People.
+
+I have ventured to enter into some details as to the earlier and
+obscurer years of my father's life, because I thought that they threw
+light upon human character, and that without them, indeed, a just
+appreciation of his career could hardly be formed. I am mistaken, if we
+do not recognise in his instance two very interesting qualities of life:
+predisposition and self-formation. There was a third, which I think is
+to be honoured, and that was his sympathy with his order. No one has
+written so much about authors, and so well. Indeed, before his time, the
+Literary Character had never been fairly placed before the world. He
+comprehended its idiosyncrasy: all its strength and all its weakness. He
+could soften, because he could explain, its infirmities; in the analysis
+and record of its power, he vindicated the right position of authors in
+the social scale. They stand between the governors and the governed, he
+impresses on us in the closing pages of his greatest work.[4] Though he
+shared none of the calamities, and scarcely any of the controversies, of
+literature, no one has sympathised so intimately with the sorrows, or so
+zealously and impartially registered the instructive disputes, of
+literary men. He loved to celebrate the exploits of great writers, and
+to show that, in these ages, the pen is a weapon as puissant as the
+sword. He was also the first writer who vindicated the position of the
+great artist in the history of genius. His pages are studded with
+pregnant instances and graceful details, borrowed from the life of Art
+and its votaries, and which his intimate and curious acquaintance with
+Italian letters readily and happily supplied. Above all writers, he has
+maintained the greatness of intellect, and the immortality of thought.
+
+He was himself a complete literary character, a man who really passed
+his life in his library. Even marriage produced no change in these
+habits; he rose to enter the chamber where he lived alone with his
+books, and at night his lamp was ever lit within the same walls.
+Nothing, indeed, was more remarkable than the isolation of this
+prolonged existence; and it could only be accounted for by the united
+influence of three causes: his birth, which brought him no relations or
+family acquaintance; the bent of his disposition; and the circumstance
+of his inheriting an independent fortune, which rendered unnecessary
+those exertions that would have broken up his self-reliance. He disliked
+business, and he never required relaxation; he was absorbed in his
+pursuits. In London his only amusement was to ramble among booksellers;
+if he entered a club, it was only to go into the library. In the
+country, he scarcely ever left his room but to saunter in abstraction
+upon a terrace; muse over a chapter, or coin a sentence. He had not a
+single passion or prejudice: all his convictions were the result of his
+own studies, and were often opposed to the impressions which he had
+early imbibed. He not only never entered into the politics of the day,
+but he could never understand them. He never was connected with any
+particular body or set of men; comrades of school or college, or
+confederates in that public life which, in England, is, perhaps, the
+only foundation of real friendship. In the consideration of a question,
+his mind was quite undisturbed by traditionary preconceptions; and it
+was this exemption from passion and prejudice which, although his
+intelligence was naturally somewhat too ingenious and fanciful for the
+conduct of close argument, enabled him, in investigation, often to show
+many of the highest attributes of the judicial mind, and particularly to
+sum up evidence with singular happiness and ability.
+
+Although in private life he was of a timid nature, his moral courage as
+a writer was unimpeachable. Most certainly, throughout his long career,
+he never wrote a sentence which he did not believe was true. He will
+generally be found to be the advocate of the discomfited and the
+oppressed. So his conclusions are often opposed to popular impressions.
+This was from no love of paradox, to which he was quite superior; but
+because in the conduct of his researches, he too often found that the
+unfortunate are calumniated. His vindication of King James the First, he
+has himself described as "an affair of literary conscience:" his greater
+work on the Life and Times of the son of the first Stuart arose from the
+same impulse. He had deeply studied our history during the first moiety
+of the seventeenth century; he looked upon it as a famous age; he was
+familiar with the works of its great writers, and there was scarcely one
+of its almost innumerable pamphlets with which he was not acquainted.
+During the thoughtful investigations of many years, he had arrived at
+results which were not adapted to please the passing multitude, but
+which, because he held them to be authentic, he was uneasy lest he
+should die without recording. Yet strong as were his convictions,
+although, notwithstanding his education in the revolutionary philosophy
+of the eighteenth century, his nature and his studies had made him a
+votary of loyalty and reverence, his pen was always prompt to do justice
+to those who might be looked upon as the adversaries of his own cause:
+and this was because his cause was really truth. If he has upheld Laud
+under unjust aspersions, the last labour of his literary life was to
+vindicate the character of Hugh Peters. If, from the recollection of the
+sufferings of his race, and from profound reflection on the principles
+of the Institution, he was hostile to the Papacy, no writer in our
+literature has done more complete justice to the conduct of the English
+Romanists. Who can read his history of Chidiock Titchbourne unmoved? or
+can refuse to sympathise with his account of the painful difficulties of
+the English Monarchs with their loyal subjects of the old faith? If in
+a parliamentary country he has dared to criticise the conduct of
+Parliaments, it was only because an impartial judgment had taught him,
+as he himself expresses it, that "Parliaments have their passions as
+well as individuals."
+
+He was five years in the composition of his work on the "Life and Reign
+of Charles the First," and the five volumes appeared at intervals
+between 1828 and 1831. It was feared by his publisher, that the
+distracted epoch at which this work was issued, and the tendency of the
+times, apparently so adverse to his own views, might prove very
+injurious to its reception. But the effect of these circumstances was
+the reverse. The minds of men were inclined to the grave and national
+considerations that were involved in these investigations. The
+principles of political institutions, the rival claims of the two Houses
+of Parliament, the authority of the Established Church, the demands of
+religious sects, were, after a long lapse of years, anew the theme of
+public discussion. Men were attracted to a writer who traced the origin
+of the anti-monarchical principle in modern Europe; treated of the arts
+of insurgency; gave them, at the same time, a critical history of the
+Puritans, and a treatise on the genius of the Papacy; scrutinised the
+conduct of triumphant patriots, and vindicated a decapitated monarch.
+The success of this work was eminent; and its author appeared for the
+first and only time of his life in public, when amidst the cheers of
+under-graduates, and the applause of graver men, the solitary student
+received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford, a fitting
+homage, in the language of the great University, "OPTIMI REGIS OPTIMO
+VINDICI."
+
+I cannot but recall a trait that happened on this occasion. After my
+father returned to his hotel from the theatre, a stranger requested an
+interview with him. A Swiss gentleman, travelling in England at the
+time, who had witnessed the scene just closed, begged to express the
+reason why he presumed thus personally and cordially to congratulate
+the new Doctor of Civil Law. He was the son of my grandfather's chief
+clerk, and remembered his parent's employer; whom he regretted did not
+survive to be aware of this honourable day. Thus, amid all the strange
+vicissitudes of life, we are ever, as it were, moving in a circle.
+
+Notwithstanding he was now approaching his seventieth year, his health
+being unbroken and his constitution very robust, my father resolved
+vigorously to devote himself to the composition of the history of our
+vernacular Literature. He hesitated for a moment, whether he should at
+once address himself to this greater task, or whether he should first
+complete a Life of Pope, for which he had made great preparations, and
+which had long occupied his thoughts. His review of "Spence's Anecdotes"
+in the Quarterly, so far back as 1820, which gave rise to the celebrated
+Pope Controversy, in which Mr. Campbell, Lord Byron, Mr. Bowles, Mr.
+Roscoe, and others less eminent broke lances, would prove how well
+qualified, even at that distant date, the critic was to become the
+biographer of the great writer, whose literary excellency and moral
+conduct he, on that occasion, alike vindicated. But, unfortunately as it
+turned out, my father was persuaded to address himself to the weightier
+task. Hitherto, in his publications, he had always felt an extreme
+reluctance to travel over ground which others had previously visited. He
+liked to give new matter, and devote himself to detached points, on
+which he entertained different opinions from those prevalent. Thus his
+works are generally of a supplementary character, and assume in their
+readers a certain degree of preliminary knowledge. In the present
+instance he was induced to frame his undertaking on a different scale,
+and to prepare a history which should be complete in itself, and supply
+the reader with a perfect view of the gradual formation of our language
+and literature. He proposed to effect this in six volumes; though, I
+apprehend, he would not have succeeded in fulfilling his intentions
+within that limit. His treatment of the period of Queen Anne would have
+been very ample, and he would also have accomplished in this general
+work a purpose which he had also long contemplated, and for which he had
+made curious and extensive collections, namely, a History of the English
+Freethinkers.
+
+But all these great plans were destined to a terrible defeat. Towards
+the end of the year 1839, still in the full vigour of his health and
+intellect, he suffered a paralysis of the optic nerve; and that eye,
+which for so long a term had kindled with critical interest over the
+volumes of so many literatures and so many languages, was doomed to
+pursue its animated course no more. Considering the bitterness of such a
+calamity to one whose powers were otherwise not in the least impaired,
+he bore on the whole his fate with magnanimity, even with cheerfulness.
+Unhappily, his previous habits of study and composition rendered the
+habit of dictation intolerable, even impossible to him. But with the
+assistance of his daughter, whose intelligent solicitude he has
+commemorated in more than one grateful passage, he selected from his
+manuscripts three volumes, which he wished to have published under the
+becoming title of "A Fragment of a History of English Literature," but
+which were eventually given to the public under that of "Amenities of
+Literature."
+
+He was also enabled during these last years of physical, though not of
+moral, gloom, to prepare a new edition of his work on the Life and Times
+of Charles the First, which had been for some time out of print. He
+contrived, though slowly, and with great labour, very carefully to
+revise, and improve, and enrich these volumes. He was wont to say that
+the best monument to an author was a good edition of his works: it is my
+purpose that he should possess this memorial. He has been described by a
+great authority as a writer sui generis; and indeed had he never
+written, it appears to me, that there would have been a gap in our
+libraries, which it would have been difficult to supply. Of him it might
+be added that, for an author, his end was an euthanasia, for on the day
+before he was seized by that fatal epidemic, of the danger of which, to
+the last moment, he was unconscious, he was apprised by his publishers,
+that all his works were out of print, and that their re-publication
+could no longer be delayed.
+
+In this notice of the career of my father, I have ventured to draw
+attention to three circumstances which I thought would be esteemed
+interesting; namely, predisposition, self-formation, and sympathy with
+his order. There is yet another which completes and crowns the
+character,--constancy of purpose; and it is only in considering his
+course as a whole, that we see how harmonious and consistent have been
+that life and its labours, which, in a partial and brief view, might be
+supposed to have been somewhat desultory and fragmentary.
+
+On his moral character I shall scarcely presume to dwell. The
+philosophic sweetness of his disposition, the serenity of his lot, and
+the elevating nature of his pursuits, combined to enable him to pass
+through life without an evil act, almost without an evil thought. As the
+world has always been fond of personal details respecting men who have
+been celebrated, I will mention that he was fair, with a Bourbon nose,
+and brown eyes of extraordinary beauty and lustre. He wore a small black
+velvet cap, but his white hair latterly touched his shoulders in curls
+almost as flowing as in his boyhood. His extremities were delicate and
+well-formed, and his leg, at his last hour, as shapely as in his youth,
+which showed the vigour of his frame. Latterly he had become corpulent.
+He did not excel in conversation, though in his domestic circle he was
+garrulous. Everything interested him; and blind, and eighty-two, he was
+still as susceptible as a child. One of his last acts was to compose
+some verses of gay gratitude to his daughter-in-law, who was his London
+correspondent, and to whose lively pen his last years were indebted for
+constant amusement. He had by nature a singular volatility which never
+deserted him. His feelings, though always amiable, were not painfully
+deep, and amid joy or sorrow, the philosophic vein was ever evident. He
+more resembled Goldsmith than any man that I can compare him to: in his
+conversation, his apparent confusion of ideas ending with some
+felicitous phrase of genius, his naïveté, his simplicity not untouched
+with a dash of sarcasm affecting innocence--one was often reminded of
+the gifted and interesting friend of Burke and Johnson. There was,
+however, one trait in which my father did not resemble Goldsmith: he had
+no vanity. Indeed, one of his few infirmities was rather a deficiency of
+self-esteem.
+
+On the whole, I hope--nay I believe--that taking all into
+consideration--the integrity and completeness of his existence, the fact
+that, for sixty years, he largely contributed to form the taste, charm
+the leisure, and direct the studious dispositions, of the great body of
+the public, and that his works have extensively and curiously
+illustrated the literary and political history of our country, it will
+be conceded, that in his life and labours, he repaid England for the
+protection and the hospitality which this country accorded to his father
+a century ago.
+                                                               D.
+
+  HUGHENDEN MANOR,
+  _Christmas_, 1848.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. I. chap. v.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Sir Walter was sincere, for he inserted the poem in the
+"English Minstrelsy." It may now be found in these volumes, Vol. I. p.
+230, where, in consequence of the recollection of Sir Walter, and as
+illustrative of manners now obsolete, it was subsequently inserted.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "The present inquiry originates in an affair of literary
+conscience. Many years ago I set off with the popular notions of the
+character of James the First; but in the course of study, and with a
+more enlarged comprehension of the age, I was frequently struck by the
+contrast between his real and his apparent character. * * * * It would
+be a cowardly silence to shrink from encountering all that popular
+prejudice and party feeling may oppose; this would be incompatible with
+that constant search after truth, which at least may be expected from
+the retired student."--_Preface to the Inquiry._]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. II. chap. XXV.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+BY
+
+I. DISRAELI.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    TO
+
+    FRANCIS DOUCE, ESQ.
+
+    THESE VOLUMES OF SOME LITERARY RESEARCHES
+
+    ARE INSCRIBED;
+
+    AS A SLIGHT MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+    AND
+
+    A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+    TO
+
+    A LOVER OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Of a work which long has been placed on that shelf which Voltaire has
+discriminated as _la Bibliothèque du Monde_, it is never mistimed for
+the author to offer the many, who are familiar with its pages, a settled
+conception of its design.
+
+The "Curiosities of Literature," commenced fifty years since, have been
+composed at various periods, and necessarily partake of those successive
+characters which mark the eras of the intellectual habits of the writer.
+
+In my youth, the taste for modern literary history was only of recent
+date. The first elegant scholar who opened a richer vein in the mine of
+MODERN LITERATURE was JOSEPH WARTON;--he had a fragmentary mind, and he
+was a rambler in discursive criticism. Dr. JOHNSON was a famished man
+for anecdotical literature, and sorely complained of the penury of our
+literary history.
+
+THOMAS WARTON must have found, in the taste of his brother and the
+energy of Johnson, his happiest prototypes; but he had too frequently to
+wrestle with barren antiquarianism, and was lost to us at the gates of
+that paradise which had hardly opened on him. These were the true
+founders of that more elegant literature in which France had preceded
+us. These works created a more pleasing species of erudition:--the age
+of taste and genius had come; but the age of philosophical thinking was
+yet but in its dawn.
+
+Among my earliest literary friends, two distinguished themselves by
+their anecdotical literature: JAMES PETIT ANDREWS, by his "Anecdotes,
+Ancient and Modern," and WILLIAM SEWARD, by his "Anecdotes of
+Distinguished Persons." These volumes were favourably received, and to
+such a degree, that a wit of that day, and who is still a wit as well as
+a poet, considered that we were far gone in our "Anecdotage."
+
+I was a guest at the banquet, but it seemed to me to consist wholly of
+confectionery. I conceived the idea of a collection of a different
+complexion. I was then seeking for instruction in modern literature; and
+our language afforded no collection of the _res litterariæ_. In the
+diversified volumes of the French _Ana_, I found, among the best,
+materials to work on. I improved my subjects with as much of our own
+literature as my limited studies afforded. The volume, without a name,
+was left to its own unprotected condition. I had not miscalculated the
+wants of others by my own.
+
+This first volume had reminded the learned of much which it is grateful
+to remember, and those who were restricted by their classical studies,
+or lounged only in perishable novelties, were in modern literature but
+dry wells, for which I had opened clear waters from a fresh spring. The
+work had effected its design in stimulating the literary curiosity of
+those, who, with a taste for its tranquil pursuits, are impeded in their
+acquirement. Imitations were numerous. My reading became more various,
+and the second volume of "Curiosities of Literature" appeared, with a
+slight effort at more original investigation. The two brother volumes
+remained favourites during an interval of twenty years.
+
+It was as late as 1817 that I sent forth the third volume; without a
+word of preface. I had no longer anxieties to conceal or promises to
+perform. The subjects chosen were novel, and investigated with more
+original composition. The motto prefixed to this third volume from the
+Marquis of Halifax is lost in the republications, but expresses the
+peculiar delight of all literary researches for those who love them:
+"The struggling for knowledge hath a pleasure in it like that of
+wrestling with a fine woman."
+
+The notice which the third volume obtained, returned me to the dream of
+my youth. I considered that essay writing, from Addison to the
+successors of Johnson, which had formed one of the most original
+features of our national literature, would now fail in its attraction,
+even if some of those elegant writers themselves had appeared in a form
+which their own excellence had rendered familiar and deprived of all
+novelty. I was struck by an observation which Johnson has thrown out.
+That sage, himself an essayist and who had lived among our essayists,
+fancied that "mankind may come in time to write all aphoristically;" and
+so athirst was that first of our great moral biographers for the details
+of human life and the incidental characteristics of individuals, that he
+was desirous of obtaining anecdotes without preparation or connexion.
+"If a man," said this lover of literary anecdotes, "is to wait till he
+weaves anecdotes, we may be long in getting them, and get but few in
+comparison to what we might get." Another observation, of Lord
+Bolingbroke, had long dwelt in my mind, that "when examples are pointed
+out to us, there is a kind of appeal with which we are flattered made to
+our senses as well as our understandings." An induction from a variety
+of particulars seemed to me to combine that delight, which Johnson
+derived from anecdotes, with that philosophy which Bolingbroke founded
+on examples; and on this principle the last three volumes of the
+"Curiosities of Literature" were constructed, freed from the formality
+of dissertation, and the vagueness of the lighter essay.
+
+These "Curiosities of Literature" have passed through a remarkable
+ordeal of time; they have survived a generation of rivals; they are
+found wherever books are bought, and they have been repeatedly reprinted
+at foreign presses, as well as translated. These volumes have imbued our
+youth with their first tastes for modern literature, have diffused a
+delight in critical and philosophical speculation among circles of
+readers who were not accustomed to literary topics; and finally, they
+have been honoured by eminent contemporaries, who have long consulted
+them and set their stamp on the metal.
+
+A voluminous miscellany, composed at various periods, cannot be exempt
+from slight inadvertencies. Such a circuit of multifarious knowledge
+could not be traced were we to measure and count each step by some
+critical pedometer; life would be too short to effect any reasonable
+progress. Every work must be judged by its design, and is to be valued
+by its result.
+
+  BRADENHAM HOUSE,
+
+  _March_, 1839.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+    LIBRARIES                                                          1
+
+    THE BIBLIOMANIA                                                    9
+
+    LITERARY JOURNALS                                                 12
+
+    RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS                                           17
+
+    SKETCHES OF CRITICISM                                             24
+
+    THE PERSECUTED LEARNED                                            27
+
+    POVERTY OF THE LEARNED                                            29
+
+    IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED                                       35
+
+    AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED                                         38
+
+    PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS                                              42
+
+    DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS                                              47
+
+    SOME NOTIONS OF LOST WORKS                                        58
+
+    QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS                           60
+
+    FAME CONTEMNED                                                    66
+
+    THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE                                        66
+
+    IMITATORS                                                         67
+
+    CICERO'S PUNS                                                     69
+
+    PREFACES                                                          71
+
+    EARLY PRINTING                                                    73
+
+    ERRATA                                                            78
+
+    PATRONS                                                           82
+
+    POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT                85
+
+    INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS                                            88
+
+    GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE                                                88
+
+    LEGENDS                                                           89
+
+    THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY                                            94
+
+    THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES                            98
+
+    SPANISH POETRY                                                   100
+
+    SAINT EVREMOND                                                   102
+
+    MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION                          103
+
+    VIDA                                                             105
+
+    THE SCUDERIES                                                    105
+
+    DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT                                              110
+
+    PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL                                              111
+
+    THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS                                    112
+
+    THE TALMUD                                                       113
+
+    RABBINICAL STORIES                                               120
+
+    ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING                         126
+
+    BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS                                           128
+
+    GROTIUS                                                          129
+
+    NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS                                          131
+
+    LITERARY IMPOSTURES                                              132
+
+    CARDINAL RICHELIEU                                               139
+
+    ARISTOTLE AND PLATO                                              142
+
+    ABELARD AND ELOISA                                               145
+
+    PHYSIOGNOMY                                                      148
+
+    CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES                            150
+
+    MILTON                                                           152
+
+    ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS                                             155
+
+    TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES                 161
+
+    INQUISITION                                                      166
+
+    SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS       170
+
+    MONARCHS                                                         173
+
+    OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE           175
+
+    TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS                                             178
+
+    ROYAL DIVINITIES                                                 179
+
+    DETHRONED MONARCHS                                               181
+
+    FEUDAL CUSTOMS                                                   183
+
+    GAMING                                                           187
+
+    THE ARABIC CHRONICLE                                             191
+
+    METEMPSYCHOSIS                                                   192
+
+    SPANISH ETIQUETTE                                                194
+
+    THE GOTHS AND HUNS                                               196
+
+    VICARS OF BRAY                                                   196
+
+    DOUGLAS                                                          197
+
+    CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY                                      198
+
+    SOLOMON AND SHEBA                                                202
+
+    HELL                                                             203
+
+    THE ABSENT MAN                                                   206
+
+    WAX-WORK                                                         206
+
+    PASQUIN AND MARFORIO                                             208
+
+    FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS                                      211
+
+    MODERN PLATONISM                                                 213
+
+    ANECDOTES OF FASHION                                             216
+
+    A SENATE OF JESUITS                                              231
+
+    THE LOVER'S HEART                                                233
+
+    THE HISTORY OF GLOVES                                            235
+
+    RELICS OF SAINTS                                                 239
+
+    PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS                                  243
+
+    NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS           244
+
+    THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA                                    247
+
+    TRAGIC ACTORS                                                    248
+
+    JOCULAR PREACHERS                                                251
+
+    MASTERLY IMITATORS                                               258
+
+    EDWARD THE FOURTH                                                261
+
+    ELIZABETH                                                        264
+
+    THE CHINESE LANGUAGE                                             267
+
+    MEDICAL MUSIC                                                    269
+
+    MINUTE WRITING                                                   275
+
+    NUMERICAL FIGURES                                                276
+
+    ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS                                              278
+
+    ALCHYMY                                                          283
+
+    TITLES OF BOOKS                                                  288
+
+    LITERARY FOLLIES                                                 293
+
+    LITERARY CONTROVERSY                                             308
+
+    LITERARY BLUNDERS                                                320
+
+    A LITERARY WIFE                                                  327
+
+    DEDICATIONS                                                      337
+
+    PHILOSOPHIC DESCRIPTIVE POEMS                                    341
+
+    PAMPHLETS                                                        343
+
+    LITTLE BOOKS                                                     347
+
+    A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION                                          349
+
+    THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER                        350
+
+    MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES                       352
+
+    LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY                              362
+
+    RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES                                           363
+
+    "CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S
+        MILTON                                                       370
+
+    A JANSENIST DICTIONARY                                           373
+
+    MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS                                            375
+
+    THE TURKISH SPY                                                  377
+
+    SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE                                  379
+
+    BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH                                381
+
+    ARIOSTO AND TASSO                                                386
+
+    BAYLE                                                            391
+
+    CERVANTES                                                        394
+
+    MAGLIABECHI                                                      394
+
+    ABRIDGERS                                                        397
+
+    PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY                           400
+
+    LITERARY DUTCH                                                   403
+
+    THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS            405
+
+    CRITICS                                                          406
+
+    ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS                                    408
+
+    VIRGINITY                                                        412
+
+    A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY                                 413
+
+    POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS                                  417
+
+    SCARRON                                                          421
+
+    PETER CORNEILLE                                                  428
+
+    POETS                                                            432
+
+    ROMANCES                                                         442
+
+    THE ASTREA                                                       451
+
+    POETS LAUREAT                                                    454
+
+    ANGELO POLITIAN                                                  456
+
+    ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH                               460
+
+    ANNE BULLEN                                                      461
+
+    JAMES THE FIRST                                                  462
+
+    GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE                                        468
+
+    PHILIP AND MARY                                                  469
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+
+
+LIBRARIES.
+
+
+The passion for forming vast collections of books has necessarily
+existed in all periods of human curiosity; but long it required regal
+munificence to found a national library. It is only since the art of
+multiplying the productions of the mind has been discovered, that men of
+letters themselves have been enabled to rival this imperial and
+patriotic honour. The taste for books, so rare before the fifteenth
+century, has gradually become general only within these four hundred
+years: in that small space of time the public mind of Europe has been
+created.
+
+Of LIBRARIES, the following anecdotes seem most interesting, as they
+mark either the affection, or the veneration, which civilised men have
+ever felt for these perennial repositories of their minds. The first
+national library founded in Egypt seemed to have been placed under the
+protection of the divinities, for their statues magnificently adorned
+this temple, dedicated at once to religion and to literature. It was
+still further embellished by a well-known inscription, for ever grateful
+to the votary of literature; on the front was engraven,--"The
+nourishment of the soul;" or, according to Diodorus, "The medicine of
+the mind."
+
+The Egyptian Ptolemies founded the vast library of Alexandria, which was
+afterwards the emulative labour of rival monarchs; the founder infused a
+soul into the vast body he was creating, by his choice of the librarian,
+Demetrius Phalereus, whose skilful industry amassed from all nations
+their choicest productions. Without such a librarian, a national library
+would be little more than a literary chaos; his well exercised memory
+and critical judgment are its best catalogue. One of the Ptolemies
+refused supplying the famished Athenians with wheat, until they
+presented him with the original manuscripts of Æschylus, Sophocles, and
+Euripides; and in returning copies of these autographs, he allowed them
+to retain the fifteen talents which he had pledged with them as a
+princely security.
+
+When tyrants, or usurpers, have possessed sense as well as courage, they
+have proved the most ardent patrons of literature; they know it is their
+interest to turn aside the public mind from political speculations, and
+to afford their subjects the inexhaustible occupations of curiosity, and
+the consoling pleasures of the imagination. Thus Pisistratus is said to
+have been among the earliest of the Greeks, who projected an immense
+collection of the works of the learned, and is supposed to have been the
+collector of the scattered works, which passed under the name of Homer.
+
+The Romans, after six centuries of gradual dominion, must have possessed
+the vast and diversified collections of the writings of the nations they
+conquered: among the most valued spoils of their victories, we know that
+manuscripts were considered as more precious than vases of gold. Paulus
+Emilius, after the defeat of Perseus, king of Macedon, brought to Rome a
+great number which he had amassed in Greece, and which he now
+distributed among his sons, or presented to the Roman people. Sylla
+followed his example. Alter the siege of Athens, he discovered an entire
+library in the temple of Apollo, which having carried to Rome, he
+appears to have been the founder of the first Roman public library.
+After the taking of Carthage, the Roman senate rewarded the family of
+Regulus with the books found in that city. A library was a national
+gift, and the most honourable they could bestow. From the intercourse of
+the Romans with the Greeks, the passion for forming libraries rapidly
+increased, and individuals began to pride themselves on their private
+collections.
+
+Of many illustrious Romans, their magnificent taste in their _libraries_
+has been recorded. Asinius Pollio, Crassus, Cæsar, and Cicero, have,
+among others, been celebrated for their literary splendor. Lucullus,
+whose incredible opulence exhausted itself on more than imperial
+luxuries, more honourably distinguished himself by his vast collections
+of books, and the happy use he made of them by the liberal access he
+allowed the learned. "It was a library," says Plutarch, "whose walks,
+galleries, and cabinets, were open to all visitors; and the ingenious
+Greeks, when at leisure, resorted to this abode of the Muses to hold
+literary conversations, in which Lucullus himself loved to join." This
+library enlarged by others, Julius Cæsar once proposed to open for the
+public, having chosen the erudite Varro for its librarian; but the
+daggers of Brutus and his party prevented the meditated projects of
+Cæsar. In this museum, Cicero frequently pursued his studies, during the
+time his friend Faustus had the charge of it; which he describes to
+Atticus in his 4th Book, Epist. 9. Amidst his public occupations and his
+private studies, either of them sufficient to have immortalised one man,
+we are astonished at the minute attention Cicero paid to the formation
+of his libraries and his cabinets of antiquities.
+
+The emperors were ambitious, at length, to give _their names_ to the
+_libraries_ they founded; they did not consider the purple as their
+chief ornament. Augustus was himself an author; and to one of those
+sumptuous buildings, called _Thermæ_, ornamented with porticos,
+galleries, and statues, with shady walks, and refreshing baths,
+testified his love of literature by adding a magnificent library. One of
+these libraries he fondly called by the name of his sister Octavia; and
+the other, the temple of Apollo, became the haunt of the poets, as
+Horace, Juvenal, and Persius have commemorated. The successors of
+Augustus imitated his example, and even Tiberius had an imperial
+library, chiefly consisting of works concerning the empire and the acts
+of its sovereigns. These Trajan augmented by the Ulpian library,
+denominated from his family name. In a word, we have accounts of the
+rich ornaments the ancients bestowed on their libraries; of their floors
+paved with marble, their walls covered with glass and ivory, and their
+shelves and desks of ebony and cedar.
+
+The first _public library_ in Italy was founded by a person of no
+considerable fortune: his credit, his frugality, and fortitude, were
+indeed equal to a treasury. Nicholas Niccoli, the son of a merchant,
+after the death of his father relinquished the beaten roads of gain, and
+devoted his soul to study, and his fortune to assist students. At his
+death, he left his library to the public, but his debts exceeding his
+effects, the princely generosity of Cosmo de' Medici realised the
+intention of its former possessor, and afterwards enriched it by the
+addition of an apartment, in which he placed the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
+Chaldaic, and Indian MSS. The intrepid spirit of Nicholas V. laid the
+foundations of the Vatican; the affection of Cardinal Bessarion for his
+country first gave Venice the rudiments of a public library; and to Sir
+T. Bodley we owe the invaluable one of Oxford. Sir Robert Cotton, Sir
+Hans Sloane, Dr. Birch, Mr. Cracherode, Mr. Douce, and others of this
+race of lovers of books, have all contributed to form these literary
+treasures, which our nation owe to the enthusiasm of individuals, who
+have consecrated their fortunes and their days to this great public
+object; or, which in the result produces the same public good, the
+collections of such men have been frequently purchased on their deaths,
+by government, and thus have been preserved entire in our national
+collections.[5]
+
+LITERATURE, like virtue, is often its own reward, and the enthusiasm
+some experience in the permanent enjoyments of a vast library has far
+outweighed the neglect or the calumny of the world, which some of its
+votaries have received. From the time that Cicero poured forth his
+feelings in his oration for the poet Archias, innumerable are the
+testimonies of men of letters of the pleasurable delirium of their
+researches. Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, and Chancellor of England
+so early as 1341, perhaps raised the first private library in our
+country. He purchased thirty or forty volumes of the Abbot of St. Albans
+for fifty pounds' weight of silver. He was so enamoured of his large
+collection, that he expressly composed a treatise on his love of books,
+under the title of _Philobiblion_; and which has been recently
+translated.[6]
+
+He who passes much of his time amid such vast resources, and does not
+aspire to make some small addition to his library, were it only by a
+critical catalogue, must indeed be not more animated than a leaden
+Mercury. He must be as indolent as that animal called the Sloth, who
+perishes on the tree he climbs, after he has eaten all its leaves.
+
+Rantzau, the founder of the great library at Copenhagen, whose days were
+dissolved in the pleasures of reading, discovers his taste and ardour in
+the following elegant effusion:--
+
+    Salvete aureoli mei libelli,
+    Meæ deliciæ, mei lepores!
+    Quam vos sæpe oculis juvat videre,
+    Et tritos manibus tenere nostris!
+    Tot vos eximii, tot eruditi,
+    Prisci lumina sæculi et recentis,
+    Confecere viri, suasque vobis
+    Ausi credere lucubrationes:
+    Et sperare decus perenne scriptis;
+    Neque hæc irrita spes fefellit illos.
+
+    IMITATED.
+
+    Golden volumes! richest treasures!
+    Objects of delicious pleasures!
+    You my eyes rejoicing please,
+    You my hands in rapture seize!
+    Brilliant wits, and musing sages,
+    Lights who beamed through many ages,
+    Left to your conscious leaves their story,
+    And dared to trust you with their glory;
+    And now their hope of fame achieved,
+    Dear volumes! you have not deceived!
+
+This passion for the enjoyment of _books_ has occasioned their lovers
+embellishing their outsides with costly ornaments;[7] a fancy which
+ostentation may have abused; but when these volumes belong to the real
+man of letters, the most fanciful bindings are often the emblems of his
+taste and feelings. The great Thuanus procured the finest copies for his
+library, and his volumes are still eagerly purchased, bearing his
+autograph on the last page. A celebrated amateur was Grollier; the Muses
+themselves could not more ingeniously have ornamented their favourite
+works. I have seen several in the libraries of curious collectors. They
+are gilded and stamped with peculiar neatness; the compartments on the
+binding are drawn, and painted, with subjects analogous to the works
+themselves; and they are further adorned by that amiable inscription,
+_Jo. Grollierii et amicorum!_--purporting that these literary treasures
+were collected for himself and for his friends.
+
+The family of the Fuggers had long felt an hereditary passion for the
+accumulation of literary treasures: and their portraits, with others in
+their picture gallery, form a curious quarto volume of 127 portraits,
+rare even in Germany, entitled "Fuggerorum Pinacotheca."[8] Wolfius, who
+daily haunted their celebrated library, pours out his gratitude in some
+Greek verses, and describes this bibliothèque as a literary heaven,
+furnished with as many books as there were stars in the firmament; or as
+a literary garden, in which he passed entire days in gathering fruit and
+flowers, delighting and instructing himself by perpetual occupation.
+
+In 1364, the royal library of France did not exceed twenty volumes.
+Shortly after, Charles V. increased it to 900, which, by the fate of
+war, as much at least as by that of money, the Duke of Bedford
+afterwards purchased and transported to London, where libraries were
+smaller than on the continent, about 1440. It is a circumstance worthy
+observation, that the French sovereign, Charles V. surnamed the Wise,
+ordered that thirty portable lights, with a silver lamp suspended from
+the centre, should be illuminated at night, that students might not find
+their pursuits interrupted at any hour. Many among us, at this moment,
+whose professional avocations admit not of morning studies, find that
+the resources of a public library are not accessible to them, from the
+omission of the regulation of the zealous Charles V. of France. An
+objection to night-studies in public libraries is the danger of fire,
+and in our own British Museum not a light is permitted to be carried
+about on any pretence whatever. The history of the "Bibliothèque du Roi"
+is a curious incident in literature; and the progress of the human mind
+and public opinion might be traced by its gradual accessions, noting the
+changeable qualities of its literary stores chiefly from theology, law,
+and medicine, to philosophy and elegant literature. It was first under
+Louis XIV. that the productions of the art of engraving were there
+collected and arranged; the great minister Colbert purchased the
+extensive collections of the Abbé de Marolles, who may be ranked among
+the fathers of our print-collectors. Two hundred and sixty-four ample
+portfolios laid the foundations, and the very catalogues of his
+collections, printed by Marolles himself, are rare and high-priced. Our
+own national print gallery is growing from its infant establishment.
+
+Mr. Hallam has observed, that in 1440, England had made comparatively
+but little progress in learning--and Germany was probably still less
+advanced. However, in Germany, Trithemius, the celebrated abbot of
+Spanheim, who died in 1516, had amassed about two thousand manuscripts;
+a literary treasure which excited such general attention, that princes
+and eminent men travelled to visit Trithemius and his library. About
+this time, six or eight hundred volumes formed a royal collection, and
+their cost could only be furnished by a prince. This was indeed a great
+advancement in libraries, for at the beginning of the fourteenth century
+the library of Louis IX. contained only four classical authors; and that
+of Oxford, in 1300, consisted of "a few tracts kept in chests."
+
+The pleasures of study are classed by Burton among those exercises or
+recreations of the mind which pass _within doors_. Looking about this
+"world of books," he exclaims, "I could even live and die with such
+meditations, and take more delight and true content of mind in them than
+in all thy wealth and sport! There is a sweetness, which, as Circe's
+cup, bewitcheth a student: he cannot leave off, as well may witness
+those many laborious hours, days, and nights, spent in their voluminous
+treatises. So sweet is the delight of study. The last day is _prioris
+discipulus_. Heinsius was mewed up in the library of Leyden all the year
+long, and that which, to my thinking, should have bred a loathing,
+caused in him a greater liking. 'I no sooner,' saith he, 'come into the
+library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding Lust, Ambition, Avarice,
+and all such vices, whose nurse is Idleness, the mother of Ignorance and
+Melancholy. In the very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I
+take my seat with so lofty a spirit, and sweet content, that I pity all
+our great ones and rich men, that know not this happiness.'" Such is the
+incense of a votary who scatters it on the altar less for the ceremony
+than from the devotion.[9]
+
+There is, however, an intemperance in study, incompatible often with our
+social or more active duties. The illustrious Grotius exposed himself to
+the reproaches of some of his contemporaries for having too warmly
+pursued his studies, to the detriment of his public station. It was the
+boast of Cicero that his philosophical studies had never interfered with
+the services he owed the republic, and that he had only dedicated to
+them the hours which others give to their walks, their repasts, and
+their pleasures. Looking on his voluminous labours, we are surprised at
+this observation;--how honourable is it to him, that his various
+philosophical works bear the titles of the different villas he
+possessed, which indicates that they were composed in these respective
+retirements! Cicero must have been an early riser; and practised that
+magic art in the employment of time, which multiplies our days.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 5: The Cottonian collection is the richest English historic
+library we possess, and is now located in the British Museum, having
+been purchased for the use of the nation by Parliament in 1707, at a
+cost of 4500_l._ The collection of Sir Hans Sloane was added thereto in
+1753, for the sum of 20,000_l._ Dr. Birch and Mr. Cracherode bequeathed
+their most valuable collections to the British Museum. Mr. Douce is the
+only collector in the list above who bequeathed his curious gatherings
+elsewhere. He was an officer of the Museum for many years, but preferred
+to leave his treasures to the Bodleian Library, where they are preserved
+intact, according to his earnest wish, a wish he feared might not be
+gratified in the national building. It is to this scholar and friend,
+the author of these volumes has dedicated them, as a lasting memorial of
+an esteem which endured during the life of each.]
+
+[Footnote 6: By Mr. Inglis, in 1832. This famous bishop is said to have
+possessed more books than all the others in England put together. Like
+Magliabechi, he lived among them, and those who visited him had to
+dispense with ceremony and step over the volumes that always strewed his
+floor.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The earliest decorated books were the Consular Diptycha,
+ivory bookcovers richly sculptured in relief, and destined to contain
+upon their tablets the Fasti Consulares, the list ending with the name
+of the new consul, whose property they happened to be. Such as have
+descended to our own times appear to be works of the lower empire. They
+were generally decorated with full length figures of the consul and
+attendants, superintending the sports of the circus, or conjoined with
+portraits of the reigning prince and emblematic figures. The Greek
+Church adopted the style for the covers of the sacred volume, and
+ancient clerical libraries formerly possessed many such specimens of
+early bookbinding; the covers being richly sculptured in ivory, with
+bas-reliefs designed from Scripture history. Such ivories were sometimes
+placed in the centre of the covers, and framed in an ornamental
+metal-work studded with precious stones and engraved cameos. The
+barbaric magnificence of these volumes has never been surpassed; the era
+of Charlemagne was the culmination of their glory. One such volume,
+presented by that sovereign to the Cathedral at Treves, is enriched with
+Roman ivories and decorative gems. The value of manuscripts in the
+middle ages, suggested costly bindings for books that consumed the
+labour of lives to copy, and decorate with ornamental letters, or
+illustrative paintings. In the fifteenth century covers of leather
+embossed with storied ornament were in use; ladies also frequently
+employed their needles to construct, with threads of gold and silver, on
+grounds of coloured silk, the cover of a favourite volume. In the
+British Museum one is preserved of a later date--the work of our Queen
+Elizabeth. In the sixteenth century small ornaments, capable of being
+conjoined into a variety of elaborate patterns, were first used for
+stamping the covers with gilding; the leather was stained of various
+tints, and a beauty imparted to volumes which has not been surpassed by
+the most skilful modern workmen.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Fuggers were a rich family of merchants, residing at
+Augsburg, carrying on trade with both the Indies, and from thence over
+Europe. They were ennobled by the Emperor Maximilian I. Their wealth
+often maintained the armies of Charles V.; and when Anthony Fugger
+received that sovereign at his house at Augsburg he is said, as a part
+of the entertainment, to have consumed in a fire of fragrant woods the
+bond of the emperor who condescended to become his guest.]
+
+[Footnote 9: A living poet thus enthusiastically describes the charms of
+a student's life among his books--"he has his Rome, his Florence, his
+whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his
+books the ruins of an antique world, and the glories of a modern
+one."--Longfellow's _Hyperion_.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BIBLIOMANIA.
+
+
+The preceding article is honourable to literature, yet even a passion
+for collecting books is not always a passion for literature.
+
+The BIBLIOMANIA, or the collecting an enormous heap of books without
+intelligent curiosity, has, since libraries have existed, infected weak
+minds, who imagine that they themselves acquire knowledge when they keep
+it on their shelves. Their motley libraries have been called the
+_madhouses of the Human mind_; and again, _the tomb of books_, when the
+possessor will not communicate them, and coffins them up in the cases of
+his library. It was facetiously observed, these collections are not
+without a _Lock on the Human Understanding_.[10]
+
+The BIBLIOMANIA never raged more violently than in our own times. It is
+fortunate that literature is in no ways injured by the follies of
+collectors, since though they preserve the worthless, they necessarily
+protect the good.[11]
+
+Some collectors place all their fame on the _view_ of a splendid
+library, where volumes, arrayed in all the pomp of lettering, silk
+linings, triple gold bands, and tinted leather, are locked up in wire
+cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the _mere reader_, dazzling
+our eyes like eastern beauties peering through their jalousies!
+
+LA BRUYERE has touched on this mania with humour:--"Of such a collector,
+as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the staircase, from
+a strong smell of Morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions,
+gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, and naming them one after another, as if
+he were showing a gallery of pictures! a gallery, by-the-bye, which he
+seldom traverses when _alone_, for he rarely reads; but me he offers to
+conduct through it! I thank him for his politeness, and as little as
+himself care to visit the tan-house, which he calls his library."
+
+LUCIAN has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of
+a vast library, like him, who in the present day, after turning over the
+pages of an old book, chiefly admires the _date_. LUCIAN compares him to
+a pilot, who was never taught the science of navigation; to a rider who
+cannot keep his seat on a spirited horse; to a man who, not having the
+use of his feet, would conceal the defect by wearing embroidered shoes;
+but, alas! he cannot stand in them! He ludicrously compares him to
+Thersites wearing the armour of Achilles, tottering at every step;
+leering with his little eyes under his enormous helmet, and his
+hunchback raising the cuirass above his shoulders. Why do you buy so
+many books? You have no hair, and you purchase a comb; you are blind,
+and you will have a grand mirror; you are deaf, and you will have fine
+musical instruments! Your costly bindings are only a source of vexation,
+and you are continually discharging your librarians for not preserving
+them from the silent invasion of the worms, and the nibbling triumphs of
+the rats!
+
+Such _collectors_ will contemptuously smile at the _collection_ of the
+amiable Melancthon. He possessed in his library only four
+authors,--Plato, Pliny, Plutarch, and Ptolemy the geographer.
+
+Ancillon was a great collector of curious books, and dexterously
+defended himself when accused of the _Bibliomania_. He gave a good
+reason for buying the most elegant editions; which he did not consider
+merely as a literary luxury.[12] The less the eyes are fatigued in
+reading a work, the more liberty the mind feels to judge of it: and as
+we perceive more clearly the excellences and defects of a printed book
+than when in MS.; so we see them more plainly in good paper and clear
+type, than when the impression and paper are both bad. He always
+purchased _first editions_, and never waited for second ones; though it
+is the opinion of some that a first edition is only to be considered as
+an imperfect essay, which the author proposes to finish after he has
+tried the sentiments of the literary world. Bayle approves of Ancillon's
+plan. Those who wait for a book till it is reprinted, show plainly that
+they prefer the saving of a pistole to the acquisition of knowledge.
+With one of these persons, who waited for a second edition, which never
+appeared, a literary man argued, that it was better to have two editions
+of a book rather than to deprive himself of the advantage which the
+reading of the first might procure him. It has frequently happened,
+besides, that in second editions, the author omits, as well as adds, or
+makes alterations from prudential reasons; the displeasing truths which
+he _corrects_, as he might call them, are so many losses incurred by
+Truth itself. There is an advantage in comparing the first and
+subsequent editions; among other things, we feel great satisfaction in
+tracing the variations of a work after its revision. There are also
+other secrets, well known to the intelligent curious, who are versed in
+affairs relating to books. Many first editions are not to be purchased
+for the treble value of later ones. The collector we have noticed
+frequently said, as is related of Virgil, "I collect gold from Ennius's
+dung." I find, in some neglected authors, particular things, not
+elsewhere to be found. He read many of these, but not with equal
+attention--"_Sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugiens_;" like a dog at
+the Nile, drinking and running.
+
+Fortunate are those who only consider a book for the utility and
+pleasure they may derive from its possession. Students, who know much,
+and still thirst to know more, may require this vast sea of books; yet
+in that sea they may suffer many shipwrecks.
+
+Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the
+damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the
+_borrowers_, not to say a word of the _purloiners_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 10: An allusion and pun which occasioned the French
+translator of the present work an unlucky blunder: puzzled, no
+doubt, by my _facetiously_, he translates "mettant, comme on l'a
+_trés-judicieusement_ fait observer, l'entendement humain sous la clef."
+The great work and the great author alluded to, having quite escaped
+him!]
+
+[Footnote 11: The earliest satire on the mere book-collector is to be
+found in Barclay's translation of Brandt's "Ship of Fools," first
+printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1508. He thus announces his true
+position:--
+
+    I am the first fool of the whole navie
+    To keepe the poupe, the helme, and eke the sayle:
+    For this is my minde, this one pleasure have I,
+    Of bookes to have greate plentie and apparayle.
+    Still I am busy bookes assembling,
+    For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thing
+    In my conceyt, and to have them aye in hande:
+    But what they meane do I not understande.
+    But yet I have them in great reverence
+    And honoure, saving them from filth and ordare,
+    By often brushing and much diligence;
+    Full goodly bound in pleasaunt coverture,
+    Of damas, satten, or else of velvet pure:
+    I keepe them sure, fearing least they should be lost,
+    For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast.]
+
+[Footnote 12: David Ancillon was born at Metz in 1617. From his earliest
+years his devotion to study was so great as to call for the
+interposition of his father, to prevent his health being seriously
+affected by it; he was described as "intemperately studious." The
+Jesuits of Metz gave him the free range of their college library; but
+his studies led him to Protestantism, and in 1633 he removed to Geneva,
+and devoted himself to the duties of the Reformed Church. Throughout an
+honourable life he retained unabated his love of books; and having a
+fortune by marriage, he gratified himself in constantly collecting them,
+so that he ultimately possessed one of the finest private libraries in
+France. For very many years his life passed peaceably and happily amid
+his books and his duties, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
+drove him from his country. His noble library was scattered at
+waste-paper prices, "thus in a single day was destroyed the labour,
+care, and expense of forty-four years." He died seven years afterwards
+at Brandenburg.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY JOURNALS.
+
+
+When writers were not numerous, and readers rare, the unsuccessful
+author fell insensibly into oblivion; he dissolved away in his own
+weakness. If he committed the private folly of printing what no one
+would purchase, he was not arraigned at the public tribunal--and the
+awful terrors of his day of judgment consisted only in the retributions
+of his publisher's final accounts. At length, a taste for literature
+spread through the body of the people; vanity induced the inexperienced
+and the ignorant to aspire to literary honours. To oppose these forcible
+entries into the haunts of the Muses, periodical criticism brandished
+its formidable weapon; and the fall of many, taught some of our greatest
+geniuses to rise. Multifarious writings produced multifarious
+strictures; and public criticism reached to such perfection, that taste
+was generally diffused, enlightening those whose occupations had
+otherwise never permitted them to judge of literary compositions.
+
+The invention of REVIEWS, in the form which they have at length
+gradually assumed, could not have existed but in the most polished ages
+of literature: for without a constant supply of authors, and a refined
+spirit of criticism, they could not excite a perpetual interest among
+the lovers of literature. These publications were long the chronicles of
+taste and science, presenting the existing state of the public mind,
+while they formed a ready resource for those idle hours, which men of
+letters would not pass idly.
+
+Their multiplicity has undoubtedly produced much evil; puerile critics
+and venal drudges manufacture reviews; hence that shameful discordance
+of opinion, which is the scorn and scandal of criticism. Passions
+hostile to the peaceful truths of literature have likewise made
+tremendous inroads in the republic, and every literary virtue has been
+lost! In "Calamities of Authors" I have given the history of a literary
+conspiracy, conducted by a solitary critic, GILBERT STUART, against the
+historian HENRY.
+
+These works may disgust by vapid panegyric, or gross invective; weary
+by uniform dulness, or tantalise by superficial knowledge. Sometimes
+merely written to catch the public attention, a malignity is indulged
+against authors, to season the caustic leaves. A reviewer has admired
+those works in private, which he has condemned in his official capacity.
+But good sense, good temper, and good taste, will ever form an estimable
+journalist, who will inspire confidence, and give stability to his
+decisions.
+
+To the lovers of literature these volumes, when they have outlived their
+year, are not unimportant. They constitute a great portion of literary
+history, and are indeed the annals of the republic.
+
+To our own reviews, we must add the old foreign journals, which are
+perhaps even more valuable to the man of letters. Of these the variety
+is considerable; and many of their writers are now known. They delight
+our curiosity by opening new views, and light up in observing minds many
+projects of works, wanted in our own literature. GIBBON feasted on them;
+and while he turned them over with constant pleasure, derived accurate
+notions of works, which no student could himself have verified; of many
+works a notion is sufficient.
+
+The origin of literary journals was the happy project of DENIS DE SALLO,
+a counsellor in the parliament of Paris. In 1665 appeared his _Journal
+des Sçavans_. He published his essay in the name of the Sieur de
+Hedouville, his footman! Was this a mere stroke of humour, or designed
+to insinuate that the freedom of criticism could only be allowed to his
+lacquey? The work, however, met with so favourable a reception, that
+SALLO had the satisfaction of seeing it, the following year, imitated
+throughout Europe, and his Journal, at the same time, translated into
+various languages. But as most authors lay themselves open to an acute
+critic, the animadversions of SALLO were given with such asperity of
+criticism, and such malignity of wit, that this new journal excited loud
+murmurs, and the most heart-moving complaints. The learned had their
+plagiarisms detected, and the wit had his claims disputed. Sarasin
+called the gazettes of this new Aristarchus, Hebdomadary Flams!
+_Billevesées hebdomadaires!_ and Menage having published a law book,
+which Sallo had treated with severe raillery, he entered into a long
+argument to prove, according to Justinian, that a lawyer is not allowed
+to defame another lawyer, &c.: _Senatori maledicere non licet,
+remaledicere jus fasque est_. Others loudly declaimed against this new
+species of imperial tyranny, and this attempt to regulate the public
+opinion by that of an individual. Sallo, after having published only his
+third volume, felt the irritated wasps of literature thronging so thick
+about him, that he very gladly abdicated the throne of criticism. The
+journal is said to have suffered a short interruption by a remonstrance
+from the nuncio of the pope, for the energy with which Sallo had
+defended the liberties of the Gallican church.
+
+Intimidated by the fate of SALLO, his successor, the Abbé GALLOIS,
+flourished in a milder reign. He contented himself with giving the
+titles of books, accompanied with extracts; and he was more useful than
+interesting. The public, who had been so much amused by the raillery and
+severity of the founder of this dynasty of new critics, now murmured at
+the want of that salt and acidity by which they had relished the
+fugitive collation. They were not satisfied with having the most
+beautiful, or the most curious parts of a new work brought together;
+they wished for the unreasonable entertainment of railing and raillery.
+At length another objection was conjured up against the review;
+mathematicians complained that they were neglected to make room for
+experiments in natural philosophy; the historian sickened over works of
+natural history; the antiquaries would have nothing but discoveries of
+MSS. or fragments of antiquity. Medical works were called for by one
+party, and reprobated by another. In a word, each reader wished only to
+have accounts of books, which were interesting to his profession or his
+taste. But a review is a work presented to the public at large, and
+written for more than one country. In spite of all these difficulties,
+this work was carried to a vast extent. An _index_ to the _Journal des
+Sçavans_ has been arranged on a critical plan, occupying ten volumes in
+quarto, which may be considered as a most useful instrument to obtain
+the science and literature of the entire century.
+
+The next celebrated reviewer is BAYLE, who undertook, in 1684, his
+_Nouvelles de la République des Lettres_. He possessed the art, acquired
+by habit, of reading a book by his fingers, as it has been happily
+expressed; and of comprising, in concise extracts, a just notion of a
+book, without the addition of irrelevant matter. Lively, neat, and full
+of that attic salt which gives a relish to the driest disquisitions,
+for the first time the ladies and all the _beau-monde_ took an interest
+in the labours of the critic. He wreathed the rod of criticism with
+roses. Yet even BAYLE, who declared himself to be a reporter, and not a
+judge, BAYLE, the discreet sceptic, could not long satisfy his readers.
+His panegyric was thought somewhat prodigal; his fluency of style
+somewhat too familiar; and others affected not to relish his gaiety. In
+his latter volumes, to still the clamour, he assumed the cold sobriety
+of an historian: and has bequeathed no mean legacy to the literary
+world, in thirty-six small volumes of criticism, closed in 1687. These
+were continued by Bernard, with inferior skill; and by Basnage more
+successfully, in his _Histoire des Ouvrages des Sçavans_.
+
+The contemporary and the antagonist of BAYLE was LE CLERC. His firm
+industry has produced three _Bibliothèques_--_Universelle et
+Historique_, _Choisie_, and _Ancienne et Moderne_; forming in all
+eighty-two volumes, which, complete, bear a high price. Inferior to
+BAYLE in the more pleasing talents, he is perhaps superior in erudition,
+and shows great skill in analysis: but his hand drops no flowers! GIBBON
+resorted to Le Clerc's volumes at his leisure, "as an inexhaustible
+source of amusement and instruction." Apostolo Zeno's _Giornale del
+Litterati d'Italia_, from 1710 to 1733, is valuable.
+
+BEAUSOBRE and L'ENFANT, two learned Protestants, wrote a _Bibliothèque
+Germanique_, from 1720 to 1740, in 50 volumes. Our own literature is
+interested by the "_Bibliothèque Britannique_," written by some literary
+Frenchmen, noticed by La Croze, in his "Voyage Littéraire," who
+designates the writers in this most tantalising manner: "Les auteurs
+sont gens de mérite, et qui entendent tous parfaitement l'Anglois;
+Messrs. S.B., le M.D., et le savant Mr. D." Posterity has been partially
+let into the secret: De Missy was one of the contributors, and Warburton
+communicated his project of an edition of Velleius Patereulus. This
+useful account of English books begins in 1733, and closes in 1747,
+Hague, 23 vols.: to this we must add the _Journal Britannique_, in 18
+vols., by Dr. MATY, a foreign physician residing in London; this Journal
+exhibits a view of the state of English literature from 1750 to 1755.
+GIBBON bestows a high character on the journalist, who sometimes
+"aspires to the character of a poet and a philosopher; one of the last
+disciples of the school of Fontenelle."
+
+MATY'S son produced here a review known to the curious, his style and
+decisions often discover haste and heat, with some striking
+observations: alluding to his father, in his motto, Maty applies
+Virgil's description of the young Ascanius, "Sequitur _patrem_ non
+passibus æquis." He says he only holds a _monthly conversation_ with the
+public. His obstinate resolution of carrying on this review without an
+associate, has shown its folly and its danger; for a fatal illness
+produced a cessation, at once, of his periodical labours and his life.
+
+Other reviews, are the _Mémoires de Trevoux_, written by the Jesuits.
+Their caustic censure and vivacity of style made them redoubtable in
+their day; they did not even spare their brothers. The _Journal
+Littéraire_, printed at the Hague, was chiefly composed by Prosper
+Marchand, Sallengre, and Van Effen, who were then young writers. This
+list may be augmented by other journals, which sometimes merit
+preservation in the history of modern literature.
+
+Our early English journals notice only a few publications, with little
+acumen. Of these, the "Memoirs of Literature," and the "Present State of
+the Republic of Letters," are the best. The Monthly Review, the
+venerable (now the deceased) mother of our journals, commenced in 1749.
+
+It is impossible to form a literary journal in a manner such as might be
+wished; it must be the work of many, of different tempers and talents.
+An individual, however versatile and extensive his genius, would soon be
+exhausted. Such a regular labour occasioned Bayle a dangerous illness,
+and Maty fell a victim to his Review. A prospect always extending as we
+proceed, the frequent novelty of the matter, the pride of considering
+one's self as the arbiter of literature, animate a journalist at the
+commencement of his career; but the literary Hercules becomes fatigued;
+and to supply his craving pages he gives copious extracts, till the
+journal becomes tedious, or fails in variety. The Abbé Gallois was
+frequently diverted from continuing his journal, and Fontenelle remarks,
+that this occupation was too restrictive for a mind so extensive as his;
+the Abbé could not resist the charms of revelling in a new work, and
+gratifying any sudden curiosity which seized him; this interrupted
+perpetually the regularity which the public expects from a journalist.
+
+The character of a perfect journalist would be only an ideal portrait;
+there are, however, some acquirements which are indispensable. He must
+be tolerably acquainted with the subjects he treats on; no _common_
+acquirement! He must possess the _literary history of his own times_; a
+science which, Fontenelle observes, is almost distinct from any other.
+It is the result of an active curiosity, which takes a lively interest
+in the tastes and pursuits of the age, while it saves the journalist
+from some ridiculous blunders. We often see the mind of a reviewer half
+a century remote from the work reviewed. A fine feeling of the various
+manners of writers, with a style adapted to fix the attention of the
+indolent, and to win the untractable, should be his study; but candour
+is the brightest gem of criticism! He ought not to throw everything into
+the crucible, nor should he suffer the whole to pass as if he trembled
+to touch it. Lampoons and satires in time will lose their effect, as
+well as panegyrics. He must learn to resist the seductions of his own
+pen: the pretension of composing a treatise on the _subject_, rather
+than on the _book_ he criticises--proud of insinuating that he gives, in
+a dozen pages, what the author himself has not been able to perform in
+his volumes. Should he gain confidence by a popular delusion, and by
+unworthy conduct, he may chance to be mortified by the pardon or by the
+chastisement of insulted genius. The most noble criticism is that in
+which the critic is not the antagonist so much as the rival of the
+author.
+
+
+
+
+RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS.
+
+
+Our ancient classics had a very narrow escape from total annihilation.
+Many have perished: many are but fragments; and chance, blind arbiter of
+the works of genius, has left us some, not of the highest value; which,
+however, have proved very useful, as a test to show the pedantry of
+those who adore antiquity not from true feeling, but from traditional
+prejudice.
+
+We lost a great number of ancient authors by the conquest of Egypt by
+the Saracens, which deprived Europe of the use of the _papyrus_. They
+could find no substitute, and knew no other expedient but writing on
+parchment, which became every day more scarce and costly. Ignorance and
+barbarism unfortunately seized on Roman manuscripts, and industriously
+defaced pages once imagined to have been immortal! The most elegant
+compositions of classic Rome were converted into the psalms of a
+breviary, or the prayers of a missal. Livy and Tacitus "hide their
+diminished heads" to preserve the legend of a saint, and immortal truths
+were converted into clumsy fictions. It happened that the most
+voluminous authors were the greatest sufferers; these were preferred,
+because their volume being the greatest, most profitably repaid their
+destroying industry, and furnished ampler scope for future
+transcription. A Livy or a Diodorus was preferred to the smaller works
+of Cicero or Horace; and it is to this circumstance that Juvenal,
+Persius, and Martial have come down to us entire, rather probably than
+to these pious personages preferring their obscenities, as some have
+accused them. At Rome, a part of a book of Livy was found, between the
+lines of a parchment but half effaced, on which they had substituted a
+book of the Bible; and a recent discovery of Cicero _De Republicâ_,
+which lay concealed under some monkish writing, shows the fate of
+ancient manuscripts.[13]
+
+That the Monks had not in high veneration the _profane_ authors, appears
+by a facetious anecdote. To read the classics was considered as a very
+idle recreation, and some held them in great horror. To distinguish them
+from other books, they invented a disgraceful sign: when a monk asked
+for a pagan author, after making the general sign they used in their
+manual and silent language when they wanted a book, he added a
+particular one, which consisted in scratching under his ear, as a dog,
+which feels an itching, scratches himself in that place with his
+paw--because, said they, an unbeliever is compared to a dog! In this
+manner they expressed an _itching_ for those _dogs_ Virgil or
+Horace![14]
+
+There have been ages when, for the possession of a manuscript, some
+would transfer an estate, or leave in pawn for its loan hundreds of
+golden crowns; and when even the sale or loan of a manuscript was
+considered of such importance as to have been solemnly registered by
+public acts. Absolute as was Louis XI. he could not obtain the MS. of
+Rasis, an Arabian writer, from the library of the Faculty of Paris, to
+have a copy made, without pledging a hundred golden crowns; and the
+president of his treasury, charged with this commission, sold part of
+his plate to make the deposit. For the loan of a volume of Avicenna, a
+Baron offered a pledge of ten marks of silver, which was refused:
+because it was not considered equal to the risk incurred of losing a
+volume of Avicenna! These events occurred in 1471. One cannot but smile,
+at an anterior period, when a Countess of Anjou bought a favourite book
+of homilies for two hundred sheep, some skins of martins, and bushels of
+wheat and rye.
+
+In those times, manuscripts were important articles of commerce; they
+were excessively scarce, and preserved with the utmost care. Usurers
+themselves considered them as precious objects for pawn. A student of
+Pavia, who was reduced, raised a new fortune by leaving in pawn a
+manuscript of a body of law; and a grammarian, who was ruined by a fire,
+rebuilt his house with two small volumes of Cicero.
+
+At the restoration of letters, the researches of literary men were
+chiefly directed to this point; every part of Europe and Greece was
+ransacked; and, the glorious end considered, there was something sublime
+in this humble industry, which often recovered a lost author of
+antiquity, and gave one more classic to the world. This occupation was
+carried on with enthusiasm, and a kind of mania possessed many, who
+exhausted their fortunes in distant voyages and profuse prices. In
+reading the correspondence of the learned Italians of these times, their
+adventures of manuscript-hunting are very amusing; and their raptures,
+their congratulations, or at times their condolence, and even their
+censures, are all immoderate. The acquisition of a province would not
+have given so much satisfaction as the discovery or an author little
+known, or not known at all. "Oh, great gain! Oh, unexpected felicity! I
+intreat you, my Poggio, send me the manuscript as soon as possible, that
+I may see it before I die!" exclaims Aretino, in a letter overflowing
+with enthusiasm, on Poggio's discovery of a copy of Quintilian. Some of
+the half-witted, who joined in this great hunt, were often thrown out,
+and some paid high for manuscripts not authentic; the knave played on
+the bungling amateur of manuscripts, whose credulity exceeded his purse.
+But even among the learned, much ill-blood was inflamed; he who had
+been most successful in acquiring manuscripts was envied by the less
+fortunate, and the glory of possessing a manuscript of Cicero seemed to
+approximate to that of being its author. It is curious to observe that
+in these vast importations into Italy of manuscripts from Asia, John
+Aurispa, who brought many hundreds of Greek manuscripts, laments that he
+had chosen more profane than sacred writers; which circumstance he tells
+us was owing to the Greeks, who would not so easily part with
+theological works, but did not highly value profane writers!
+
+These manuscripts were discovered in the obscurest recesses of
+monasteries; they were not always imprisoned in libraries, but rotting
+in dark unfrequented corners with rubbish. It required not less
+ingenuity to find out places where to grope in, than to understand the
+value of the acquisition. An universal ignorance then prevailed in the
+knowledge of ancient writers. A scholar of those times gave the first
+rank among the Latin writers to one Valerius, whether he meant Martial
+or Maximus is uncertain; he placed Plato and Tully among the poets, and
+imagined that Ennius and Statius were contemporaries. A library of six
+hundred volumes was then considered as an extraordinary collection.
+
+Among those whose lives were devoted to this purpose, Poggio the
+Florentine stands distinguished; but he complains that his zeal was not
+assisted by the great. He found under a heap of rubbish in a decayed
+coffer, in a tower belonging to the monastery of St. Gallo, the work of
+Quintilian. He is indignant at its forlorn situation; at least, he
+cries, it should have been preserved in the library of the monks; but I
+found it _in teterrimo quodam et obscuro carcere_--and to his great joy
+drew it out of its grave! The monks have been complimented as the
+preservers of literature, but by facts, like the present, their real
+affection may be doubted.
+
+The most valuable copy of Tacitus, of whom so much is wanting, was
+likewise discovered in a monastery of Westphalia. It is a curious
+circumstance in literary history, that we should owe Tacitus to this
+single copy; for the Roman emperor of that name had copies of the works
+of his illustrious ancestor placed in all the libraries of the empire,
+and every year had ten copies transcribed; but the Roman libraries seem
+to have been all destroyed, and the imperial protection availed nothing
+against the teeth of time.
+
+The original manuscript of Justinian's Pandects was discovered by the
+Pisans, when they took a city in Calabria; that vast code of laws had
+been in a manner unknown from the time of that emperor. This curious
+book was brought to Pisa; and when Pisa was taken by the Florentines,
+was transferred to Florence, where it is still preserved.
+
+It sometimes happened that manuscripts were discovered in the last
+agonies of existence. Papirius Masson found, in the house of a
+bookbinder of Lyons, the works of Agobard; the mechanic was on the point
+of using the manuscripts to line the covers of his books.[15] A page of
+the second decade of Livy, it is said, was found by a man of letters in
+the parchment of his battledore, while he was amusing himself in the
+country. He hastened to the maker of the battledore--but arrived too
+late! The man had finished the last page of Livy--about a week before.
+
+Many works have undoubtedly perished in this manuscript state. By a
+petition of Dr. Dee to Queen Mary, in the Cotton library, it appears
+that Cicero's treatise _De Republicâ_ was once extant in this country.
+Huet observes that Petronius was probably entire in the days of John of
+Salisbury, who quotes fragments, not now to be found in the remains of
+the Roman bard. Raimond Soranzo, a lawyer in the papal court, possessed
+two books of Cicero "on Glory," which he presented to Petrarch, who lent
+them to a poor aged man of letters, formerly his preceptor. Urged by
+extreme want, the old man pawned them, and returning home died suddenly
+without having revealed where he had left them. They have never been
+recovered. Petrarch speaks of them with ecstasy, and tells us that he
+had studied them perpetually. Two centuries afterwards, this treatise on
+Glory by Cicero was mentioned in a catalogue of books bequeathed to a
+monastery of nuns, but when inquired after was missing. It was supposed
+that Petrus Alcyonius, physician to that household, purloined it, and
+after transcribing as much of it as he could into his own writings, had
+destroyed the original. Alcyonius, in his book _De Exilio_, the critics
+observed, had many splendid passages which stood isolated in his work,
+and were quite above his genius. The beggar, or in this case the thief,
+was detected by mending his rags with patches of purple and gold.
+
+In this age of manuscript, there is reason to believe, that when a man
+of letters accidentally obtained an unknown work, he did not make the
+fairest use of it, but cautiously concealed it from his contemporaries.
+Leonard Aretino, a distinguished scholar at the dawn of modern
+literature, having found a Greek manuscript of Procopius _De Bello
+Gothico_, translated it into Latin, and published the work; but
+concealing the author's name, it passed as his own, till another
+manuscript of the same work being dug out of its grave, the fraud of
+Aretino was apparent. Barbosa, a bishop of Ugento, in 1649, has printed
+among his works a treatise, obtained by one of his domestics bringing in
+a fish rolled in a leaf of written paper, which his curiosity led him to
+examine. He was sufficiently interested to run out and search the fish
+market, till he found the manuscript out of which it had been torn. He
+published it, under the title _De Officio Episcopi_. Machiavelli acted
+more adroitly in a similar case; a manuscript of the Apophthegms of the
+Ancients by Plutarch having fallen into his hands, he selected those
+which pleased him, and put them into the mouth of his hero Castrucio
+Castricani.
+
+In more recent times, we might collect many curious anecdotes concerning
+manuscripts. Sir Robert Cotton one day at his tailor's discovered that
+the man was holding in his hand, ready to cut up for measures--an
+original Magna Charta, with all its appendages of seals and signatures.
+This anecdote is told by Colomiés, who long resided in this country; and
+an original Magna Charta is preserved in the Cottonian library
+exhibiting marks of dilapidation.
+
+Cardinal Granvelle[16] left behind him several chests filled with a
+prodigious quantity of letters written in different languages,
+commented, noted, and underlined by his own hand. These curious
+manuscripts, after his death, were left in a garret to the mercy of the
+rain and the rats. Five or six of these chests the steward sold to the
+grocers. It was then that a discovery was made of this treasure. Several
+learned men occupied themselves in collecting sufficient of these
+literary relics to form eighty thick folios, consisting of original
+letters by all the crowned heads in Europe, with instructions for
+ambassadors, and other state-papers.
+
+A valuable secret history by Sir George Mackenzie, the king's advocate
+in Scotland, was rescued from a mass of waste paper sold to a grocer,
+who had the good sense to discriminate it, and communicated this curious
+memorial to Dr. M'Crie. The original, in the handwriting of its author,
+has been deposited in the Advocate's Library. There is an hiatus, which
+contained the history of six years. This work excited inquiry after the
+rest of the MSS., which were found to be nothing more than the sweepings
+of an attorney's office.
+
+Montaigne's Journal of his Travels into Italy has been but recently
+published. A prebendary of Perigord, travelling through this province to
+make researches relative to its history, arrived at the ancient
+_château_ of Montaigne, in possession of a descendant of this great man.
+He inquired for the archives, if there had been any. He was shown an old
+worm-eaten coffer, which had long held papers untouched by the incurious
+generations of Montaigne. Stifled in clouds of dust, he drew out the
+original manuscript of the travels of Montaigne. Two-thirds of the work
+are in the handwriting of Montaigne, and the rest is written by a
+servant, who always speaks of his master in the third person. But he
+must have written what Montaigne dictated, as the expressions and the
+egotisms are all Montaigne's. The bad writing and orthography made it
+almost unintelligible. They confirmed Montaigne's own observation, that
+he was very negligent in the correction of his works.
+
+Our ancestors were great hiders of manuscripts: Dr. Dee's singular MSS.
+were found in the secret drawer of a chest, which had passed through
+many hands undiscovered; and that vast collection of state-papers of
+Thurloe's, the secretary of Cromwell, which formed about seventy volumes
+in the original manuscripts, accidentally fell out of the false ceiling
+of some chambers in Lincoln's-Inn.
+
+A considerable portion of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters I
+discovered in the hands of an attorney: family-papers are often
+consigned to offices of lawyers, where many valuable manuscripts are
+buried. Posthumous publications of this kind are too frequently made
+from sordid motives: discernment and taste would only be detrimental to
+the views of bulky publishers.[17]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 13: This important political treatise was discovered in the
+year 1823, by Angelo Maii, in the library of the Vatican. A treatise on
+the Psalms covered it. This second treatise was written in the clear,
+minute character of the middle ages, but beneath it Maii saw distinct
+traces of the larger letters of the work of Cicero; and to the infinite
+joy of the learned succeeded in restoring to the world one of the most
+important works of the great orator.]
+
+[Footnote 14: "Many bishops and abbots began to consider learning as
+pernicious to true piety, and confounded illiberal ignorance with
+Christian simplicity," says Warton. The study of Pagan authors was
+declared to inculcate Paganism; the same sort of reasoning led others to
+say that the reading of the Scriptures would infallibly change the
+readers to Jews; it is amusing to look back on these vain efforts to
+stop the effect of the printing-press.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Agobard was Archbishop of Lyons, and one of the most
+learned men of the ninth century. He was born in 779; raised to the
+prelacy in 816, from which he was expelled by Louis le Debonnaire for
+espousing the cause of his son Lothaire; he fled to Italy, but was
+restored to his see in 838, dying in 840, when the Church canonized him.
+He was a strenuous Churchman, but with enlightened views; and his style
+as an author is remarkable alike for its clearness and perfect
+simplicity. His works were unknown until discovered in the manner
+narrated above, and were published by the discoverer at Paris in 1603,
+the originals being bequeathed to the Royal Library at his death. On
+examination, several errors were found in this edition, and a new one
+was published in 1662, to which another treatise by Agobard was added.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The celebrated minister of Philip II.]
+
+[Footnote 17: One of the most curious modern discoveries was that of the
+Fairfax papers and correspondence by the late J. N. Hughes, of
+Winchester, who purchased at a sale at Leeds Castle, Kent, a box
+apparently filled with old coloured paving-tiles; on removing the upper
+layers he found a large mass of manuscripts of the time of the Civil
+wars, evidently thus packed for concealment; they have since been
+published, and add most valuable information to this interesting period
+of English history.]
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES OF CRITICISM.
+
+
+It may, perhaps, be some satisfaction to show the young writer, that the
+most celebrated ancients have been as rudely subjected to the tyranny of
+criticism as the moderns. Detraction has ever poured the "waters of
+bitterness."
+
+It was given out, that Homer had stolen from anterior poets whatever was
+most remarkable in the Iliad and Odyssey. Naucrates even points out the
+source in the library at Memphis in a temple of Vulcan, which according
+to him the blind bard completely pillaged. Undoubtedly there were good
+poets before Homer; how absurd to conceive that an elaborate poem could
+be the first! We have indeed accounts of anterior poets, and apparently
+of epics, before Homer; Ælian notices Syagrus, who composed a poem on
+the Siege of Troy; and Suidas the poem of Corinnus, from which it is
+said Homer greatly borrowed. Why did Plato so severely condemn the great
+bard, and imitate him?
+
+Sophocles was brought to trial by his children as a lunatic; and some,
+who censured the inequalities of this poet, have also condemned the
+vanity of Pindar; the rough verses of Æschylus; and Euripides, for the
+conduct of his plots.
+
+Socrates, considered as the wisest and the most moral of men, Cicero
+treated as an usurer, and the pedant Athenæus as illiterate; the latter
+points out as a Socratic folly our philosopher disserting on the nature
+of justice before his judges, who were so many thieves. The malignant
+buffoonery of Aristophanes treats him much worse; but he, as Jortin
+says, was a great wit, but a great rascal.
+
+Plato--who has been called, by Clement of Alexandria, the Moses of
+Athens; the philosopher of the Christians, by Arnobius; and the god of
+philosophers, by Cicero--Athenæus accuses of envy; Theopompus of lying;
+Suidas of avarice; Aulus Gellius, of robbery; Porphyry, of incontinence;
+and Aristophanes, of impiety.
+
+Aristotle, whose industry composed more than four hundred volumes, has
+not been less spared by the critics; Diogenes Laertius, Cicero, and
+Plutarch, have forgotten nothing that can tend to show his ignorance,
+his ambition, and his vanity.
+
+It has been said, that Plato was so envious of the celebrity of
+Democritus, that he proposed burning all his works; but that Amydis and
+Clinias prevented it, by remonstrating that there were copies of them
+everywhere; and Aristotle was agitated by the same passion against all
+the philosophers his predecessors.
+
+Virgil is destitute of invention, if we are to give credit to Pliny,
+Carbilius, and Seneca. Caligula has absolutely denied him even
+mediocrity; Herennus has marked his faults; and Perilius Faustinus has
+furnished a thick volume with his plagiarisms. Even the author of his
+apology has confessed, that he has stolen from Homer his greatest
+beauties; from Apollonius Rhodius, many of his pathetic passages; from
+Nicander, hints for his Georgies; and this does not terminate the
+catalogue.
+
+Horace censures the coarse humour of Plautus; and Horace, in his turn,
+has been blamed for the free use he made of the Greek minor poets.
+
+The majority of the critics regard Pliny's Natural History only as a
+heap of fables; and Pliny cannot bear with Diodorus and Vopiscus; and in
+one comprehensive criticism, treats all the historians as narrators of
+fables.
+
+Livy has been reproached for his aversion to the Gauls; Dion, for his
+hatred of the republic; Velleius Paterculus, for speaking too kindly of
+the vices of Tiberius; and Herodotus and Plutarch, for their excessive
+partiality to their own country: while the latter has written an entire
+treatise on the malignity of Herodotus. Xenophon and Quintus Curtius
+have been considered rather as novelists than historians; and Tacitus
+has been censured for his audacity in pretending to discover the
+political springs and secret causes of events. Dionysius of
+Harlicarnassus has made an elaborate attack on Thucydides for the
+unskilful choice of his subject, and his manner of treating it.
+Dionysius would have nothing written but what tended to the glory of his
+country and the pleasure of the reader--as if history were a song! adds
+Hobbes, who also shows a personal motive in this attack. The same
+Dionysius severely criticises the style of Xenophon, who, he says, in
+attempting to elevate his style, shows himself incapable of supporting
+it. Polybius has been blamed for his frequent introduction of
+reflections which interrupt the thread of his narrative; and Sallust has
+been blamed by Cato for indulging his own private passions, and
+studiously concealing many of the glorious actions of Cicero. The Jewish
+historian, Josephus, is accused of not having designed his history for
+his own people so much as for the Greeks and Romans, whom he takes the
+utmost care never to offend. Josephus assumes a Roman name, Flavius; and
+considering his nation as entirely subjugated, to make them appear
+dignified to their conquerors, alters what he himself calls the _Holy
+books_. It is well known how widely he differs from the scriptural
+accounts. Some have said of Cicero, that there is no connexion, and to
+adopt their own figures, no _blood_ and _nerves_, in what his admirers
+so warmly extol. Cold in his extemporaneous effusions, artificial in his
+exordiums, trifling in his strained raillery, and tiresome in his
+digressions. This is saying a good deal about Cicero.
+
+Quintilian does not spare Seneca; and Demosthenes, called by Cicero the
+prince of orators, has, according to Hermippus, more of art than of
+nature. To Demades, his orations appear too much laboured; others have
+thought him too dry; and, if we may trust Æschines, his language is by
+no means pure.
+
+The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, and the Deipnosophists of Athenæus,
+while they have been extolled by one party, have been degraded by
+another. They have been considered as botchers of rags and remnants;
+their diligence has not been accompanied by judgment; and their taste
+inclined more to the frivolous than to the useful. Compilers, indeed,
+are liable to a hard fate, for little distinction is made in their
+ranks; a disagreeable situation, in which honest Burton seems to have
+been placed; for he says of his work, that some will cry out, "This is a
+thinge of meere industrie; a _collection_ without wit or invention; a
+very toy! So men are valued; their labours vilified by fellowes of no
+worth themselves, as things of nought: Who could not have done as much?
+Some understande too little, and some too much."
+
+Should we proceed with this list to our own country, and to our own
+times, it might be curiously augmented, and show the world what men the
+Critics are! but, perhaps, enough has been said to soothe irritated
+genius, and to shame fastidious criticism. "I would beg the critics to
+remember," the Earl of Roscommon writes, in his preface to Horace's Art
+of Poetry, "that Horace owed his favour and his fortune to the character
+given of him by Virgil and Varus; that Fundanius and Pollio are still
+valued by what Horace says of them; and that, in their golden age, there
+was a good understanding among the ingenious; and those who were the
+most esteemed, were the best natured."
+
+
+
+
+THE PERSECUTED LEARNED.
+
+
+Those who have laboured most zealously to instruct mankind have been
+those who have suffered most from ignorance; and the discoverers of new
+arts and sciences have hardly ever lived to see them accepted by the
+world. With a noble perception of his own genius, Lord Bacon, in his
+prophetic Will, thus expresses himself: "For my name and memory, I leave
+it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next
+ages." Before the times of Galileo and Harvey the world believed in the
+stagnation of the blood, and the diurnal immovability of the earth; and
+for denying these the one was persecuted and the other ridiculed.
+
+The intelligence and the virtue of Socrates were punished with death.
+Anaxagoras, when he attempted to propagate a just notion of the Supreme
+Being, was dragged to prison. Aristotle, after a long series of
+persecution, swallowed poison. Heraclitus, tormented by his countrymen,
+broke off all intercourse with men. The great geometricians and
+chemists, as Gerbert, Roger Bacon, and Cornelius Agrippa, were abhorred
+as magicians. Pope Gerbert, as Bishop Otho gravely relates, obtained the
+pontificate by having given himself up entirely to the devil: others
+suspected him, too, of holding an intercourse with demons; but this was
+indeed a devilish age!
+
+Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburg, having asserted that there existed
+antipodes, the Archbishop of Mentz declared him a heretic; and the Abbot
+Trithemius, who was fond of improving steganography or the art of secret
+writing, having published several curious works on this subject, they
+were condemned, as works full of diabolical mysteries; and Frederic
+II., Elector Palatine, ordered Trithemius's original work, which was in
+his library, to be publicly burnt.
+
+Galileo was condemned at Rome publicly to disavow sentiments, the truth
+of which must have been to him abundantly manifest. "Are these then my
+judges?" he exclaimed, in retiring from the inquisitors, whose ignorance
+astonished him. He was imprisoned, and visited by Milton, who tells us,
+he was then _poor_ and _old_. The confessor of his widow, taking
+advantage of her piety, perused the MSS. of this great philosopher, and
+destroyed such as in his _judgment_ were not fit to be known to the
+world!
+
+Gabriel Naudé, in his apology for those great men who have been accused
+of magic, has recorded a melancholy number of the most eminent scholars,
+who have found, that to have been successful in their studies, was a
+success which harassed them with continual persecution--a prison or a
+grave!
+
+Cornelius Agrippa was compelled to fly his country, and the enjoyment of
+a large income, merely for having displayed a few philosophical
+experiments, which now every school-boy can perform; but more
+particularly having attacked the then prevailing opinion, that St. Anne
+had three husbands, he was obliged to fly from place to place. The
+people beheld him as an object of horror; and when he walked, he found
+the streets empty at his approach.
+
+In those times, it was a common opinion to suspect every great man of an
+intercourse with some familiar spirit. The favourite black dog of
+Agrippa was supposed to be a demon. When Urban Grandier, another victim
+to the age, was led to the stake, a large fly settled on his head: a
+monk, who had heard that Beelzebub signifies in Hebrew the God of Flies,
+reported that he saw this spirit come to take possession of him. M. de
+Langier, a French minister, who employed many spies, was frequently
+accused of diabolical communication. Sixtus the Fifth, Marechal Faber,
+Roger Bacon, Cæsar Borgia, his son Alexander VI., and others, like
+Socrates, had their diabolical attendant.
+
+Cardan was believed to be a magician. An able naturalist, who happened
+to know something of the arcana of nature, was immediately suspected of
+magic. Even the learned themselves, who had not applied to natural
+philosophy, seem to have acted with the same feelings as the most
+ignorant; for when Albert, usually called the Great, an epithet it has
+been said that he derived from his name _De Groot_, constructed a
+curious piece of mechanism, which sent forth distinct vocal sounds,
+Thomas Aquinas was so much terrified at it, that he struck it with his
+staff, and, to the mortification of Albert, annihilated the curious
+labour of thirty years!
+
+Petrarch was less desirous of the laurel for the honour, than for the
+hope of being sheltered by it from the thunder of the priests, by whom
+both he and his brother poets were continually threatened. They could
+not imagine a poet, without supposing him to hold an intercourse with
+some demon. This was, as Abbé Resnel observes, having a most exalted
+idea of poetry, though a very bad one of poets. An anti-poetic Dominican
+was notorious for persecuting all verse-makers; whose power he
+attributed to the effects of _heresy_ and _magic_. The lights of
+philosophy have dispersed all these accusations of magic, and have shown
+a dreadful chain of perjuries and conspiracies.
+
+Descartes was horribly persecuted in Holland, when he first published
+his opinions. Voetius, a bigot of great influence at Utrecht, accused
+him of atheism, and had even projected in his mind to have this
+philosopher burnt at Utrecht in an extraordinary fire, which, kindled on
+an eminence, might be observed by the seven provinces. Mr. Hallam has
+observed, that "the ordeal of fire was the great purifier of books and
+men." This persecution of science and genius lasted till the close of
+the seventeenth century.
+
+"If the metaphysician stood a chance of being burnt as a heretic, the
+natural philosopher was not in less jeopardy as a magician," is an
+observation of the same writer, which sums up the whole.
+
+
+
+
+POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius: others
+find a hundred by-roads to her palace; there is but one open, and that a
+very indifferent one, for men of letters. Were we to erect an asylum for
+venerable genius, as we do for the brave and the helpless part of our
+citizens, it might be inscribed, "An Hospital for Incurables!" When even
+Fame will not protect the man of genius from Famine, Charity ought. Nor
+should such an act be considered as a debt incurred by the helpless
+member, but a just tribute we pay in his person to Genius itself. Even
+in these enlightened times, many have lived in obscurity, while their
+reputation was widely spread, and have perished in poverty, while their
+works were enriching the booksellers.
+
+Of the heroes of modern literature the accounts are as copious as they
+are sorrowful.
+
+Xylander sold his notes on Dion Cassius for a dinner. He tells us that
+at the age of eighteen he studied to acquire glory, but at twenty-five
+he studied to get bread.
+
+Cervantes, the immortal genius of Spain, is supposed to have wanted
+food; Camöens, the solitary pride of Portugal, deprived of the
+necessaries of life, perished in an hospital at Lisbon. This fact has
+been accidentally preserved in an entry in a copy of the first edition
+of the Lusiad, in the possession of Lord Holland. It is a note, written
+by a friar who must have been a witness of the dying scene of the poet,
+and probably received the volume which now preserves the sad memorial,
+and which recalled it to his mind, from the hands of the unhappy
+poet:--"What a lamentable thing to see so great a genius so ill
+rewarded! I saw him die in an hospital in Lisbon, without having a sheet
+or shroud, _una sauana_, to cover him, after having triumphed in the
+East Indies, and sailed 5500 leagues! What good advice for those who
+weary themselves night and day in study without profit!" Camöens, when
+some fidalgo complained that he had not performed his promise in writing
+some verses for him, replied, "When I wrote verses I was young, had
+sufficient food, was a lover, and beloved by many friends and by the
+ladies; then I felt poetical ardour: now I have no spirits, no peace of
+mind. See there my Javanese, who asks me for two pieces to purchase
+firing, and I have them not to give him." The Portuguese, after his
+death, bestowed on the man of genius they had starved, the appellation
+of Great![18] Vondel, the Dutch Shakspeare, after composing a number of
+popular tragedies, lived in great poverty, and died at ninety years of
+age; then he had his coffin carried by fourteen poets, who without his
+genius probably partook of his wretchedness.
+
+The great Tasso was reduced to such a dilemma that he was obliged to
+borrow a crown for a week's subsistence. He alludes to his distress
+when, entreating his cat to assist him, during the night, with the
+lustre of her eyes--"_Non avendo candele per iscrivere i suoi versi_!"
+having no candle to see to write his verses.
+
+When the liberality of Alphonso enabled Ariosto to build a small house,
+it seems that it was but ill furnished. When told that such a building
+was not fit for one who had raised so many fine palaces in his writings,
+he answered, that the structure of _words_ and that of _stones_ was not
+the same thing. _"Che pervi le pietre, e porvi le parole, non è il
+medesimo!"_ At Ferrari this house is still shown, "Parva sed apta" he
+calls it, but exults that it was paid for with his own money. This was
+in a moment of good humour, which he did not always enjoy; for in his
+Satires he bitterly complains of the bondage of dependence and poverty.
+Little thought the poet that the _commune_ would order this small house
+to be purchased with their own funds, that it might be dedicated to his
+immortal memory.
+
+Cardinal Bentivoglio, the ornament of Italy and of literature,
+languished, in his old age, in the most distressful poverty; and having
+sold his palace to satisfy his creditors, left nothing behind him but
+his reputation. The learned Pomponius Lætus lived in such a state of
+poverty, that his friend Platina, who wrote the lives of the popes, and
+also a book of cookery, introduces him into the cookery book by a
+facetious observation, that "If Pomponius Lætus should be robbed of a
+couple of eggs, he would not have wherewithal to purchase two other
+eggs." The history of Aldrovandus is noble and pathetic; having expended
+a large fortune in forming his collections of natural history, and
+employing the first artists in Europe, he was suffered to die in the
+hospital of that city, to whose fame he had eminently contributed.
+
+Du Ryer, a celebrated French poet, was constrained to write with
+rapidity, and to live in the cottage of an obscure village. His
+bookseller bought his heroic verses for one hundred sols the hundred
+lines, and the smaller ones for fifty sols. What an interesting picture
+has a contemporary given of a visit to this poor and ingenious author!
+"On a fine summer day we went to him, at some distance from town. He
+received us with joy, talked to us of his numerous projects, and showed
+us several of his works. But what more interested us was, that, though
+dreading to expose to us his poverty, he contrived to offer some
+refreshments. We seated ourselves under a wide oak, the table-cloth was
+spread on the grass, his wife brought us some milk, with fresh water and
+brown bread, and he picked a basket of cherries. He welcomed us with
+gaiety, but we could not take leave of this amiable man, now grown old,
+without tears, to see him so ill treated by fortune, and to have nothing
+left but literary honour!"
+
+Vaugelas, the most polished writer of the French language, who devoted
+thirty years to his translation of Quintus Curtius, (a circumstance
+which modern translators can have no conception of), died possessed of
+nothing valuable but his precious manuscripts. This ingenious scholar
+left his corpse to the surgeons, for the benefit of his creditors!
+
+Louis the Fourteenth honoured Racine and Boileau with a private monthly
+audience. One day the king asked what there was new in the literary
+world. Racine answered, that he had seen a melancholy spectacle in the
+house of Corneille, whom he found dying, deprived even of a little
+broth! The king preserved a profound silence; and sent the dying poet a
+sum of money.
+
+Dryden, for less than three hundred pounds, sold Tonson ten thousand
+verses, as may be seen by the agreement.
+
+Purchas, who in the reign of our first James, had spent his life in
+compiling his _Relation of the World_, when he gave it to the public,
+for the reward of his labours was thrown into prison, at the suit of his
+printer. Yet this was the book which, he informs Charles I. in his
+dedication, his father read every night with great profit and
+satisfaction.
+
+The Marquis of Worcester, in a petition to parliament, in the reign of
+Charles II., offered to publish the hundred processes and machines,
+enumerated in his very curious "Centenary of Inventions," on condition
+that money should be granted to extricate him from the _difficulties in
+which he had involved himself by the prosecution of useful discoveries_.
+The petition does not appear to have been attended to! Many of these
+admirable inventions were lost. The _steam-engine_ and the _telegraph_,
+may be traced among them.
+
+It appears by the Harleian MS. 7524, that Rushworth, the author of the
+"Historical Collections," passed the last years of his life in gaol,
+where indeed he died. After the Restoration, when he presented to the
+king several of the privy council's books, which he had preserved from
+ruin, he received for his only reward the _thanks of his majesty_.
+
+Rymer, the collector of the Foedera, must have been sadly reduced, by
+the following letter, I found addressed by Peter le Neve, Norroy, to the
+Earl of Oxford.
+
+"I am desired by Mr. Rymer, historiographer, to lay before your lordship
+the circumstances of his affairs. He was forced some years back to part
+with all his choice printed books to subsist himself: and now, he says,
+he must be forced, for subsistence, to sell all his MS. collections to
+the best bidder, without your lordship will be pleased to buy them for
+the queen's library. They are fifty volumes in folio, of public affairs,
+which he hath collected, but not printed. The price he asks is five
+hundred pounds."
+
+Simon Ockley, a learned student in Oriental literature, addresses a
+letter to the same earl, in which he paints his distresses in glowing
+colours. After having devoted his life to Asiatic researches, then very
+uncommon, he had the mortification of dating his preface to his great
+work from Cambridge Castle, where he was confined for debt; and, with an
+air of triumph, feels a martyr's enthusiasm in the cause for which he
+perishes.
+
+He published his first volume of the History of the Saracens in 1708;
+and, ardently pursuing his oriental studies, published his second, ten
+years afterwards, without any patronage. Alluding to the encouragement
+necessary to bestow on youth, to remove the obstacles to such studies,
+he observes, that "young men will hardly come in on the prospect of
+finding leisure, in a prison, to transcribe those papers for the press,
+which they have collected with indefatigable labour, and oftentimes at
+the expense of their rest, and all the other conveniences of life, for
+the service of the public. No! though I were to assure them, from my own
+experience, that _I have enjoyed more true liberty, more happy leisure,
+and more solid repose, in six months_ HERE, than in thrice the same
+number of years before. _Evil is the condition of that historian who
+undertakes to write the lives of others, before he knows how to live
+himself._--Not that I speak thus as if I thought I had any just cause to
+be angry with the world--I did always in my judgment give the
+possession of _wisdom_ the preference to that of _riches_!"
+
+Spenser, the child of Fancy, languished out his life in misery, "Lord
+Burleigh," says Granger, "who it is said prevented the queen giving him
+a hundred pounds, seems to have thought the lowest clerk in his office a
+more deserving person." Mr. Malone attempts to show that Spenser had a
+small pension, but the poet's querulous verses must not be forgotten--
+
+    "Full little knowest thou, that hast not try'd,
+    What Hell it is, in suing long to bide."
+
+To lose good days--to waste long nights--and, as he feelingly exclaims,
+
+    "To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
+    To speed, to give, to want, to be undone!"
+
+How affecting is the death of Sydenham, who had devoted his life to a
+laborious version of Plato! He died in a sponging-house, and it was his
+death which appears to have given rise to the Literary Fund "for the
+relief of distressed authors."[19]
+
+Who will pursue important labours when they read these anecdotes? Dr.
+Edmund Castell spent a great part of his life in compiling his _Lexicon
+Heptaglotton_, on which he bestowed incredible pains, and expended on it
+no less than 12,000_l._, broke his constitution, and exhausted his
+fortune. At length it was printed, but the copies remained _unsold_ on
+his hands. He exhibits a curious picture of literary labour in his
+preface. "As for myself, I have been unceasingly occupied for such a
+number of years in this mass," _Molendino_ he calls them, "that that
+day seemed, as it were, a holiday in which I have not laboured so much
+as sixteen or eighteen hours in these enlarging lexicons and Polyglot
+Bibles."
+
+Le Sage resided in a little cottage while he supplied the world with
+their most agreeable novels, and appears to have derived the sources of
+his existence in his old age from the filial exertions of an excellent
+son, who was an actor of some genius. I wish, however, that every man of
+letters could apply to himself the epitaph of this delightful writer:--
+
+_"Sous ce tombeau git LE SAGE, abattu Par le ciseau de la Parque
+importune; S'il ne fut pas ami de la fortune, Il fut toujours ami de la
+vertu."_
+
+Many years after this article had been written, I published "Calamities
+of Authors," confining myself to those of our own country; the catalogue
+is incomplete, but far too numerous.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: For some time previous to his death he was in so abject a
+state of poverty as to be dependent for subsistence upon the exertions
+of his faithful servant Antonio, a native of Java, whom he had brought
+with him from India, and who was accustomed to beg by night for the
+bread which was to save his unhappy master from perishing by want the
+next day. Camöens, when death at last put an end to a life which
+misfortune and neglect had rendered insupportable, was denied the solace
+of having his faithful Antonio to close his eyes. He was aged only
+fifty-five when he breathed his last in the hospital. This event
+occurred in 1579, but so little regard was paid to the memory of this
+great man that the day or month on which he expired remains
+unknown.--Adamson's _Memoirs of Camöens_, 1820.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This melancholy event happened in 1788, fifteen years
+after the original projector of the Literary Fund, Mr. David Williams,
+had endeavoured to establish it. It appears that Mr. Floyer Sydenham was
+arrested "for a small debt; he never spoke after being arrested, and
+sunk under the pressure of his calamity." This is the published record
+of the event by the officers of the present fund; and these simple words
+are sufficiently indicative of the harrowing nature of the catastrophe;
+it was strongly felt that Mr. Williams' hopeful plan of preventing a
+second act so fatal should be encouraged. A small literary club took the
+initiative, and subscribed a few guineas to pay for such advertisements
+as were necessary to keep the intended objects of the founder before the
+public, and solicit its aid. Two years afterwards a committee was
+formed; another two years saw it take position among the established
+institutions of the country. In 1818 it obtained a royal charter. In its
+career it has relieved upwards of 1300 applicants, and devoted to that
+purpose 47,725_l._]
+
+
+
+
+IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Imprisonment has not always disturbed the man of letters in the progress
+of his studies, but has unquestionably greatly promoted them.
+
+In prison Boethius composed his work on the Consolations of Philosophy;
+and Grotius wrote his Commentary on Saint Matthew, with other works: the
+detail of his allotment of time to different studies, during his
+confinement, is very instructive.
+
+Buchanan, in the dungeon of a monastery in Portugal, composed his
+excellent Paraphrases of the Psalms of David.
+
+Cervantes composed the most agreeable book in the Spanish language
+during his captivity in Barbary.
+
+Fleta, a well-known law production, was written by a person confined in
+the Fleet for debt; the name of the _place_, though not that of the
+_author_, has thus been preserved; and another work, "Fleta Minor, or
+the Laws of Art and Nature in, knowing the bodies of Metals, &c. by Sir
+John Pettus, 1683;" received its title from the circumstance of his
+having translated it from the German during his confinement in this
+prison.
+
+Louis the Twelfth, when Duke of Orleans, was long imprisoned in the
+Tower of Bourges: applying himself to his studies, which he had
+hitherto neglected, he became, in consequence, an enlightened monarch.
+
+Margaret, queen of Henry the Fourth, King of France, confined in the
+Louvre, pursued very warmly the studies of elegant literature, and
+composed a very skilful apology for the irregularities of her conduct.
+
+Sir Walter Raleigh's unfinished History of the World, which leaves us to
+regret that later ages had not been celebrated by his eloquence, was the
+fruits of eleven years of imprisonment. It was written for the use of
+Prince Henry, as he and Dallington, who also wrote "Aphorisms" for the
+same prince, have told us; the prince looked over the manuscript. Of
+Raleigh it is observed, to employ the language of Hume, "They were
+struck with the extensive genius of the man, who, being educated amidst
+naval and military enterprises, had surpassed, in the pursuits of
+literature, even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives; and they
+admired his unbroken magnanimity, which, at his age, and under his
+circumstances, could engage him to undertake and execute so great a
+work, as his History of the World." He was assisted in this great work
+by the learning of several eminent persons, a circumstance which has not
+been usually noticed.
+
+The plan of the "_Henriade_" was sketched, and the greater part
+composed, by Voltaire during his imprisonment in the Bastile; and "the
+Pilgrim's Progress" of Bunyan was performed in the circuit of a prison's
+walls.
+
+Howell, the author of "Familiar Letters," wrote the chief part of them,
+and almost all his other works, during his long confinement in the Fleet
+prison: he employed his fertile pen for subsistence; and in all his
+books we find much entertainment.
+
+Lydiat, while confined in the King's Bench for debt, wrote his
+Annotations on the Parian Chronicle, which were first published by
+Prideaux. He was the learned scholar alluded to by Johnson; an allusion
+not known to Boswell and others.
+
+The learned Selden, committed to prison for his attacks on the divine
+right of tithes and the king's prerogative, prepared during his
+confinement his "History of Eadmer," enriched by his notes.
+
+Cardinal Polignac formed the design of refuting the arguments of the
+sceptics which Bayle had been renewing in his dictionary; but his public
+occupations hindered him. Two exiles at length fortunately gave him the
+leisure; and the Anti-Lucretius is the fruit of the court disgraces of
+its author.
+
+Freret, when imprisoned in the Bastile, was permitted only to have Bayle
+for his companion. His dictionary was always before him, and his
+principles were got by heart. To this circumstance we owe his works,
+animated by all the powers of scepticism.
+
+Sir William Davenant finished his poem of Gondibert during his
+confinement by the rebels in Carisbrook Castle. George Withers dedicates
+his "Shepherds Hunting," "To his friends, my visitants in the
+Marshalsea:" these "eclogues" having been printed in his
+imprisonment.[20]
+
+De Foe, confined in Newgate for a political pamphlet, began his
+"Review;" a periodical paper, which was extended to nine thick volumes
+in quarto, and it has been supposed served as the model of the
+celebrated papers of Steele.
+
+Wicquefort's curious work "on Ambassadors" is dated from his prison,
+where he had been confined for state affairs. He softened the rigour of
+those heavy hours by several historical works.
+
+One of the most interesting facts of this kind is the fate of an Italian
+scholar, of the name of Maggi. Early addicted to the study of the
+sciences, and particularly to the mathematics, and military
+architecture, he successfully defended Famagusta, besieged by the
+Turks, by inventing machines which destroyed their works. When that city
+was taken in 1571, they pillaged his library and carried him away in
+chains. Now a slave, after his daily labours he amused a great part of
+his nights by literary compositions; _De Tintinnabulis_, on Bells, a
+treatise still read by the curious, was actually composed by him when a
+slave in Turkey, without any other resource than the erudition of his
+own memory, and the genius of which adversity could not deprive him.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 20: Withers, throughout these unique eclogues, which are
+supposed to narrate the discourses of "friendly shepherds" who visit
+him--
+
+                                  "--pent
+    Within the jaws of strict imprisonment;
+    A forlorn shepherd void of all the means,
+    Whereon man's common hope in danger leads"
+
+--is still upheld by the same consciousness of rectitude which inspired
+Sir Richard Lovelace in his better-known address "To Althea from
+Prison." Withers' poem was published before Lovelace was born. A few
+lines from Withers will display this similarity. Speaking of his
+enemies, he says:--
+
+    "They may do much, but when they have done all,
+    Only my body they may bring in thrall.
+    And 'tis not that, my Willy; 'tis my mind,
+    My mind's more precious freedom I so weigh,
+    A thousand ways they may my body bind,
+    In thousand thralls, but ne'er my mind betray:
+    And hence it is that I contentment find,
+    And bear with patience this my load away:
+    I'm still myself, and that I'd rather be.
+    Than to be lord of all these downs in fee."]
+
+
+
+
+AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Among the Jesuits it was a standing rule of the order, that after an
+application to study for two hours, the mind of the student should be
+unbent by some relaxation, however trifling. When Petavius was employed
+in his _Dogmata Theologica_, a work of the most profound and extensive
+erudition, the great recreation of the learned father was, at the end of
+every second hour, to twirl his chair for five minutes. After protracted
+studies Spinosa would mix with the family-party where he lodged, and
+join in the most trivial conversations, or unbend his mind by setting
+spiders to fight each other; he observed their combats with so much
+interest, that he was often seized with immoderate fits of laughter. A
+continuity of labour deadens the soul, observes Seneca, in closing his
+treatise on "The Tranquillity of the Soul," and the mind must unbend
+itself by certain amusements. Socrates did not blush to play with
+children; Cato, over his bottle, found an alleviation from the fatigues
+of government; a circumstance, Seneca says in his manner, which rather
+gives honour to this defect, than the defect dishonours Cato. Some men
+of letters portioned out their day between repose and labour. Asinius
+Pollio would not suffer any business to occupy him beyond a stated hour;
+after that time he would not allow any letter to be opened, that his
+hours of recreation might not be interrupted by unforeseen labours. In
+the senate, after the tenth hour, it was not allowed to make any new
+motion.
+
+Tycho Brahe diverted himself with polishing glasses for all kinds of
+spectacles, and making mathematical instruments; an employment too
+closely connected with his studies to be deemed an amusement.
+
+D'Andilly, the translator of Josephus, after seven or eight hours of
+study every day, amused himself in cultivating trees; Barclay, the
+author of the Argenis, in his leisure hours was a florist; Balzac amused
+himself with a collection of crayon portraits; Peirese found his
+amusement amongst his medals and antiquarian curiosities; the Abbé de
+Marolles with his prints; and Politian in singing airs to his lute.
+Descartes passed his afternoons in the conversation of a few friends,
+and in cultivating a little garden; in the morning, occupied by the
+system of the world, he relaxed his profound speculations by rearing
+delicate flowers.
+
+Conrad ab Uffenbach, a learned German, recreated his mind, after severe
+studies, with a collection of prints of eminent persons, methodically
+arranged; he retained this ardour of the _Grangerite_ to his last days.
+
+Rohault wandered from shop to shop to observe the mechanics labour;
+Count Caylus passed his mornings in the _studios_ of artists, and his
+evenings in writing his numerous works on art. This was the true life of
+an amateur.
+
+Granville Sharp, amidst the severity of his studies, found a social
+relaxation in the amusement of a barge on the Thames, which was well
+known to the circle of his friends; there, was festive hospitality with
+musical delight. It was resorted to by men of the most eminent talents
+and rank. His little voyages to Putney, to Kew, and to Richmond, and the
+literary intercourse they produced, were singularly happy ones. "The
+history of his amusements cannot be told without adding to the dignity
+of his character," observes Prince Hoare, in the life of this great
+philanthropist.
+
+Some have found amusement in composing treatises on odd subjects. Seneca
+wrote a burlesque narrative of Claudian's death. Pierius Valerianus has
+written an eulogium on beards; and we have had a learned one recently,
+with due gravity and pleasantry, entitled "Eloge de Perruques."
+
+Holstein has written an eulogium on the North Wind; Heinsius, on "the
+Ass;" Menage, "the Transmigration of the Parasitical Pedant to a
+Parrot;" and also the "Petition of the Dictionaries."
+
+Erasmus composed, to amuse himself when travelling, his panegyric on
+_Moria_, or folly; which, authorised by the pun, he dedicated to Sir
+Thomas More.
+
+Sallengre, who would amuse himself like Erasmus, wrote, in imitation of
+his work, a panegyric on _Ebriety_. He says, that he is willing to be
+thought as drunken a man as Erasmus was a foolish one. Synesius composed
+a Greek panegyric on _Baldness_. These burlesques were brought into
+great vogue by Erasmus's _Moriæ Encomium_.
+
+It seems, Johnson observes in his life of Sir Thomas Browne, to have
+been in all ages the pride of art to show how it could exalt the low and
+amplify the little. To this ambition, perhaps, we owe the Frogs of
+Homer; the Gnat and the Bees of Virgil; the Butterfly of Spenser; the
+Shadow of Wowerus; and the Quincunx of Browne.
+
+Cardinal de Richelieu, amongst all his great occupations, found a
+recreation in violent exercises; and he was once discovered jumping with
+his servant, to try who could reach the highest side of a wall. De
+Grammont, observing the cardinal to be jealous of his powers, offered to
+jump with him; and, in the true spirit of a courtier, having made some
+efforts which nearly reached the cardinal's, confessed the cardinal
+surpassed him. This was jumping like a politician; and by this means he
+is said to have ingratiated himself with the minister.
+
+The great Samuel Clarke was fond of robust exercise; and this profound
+logician has been found leaping over tables and chairs. Once perceiving
+a pedantic fellow, he said, "Now we must desist, for a fool is coming
+in!"[21]
+
+An eminent French lawyer, confined by his business to a Parisian life,
+amused himself with collecting from the classics all the passages which
+relate to a country life. The collection was published after his death.
+
+Contemplative men seem to be fond of amusements which accord with their
+habits. The thoughtful game of chess, and the tranquil delight of
+angling, have been favourite recreations with the studious. Paley had
+himself painted with a rod and line in his hand; a strange
+characteristic for the author of "Natural Theology." Sir Henry Wotton
+called angling "idle time not idly spent:" we may suppose that his
+meditations and his amusements were carried on at the same moment.
+
+The amusements of the great d'Aguesseau, chancellor of France, consisted
+in an interchange of studies; his relaxations were all the varieties of
+literature. "Le changement de l'étude est mon seul délassement," said
+this great man; and "in the age of the passions, his only passion was
+study."
+
+Seneca has observed on amusements proper for literary men, that, in
+regard to robust exercises, it is not decent to see a man of letters
+exult in the strength of his arm, or the breadth of his back! Such
+amusements diminish the activity of the mind. Too much fatigue exhausts
+the animal spirits, as too much food blunts the finer faculties: but
+elsewhere he allows his philosopher an occasional slight inebriation; an
+amusement which was very prevalent among our poets formerly, when they
+exclaimed:--
+
+    "Fetch me Ben Jonson's scull, and fill't with sack,
+    Rich as the same he drank, when the whole pack
+    Of jolly sisters pledged, and did agree
+    It was no sin to be as drunk as he!"
+
+Seneca concludes admirably, "whatever be the amusements you choose,
+return not slowly from those of the body to the mind; exercise the
+latter night and day. The mind is nourished at a cheap rate; neither
+cold nor heat, nor age itself, can interrupt this exercise; give
+therefore all your cares to a possession which ameliorates even in its
+old age!"
+
+An ingenious writer has observed, that "a garden just accommodates
+itself to the perambulations of a scholar, who would perhaps rather wish
+his walks abridged than extended." There is a good characteristic
+account of the mode in which the Literati may take exercise, in Pope's
+Letters. "I, like a poor squirrel, am continually in motion indeed, but
+it is but a cage of three foot! my little excursions are like those of a
+shopkeeper, who walks every day a mile or two before his own door, but
+minds his business all the while." A turn or two in a garden will often
+very happily close a fine period, mature an unripened thought, and raise
+up fresh associations, whenever the mind, like the body, becomes rigid
+by preserving the same posture. Buffon often quitted the old tower he
+studied in, which was placed in the midst of his garden, for a walk in
+it. Evelyn loved "books and a garden."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 21: The same anecdote is related of Dr. Johnson, who once
+being at a club where other literary men were indulging in jests, upon
+the entry of a new visitor exclaimed, "Let us be grave--here is a fool
+coming."]
+
+
+
+
+PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS.
+
+
+With the ancients, it was undoubtedly a custom to place the portraits of
+authors before their works. Martial's 186th epigram of his fourteenth
+book is a mere play on words, concerning a little volume containing the
+works of Virgil, and which had his portrait prefixed to it. The volume
+and the characters must have been very diminutive.
+
+    _Quam brevis immensum cepit membrana Maronem!
+    Ipsius Vultus prima tabella gerit._
+
+Martial is not the only writer who takes notice of the ancients
+prefixing portraits to the works of authors. Seneca, in his ninth
+chapter on the Tranquillity of the Soul, complains of many of the
+luxurious great, who, like so many of our own collectors, possessed
+libraries as they did their estates and equipages. "It is melancholy to
+observe how the portraits of men of genius, and the works of their
+divine intelligence, are used only as the luxury and the ornaments of
+walls."
+
+Pliny has nearly the same observation, _lib._ xxxv. _cap._ 2. He
+remarks, that the custom was rather modern in his time; and attributes
+to Asinius Pollio the honour of having introduced it into Rome. "In
+consecrating a library with the portraits of our illustrious authors, he
+has formed, if I may so express myself, a republic of the intellectual
+powers of men." To the richness of book-treasures, Asinius Pollio had
+associated a new source of pleasure, by placing the statues of their
+authors amidst them, inspiring the minds of the spectators, even by
+their eyes.
+
+A taste for collecting portraits, or busts, was warmly pursued in the
+happier periods of Rome; for the celebrated Atticus, in a work he
+published of illustrious Romans, made it more delightful, by ornamenting
+it with the portraits of those great men; and the learned Varro, in his
+biography of Seven Hundred celebrated Men, by giving the world their
+true features and their physiognomy _in some manner, aliquo modo
+imaginibus_ is Pliny's expression, showed that even their persons should
+not entirely be annihilated; they indeed, adds Pliny, form a spectacle
+which the gods themselves might contemplate; for if the gods sent those
+heroes to the earth, it is Varro who secured their immortality, and has
+so multiplied and distributed them in all places, that we may carry
+them about us, place them wherever we choose, and fix our eyes on them
+with perpetual admiration. A spectacle that every day becomes more
+varied and interesting, as new heroes appear, and as works of this kind
+are spread abroad.
+
+But as printing was unknown, to the ancients (though _stamping an
+impression_ was daily practised, and, in fact, they possessed the art of
+printing without being aware of it[22]), how were these portraits of
+Varro so easily propagated? If copied with a pen, their correctness was
+in some danger, and their diffusion must have been very confined and
+slow; perhaps they were outlines. This passage of Pliny excites
+curiosity difficult to satisfy; I have in vain inquired of several
+scholars, particularly of the late Grecian, Dr. Burney.
+
+A collection of the portraits of illustrious characters affords not only
+a source of entertainment and curiosity, but displays the different
+modes or habits of the time; and in settling our floating ideas upon the
+true features of famous persons, they also fix the chronological
+particulars of their birth, age, death, sometimes with short characters
+of them, besides the names of painter and engraver. It is thus a single
+print, by the hand of a skilful artist, may become a varied banquet. To
+this Granger adds, that in a collection of engraved portraits, the
+contents of many galleries are reduced into the narrow compass of a few
+volumes; and the portraits of eminent persons, who distinguished
+themselves through a long succession of ages, may be turned over in a
+few hours.
+
+"Another advantage," Granger continues, "attending such an assemblage
+is, that the methodical arrangement has a surprising effect upon the
+memory. We see the celebrated contemporaries of every age almost at one
+view; and the mind is insensibly led to the history of that period. I
+may add to these, an important circumstance, which is, the power that
+such a collection will have in _awakening genius_. A skilful preceptor
+will presently perceive the true bent of the temper of his pupil, by his
+being struck with a Blake or a Boyle, a Hyde or a Milton."
+
+A circumstance in the life of Cicero confirms this observation. Atticus
+had a gallery adorned with the images or portraits of the great men of
+Rome, under each of which he had severally described their principal
+acts and honours, in a few concise verses of his own composition. It was
+by the contemplation of two of these portraits (the ancient Brutus and a
+venerable relative in one picture) that Cicero seems to have incited
+Brutus, by the example of these his great ancestors, to dissolve the
+tyranny of Cæsar. General Fairfax made a collection of engraved
+portraits of warriors. A story much in favour of portrait-collectors is
+that of the Athenian courtesan, who, in the midst of a riotous banquet
+with her lovers, accidentally casting her eyes on the _portrait_ of a
+philosopher that hung opposite to her seat, the happy character of
+temperance and virtue struck her with so lively an image of her own
+unworthiness, that she suddenly retreated for ever from the scene of
+debauchery. The Orientalists have felt the same charm in their pictured
+memorials; for "the imperial Akber," says Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental
+Memoirs, "employed artists to make portraits of all the principal omrahs
+and officers in his court;" they were bound together in a thick volume,
+wherein, as the Ayeen Akbery, or the Institutes of Akber, expresses it,
+"The PAST are kept in lively remembrance; and the PRESENT are insured
+immortality."
+
+Leonard Aretin, when young and in prison, found a portrait of Petrarch,
+on which his eyes were perpetually fixed; and this sort of contemplation
+inflamed the desire of imitating this great man. Buffon hung the
+portrait of Newton before his writing-table.
+
+On this subject, Tacitus sublimely expresses himself at the close of his
+admired biography of Agricola: "I do not mean to censure the custom of
+preserving in brass or marble the shape and stature of eminent men; but
+busts and statues, like their originals, are frail and perishable. The
+soul is formed of finer elements, its inward form is not to be expressed
+by the hand of an artist with unconscious matter; our manners and our
+morals may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of Agricola that
+gained our love and raised our admiration still subsists, and ever will
+subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register of ages and the
+records of fame."
+
+What is more agreeable to the curiosity of the mind and the eye than the
+portraits of great characters? An old philosopher, whom Marville invited
+to see a collection of landscapes by a celebrated artist, replied,
+"Landscapes I prefer seeing in the country itself, but I am fond of
+contemplating the pictures of illustrious men." This opinion has some
+truth; Lord Orford preferred an interesting portrait to either landscape
+or historical painting. "A landscape, however excellent in its
+distributions of wood, and water, and buildings, leaves not one trace in
+the memory; historical painting is perpetually false in a variety of
+ways, in the costume, the grouping, the portraits, and is nothing more
+than fabulous painting; but a real portrait is truth itself, and calls
+up so many collateral ideas as to fill an intelligent mind more than any
+other species."
+
+Marville justly reprehends the fastidious feelings of those ingenious
+men who have resisted the solicitations of the artist, to sit for their
+portraits. In them it is sometimes as much pride as it is vanity in
+those who are less difficult in this respect. Of Gray, Fielding, and
+Akenside, we have no heads for which they sat; a circumstance regretted
+by their admirers, and by physiognomists.
+
+To an arranged collection of PORTRAITS, we owe several interesting
+works. Granger's justly esteemed volumes originated in such a
+collection. Perrault's _Eloges_ of "the illustrious men of the
+seventeenth century" were drawn up to accompany the engraved portraits
+of the most celebrated characters of the age, which a fervent love of
+the fine arts and literature had had engraved as an elegant tribute to
+the fame of those great men. They are confined to his nation, as
+Granger's to ours. The parent of this race of books may perhaps be the
+Eulogiums of Paulus Jovius, which originated in a beautiful CABINET,
+whose situation he has described with all its amenity.
+
+Paulus Jovius had a country house, in an insular situation, of a most
+romantic aspect. Built on the ruins of the villa of Pliny, in his time
+the foundations were still to be traced. When the surrounding lake was
+calm, in its lucid bosom were still viewed sculptured marbles, the
+trunks of columns, and the fragments of those pyramids which had once
+adorned the residence of the friend of Trajan. Jovius was an enthusiast
+of literary leisure: an historian, with the imagination of a poet; a
+Christian prelate nourished on the sweet fictions of pagan mythology.
+His pen colours like a pencil. He paints rapturously his gardens bathed
+by the waters of the lake, the shade and freshness of his woods, his
+green hills, his sparkling fountains, the deep silence, and the calm of
+solitude. He describes a statue raised in his gardens to NATURE; in his
+hall an Apollo presided with his lyre, and the Muses with their
+attributes; his library was guarded by Mercury, and an apartment devoted
+to the three Graces was embellished by Doric columns, and paintings of
+the most pleasing kind. Such was the interior! Without, the pure and
+transparent lake spread its broad mirror, or rolled its voluminous
+windings, by banks richly covered with olives and laurels; and in the
+distance, towns, promontories, hills rising in an amphitheatre blushing
+with vines, and the elevations of the Alps covered with woods and
+pasturage, and sprinkled with herds and flocks.
+
+In the centre of this enchanting habitation stood the CABINET, where
+Paulus Jovius had collected, at great cost, the PORTRAITS of celebrated
+men of the fourteenth and two succeeding centuries. The daily view of
+them animated his mind to compose their eulogiums. These are still
+curious, both for the facts they preserve, and the happy conciseness
+with which Jovius delineates a character. He had collected these
+portraits as others form a collection of natural history; and he pursued
+in their characters what others do in their experiments.
+
+One caution in collecting portraits must not be forgotten; it respects
+their authenticity. We have too many supposititious heads, and ideal
+personages. Conrad ab Uffenbach, who seems to have been the first
+collector who projected a methodical arrangement, condemned those
+spurious portraits which were fit only for the amusement of children.
+The painter does not always give a correct likeness, or the engraver
+misses it in his copy. Goldsmith was a short thick man, with wan
+features and a vulgar appearance, but looks tall and fashionable in a
+bag-wig. Bayle's portrait does not resemble him, as one of his friends
+writes. Rousseau, in his Montero cap, is in the same predicament.
+Winkelmann's portrait does not preserve the striking physiognomy of the
+man, and in the last edition a new one is substituted. The faithful
+Vertue refused to engrave for Houbraken's set, because they did not
+authenticate their originals; and some of these are spurious, as that of
+Ben Jonson, Sir Edward Coke, and others. Busts are not so liable to
+these accidents. It is to be regretted that men of genius have not been
+careful to transmit their own portraits to their admirers: it forms a
+part of their character; a false delicacy has interfered. Erasmus did
+not like to have his own diminutive person sent down to posterity, but
+Holbein was always affectionately painting his friend. Montesquieu once
+sat to Dassier the medallist, after repeated denials, won over by the
+ingenious argument of the artist; "Do you not think," said Dassier,
+"that there is as much pride in refusing my offer as in accepting it?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 22: Impressions have been taken from plates engraved by the
+ancient Egyptians; and one of these, printed by the ordinary
+rolling-press, was exhibited at the Great Manchester Exhibition, 1857;
+it being for all practical purposes similar to those executed in the
+present day.]
+
+
+
+
+DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS.
+
+
+The literary treasures of antiquity have suffered from the malice of Men
+as well as that of Time. It is remarkable that conquerors, in the moment
+of victory, or in the unsparing devastation of their rage, have not been
+satisfied with destroying _men_, but have even carried their vengeance
+to _books_.
+
+The Persians, from hatred of the religion of the Phoenicians and the
+Egyptians, destroyed their books, of which Eusebius notices a great
+number. A Grecian library at Gnidus was burnt by the sect of
+Hippocrates, because the Gnidians refused to follow the doctrines of
+their master. If the followers of Hippocrates formed the majority, was
+it not very unorthodox in the Gnidians to prefer taking physic their own
+way? But Faction has often annihilated books.
+
+The Romans burnt the books of the Jews, of the Christians, and the
+Philosophers; the Jews burnt the books of the Christians and the Pagans;
+and the Christians burnt the books of the Pagans and the Jews. The
+greater part of the books of Origen and other heretics were continually
+burnt by the orthodox party. Gibbon pathetically describes the empty
+library of Alexandria, after the Christians had destroyed it. "The
+valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near
+twenty years afterwards the appearance of the _empty shelves_ excited
+the regret and indignation of every spectator, whose mind was not
+totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient
+genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have
+been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and
+instruction of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or avarice of the
+archbishop might have been satiated with the richest spoils which were
+the rewards of his victory."
+
+The pathetic narrative of Nicetas Choniates, of the ravages committed by
+the Christians of the thirteenth century in Constantinople, was
+fraudulently suppressed in the printed editions. It has been preserved
+by Dr. Clarke; who observes, that the Turks have committed fewer
+injuries to the works of art than the barbarous Christians of that age.
+
+The reading of the Jewish Talmud has been forbidden by various edicts,
+of the Emperor Justinian, of many of the French and Spanish kings, and
+numbers of Popes. All the copies were ordered to be burnt: the intrepid
+perseverance of the Jews themselves preserved that work from
+annihilation. In 1569 twelve thousand copies were thrown into the flames
+at Cremona. John Reuchlin interfered to stop this universal destruction
+of Talmuds; for which he became hated by the monks, and condemned by the
+Elector of Mentz, but appealing to Rome, the prosecution was stopped;
+and the traditions of the Jews were considered as not necessary to be
+destroyed.
+
+Conquerors at first destroy with the rashest zeal the national records
+of the conquered people; hence it is that the Irish people deplore the
+irreparable losses of their most ancient national memorials, which their
+invaders have been too successful in annihilating. The same event
+occurred in the conquest of Mexico; and the interesting history of the
+New World must ever remain imperfect, in consequence of the unfortunate
+success of the first missionaries. Clavigero, the most authentic
+historian of Mexico, continually laments this affecting loss. Everything
+in that country had been painted, and painters abounded there as scribes
+in Europe. The first missionaries, suspicious that superstition was
+mixed with all their paintings, attacked the chief school of these
+artists, and collecting, in the market-place, a little mountain of these
+precious records, they set fire to it, and buried in the ashes the
+memory of many interesting events. Afterwards, sensible of their error,
+they tried to collect information from the mouths of the Indians; but
+the Indians were indignantly silent: when they attempted to collect the
+remains of these painted histories, the patriotic Mexican usually buried
+in concealment the fragmentary records of his country.
+
+The story of the Caliph Omar proclaiming throughout the kingdom, at the
+taking of Alexandria, that the Koran contained everything which was
+useful to believe and to know, and therefore he commanded that all the
+books in the Alexandrian library should be distributed to the masters of
+the baths, amounting to 4000, to be used in heating their stoves during
+a period of six months, modern paradox would attempt to deny. But the
+tale would not be singular even were it true: it perfectly suits the
+character of a bigot, a barbarian, and a blockhead. A similar event
+happened in Persia. When Abdoolah, who in the third century of the
+Mohammedan æra governed Khorassan, was presented at Nishapoor with a MS.
+which was shown as a literary curiosity, he asked the title of it--it
+was the tale of Wamick and Oozra, composed by the great poet Noshirwan.
+On this Abdoolah observed, that those of his country and faith had
+nothing to do with any other book than the Koran; and all Persian MSS.
+found within the circle of his government, as the works of idolaters,
+were to be burnt. Much of the most ancient poetry of the Persians
+perished by this fanatical edict.
+
+When Buda was taken by the Turks, a Cardinal offered a vast sum to
+redeem the great library founded by Matthew Corvini, a literary monarch
+of Hungary: it was rich in Greek and Hebrew lore, and the classics of
+antiquity. Thirty amanuenses had been employed in copying MSS. and
+illuminating them by the finest art. The barbarians destroyed most of
+the books in tearing away their splendid covers and their silver bosses;
+an Hungarian soldier picked up a book as a prize: it proved to be the
+Ethiopics of Heliodorus, from which the first edition was printed in
+1534.
+
+Cardinal Ximenes seems to have retaliated a little on the Saracens; for
+at the taking of Granada, he condemned to the flames five thousand
+Korans.
+
+The following anecdote respecting a Spanish missal, called St.
+Isidore's, is not incurious; hard fighting saved it from destruction. In
+the Moorish wars, all these missals had been destroyed, excepting those
+in the city of Toledo. There, in six churches, the Christians were
+allowed the free exercise of their religion. When the Moors were
+expelled several centuries afterwards from Toledo, Alphonsus the Sixth
+ordered the Roman missal to be used in those churches; but the people of
+Toledo insisted on having their own, as revised by St. Isidore. It
+seemed to them that Alphonsus was more tyrannical than the Turks. The
+contest between the Roman and the Toletan missals came to that height,
+that at length it was determined to decide their fate by single combat;
+the champion of the Toletan missal felled by one blow the knight of the
+Roman missal. Alphonsus still considered this battle as merely the
+effect of the heavy arm of the doughty Toletan, and ordered a fast to be
+proclaimed, and a great fire to be prepared, into which, after his
+majesty and the people had joined in prayer for heavenly assistance in
+this ordeal, both the rivals (not the men, but the missals) were thrown
+into the flames--again St. Isidore's missal triumphed, and this iron
+book was then allowed to be orthodox by Alphonsus, and the good people
+of Toledo were allowed to say their prayers as they had long been used
+to do. However, the copies of this missal at length became very scarce;
+for now, when no one opposed the reading of St. Isidore's missal, none
+cared to use it. Cardinal Ximenes found it so difficult to obtain a
+copy, that he printed a large impression, and built a chapel,
+consecrated to St. Isidore, that this service might be daily chaunted as
+it had been by the ancient Christians.
+
+The works of the ancients were frequently destroyed at the instigation
+of the monks. They appear sometimes to have mutilated them, for passages
+have not come down to us, which once evidently existed; and occasionally
+their interpolations and other forgeries formed a destruction in a new
+shape, by additions to the originals. They were indefatigable in erasing
+the best works of the most eminent Greek and Latin authors, in order to
+transcribe their ridiculous lives of saints on the obliterated vellum.
+One of the books of Livy is in the Vatican most painfully defaced by
+some pious father for the purpose of writing on it some missal or
+psalter, and there have been recently others discovered in the same
+state. Inflamed with the blindest zeal against everything pagan, Pope
+Gregory VII. ordered that the library of the Palatine Apollo, a treasury
+of literature formed by successive emperors, should be committed to the
+flames! He issued this order under the notion of confining the attention
+of the clergy to the holy scriptures! From that time all ancient
+learning which was not sanctioned by the authority of the church, has
+been emphatically distinguished as _profane_ in opposition to _sacred_.
+This pope is said to have burnt the works of Varro, the learned Roman,
+that Saint Austin should escape from the charge of plagiarism, being
+deeply indebted to Varro for much of his great work "the City of God."
+
+The Jesuits, sent by the emperor Ferdinand to proscribe Lutheranism from
+Bohemia, converted that flourishing kingdom comparatively into a desert.
+Convinced that an enlightened people could never be long subservient to
+a tyrant, they struck one fatal blow at the national literature: every
+book they condemned was destroyed, even those of antiquity; the annals
+of the nation were forbidden to be read, and writers were not permitted
+even to compose on subjects of Bohemian literature. The mother-tongue
+was held out as a mark of vulgar obscurity, and domiciliary visits were
+made for the purpose of inspecting the libraries of the Bohemians. With
+their books and their language they lost their national character and
+their independence.
+
+The destruction of libraries in the reign of Henry VIII. at the
+dissolution of the monasteries, is wept over by John Bale. Those who
+purchased the religious houses took the libraries as part of the booty,
+with which they scoured their furniture, or sold the books as waste
+paper, or sent them abroad in ship-loads to foreign bookbinders.[23]
+
+The fear of destruction induced many to hide manuscripts under ground,
+and in old walls. At the Reformation popular rage exhausted itself on
+illuminated books, or MSS. that had red letters in the title page: any
+work that was decorated was sure to be thrown into the flames as a
+superstitious one. Red letters and embellished figures were sure marks
+of being papistical and diabolical. We still find such volumes mutilated
+of their gilt letters and elegant initials. Many have been found
+underground, having been forgotten; what escaped the flames were
+obliterated by the damp: such is the deplorable fate of books during a
+persecution!
+
+The puritans burned everything they found which bore the vestige of
+popish origin. We have on record many curious accounts of their pious
+depredations, of their maiming images and erasing pictures. The heroic
+expeditions of one Dowsing are journalised by himself: a fanatical
+Quixote, to whose intrepid arm many of our noseless saints, sculptured
+on our Cathedrals, owe their misfortunes.
+
+The following are some details from the diary of this redoubtable Goth,
+during his rage for reformation. His entries are expressed with a
+laconic conciseness, and it would seem with a little dry humour. "At
+_Sunbury_, we brake down ten mighty great angels in glass. At _Barham_,
+brake down the twelve apostles in the chancel, and six superstitious
+pictures more there; and eight in the church, one a lamb with a cross
+(+) on the back; and digged down the steps and took up four
+superstitious inscriptions in brass," &c. "_Lady Bruce's house_, the
+chapel, a picture of God the Father, of the Trinity, of Christ, the Holy
+Ghost, and the cloven tongues, which we gave orders to take down, and
+the lady promised to do it." At another place they "brake six hundred
+superstitious pictures, eight Holy Ghosts, and three of the Son." And in
+this manner he and his deputies scoured one hundred and fifty parishes!
+It has been humorously conjectured, that from this ruthless devastator
+originated the phrase to _give a Dowsing_. Bishop Hall saved the windows
+of his chapel at Norwich from destruction, by taking out the heads of
+the figures; and this accounts for the many faces in church windows
+which we see supplied by white glass.
+
+In the various civil wars in our country, numerous libraries have
+suffered both in MSS. and printed books. "I dare maintain," says Fuller,
+"that the wars betwixt York and Lancaster, which lasted sixty years,
+were not so destructive as our modern wars in six years." He alludes to
+the parliamentary feuds in the reign of Charles I. "For during the
+former their differences agreed in the _same religion_, impressing them
+with reverence to all allowed muniments! whilst our _civil wars_,
+founded in _faction_ and _variety_ of pretended _religions_, exposed all
+naked church records a prey to armed violence; a sad vacuum, which will
+be sensible in our _English historie_."
+
+When it was proposed to the great Gustavus of Sweden to destroy the
+palace of the Dukes of Bavaria, that hero nobly refused; observing, "Let
+us not copy the example of our unlettered ancestors, who, by waging war
+against every production of genius, have rendered the name of GOTH
+universally proverbial of the rudest state of barbarity."
+
+Even the civilisation of the eighteenth century could not preserve from
+the destructive fury of an infuriated mob, in the most polished city of
+Europe, the valuable MSS. of the great Earl of Mansfield, which were
+madly consigned to the flames during the riots of 1780; as those of Dr.
+Priestley were consumed by the mob at Birmingham.
+
+In the year 1599, the Hall of the Stationers underwent as great a
+purgation as was carried on in Don Quixote's library. Warton gives a
+list of the best writers who were ordered for immediate conflagration by
+the prelates Whitgift and Bancroft, urged by the Puritanical and
+Calvinistic factions. Like thieves and outlaws, they were ordered _to be
+taken wheresoever they may be found_.--"It was also decreed that no
+satires or epigrams should be printed for the future. No plays were to
+be printed without the inspection and permission of the archbishop of
+Canterbury and the bishop of London; nor any _English historyes_, I
+suppose novels and romances, without the sanction of the privy council.
+Any pieces of this nature, unlicensed, or now at large and wandering
+abroad, were to be diligently sought, recalled, and delivered over to
+the ecclesiastical arm at London-house."
+
+At a later period, and by an opposite party, among other extravagant
+motions made in parliament, one was to destroy the Records in the Tower,
+and to settle the nation on a new foundation! The very same principle
+was attempted to be acted on in the French Revolution by the "true
+sans-culottes." With us Sir Matthew Hale showed the weakness of the
+project, and while he drew on his side "all sober persons, stopped even
+the mouths of the frantic people themselves."
+
+To descend to the losses incurred by individuals, whose names ought to
+have served as an amulet to charm away the demons of literary
+destruction. One of the most interesting is the fate of Aristotle's
+library; he who by a Greek term was first saluted as a collector of
+books! His works have come down to us accidentally, but not without
+irreparable injuries, and with no slight suspicion respecting their
+authenticity. The story is told by Strabo, in his thirteenth book. The
+books of Aristotle came from his scholar Theophrastus to Neleus, whose
+posterity, an illiterate race, kept them locked up without using them,
+buried in the earth! Apellion, a curious collector, purchased them, but
+finding the MSS. injured by age and moisture, conjecturally supplied
+their deficiencies. It is impossible to know how far Apellion has
+corrupted and obscured the text. But the mischief did not end here; when
+Sylla at the taking of Athens brought them to Rome, he consigned them
+to the care of Tyrannio, a grammarian, who employed scribes to copy
+them; he suffered them to pass through his hands without correction, and
+took great freedoms with them; the words of Strabo are strong: "Ibique
+Tyrannionem grammaticum iis usum atque (ut fama est) _intercidisse_, aut
+_invertisse_." He gives it indeed as a report; but the fact seems
+confirmed by the state in which we find these works: Averroes declared
+that he read Aristotle forty times over before he succeeded in perfectly
+understanding him; he pretends he did at the one-and-fortieth time! And
+to prove this, has published five folios of commentary!
+
+We have lost much valuable literature by the illiberal or malignant
+descendants of learned and ingenious persons. Many of Lady Mary Wortley
+Montague's letters have been destroyed, I am informed, by her daughter,
+who imagined that the family honours were lowered by the addition of
+those of literature: some of her best letters, recently published, were
+found buried in an old trunk. It would have mortified her ladyship's
+daughter to have heard, that her mother was the Sévigné of Britain.
+
+At the death of the learned Peiresc, a chamber in his house filled with
+letters from the most eminent scholars of the age was discovered: the
+learned in Europe had addressed Peiresc in their difficulties, who was
+hence called "the attorney-general of the republic of letters." The
+niggardly niece, although repeatedly entreated to permit them to be
+published, preferred to use these learned epistles occasionally to light
+her fires![24]
+
+The MSS. of Leonardo da Vinci have equally suffered from his relatives.
+When a curious collector discovered some, he generously brought them to
+a descendant of the great painter, who coldly observed, that "he had a
+great deal more in the garret, which had lain there for many years, if
+the rats had not destroyed them!" Nothing which this great artist wrote
+but showed an inventive genius.
+
+Menage observes on a friend having had his library destroyed by fire, in
+which several valuable MSS. had perished, that such a loss is one of the
+greatest misfortunes that can happen to a man of letters. This gentleman
+afterwards consoled himself by composing a little treatise _De
+Bibliothecæ incendio_. It must have been sufficiently curious. Even in
+the present day men of letters are subject to similar misfortunes; for
+though the fire-offices will insure books, they will not allow _authors
+to value their own manuscripts_.
+
+A fire in the Cottonian library shrivelled and destroyed many
+Anglo-Saxon MSS.--a loss now irreparable. The antiquary is doomed to
+spell hard and hardly at the baked fragments that crumble in his
+hand.[25]
+
+Meninsky's famous Persian dictionary met with a sad fate. Its excessive
+rarity is owing to the siege of Vienna by the Turks: a bomb fell on the
+author's house, and consumed the principal part of his indefatigable
+labours. There are few sets of this high-priced work which do not bear
+evident proofs of the bomb; while many parts are stained with the water
+sent to quench the flames.
+
+The sufferings of an author for the loss of his manuscripts strongly
+appear in the case of Anthony Urceus, a great scholar of the fifteenth
+century. The loss of his papers seems immediately to have been followed
+by madness. At Forli, he had an apartment in the palace, and had
+prepared an important work for publication. His room was dark, and he
+generally wrote by lamp-light. Having gone out, he left the lamp
+burning; the papers soon kindled, and his library was reduced to ashes.
+As soon as he heard the news, he ran furiously to the palace, and
+knocking his head violently against the gate, uttered this blasphemous
+language: "Jesus Christ, what great crime have I done! who of those who
+believed in you have I ever treated so cruelly? Hear what I am saying,
+for I am in earnest, and am resolved. If by chance I should be so weak
+as to address myself to you at the point of death, don't hear me, for I
+will not be with you, but prefer hell and its eternity of torments." To
+which, by the by, he gave little credit. Those who heard these ravings,
+vainly tried to console him. He quitted the town, and lived franticly,
+wandering about the woods!
+
+Ben Jonson's _Execration on Vulcan_ was composed on a like occasion; the
+fruits of twenty years' study were consumed in one short hour; our
+literature suffered, for among some works of imagination there were many
+philosophical collections, a commentary on the poetics, a complete
+critical grammar, a life of Henry V., his journey into Scotland, with
+all his adventures in that poetical pilgrimage, and a poem on the ladies
+of Great Britain. What a catalogue of losses!
+
+Castelvetro, the Italian commentator on Aristotle, having heard that his
+house was on fire, ran through the streets exclaiming to the people,
+_alla Poetica! alla Poetica! To the Poetic! To the Poetic_! He was then
+writing his commentary on the Poetics of Aristotle.
+
+Several men of letters have been known to have risen from their
+death-bed to destroy their MSS. So solicitous have they been not to
+venture their posthumous reputation in the hands of undiscerning
+friends. Colardeau, the elegant versifier of Pope's epistle of Eliosa to
+Abelard, had not yet destroyed what he had written of a translation of
+Tasso. At the approach of death, he recollected his unfinished labour;
+he knew that his friends would not have the courage to annihilate one of
+his works; this was reserved for him. Dying, he raised himself, and as
+if animated by an honourable action, he dragged himself along, and with
+trembling hands seized his papers, and consumed them in one
+sacrifice.--I recollect another instance of a man of letters, of our own
+country, who acted the same part. He had passed his life in constant
+study, and it was observed that he had written several folio volumes,
+which his modest fears would not permit him to expose to the eye even of
+his critical friends. He promised to leave his labours to posterity; and
+he seemed sometimes, with a glow on his countenance, to exult that they
+would not be unworthy of their acceptance. At his death his sensibility
+took the alarm; he had the folios brought to his bed; no one could open
+them, for they were closely locked. At the sight of his favourite and
+mysterious labours, he paused; he seemed disturbed in his mind, while he
+felt at every moment his strength decaying; suddenly he raised his
+feeble hands by an effort of firm resolve, burnt his papers, and smiled
+as the greedy Vulcan licked up every page. The task exhausted his
+remaining strength, and he soon afterwards expired. The late Mrs.
+Inchbald had written her life in several volumes; on her death-bed, from
+a motive perhaps of too much delicacy to admit of any argument, she
+requested a friend to cut them into pieces before her eyes--not having
+sufficient strength left herself to perform this funereal office. These
+are instances of what may be called the heroism of authors.
+
+The republic of letters has suffered irreparable losses by shipwrecks.
+Guarino Veronese, one of those learned Italians who travelled through
+Greece for the recovery of MSS., had his perseverance repaid by the
+acquisition of many valuable works. On his return to Italy he was
+shipwrecked, and lost his treasures! So poignant was his grief on this
+occasion that, according to the relation of one of his countrymen, his
+hair turned suddenly white.
+
+About the year 1700, Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh,
+animated solely by literary curiosity, went to China to instruct himself
+in the language, and in whatever was remarkable in this singular people.
+He acquired the skill of a mandarine in that difficult language; nor did
+the form of his Dutch face undeceive the physiognomists of China. He
+succeeded to the dignity of a mandarine; he travelled through the
+provinces under this character, and returned to Europe with a collection
+of observations, the cherished labour of thirty years, and all these
+were sunk in the bottomless sea.
+
+The great Pinellian library, after the death of its illustrious
+possessor, filled three vessels to be conveyed to Naples. Pursued by
+corsairs, one of the vessels was taken; but the pirates finding nothing
+on board but books, they threw them all into the sea: such was the fate
+of a great portion of this famous library.[26] National libraries have
+often perished at sea, from the circumstance of conquerors transporting
+them into their own kingdoms.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 23: Henry gave a commission to the famous antiquary, John
+Leland, to examine the libraries of the suppressed religious houses, and
+preserve such as concerned history. Though Leland, after his search,
+told the king he had "conserved many good authors, the which otherwyse
+had bene lyke to have peryshed, to the no smal incommodite of good
+letters," he owns to the ruthless destruction of all such as were
+connected with the "doctryne of a rowt of Romayne bysshopps." Strype
+consequently notes with great sorrow that many "ancient manuscripts and
+writings of learned British and Saxon authors were lost. Libraries were
+sold by mercenary men for anything they could get, in that confusion and
+devastation of religious houses. Bale, the antiquary, makes mention of a
+merchant that bought two noble libraries about these times for forty
+shillings; the books whereof served him for no other use but for waste
+paper; and that he had been ten years consuming them, and yet there
+remained still store enough for as many years more. Vast quantities and
+numbers of these books vanished with the monks and friars from their
+monasteries, were conveyed away and carried beyond seas to booksellers
+there, by whole ship ladings; and a great many more were used in shops
+and kitchens."]
+
+[Footnote 24: One of the most disastrous of these losses to the admirers
+of the old drama occurred through the neglect of a collector--John
+Warburton, Somerset herald-at-arms (who died 1759), and who had many of
+these early plays in manuscript. They were left carelessly in a corner,
+and during his absence his cook used them for culinary purposes as waste
+paper. The list published of his losses is, however, not quite accurate,
+as one or more escaped, or were mislaid by this careless man; for
+Massinger's tragedy, _The Tyrant_, stated to have been so destroyed, was
+found among his books, and sold at his sale in 1759; another play by the
+same author, _Believe as You List_, was discovered among some papers
+from Garrick's library in 1844, and was printed by the Percy Society,
+1849. It appears to be the very manuscript copy seen and described by
+Cibber and Chetwood.]
+
+[Footnote 25: One of these shrivelled volumes is preserved in a case in
+our British Museum. The leaves have been twisted and drawn almost into a
+solid ball by the action of fire. Some few of the charred manuscripts
+have been admirably restored of late years by judicious pressure, and
+inlaying the damaged leaves in solid margins. The fire occurred while
+the collection was temporarily placed in Ashburnham House, Little Dean's
+Yard, Westminster, in October, 1731. From the Report published by a
+Committee of the House of Commons soon after, it appears that the
+original number of volumes was 958--"of which are lost, burnt, or
+entirely spoiled, 114; and damaged so as to be defective, 98."]
+
+[Footnote 26: Gianvincenzo Pinelli was descended from a noble Genoese
+family, and born at Naples in 1535. At the age of twenty-three he
+removed to Padua, then noted for its learning, and here he devoted his
+time and fortune to literary and scientific pursuits. There was scarcely
+a branch of knowledge that he did not cultivate; and at his death, in
+1601, he left a noble library behind him. But the Senate of Venice, ever
+fearful that an undue knowledge of its proceedings should be made
+public, set their seal upon his collection of manuscripts, and took away
+more than two hundred volumes which related in some degree to its
+affairs. The rest of the books were packed to go to Naples, where his
+heirs resided. The printed books are stated to have filled one hundred
+and sixteen chests, and the manuscripts were contained in fourteen
+others. Three ships were freighted with them. One fell into the hands of
+corsairs, and the contents were destroyed, as stated in the text; some
+of the books, scattered on the beach at Fermo, were purchased by the
+Bishop there. The other ship-loads were ultimately obtained by Cardinal
+Borromeo, and added to his library.]
+
+
+
+
+SOME NOTICES OF LOST WORKS.
+
+
+Although it is the opinion of some critics that our literary losses do
+not amount to the extent which others imagine, they are however much
+greater than they allow. Our severest losses are felt in the historical
+province, and particularly in the earliest records, which might not have
+been the least interesting to philosophical curiosity.
+
+The history of Phoenicia by Sanchoniathon, supposed to be a contemporary
+with Solomon, now consists of only a few valuable fragments preserved by
+Eusebius. The same ill fortune attends Manetho's history of Egypt, and
+Berosu's history of Chaldea. The histories of these most ancient
+nations, however veiled in fables, would have presented to the
+philosopher singular objects of contemplation.
+
+Of the history of Polybios, which once contained forty books, we have
+now only five; of the historical library of Diodorus Siculus fifteen
+books only remain out of forty; and half of the Roman antiquities of
+Dionysius Helicarnassensis has perished. Of the eighty books of the
+history of Dion Cassius, twenty-five only remain. The present opening
+book of Ammianus Marcellinus is entitled the fourteenth. Livy's history
+consisted of one hundred and forty books, and we only possess
+thirty-five of that pleasing historian. What a treasure has been lost in
+the thirty books of Tacitus! little more than four remain. Murphy
+elegantly observes, that "the reign of Titus, the delight of human kind,
+is totally lost, and Domitian has escaped the vengeance of the
+historian's pen." Yet Tacitus in fragments is still the colossal torso
+of history. Velleius Paterculas, of whom a fragment only has reached
+us, we owe to a single copy: no other having ever been discovered, and
+which has occasioned the text of this historian to remain incurably
+corrupt. Taste and criticism have certainly incurred an irreparable loss
+in that _Treatise on the Causes of the Corruption of Eloquence_, by
+Quintilian; which he has himself noticed with so much satisfaction in
+his "Institutes." Petrarch declares, that in his youth he had seen the
+works of Varro, and the second Decad of Livy; but all his endeavours to
+recover them were fruitless.
+
+These are only some of the most known losses; but in reading
+contemporary writers we are perpetually discovering many important ones.
+We have lost two precious works in ancient biography: Varro wrote the
+lives of seven hundred illustrious Romans; and Atticus, the friend of
+Cicero, composed another, on the acts of the great men among the Romans.
+When we consider that these writers lived familiarly with the finest
+geniuses of their times, and were opulent, hospitable, and lovers of the
+fine arts, their biography and their portraits, which are said to have
+accompanied them, are felt as an irreparable loss to literature. I
+suspect likewise we have had great losses of which we are not always
+aware; for in that curious letter in which the younger Pliny describes
+in so interesting a manner the sublime industry, for it seems sublime by
+its magnitude, of his Uncle,[27] it appears that his Natural History,
+that vast register of the wisdom and the credulity of the ancients, was
+not his only great labour; for among his other works was a history in
+twenty books, which has entirely perished. We discover also the works of
+writers, which, by the accounts of them, appear to have equalled in
+genius those which have descended to us. Pliny has feelingly described a
+poet of whom he tells us, "his works are never out of my hands; and
+whether I sit down to write anything myself, or to revise what I have
+already wrote, or am in a disposition to amuse myself, I constantly take
+up this agreeable author; and as often as I do so, he is still new."[28]
+He had before compared this poet to Catullus; and in a critic of so fine
+a taste as Pliny, to have cherished so constant an intercourse with the
+writings of this author, indicates high powers. Instances of this kind
+frequently occur. Who does not regret the loss of the Anticato of
+Cæsar?
+
+The losses which the poetical world has sustained are sufficiently known
+by those who are conversant with the few invaluable fragments of
+Menander, who might have interested us perhaps more than Homer: for he
+was evidently the domestic poet, and the lyre he touched was formed of
+the strings of the human heart. He was the painter of passions, and the
+historian of the manners. The opinion of Quintilian is confirmed by the
+golden fragments preserved for the English reader in the elegant
+versions of Cumberland. Even of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who
+each wrote about one hundred dramas, seven only have been preserved of
+Æschylus and of Sophocles, and nineteen of Euripides. Of the one hundred
+and thirty comedies of Plautus, we only inherit twenty imperfect ones.
+The remainder of Ovid's Fasti has never been recovered.
+
+I believe that a philosopher would consent to lose any poet to regain an
+historian; nor is this unjust, for some future poet may arise to supply
+the vacant place of a lost poet, but it is not so with the historian.
+Fancy may be supplied; but Truth once lost in the annals of mankind
+leaves a chasm never to be filled.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 27: Book III. Letter V. Melmoth's translation.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Book I. Letter XVI.]
+
+
+
+
+QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS.
+
+
+The scholastic questions were called _Questiones Quodlibeticæ_; and they
+were generally so ridiculous that we have retained the word _Quodlibet_
+in our vernacular style, to express anything ridiculously subtile;
+something which comes at length to be distinguished into nothingness,
+
+    "With all the rash dexterity of wit."
+
+The history of the scholastic philosophy furnishes an instructive theme;
+it enters into the history of the human mind, and fills a niche in our
+literary annals. The works of the scholastics, with the debates of these
+_Quodlibetarians_, at once show the greatness and the littleness of the
+human intellect; for though they often degenerate into incredible
+absurdities, those who have examined the works of Thomas Aquinas and
+Duns Scotus have confessed their admiration of the Herculean texture of
+brain which they exhausted in demolishing their aërial fabrics.
+
+The following is a slight sketch of the school divinity.
+
+The christian doctrines in the primitive ages of the gospel were adapted
+to the simple comprehension of the multitude; metaphysical subtilties
+were not even employed by the Fathers, of whom several are eloquent. The
+Homilies explained, by an obvious interpretation, some scriptural point,
+or inferred, by artless illustration, some moral doctrine. When the
+Arabians became the only learned people, and their empire extended over
+the greater part of the known world, they impressed their own genius on
+those nations with whom they were allied as friends, or reverenced as
+masters. The Arabian genius was fond of abstruse studies; it was highly
+metaphysical and mathematical, for the fine arts their religion did not
+permit them to cultivate; and the first knowledge which modern Europe
+obtained of Euclid and Aristotle was through the medium of Latin
+translations of Arabic versions. The Christians in the west received
+their first lessons from the Arabians in the east; and Aristotle, with
+his Arabic commentaries, was enthroned in the schools of Christendom.
+
+Then burst into birth, from the dark cave of metaphysics, a numerous and
+ugly spawn of monstrous sects; unnatural children of the same foul
+mother, who never met but for mutual destruction. Religion became what
+is called the study of Theology; and they all attempted to reduce the
+worship of God into a system! and the creed into a thesis! Every point
+relating to religion was debated through an endless chain of infinite
+questions, incomprehensible distinctions, with differences mediate and
+immediate, the concrete and the abstract, a perpetual civil war carried
+on against common sense in all the Aristotelian severity. There existed
+a rage for Aristotle; and Melancthon complains that in sacred assemblies
+the ethics of Aristotle were read to the people instead of the gospel.
+Aristotle was placed a-head of St. Paul; and St. Thomas Aquinas in his
+works distinguishes him by the title of "The Philosopher;" inferring,
+doubtless, that no other man could possibly be a philosopher who
+disagreed with Aristotle. Of the blind rites paid to Aristotle, the
+anecdotes of the Nominalists and Realists are noticed in the article
+"Literary Controversy" in this work.
+
+Had their subtile questions and perpetual wranglings only been addressed
+to the metaphysician in his closet, and had nothing but strokes of the
+pen occurred, the scholastic divinity would only have formed an episode
+in the calm narrative of literary history; but it has claims to be
+registered in political annals, from the numerous persecutions and
+tragical events with which they too long perplexed their followers, and
+disturbed the repose of Europe. The Thomists, and the Scotists, the
+Occamites, and many others, soared into the regions of mysticism.
+
+Peter Lombard had laboriously compiled, after the celebrated Abelard's
+"Introduction to Divinity," his four books of "Sentences," from the
+writings of the Fathers; and for this he is called "The Master of
+Sentences." These Sentences, on which we have so many commentaries, are
+a collection of passages from the Fathers, the real or apparent
+contradictions of whom he endeavours to reconcile. But his successors
+were not satisfied to be mere commentators on these "sentences," which
+they now only made use of as a row of pegs to hang on their fine-spun
+metaphysical cobwebs. They at length collected all these quodlibetical
+questions into enormous volumes, under the terrifying form, for those
+who have seen them, of _Summaries of Divinity_! They contrived, by their
+chimerical speculations, to question the plainest truths; to wrest the
+simple meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and give some appearance of truth
+to the most ridiculous and monstrous opinions.
+
+One of the subtile questions which agitated the world in the tenth
+century, relating to dialectics, was concerning _universals_ (as for
+example, man, horse, dog, &c.) signifying not _this_ or _that_ in
+particular, but _all_ in general. They distinguished _universals_, or
+what we call abstract terms, by the _genera_ and _species rerum_; and
+they never could decide whether these were _substances_--or _names_!
+That is, whether the abstract idea we form of a horse was not really a
+_being_ as much as the horse we ride! All this, and some congenial
+points respecting the origin of our ideas, and what ideas were, and
+whether we really had an idea of a thing before we discovered the thing
+itself--in a word, what they called universals, and the essence of
+universals; of all this nonsense, on which they at length proceeded to
+accusations of heresy, and for which many learned men were
+excommunicated, stoned, and what not, the whole was derived from the
+reveries of Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, about the nature of ideas, than
+which subject to the present day no discussion ever degenerated into
+such insanity. A modern metaphysician infers that we have no ideas at
+all!
+
+Of the scholastic divines, the most illustrious was Saint THOMAS
+AQUINAS, styled the Angelical Doctor. Seventeen folio volumes not only
+testify his industry but even his genius. He was a great man, busied all
+his life with making the charades of metaphysics.
+
+My learned friend Sharon Turner has favoured me with a notice of his
+greatest work--his "Sum of all Theology," _Summa totius Theologiæ_,
+Paris, 1615. It is a metaphysicological treatise, or the most abstruse
+metaphysics of theology. It occupies above 1250 folio pages, of very
+small close print in double columns. It may be worth noticing that to
+this work are appended 19 folio pages of double columns of errata, and
+about 200 of additional index!
+
+The whole is thrown into an Aristotelian form; the difficulties or
+questions are proposed first, and the answers are then appended. There
+are 168 articles on Love--358 on Angels--200 on the Soul--85 on
+Demons--151 on the Intellect--134 on Law--3 on the Catamenia--237 on
+Sins--17 on Virginity, and others on a variety of topics.
+
+The scholastic tree is covered with prodigal foliage, but is barren of
+fruit; and when the scholastics employed themselves in solving the
+deepest mysteries, their philosophy became nothing more than an
+instrument in the hands of the Roman Pontiff. Aquinas has composed 358
+articles on angels, of which a few of the heads have been culled for the
+reader.
+
+He treats of angels, their substance, orders, offices, natures, habits,
+&c., as if he himself had been an old experienced angel!
+
+Angels were not before the world!
+
+Angels might have been before the world!
+
+Angels were created by God--They were created immediately by Him--They
+were created in the Empyrean sky--They were created in grace--They were
+created in imperfect beatitude. After a severe chain of reasoning, he
+shows that angels are incorporeal compared to us, but corporeal compared
+to God.
+
+An angel is composed of action and potentiality; the more superior he
+is, he has the less potentiality. They have not matter properly. Every
+angel differs from another angel in species. An angel is of the same
+species as a soul. Angels have not naturally a body united to them. They
+may assume bodies; but they do not want to assume bodies for themselves,
+but for us.
+
+The bodies assumed by angels are of thick air.
+
+The bodies they assume have not the natural virtues which they show, nor
+the operations of life, but those which are common to inanimate things.
+
+An angel may be the same with a body.
+
+In the same body there are, the soul formally giving being, and
+operating natural operations; and the angel operating supernatural
+operations.
+
+Angels administer and govern every corporeal creature.
+
+God, an angel, and the soul, are not contained in space, but contain it.
+
+Many angels cannot be in the same space.
+
+The motion of an angel in space is nothing else than different contacts
+of different successive places.
+
+The motion of an angel is a succession of his different operations.
+
+His motion may be continuous and discontinuous as he will.
+
+The continuous motion of an angel is necessary through every medium, but
+may be discontinuous without a medium.
+
+The velocity of the motion of an angel is not according to the quantity
+of his strength, but according to his will.
+
+The motion of the illumination of an angel is threefold, or circular,
+straight, and oblique.
+
+In this account of the motion of an angel we are reminded of the
+beautiful description of Milton, who marks it by a continuous motion,
+
+    "Smooth-sliding without step."
+
+The reader desirous of being _merry_ with Aquinas's angels may find them
+in Martinus Scriblerus, in Ch. VII. who inquires if angels pass from one
+extreme to another without going through the _middle_? And if angels
+know things more clearly in a morning? How many angels can dance on the
+point of a very fine needle, without jostling one another?
+
+All the questions in Aquinas are answered with a subtlety of distinction
+more difficult to comprehend and remember than many problems in Euclid;
+and perhaps a few of the best might still be selected for youth as
+curious exercises of the understanding. However, a great part of these
+peculiar productions are loaded with the most trifling, irreverent, and
+even scandalous discussions. Even Aquinas could gravely debate, Whether
+Christ was not an hermaphrodite? Whether there are excrements in
+Paradise? Whether the pious at the resurrection will rise with their
+bowels? Others again debated--Whether the angel Gabriel appeared to the
+Virgin Mary in the shape of a serpent, of a dove, of a man, or of a
+woman? Did he seem to be young or old? In what dress was he? Was his
+garment white or of two colours? Was his linen clean or foul? Did he
+appear in the morning, noon, or evening? What was the colour of the
+Virgin Mary's hair? Was she acquainted with the mechanic and liberal
+arts? Had she a thorough knowledge of the Book of Sentences, and all it
+contains? that is, Peter Lombard's compilation from the works of the
+Fathers, written 1200 years after her death.--But these are only
+trifling matters: they also agitated, Whether when during her conception
+the Virgin was seated, Christ too was seated; and whether when she lay
+down, Christ also lay down? The following question was a favourite topic
+for discussion, and the acutest logicians never resolved it: "When a hog
+is carried to market with a rope tied about his neck, which is held at
+the other end by a man, whether is the _hog_ carried to market by the
+_rope_ or the _man_?"
+
+In the tenth century[29], after long and ineffectual controversy about
+the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, they at length universally
+agreed to sign a peace. This mutual forbearance must not, however, be
+ascribed to the prudence and virtue of those times. It was mere
+ignorance and incapacity of reasoning which kept the peace, and deterred
+them from entering into debates to which they at length found themselves
+unequal!
+
+Lord Lyttleton, in his Life of Henry II., laments the unhappy effects of
+the scholastic philosophy on the progress of the human mind. The minds
+of men were turned from classical studies to the subtilties of school
+divinity, which Rome encouraged, as more profitable for the maintenance
+of her doctrines. It was a great misfortune to religion and to learning,
+that men of such acute understandings as Abelard and Lombard, who might
+have done much to reform the errors of the church, and to restore
+science in Europe, should have depraved both, by applying their
+admirable parts to weave those cobwebs of sophistry, and to confound the
+clear simplicity of evangelical truths, by a false philosophy and a
+captious logic.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 29: Jortin's _Remarks on Ecclesiastical History_, vol. v. p.
+17.]
+
+
+
+
+FAME CONTEMNED.
+
+
+All men are fond of glory, and even those philosophers who write against
+that noble passion prefix their _names_ to their own works. It is worthy
+of observation that the authors of two _religious books_, universally
+received, have concealed their names from the world. The "Imitation of
+Christ" is attributed, without any authority, to Thomas A'Kempis; and
+the author of the "Whole Duty of Man" still remains undiscovered.
+Millions of their books have been dispersed in the Christian world.
+
+To have revealed their _names_ would have given them as much worldly
+fame as any moralist has obtained--but they contemned it! Their religion
+was raised above all worldly passions! Some profane writers, indeed,
+have also concealed their names to great works, but their _motives_ were
+of a very different cast.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE.
+
+
+Nothing is so capable of disordering the intellects as an intense
+application to any one of these six things: the Quadrature of the
+Circle; the Multiplication of the Cube; the Perpetual Motion; the
+Philosophical Stone; Magic; and Judicial Astrology. "It is proper,
+however," Fontenelle remarks, "to apply one's self to these inquiries;
+because we find, as we proceed, many valuable discoveries of which we
+were before ignorant." The same thought Cowley has applied, in an
+address to his mistress, thus--
+
+    "Although I think thou never wilt be found,
+      Yet I'm resolved to search for thee:
+        The search itself rewards the pains.
+          So though the chymist his great secret miss,
+    (For neither it in art nor nature is)
+      Yet things well worth his toil he gains;
+    And does his charge and labour pay
+    With good unsought experiments by the way."
+
+The same thought is in Donne; perhaps Cowley did not suspect that he was
+an imitator; Fontenelle could not have read either; he struck out the
+thought by his own reflection, Glauber searched long and deeply for the
+philosopher's stone, which though he did not find, yet in his researches
+he discovered a very useful purging salt, which bears his name.
+
+Maupertuis observes on the _Philosophical Stone_, that we cannot prove
+the impossibility of obtaining it, but we can easily see the folly of
+those who employ their time and money in seeking for it. This price is
+too great to counterbalance the little probability of succeeding in it.
+However, it is still a bantling of modern chemistry, who has nodded very
+affectionately on it!--Of the _Perpetual Motion_, he shows the
+impossibility, in the sense in which it is generally received. On the
+_Quadrature of the Circle_, he says he cannot decide if this problem be
+resolvable or not: but he observes, that it is very useless to search
+for it any more; since we have arrived by approximation to such a point
+of accuracy, that on a large circle, such as the orbit which the earth
+describes round the sun, the geometrician will not mistake by the
+thickness of a hair. The quadrature of the circle is still, however, a
+favourite game with some visionaries, and several are still imagining
+that they have discovered the perpetual motion; the Italians nickname
+them _matto perpetuo_: and Bekker tells us of the fate of one Hartmann,
+of Leipsic, who was in such despair at having passed his life so vainly,
+in studying the perpetual motion, that at length he hanged himself!
+
+
+
+
+IMITATORS.
+
+
+Some writers, usually pedants, imagine that they can supply, by the
+labours of industry, the deficiencies of nature. Paulus Manutius
+frequently spent a month in writing a single letter. He affected to
+imitate Cicero. But although he painfully attained to something of the
+elegance of his style, destitute of the native graces of unaffected
+composition, he was one of those whom Erasmus bantered in his
+_Ciceronianus_, as so slavishly devoted to Cicero's style, that they
+ridiculously employed the utmost precautions when they were seized by a
+Ciceronian fit. The _Nosoponus_ of Erasmus tells of his devotion to
+Cicero; of his three indexes to all his words, and his never writing but
+in the dead of night, employing months upon a few lines; and his
+religious veneration for _words_, with his total indifference about the
+_sense_.
+
+Le Brun, a Jesuit, was a singular instance of such unhappy imitation. He
+was a Latin poet, and his themes were religious. He formed the
+extravagant project of substituting a _religious Virgil_ and _Ovid_
+merely by adapting his works to their titles. His _Christian Virgil_
+consists, like the Pagan Virgil, of _Eclogues_, _Georgics_, and of an
+_Epic_ of twelve books; with this difference, that devotional subjects
+are substituted for fabulous ones. His epic is the _Ignaciad_, or the
+pilgrimage of Saint Ignatius. His _Christian Ovid_, is in the same
+taste; everything wears a new face. His _Epistles_ are pious ones; the
+_Fasti_ are the six days of the Creation; the _Elegies_ are the six
+Lamentations of Jeremiah; a poem on _the Love of God_ is substituted for
+the _Art of Love_; and the history of some _Conversions_ supplies the
+place of the _Metamorphoses_! This Jesuit would, no doubt, have approved
+of a _family Shakspeare_!
+
+A poet of a far different character, the elegant Sannazarius, has done
+much the same thing in his poem _De Partu Virginis_. The same servile
+imitation of ancient taste appears. It professes to celebrate the birth
+of _Christ_, yet his name is not once mentioned in it! The _Virgin_
+herself is styled _spes deorum_! "The hope of the gods!" The
+_Incarnation_ is predicted by _Proteus_! The Virgin, instead of
+consulting the _sacred writings_, reads the _Sibylline oracles_! Her
+attendants are _dryads_, _nereids_, &c. This monstrous mixture of
+polytheism with the mysteries of Christianity, appears in everything he
+had about him. In a chapel at one of his country seats he had two
+statues placed at his tomb, _Apollo_ and _Minerva_; catholic piety found
+no difficulty in the present case, as well as in innumerable others of
+the same kind, to inscribe the statue of _Apollo_ with the name of
+_David_, and that of _Minerva_ with the female one of _Judith_!
+
+Seneca, in his 114th Epistle, gives a curious literary anecdote of the
+sort of imitation by which an inferior mind becomes the monkey of an
+original writer. At Rome, when Sallust was the fashionable writer, short
+sentences, uncommon words, and an obscure brevity, were affected as so
+many elegances. Arruntius, who wrote the history of the Punic Wars,
+painfully laboured to imitate Sallust. Expressions which are rare in
+Sallust are frequent in Arruntius, and, of course, without the motive
+that induced Sallust to adopt them. What rose naturally under the pen of
+the great historian, the minor one must have run after with ridiculous
+anxiety. Seneca adds several instances of the servile affectation of
+Arruntius, which seem much like those we once had of Johnson, by the
+undiscerning herd of his apes.
+
+One cannot but smile at these imitators; we have abounded with them. In
+the days of Churchill, every month produced an effusion which tolerably
+imitated his slovenly versification, his coarse invective, and his
+careless mediocrity,--but the genius remained with the English Juvenal.
+Sterne had his countless multitude; and in Fielding's time, Tom Jones
+produced more bastards in wit than the author could ever suspect. To
+such literary echoes, the reply of Philip of Macedon to one who prided
+himself on imitating the notes of the nightingale may be applied: "I
+prefer the nightingale herself!" Even the most successful of this
+imitating tribe must be doomed to share the fate of Silius Italicus, in
+his cold imitation of Virgil, and Cawthorne in his empty harmony of
+Pope.
+
+To all these imitators I must apply an Arabian anecdote. Ebn Saad, one
+of Mahomet's amanuenses, when writing what the prophet dictated, cried
+out by way of admiration--"Blessed be God, the best Creator!" Mahomet
+approved of the expression, and desired him to write those words down as
+part of the inspired passage.--The consequence was, that Ebn Saad began
+to think himself as great a prophet as his master, and took upon himself
+to imitate the Koran according to his fancy; but the imitator got
+himself into trouble, and only escaped with life by falling on his
+knees, and solemnly swearing he would never again imitate the Koran, for
+which he was sensible God had never created him.
+
+
+
+
+CICERO'S PUNS.
+
+
+"I should," says Menage, "have received great pleasure to have conversed
+with Cicero, had I lived in his time. He must have been a man very
+agreeable in conversation, since even Cæsar carefully collected his
+_bons mots_. Cicero has boasted of the great actions he has done for his
+country, because there is no vanity in exulting in the performance of
+our duties; but he has not boasted that he was the most eloquent orator
+of his age, though he certainly was; because nothing is more disgusting
+than to exult in our intellectual powers."
+
+Whatever were the _bons mots_ of Cicero, of which few have come down to
+us, it is certain that Cicero was an inveterate punster; and he seems to
+have been more ready with them than with repartees. He said to a
+senator, who was the son of a tailor, "_Rem acu tetigisti_." You have
+touched it sharply; _acu_ means sharpness as well as the point of a
+needle. To the son of a cook, "_ego quoque tibi jure favebo_." The
+ancients pronounced _coce_ and _quoque_ like _co-ke_, which alludes to
+the Latin _cocus_, cook, besides the ambiguity of _jure_, which applies
+to _broth_ or _law--jus_. A Sicilian suspected of being a Jew, attempted
+to get the cause of Verres into his own hands; Cicero, who knew that he
+was a creature of the great culprit, opposed him, observing "What has a
+Jew to do with swine's flesh?" The Romans called a boar pig Verres. I
+regret to afford a respectable authority for forensic puns; however, to
+have degraded his adversaries by such petty personalities, only proves
+that Cicero's taste was not exquisite.
+
+There is something very original in Montaigne's censure of Cicero.
+Cotton's translation is admirable.
+
+"Boldly to confess the truth, his way of writing, and that of all other
+long-winded authors, appears to me very tedious; for his preface,
+definitions, divisions, and etymologies, take up the greatest part of
+his work; whatever there is of life and marrow, is smothered and lost in
+the preparation. When I have spent an hour in reading him, which is a
+great deal for me, and recollect what I have thence extracted of juice
+and substance, for the most part I find nothing but wind: for he is not
+yet come to the arguments that serve to his purpose, and the reasons
+that should properly help to loose the knot I would untie. For me, who
+only desired to become more wise, not more learned or eloquent, these
+logical or Aristotelian disquisitions of poets are of no use. I look for
+good and solid reasons at the first dash. I am for discourses that give
+the first charge into the heart of the doubt; his languish about the
+subject, and delay our expectation. Those are proper for the schools,
+for the bar, and for the pulpit, where we have leisure to nod, and may
+awake a quarter of an hour after, time enough to find again the thread
+of the discourse. It is necessary to speak after this manner to judges,
+whom a man has a design, right or wrong, to incline to favour his cause;
+to children and common people, to whom a man must say all he can. I
+would not have an author make it his business to render me attentive; or
+that he should cry out fifty times _O yes_! as the clerks and heralds
+do.
+
+"As to Cicero, I am of the common opinion that, learning excepted, he
+had no great natural parts. He was a good citizen, of an affable
+nature, as all fat heavy men--(_gras et gausseurs_ are the words in the
+original, meaning perhaps broad jokers, for Cicero was not fat)--such as
+he was, usually are; but given to ease, and had a mighty share of vanity
+and ambition. Neither do I know how to excuse him for thinking his
+poetry fit to be published. 'Tis no great imperfection to write ill
+verses; but it is an imperfection not to be able to judge how unworthy
+bad verses were of the glory of his name. For what concerns his
+eloquence, that is totally out of comparison, and I believe will never
+be equalled."
+
+
+
+
+PREFACES.
+
+
+A preface, being the entrance to a book, should invite by its beauty. An
+elegant porch announces the splendour of the interior. I have observed
+that ordinary readers skip over these little elaborate compositions. The
+ladies consider them as so many pages lost, which might better be
+employed in the addition of a picturesque scene, or a tender letter to
+their novels. For my part I always gather amusement from a preface, be
+it awkwardly or skilfully written; for dulness, or impertinence, may
+raise a laugh for a page or two. A preface is frequently a superior
+composition to the work itself: for, long before the days of Johnson, it
+had been a custom for many authors to solicit for this department of
+their work the ornamental contribution of a man of genius. Cicero tells
+his friend Atticus, that he had a volume of prefaces or introductions
+always ready by him to be used as circumstances required. These must
+have been like our periodical essays. A good preface is as essential to
+put the reader into good humour, as a good prologue is to a play, or a
+fine symphony to an opera, containing something analogous to the work
+itself; so that we may feel its want as a desire not elsewhere to be
+gratified. The Italians call the preface _La salsa del libra_, the sauce
+of the book, and if well seasoned it creates an appetite in the reader
+to devour the book itself. A preface badly composed prejudices the
+reader against the work. Authors are not equally fortunate in these
+little introductions; some can compose volumes more skilfully than
+prefaces, and others can finish a preface who could never be capable of
+finishing a book.
+
+On a very elegant preface prefixed to an ill-written book, it was
+observed that they ought never to have _come together_; but a sarcastic
+wit remarked that he considered such _marriages_ were allowable, for
+they were _not of kin_.
+
+In prefaces an affected haughtiness or an affected humility are alike
+despicable. There is a deficient dignity in Robertson's; but the
+haughtiness is now to our purpose. This is called by the French, "_la
+morgue littéraire_," the surly pomposity of literature. It is sometimes
+used by writers who have succeeded in their first work, while the
+failure of their subsequent productions appears to have given them a
+literary hypochondriasm. Dr. Armstrong, after his classical poem, never
+shook hands cordially with the public for not relishing his barren
+labours. In the _preface_ to his lively "Sketches" he tells us, "he
+could give them much bolder strokes as well as more delicate touches,
+but that he _dreads the danger of writing too well_, and feels the value
+of his own labour too sensibly to bestow it upon the _mobility_." This
+is pure milk compared to the gall in the _preface_ to his poems. There
+he tells us, "that at last he has taken the _trouble to collect them_!
+What he has destroyed would, probably enough, have been better received
+by the _great majority of readers_. But he has always _most heartily
+despised their opinion_." These prefaces remind one of the _prologi
+galeati_, prefaces with a helmet! as St. Jerome entitles the one to his
+Version of the Scriptures. These _armed prefaces_ were formerly very
+common in the age of literary controversy; for half the business of an
+author consisted then, either in replying, or anticipating a reply, to
+the attacks of his opponent.
+
+Prefaces ought to be dated; as these become, after a series of editions,
+leading and useful circumstances in literary history.
+
+Fuller with quaint humour observes on INDEXES--"An INDEX is a necessary
+implement, and no impediment of a book, except in the same sense wherein
+the carriages of an army are termed _Impedimenta_. Without this, a large
+author is but a labyrinth without a clue to direct the reader therein. I
+confess there is a lazy kind of learning which is _only Indical_; when
+scholars (like adders which only bite the horse's heels) nibble but at
+the tables, which are _calces librorum_, neglecting the body of the
+book. But though the idle deserve no crutches (let not a staff be used
+by them, but on them), pity it is the weary should be denied the benefit
+thereof, and industrious scholars prohibited the accommodation of an
+index, most used by those who most pretend to contemn it."
+
+
+
+
+EARLY PRINTING.
+
+
+There is some probability that this art originated in China, where it
+was practised long before it was known in Europe. Some European
+traveller might have imported the hint.[30] That the Romans did not
+practise the art of printing cannot but excite our astonishment, since
+they actually used it, unconscious of their rich possession. I have seen
+Roman stereotypes, or immoveable printing types, with which they stamped
+their pottery.[31] How in daily practising the art, though confined to
+this object, it did not occur to so ingenious a people to print their
+literary works, is not easily to be accounted for. Did the wise and
+grave senate dread those inconveniences which attend its indiscriminate
+use? Or perhaps they did not care to deprive so large a body of scribes
+of their business. Not a hint of the art itself appears in their
+writings.
+
+When first the art of printing was discovered, they only made use of one
+side of a leaf; they had not yet found out the expedient of impressing
+the other. Afterwards they thought of pasting the blank sides, which
+made them appear like one leaf. Their blocks were made of soft woods,
+and their letters were carved; but frequently breaking, the expense and
+trouble of carving and gluing new letters suggested our moveable types
+which, have produced an almost miraculous celerity in this art. The
+modern stereotype, consisting of entire pages in solid blocks of metal,
+and, not being liable to break like the soft wood at first used, has
+been profitably employed for works which require to be frequently
+reprinted. Printing in carved blocks of wood must have greatly retarded
+the progress of universal knowledge: for one set of types could only
+have produced one work, whereas it now serves for hundreds.
+
+When their editions were intended to be curious, they omitted to print
+the initial letter of a chapter: they left that blank space to be
+painted or illuminated, to the fancy of the purchaser. Several ancient
+volumes of these early times have been found where these letters are
+wanting, as they neglected to have them painted.
+
+The initial carved letter, which is generally a fine wood-cut, among our
+printed books, is evidently a remains or imitation of these
+ornaments.[32] Among the very earliest books printed, which were
+religious, the Poor Man's Bible has wooden cuts in a coarse style,
+without the least shadowing or crossing of strokes, and these they
+inelegantly daubed over with broad colours, which they termed
+illuminating, and sold at a cheap rate to those who could not afford to
+purchase costly missals elegantly written and painted on vellum.
+Specimens of these rude efforts of illuminated prints may be seen in
+Strutt's Dictionary of Engravers. The Bodleian library possesses the
+originals.[33]
+
+In the productions of early printing may be distinguished the various
+splendid editions of _Primers_, or _Prayer-books_. These were
+embellished with cuts finished in a most elegant taste: many of them
+were grotesque or obscene. In one of them an angel is represented
+crowning the Virgin Mary, and God the Father himself assisting at the
+ceremony. Sometimes St. Michael is overcoming Satan; and sometimes St.
+Anthony is attacked by various devils of most clumsy forms--not of the
+grotesque and limber family of Callot!
+
+Printing was gradually practised throughout Europe from the year 1440 to
+1500. Caxton and his successor Wynkyn de Worde were our own earliest
+printers. Caxton was a wealthy merchant, who, in 1464, being sent by
+Edward IV. to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Duke of Burgundy,
+returned to his country with this invaluable art. Notwithstanding his
+mercantile habits, he possessed a literary taste, and his first work was
+a translation from a French historical miscellany.[34]
+
+The tradition of the Devil and Dr. Faustus was said to have been derived
+from the odd circumstance in which the Bibles of the first printer,
+Fust, appeared to the world; but if Dr. Faustus and Faustus the printer
+are two different persons, the tradition becomes suspicious, though, in
+some respects, it has a foundation in truth. When Fust had discovered
+this new art, and printed off a considerable number of copies of the
+Bible to imitate those which were commonly sold as MSS., he undertook
+the sale of them at Paris. It was his interest to conceal this
+discovery, and to pass off his printed copies for MSS. But, enabled to
+sell his Bibles at sixty crowns, while the other scribes demanded five
+hundred, this raised universal astonishment; and still more when he
+produced copies as fast as they were wanted, and even lowered his price.
+The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder. Informations were
+given in to the magistrates against him as a magician; and in searching
+his lodgings a great number of copies were found. The red ink, and
+Fust's red ink is peculiarly brilliant, which embellished his copies,
+was said to be his blood; and it was solemnly adjudged that he was in
+league with the Infernals. Fust at length was obliged, to save himself
+from a bonfire, to reveal his art to the Parliament of Paris, who
+discharged him from all prosecution in consideration of the wonderful
+invention.
+
+When the art of printing was established, it became the glory of the
+learned to be correctors of the press to eminent printers. Physicians,
+lawyers, and bishops themselves occupied this department. The printers
+then added frequently to their names those of the correctors of the
+press; and editions were then valued according to the abilities of the
+corrector.
+
+The _prices_ of books in these times were considered as an object worthy
+of the animadversions of the highest powers. This anxiety in favour of
+the studious appears from a privilege of Pope Leo X. to Aldus Manutius
+for printing Varro, dated 1553, signed Cardinal Bembo. Aldus is exhorted
+to put a moderate price on the work, lest the Pope should withdraw his
+privilege, and accord it to others.
+
+Robert Stephens, one of the early printers, surpassed in correctness
+those who exercised the same profession.[35]
+
+To render his editions immaculate, he hung up the proofs in public
+places, and generously recompensed those who were so fortunate as to
+detect any errata.
+
+Plantin, though a learned man, is more famous as a printer. His
+printing-office was one of the wonders of Europe. This grand building
+was the chief ornament of the city of Antwerp. Magnificent in its
+structure, it presented to the spectator a countless number of presses,
+characters of all figures and all sizes, matrixes to cast letters, and
+all other printing materials; which Baillet assures us amounted to
+immense sums.[36]
+
+In Italy, the three Manutii were more solicitous of correctness and
+illustrations than of the beauty of their printing. They were ambitious
+of the character of the scholar, not of the printer.
+
+It is much to be regretted that our publishers are not literary men,
+able to form their own critical decisions. Among the learned printers
+formerly, a book was valued because it came from the presses of an Aldus
+or a Stephens; and even in our own time the names of Bowyer and Dodsley
+sanctioned a work. Pelisson, in his history of the French Academy,
+mentions that Camusat was selected as their bookseller, from his
+reputation for publishing only valuable works. "He was a man of some
+literature and good sense, and rarely printed an indifferent work; and
+when we were young I recollect that we always made it a rule to purchase
+his publications. His name was a test of the goodness of the work." A
+publisher of this character would be of the greatest utility to the
+literary world: at home he would induce a number of ingenious men to
+become authors, for it would be honourable to be inscribed in his
+catalogue; and it would be a direction for the continental reader.
+
+So valuable a union of learning and printing did not, unfortunately,
+last. The printers of the seventeenth century became less charmed with
+glory than with gain. Their correctors and their letters evinced as
+little delicacy of choice.
+
+The invention of what is now called the _Italic_ letter in printing was
+made by Aldus Manutius, to whom learning owes much. He observed the
+many inconveniences resulting from the vast number of _abbreviations_,
+which were then so frequent among the printers, that a book was
+difficult to understand; a treatise was actually written on the art of
+reading a printed book, and this addressed to the learned! He contrived
+an expedient, by which these abbreviations might be entirely got rid of,
+and yet books suffer little increase in bulk. This he effected by
+introducing what is now called the _Italic_ letter, though it formerly
+was distinguished by the name of the inventor, and called the _Aldine_.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 30: China is the stronghold where antiquarian controversy
+rests. Beaten in affixing the origin of any art elsewhere, the
+controversialist enshrines himself within the Great Wall, and is allowed
+to repose in peace. Opponents, like Arabs, give up the chase when these
+gates close, though possibly with as little reason as the children of
+the desert evince when they quietly succumb to any slight defence.]
+
+[Footnote 31: They are small square blocks of metal, with the name in
+raised letters within a border, precisely similar to those used by the
+modern printer. Sometimes the stamp was round, or in the shape of a foot
+or hand, with the potter's name in the centre. They were in constant use
+for impressing the clay-works which supplied the wants of a Roman
+household. The list of potters' marks found upon fragments discovered in
+London alone amounts to several hundreds.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Another reason for the omission of a great initial is
+given. There was difficulty in obtaining such enriched letters by
+engraving as were used in manuscripts; and there was at this time a
+large number of professional scribes, whose interests were in some
+degree considered by the printer. Hence we find in early books a large
+space left to be filled in by the hand of the scribe with the proper
+letter indicated by a small type letter placed in the midst. The famous
+_Psalter_ printed by Faust and Scheffer, at Mentz, in 1497, is the first
+book having large initial letters printed in red and blue inks, in
+imitation of the handwork of the old caligraphers.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The British Museum now possesses a remarkably fine series
+of these early works. They originated in the large sheet woodcuts, or
+"broadsides," representing saints, or scenes from saintly legends, used
+by the clergy as presents to the peasantry or pilgrims to certain
+shrines--a custom retained upon the Continent to the present time; such
+cuts exhibiting little advance in art since the days of their origin,
+being almost as rude, and daubed in a similar way with coarse colour.
+One ancient cut of this kind in the British Museum, representing the
+Saviour brought before Pilate, resembles in style the pen-drawings in
+manuscripts of the fourteenth century. Another exhibits the seven stages
+of human life, with the wheel of fortune in the centre. Another is an
+emblematic representation of the Tower of Sapience, each stone formed of
+some mental qualification. When books were formed, a large series of
+such cuts included pictures and type in each page, and in one piece. The
+so-called Poor Man's Bible (an evidently erroneous term for it, the
+invention of a bibliographer of the last century) was one of these, and
+consists of a series of pictures from Scripture history, with brief
+explanations. It was most probably preceded by the block books known as
+the _Apocalypse of St. John_, the _Cantico Canticorum_, and the _Ars
+Memorandi_.]
+
+[Footnote 34: This was Raoul le Fevre's _Recueil des Histoires de
+Troye_, a fanciful compilation of adventures, in which the heroes of
+antiquity perform the parts of the _preux chevaliers_ of the middle
+ages. It was "ended in the Holy City of Colen," in September, 1471. The
+first book printed by him in England was _The Game and Playe of the
+Chesse_, in March, 1474. It is a fanciful moralization of the game,
+abounding with quaint old legends and stories.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Robert Stephens was the most celebrated of a family
+renowned through several generations in the history of printing. The
+first of the dynasty, Henry Estienne, who, in the spirit of the age,
+latinized his name, was born in Paris, in 1470, and commenced printing
+there at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His three
+sons--Francis, Robert, and Charles--were all renowned printers and
+scholars; Robert the most celebrated for the correctness and beauty of
+his work. His Latin Bible of 1532 made for him a great reputation; and
+he was appointed printer to Francis I. A new edition of his Bible, in
+1545, brought him into trouble with the formidable doctors of the
+Sorbonne, and he ultimately left Paris for Geneva, where he set up a
+printing-office, which soon became famous. He died in 1559. He was the
+author of some learned works, and a printer whose labours in the "noble
+art" have never been excelled. He left two sons--Henry and Robert--also
+remarkable as learned printers; and they both had sons who followed the
+same pursuits. There is not one of this large family without honourable
+recognition for labour and knowledge, and in their wives and daughters
+they found learned assistants. Chalmers says--"They were at once the
+ornament and reproach of the age in which they lived. They were all men
+of great learning, all extensive benefactors to literature, and all
+persecuted or unfortunate."]
+
+[Footnote 36: Plantin's office is still existing in Antwerp, and is one
+of the most interesting places in that interesting city. It is so
+carefully preserved, that its quadrangle was assigned to the soldiery in
+the last great revolution, to prevent any hostile incursion and damage.
+It is a lonely building, in which the old office, with its presses and
+printing material, still remains as when deserted by the last workman.
+The sheets of the last books printed there are still lying on the
+tables; and in the presses and drawers are hundreds of the woodcuts and
+copperplates used by Plantin for the books that made his office renowned
+throughout Europe. In the quadrangle are busts of himself and his
+successors, the Morels, and the scholars who were connected with them.
+Plantin's own room seems to want only his presence to perfect the scene.
+The furniture and fittings, the quaint decoration, leads the imagination
+insensibly back to the days of Charles V.]
+
+
+
+
+ERRATA.
+
+
+Besides the ordinary _errata_, which happen in printing a work, others
+have been purposely committed, that the _errata_ may contain what is not
+permitted to appear in the body of the work. Wherever the Inquisition
+had any power, particularly at Rome, it was not allowed to employ the
+word _fatum_, or _fata_, in any book. An author, desirous of using the
+latter word, adroitly invented this scheme; he had printed in his book
+_facta_, and, in the _errata_, he put, "For _facta_, read _fata_."
+
+Scarron has done the same thing on another occasion. He had composed
+some verses, at the head of which he placed this dedication--_A
+Guillemette, Chienne de ma Soeur_; but having a quarrel with his sister,
+he maliciously put into the _errata_, "Instead of _Chienne de ma Soeur_,
+read _ma Chienne de Soeur_."
+
+Lully, at the close of a bad prologue said, the word _fin du prologue_
+was an _erratum_, it should have been _fi du prologue_!
+
+In a book, there was printed, _le docte Morel_. A wag put into the
+_errata_, "For _le docte Morel_, read _le Docteur Morel_." This _Morel_
+was not the first _docteur_ not _docte_.
+
+When a fanatic published a mystical work full of unintelligible
+raptures, and which he entitled _Les Délices de l'Esprit_, it was
+proposed to print in his errata, "For _Délices_ read _Délires_."
+
+The author of an idle and imperfect book ended with the usual phrase of
+_cetera desiderantur_, one altered it, _Non desiderantur sed desunt_;
+"The rest is _wanting_, but not _wanted_."
+
+At the close of a silly book, the author as usual printed the word
+FINIS.--A wit put this among the errata, with this pointed couplet:--
+
+    FINIS!--an error, or a lie, my friend!
+    In writing foolish books--there is _no End_!
+
+In the year 1561 was printed a work, entitled "the Anatomy of the Mass."
+It is a thin octavo, of 172 pages, and it is accompanied by an _Errata_
+of 15 pages! The editor, a pious monk, informs us that a very serious
+reason induced him to undertake this task: for it is, says he, to
+forestal the _artifices of Satan_. He supposes that the Devil, to ruin
+the fruit of this work, employed two very malicious frauds: the first
+before it was printed, by drenching the MS. in a kennel, and having
+reduced it to a most pitiable state, rendered several parts illegible:
+the second, in obliging the printers to commit such numerous blunders,
+never yet equalled in so small a work. To combat this double machination
+of Satan he was obliged carefully to re-peruse the work, and to form
+this singular list of the blunders of printers under the influence of
+Satan. All this he relates in an advertisement prefixed to the _Errata_.
+
+A furious controversy raged between two famous scholars from a very
+laughable but accidental _Erratum_, and threatened serious consequences
+to one of the parties. Flavigny wrote two letters, criticising rather
+freely a polyglot Bible edited by Abraham Ecchellensis. As this learned
+editor had sometimes censured the labours of a friend of Flavigny, this
+latter applied to him the third and fifth verses of the seventh chapter
+of St. Matthew, which he printed in Latin. Ver 3. _Quid vides festucam
+in_ OCULO _fratris tui, et trabem in_ OCULO _tuo non vides_? Ver. 5.
+_Ejice primùm trabem de_ OCULO _tuo, et tunc videbis ejicere festucam
+de_ OCULO _fratris tui_. Ecchellensis opens his reply by accusing
+Flavigny of an _enormous crime_ committed in this passage; attempting to
+correct the sacred text of the Evangelist, and daring to reject a word,
+while he supplied its place by another as _impious_ as _obscene_! This
+crime, exaggerated with all the virulence of an angry declaimer, closes
+with a dreadful accusation. Flavigny's morals are attacked, and his
+reputation overturned by a horrid imputation. Yet all this terrible
+reproach is only founded on an _Erratum_! The whole arose from the
+printer having negligently suffered the _first letter_ of the word
+_Oculo_ to have dropped from the form, when he happened to touch a line
+with his finger, which did not stand straight! He published another
+letter to do away the imputation of Ecchellensis; but thirty years
+afterwards his rage against the negligent printer was not extinguished;
+the wits were always reminding him of it.
+
+Of all literary blunders none equalled that of the edition of the
+Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His Holiness carefully superintended every sheet
+as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of the world, the
+work remained without a rival--it swarmed with errata! A multitude of
+scraps were printed to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to
+give the true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these
+patches; and the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal
+infallibility! The copies were called in, and violent attempts made to
+suppress it; a few still remain for the raptures of the biblical
+collectors; not long ago the bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty
+guineas--not too much for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly
+amused at the bull of the editorial Pope prefixed to the first volume,
+which excommunicates all printers who in reprinting the work should make
+any _alteration_ in the text!
+
+In the version of the Epistles of St. Paul into the Ethiopic language,
+which proved to be full of errors, the editors allege a good-humoured
+reason--"They who printed the work could not read, and we could not
+print; they helped us, and we helped them, as the blind helps the
+blind."
+
+A printer's widow in Germany, while a new edition of the Bible was
+printing at her house, one night took an opportunity of stealing into
+the office, to alter that sentence of subjection to her husband,
+pronounced upon Eve in Genesis, chap. 3, v. 16. She took out the two
+first letters of the word HERR, and substituted NA in their place, thus
+altering the sentence from "and he shall be thy LORD" (_Herr_), to "and
+he shall be thy FOOL" (_Narr_). It is said her life paid for this
+intentional erratum; and that some secreted copies of this edition have
+been bought up at enormous prices.
+
+We have an edition of the Bible, known by the name of _The Vinegar
+Bible_; from the erratum in the title to the 20th chap. of St. Luke, in
+which "Parable of the _Vineyard_," is printed, "Parable of the
+_Vinegar_." It was printed in 1717, at the Clarendon press.
+
+We have had another, where "Thou shalt commit adultery" was printed,
+omitting the negation; which occasioned the archbishop to lay one of the
+heaviest penalties on the Company of Stationers that was ever recorded
+in the annals of literary history.[37]
+
+Herbert Croft used to complain of the incorrectness of our English
+classics, as reprinted by the booksellers. It is evident some stupid
+printer often changes a whole text intentionally. The fine description
+by Akenside of the Pantheon, "SEVERELY great," not being understood by
+the blockhead, was printed _serenely great_. Swift's own edition of "The
+City Shower," has "old ACHES throb." _Aches_ is two syllables, but
+modern printers, who had lost the right pronunciation, have _aches_ as
+one syllable; and then, to complete the metre, have foisted in "aches
+_will_ throb." Thus what the poet and the linguist wish to preserve is
+altered, and finally lost.[38]
+
+It appears by a calculation made by the printer of Steevens's edition of
+Shakspeare, that every octavo page of that work, text and notes,
+contains 2680 distinct pieces of metal; which in a sheet amount to
+42,880--the misplacing of any one of which would inevitably cause a
+blunder! With this curious fact before us, the accurate state of our
+printing, in general, is to be admired, and errata ought more freely to
+be pardoned than the fastidious minuteness of the insect eye of certain
+critics has allowed.
+
+Whether such a miracle as an immaculate edition of a classical author
+does exist, I have never learnt; but an attempt has been made to obtain
+this glorious singularity--and was as nearly realised as is perhaps
+possible in the magnificent edition of _Os Lusiadas_ of Camoens, by Dom
+Joze Souza, in 1817. This amateur spared no prodigality of cost and
+labour, and flattered himself, that by the assistance of Didot, not a
+single typographical error should be found in that splendid volume. But
+an error was afterwards discovered in some of the copies, occasioned by
+one of the letters in the word _Lusitano_ having got misplaced during
+the working of one of the sheets. It must be confessed that this was an
+_accident_ or _misfortune_--rather than an _Erratum!_
+
+One of the most remarkable complaints on ERRATA is that of Edw. Leigh,
+appended to his curious treatise on "Religion and Learning." It consists
+of two folio pages, in a very minute character, and exhibits an
+incalculable number of printers' blunders. "We have not," he says,
+"Plantin nor Stephens amongst us; and it is no easy task to specify the
+chiefest errata; false interpunctions there are too many; here a letter
+wanting, there a letter too much; a syllable too much, one letter for
+another; words parted where they should be joined; words joined which
+should be severed; words misplaced; chronological mistakes," &c. This
+unfortunate folio was printed in 1656. Are we to infer, by such frequent
+complaints of the authors of that day, that either they did not receive
+proofs from the printers, or that the printers never attended to the
+corrected proofs? Each single erratum seems to have been felt as a stab
+to the literary feelings of the poor author!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 37: It abounded with other errors, and was so rigidly
+suppressed, that a well-known collector was thirty years endeavouring
+ineffectually to obtain a copy. One has recently been added to the
+British Museum collection.]
+
+[Footnote 38: A good example occurs in _Hudibras_ (Part iii. canto 2,
+line 407), where persons are mentioned who
+
+    "Can by their pangs and _aches_ find
+    All turns and changes of the wind."
+
+The rhythm here demands the dissyllable _a-ches_, as used by the older
+writers, Shakspeare particularly, who, in his _Tempest_, makes Prospero
+threaten Caliban--
+
+    "If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly
+    What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;
+    Fill all thy bones with _aches_; make thee roar
+    That beasts shall tremble at thy din."
+
+John Kemble was aware of the necessity of using this word in this
+instance as a dissyllable, but it was so unusual to his audiences that
+it excited ridicule; and during the O.P. row, a medal was struck,
+representing him as manager, enduring the din of cat-calls, trumpets,
+and rattles, and exclaiming, "Oh! my head _aitches_!"]
+
+
+
+
+PATRONS.
+
+
+Authors have too frequently received ill treatment even from those to
+whom they dedicated their works.
+
+Some who felt hurt at the shameless treatment of such mock Mæcenases
+have observed that no writer should dedicate his works but to his
+FRIENDS, as was practised by the ancients, who usually addressed those
+who had solicited their labours, or animated their progress. Theodosius
+Gaza had no other recompense for having inscribed to Sixtus IV. his
+translation of the book of Aristotle on the Nature of Animals, than the
+price of the binding, which this charitable father of the church
+munificently bestowed upon him.
+
+Theocritus fills his Idylliums with loud complaints of the neglect of
+his patrons; and Tasso was as little successful in his dedications.
+
+Ariosto, in presenting his Orlando Furioso to the Cardinal d'Este, was
+gratified with the bitter sarcasm of--"_Dove diavolo avete pigliato
+tante coglionerie?_" Where the devil have you found all this nonsense?
+
+When the French historian Dupleix, whose pen was indeed fertile,
+presented his book to the Duke d'Epernon, this Mæcenas, turning to the
+Pope's Nuncio, who was present, very coarsely exclaimed--"Cadedids! ce
+monsieur a un flux enragé, il chie un livre toutes les lunes!"
+
+Thomson, the ardent author of the Seasons, having extravagantly praised
+a person of rank, who afterwards appeared to be undeserving of
+eulogiums, properly employed his pen in a solemn recantation of his
+error. A very different conduct from that of Dupleix, who always spoke
+highly of Queen Margaret of France for a little place he held in her
+household: but after her death, when the place became extinct, spoke of
+her with all the freedom of satire. Such is too often the character of
+some of the literati, who only dare to reveal the truth, when they have
+no interest to conceal it.
+
+Poor Mickle, to whom we are indebted for so beautiful a version of
+Camoens' Lusiad, having dedicated this work, the continued labour of
+five years, to the Duke of Buccleugh, had the mortification to find, by
+the discovery of a friend, that he had kept it in his possession three
+weeks before he could collect sufficient intellectual desire to cut open
+the pages! The neglect of this nobleman reduced the poet to a state of
+despondency. This patron was a political economist, the pupil of Adam
+Smith! It is pleasing to add, in contrast with this frigid Scotch
+patron, that when Mickle went to Lisbon, where his translation had long
+preceded his visit, he found the Prince of Portugal waiting on the quay
+to be the first to receive the translator of his great national poem;
+and during a residence of six months, Mickle was warmly regarded by
+every Portuguese nobleman.
+
+"Every man believes," writes Dr. Johnson to Baretti, "that mistresses
+are unfaithful, and patrons are capricious. But he excepts his own
+mistress, and his own patron."
+
+A patron is sometimes oddly obtained. Benserade attached himself to
+Cardinal Mazarin; but his friendship produced nothing but civility. The
+poet every day indulged his easy and charming vein of amatory and
+panegyrical poetry, while all the world read and admired his verses.
+One evening the cardinal, in conversation with the king, described his
+mode of life when at the papal court. He loved the sciences; but his
+chief occupation was the belles lettres, composing little pieces of
+poetry; he said that he was then in the court of Rome what Benserade was
+now in that of France. Some hours afterwards, the friends of the poet
+related to him the conversation of the cardinal. He quitted them
+abruptly, and ran to the apartment of his eminence, knocking with all
+his force, that he might be certain of being heard. The cardinal had
+just gone to bed; but he incessantly clamoured, demanding entrance; they
+were compelled to open the door. He ran to his eminence, fell upon his
+knees, almost pulled off the sheets of the bed in rapture, imploring a
+thousand pardons for thus disturbing him; but such was his joy in what
+he had just heard, which he repeated, that he could not refrain from
+immediately giving vent to his gratitude and his pride, to have been
+compared with his eminence for his poetical talents! Had the door not
+been immediately opened, he should have expired; he was not rich, it was
+true, but he should now die contented! The cardinal was pleased with his
+_ardour_, and probably never suspected his _flattery_; and the next week
+our new actor was pensioned.
+
+On Cardinal Richelieu, another of his patrons, he gratefully made this
+epitaph:--
+
+    Cy gist, ouy gist, par la mort bleu,
+    Le Cardinal de Richelieu,
+    Et ce qui cause mon ennuy
+    Ma PENSION avec lui.
+
+    Here lies, egad, 'tis very true,
+    The illustrious Cardinal Richelieu:
+    My grief is genuine--void of whim!
+    Alas! my _pension_ lies with him!
+
+Le Brun, the great French artist, painted himself holding in his hand
+the portrait of his earliest patron. In this accompaniment the Artist
+may be said to have portrayed the features of his soul. If genius has
+too often complained of its patrons, has it not also often over-valued
+their protection?
+
+
+
+
+POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT.
+
+
+Accident has frequently occasioned the most eminent geniuses to display
+their powers. "It was at Rome," says Gibbon, "on the 15th of October,
+1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the
+bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that
+the idea of writing the Decline and Fall of the City first started to my
+mind."
+
+Father Malebranche having completed his studies in philosophy and
+theology without any other intention than devoting himself to some
+religious order, little expected the celebrity his works acquired for
+him. Loitering in an idle hour in the shop of a bookseller, and turning
+over a parcel of books, _L'Homme de Descartes_ fell into his hands.
+Having dipt into parts, he read with such delight that the palpitations
+of his heart compelled him to lay the volume down. It was this
+circumstance that produced those profound contemplations which made him
+the Plato of his age.
+
+Cowley became a poet by accident. In his mother's apartment he found,
+when very young, Spenser's Fairy Queen; and, by a continual study of
+poetry, he became so enchanted by the Muse, that he grew irrecoverably a
+poet.
+
+Sir Joshua Reynolds had the first fondness for his art excited by the
+perusal of Richardson's Treatise.
+
+Vaucanson displayed an uncommon genius for mechanics. His taste was
+first determined by an accident: when young, he frequently attended his
+mother to the residence of her confessor; and while she wept with
+repentance, he wept with weariness! In this state of disagreeable
+vacation, says Helvetius, he was struck with the uniform motion of the
+pendulum of the clock in the hall. His curiosity was roused; he
+approached the clock-case, and studied its mechanism; what he could not
+discover he guessed at. He then projected a similar machine; and
+gradually his genius produced a clock. Encouraged by this first success,
+he proceeded in his various attempts; and the genius, which thus could
+form a clock, in time formed a fluting automaton.
+
+Accident determined the taste of Molière for the stage. His grandfather
+loved the theatre, and frequently carried him there. The young man lived
+in dissipation; the father observing it asked in anger, if his son was
+to be made an actor. "Would to God," replied the grandfather, "he were
+as good an actor as Monrose." The words struck young Molière, he took a
+disgust to his tapestry trade, and it is to this circumstance France
+owes her greatest comic writer.
+
+Corneille loved; he made verses for his mistress, became a poet,
+composed _Mélite_ and afterwards his other celebrated works. The
+discreet Corneille had else remained a lawyer.
+
+We owe the great discovery of Newton to a very trivial accident. When a
+student at Cambridge, he had retired during the time of the plague into
+the country. As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit
+fell, and struck him a smart blow on the head. When he observed the
+smallness of the apple, he was surprised at the force of the stroke.
+This led him to consider the accelerating motion of falling bodies; from
+whence he deduced the principle of gravity, and laid the foundation of
+his philosophy.
+
+Ignatius Loyola was a Spanish gentleman, who was dangerously wounded at
+the siege of Pampeluna. Having heated his imagination by reading the
+Lives of the Saints during his illness, instead of a romance, he
+conceived a strong ambition to be the founder of a religious order;
+whence originated the celebrated society of the Jesuits.
+
+Rousseau found his eccentric powers first awakened by the advertisement
+of the singular annual subject which the Academy of Dijon proposed for
+that year, in which he wrote his celebrated declamation against the arts
+and sciences. A circumstance which decided his future literary efforts.
+
+La Fontaine, at the age of twenty-two, had not taken any profession, or
+devoted himself to any pursuit. Having accidentally heard some verses of
+Malherbe, he felt a sudden impulse, which directed his future life. He
+immediately bought a Malherbe, and was so exquisitely delighted with
+this poet that, after passing the nights in treasuring his verses in his
+memory, he would run in the day-time to the woods, where, concealing
+himself, he would recite his verses to the surrounding dryads.
+
+Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. He was taken from school on
+account of his illness, when Sacrobosco's book De Sphæra having been
+lent to him, he was so pleased with it that he immediately began a
+course of astronomic studies. Pennant's first propensity to natural
+history was the pleasure he received from an accidental perusal of
+Willoughby's work on birds. The same accident of finding, on the table
+of his professor, Reaumur's History of Insects, which he read more than
+he attended to the lecture, and, having been refused the loan, gave such
+an instant turn to the mind of Bonnet, that he hastened to obtain a
+copy; after many difficulties in procuring this costly work, its
+possession gave an unalterable direction to his future life. This
+naturalist indeed lost the use of his sight by his devotion to the
+microscope.
+
+Dr. Franklin attributes the cast of his genius to a similar accident. "I
+found a work of De Foe's, entitled an 'Essay on Projects,' from which
+perhaps I derived impressions that have since influenced some of the
+principal events of my life."
+
+I shall add the incident which occasioned Roger Ascham to write his
+_Schoolmaster_, one of the few works among our elder writers, which we
+still read with pleasure.
+
+At a dinner given by Sir William Cecil, at his apartments at Windsor, a
+number of ingenious men were invited. Secretary Cecil communicated the
+news of the morning, that several scholars at Eton had run away on
+account of their master's severity, which he condemned as a great error
+in the education of youth. Sir William Petre maintained the contrary;
+severe in his own temper, he pleaded warmly in defence of hard flogging.
+Dr. Wootton, in softer tones, sided with the secretary. Sir John Mason,
+adopting no side, bantered both. Mr. Haddon seconded the hard-hearted
+Sir William Petre, and adduced, as an evidence, that the best
+schoolmaster then in England was the hardest flogger. Then was it that
+Roger Ascham indignantly exclaimed, that if such a master had an able
+scholar it was owing to the boy's genius, and not the preceptor's rod.
+Secretary Cecil and others were pleased with Ascham's notions. Sir
+Richard Sackville was silent, but when Ascham after dinner went to the
+queen to read one of the orations of Demosthenes, he took him aside, and
+frankly told him that, though he had taken no part in the debate, he
+would not have been absent from that conversation for a great deal; that
+he knew to his cost the truth that Ascham had supported; for it was the
+perpetual flogging of such a schoolmaster that had given him an
+unconquerable aversion to study. And as he wished to remedy this defect
+in his own children, he earnestly exhorted Ascham to write his
+observations on so interesting a topic. Such was the circumstance which
+produced the admirable treatise of Roger Ascham.
+
+
+
+
+INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS.
+
+
+Singular inequalities are observable in the labours of genius; and
+particularly in those which admit great enthusiasm, as in poetry, in
+painting, and in music. Faultless mediocrity industry can preserve in
+one continued degree; but excellence, the daring and the happy, can only
+be attained, by human faculties, by starts.
+
+Our poets who possess the greatest genius, with perhaps the least
+industry, have at the same time the most splendid and the worst passages
+of poetry. Shakspeare and Dryden are at once the greatest and the least
+of our poets. With some, their great fault consists in having none.
+
+Carraccio sarcastically said of Tintoret--_Ho veduto il Tintoretto hora
+eguale a Titiano, hora minore del Tintoretto_--"I have seen Tintoret now
+equal to Titian, and now less than Tintoret."
+
+Trublet justly observes--The more there are _beauties_ and _great
+beauties_ in a work, I am the less surprised to find _faults_ and _great
+faults_. When you say of a work that it has many faults, that decides
+nothing: and I do not know by this, whether it is execrable or
+excellent. You tell me of another, that it is without any faults: if
+your account be just, it is certain the work cannot be excellent.
+
+It was observed of one pleader, that he _knew_ more than he _said_; and
+of another, that he _said_ more than he _knew_.
+
+Lucian happily describes the works of those who abound with the most
+luxuriant language, void of ideas. He calls their unmeaning verbosity
+"anemone-words;" for anemonies are flowers, which, however brilliant,
+only please the eye, leaving no fragrance. Pratt, who was a writer of
+flowing but nugatory verses, was compared to the _daisy_; a flower
+indeed common enough, and without odour.
+
+
+
+
+GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE.
+
+
+There are many sciences, says Menage, on which we cannot indeed compose
+in a florid or elegant diction, such as geography, music, algebra,
+geometry, &c. When Atticus requested Cicero to write on geography, the
+latter excused himself, observing that its scenes were more adapted to
+please the eye, than susceptible of the embellishments of style.
+However, in these kind of sciences, we may lend an ornament to their
+dryness by introducing occasionally some elegant allusion, or noticing
+some incident suggested by the object.
+
+Thus when we notice some inconsiderable place, for instance _Woodstock_,
+we may recall attention to the residence of _Chaucer_, the parent of our
+poetry, or the romantic labyrinth of Rosamond; or as in "an Autumn on
+the Rhine," at Ingelheim, at the view of an old palace built by
+Charlemagne, the traveller adds, with "a hundred columns brought from
+Rome," and further it was "the scene of the romantic amours of that
+monarch's fair daughter, Ibertha, with Eginhard, his secretary:" and
+viewing the Gothic ruins on the banks of the Rhine, he noticed them as
+having been the haunts of those illustrious _chevaliers voleurs_ whose
+chivalry consisted in pillaging the merchants and towns, till, in the
+thirteenth century, a citizen of Mayence persuaded the merchants of more
+than a hundred towns to form a league against these little princes and
+counts; the origin of the famous Rhenish league, which contributed so
+much to the commerce of Europe. This kind of erudition gives an interest
+to topography, by associating in our memory great events and personages
+with the localities.
+
+The same principle of composition may be carried with the happiest
+effect into some dry investigations, though the profound antiquary may
+not approve of these sports of wit or fancy. Dr. Arbuthnot, in his
+Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, a topic extremely barren
+of amusement, takes every opportunity of enlivening the dulness of his
+task; even in these mathematical calculations he betrays his wit; and
+observes that "the polite Augustus, the emperor of the world, had
+neither any glass in his windows, nor a shirt to his back!" Those uses
+of glass and linen indeed were not known in his time. Our physician is
+not less curious and facetious in the account of the _fees_ which the
+Roman physicians received.
+
+
+
+
+LEGENDS.
+
+
+Those ecclesiastical histories entitled Legends are said to have
+originated in the following circumstance.
+
+Before colleges were established in the monasteries where the schools
+were held, the professors in rhetoric frequently gave their pupils the
+life of some saint for a trial of their talent at _amplification_. The
+students, at a loss to furnish out their pages, invented most of these
+wonderful adventures. Jortin observes, that the Christians used to
+collect out of Ovid, Livy, and other pagan poets and historians, the
+miracles and portents to be found there, and accommodated them to their
+own monks and saints. The good fathers of that age, whose simplicity was
+not inferior to their devotion, were so delighted with these flowers of
+rhetoric, that they were induced to make a collection of these
+miraculous compositions; not imagining that, at some distant period,
+they would become matters of faith. Yet, when James de Voragine, Peter
+Nadal, and Peter Ribadeneira, wrote the Lives of the Saints, they sought
+for their materials in the libraries of the monasteries; and, awakening
+from the dust these manuscripts of amplification, imagined they made an
+invaluable present to the world, by laying before them these voluminous
+absurdities. The people received these pious fictions with all
+imaginable simplicity, and as these are adorned by a number of cuts, the
+miracles were perfectly intelligible to their eyes. Tillemont, Fleury,
+Baillet, Launoi, and Bollandus, cleared away much of the rubbish; the
+enviable title of _Golden Legend_, by which James de Voragine called his
+work, has been disputed; iron or lead might more aptly describe its
+character.
+
+When the world began to be more critical in their reading, the monks
+gave a graver turn to their narratives; and became penurious of their
+absurdities. The faithful Catholic contends, that the line of tradition
+has been preserved unbroken; notwithstanding that the originals were
+lost in the general wreck of literature from the barbarians, or came
+down in a most imperfect state.
+
+Baronius has given the lives of many apocryphal saints; for instance, of
+a Saint _Xinoris_, whom he calls a martyr of Antioch; but it appears
+that Baronius having read in Chrysostom this _word_, which signifies a
+_couple_ or _pair_, he mistook it for the name of a saint, and contrived
+to give the most authentic biography of a saint who never existed![39]
+The Catholics confess this sort of blunder is not uncommon, but then it
+is only fools who laugh! As a specimen of the happier inventions, one
+is given, embellished by the diction of Gibbon--
+
+"Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted to
+distinguish the memorable fable of the _Seven Sleepers_; whose imaginary
+date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius, and the
+conquest of Africa by the Vandals. When the Emperor Decius persecuted
+the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed themselves in a
+spacious cavern on the side of an adjacent mountain; where they were
+doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should
+be firmly secured with a pile of stones. They immediately fell into a
+deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the
+powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty-seven years.
+At the end of that time the slaves of Adolius, to whom the inheritance
+of the mountain had descended, removed the stones to supply materials
+for some rustic edifice. The light of the sun darted into the cavern,
+and the Seven Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber as they
+thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger; and
+resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should secretly return to
+the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions. The youth, if
+we may still employ that appellation, could no longer recognise the once
+familiar aspect of his native country; and his surprise was increased by
+the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly erected over the principal
+gate of Ephesus. His singular dress and obsolete language confounded the
+baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin
+of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret treasure,
+was dragged before the judge. Their mutual inquiries produced the
+amazing discovery, that two centuries were almost elapsed since
+Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a Pagan tyrant.
+The Bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and, it
+is said, the Emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of
+the Seven Sleepers; who bestowed their benediction, related their story,
+and at the same instant peaceably expired.
+
+"This popular tale Mahomet learned when he drove his camels to the fairs
+of Syria; and he has introduced it, as a _divine revelation_, into the
+Koran."--The same story has been adopted and adorned by the nations,
+from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion.
+
+The too curious reader may perhaps require other specimens of the more
+unlucky inventions of this "Golden Legend;" as characteristic of a
+certain class of minds, the philosopher will contemn these grotesque
+fictions.
+
+These monks imagined that holiness was often proportioned to a saint's
+filthiness. St. Ignatius, say they, delighted to appear abroad with old
+dirty shoes; he never used a comb, but let his hair clot; and
+religiously abstained from paring his nails. One saint attained to such
+piety as to have near three hundred patches on his breeches; which,
+after his death, were hung up in public as an _incentive to imitation_.
+St. Francis discovered, by certain experience, that the devils were
+frightened away by such kinds of breeches, but were animated by clean
+clothing to tempt and seduce the wearers; and one of their heroes
+declares that the purest souls are in the dirtiest bodies. On this they
+tell a story which may not be very agreeable to fastidious delicacy.
+Brother Juniper was a gentleman perfectly pious, on this principle;
+indeed so great was his merit in this species of mortification, that a
+brother declared he could always nose Brother Juniper when within a mile
+of the monastery, provided the wind was at the due point. Once, when the
+blessed Juniper, for he was no saint, was a guest, his host, proud of
+the honour of entertaining so pious a personage, the intimate friend of
+St. Francis, provided an excellent bed, and the finest sheets. Brother
+Juniper abhorred such luxury. And this too evidently appeared after his
+sudden departure in the morning, unknown to his kind host. The great
+Juniper did this, says his biographer, having told us what he did, not
+so much from his habitual inclinations, for which he was so justly
+celebrated, as from his excessive piety, and as much as he could to
+mortify worldly pride, and to show how a true saint despised clean
+sheets.
+
+In the life of St. Francis we find, among other grotesque miracles, that
+he preached a sermon in a desert, but he soon collected an immense
+audience. The birds shrilly warbled to every sentence, and stretched out
+their necks, opened their beaks, and when he finished, dispersed with a
+holy rapture into four companies, to report his sermon to all the birds
+in the universe. A grasshopper remained a week with St. Francis during
+the absence of the Virgin Mary, and pittered on his head. He grew so
+companionable with a nightingale, that when a nest of swallows began to
+babble, he hushed them by desiring them not to tittle-tattle of their
+sister, the nightingale. Attacked by a wolf, with only the sign-manual
+of the cross, he held a long dialogue with his rabid assailant, till the
+wolf, meek as a lap-dog, stretched his paws in the hands of the saint,
+followed him through towns, and became half a Christian.
+
+This same St. Francis had such a detestation of the good things of this
+world, that he would never suffer his followers to touch money. A friar
+having placed in a window some money collected at the altar, he desired
+him to take it in his mouth, and throw it on the dung of an ass! St.
+Philip Nerius was such a _lover of poverty_, that he frequently prayed
+that God would bring him to that state as to stand in need of a penny,
+and find nobody that would give him one!
+
+But St. Macaire was so shocked at having _killed a louse_, that he
+endured seven years of penitence among the thorns and briars of a
+forest. A circumstance which seems to have reached Molière, who gives
+this stroke to the character of his Tartuffe:--
+
+    Il s'impute à péché la moindre bagatelle;
+    Jusques-là qu'il se vint, l'autre jour, s'accuser
+    D'avoir pris une puce en faisant sa prière,
+    Et de l'avoir tuée avec trop de colère!
+
+I give a miraculous incident respecting two pious maidens. The night of
+the Nativity of Christ, after the first mass, they both retired into a
+solitary spot of their nunnery till the second mass was rung. One asked
+the other, "Why do you want two cushions, when I have only one?" The
+other replied, "I would place it between us, for the child Jesus; as the
+Evangelist says, where there are two or three persons assembled I am in
+the midst of them."--This being done, they sat down, feeling a most
+lively pleasure at their fancy; and there they remained, from the
+Nativity of Christ to that of John the Baptist; but this great interval
+of time passed with these saintly maidens as two hours would appear to
+others. The abbess and nuns were alarmed at their absence, for no one
+could give any account of them. In the eve of St. John, a cowherd,
+passing by them, beheld a beautiful child seated on a cushion between
+this pair of runaway nuns. He hastened to the abbess with news of these
+stray sheep; she came and beheld this lovely child playfully seated
+between these nymphs; they, with blushing countenances, inquired if the
+second bell had already rung? Both parties were equally astonished to
+find our young devotees had been there from the Nativity of Jesus to
+that of St. John. The abbess inquired about the child who sat between
+them; they solemnly declared they saw no child between them! and
+persisted in their story!
+
+Such is one of these miracles of "the Golden Legend," which a wicked wit
+might comment on, and see nothing extraordinary in the whole story. The
+two nuns might be missing between the Nativities, and be found at last
+with a child seated between them.--They might not choose to account
+either for their absence or their child--the only touch of miracle is
+that, they asseverated, they _saw no child_--that I confess is a _little
+(child) too much_.
+
+The lives of the saints by Alban Butler is the most sensible history of
+these legends; Ribadeneira's lives of the saints exhibit more of the
+legendary spirit, for wanting judgment and not faith, he is more
+voluminous in his details. The antiquary may collect much curious
+philosophical information, concerning the manners of the times, from
+these singular narratives.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 39: See the article on "Literary Blunders," in this volume,
+for the history of similar inventions, particularly the legend of St.
+Ursuala and the eleven thousand virgins, and the discovery of a certain
+St. Viar]
+
+
+
+
+THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY.
+
+
+Every lover of letters has heard of this learned society, which
+contributed so greatly to establish in France a taste for just
+reasoning, simplicity of style, and philosophical method. Their "Logic,
+or the Art of Thinking," for its lucid, accurate, and diversified
+matter, is still an admirable work; notwithstanding the writers had to
+emancipate themselves from the barbarism of the scholastic logic. It was
+the conjoint labour of Arnauld and Nicolle. Europe has benefited by the
+labours of these learned men: but not many have attended to the origin
+and dissolution of this literary society.
+
+In the year 1637, Le Maitre, a celebrated advocate, resigned the bar,
+and the honour of being _Conseiller d'Etat_, which his uncommon merit
+had obtained him, though then only twenty-eight years of age. His
+brother, De Sericourt, who had followed the military profession, quitted
+it at the same time. Consecrating themselves to the service of religion,
+they retired into a small house near _the Port-Royal_ of Paris, where
+they were joined by their brothers De Sacy, De St. Elme, and De Valmont.
+Arnauld, one of their most illustrious associates, was induced to enter
+into the Jansenist controversy, and then it was that they encountered
+the powerful persecution of the Jesuits. Constrained to remove from that
+spot, they fixed their residence at a few leagues from Paris, and called
+it _Port-Royal des Champs_.[40]
+
+These illustrious recluses were joined by many distinguished persons who
+gave up their parks and houses to be appropriated to their schools; and
+this community was called the _Society of Port-Royal_.
+
+Here were no rules, no vows, no constitution, and no cells formed.
+Prayer and study, and manual labour, were their only occupations. They
+applied themselves to the education of youth, and raised up little
+academies in the neighbourhood, where the members of Port-Royal, the
+most illustrious names of literary France, presided. None considered his
+birth entitled him to any exemption from their public offices, relieving
+the poor and attending on the sick, and employing themselves in their
+farms and gardens; they were carpenters, ploughmen, gardeners, and
+vine-dressers, as if they had practised nothing else; they studied
+physic, and surgery, and law; in truth, it seems that, from religious
+motives, these learned men attempted to form a community of primitive
+Christianity.
+
+The Duchess of Longueville, once a political chief, sacrificed her
+ambition on the altar of Port-Royal, enlarged the monastic inclosure
+with spacious gardens and orchards, built a noble house, and often
+retreated to its seclusion. The learned D'Andilly, the translator of
+Josephus, after his studious hours, resorted to the cultivation of
+fruit-trees; and the fruit of Port-Royal became celebrated for its size
+and flavour. Presents were sent to the Queen-Mother of France, Anne of
+Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin, who used to call it "fruit béni." It
+appears that "families of rank, affluence, and piety, who did not wish
+entirely to give up their avocations in the world, built themselves
+country-houses in the valley of Port-Royal, in order to enjoy the
+society of its religious and literary inhabitants."
+
+In the solitudes of Port-Royal _Racine_ received his education; and, on
+his death-bed, desired to be buried in its cemetery, at the feet of his
+master Hamon. Arnauld, persecuted, and dying in a foreign country, still
+cast his lingering looks on this beloved retreat, and left the society
+his heart, which was there inurned.
+
+The Duchess of Longueville, a princess of the blood-royal, was, during
+her life, the powerful patroness of these solitary and religious men:
+but her death, in 1679, was the fatal stroke which dispersed them for
+ever.
+
+The envy and the fears of the Jesuits, and their rancour against
+Arnauld, who with such ability had exposed their designs, occasioned the
+destruction of the Port-Royal Society. _Exinanite, exinanite usque ad
+fundamentum in ea!_--"Annihilate it, annihilate it, to its very
+foundations!" Such are the terms of the Jesuitic decree. The Jesuits had
+long called the little schools of Port-Royal the hot-beds of heresy. The
+Jesuits obtained by their intrigues an order from government to dissolve
+that virtuous society. They razed the buildings, and ploughed up the
+very foundation; they exhausted their hatred even on the stones, and
+profaned even the sanctuary of the dead; the corpses were torn out of
+their graves, and dogs were suffered to contend for the rags of their
+shrouds. The memory of that asylum of innocence and learning was still
+kept alive by those who collected the engravings representing the place
+by Mademoiselle Hortemels. The police, under Jesuitic influence, at
+length seized on the plates in the cabinet of the fair artist.--Caustic
+was the retort courteous which Arnauld gave the Jesuits--"I do not fear
+your _pen_, but its _knife_."
+
+These were men whom the love of retirement had united to cultivate
+literature, in the midst of solitude, of peace, and of piety. Alike
+occupied on sacred, as on profane writers, their writings fixed the
+French language. The example of these solitaries shows how retirement is
+favourable to penetrate into the sanctuary of the Muses.
+
+An interesting anecdote is related of Arnauld on the occasion of the
+dissolution of this society. The dispersion of these great men, and
+their young scholars, was lamented by every one but their enemies. Many
+persons of the highest rank participated in their sorrows. The excellent
+Arnauld, in that moment, was as closely pursued as if he had been a
+felon.
+
+It was then the Duchess of Longueville concealed Arnauld in an obscure
+lodging, who assumed the dress of a layman, wearing a sword and
+full-bottomed wig. Arnauld was attacked by a fever, and in the course of
+conversation with his physician, he inquired after news. "They talk of a
+new book of the Port-Royal," replied the doctor, "ascribed to Arnauld or
+to Sacy; but I do not believe it comes from Sacy; he does not write so
+well."--"How, sir!" exclaimed the philosopher, forgetting his sword and
+wig; "believe me, my nephew writes better than I do."--The physician
+eyed his patient with amazement--he hastened to the duchess, and told
+her, "The malady of the gentleman you sent me to is not very serious,
+provided you do not suffer him to see any one, and insist on his holding
+his tongue." The duchess, alarmed, immediately had Arnauld conveyed to
+her palace. She concealed him in an apartment, and persisted to attend
+him herself.--"Ask," she said, "what you want of the servant, but it
+shall be myself who shall bring it to you."
+
+How honourable is it to the female character, that, in many similar
+occurrences, their fortitude has proved to be equal to their
+sensibility! But the Duchess of Longueville contemplated in Arnauld a
+model of human fortitude which martyrs never excelled. His remarkable
+reply to Nicolle, when they were hunted from place to place, should
+never be forgotten: Arnauld wished Nicolle to assist him in a new work,
+when the latter observed, "We are now old, is it not time to rest?"
+"Rest!" returned Arnauld, "have we not all Eternity to rest in?" The
+whole of the Arnauld family were the most extraordinary instance of that
+hereditary character, which is continued through certain families: here
+it was a sublime, and, perhaps, singular union of learning with
+religion. The Arnaulds, Sacy, Pascal, Tillemont, with other illustrious
+names, to whom literary Europe will owe perpetual obligations, combined
+the life of the monastery with that of the library.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 40: The early history of the house is not given quite clearly
+and correctly in the text. The old foundation of Cistercians, named
+_Port-Royal des Champs_, was situated in the valley of Chevreuse, near
+Versailles, and founded in 1204 by Bishop Eudes, of Paris. It was in the
+reign of Louis XIII. that Madame Arnauld, the mother of the then Abbess,
+hearing that the sisterhood suffered from the damp situation of their
+convent and its confined space, purchased a house as an infirmary for
+its sick members in the Fauxbourg St. Jacques, and called it the
+_Port-Royal de Paris_, to distinguish it from the older foundation.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES.
+
+
+Of the pleasures derivable from the cultivation of the arts, sciences,
+and literature, time will not abate the growing passion; for old men
+still cherish an affection and feel a youthful enthusiasm in those
+pursuits, when all others have ceased to interest. Dr. Reid, to his last
+day, retained a most active curiosity in his various studies, and
+particularly in the revolutions of modern chemistry. In advanced life we
+may resume our former studies with a new pleasure, and in old age we may
+enjoy them with the same relish with which more youthful students
+commence. Adam Smith observed to Dugald Stewart, that "of all the
+amusements of old age, the most grateful and soothing is a renewal of
+acquaintance with the favourite studies and favourite authors of
+youth--a remark, adds Stewart, which, in his own case, seemed to be more
+particularly exemplified while he was reperusing, with the enthusiasm of
+a student, the tragic poets of ancient Greece. I have heard him repeat
+the observation more than once, while Sophocles and Euripides lay open
+on his table."
+
+Socrates learnt to play on musical instruments in his old age; Cato, at
+eighty, thought proper to learn Greek; and Plutarch, almost as late in
+his life, Latin.
+
+Theophrastus began his admirable work on the Characters of Men at the
+extreme age of ninety. He only terminated his literary labours by his
+death.
+
+Ronsard, one of the fathers of French poetry, applied himself late to
+study. His acute genius, and ardent application, rivalled those poetic
+models which he admired; and Boccaccio was thirty-five years of age when
+he commenced his studies in polite literature.
+
+The great Arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and the command of
+his pen, to the age of eighty-two, and was still the great Arnauld.
+
+Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, but cultivated
+them at fifty years of age. His early years were chiefly passed in
+farming, which greatly diverted him from his studies; but a remarkable
+disappointment respecting a contested estate disgusted him with these
+rustic occupations: resolved to attach himself to regular studies, and
+literary society, he sold his farms, and became the most learned
+antiquary and lawyer.
+
+Colbert, the famous French minister, almost at sixty, returned to his
+Latin and law studies.
+
+Dr. Johnson applied himself to the Dutch language but a few years before
+his death. The Marquis de Saint Aulaire, at the age of seventy, began to
+court the Muses, and they crowned him with their freshest flowers. The
+verses of this French Anacreon are full of fire, delicacy, and
+sweetness.
+
+Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were the composition of his latest years:
+they were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and finished in his
+sixty-first.
+
+Ludovico Monaldesco, at the extraordinary age of 115, wrote the memoirs
+of his times. A singular exertion, noticed by Voltaire; who himself is
+one of the most remarkable instances of the progress of age in new
+studies.
+
+The most delightful of autobiographies for artists is that of Benvenuto
+Cellini; a work of great originality, which was not begun till "the
+clock of his age had struck fifty-eight."
+
+Koornhert began at forty to learn the Latin and Greek languages, of
+which he became a master; several students, who afterwards distinguished
+themselves, have commenced as late in life their literary pursuits.
+Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil, knew little of Latin or
+Greek till he was past fifty; and Franklin's philosophical pursuits
+began when he had nearly reached his fiftieth year.
+
+Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the study of the law
+so late, answered, beginning it late, he should master it the sooner.
+
+Dryden's complete works form the largest body of poetry from the pen of
+a single writer in the English language; yet he gave no public testimony
+of poetic abilities till his twenty-seventh year. In his sixty-eighth
+year he proposed to translate the whole Iliad: and his most pleasing
+productions were written in his old age.
+
+Michael Angelo preserved his creative genius even in extreme old age:
+there is a device said to be invented by him, of an old man represented
+in a _go-cart_, with an hour-glass upon it; the inscription _Ancora
+imparo!_--YET I AM LEARNING!
+
+We have a literary curiosity in a favourite treatise with Erasmus and
+men of letters of that period, _De Ratione Studii_, by Joachim Sterck,
+otherwise Fortius de Ringelberg. The enthusiasm of the writer often
+carries him to the verge of ridicule; but something must be conceded to
+his peculiar situation and feelings; for Baillet tells us that this
+method of studying had been formed entirely from his own practical
+knowledge and hard experience: at a late period of life he had commenced
+his studies, and at length he imagined that he had discovered a more
+perpendicular mode of ascending the hill of science than by its usual
+circuitous windings. His work has been compared to the sounding of a
+trumpet.
+
+Menage, in his Anti-Baillet, has a very curious apology for writing
+verses in his old age, by showing how many poets amused themselves
+notwithstanding their grey hairs, and wrote sonnets or epigrams at
+ninety.
+
+La Casa, in one of his letters, humorously said, _Io credo ch'io farò
+Sonnetti venti cinque anni, o trenta, pio che io sarò morto_.--"I think
+I may make sonnets twenty-five, or perhaps thirty years, after I shall
+be dead!" Petau tells us that he wrote verses to solace the evils of old
+age--
+
+    ---- Petavius æger
+    Cantabat veteris quærens solatia morbi.
+
+Malherbe declares the honours of genius were his, yet young--
+
+    Je les posseday jeune, et les possède encore
+        A la fin de mes jours!
+
+
+
+
+SPANISH POETRY.
+
+
+Pere Bouhours observes, that the Spanish poets display an extravagant
+imagination, which is by no means destitute of _esprit_--shall we say
+_wit_? but which evinces little taste or judgment.
+
+Their verses are much in the style of our Cowley--trivial points,
+monstrous metaphors, and quaint conceits. It is evident that the Spanish
+poets imported this taste from the time of Marino in Italy; but the
+warmth of the Spanish climate appears to have redoubled it, and to have
+blown the kindled sparks of chimerical fancy to the heat of a Vulcanian
+forge.
+
+Lopez de Vega, in describing an afflicted shepherdess, in one of his
+pastorals, who is represented weeping near the sea-side, says, "That the
+sea joyfully advances to gather her tears; and that, having enclosed
+them in shells, it converts them into pearls."
+
+        "Y el mar como imbidioso
+        A tierra por las lagrimas salia,
+        Y alegre de cogerlas
+    Las guarda en conchas, y convierte en perlas."
+
+Villegas addresses a stream--"Thou who runnest over sands of gold, with
+feet of silver," more elegant than our Shakspeare's--"Thy silver skin
+laced with thy golden blood," which possibly he may not have written.
+Villegas monstrously exclaims, "Touch my breast, if you doubt the power
+of Lydia's eyes--you will find it turned to ashes." Again--"Thou art so
+great that thou canst only imitate thyself with thy own greatness;" much
+like our "None but himself can be his parallel."
+
+Gongora, whom the Spaniards once greatly admired, and distinguished by
+the epithet of _The Wonderful_, abounds with these conceits.
+
+He imagines that a nightingale, who enchantingly varied her notes, and
+sang in different manners, had a hundred thousand other nightingales in
+her breast, which alternately sang through her throat--
+
+    "Con diferancia tal, con gracia tanta,
+    A quel ruysenor llora, que sospecho
+    Que tiene otros cien mil dentro del pecho,
+    Que alterno su dolor por su garganta."
+
+Of a young and beautiful lady he says, that she has but a few _years_ of
+life, but many _ages_ of beauty.
+
+    "Muchos siglos de hermosura
+    En pocos anos de edad."
+
+Many ages of beauty is a false thought, for beauty becomes not more
+beautiful from its age; it would be only a superannuated beauty. A face
+of two or three ages old could have but few charms.
+
+In one of his odes he addresses the River of Madrid by the title of the
+_Duke of Streams_, and the _Viscount of Rivers_--
+
+    "Mançanares, Mançanares,
+    Os que en todo el aguatismo,
+    Estois _Duque_ de Arroyos,
+    Y _Visconde_ de los Rios."
+
+He did not venture to call it a _Spanish Grandee_, for, in fact, it is
+but a shallow and dirty stream; and as Quevedo wittily informs us,
+"_Mançanares_ is reduced, during the summer season, to the melancholy
+condition of the wicked rich man, who asks for water in the depths of
+hell." Though so small, this stream in the time of a flood spreads
+itself over the neighbouring fields; for this reason Philip the Second
+built a bridge eleven hundred feet long!--A Spaniard passing it one day,
+when it was perfectly dry, observing this superb bridge, archly
+remarked, "That it would be proper that the bridge should be sold to
+purchase water."--_Es menester, vender la puente, par comprar agua._
+
+The following elegant translation of a Spanish madrigal of the kind here
+criticised I found in a newspaper, but it is evidently by a master-hand.
+
+    On the green margin of the land,
+      Where Guadalhorce winds his way,
+      My lady lay:
+    With golden key Sleep's gentle hand
+      Had closed her eyes so bright--
+      Her eyes, two suns of light--
+      And bade his balmy dews
+      Her rosy cheeks suffuse.
+    The River God in slumber saw her laid:
+      He raised his dripping head,
+      With weeds o'erspread,
+    Clad in his wat'ry robes approach'd the maid,
+    And with cold kiss, like death,
+      Drank the rich perfume of the maiden's breath.
+    The maiden felt that icy kiss:
+      _Her suns unclosed, their flame_
+      Full and unclouded on th' intruder came.
+      Amazed th' intruder felt
+      _His frothy body melt
+    And heard the radiance on his bosom hiss_;
+      And, forced in blind confusion to retire,
+      _Leapt in the water to escape the fire_.
+
+
+
+
+SAINT EVREMOND.
+
+
+The portrait of St. Evremond is delineated by his own hand.
+
+In his day it was a literary fashion for writers to give their own
+portraits; a fashion that seems to have passed over into our country,
+for Farquhar has drawn his own character in a letter to a lady. Others
+of our writers have given these self-miniatures. Such painters are, no
+doubt, great flatterers, and it is rather their ingenuity, than their
+truth, which we admire in these cabinet-pictures.
+
+"I am a philosopher, as far removed from superstition as from impiety; a
+voluptuary, who has not less abhorrence of debauchery than inclination
+for pleasure; a man who has never known want nor abundance. I occupy
+that station of life which is contemned by those who possess everything;
+envied by those who have nothing; and only relished by those who make
+their felicity consist in the exercise of their reason. Young, I hated
+dissipation; convinced that man must possess wealth to provide for the
+comforts of a long life. Old, I disliked economy; as I believe that we
+need not greatly dread want, when we have but a short time to be
+miserable. I am satisfied with what nature has done for me, nor do I
+repine at fortune. I do not seek in men what they have of evil, that I
+may censure; I only discover what they have ridiculous, that I may be
+amused. I feel a pleasure in detecting their follies; I should feel a
+greater in communicating my discoveries, did not my prudence restrain
+me. Life is too short, according to my ideas, to read all kinds of
+books, and to load our memories with an endless number of things at the
+cost of our judgment. I do not attach myself to the observations of
+scientific men to acquire science; but to the most rational, that I may
+strengthen my reason. Sometimes I seek for more delicate minds, that my
+taste may imbibe their delicacy; sometimes for the gayer, that I may
+enrich my genius with their gaiety; and, although I constantly read, I
+make it less my occupation than my pleasure. In religion, and in
+friendship, I have only to paint myself such as I am--in friendship more
+tender than a philosopher; and in religion, as constant and as sincere
+as a youth who has more simplicity than experience. My piety is composed
+more of justice and charity than of penitence. I rest my confidence on
+God, and hope everything from His benevolence. In the bosom of
+Providence I find my repose, and my felicity."
+
+
+
+
+MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION.
+
+
+The student or the artist who may shine a luminary of learning and of
+genius, in his works, is found, not rarely, to lie obscured beneath a
+heavy cloud in colloquial discourse.
+
+If you love the man of letters, seek him in the privacies of his study.
+It is in the hour of confidence and tranquillity that his genius shall
+elicit a ray of intelligence more fervid than the labours of polished
+composition.
+
+The great Peter Corneille, whose genius resembled that of our
+Shakspeare, and who has so forcibly expressed the sublime sentiments of
+the hero, had nothing in his exterior that indicated his genius; his
+conversation was so insipid that it never failed of wearying. Nature,
+who had lavished on him the gifts of genius, had forgotten to blend with
+them her more ordinary ones. He did not even _speak_ correctly that
+language of which he was such a master. When his friends represented to
+him how much more he might please by not disdaining to correct these
+trivial errors, he would smile, and say--"_I am not the less Peter
+Corneille!_"
+
+Descartes, whose habits were formed in solitude and meditation, was
+silent in mixed company; it was said that he had received his
+intellectual wealth from nature in solid bars, but not in current coin;
+or as Addison expressed the same idea, by comparing himself to a banker
+who possessed the wealth of his friends at home, though he carried none
+of it in his pocket; or as that judicious moralist Nicolle, of the
+Port-Royal Society, said of a scintillant wit--"He conquers me in the
+drawing-room, but he surrenders to me at discretion on the staircase."
+Such may say with Themistocles, when asked to play on a lute--"I cannot
+fiddle, but I can make a little village a great city."
+
+The deficiencies of Addison in conversation are well known. He preserved
+a rigid silence amongst strangers; but if he was silent, it was the
+silence of meditation. How often, at that moment, he laboured at some
+future Spectator!
+
+Mediocrity can _talk_; but it is for genius to _observe_.
+
+The cynical Mandeville compared Addison, after having passed an evening
+in his company, to "a silent parson in a tie-wig."
+
+Virgil was heavy in conversation, and resembled more an ordinary man
+than an enchanting poet.
+
+La Fontaine, says La Bruyère, appeared coarse, heavy, and stupid; he
+could not speak or describe what he had just seen; but when he wrote he
+was a model of poetry.
+
+It is very easy, said a humorous observer on La Fontaine, to be a man of
+wit, or a fool; but to be both, and that too in the extreme degree, is
+indeed admirable, and only to be found in him. This observation applies
+to that fine natural genius Goldsmith. Chaucer was more facetious in his
+tales than in his conversation, and the Countess of Pembroke used to
+rally him by saying, that his silence was more agreeable to her than his
+conversation.
+
+Isocrates, celebrated for his beautiful oratorical compositions, was of
+so timid a disposition, that he never ventured to speak in public. He
+compared himself to the whetstone which will not cut, but enables other
+things to do so; for his productions served as models to other orators.
+Vaucanson was said to be as much a machine as any he had made.
+
+Dryden says of himself--"My conversation is slow and dull, my humour
+saturnine and reserved. In short, I am none of those who endeavour to
+break jests in company, or make repartees."[41]
+
+
+
+
+VIDA.
+
+
+What a consolation for an aged parent to see his child, by the efforts
+of his own merits, attain from the humblest obscurity to distinguished
+eminence! What a transport for the man of sensibility to return to the
+obscure dwelling of his parent, and to embrace him, adorned with public
+honours! Poor _Vida_ was deprived of this satisfaction; but he is placed
+higher in our esteem by the present anecdote, than even by that classic
+composition, which rivals the Art of Poetry of his great master.
+
+_Jerome Vida_, after having long served two Popes, at length attained to
+the episcopacy. Arrayed in the robes of his new dignity, he prepared to
+visit his aged parents, and felicitated himself with the raptures which
+the old couple would feel in embracing their son as their bishop. When
+he arrived at their village, he learnt that it was but a few days since
+they were no more. His sensibilities were exquisitely pained. The muse
+dictated some elegiac verse, and in the solemn pathos deplored the death
+and the disappointment of his parents.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCUDERIES.
+
+
+    Bien heureux SCUDERY, dont la fertile plume
+    Peut tous les mois sans peine enfanter un volume.
+
+Boileau has written this couplet on the Scuderies, the brother and
+sister, both famous in their day for composing romances, which they
+sometimes extended to ten or twelve volumes. It was the favourite
+literature of that period, as novels are now. Our nobility not
+unfrequently condescended to translate these voluminous compositions.
+
+The diminutive size of our modern novels is undoubtedly an improvement:
+but, in resembling the size of primers, it were to be wished that their
+contents had also resembled their inoffensive pages. Our
+great-grandmothers were incommoded with overgrown folios; and, instead
+of finishing the eventful history of two lovers at one or two sittings,
+it was sometimes six months, _including Sundays_, before they could get
+quit of their Clelias, their Cyrus's, and Parthenissas.
+
+Mademoiselle Scudery had composed _ninety volumes_! She had even
+finished another romance, which she would not give the public, whose
+taste, she perceived, no more relished this kind of works. She was one
+of those unfortunate authors who, living to more than ninety years of
+age, survive their own celebrity.
+
+She had her panegyrists in her day: Menage observes--"What a pleasing
+description has Mademoiselle Scudery made, in her Cyrus, of the little
+court at Rambouillet! A thousand things in the romances of this learned
+lady render them inestimable. She has drawn from the ancients their
+happiest passages, and has even improved upon them; like the prince in
+the fable, whatever she touches becomes gold. We may read her works with
+great profit, if we possess a correct taste, and love instruction. Those
+who censure their _length_ only show the littleness of their judgment;
+as if Homer and Virgil were to be despised, because many of their books
+were filled with episodes and incidents that necessarily retard the
+conclusion. It does not require much penetration to observe that _Cyrus_
+and _Clelia_ are a species of the _epic_ poem. The epic must embrace a
+number of events to suspend the course of the narrative; which, only
+taking in a part of the life of the hero, would terminate too soon to
+display the skill of the poet. Without this artifice, the charm of
+uniting the greater part of the episodes to the principal subject of the
+romance would be lost. Mademoiselle de Scudery has so well treated them,
+and so aptly introduced a variety of beautiful passages, that nothing in
+this kind is comparable to her productions. Some expressions, and
+certain turns, have become somewhat obsolete; all the rest will last
+for ever, and outlive the criticisms they have undergone."
+
+Menage has here certainly uttered a false prophecy. The curious only
+look over her romances. They contain doubtless many beautiful
+inventions; the misfortune is, that _time_ and _patience_ are rare
+requisites for the enjoyment of these Iliads in prose.
+
+"The misfortune of her having written too abundantly has occasioned an
+unjust contempt," says a French critic. "We confess there are many heavy
+and tedious passages in her voluminous romances; but if we consider that
+in the Clelia and the Artamene are to be found inimitable delicate
+touches, and many splendid parts, which would do honour to some of our
+living writers, we must acknowledge that the great defects of all her
+works arise from her not writing in an age when taste had reached the
+_acmé_ of cultivation. Such is her erudition, that the French place her
+next to the celebrated Madame Dacier. Her works, containing many secret
+intrigues of the court and city, her readers must have keenly relished
+on their early publication."
+
+Her Artamene, or the Great Cyrus, and principally her Clelia, are
+representations of what then passed at the court of France. The _Map_ of
+the _Kingdom of Tenderness_, in Clelia, appeared, at the time, as one of
+the happiest inventions. This once celebrated _map_ is an allegory which
+distinguishes the different kinds of TENDERNESS, which are reduced to
+_Esteem_, _Gratitude_, and _Inclination_. The map represents three
+rivers, which have these three names, and on which are situated three
+towns called Tenderness: Tenderness on _Inclination_; Tenderness on
+_Esteem_; and Tenderness on _Gratitude_. _Pleasing Attentions_, or,
+_Petits Soins_, is a _village_ very beautifully situated. Mademoiselle
+de Scudery was extremely proud of this little allegorical map; and had a
+terrible controversy with another writer about its originality.
+
+GEORGE SCUDERY, her brother, and inferior in genius, had a striking
+singularity of character:--he was one of the most complete votaries to
+the universal divinity, Vanity. With a heated imagination, entirely
+destitute of judgment, his military character was continually exhibiting
+itself by that peaceful instrument the pen, so that he exhibits a most
+amusing contrast of ardent feelings in a cool situation; not liberally
+endowed with genius, but abounding with its semblance in the fire of
+eccentric gasconade; no man has portrayed his own character with a
+bolder colouring than himself, in his numerous prefaces and addresses;
+surrounded by a thousand self-illusions of the most sublime class,
+everything that related to himself had an Homeric grandeur of
+conception.
+
+In an epistle to the Duke of Montmorency, Scudery says, "I will learn to
+write with my left hand, that my right hand may more nobly be devoted to
+your service;" and alluding to his pen (_plume_), declares "he comes
+from a family who never used one, but to stick in their hats." When he
+solicits small favours from the great, he assures them "that princes
+must not think him importunate, and that his writings are merely
+inspired by his own individual interest; no! (he exclaims) I am studious
+only of your glory, while I am careless of my own fortune." And indeed,
+to do him justice, he acted up to these romantic feelings. After he had
+published his epic of Alaric, Christina of Sweden proposed to honour him
+with a chain of gold of the value of five hundred pounds, provided he
+would expunge from his epic the eulogiums he bestowed on the Count of
+Gardie, whom she had disgraced. The epical soul of Scudery magnanimously
+scorned the bribe, and replied, that "If the chain of gold should be as
+weighty as that chain mentioned in the history of the Incas, I will
+never destroy any altar on which I have sacrificed!"
+
+Proud of his boasted nobility and erratic life, he thus addresses the
+reader: "You will lightly pass over any faults in my work, if you
+reflect that I have employed the greater part of my life in seeing the
+finest parts of Europe, and that I have passed more days in the camp
+than in the library. I have used more matches to light my musket than to
+light my candles; I know better to arrange columns in the field than
+those on paper; and to square battalions better than to round periods."
+In his first publication, he began his literary career perfectly in
+character, by a challenge to his critics!
+
+He is the author of sixteen plays, chiefly heroic tragedies; children
+who all bear the features of their father. He first introduced, in his
+"L'Amour Tyrannique," a strict observance of the Aristotelian unities of
+time and place; and the necessity and advantages of this regulation are
+insisted on, which only shows that Aristotle's art goes but little to
+the composition of a pathetic tragedy. In his last drama, "Arminius,"
+he extravagantly scatters his panegyrics on its fifteen predecessors;
+but of the present one he has the most exalted notion: it is the
+quintessence of Scudery! An ingenious critic calls it "The downfall of
+mediocrity!" It is amusing to listen to this blazing preface:--"At
+length, reader, nothing remains for me but to mention the great Arminius
+which I now present to you, and by which I have resolved to close my
+long and laborious course. It is indeed my masterpiece! and the most
+finished work that ever came from my pen; for whether we examine the
+fable, the manners, the sentiments, or the versification, it is certain
+that I never performed anything so just, so great, nor more beautiful;
+and if my labours could ever deserve a crown, I would claim it for this
+work!"
+
+The actions of this singular personage were in unison with his writings:
+he gives a pompous description of a most unimportant government which he
+obtained near Marseilles, but all the grandeur existed only in our
+author's heated imagination. Bachaumont and De la Chapelle describe it,
+in their playful "Voyage:"
+
+    Mais il faut vous parler du fort,
+    Qui sans doute est une merveille;
+    C'est notre dame de la garde!
+    Gouvernement commode et beau,
+    A qui suffit pour tout garde,
+    Un Suisse avec sa hallebarde
+    Peint sur la porte du château!
+
+A fort very commodiously guarded; only requiring one sentinel with his
+halbert--painted on the door!
+
+In a poem on his disgust with the world, he tells us how intimate he has
+been with princes: Europe has known him through all her provinces; he
+ventured everything in a thousand combats:
+
+    L'on me vit obeïr, l'on me vit commander,
+    Et mon poil tout poudreux a blanchi sons les armes;
+    Il est peu de beaux arts où je ne sois instruit;
+    En prose et en vers, mon nom fit quelque bruit;
+    Et par plus d'un chemin je parvins à la gloire.
+
+    IMITATED.
+
+    Princes were proud my friendship to proclaim,
+    And Europe gazed, where'er her hero came!
+    I grasp'd the laurels of heroic strife,
+    The thousand perils of a soldier's life;
+    Obedient in the ranks each toilful day!
+    Though heroes soon command, they first obey.
+
+    'Twas not for me, too long a time to yield!
+    Born for a chieftain in the tented field!
+    Around my plumed helm, my silvery hair
+    Hung like an honour'd wreath of age and care!
+    The finer arts have charm'd my studious hours,
+    Versed in their mysteries, skilful in their powers;
+    In verse and prose my equal genius glow'd,
+    Pursuing glory by no single road!
+
+Such was the vain George Scudery! whose heart, however, was warm:
+poverty could never degrade him; adversity never broke down his
+magnanimous spirit!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 41: The same is reported of Butler; and it is said that
+Charles II. declared he could not believe him to be the author of
+_Hudibras_; that witty poem being such a contradiction to his heavy
+manners.]
+
+
+
+
+DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT.
+
+
+The maxims of this noble author are in the hands of every one. To those
+who choose to derive every motive and every action from the solitary
+principle of _self-love_, they are inestimable. They form one continued
+satire on human nature; but they are not reconcilable to the feelings of
+the man of better sympathies, or to him who passes through life with the
+firm integrity of virtue. Even at court we find a Sully, a Malesherbes,
+and a Clarendon, as well as a Rouchefoucault and a Chesterfield.
+
+The Duke de la Rochefoucault, says Segrais, had not studied; but he was
+endowed with a wonderful degree of discernment, and knew the world
+perfectly well. This afforded him opportunities of making reflections,
+and reducing into maxims those discoveries which he had made in the
+heart of man, of which he displayed an admirable knowledge.
+
+It is perhaps worthy of observation, that this celebrated French duke
+could never summon resolution, at his election, to address the Academy.
+Although chosen a member, he never entered, for such was his timidity,
+that he could not face an audience and deliver the usual compliment on
+his introduction; he whose courage, whose birth, and whose genius were
+alike distinguished. The fact is, as appears by Mad. de Sévigné, that
+Rochefoucault lived a close domestic life; there must be at least as
+much _theoretical_ as _practical_ knowledge in the opinions of such a
+retired philosopher.
+
+Chesterfield, our English Rochefoucault, we are also informed, possessed
+an admirable knowledge of the heart of man; and he, too, has drawn a
+similar picture of human nature. These are two _noble authors_ whose
+chief studies seem to have been made in _courts_. May it not be
+possible, allowing these authors not to have written a sentence of
+apocrypha, that the fault lies not so much in _human nature_ as in the
+satellites of Power breathing their corrupt atmosphere?
+
+
+
+
+PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL.
+
+
+Were we to investigate the genealogy of our best modern stories, we
+should often discover the illegitimacy of our favourites; and retrace
+them frequently to the East. My well-read friend Douce had collected
+materials for such a work. The genealogies of tales would have gratified
+the curious in literature.
+
+The story of the ring of Hans Carvel is of very ancient standing, as are
+most of the tales of this kind.
+
+Menage says that Poggius, who died in 1459, has the merit of its
+invention; but I suspect he only related a very popular story.
+
+Rabelais, who has given it in his peculiar manner, changed its original
+name of Philelphus to that of Hans Carvel.
+
+This title is likewise in the eleventh of _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_
+collected in 1461, for the amusement of Louis XI. when Dauphin, and
+living in solitude.
+
+Ariosto has borrowed it, at the end of his fifth Satire; but has fairly
+appropriated it by his pleasant manner.
+
+In a collection of novels at Lyons, in 1555, it is introduced into the
+eleventh novel.
+
+Celio Malespini has it again in page 288 of the second part of his Two
+Hundred Novels, printed at Venice in 1609.
+
+Fontaine has prettily set it off, and an anonymous writer has composed
+it in Latin Anacreontic verses; and at length our Prior has given it
+with equal gaiety and freedom. After Ariosto, La Fontaine, and Prior,
+let us hear of it no more; yet this has been done, in a manner, however,
+which here cannot be told.
+
+Voltaire has a curious essay to show that most of our best modern
+stories and plots originally belonged to the eastern nations, a fact
+which has been made more evident by recent researches. The Amphitryon of
+Molière was an imitation of Plautus, who borrowed it from the Greeks,
+and they took it from the Indians! It is given by Dow in his History of
+Hindostan. In Captain Scott's Tales and Anecdotes from Arabian writers,
+we are surprised at finding so many of our favourites very ancient
+orientalists.--The Ephesian Matron, versified by La Fontaine, was
+borrowed from the Italians; it is to be found in Petronius, and
+Petronius had it from the Greeks. But where did the Greeks find it? In
+the Arabian Tales! And from whence did the Arabian fabulists borrow it?
+From the Chinese! It is found in Du Halde, who collected it from the
+Versions of the Jesuits.
+
+
+
+
+THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS.
+
+
+A man of letters, more intent on the acquisitions of literature than on
+the intrigues of politics, or the speculations of commerce, may find a
+deeper solitude in a populous metropolis than in the seclusion of the
+country.
+
+The student, who is no flatterer of the little passions of men, will not
+be much incommoded by their presence. Gibbon paints his own situation in
+the heart of the fashionable world:--"I had not been endowed by art or
+nature with those happy gifts of confidence and address which unlock
+every door and every bosom. While coaches were rattling through
+Bond-street, I have passed many a solitary evening in my lodging with my
+books. I withdrew without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene
+of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure." And even
+after he had published the first volume of his History, he observes that
+in London his confinement was solitary and sad; "the many forgot my
+existence when they saw me no longer at Brookes's, and the few who
+sometimes had a thought on their friend were detained by business or
+pleasure, and I was proud and happy if I could prevail on my bookseller,
+Elmsly, to enliven the dulness of the evening."
+
+A situation, very elegantly described in the beautifully polished verses
+of Mr. Rogers, in his "Epistle to a Friend:"
+
+    When from his classic dreams the student steals
+    Amid the buzz of crowds, the whirl of wheels,
+    To muse unnoticed, while around him press
+    The meteor-forms of equipage and dress;
+    Alone in wonder lost, he seems to stand
+    A very stranger in his native land.
+
+He compares the student to one of the seven sleepers in the ancient
+legend.
+
+Descartes residing in the commercial city of Amsterdam, writing to
+Balzac, illustrates these descriptions with great force and vivacity.
+
+"You wish to retire; and your intention is to seek the solitude of the
+Chartreux, or, possibly, some of the most beautiful provinces of France
+and Italy. I would rather advise you, if you wish to observe mankind,
+and at the same time to lose yourself in the deepest solitude, to join
+me in Amsterdam. I prefer this situation to that even of your delicious
+villa, where I spent so great a part of the last year; for, however
+agreeable a country-house may be, a thousand little conveniences are
+wanted, which can only be found in a city. One is not alone so
+frequently in the country as one could wish: a number of impertinent
+visitors are continually besieging you. Here, as all the world, except
+myself, is occupied in commerce, it depends merely on myself to live
+unknown to the world. I walk every day amongst immense ranks of people,
+with as much tranquillity as you do in your green alleys. The men I meet
+with make the same impression on my mind as would the trees of your
+forests, or the flocks of sheep grazing on your common. The busy hum too
+of these merchants does not disturb one more than the purling of your
+brooks. If sometimes I amuse myself in contemplating their anxious
+motions, I receive the same pleasure which you do in observing those men
+who cultivate your land; for I reflect that the end of all their labours
+is to embellish the city which I inhabit, and to anticipate all my
+wants. If you contemplate with delight the fruits of your orchards, with
+all the rich promises of abundance, do you think I feel less in
+observing so many fleets that convey to me the productions of either
+India? What spot on earth could you find, which, like this, can so
+interest your vanity and gratify your taste?"
+
+
+
+
+THE TALMUD.
+
+
+The JEWS have their TALMUD; the CATHOLICS their LEGENDS of Saints; and
+the TURKS their SONNAH. The PROTESTANT has nothing but his BIBLE. The
+former are three kindred works. Men have imagined that the more there is
+to be believed, the more are the merits of the believer. Hence all
+_traditionists_ formed the orthodox and the strongest party. The word
+of God is lost amidst those heaps of human inventions, sanctioned by an
+order of men connected with religious duties; they ought now, however,
+to be regarded rather as CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. I give a
+sufficiently ample account of the TALMUD and the LEGENDS; but of the
+SONNAH I only know that it is a collection of the traditional opinions
+of the Turkish prophets, directing the observance of petty superstitions
+not mentioned in the Koran.
+
+The TALMUD is a collection of Jewish traditions which have been _orally_
+preserved. It comprises the MISHNA, which is the text; and the GEMARA,
+its commentary. The whole forms a complete system of the learning,
+ceremonies, civil and canon laws of the Jews; treating indeed on all
+subjects; even gardening, manual arts, &c. The rigid Jews persuaded
+themselves that these traditional explications are of divine origin. The
+Pentateuch, say they, was written out by their legislator before his
+death in thirteen copies, distributed among the twelve tribes, and the
+remaining one deposited in the ark. The oral law Moses continually
+taught in the Sanhedrim, to the elders and the rest of the people. The
+law was repeated four times; but the interpretation was delivered only
+by _word of mouth_ from generation to generation. In the fortieth year
+of the flight from Egypt, the memory of the people became treacherous,
+and Moses was constrained to repeat this oral law, which had been
+conveyed by successive traditionists. Such is the account of honest
+David Levi; it is the creed of every rabbin.--David believed in
+everything but in Jesus.
+
+This history of the Talmud some inclined to suppose apocryphal, even
+among a few of the Jews themselves. When these traditions first
+appeared, the keenest controversy has never been able to determine. It
+cannot be denied that there existed traditions among the Jews in the
+time of Jesus Christ. About the second century, they were industriously
+collected by Rabbi Juda the Holy, the prince of the rabbins, who enjoyed
+the favour of Antoninus Pius. He has the merit of giving some order to
+this multifarious collection.
+
+It appears that the Talmud was compiled by certain Jewish doctors, who
+were solicited for this purpose by their nation, that they might have
+something to oppose to their Christian adversaries.
+
+The learned W. Wotton, in his curious "Discourses" on the traditions of
+the Scribes and Pharisees, supplies an analysis of this vast collection;
+he has translated entire two divisions of this code of traditional laws,
+with the original text and the notes.
+
+There are two Talmuds: the Jerusalem and the Babylonian. The last is the
+most esteemed, because it is the most bulky.
+
+R. Juda, the prince of the rabbins, committed to writing all these
+traditions, and arranged them under six general heads, called orders or
+classes. The subjects are indeed curious for philosophical inquirers,
+and multifarious as the events of civil life. Every _order_ is formed of
+_treatises_; every _treatise_ is divided into chapters, every _chapter_
+into _mishnas_, which word means mixtures or miscellanies, in the form
+of _aphorisms_. In the first part is discussed what relates to _seeds_,
+_fruits_, and _trees_; in the second, _feasts_; in the third, _women_,
+their duties, their _disorders_, _marriages_, _divorces_, _contracts_,
+and _nuptials_; in the fourth, are treated the damages or losses
+sustained by beasts or men; of _things found_; _deposits_; _usuries_;
+_rents_; _farms_; _partnerships_ in commerce; _inheritance_; _sales_ and
+_purchases_; _oaths_; _witnesses_; _arrests_; _idolatry_; and here are
+named those by whom the oral law was received and preserved. In the
+fifth part are noticed _sacrifices_ and _holy things_; and the sixth
+treats of _purifications_; _vessels_; _furniture_; _clothes_; _houses_;
+_leprosy_; _baths_; and numerous other articles. All this forms the
+MISHNA.
+
+The GEMARA, that is, the _complement_ or _perfection_, contains the
+DISPUTES and the OPINIONS of the RABBINS on the oral traditions. Their
+last decisions. It must be confessed that absurdities are sometimes
+elucidated by other absurdities; but there are many admirable things in
+this vast repository. The Jews have such veneration for this
+compilation, that they compare the holy writings to _water_, and the
+Talmud to _wine_; the text of Moses to _pepper_, but the Talmud to
+_aromatics_. Of the twelve hours of which the day is composed, they tell
+us that _God_ employs nine to study the Talmud, and only three to read
+the written law!
+
+St. Jerome appears evidently to allude to this work, and notices its
+"Old Wives' Tales," and the filthiness of some of its matters. The truth
+is, that the rabbins resembled the Jesuits and Casuists; and Sanchez's
+work on "_Matrimonio_" is well known to agitate matters with such
+_scrupulous niceties_ as to become the most offensive thing possible.
+But as among the schoolmen and casuists there have been great men, the
+same happened to these Gemaraists. Maimonides was a pillar of light
+among their darkness. The antiquity of this work is of itself sufficient
+to make it very curious.
+
+A specimen of the topics may be shown from the table and contents of
+"Mishnic Titles." In the order of seeds, we find the following heads,
+which present no uninteresting picture of the pastoral and pious
+ceremonies of the ancient Jews.
+
+The Mishna, entitled the _Corner_, i.e. of the field. The laws of
+gleaning are commanded according to Leviticus; xix. 9, 10. Of the corner
+to be left in a corn-field. When the corner is due and when not. Of the
+forgotten sheaf. Of the ears of corn left in gathering. Of grapes left
+upon the vine. Of olives left upon the trees. When and where the poor
+may lawfully glean. What sheaf, or olives, or grapes, may be looked upon
+to be forgotten, and what not. Who are the proper witnesses concerning
+the poor's due, to exempt it from tithing, &c. They distinguished
+uncircumcised fruit:--it is unlawful to eat of the fruit of any tree
+till the fifth year of its growth: the first three years of its bearing,
+it is called uncircumcised; the fourth is offered to God; and the fifth
+may be eaten.
+
+The Mishna, entitled _Heterogeneous Mixtures_, contains several curious
+horticultural particulars. Of divisions between garden-beds and fields,
+that the produce of the several sorts of grains or seeds may appear
+distinct. Of the distance between every species. Distances between vines
+planted in corn-fields from one another and from the corn; between vines
+planted against hedges, walls, or espaliers, and anything sowed near
+them. Various cases relating to vineyards planted near any forbidden
+seeds.
+
+In their seventh, or sabbatical year, in which the produce of all
+estates was given up to the poor, one of these regulations is on the
+different work which must not be omitted in the sixth year, lest
+(because the seventh being devoted to the poor) the produce should be
+unfairly diminished, and the public benefit arising from this law be
+frustrated. Of whatever is not perennial, and produced that year by the
+earth, no money may be made; but what is perennial may be sold.
+
+On priests' tithes, we have a regulation concerning eating the fruits
+carried to the place where they are to be separated.
+
+The order _women_ is very copious. A husband is obliged to forbid his
+wife to keep a particular man's company before two witnesses. Of the
+waters of jealousy by which a suspected woman is to be tried by
+drinking, we find ample particulars. The ceremonies of clothing the
+accused woman at her trial. Pregnant women, or who suckle, are not
+obliged to drink for the rabbins seem to be well convinced of the
+effects of the imagination. Of their divorces many are the laws; and
+care is taken to particularise bills of divorces written by men in
+delirium or dangerously ill. One party of the rabbins will not allow of
+any divorce, unless something light was found in the woman's character,
+while another (the Pharisees) allow divorces even when a woman has only
+been so unfortunate as to suffer her husband's soup to be burnt!
+
+In the order of _damages_, containing rules how to tax the damages done
+by man or beast, or other casualties, their distinctions are as nice as
+their cases are numerous. What beasts are innocent and what convict. By
+the one they mean creatures not naturally used to do mischief in any
+particular way; and by the other, those that naturally, or by a vicious
+habit, are mischievous that way. The tooth of a beast is convict, when
+it is proved to eat its usual food, the property of another man, and
+full restitution must be made; but if a beast that is used to eat fruits
+and herbs gnaws clothes or damages tools, which are not its usual food,
+the owner of the beast shall pay but half the damage when committed on
+the property of the injured person; but if the injury is committed on
+the property of the person who does the damage, he is free, because the
+beast gnawed what was not its usual food. As thus; if the beast of A.
+gnaws or tears the clothes of B. in B.'s house or grounds, A. shall pay
+half the damages; but if B.'s clothes are injured in A.'s grounds by
+A.'s beast, A. is free, for what had B. to do to put his clothes in A.'s
+grounds? They made such subtile distinctions, as when an ox gores a man
+or beast, the law inquired into the habits of the beast; whether it was
+an ox that used to gore, or an ox that was not used to gore. However
+acute these niceties sometimes were, they were often ridiculous. No
+beast could be _convicted_ of being vicious till evidence was given that
+he had done mischief three successive days; but if he leaves off those
+vicious tricks for three days more, he is innocent again. An ox may be
+convict of goring an ox and not a man, or of goring a man and not an ox:
+nay; of goring on the sabbath, and not on a working day. Their aim was
+to make the punishment depend on the proofs of the _design_ of the
+beast that did the injury; but this attempt evidently led them to
+distinctions much too subtile and obscure. Thus some rabbins say that
+the morning prayer of the _Shemáh_ must be read at the time they can
+distinguish _blue_ from _white_; but another, more indulgent, insists it
+may be when we can distinguish _blue_ from _green_! which latter colours
+are so near akin as to require a stronger light. With the same
+remarkable acuteness in distinguishing things, is their law respecting
+not touching fire on the Sabbath. Among those which are specified in
+this constitution, the rabbins allow the minister to look over young
+children by lamp-light, but he shall not read himself. The minister is
+forbidden to _read_ by lamp-light, lest he should trim his lamp; but he
+may direct the children where they should read, because that is quickly
+done, and there would be no danger of his trimming his lamp in their
+presence, or suffering any of them to do it in his. All these
+regulations, which some may conceive as minute and frivolous, show a
+great intimacy with the human heart, and a spirit of profound
+observation which had been capable of achieving great purposes.
+
+The owner of an innocent beast only pays half the costs for the mischief
+incurred. Man is always convict, and for all mischief he does he must
+pay full costs. However there are casual damages,--as when a man pours
+water accidentally on another man; or makes a thorn-hedge which annoys
+his neighbour; or falling down, and another by stumbling on him incurs
+harm: how such compensations are to be made. He that has a vessel of
+another's in keeping, and removes it, but in the removal breaks it, must
+swear to his own integrity; i.e., that he had no design to break it. All
+offensive or noisy trades were to be carried on at a certain distance
+from a town. Where there is an estate, the sons inherit, and the
+daughters are maintained; but if there is not enough for all, the
+daughters are maintained, and the sons must get their living as they
+can, or even beg. The contrary to this excellent ordination has been
+observed in Europe.
+
+These few titles may enable the reader to form a general notion of the
+several subjects on which the Mishna treats. The Gemara or Commentary is
+often overloaded with ineptitudes and ridiculous subtilties. For
+instance, in the article of "Negative Oaths." If a man swears he will
+eat no bread, and does eat all sorts of bread, in that case the perjury
+is but one; but if he swears that he will eat neither barley, nor
+wheaten, nor rye-bread, the perjury is multiplied as he multiplies his
+eating of the several sorts.--Again, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had
+strong differences about touching the holy writings with their hands.
+The doctors ordained that whoever touched the book of the law must not
+eat of the truma (first fruits of the wrought produce of the ground),
+till they had washed their hands. The reason they gave was this. In
+times of persecution, they used to hide those sacred books in secret
+places, and good men would lay them out of the way when they had done
+reading them. It was possible, then, that these rolls of the law might
+be gnawed by _mice_. The hands then that touched these books when they
+took them out of the places where they had laid them up, were supposed
+to be unclean, so far as to disable them from eating the truma till they
+were washed. On that account they made this a general rule, that if any
+part of the _Bible_ (except _Ecclesiastes_, because that excellent book
+their sagacity accounted less holy than the rest) or their phylacteries,
+or the strings of their phylacteries, were touched by one who had a
+right to eat the truma, he might not eat it till he had washed his
+hands. An evidence of that superstitious trifling, for which the
+Pharisees and the later Rabbins have been so justly reprobated.
+
+They were absurdly minute in the literal observance of their vows, and
+as shamefully subtile in their artful evasion of them. The Pharisees
+could be easy enough to themselves when convenient, and always as hard
+and unrelenting as possible to all others. They quibbled, and dissolved
+their vows, with experienced casuistry. Jesus reproaches the Pharisees
+in Matthew xv. and Mark vii. for flagrantly violating the fifth
+commandment, by allowing the vow of a son, perhaps made in hasty anger,
+its full force, when he had sworn that his father should never be the
+better for him, or anything he had, and by which an indigent father
+might be suffered to starve. There is an express case to this purpose in
+the Mishna, in the title of _Vows_. The reader may be amused by the
+story:--A man made a vow that his _father should not profit by him_.
+This man afterwards made a wedding-feast for his son, and wishes his
+father should be present; but he cannot invite him, because he is tied
+up by his vow. He invented this expedient:--He makes a gift of the court
+in which the feast was to be kept, and of the feast itself, to a third
+person in trust, that his father should be invited by that third person,
+with the other company whom he at first designed. This third person then
+says--If these things you thus have given me are mine, I will dedicate
+them to God, and then none of you can be the better for them. The son
+replied--I did not give them to you that you should consecrate them.
+Then the third man said--Yours was no donation, only you were willing to
+eat and drink with your father. Thus, says R. Juda, they dissolved each
+other's intentions; and when the case came before the rabbins, they
+decreed that a gift which may not be consecrated by the person to whom
+it is given is not a gift.
+
+The following extract from the Talmud exhibits a subtile mode of
+reasoning, which the Jews adopted when the learned of Rome sought to
+persuade them to conform to their idolatry. It forms an entire Mishna,
+entitled _Sedir Nezikin_, Avoda Zara, iv. 7. on idolatrous worship,
+translated by Wotton.
+
+"Some Roman senators examined the Jews in this manner:--If God hath no
+delight in the worship of idols, why did he not destroy them? The Jews
+made answer--If men had worshipped only things of which the world had
+had no need, he would have destroyed the object of their worship; but
+they also worship the sun and moon, stars and planets; and then he must
+have destroyed his world for the sake of these deluded men. But still,
+said the Romans, why does not God destroy the things which the world
+does not want, and leave those things which the world cannot be without?
+Because, replied the Jews, this would strengthen the hands of such as
+worship these necessary things, who would then say--Ye allow now that
+these are gods, since they are not destroyed."
+
+
+
+
+RABBINICAL STORIES.
+
+
+The preceding article furnishes some of the more serious investigations
+to be found in the Talmud. Its levities may amuse. I leave untouched the
+gross obscenities and immoral decisions. The Talmud contains a vast
+collection of stories, apologues, and jests; many display a vein of
+pleasantry, and at times have a wildness of invention, which
+sufficiently mark the features of an eastern parent. Many extravagantly
+puerile were designed merely to recreate their young students. When a
+rabbin was asked the reason of so much nonsense, he replied that the
+ancients had a custom of introducing music in their lectures, which
+accompaniment made them more agreeable; but that not having musical
+instruments in the schools, the rabbins invented these strange stories
+to arouse attention. This was ingeniously said; but they make miserable
+work when they pretend to give mystical interpretations to pure
+nonsense.
+
+In 1711, a German professor of the Oriental languages, Dr. Eisenmenger,
+published in two large volumes quarto, his "Judaism Discovered," a
+ponderous labour, of which the scope was to ridicule the Jewish
+traditions.
+
+I shall give a dangerous adventure into which King David was drawn by
+the devil. The king one day hunting, Satan appeared before him in the
+likeness of a roe. David discharged an arrow at him, but missed his aim.
+He pursued the feigned roe into the land of the Philistines. Ishbi, the
+brother of Goliath, instantly recognised the king as him who had slain
+that giant. He bound him, and bending him neck and heels, laid him under
+a wine-press in order to press him to death. A miracle saves David. The
+earth beneath him became soft, and Ishbi could not press wine out of
+him. That evening in the Jewish congregation a dove, whose wings were
+covered with silver, appeared in great perplexity; and evidently
+signified the king of Israel was in trouble. Abishai, one of the king's
+counsellors, inquiring for the king, and finding him absent, is at a
+loss to proceed, for according to the Mishna, no one may ride on the
+king's horse, nor sit upon his throne, nor use his sceptre. The school
+of the rabbins, however, allowed these things in time of danger. On this
+Abishai vaults on David's horse, and (with an Oriental metaphor) the
+land of the Philistines leaped to him instantly! Arrived at Ishbi's
+house, he beholds his mother Orpa spinning. Perceiving the Israelite,
+she snatched up her spinning-wheel and threw it at him, to kill him; but
+not hitting him, she desired him to bring the spinning-wheel to her. He
+did not do this exactly, but returned it to her in such a way that she
+never asked any more for her spinning-wheel. When Ishbi saw this, and
+recollecting that David, though tied up neck and heels, was still under
+the wine-press, he cried out. "There are now two who will destroy me!"
+So he threw David high up into the air, and stuck his spear into the
+ground, imagining that David would fall upon it and perish. But Abishai
+pronounced the magical name, which the Talmudists frequently make use
+of, and it caused David to hover between earth and heaven, so that he
+fell not down! Both at length unite against Ishbi, and observing that
+two young lions should kill one lion, find no difficulty in getting rid
+of the brother of Goliath.
+
+Of Solomon, another favourite hero of the Talmudists, a fine Arabian
+story is told. This king was an adept in necromancy, and a male and a
+female devil were always in waiting for an emergency. It is observable,
+that the Arabians, who have many stories concerning Solomon, always
+describe him as a magician. His adventures with Aschmedai, the prince of
+devils, are numerous; and they both (the king and the devil) served one
+another many a slippery trick. One of the most remarkable is when
+Aschmedai, who was prisoner to Solomon, the king having contrived to
+possess himself of the devil's seal-ring, and chained him, one day
+offered to answer an unholy question put to him by Solomon, provided he
+returned him his seal-ring and loosened his chain. The impertinent
+curiosity of Solomon induced him to commit this folly. Instantly
+Aschmedai swallowed the monarch; and stretching out his wings up to the
+firmament of heaven, one of his feet remaining on the earth, he spit out
+Solomon four hundred leagues from him. This was done so privately, that
+no one knew anything of the matter. Aschmedai then assumed the likeness
+of Solomon, and sat on his throne. From that hour did Solomon say,
+"_This_ then is the reward of all my labour," according to
+Ecclesiasticus i. 3; which _this_ means, one rabbin says, his
+walking-staff; and another insists was his ragged coat. For Solomon went
+a begging from door to door; and wherever he came he uttered these
+words; "I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem." At length
+coming before the council, and still repeating these remarkable words,
+without addition or variation, the rabbins said, "This means something:
+for a fool is not constant in his tale!" They asked the chamberlain, if
+the king frequently saw him? and he replied to them, No! Then they sent
+to the queens, to ask if the king came into their apartments? and they
+answered, Yes! The rabbins then sent them a message to take notice of
+his feet; for the feet of devils are like the feet of cocks. The queens
+acquainted them that his majesty always came in slippers, but forced
+them to embrace at times forbidden by the law. He had attempted to lie
+with his mother Bathsheba, whom he had almost torn to pieces. At this
+the rabbins assembled in great haste, and taking the beggar with them,
+they gave him the ring and the chain in which the great magical name was
+engraven, and led him to the palace. Asehmedai was sitting on the throne
+as the real Solomon entered; but instantly he shrieked and flew away.
+Yet to his last day was Solomon afraid of the prince of devils, and had
+his bed guarded by the valiant men of Israel, as is written in Cant.
+iii. 7, 8.
+
+They frequently display much humour in their inventions, as in the
+following account of the manners and morals of an infamous town, which
+mocked at all justice. There were in Sodom four judges, who were liars,
+and deriders of justice. When any one had struck his neighbour's wife,
+and caused her to miscarry, these judges thus counselled the
+husband:--"Give her to the offender, that he may get her with child for
+thee." When any one had cut off an ear of his neighbour's ass, they said
+to the owner--"Let him have the ass till the ear is grown again, that it
+may be returned to thee as thou wishest." When any one had wounded his
+neighbour, they told the wounded man to "give him a fee for letting him
+blood." A toll was exacted in passing a certain bridge; but if any one
+chose to wade through the water, or walk round about to save it, he was
+condemned to a double toll. Eleasar, Abraham's servant, came thither,
+and they wounded him. When, before the judge, he was ordered to pay his
+fee for having his blood let, Eleasar flung a stone at the judge, and
+wounded him; on which the judge said to him--"What meaneth this?"
+Eleasar replied--"Give him who wounded me the fee that is due to myself
+for wounding thee." The people of this town had a bedstead on which they
+laid travellers who asked for rest. If any one was too long for it, they
+cut off his legs; and if he was shorter than the bedstead, they strained
+him to its head and foot. When a beggar came to this town, every one
+gave him a penny, on which was inscribed the donor's name; but they
+would sell him no bread, nor let him escape. When the beggar died from
+hunger, then they came about him, and each man took back his penny.
+These stories are curious inventions of keen mockery and malice,
+seasoned with humour. It is said some of the famous decisions of Sancho
+Panza are to be found in the Talmud.
+
+Abraham is said to have been jealous of his wives, and built an
+enchanted city for them. He built an iron city and put them in. The
+walls were so high and dark, the sun could not be seen in it. He gave
+them a bowl full of pearls and jewels, which sent forth a light in this
+dark city equal to the sun. Noah, it seems, when in the ark, had no
+other light than jewels and pearls. Abraham, in travelling to Egypt,
+brought with him a chest. At the custom-house the officers exacted the
+duties. Abraham would have readily paid, but desired they would not open
+the chest. They first insisted on the duty for clothes, which Abraham
+consented to pay; but then they thought, by his ready acquiescence, that
+it might be gold. Abraham consents to pay for gold. They now suspected
+it might be silk. Abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly
+pearls; and Abraham generously consented to pay as if the chest
+contained the most valuable of things. It was then they resolved to open
+and examine the chest; and, behold, as soon as that chest was opened,
+that great lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in
+the land of Egypt; it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abraham, to conceal
+her beauty, had locked her up in this chest.
+
+The whole creation in these rabbinical fancies is strangely gigantic and
+vast. The works of eastern nations are full of these descriptions; and
+Hesiod's Theogony, and Milton's battles of angels, are puny in
+comparison with these rabbinical heroes, or rabbinical things. Mountains
+are hurled, with all their woods, with great ease, and creatures start
+into existence too terrible for our conceptions. The winged monster in
+the "Arabian Nights," called the Roc, is evidently one of the creatures
+of rabbinical fancy; it would sometimes, when very hungry, seize and fly
+away with an elephant. Captain Cook found a bird's nest in an island
+near New Holland, built with sticks on the ground, six-and-twenty feet
+in circumference, and near three feet in height. But of the rabbinical
+birds, fish, and animals, it is not probable any circumnavigator will
+ever trace even the slightest vestige or resemblance.
+
+One of their birds, when it spreads its wings, blots out the sun. An egg
+from another fell out of its nest, and the white thereof broke and glued
+about three hundred cedar-trees, and overflowed a village. One of them
+stands up to the lower joint of the leg in a river, and some mariners,
+imagining the water was not deep, were hastening to bathe, when a voice
+from heaven said--"Step not in there, for seven years ago there a
+carpenter dropped his axe, and it hath not yet reached the bottom."
+
+The following passage, concerning fat geese, is perfectly in the style
+of these rabbins:--"A rabbin once saw in a desert a flock of geese so
+fat that their feathers fell off, and the rivers flowed in fat. Then
+said I to them, shall we have part of you in the other world when the
+Messiah shall come? And one of them lifted up a wing, and another a leg,
+to signify these parts we should have. We should otherwise have had all
+parts of these geese; but we Israelites shall be called to an account
+touching these fat geese, because their sufferings are owing to us. It
+is our iniquities that have delayed the coming of the Messiah; and these
+geese suffer greatly by reason of their excessive fat, which daily and
+daily increases, and will increase till the Messiah comes!"
+
+What the manna was which fell in the wilderness, has often been
+disputed, and still is disputable; it was sufficient for the rabbins to
+have found in the Bible that the taste of it was "as a wafer made with
+honey," to have raised their fancy to its pitch. They declare it was
+"like oil to children, honey to old men, and cakes to middle age." It
+had every kind of taste except that of cucumbers, melons, garlic, and
+onions, and leeks, for these were those Egyptian roots which the
+Israelites so much regretted to have lost. This manna had, however, the
+quality to accommodate itself to the palate of those who did not murmur
+in the wilderness; and to these it became fish, flesh, or fowl.
+
+The rabbins never advance an absurdity without quoting a text in
+Scripture; and to substantiate this fact they quote Deut. ii. 7, where
+it is said, "Through this great wilderness these forty years the Lord
+thy God hath been with thee, and _thou hast lacked nothing_!" St. Austin
+repeats this explanation of the Rabbins, that the faithful found in this
+manna the taste of their favourite food! However, the Israelites could
+not have found all these benefits, as the rabbins tell us; for in
+Numbers xi. 6, they exclaim, "There is _nothing at all besides this
+manna_ before our eyes!" They had just said that they remembered the
+melons, cucumbers, &c., which they had eaten of so freely in Egypt. One
+of the hyperboles of the rabbins is, that the manna fell in such
+mountains, that the kings of the east and the west beheld them; which
+they found on a passage in the 23rd Psalm; "Thou preparest a table
+before me in the presence of mine enemies!" These may serve as specimens
+of the forced interpretations on which their grotesque fables are
+founded.
+
+Their detestation of Titus, their great conqueror, appears by the
+following wild invention. After having narrated certain things too
+shameful to read, of a prince whom Josephus describes in far different
+colours, they tell us that on sea Titus tauntingly observed, in a great
+storm, that the God of the Jews was only powerful on the water, and
+that, therefore, he had succeeded in drowning Pharaoh and Sisera. "Had
+he been strong, he would have waged war with me in Jerusalem." On
+uttering this blasphemy, a voice from heaven said, "Wicked man! I have a
+little creature in the world which shall wage war with thee!" When Titus
+landed, a gnat entered his nostrils, and for seven years together made
+holes in his brains. When his skull was opened, the gnat was found to be
+as large as a pigeon: the mouth of the gnat was of copper, and the claws
+of iron. A collection which has recently appeared of these Talmudical
+stories has not been executed with any felicity of selection. That there
+are, however, some beautiful inventions in the Talmud, I refer to the
+story of Solomon and Sheba, in the present volume.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING.
+
+
+It is probable that this custom, so universally prevalent, originated in
+some ancient superstition; it seems to have excited inquiry among all
+nations.
+
+"Some Catholics," says Father Feyjoo, "have attributed the origin of
+this custom to the ordinance of a pope, Saint Gregory, who is said to
+have instituted a short benediction to be used on such occasions, at a
+time when, during a pestilence, the crisis was attended by _sneezing_,
+and in most cases followed by _death_."
+
+But the rabbins, who have a story for everything, say, that before Jacob
+men never sneezed but _once_, and then immediately _died_: they assure
+us that that patriarch was the first who died by natural disease; before
+him all men died by sneezing; the memory of which was ordered to be
+preserved in _all nations_, by a command of every prince to his subjects
+to employ some salutary exclamation after the act of sneezing. But these
+are Talmudical dreams, and only serve to prove that so familiar a custom
+has always excited inquiry.
+
+Even Aristotle has delivered some considerable nonsense on this custom;
+he says it is an honourable acknowledgment of the seat of good sense and
+genius--the head--to distinguish it from two other offensive eruptions
+of air, which are never accompanied by any benediction from the
+by-standers. The custom, at all events, existed long prior to Pope
+Gregory. The lover in Apuleius, Gyton in Petronius, and allusions to it
+in Pliny, prove its antiquity; and a memoir of the French Academy
+notices the practice in the New World, on the first discovery of
+America. Everywhere man is saluted for sneezing.
+
+An amusing account of the ceremonies which attend the _sneezing_ of a
+king of Monomotapa, shows what a national concern may be the sneeze of
+despotism.--Those who are near his person, when this happens, salute him
+in so loud a tone, that persons in the ante-chamber hear it, and join in
+the acclamation; in the adjoining apartments they do the same, till the
+noise reaches the street, and becomes propagated throughout the city; so
+that, at each sneeze of his majesty, results a most horrid cry from the
+salutations of many thousands of his vassals.
+
+When the king of Sennaar sneezes, his courtiers immediately turn their
+backs on him, and give a loud slap on their right thigh.
+
+With the ancients sneezing was ominous;[42] from the _right_ it was
+considered auspicious; and Plutarch, in his Life of Themistocles, says,
+that before a naval battle it was a sign of conquest! Catullus, in his
+pleasing poem of Acmè and Septimus, makes this action from the deity of
+Love, from the _left_, the source of his fiction. The passage has been
+elegantly versified by a poetical friend, who finds authority that the
+gods sneezing on the _right_ in _heaven_, is supposed to come to us on
+_earth_ on the _left_.
+
+    Cupid _sneezing_ in his flight,
+    Once was heard upon the _right_,
+    Boding woe to lovers true;
+    But now upon the _left_ he flew,
+    And with sporting _sneeze_ divine,
+    Gave to joy the sacred sign.
+    Acmè bent her lovely face,
+    Flush'd with rapture's rosy grace,
+    And those eyes that swam in bliss,
+    Prest with many a breathing kiss;
+    Breathing, murmuring, soft, and low,
+    Thus might life for ever flow!
+    "Love of my life, and life of love!
+    Cupid rules our fates above,
+    Ever let us vow to join
+    In homage at his happy shrine."
+    Cupid heard the lovers true,
+    Again upon the _left_ he flew,
+    And with sporting _sneeze_ divine,
+    Renew'd of joy the _sacred sign_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 42: Xenophon having addressed a speech to his soldiers, in
+which he declared he felt many reasons for a dependence on the favour of
+the gods, had scarcely concluded his words when one of them emitted a
+loud sneeze. Xenophon at once declared this a spontaneous omen sent by
+Jupiter as a sign that his protection was awarded them.
+
+    "O, happy Bridegroom! thee a lucky sneeze
+    To Sparta welcom'd."--_Theocritus_, Idyll xviii.
+
+"Prometheus was the first that wished well to the sneezer, when the man
+which he had made of clay fell into a fit of sternutation upon the
+approach of that celestial fire which he stole from the sun."--Ross's
+_Arcana Microcosmi_.]
+
+
+
+
+BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS.
+
+
+A happy art in the relation of a story is, doubtless, a very agreeable
+talent; it has obtained La Fontaine all the applause which his charming
+_naïveté_ deserves.
+
+Of "_Bonaventure de Periers, Valet de Chambre de la Royne de Navarre_,"
+there are three little volumes of tales in prose, in the quaint or the
+coarse pleasantry of that day. The following is not given as the best,
+but as it introduces a novel etymology of a word in great use:--
+
+"A student at law, who studied at Poitiers, had tolerably improved
+himself in cases of equity; not that he was over-burthened with
+learning; but his chief deficiency was a want of assurance and
+confidence to display his knowledge. His father, passing by Poitiers,
+recommended him to read aloud, and to render his memory more prompt by
+continued exercise. To obey the injunctions of his father, he determined
+to read at the _Ministery_. In order to obtain a certain quantity of
+assurance, he went every day into a garden, which was a very retired
+spot, being at a distance from any house, and where there grew a great
+number of fine large cabbages. Thus for a long time he pursued his
+studies, and repeated his lectures to these cabbages, addressing them by
+the title of _gentlemen_, and balancing his periods to them as if they
+had composed an audience of scholars. After a fort-night or three weeks'
+preparation, he thought it was high time to take the _chair_; imagining
+that he should be able to lecture his scholars as well as he had before
+done his cabbages. He comes forward, he begins his oration--but before a
+dozen words his tongue freezes between his teeth! Confused, and hardly
+knowing where he was, all he could bring out was--_Domini, Ego bene
+video quod non eslis caules_; that is to say--for there are some who
+will have everything in plain English--_Gentlemen, I now clearly see you
+are not cabbages!_ In the _garden_ he could conceive the _cabbages_ to
+be _scholars_; but in the _chair_, he could not conceive the _scholars_
+to be _cabbages_."
+
+On this story La Monnoye has a note, which gives a new origin to a
+familiar term.
+
+"The hall of the School of Equity at Poitiers, where the institutes were
+read, was called _La Ministerie_. On which head Florimond de Remond
+(book vii. ch. 11), speaking of Albert Babinot, one of the first
+disciples of Calvin, after having said he was called 'The _good man_,'
+adds, that because he had been a student of the institutes at this
+_Ministerie_ of Poitiers, Calvin and others styled him _Mr. Minister_;
+from whence, afterwards _Calvin_ took occasion to give the name of
+MINISTERS to the pastors of his church."
+
+
+
+
+GROTIUS.
+
+
+The Life of Grotius shows the singular felicity of a man of letters and
+a statesman, and how a student can pass his hours in the closest
+imprisonment. The gate of the prison has sometimes been the porch of
+fame.
+
+Grotius, studious from his infancy, had also received from Nature the
+faculty of genius, and was so fortunate as to find in his father a tutor
+who formed his early taste and his moral feelings. The younger Grotius,
+in imitation of Horace, has celebrated his gratitude in verse.
+
+One of the most interesting circumstances in the life of this great man,
+which strongly marks his genius and fortitude, is displayed in the
+manner in which he employed his time during his imprisonment. Other men,
+condemned to exile and captivity, if they survive, despair; the man of
+letters may reckon those days as the sweetest of his life.
+
+When a prisoner at the Hague, he laboured on a Latin essay on the means
+of terminating religious disputes, which occasion so many infelicities
+in the state, in the church, and in families; when he was carried to
+Louvenstein, he resumed his law studies, which other employments had
+interrupted. He gave a portion of his time to moral philosophy, which
+engaged him to translate the maxims of the ancient poets, collected by
+Stobæus, and the fragments of Menander and Philemon.
+
+Every Sunday was devoted to the Scriptures, and to his Commentaries on
+the New Testament. In the course of the work he fell ill; but as soon as
+he recovered his health, he composed his treatise, in Dutch verse, on
+the Truth of the Christian Religion. Sacred and profane authors occupied
+him alternately. His only mode of refreshing his mind was to pass from
+one work to another. He sent to Vossius his observations on the
+Tragedies of Seneca. He wrote several other works--particularly a little
+Catechism, in verse, for his daughter Cornelia--and collected materials
+to form his Apology. Although he produced thus abundantly, his
+confinement was not more than two years. We may well exclaim here, that
+the mind of Grotius had never been imprisoned.
+
+To these various labours we may add an extensive correspondence he held
+with the learned; his letters were often so many treatises, and there is
+a printed collection amounting to two thousand. Grotius had notes ready
+for every classical author of antiquity, whenever a new edition was
+prepared; an account of his plans and his performances might furnish a
+volume of themselves; yet he never published in haste, and was fond of
+revising them. We must recollect, notwithstanding such uninterrupted
+literary avocations, his hours were frequently devoted to the public
+functions of an ambassador:--"I only reserve for my studies the time
+which other ministers give to their pleasures, to conversations often
+useless, and to visits sometimes unnecessary." Such is the language of
+this great man!
+
+I have seen this great student censured for neglecting his official
+duties; but, to decide on this accusation, it would be necessary to know
+the character of his accuser.
+
+
+
+
+NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS.
+
+
+I offer to the contemplation of those unfortunate mortals who are
+necessitated to undergo the criticisms of _lords_, this pair of
+anecdotes:--
+
+Soderini, the Gonfalonière of Florence, having had a statue made by the
+great _Michael Angelo_, when it was finished, came to inspect it; and
+having for some time sagaciously considered it, poring now on the face,
+then on the arms, the knees, the form of the leg, and at length on the
+foot itself; the statue being of such perfect beauty, he found himself
+at a loss to display his powers of criticism, only by lavishing his
+praise. But only to praise might appear as if there had been an
+obtuseness in the keenness of his criticism. He trembled to find a
+fault, but a fault must be found. At length he ventured to mutter
+something concerning the nose--it might, he thought, be something more
+Grecian. _Angelo_ differed from his Grace, but he said he would attempt
+to gratify his taste. He took up his chisel, and concealed some marble
+dust in his hand; feigning to re-touch the part, he adroitly let fall
+some of the dust he held concealed. The Cardinal observing it as it
+fell, transported at the idea of his critical acumen, exclaimed--"Ah,
+_Angelo_, you have now given an inimitable grace!"
+
+When Pope was first introduced to read his Iliad to Lord Halifax, the
+noble critic did not venture to be dissatisfied with so perfect a
+composition; but, like the cardinal, this passage, and that word, this
+turn, and that expression, formed the broken cant of his criticisms. The
+honest poet was stung with vexation; for, in general, the parts at which
+his lordship hesitated were those with which he was most satisfied. As
+he returned home with Sir Samuel Garth, he revealed to him the anxiety
+of his mind. "Oh," replied Garth, laughing, "you are not so well
+acquainted with his lordship as myself; he must criticize. At your next
+visit, read to him those very passages as they now stand; tell him that
+you have recollected his criticisms; and I'll warrant you of his
+approbation of them. This is what I have done a hundred times myself."
+_Pope_ made use of this stratagem; it took, like the marble dust of
+_Angelo_; and my lord, like the cardinal, exclaimed--"Dear _Pope_, they
+are now inimitable!"
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY IMPOSTURES.
+
+
+Some authors have practised singular impositions on the public.
+Varillas, the French historian, enjoyed for some time a great reputation
+in his own country for his historical compositions; but when they became
+more known, the scholars of other countries destroyed the reputation
+which he had unjustly acquired. His continual professions of sincerity
+prejudiced many in his favour, and made him pass for a writer who had
+penetrated into the inmost recesses of the cabinet; but the public were
+at length undeceived, and were convinced that the historical anecdotes
+which Varillas put off for authentic facts had no foundation, being
+wholly his own inventions--though he endeavoured to make them pass for
+realities by affected citations of titles, instructions, letters,
+memoirs, and relations, all of them imaginary! He had read almost
+everything historical, printed and manuscript; but his fertile political
+imagination gave his conjectures as facts, while he quoted at random his
+pretended authorities. Burnet's book against Varillas is a curious
+little volume.[43]
+
+Gemelli Carreri, a Neapolitan gentleman, for many years never quitted
+his chamber; confined by a tedious indisposition, he amused himself with
+writing a _Voyage round the World_; giving characters of men, and
+descriptions of countries, as if he had really visited them: and his
+volumes are still very interesting. I preserve this anecdote as it has
+long come down to us; but Carreri, it has been recently ascertained, met
+the fate of Bruce--for he had visited the places he has described;
+Humboldt and Clavigero have confirmed his local knowledge of Mexico and
+of China, and found his book useful and veracious. Du Halde, who has
+written so voluminous an account of China, compiled it from the Memoirs
+of the Missionaries, and never travelled ten leagues from Paris in his
+life,--though he appears, by his writings, to be familiar with Chinese
+scenery.
+
+Damberger's Travels some years ago made a great sensation--and the
+public were duped; they proved to be the ideal voyages of a member of
+the German Grub-street, about his own garret. Too many of our "Travels"
+have been manufactured to fill a certain size; and some which bear names
+of great authority were not written by the professed authors.
+
+There is an excellent observation of an anonymous author:--"_Writers_
+who never visited foreign countries, and _travellers_ who have run
+through immense regions with fleeting pace, have given us long accounts
+of various countries and people; evidently collected from the idle
+reports and absurd traditions of the ignorant vulgar, from whom only
+they could have received those relations which we see accumulated with
+such undiscerning credulity."
+
+Some authors have practised the singular imposition of announcing a
+variety of titles of works preparing for the press, but of which nothing
+but the titles were ever written.
+
+Paschal, historiographer of France, had a reason for these ingenious
+inventions; he continually announced such titles, that his pension for
+writing on the history of France might not be stopped. When he died, his
+historical labours did not exceed six pages!
+
+Gregorio Leti is an historian of much the same stamp as Varillas. He
+wrote with great facility, and hunger generally quickened his pen. He
+took everything too lightly; yet his works are sometimes looked into for
+many anecdotes of English history not to be found elsewhere; and perhaps
+ought not to have been there if truth had been consulted. His great aim
+was always to make a book: he swells his volumes with digressions,
+intersperses many ridiculous stories, and applies all the repartees he
+collected from old novel-writers to modern characters.
+
+Such forgeries abound; the numerous "Testaments Politiques" of Colbert,
+Mazarin, and other great ministers, were forgeries usually from the
+Dutch press, as are many pretended political "Memoirs."
+
+Of our old translations from the Greek and Latin authors, many were
+taken from French versions.
+
+The Travels, written in Hebrew, of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, of which we
+have a curious translation, are, I believe, apocryphal. He describes a
+journey, which, if ever he took, it must have been with his night-cap
+on; being a perfect dream! It is said that to inspirit and give
+importance to his nation, he pretended that he had travelled to all the
+synagogues in the East; he mentions places which he does not appear ever
+to have seen, and the different people he describes no one has known. He
+calculates that he has found near eight hundred thousand Jews, of which
+about half are independent, and not subjects of any Christian or Gentile
+sovereign. These fictitious travels have been a source of much trouble
+to the learned; particularly to those who in their zeal to authenticate
+them followed the aërial footsteps of the Hyppogriffe of Rabbi Benjamin.
+He affirms that the tomb of Ezekiel, with the library of the first and
+second temples, were to be seen in his time at a place on the banks of
+the river Euphrates; Wesselius of Groningen, and many other literati,
+travelled on purpose to Mesopotamia, to reach the tomb and examine the
+library; but the fairy treasures were never to be seen, nor even heard
+of!
+
+The first on the list of impudent impostors is Annius of Viterbo, a
+Dominican, and master of the sacred palace under Alexander VI. He
+pretended he had discovered the entire works of Sanchoniatho, Manetho,
+Berosus, and others, of which only fragments are remaining. He published
+seventeen books of antiquities! But not having any MSS. to produce,
+though he declared he had found them buried in the earth, these literary
+fabrications occasioned great controversies; for the author died before
+he made up his mind to a confession. At their first publication
+universal joy was diffused among the learned. Suspicion soon rose, and
+detection followed. However, as the forger never would acknowledge
+himself as such, it has been ingeniously conjectured that he himself was
+imposed on, rather than that he was the impostor; or, as in the case of
+Chatterton, possibly all may not be fictitious. It has been said that a
+great volume in MS., anterior by two hundred years to the seventeen
+books of Annius, exists in the Bibliothèque Colbertine, in which these
+pretended histories were to be read; but as Annius would never point out
+the sources of his, the whole may be considered as a very wonderful
+imposture. I refer the reader to Tyrwhitt's Vindication of his Appendix
+to Rowley's or Chatterton's Poems, p. 140, for some curious
+observations, and some facts of literary imposture.
+
+An extraordinary literary imposture was that of one Joseph Vella, who,
+in 1794, was an adventurer in Sicily, and pretended that he possessed
+seventeen of the lost books of Livy in Arabic: he had received this
+literary treasure, he said, from a Frenchman, who had purloined it from
+a shelf in St. Sophia's church at Constantinople. As many of the Greek
+and Roman classics have been translated by the Arabians, and many were
+first known in Europe in their Arabic dress, there was nothing
+improbable in one part of his story. He was urged to publish these
+long-desired books; and Lady Spencer, then in Italy, offered to defray
+the expenses. He had the effrontery, by way of specimen, to edit an
+Italian translation of the sixtieth book, but that book took up no more
+than one octavo page! A professor of Oriental literature in Prussia
+introduced it in his work, never suspecting the fraud; it proved to be
+nothing more than the epitome of Florus. He also gave out that he
+possessed a code which he had picked up in the abbey of St. Martin,
+containing the ancient history of Sicily in the Arabic period,
+comprehending above two hundred years; and of which ages their own
+historians were entirely deficient in knowledge. Vella declared he had a
+genuine official correspondence between the Arabian governors of Sicily
+and their superiors in Africa, from the first landing of the Arabians in
+that island. Vella was now loaded with honours and pensions! It is true
+he showed Arabic MSS., which, however, did not contain a syllable of
+what he said. He pretended he was in continual correspondence with
+friends at Morocco and elsewhere. The King of Naples furnished him with
+money to assist his researches. Four volumes in quarto were at length
+published! Vella had the adroitness to change the Arabic MSS. he
+possessed, which entirely related to Mahomet, to matters relative to
+Sicily; he bestowed several weeks' labour to disfigure the whole,
+altering page for page, line for line, and word for word, but
+interspersed numberless dots, strokes, and flourishes; so that when he
+published a fac-simile, every one admired the learning of Vella, who
+could translate what no one else could read. He complained he had lost
+an eye in this minute labour; and every one thought his pension ought to
+have been increased. Everything prospered about him, except his eye,
+which some thought was not so bad neither. It was at length discovered
+by his blunders, &c., that the whole was a forgery: though it had now
+been patronised, translated, and extracted through Europe. When this MS.
+was examined by an Orientalist, it was discovered to be nothing but a
+history of _Mahomet and his family_. Vella was condemned to
+imprisonment.
+
+The Spanish antiquary, Medina Conde, in order to favour the pretensions
+of the church in a great lawsuit, forged deeds and inscriptions, which
+he buried in the ground, where he knew they would shortly be dug up.
+Upon their being found, he published engravings of them, and gave
+explanations of their unknown characters, making them out to be so many
+authentic proofs and evidences of the contested assumptions of the
+clergy.
+
+The Morocco ambassador purchased of him a copper bracelet of Fatima,
+which Medina proved by the Arabic inscription and many certificates to
+be genuine, and found among the ruins of the Alhambra, with other
+treasures of its last king, who had hid them there in hope of better
+days. This famous bracelet turned out afterwards to be the work of
+Medina's own hand, made out of an old brass candlestick!
+
+George Psalmanazar, to whose labours we owe much of the great Universal
+History, exceeded in powers of deception any of the great impostors of
+learning. His Island of Formosa was an illusion eminently bold,[44] and
+maintained with as much felicity as erudition; and great must have been
+that erudition which could form a pretended language and its grammar,
+and fertile the genius which could invent the history of an unknown
+people: it is said that the deception was only satisfactorily
+ascertained by his own penitential confession; he had defied and
+baffled the most learned.[45] The literary impostor Lauder had much more
+audacity than ingenuity, and he died contemned by all the world.[46]
+Ireland's "Shakspeare" served to show that commentators are not blessed,
+necessarily, with an interior and unerring tact.[47] Genius and learning
+are ill directed in forming literary impositions, but at least they must
+be distinguished from the fabrications of ordinary impostors.
+
+A singular forgery was practised on Captain Wilford by a learned Hindu,
+who, to ingratiate himself and his studies with the too zealous and
+pious European, contrived, among other attempts, to give the history of
+Noah and his three sons, in his "Purana," under the designation of
+Satyavrata. Captain Wilford having _read_ the passage, transcribed it
+for Sir William Jones, who translated it as a curious extract; the whole
+was an interpolation by the dexterous introduction of a forged sheet,
+discoloured and prepared for the purpose of deception, and which, having
+served his purpose for the moment, was afterwards withdrawn. As books in
+India are not bound, it is not difficult to introduce loose leaves. To
+confirm his various impositions, this learned forger had the patience to
+write two voluminous sections, in which he connected all the legends
+together in the style of the _Puranas_, consisting of 12,000 lines. When
+Captain Wilford resolved to collate the manuscript with others, the
+learned Hindu began to disfigure his own manuscript, the captain's, and
+those of the college, by erasing the name of the country and
+substituting that of Egypt. With as much pains, and with a more
+honourable direction, our Hindu Lauder might have immortalized his
+invention.
+
+We have authors who sold their names to be prefixed to works they never
+read; or, on the contrary, have prefixed the names of others to their
+own writings. Sir John Hill, once when he fell sick, owned to a friend
+that he had over-fatigued himself with writing seven works at once! one
+of which was on architecture, and another on cookery! This hero once
+contracted to translate Swammerdam's work on insects for fifty guineas.
+After the agreement with the bookseller, he recollected that he did not
+understand a word of the Dutch language! Nor did there exist a French
+translation! The work, however, was not the less done for this small
+obstacle. Sir John bargained with another translator for twenty-five
+guineas. The second translator was precisely in the same situation as
+the first--as ignorant, though not so well paid as the knight. He
+rebargained with a third, who perfectly understood his original, for
+twelve guineas! So that the translators who could not translate feasted
+on venison and turtle, while the modest drudge, whose name never
+appeared to the world, broke in patience his daily bread! The craft of
+authorship has many mysteries.[48] One of the great patriarchs and
+primeval dealers in English literature was Robert Green, one of the most
+facetious, profligate, and indefatigable of the Scribleri family. He
+laid the foundation of a new dynasty of literary emperors. The first act
+by which he proved his claim to the throne of Grub-street has served as
+a model to his numerous successors--it was an ambidextrous trick! Green
+sold his "Orlando Furioso" to two different theatres, and is among the
+first authors in English literary history who wrote as a _trader_;[49]
+or as crabbed Anthony Wood phrases it, in the language of celibacy and
+cynicism, "he wrote to maintain his _wife_, and that high and loose
+course of living which _poets generally follow_." With a drop still
+sweeter, old Anthony describes Gayton, another worthy; "he came up to
+London to live in a _shirking condition_, and wrote _trite things_
+merely to get bread to sustain him and his _wife_."[50] The hermit
+Anthony seems to have had a mortal antipathy against the Eves of
+literary men.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 43: Burnet's little 12mo volume was printed at Amsterdam, "in
+the Warmoes-straet near the Dam," 1686, and compiled by him when living
+for safety in Holland during the reign of James II. He particularly
+attacks Varillas' ninth book, which relates to England, and its false
+history of the Reformation, or rather "his own imagination for true
+history." On the authority of Catholic students, he says "the greatest
+number of the pieces he cited were to be found nowhere but in his own
+fancy." Burnet allows full latitude to an author for giving the best
+colouring to his own views and that of his party--a latitude he
+certainly always allowed to himself; but he justly censures the
+falsifying, or rather inventing, of history; after Varillas' fashion.
+"History," says Burnet, "is a sort of trade, in which false coyn and
+false weights are more criminal than in other matters; because the
+errour may go further and run longer, though their authors colour their
+copper too slightly to make it keep its credit long."]
+
+[Footnote 44: The volume was published in 8vo in 1704, as "An Historical
+and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the
+Emperor of Japan." It is dedicated to the Bishop of London, who is told
+that "the Europeans have such obscure and various notions of Japan, and
+especially of our island Formosa, that they believe nothing for truth
+that has been said of it." He accordingly narrates the political history
+of the place; the manners and customs of its inhabitants; their
+religion, language, &c. A number of engravings illustrate the whole, and
+depict the dresses of the people, their houses, temples, and ceremonies.
+A "Formosan Alphabet" is also given, and the Lord's Prayer, Apostles'
+Creed, and Ten Commandments, are "translated" into this imaginary
+language. To keep up the imposition, he ate raw meat when dining with
+the Secretary to the Royal Society, and Formosa appeared in the maps as
+a real island, in the spot he had described as its locality.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Psalmanazar would never reveal the true history of his
+early life, but acknowledged one of the southern provinces of France as
+the place of his birth, about 1679. He received a fair education, became
+lecturer in a Jesuit college, then a tutor at Avignon; he afterwards led
+a wandering life, subsisting on charity, and pretending to be an Irish
+student travelling to Rome for conscience sake. He soon found he would
+be more successful if he personated a Pagan stranger, and hence he
+gradually concocted his tale of _Formosa_; inventing an alphabet, and
+perfecting his story, which was not fully matured before he had had a
+few years' hard labour as a soldier in the Low Countries; where a Scotch
+gentleman introduced him to the notice of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London;
+who patronised him, and invited him to England. He came, and to oblige
+the booksellers compiled his _History of Formosa_, by the two editions
+of which he realized the noble sum of 22_l._ He ended in becoming a
+regular bookseller's hack, and so highly moral a character, that Dr.
+Johnson, who knew him well, declared he was "the best man he had ever
+known."]
+
+[Footnote 46: William Lauder first began his literary impostures in the
+_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1747, where he accused Milton of gross
+plagiarisms in his _Paradise Lost_, pretending that he had discovered
+the prototypes of his best thoughts in other authors. This he did by
+absolute invention, in one instance interpolating twenty verses of a
+Latin translation of Milton into the works of another author, and then
+producing them with great virulence as a proof that Milton was a
+plagiarist. The falsehood of his pretended quotations was demonstrated
+by Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1751, but he returned to the
+charge in 1754. His character and conduct became too bad to allow of his
+continued residence in England, and he died in Barbadoes, "in universal
+contempt," about 1771.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Ireland's famous forgeries began when, as a young man in a
+lawyer's office, he sought to imitate old deeds and letters in the name
+of Shakspeare and his friends, urged thereto by his father's great
+anxiety to discover some writings connected with the great bard. Such
+was the enthusiasm with which they were received by men of great general
+knowledge, that Ireland persevered in fresh forgeries until an entire
+play was "discovered." It was a tragedy founded on early British
+history, and named _Vortigern_. It was produced at Kemble's Theatre, and
+was damned. Ireland's downward course commenced from that night. He
+ultimately published confessions of his frauds, and died very poor in
+1835.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Fielding, the novelist, in _The Author's Farce_, one of
+those slight plays which he wrote so cleverly, has used this incident,
+probably from his acquaintance with Hill's trick. He introduces his
+author trying to sell a translation of the _Æneid_, which the bookseller
+will not purchase; but after some conversation offers him "employ" in
+the house as a translator; he then is compelled to own himself "not
+qualified," because he "understands no language but his own." "What! and
+translate _Virgil!_" exclaims the astonished bookseller. The detected
+author answers despondingly, "Alas! sir, I translated him out of
+Dryden!" The bookseller joyfully exclaims, "Not qualified! If I was an
+Emperor, thou should'st be my Prime Minister! Thou art as well vers'd in
+thy trade as if thou had'st laboured in my garret these ten years!"]
+
+
+
+
+CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
+
+
+The present anecdote concerning Cardinal Richelieu may serve to teach
+the man of letters how he deals out criticisms to the _great_, when they
+ask his opinion of manuscripts, be they in verse or prose.
+
+The cardinal placed in a gallery of his palace the portraits of several
+illustrious men, and was desirous of composing the inscriptions under
+the portraits. The one which he intended for Montluc, the marechal of
+France, was conceived in these terms: _Multa fecit, plura scripsit, vir
+tamen magnus fuit_. He showed it without mentioning the author to
+Bourbon, the royal Greek professor, and asked his opinion concerning it.
+The critic considered that the Latin was much in the style of the
+breviary; and, had it concluded with an _allelujah_, it would serve for
+an _anthem_ to the _magnificat_. The cardinal agreed with the severity
+of his strictures, and even acknowledged the discernment of the
+professor; "for," he said, "it is really written by a priest." But
+however he might approve of Bourbon's critical powers, he punished
+without mercy his ingenuity. The pension his majesty had bestowed on him
+was withheld the next year.
+
+The cardinal was one of those ambitious men who foolishly attempt to
+rival every kind of genius; and seeing himself constantly disappointed,
+he envied, with all the venom of rancour, those talents which are so
+frequently the _all_ that men of genius possess.
+
+He was jealous of Balzac's splendid reputation; and offered the elder
+Heinsius ten thousand crowns to write a criticism which should ridicule
+his elaborate compositions. This Heinsius refused, because Salmasius
+threatened to revenge Balzac on his _Herodes Infanticida_.
+
+He attempted to rival the reputation of Corneille's "Cid," by opposing
+to it one of the most ridiculous dramatic productions; it was the
+allegorical tragedy called "Europe," in which the _minister_ had
+congregated the four quarters of the world! Much political matter was
+thrown together, divided into scenes and acts. There are appended to it
+keys of the dramatis personæ and of the allegories. In this tragedy
+Francion represents France; Ibere, Spain; Parthenope, Naples, &c.; and
+these have their attendants:--Lilian (alluding to the French lilies) is
+the servant of Francion, while Hispale is the confidant of Ibere. But
+the key to the allegories is much more copious:--Albione signifies
+England; _three knots of the hair of Austrasie_ mean the towns of
+Clermont, Stenay, and Jamet, these places once belonging to Lorraine. _A
+box of diamonds_ of Austrasie is the town of Nancy, belonging once to
+the dukes of Lorraine. The _key_ of Ibere's great porch is Perpignan,
+which France took from Spain; and in this manner is this sublime tragedy
+composed! When he first sent it anonymously to the French Academy it was
+reprobated. He then tore it in a rage, and scattered it about his study.
+Towards evening, like another Medea lamenting over the members of her
+own children, he and his secretary passed the night in uniting the
+scattered limbs. He then ventured to avow himself; and having pretended
+to correct this incorrigible tragedy, the submissive Academy retracted
+their censures, but the public pronounced its melancholy fate on its
+first representation. This lamentable tragedy was intended to thwart
+Corneille's "Cid." Enraged at its success, Richelieu even commanded the
+Academy to publish a severe _critique_ of it, well known in French
+literature. Boileau on this occasion has these two well-turned verses:--
+
+    "En vain contre le Cid, un ministre se ligue;
+    Tout Paris, pour _Chimene_, a les yeux de _Rodrigue_."
+
+    "To oppose the Cid, in vain the statesman tries;
+    All Paris, for _Chimene_, has _Roderick's_ eyes."
+
+It is said that, in consequence of the fall of this tragedy, the French
+custom is derived of securing a number of friends to applaud their
+pieces at their first representations. I find the following droll
+anecdote concerning this droll tragedy in Beauchamp's _Recherches sur le
+Théâtre_.
+
+The minister, after the ill success of his tragedy, retired
+unaccompanied the same evening to his country-house at Ruel. He then
+sent for his favourite Desmaret, who was at supper with his friend
+Petit. Desmaret, conjecturing that the interview would be stormy, begged
+his friend to accompany him.
+
+"Well!" said the Cardinal, as soon as he saw them, "the French will
+never possess a taste for what is lofty; they seem not to have relished
+my tragedy."--"My lord," answered Petit, "it is not the fault of the
+piece, which is so admirable, but that of the _players_. Did not your
+eminence perceive that not only they knew not their parts, but that they
+were all _drunk_?"--"Really," replied the Cardinal, something pleased,
+"I observed they acted it dreadfully ill."
+
+Desmaret and Petit returned to Paris, flew directly to the players to
+plan a _new mode_ of performance, which was to _secure_ a number of
+spectators; so that at the second representation bursts of applause were
+frequently heard!
+
+Richelieu had another singular vanity, of closely imitating Cardinal
+Ximenes. Pliny was not a more servile imitator of Cicero. Marville tells
+us that, like Ximenes, he placed himself at the head of an army; like
+him, he degraded princes and nobles; and like him, rendered himself
+formidable to all Europe. And because Ximenes had established schools of
+theology, Richelieu undertook likewise to raise into notice the schools
+of the Sorbonne. And, to conclude, as Ximenes had written several
+theological treatises, our cardinal was also desirous of leaving
+posterity various polemical works. But his gallantries rendered him more
+ridiculous. Always in ill health, this miserable lover and grave
+cardinal would, in a freak of love, dress himself with a red feather in
+his cap and sword by his side. He was more hurt by an offensive nickname
+given him by the queen of Louis XIII., than even by the hiss of theatres
+and the critical condemnation of academies.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu was assuredly a great political genius. Sir William
+Temple observes, that he instituted the French Academy to give
+employment to the _wits_, and to hinder them from inspecting too
+narrowly his politics and his administration. It is believed that the
+Marshal de Grammont lost an important battle by the orders of the
+cardinal; that in this critical conjuncture of affairs his majesty, who
+was inclined to dismiss him, could not then absolutely do without him.
+
+Vanity in this cardinal levelled a great genius. He who would attempt to
+display universal excellence will be impelled to practise meanness, and
+to act follies which, if he has the least sensibility, must occasion him
+many a pang and many a blush.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 49: The story is told in _The Defence of Coneycatching_, 1592,
+where he is said to have "sold _Orlando Furioso_ to the Queen's players
+for twenty nobles, and when they were in the country sold the same play
+to the Lord Admirall's men for as much more."]
+
+[Footnote 50: Edmund Gayton was born in 1609, was educated at Oxford,
+then led the life of a literary drudge in London, where the best book he
+produced was _Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote_, in which are many
+curious and diverting stories, and among the rest the original of
+Prior's _Ladle_. He ultimately retired to Oxford, and died there very
+poor, in a subordinate place in his college.]
+
+
+
+
+ARISTOTLE AND PLATO.
+
+
+No philosopher has been so much praised and censured as Aristotle: but
+he had this advantage, of which some of the most eminent scholars have
+been deprived, that he enjoyed during his life a splendid reputation.
+Philip of Macedon must have felt a strong conviction of his merit, when
+he wrote to him, on the birth of Alexander:--"I receive from the gods
+this day a son; but I thank them not so much for the favour of his
+birth, as his having come into the world at a time when you can have the
+care of his education; and that through you he will be rendered worthy
+of being my son."
+
+Diogenes Laertius describes the person of the Stagyrite.--His eyes were
+small, his voice hoarse, and his legs lank. He stammered, was fond of a
+magnificent dress, and wore costly rings. He had a mistress whom he
+loved passionately, and for whom he frequently acted inconsistently with
+the philosophic character; a thing as common with philosophers as with
+other men. Aristotle had nothing of the austerity of the philosopher,
+though his works are so austere: he was open, pleasant, and even
+charming in his conversation; fiery and volatile in his pleasures;
+magnificent in his dress. He is described as fierce, disdainful, and
+sarcastic. He joined to a taste for profound erudition, that of an
+elegant dissipation. His passion for luxury occasioned him such expenses
+when he was young, that he consumed all his property. Laertius has
+preserved the will of Aristotle, which is curious. The chief part turns
+on the future welfare and marriage of his daughter. "If, after my death,
+she chooses to marry, the executors will be careful she marries no
+person of an inferior rank. If she resides at Chalcis, she shall occupy
+the apartment contiguous to the garden; if she chooses Stagyra, she
+shall reside in the house of my father, and my executors shall furnish
+either of those places she fixes on."
+
+Aristotle had studied under the divine Plato; but the disciple and the
+master could not possibly agree in their doctrines: they were of
+opposite tastes and talents. Plato was the chief of the academic sect,
+and Aristotle of the peripatetic. Plato was simple, modest, frugal, and
+of austere manners; a good friend and a zealous citizen, but a
+theoretical politician: a lover indeed of benevolence, and desirous of
+diffusing it amongst men, but knowing little of them as we find them;
+his "Republic" is as chimerical as Rousseau's ideas, or Sir Thomas
+More's Utopia.
+
+Rapin, the critic, has sketched an ingenious parallel of these two
+celebrated philosophers:--
+
+"The genius of Plato is more polished, and that of Aristotle more vast
+and profound. Plato has a lively and teeming imagination; fertile in
+invention, in ideas, in expressions, and in figures; displaying a
+thousand turns, a thousand new colours, all agreeable to their subject;
+but after all it is nothing more than imagination. Aristotle is hard and
+dry in all he says, but what he says is all reason, though it is
+expressed drily: his diction, pure as it is, has something uncommonly
+austere; and his obscurities, natural or affected, disgust and fatigue
+his readers. Plato is equally delicate in his thoughts and in his
+expressions. Aristotle, though he may be more natural, has not any
+delicacy: his style is simple and equal, but close and nervous; that of
+Plato is grand and elevated, but loose and diffuse. Plato always says
+more than he should say: Aristotle never says enough, and leaves the
+reader always to think more than he says. The one surprises the mind,
+and charms it by a flowery and sparkling character: the other
+illuminates and instructs it by a just and solid method. Plato
+communicates something of genius, by the fecundity of his own; and
+Aristotle something of judgment and reason, by that impression of good
+sense which appears in all he says. In a word, Plato frequently only
+thinks to express himself well: and Aristotle only thinks to think
+justly."
+
+An interesting anecdote is related of these philosophers--Aristotle
+became the rival of Plato. Literary disputes long subsisted betwixt
+them. The disciple ridiculed his master, and the master treated
+contemptuously his disciple. To make his superiority manifest, Aristotle
+wished for a regular disputation before an audience, where erudition and
+reason might prevail; but this satisfaction was denied.
+
+Plato was always surrounded by his scholars, who took a lively interest
+in his glory. Three of these he taught to rival Aristotle, and it became
+their mutual interest to depreciate his merits. Unfortunately one day
+Plato found himself in his school without these three favourite
+scholars. Aristotle flies to him--a crowd gathers and enters with him.
+The idol whose oracles they wished to overturn was presented to them. He
+was then a respectable old man, the weight of whose years had enfeebled
+his memory. The combat was not long. Some rapid sophisms embarrassed
+Plato. He saw himself surrounded by the inevitable traps of the subtlest
+logician. Vanquished, he reproached his ancient scholar by a beautiful
+figure:--"He has kicked against us as a colt against its mother."
+
+Soon after this humiliating adventure he ceased to give public lectures.
+Aristotle remained master in the field of battle. He raised a school,
+and devoted himself to render it the most famous in Greece. But the
+three favourite scholars of Plato, zealous to avenge the cause of their
+master, and to make amends for their imprudence in having quitted him,
+armed themselves against the usurper.--Xenocrates, the most ardent of
+the three, attacked Aristotle, confounded the logician, and
+re-established Plato in all his rights. Since that time the academic and
+peripatetic sects, animated by the spirits of their several chiefs,
+avowed an eternal hostility. In what manner his works have descended to
+us has been told in a preceding article, on _Destruction of Books_.
+Aristotle having declaimed irreverently of the gods, and dreading the
+fate of Socrates, wished to retire from Athens. In a beautiful manner he
+pointed out his successor. There were two rivals in his schools:
+Menedemus the Rhodian, and Theophrastus the Lesbian. Alluding delicately
+to his own critical situation, he told his assembled scholars that the
+wine he was accustomed to drink was injurious to him, and he desired
+them to bring the wines of Rhodes and Lesbos. He tasted both, and
+declared they both did honour to their soil, each being excellent,
+though differing in their quality;--the Rhodian wine is the strongest,
+but the Lesbian is the sweetest, and that he himself preferred it. Thus
+his ingenuity designated his favourite Theophrastus, the author of the
+"Characters," for his successor.
+
+
+
+
+ABELARD AND ELOISA.
+
+
+Abelard, so famous for his writings and his amours with Eloisa, ranks
+amongst the Heretics for opinions concerning the Trinity! His superior
+genius probably made him appear so culpable in the eyes of his enemies.
+The cabal formed against him disturbed the earlier part of his life with
+a thousand persecutions, till at length they persuaded Bernard, his old
+_friend_, but who had now turned _saint_, that poor Abelard was what
+their malice described him to be. Bernard, inflamed against him,
+condemned unheard the unfortunate scholar. But it is remarkable that the
+book which was burnt as unorthodox, and as the composition of Abelard,
+was in fact written by Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris; a work which has
+since been _canonised_ in the Sarbonne, and on which the scholastic
+theology is founded. The objectionable passage is an illustration of the
+_Trinity_ by the nature of a _syllogism_!--"As (says he) the three
+propositions of a syllogism form but one truth, so the _Father and Son_
+constitute but _one essence_. The _major_ represents the _Father_, the
+_minor_ the _Son_, and the _conclusion_ the _Holy Ghost_!" It is curious
+to add, that Bernard himself has explained this mystical union precisely
+in the same manner, and equally clear. "The understanding," says this
+saint, "is the image of God. We find it consists of three parts: memory,
+intelligence, and will. To _memory_, we attribute all which we know,
+without cogitation; to _intelligence_, all truths we discover which have
+not been deposited by memory. By _memory_, we resemble the _Father_; by
+_intelligence_, the _Son_; and by _will_, the _Holy Ghost_." Bernard's
+Lib. de Animâ, cap. i. num. 6, quoted in the "Mem. Secrètes de la
+République des Lettres." We may add also, that because Abelard, in the
+warmth of honest indignation, had reproved the monks of St. Denis, in
+France, and St. Gildas de Ruys, in Bretagne, for the horrid incontinence
+of their lives, they joined his enemies, and assisted to embitter the
+life of this ingenious scholar, who perhaps was guilty of no other crime
+than that of feeling too sensibly an attachment to one who not only
+possessed the enchanting attractions of the softer sex, but, what indeed
+is very unusual, a congeniality of disposition, and an enthusiasm of
+imagination.
+
+    "Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well?"
+
+It appears by a letter of Peter de Cluny to Eloisa, that she had
+solicited for Abelard's absolution. The abbot gave it to her. It runs
+thus:--"Ego Petrus Cluniacensis Abbas, qui Petrum Abælardum in monachum
+Cluniacensem recepi, et corpus ejus furtim delatum Heloissæ abbatissæ et
+moniali Paracleti concessi, auctoritate omnipotentis Dei et omnium
+sanctorum absolvo eum pro officio ab omnibus peccatis suis."
+
+An ancient chronicle of Tours records, that when they deposited the body
+of the Abbess Eloisa in the tomb of her lover, Peter Abelard, who had
+been there interred twenty years, this faithful husband raised his arms,
+stretched them, and closely embraced his beloved Eloisa. This poetic
+fiction was invented to sanctify, by a miracle, the frailties of their
+youthful days. This is not wonderful;--but it is strange that Du Chesne,
+the father of French history, not only relates this legendary tale of
+the ancient chroniclers, but gives it as an incident well authenticated,
+and maintains its possibility by various other examples. Such fanciful
+incidents once not only embellished poetry, but enlivened history.
+
+Bayle tells us that _billets doux_ and _amorous verses_ are two powerful
+machines to employ in the assaults of love, particularly when the
+passionate songs the poetical lover composes are sung by himself. This
+secret was well known to the elegant Abelard. Abelard so touched the
+sensible heart of Eloisa, and infused such fire into her frame, by
+employing his _fine pen_, and his _fine voice_, that the poor woman
+never recovered from the attack. She herself informs us that he
+displayed two qualities which are rarely found in philosophers, and by
+which he could instantly win the affections of the female;--he _wrote_
+and _sung_ finely. He composed _love-verses_ so beautiful, and _songs_
+so agreeable, as well for the _words_ as the _airs_, that all the world
+got them by heart, and the name of his mistress was spread from province
+to province.
+
+What a gratification to the enthusiastic, the amorous, the vain Eloisa!
+of whom Lord Lyttleton, in his curious Life of Henry II., observes, that
+had she not been compelled to read the fathers and the legends in a
+nunnery, and had been suffered to improve her genius by a continued
+application to polite literature, from what appears in her letters, she
+would have excelled any man of that age.
+
+Eloisa, I suspect, however, would have proved but a very indifferent
+polemic; she seems to have had a certain delicacy in her manners which
+rather belongs to the _fine lady_. We cannot but smile at an observation
+of hers on the _Apostles_ which we find in her letters:--"We read that
+the _apostles_, even in the company of their Master, were so _rustic_
+and _ill-bred,_ that, regardless of common decorum, as they passed
+through the corn-fields they plucked the ears, and ate them like
+children. Nor did they wash their hands before they sat down to table.
+To eat with unwashed hands, said our Saviour to those who were offended,
+doth not defile a man."
+
+It is on the misconception of the mild apologetical reply of Jesus,
+indeed, that religious fanatics have really considered, that, to be
+careless of their dress, and not to free themselves from filth and
+slovenliness, is an act of piety; just as the late political fanatics,
+who thought that republicanism consisted in the most offensive
+filthiness. On this principle, that it is saint-like to go dirty, ragged
+and slovenly, says Bishop Lavington, in his "Enthusiasm of the
+Methodists and Papists," how _piously_ did Whitfield take care of the
+outward man, who in his journals writes, "My apparel was mean--thought
+it unbecoming a penitent to have _powdered hair_.--I wore _woollen
+gloves_, a _patched gown_, and _dirty shoes!_"
+
+After an injury, not less cruel than humiliating, Abelard raises the
+school of the Paraclete; with what enthusiasm is he followed to that
+desert! His scholars in crowds hasten to their adored master; they cover
+their mud sheds with the branches of trees; they care not to sleep under
+better roofs, provided they remain by the side of their unfortunate
+master. How lively must have been their taste for study!--it formed
+their solitary passion, and the love of glory was gratified even in that
+desert.
+
+The two reprehensible lines in Pope's Eloisa, too celebrated among
+certain of its readers--
+
+    "Not Cesar's empress would I deign to prove;
+    No,--make me mistress to the man I love!"--
+
+are, however, found in her original letters. The author of that ancient
+work, "The Romaunt of the Rose," has given it thus _naïvely_; a specimen
+of the _natural_ style in those days:--
+
+    Si l'empereur, qui est a Rome,
+    Souhz qui doyvent etre tout homme,
+    Me daignoit prendre pour sa femme,
+    Et me faire du monde dame!
+    Si vouldroye-je mieux, dist-elle
+    Et Dieù en tesmoing en appelle,
+    Etre sa Putaine appellée
+    Qu'etre emperiere couronnée.
+
+
+
+
+PHYSIOGNOMY.
+
+
+A very extraordinary physiognomical anecdote has been given by De la
+Place, in his "_Pièces Intéressantes et peu Connues_," vol. iv. p. 8.
+
+A friend assured him that he had seen a voluminous and secret
+correspondence which had been carried on between Louis XIV. and his
+favourite physician, De la Chambre, on this science. The faith of the
+monarch seems to have been great, and the purpose to which this
+correspondence tended was extraordinary indeed, and perhaps scarcely
+credible. Who will believe that Louis XIV. was so convinced of that
+talent which De la Chambre attributed to himself, of deciding merely by
+the physiognomy of persons, not only on the real bent of their
+character, but to what employment they were adapted, that the king
+entered into a _secret correspondence_ to obtain the critical notices of
+his _physiognomist?_ That Louis XIV. should have pursued this system,
+undetected by his own courtiers, is also singular; but it appears, by
+this correspondence, that this art positively swayed him in his choice
+of officers and favourites. On one of the backs of these letters De la
+Chambre had written, "If I die before his majesty, he will incur great
+risk of making many an unfortunate choice!"
+
+This collection of physiognomical correspondence, if it does really
+exist, would form a curious publication; we have heard nothing of it! De
+la Chambre was an enthusiastic physiognomist, as appears by his works;
+"The Characters of the Passions," four volumes in quarto; "The Art of
+Knowing Mankind;" and "The Knowledge of Animals." Lavater quotes his
+"Vote and Interest," in favour of his favourite science. It is, however,
+curious to add, that Philip Earl of Pembroke, under James I., had formed
+a particular collection of portraits, with a view to physiognomical
+studies. According to Evelyn on Medals, p. 302, such was his sagacity in
+discovering the characters and dispositions of men by their
+countenances, that James I. made no little use of his extraordinary
+talent on _the first arrival of ambassadors at court_.
+
+The following physiological definition of PHYSIOGNOMY is extracted from
+a publication by Dr. Gwither, of the year 1604, which, dropping his
+history of "The Animal Spirits," is curious:--
+
+"Soft wax cannot receive more various and numerous impressions than are
+imprinted on a man's face by _objects_ moving his affections: and not
+only the _objects_ themselves have this power, but also the very
+_images_ or _ideas_; that is to say, anything that puts the animal
+spirits into the same motion that the _object_ present did, will have
+the same effect with the object. To prove the first, let one observe a
+man's face looking on a pitiful object, then a ridiculous, then a
+strange, then on a terrible or dangerous object, and so forth. For the
+second, that _ideas_ have the same effect with the _object_, dreams
+confirm too often.
+
+"The manner I conceive to be thus:--the animal spirits, moved in the
+sensory by an object, continue their motion to the brain; whence the
+motion is propagated to this or that particular part of the body, as is
+most suitable to the design of its creation; having first made an
+alteration in the _face_ by its nerves, especially by the _pathetic_ and
+_oculorum motorii_ actuating its many muscles, as the dial-plate to that
+stupendous piece of clock-work which shows what is to be expected next
+from the striking part; not that I think the motion of the spirits in
+the sensory continued by the impression of the object all the way, as
+from a finger to the foot; I know it too weak, though the tenseness of
+the nerves favours it. But I conceive it done in the medulla of the
+brain, where is the common stock of spirits; as in an organ, whose
+pipes being uncovered, the air rushes into them; but the keys let go,
+are stopped again. Now, if by repeated acts of frequent entertaining of
+a favourite idea of a passion or vice, which natural temperament has
+hurried one to, or custom dragged, the _face_ is so often put into that
+posture which attends such acts, that the animal spirits find such
+latent passages into its nerves, that it is sometimes unalterably set:
+as the _Indian_ religious are by long continuing in strange postures in
+their _pagods_. But most commonly such a habit is contracted, that it
+falls insensibly into that posture when some present object does not
+obliterate that more natural impression by a new, or dissimulation hide
+it.
+
+"Hence it is that we see great _drinkers_ with _eyes_ generally set
+towards the nose, the adducent muscles being often employed to let them
+see their loved liquor in the glass at the time of drinking; which were,
+therefore, called _bibitory Lascivious persons_ are remarkable for the
+_oculorum nobilis petulantia_, as Petronius calls it. From this also we
+may solve the _Quaker's_ expecting face, waiting for the pretended
+spirit; and the melancholy face of the _sectaries_; the _studious_ face
+of men of great application of mind; revengeful and _bloody_ men, like
+executioners in the act: and though silence in a sort may awhile pass
+for wisdom, yet, sooner or later, Saint Martin peeps through the
+disguise to undo all. A _changeable face_ I have observed to show a
+_changeable mind_. But I would by no means have what has been said
+understood as without exception; for I doubt not but sometimes there are
+found men with great and virtuous souls under very unpromising
+outsides."
+
+The great Prince of Condé was very expert in a sort of physiognomy which
+showed the peculiar habits, motions, and postures of familiar life and
+mechanical employments. He would sometimes lay wagers with his friends,
+that he would guess, upon the Pont Neuf, what trade persons were of that
+passed by, from their walk and air.
+
+
+
+
+CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES.
+
+
+The idea of describing characters under the names of Musical Instruments
+has been already displayed in two most pleasing papers which embellish
+the _Tatler_, written by Addison. He dwells on this idea with uncommon
+success. It has been applauded for its _originality_; and in the
+general preface to that work, those papers are distinguished for their
+felicity of imagination. The following paper was published in the year
+1700, in a volume of "Philosophical Transactions and Collections," and
+the two numbers of Addison in the year 1710. It is probable that this
+inimitable writer borrowed the seminal hint from this work:--
+
+"A conjecture at dispositions from the modulations of the voice.
+
+"Sitting in some company, and having been but a little before musical, I
+chanced to take notice that, in ordinary discourse, _words_ were spoken
+in perfect _notes_; and that some of the company used _eighths_, some
+_fifths_, some _thirds_; and that his discourse which was the most
+pleasing, his _words_, as to their tone, consisted most of _concords_,
+and were of _discords_ of such as made up harmony. The same person was
+the most affable, pleasant, and best-natured in the company. This
+suggests a reason why many discourses which one _hears_ with much
+pleasure, when they come to be _read_ scarcely seem the same things.
+
+"From this difference of MUSIC in SPEECH, we may conjecture that of
+TEMPERS. We know the Doric mood sounds gravity and sobriety; the Lydian,
+buxomness and freedom; the Æolic, sweet stillness and quiet composure;
+the Phrygian, jollity and youthful levity; the Ionic is a stiller of
+storms and disturbances arising from passion; and why may we not
+reasonably suppose, that those whose speech naturally runs into the
+notes peculiar to any of these moods, are likewise in nature hereunto
+congenerous? _C Fa ut_ may show me to be of an ordinary capacity, though
+good disposition. _G Sol re ut_, to be peevish and effeminate. _Flats_,
+a manly or melancholic sadness. He who hath a voice which will in some
+measure agree with all _cliffs_, to be of good parts, and fit for
+variety of employments, yet somewhat of an inconstant nature. Likewise
+from the TIMES: so _semi-briefs_ may speak a temper dull and phlegmatic;
+_minims_, grave and serious; _crotchets_, a prompt wit; _quavers_,
+vehemency of passion, and scolds use them. _Semi-brief-rest_ may denote
+one either stupid or fuller of thoughts than he can utter; _minimrest,_
+one that deliberates; _crotchet-rest_, one in a passion. So that from
+the natural use of MOOD, NOTE, and TIME, we may collect DISPOSITIONS."
+
+
+
+
+MILTON.
+
+
+It is painful to observe the acrimony which the most eminent scholars
+have infused frequently in their controversial writings. The politeness
+of the present times has in some degree softened the malignity of the
+man, in the dignity of the author; but this is by no means an
+irrevocable law.
+
+It is said not to be honourable to literature to revive such
+controversies; and a work entitled "Querelles Littéraires," when it
+first appeared, excited loud murmurs; but it has its moral: like showing
+the drunkard to a youth, that he may turn aside disgusted with ebriety.
+Must we suppose that men of letters are exempt from the human passions?
+Their sensibility, on the contrary, is more irritable than that of
+others. To observe the ridiculous attitudes in which great men appear,
+when they employ the style of the fish-market, may be one great means of
+restraining that ferocious pride often breaking out in the republic of
+letters. Johnson at least appears to have entertained the same opinion;
+for he thought proper to republish the low invective of _Dryden_ against
+_Settle_; and since I have published my "Quarrels of Authors," it
+becomes me to say no more.
+
+The celebrated controversy of _Salmasius_, continued by Morus with
+_Milton_--the first the pleader of King Charles, the latter the advocate
+of the people--was of that magnitude, that all Europe took a part in the
+paper-war of these two great men. The answer of Milton, who perfectly
+massacred Salmasius, is now read but by the few. Whatever is addressed
+to the times, however great may be its merits, is doomed to perish with
+the times; yet on these pages the philosopher will not contemplate in
+vain.
+
+It will form no uninteresting article to gather a few of the rhetorical
+_weeds_, for _flowers_ we cannot well call them, with which they
+mutually presented each other. Their rancour was at least equal to their
+erudition,--the two most learned antagonists of a learned age!
+
+Salmasius was a man of vast erudition, but no taste. His writings are
+learned, but sometimes ridiculous. He called his work _Defensio
+Regia_, Defence of Kings. The opening of this work provokes a
+laugh:--"Englishmen! who toss the heads of kings as so many
+tennis-balls; who play with crowns as if they were bowls; who look upon
+sceptres as so many crooks."
+
+That the deformity of the body is an idea we attach to the deformity of
+the mind, the vulgar must acknowledge; but surely it is unpardonable in
+the enlightened philosopher thus to compare the crookedness of corporeal
+matter with the rectitude of the intellect; yet Milbourne and Dennis,
+the last a formidable critic, have frequently considered, that comparing
+Dryden and Pope to whatever the eye turned from with displeasure, was
+very good argument to lower their literary abilities. Salmasius seems
+also to have entertained this idea, though his spies in England gave him
+wrong information; or, possibly, he only drew the figure of his own
+distempered imagination.
+
+Salmasius sometimes reproaches Milton as being but a puny piece of man;
+an homunculus, a dwarf deprived of the human figure, a bloodless being,
+composed of nothing but skin and bone; a contemptible pedagogue, fit
+only to flog his boys: and, rising into a poetic frenzy, applies to him
+the words of Virgil, "_Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen
+ademptum_." Our great poet thought this senseless declamation merited a
+serious refutation; perhaps he did not wish to appear despicable in the
+eyes of the ladies; and he would not be silent on the subject, he says,
+lest any one should consider him as the credulous Spaniards are made to
+believe by their priests, that a heretic is a kind of rhinoceros or a
+dog-headed monster. Milton says, that he does not think any one ever
+considered him as unbeautiful; that his size rather approaches
+mediocrity than, the diminutive; that he still felt the same courage and
+the same strength which he possessed when young, when, with his sword,
+he felt no difficulty to combat with men more robust than himself; that
+his face, far from being pale, emaciated, and wrinkled, was sufficiently
+creditable to him: for though he had passed his fortieth year, he was in
+all other respects ten years younger. And very pathetically he adds,
+"that even his eyes, blind as they are, are unblemished in their
+appearance; in this instance alone, and much against my inclination, I
+am a deceiver!"
+
+Morus, in his Epistle dedicatory of his _Regii Sanguinis Clamor_,
+compares Milton to a hangman; his disordered vision to the blindness of
+his soul, and so vomits forth his venom.
+
+When Salmasius found that his strictures on the person of Milton were
+false, and that, on the contrary, it was uncommonly beautiful, he then
+turned his battery against those graces with which Nature had so
+liberally adorned his adversary: and it is now that he seems to have
+laid no restrictions on his pen; but, raging with the irritation of
+Milton's success, he throws out the blackest calumnies, and the most
+infamous aspersions.
+
+It must be observed, when Milton first proposed to answer Salmasius, he
+had lost the use of one of his eyes; and his physicians declared that,
+if he applied himself to the controversy, the other would likewise close
+for ever! His patriotism was not to be baffled, but with life itself.
+Unhappily, the prediction of his physicians took place! Thus a learned
+man in the occupations of study falls blind--a circumstance even now not
+read without sympathy. Salmasius considers it as one from which he may
+draw caustic ridicule and satiric severity.
+
+Salmasius glories that Milton lost his health and his eyes in answering
+his apology for King Charles! He does not now reproach him with natural
+deformities; but he malignantly sympathises with him, that he now no
+more is in possession of that beauty which rendered him so amiable
+during his residence in _Italy_. He speaks more plainly in a following
+page; and, in a word, would blacken the austere virtue of Milton with a
+crime infamous to name.
+
+Impartiality of criticism obliges us to confess that Milton was not
+destitute of rancour. When he was told that his adversary boasted he had
+occasioned the loss of his eyes, he answered, with ferocity--"_And I
+shall cost him his life!_" A prediction which was soon after verified;
+for Christina, Queen of Sweden, withdrew her patronage from Salmasius,
+and sided with Milton. The universal neglect the proud scholar felt
+hastened his death in the course of a twelve-month.
+
+The greatness of Milton's mind was degraded! He actually condescended to
+enter into a correspondence in Holland, to obtain little scandalous
+anecdotes of his miserable adversary, Morus; and deigned to adulate the
+unworthy Christina of Sweden, because she had expressed herself
+favourably on his "Defence." Of late years, we have had too many
+instances of this worst of passions, the antipathies of politics!
+
+
+
+
+ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS.
+
+
+We are indebted to the Italians for the idea of newspapers. The title of
+their _gazettas_ was, perhaps, derived from _gazzera_, a magpie or
+chatterer; or, more probably, from a farthing coin, peculiar to the city
+of Venice, called _gazetta_, which was the common price of the
+newspapers. Another etymologist is for deriving it from the Latin
+_gaza_, which would colloquially lengthen into _gazetta_, and signify a
+little treasury of news. The Spanish derive it from the Latin _gaza_,
+and likewise their _gazatero_, and our _gazetteer_, for a writer of the
+_gazette_ and, what is peculiar to themselves, _gazetista_, for a lover
+of the gazette.
+
+Newspapers, then, took their birth in that principal land of modern
+politicians, Italy, and under the government of that aristocratical
+republic, Venice. The first paper was a Venetian one, and only monthly;
+but it was merely the newspaper of the government. Other governments
+afterwards adopted the Venetian plan of a newspaper, with the Venetian
+name:--from a solitary government gazette, an inundation of newspapers
+has burst upon us.
+
+Mr. George Chalmers, in his Life of Ruddiman, gives a curious particular
+of these Venetian gazettes:--"A jealous government did not allow a
+_printed_ newspaper; and the Venetian _gazetta_ continued long after the
+invention of printing, to the close of the sixteenth century, and even
+to our own days, to be distributed in _manuscript_." In the
+Magliabechian library at Florence are thirty volumes of Venetian
+gazettas, all in manuscript.
+
+Those who first wrote newspapers were called by the Italians _menanti_;
+because, says Vossius, they intended commonly by these loose papers to
+spread about defamatory reflections, and were therefore prohibited in
+Italy by Gregory XIII. by a particular bull, under the name of
+_menantes_, from the Latin _minantes_, threatening. Menage, however,
+derives it from the Italian _menare_, which signifies to lead at large,
+or spread afar.
+
+We are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh
+for the first newspaper. The epoch of the Spanish Armada is also the
+epoch of a genuine newspaper. In the British Museum are several
+newspapers which were printed while the Spanish fleet was in the English
+Channel during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to prevent, during a
+moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing
+real information. The earliest newspaper is entitled "The English
+Mercurie," which by _authority_ was "imprinted at London by her
+highness's printer, 1588." These were, however, but extraordinary
+gazettes, not regularly published. In this obscure origin they were
+skilfully directed by the policy of that great statesman Burleigh, who,
+to inflame the national feeling, gives an extract of a letter from
+Madrid which speaks of putting the queen to death, and the instruments
+of torture on board the Spanish fleet.
+
+George Chalmers first exultingly took down these patriarchal newspapers,
+covered with the dust of two centuries.
+
+The first newspaper in the collection of the British Museum is marked
+No. 50, and is in Roman, not in black letter. It contains the usual
+articles of news, like the London Gazette of the present day. In that
+curious paper, there are news dated from Whitehall, on the 23rd July,
+1588. Under the date of July 26, there is the following
+notice:--"Yesterday the Scots ambassador, being introduced to Sir
+Francis Walsingham, had a private audience of her majesty, to whom he
+delivered a letter from the king his master; containing the most cordial
+assurances of his resolution to adhere to her majesty's interests, and
+to those of the Protestant religion. And it may not here be improper to
+take notice of a wise and spiritual saying of this young prince (he was
+twenty-two) to the queen's minister at his court, viz.--That all the
+favour he did expect from the Spaniards was the courtesy of Polypheme to
+Ulysses, _to be the last devoured_." The gazetteer of the present day
+would hardly give a more decorous account of the introduction of a
+foreign minister. The aptness of King James's classical saying carried
+it from the newspaper into history. I must add, that in respect to his
+_wit_ no man has been more injured than this monarch. More pointed
+sentences are recorded of James I. than perhaps of any prince; and yet,
+such is the delusion of that medium by which the popular eye sees things
+in this world, that he is usually considered as a mere royal pedant. I
+have entered more largely on this subject, in an "Inquiry of the
+Literary and Political Character of James I."[51]
+
+Periodical papers seem first to have been more generally used by the
+English, during the civil wars of the usurper Cromwell, to disseminate
+amongst the people the sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, according as
+their authors were disposed. _Peter Heylin_, in the preface to his
+_Cosmography_, mentions, that "the affairs of each town, of war, were
+better presented to the reader in the _Weekly News-books_." Hence we
+find some papers, entitled "News from Hull," "Truths from York,"
+"Warranted Tidings from Ireland," &c. We find also, "The Scots' Dove"
+opposed to "The Parliament Kite," or "The Secret Owl."--Keener
+animosities produced keener titles: "Heraclitus ridens" found an
+antagonist in "Democritus ridens," and "The Weekly Discoverer" was
+shortly met by "The Discoverer stript naked." "Mercuriua Britannicus"
+was grappled by "Mercurius Mastix, faithfully lashing all Scouts,
+Mercuries, Posts, Spies, and others." Under all these names papers had
+appeared, but a "Mercury" was the prevailing title of these
+"News-books," and the principles of the writer were generally shown by
+the additional epithet. We find an alarming number of these Mercuries,
+which, were the story not too long to tell, might excite laughter; they
+present us with a very curious picture of those singular times.
+
+Devoted to political purposes, they soon became a public nuisance by
+serving as receptacles of party malice, and echoing to the farthest ends
+of the kingdom the insolent voice of all factions. They set the minds of
+men more at variance, inflamed their tempers to a greater fierceness,
+and gave a keener edge to the sharpness of civil discord.
+
+Such works will always find adventurers adapted to their scurrilous
+purposes, who neither want at times either talents, or boldness, or wit,
+or argument. A vast crowd issued from the press, and are now to be found
+in private collections. They form a race of authors unknown to most
+readers of these times: the names of some of their chiefs, however, have
+reached us, and in the minor chronicle of domestic literature I rank
+three notable heroes; Marchmont Needham, Sir John Birkenhead, and Sir
+Roger L'Estrange.
+
+_Marchmont Needham_, the great patriarch of newspaper writers, was a man
+of versatile talents and more versatile politics; a bold adventurer, and
+most successful, because the most profligate of his tribe. From college
+he came to London; was an usher in Merchant Tailors' school; then an
+under clerk in Gray's Inn; at length studied physic, and practised
+chemistry; and finally, he was a captain, and in the words of our great
+literary antiquary, "siding with the rout and scum of the people, he
+made them weekly sport by railing at all that was noble, in his
+Intelligence, called Mercurius Britannicus, wherein his endeavours were
+to sacrifice the fame of some lord, or any person of quality, and of the
+king himself, to the beast with many heads." He soon became popular, and
+was known under the name of Captain Needham, of Gray's Inn; and whatever
+he now wrote was deemed oracular. But whether from a slight imprisonment
+for aspersing Charles I. or some pique with his own party, he requested
+an audience on his knees with the king, reconciled himself to his
+majesty, and showed himself a violent royalist in his "Mercurius
+Pragmaticus," and galled the Presbyterians with his wit and quips. Some
+time after, when the popular party prevailed, he was still further
+enlightened, and was got over by President Bradshaw, as easily as by
+Charles I. Our Mercurial writer became once more a virulent
+Presbyterian, and lashed the royalists outrageously in his "Mercurius
+Politicus;" at length on the return of Charles II. being now conscious,
+says our cynical friend Anthony, that he might be in danger of the
+halter, once more he is said to have fled into Holland, waiting for an
+act of oblivion. For money given to a hungry courtier, Needham obtained
+his pardon under the great seal. He latterly practised as a physician
+among his party, but lived detested by the royalists; and now only
+committed harmless treasons with the College of Physicians, on whom he
+poured all that gall and vinegar which the government had suppressed
+from flowing through its natural channel.
+
+The royalists were not without their Needham in the prompt activity of
+_Sir John Birkenhead_. In buffoonery, keenness, and boldness, having
+been frequently imprisoned, he was not inferior, nor was he at times
+less an adventurer. His "Mercurius Aulicus" was devoted to the court,
+then at Oxford. But he was the fertile parent of numerous political
+pamphlets, which appear to abound in banter, wit, and satire. Prompt to
+seize on every temporary circumstance, he had equal facility in
+execution. His "Paul's Church-yard" is a bantering pamphlet, containing
+fictitious titles of books and acts of parliament, reflecting on the mad
+reformers of those times. One of his poems is entitled "_The Jolt_,"
+being written on the Protector having fallen off his own coach-box:
+Cromwell had received a present from the German Count Oldenburgh, of six
+German horses, and attempted to drive them himself in Hyde Park, when
+this great political Phaeton met the accident, of which Sir John
+Birkenhead was not slow to comprehend the benefit, and hints how
+unfortunately for the country it turned out! Sir John was during the
+dominion of Cromwell an author by profession. After various
+imprisonments for his majesty's cause, says the venerable historian of
+English literature already quoted, "he lived by his wits, in helping
+young gentlemen out at dead lifts in making poems, songs, and epistles
+on and to their mistresses; as also in translating, and other petite
+employments." He lived however after the Restoration to become one of
+the masters of requests, with a salary of 3000_l._ a year. But he showed
+the baseness of his spirit, says Anthony, by slighting those who had
+been his benefactors in his necessities.
+
+Sir _Roger L'Estrange_ among his rivals was esteemed as the most
+perfect model of political writing. He was a strong party-writer on the
+government side, for Charles the Second, and the compositions of the
+author seem to us coarse, yet they contain much idiomatic expression.
+His Æsop's Fables are a curious specimen of familiar style. Queen Mary
+showed a due contempt of him, after the Revolution, by this anagram:--
+
+    _Roger L'Estrange_,
+    _Lye strange Roger_!
+
+Such were the three patriarchs of newspapers. De Saint Foix gives the
+origin of newspapers to France. Renaudot, a physician at Paris, to amuse
+his patients was a great collector of news; and he found by these means
+that he was more sought after than his learned brethren. But as the
+seasons were not always sickly, and he had many hours not occupied by
+his patients, he reflected, after several years of assiduity given up to
+this singular employment, that he might turn it to a better account, by
+giving every week to his patients, who in this case were the public at
+large, some fugitive sheets which should contain the news of various
+countries. He obtained a privilege for this purpose in 1632.
+
+At the Restoration the proceedings of parliament were interdicted to be
+published, unless by authority; and the first daily paper after the
+Revolution took the popular title of "The Orange Intelligencer."
+
+In the reign of Queen _Anne_, there was but one daily paper; the others
+were weekly. Some attempted to introduce literary subjects, and others
+topics of a more general speculation. _Sir Richard Steele_ formed the
+plan of his _Tatler_. He designed it to embrace the three provinces, of
+manners and morals, of literature, and of politics. The public were to
+be conducted insensibly into so different a track from that to which
+they had been hitherto accustomed. Hence politics were admitted into his
+paper. But it remained for the chaster genius of _Addison_ to banish
+this painful topic from his elegant pages. The writer in polite letters
+felt himself degraded by sinking into the diurnal narrator of political
+events, which so frequently originate in rumours and party fictions.
+From this time, newspapers and periodical literature became distinct
+works--at present, there seems to be an attempt to revive this union; it
+is a retrograde step for the independent dignity of literature.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 51: Since the appearance of the _eleventh_ edition of this
+work, the detection of a singular literary deception has occurred. The
+evidence respecting _The English Mercurie_ rests on the alleged
+discovery of the literary antiquary, George Chalmers. I witnessed, fifty
+years ago, that laborious researcher busied among the long dusty shelves
+of our periodical papers, which then reposed in the ante-chamber to the
+former reading-room of the British Museum. To the industry which I had
+witnessed, I confided, and such positive and precise evidence could not
+fail to be accepted by all. In the British Museum, indeed, George
+Chalmers found the printed _English Mercurie_; but there also, it now
+appears, he might have seen _the original_, with all its corrections,
+before it was sent to the press, written on paper of modern fabric. The
+detection of this literary imposture has been ingeniously and
+unquestionably demonstrated by Mr. Thomas Watts, in a letter to Mr.
+Panizzi, the keeper of the printed books in the British Museum. The fact
+is, the whole is a modern forgery, for which Birch, preserving it among
+his papers, has not assigned either the occasion or the motive. Mr.
+Watts says--"The general impression left on the mind by the perusal of
+the _Mercurie_ is, that it must have been written after the
+_Spectator_"; that the manuscript was composed in modern spelling,
+afterwards _antiquated_ in the printed copy; while the type is similar
+to that used by Caslon in 1766. By this accidental reference to the
+originals, "the unaccountably successful imposition of fifty years was
+shattered to fragments in five minutes." I am inclined to suspect that
+it was a _jeu d'esprit_ of historical antiquarianism, concocted by Birch
+and his friends the Yorkes, with whom, as it is well known, he was
+concerned in a more elegant literary recreation, the composition of the
+Athenian Letters. The blunder of George Chalmers has been repeated in
+numerous publications throughout Europe and in America. I think it
+better to correct the text by this notice than by a silent suppression,
+that it may remain a memorable instance of the danger incurred by the
+historian from forged documents; and a proof that multiplied authorities
+add no strength to evidence, when nil are to be traced to a single
+source.]
+
+
+
+
+TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES.
+
+
+The strange trials to which those suspected of guilt were put in the
+middle ages, conducted with many devout ceremonies by the ministers of
+religion, were pronounced to be the _judgments of God_! The ordeal
+consisted of various kinds: walking blindfold amidst burning
+ploughshares; passing through fires; holding in the hand a red-hot bar;
+and plunging the arm into boiling water: the popular affirmation--"I
+will put my hand in the fire to confirm this," was derived from this
+custom of our rude ancestors. Challenging the accuser to single combat,
+when frequently the stoutest champion was allowed to supply their place;
+swallowing a morsel of consecrated bread; sinking or swimming in a river
+for witchcraft; or weighing a witch; stretching out the arms before the
+cross, till the champion soonest wearied dropped his arms, and lost his
+estate, which was decided by this very short chancery suit, called the
+_judicium crucis_. The bishop of Paris and the abbot of St. Denis
+disputed about the patronage of a monastery: Pepin the Short, not being
+able to decide on their confused claims, decreed one of these judgments
+of God, that of the Cross. The bishop and abbot each chose a man, and
+both the men appeared in the chapel, where they stretched out their arms
+in the form of a cross. The spectators, more devout than the mob of the
+present day, but still the mob, were piously attentive, but _betted_
+however now for one man, now for the other, and critically watched the
+slightest motion of the arms. The bishop's man was first tired:--he let
+his arms fall, and ruined his patron's cause for ever. Though sometimes
+these trials might be eluded by the artifice of the priest, numerous
+were the innocent victims who unquestionably suffered in these
+superstitious practices.
+
+From the tenth to the twelfth century they were common. Hildebert,
+bishop of Mans, being accused of high treason by our William Rufus, was
+prepared to undergo one of these trials, when Ives, bishop of Chartres,
+convinced him that they were against the canons of the constitutions of
+the church, and adds, that in this manner _Innocentiam defendere, set
+innocentiam perdere_.
+
+An abbot of St. Aubin, of Angers, in 1066, having refused to present a
+horse to the Viscount of Tours, which the viscount claimed in right of
+his lordship, whenever an abbot first took possession of that abbey, the
+ecclesiastic offered to justify himself by the trial of the ordeal, or
+by duel, for which he proposed to furnish a man. The viscount at first
+agreed to the duel; but, reflecting that these combats, though
+sanctioned by the church, depended wholly on the skill or vigour of the
+adversary, and could therefore afford no substantial proof of the equity
+of his claim, he proposed to compromise the matter in a manner which
+strongly characterises the times: he waived his claim, on condition that
+the abbot should not forget to mention in his prayers himself, his wife,
+and his brothers! As the _orisons_ appeared to the abbot, in comparison
+with the _horse_, of little or no value, he accepted the proposal.
+
+In the tenth century the right of representation was not fixed: it was a
+question whether the sons of a son ought to be reckoned among the
+children of the family, and succeed equally with their uncles, if their
+fathers happened to die while their grandfathers survived. This point
+was decided by one of these combats. The champion in behalf of the right
+of children to represent their deceased father proved victorious. It was
+then established by a perpetual decree that they should thenceforward
+share in the inheritance, together with their uncles. In the eleventh
+century the same mode was practised to decide respecting two rival
+_Liturgies_! A pair of knights, clad in complete armour, were the
+critics to decide which was the authentic.
+
+"If two neighbours," say the capitularies of Dagobert, "dispute
+respecting the boundaries of their possessions, let a piece of turf of
+the contested land be dug up by the judge, and brought by him into the
+court; the two parties shall touch it with the points of their swords,
+calling on God as a witness of their claims;--after this let them
+_combat_, and let victory decide on their rights!"
+
+In Germany, a solemn circumstance was practised in these judicial
+combats. In the midst of the lists they placed a _bier_.--By its side
+stood the accuser and the accused; one at the head and the other at the
+foot of the bier, and leaned there for some time in profound silence,
+before they began the combat.
+
+The manners of the age are faithfully painted in the ancient Fabliaux.
+The judicial combat is introduced by a writer of the fourteenth century,
+in a scene where Pilate challenges Jesus Christ to _single combat_.
+Another describes the person who pierced the side of Christ as _a knight
+who jousted with Jesus_.[52]
+
+Judicial combat appears to have been practised by the Jews. Whenever the
+rabbins had to decide on a dispute about property between two parties,
+neither of which could produce evidence to substantiate his claim, they
+terminated it by single combat. The rabbins were impressed by a notion,
+that consciousness of right would give additional confidence and
+strength to the rightful possessor. It may, however, be more
+philosophical to observe, that such judicial combats were more
+frequently favourable to the criminal than to the innocent, because the
+bold wicked man is usually more ferocious and hardy than he whom he
+singles out as his victim, and who only wishes to preserve his own quiet
+enjoyment:--in this case the assailant is the more terrible combatant.
+
+Those accused of robbery were put to trial by a piece of barley-bread,
+on which the mass had been said; which if they could not swallow, they
+were declared guilty. This mode of trial was improved by adding to the
+_bread_ a slice of _cheese_; and such was their credulity, that they
+were very particular in this holy _bread_ and _cheese_, called the
+_corsned_. The bread was to be of unleavened barley, and the cheese made
+of ewe's milk in the month of May.
+
+Du Cange observed, that the expression--"_May this piece of bread choke
+me!_" comes from this custom. The anecdote of Earl Godwin's death by
+swallowing a piece of bread, in making this asseveration, is recorded in
+our history. Doubtless superstition would often terrify the innocent
+person, in the attempt of swallowing a consecrated morsel.
+
+Among the proofs of guilt in superstitious ages was that of the
+_bleeding of a corpse_. It was believed, that at the touch or approach
+of the murderer the blood gushed out of the murdered. By the side of the
+bier, if the slightest change was observable in the eyes, the mouth,
+feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured to be
+present, and many innocent spectators must have suffered death. "When a
+body is full of blood, warmed by a sudden external heat, and a
+putrefaction coming on, some of the blood-vessels will burst, as they
+will all in time." This practice was once allowed in England, and is
+still looked on in some of the uncivilized parts of these kingdoms as a
+detection of the criminal. It forms a solemn picture in the histories
+and ballads of our old writers.
+
+Robertson observes, that all these absurd institutions were cherished
+from the superstitious of the age believing the legendary histories of
+those saints who crowd and disgrace the Roman calendar. These fabulous
+miracles had been declared authentic by the bulls of the popes and the
+decrees of councils; they were greedily swallowed by the populace; and
+whoever believed that the Supreme Being had interposed miraculously on
+those trivial occasions mentioned in legends, could not but expect the
+intervention of Heaven in these most solemn appeals. These customs were
+a substitute for written laws, which that barbarous period had not; and
+as no society can exist without _laws_, the ignorance of the people had
+recourse to these _customs_, which, evil and absurd as they were, closed
+endless controversies. Ordeals are in truth the rude laws of a barbarous
+people who have not yet obtained a written code, and are not
+sufficiently advanced in civilization to enter into the refined
+inquiries, the subtile distinctions, and elaborate investigations, which
+a court of law demands.
+
+These ordeals probably originate in that one of Moses called the "Waters
+of Jealousy." The Greeks likewise had ordeals, for in the Antigonus of
+Sophocles the soldiers offer to prove their innocence by handling
+red-hot iron, and walking between fires. One cannot but smile at the
+whimsical ordeals of the Siamese. Among other practices to discover the
+justice of a cause, civil or criminal, they are particularly attached to
+using certain consecrated purgative pills, which they make the
+contending parties swallow. He who _retains_ them longest gains his
+cause! The practice of giving Indians a consecrated grain of rice to
+swallow is known to discover the thief, in any company, by the
+contortions and dismay evident on the countenance of the real thief.
+
+In the middle ages, they were acquainted with _secrets_ to pass unhurt
+these singular trials. Voltaire mentions one for undergoing the ordeal
+of boiling water. Our late travellers in the East have confirmed this
+statement. The Mevleheh dervises can hold red-hot iron between their
+teeth. Such artifices have been often publicly exhibited at Paris and
+London. Mr. Sharon Turner observes, on the ordeal of the Anglo-Saxons,
+that the hand was not to be immediately inspected, and was left to the
+chance of a good constitution to be so far healed during three days (the
+time they required to be bound up and sealed, before it was examined) as
+to discover those appearances when inspected, which were allowed to be
+satisfactory. There was likewise much preparatory training, suggested by
+the more experienced; besides, the accused had an opportunity of _going
+alone into the church_, and making _terms_ with the _priest_. The few
+_spectators_ were always _distant_; and cold iron might be substituted,
+and the fire diminished, at the moment.
+
+They possessed secrets and medicaments, to pass through these trials in
+perfect security. An anecdote of these times may serve to show their
+readiness. A rivalship existed between the Austin-friars and the
+Jesuits. The father-general of the Austin-friars was dining with the
+Jesuits; and when the table was removed, he entered into a formal
+discourse of the superiority of the monastic order, and charged the
+Jesuits, in unqualified terms, with assuming the title of "fratres,"
+while they held not the three vows, which other monks were obliged to
+consider as sacred and binding. The general of the Austin-friars was
+very eloquent and very authoritative:--and the superior of the Jesuits
+was very unlearned, but not half a fool.
+
+The Jesuit avoided entering the list of controversy with the
+Austin-friar, but arrested his triumph by asking him if he would see one
+of his friars, who pretended to be nothing more than a Jesuit, and one
+of the Austin-friars who religiously performed the aforesaid three vows,
+show instantly which of them would be the readier to obey his
+superiors? The Austin-friar consented. The Jesuit then turning to one of
+his brothers, the holy friar Mark, who was waiting on them, said,
+"Brother Mark, our companions are cold. I command you, in virtue of the
+holy obedience you have sworn to me, to bring here instantly out of the
+kitchen-fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they may warm
+themselves over your hands." Father Mark instantly obeys, and, to the
+astonishment of the Austin-friar, brought in his hands a supply of red
+burning coals, and held them to whoever chose to warm himself; and at
+the command of his superior returned them to the kitchen-hearth. The
+general of the Austin-friars, with the rest of his brotherhood, stood
+amazed; he looked wistfully on one of his monks, as if he wished to
+command him to do the like. But the Austin monk, who perfectly
+understood him, and saw this was not a time to hesitate,
+observed,--"Reverend father, forbear, and do not command me to tempt
+God! I am ready to fetch you fire in a chafing-dish, but not in my bare
+hands." The triumph of the Jesuits was complete; and it is not necessary
+to add, that the _miracle_ was noised about, and that the Austin-friars
+could never account for it, notwithstanding their strict performance of
+the three vows!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 52: These curious passages, so strikingly indicative of the
+state of thought in the days of their authors, are worth clearly noting.
+Pilate's challenge to the Saviour is completely in the taste of the
+writer's day. He was Adam Davie, a poet of the fourteenth century, of
+whom an account is preserved in _Warton's History of English Poetry_;
+and the passage occurs in his poem of the _Battle of Jerusalem_, the
+incidents of which are treated as Froissart would treat the siege of a
+town happening in his own day.
+
+The second passage above quoted occurs in the _Vision of Piers Plowman_,
+a poem of the same era, where the Roman soldier--whose name, according
+to legendary history, was Longinus, and who pierced the Saviour's
+side--is described as if he had given the wound in a passage of arms, or
+joust; and elsewhere in the same poem it is said that Christ,
+
+    "For mankyndes sake,
+    Justed in Jerusalem,
+    A joye to us all."
+
+And in another part of the poem, speaking of the victory of Christ, it
+is said--
+
+    "Jhesus justede well."]
+
+
+
+
+THE INQUISITION.
+
+
+Innocent the Third, a pope as enterprising as he was successful in his
+enterprises, having sent Dominic with some missionaries into Languedoc,
+these men so irritated the heretics they were sent to convert, that most
+of them were assassinated at Toulouse in the year 1200. He called in the
+aid of temporal arms, and published against them a crusade, granting, as
+was usual with the popes on similar occasions, all kinds of indulgences
+and pardons to those who should arm against these _Mahometans_, so he
+termed these unfortunate Languedocians. Once all were Turks when they
+were not Romanists. Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was constrained to
+submit. The inhabitants were passed on the edge of the sword, without
+distinction of age or sex. It was then he established that scourge of
+Europe, THE INQUISITION. This pope considered that, though men might be
+compelled to submit by arms, numbers might remain professing particular
+dogmas; and he established this sanguinary tribunal solely to inspect
+into all families, and INQUIRE concerning all persons who they imagined
+were unfriendly to the interests of Rome. Dominic did so much by his
+persecuting inquiries, that he firmly established the Inquisition at
+Toulouse.
+
+Not before the year 1484 it became known in Spain. To another Dominican,
+John de Torquemada, the court of Rome owed this obligation. As he was
+the confessor of Queen Isabella, he had extorted from her a promise,
+that if ever she ascended the throne, she would use every means to
+extirpate heresy and heretics. Ferdinand had conquered Granada, and had
+expelled from the Spanish realms multitudes of unfortunate Moors. A few
+remained, whom, with the Jews, he compelled to become Christians: they
+at least assumed the name; but it was well known that both these nations
+naturally respected their own faith, rather than that of the Christians.
+This race was afterwards distinguished as _Christianos Novos_; and in
+forming marriages, the blood of the Hidalgo was considered to lose its
+purity by mingling with such a suspicious source.
+
+Torquemada pretended that this dissimulation would greatly hurt the
+interests of the holy religion. The queen listened with respectful
+diffidence to her confessor; and at length gained over the king to
+consent to the establishment of this unrelenting tribunal. Torquemada,
+indefatigable in his zeal for the holy chair, in the space of fourteen
+years that he exercised the office of chief inquisitor, is said to have
+prosecuted near eighty thousand persons, of whom six thousand were
+condemned to the flames.
+
+Voltaire attributes the taciturnity of the Spaniards to the universal
+horror such proceedings spread. "A general jealousy and suspicion took
+possession of all ranks of people: friendship and sociability were at an
+end! Brothers were afraid of brothers, fathers of their children."
+
+The situation and the feelings of one imprisoned in the cells of the
+Inquisition are forcibly painted by Orobio, a mild, and meek, and
+learned man, whose controversy with Limborch is well known. When he
+escaped from Spain he took refuge in Holland, was circumcised, and died
+a philosophical Jew. He has left this admirable description of himself
+in the cell of the Inquisition. "Inclosed in this dungeon I could not
+even find space enough to turn myself about; I suffered so much that I
+felt my brain disordered. I frequently asked myself, am I really Don
+Balthazar Orobio, who used to walk about Seville at my pleasure, who so
+greatly enjoyed myself with my wife and children? I often imagined that
+all my life had only been a dream, and that I really had been born in
+this dungeon! The only amusement I could invent was metaphysical
+disputations. I was at once opponent, respondent, and præses!"
+
+In the cathedral at Saragossa is the tomb of a famous inquisitor; six
+pillars surround this tomb; to each is chained a Moor, as preparatory to
+his being burnt. On this St. Foix ingeniously observes, "If ever the
+Jack Ketch of any country should be rich enough to have a splendid tomb,
+this might serve as an excellent model."
+
+The Inquisition punished heretics by _fire_, to elude the maxim,
+"_Ecclesia non novit sanguinem_;" for burning a man, say they, does not
+_shed his blood_. Otho, the bishop at the Norman invasion, in the
+tapestry worked by Matilda the queen of William the Conqueror, is
+represented with a _mace_ in his hand, for the purpose that when he
+_despatched_ his antagonist he might not _spill blood_, but only break
+his bones! Religion has had her quibbles as well as law.
+
+The establishment of this despotic order was resisted in France; but it
+may perhaps surprise the reader that a recorder of London, in a speech,
+urged the necessity of setting up an Inquisition in England! It was on
+the trial of Penn the Quaker, in 1670, who was acquitted by the jury,
+which highly provoked the said recorder. "_Magna Charta_," writes the
+prefacer to the trial, "with the recorder of London, is nothing more
+than _Magna F----!_" It appears that the jury, after being kept two days
+and two nights to alter their verdict, were in the end both fined and
+imprisoned. Sir John Howell, the recorder, said, "Till now I never
+understood the reason of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in
+suffering the Inquisition among them; and certainly it will not be well
+with us, till something _like unto the Spanish Inquisition be in
+England_." Thus it will ever be, while both parties struggling for the
+pre-eminence rush to the sharp extremity of things, and annihilate the
+trembling balance of the constitution. But the adopted motto of Lord
+Erskine must ever be that of every Briton, "_Trial by Jury_."
+
+So late as the year 1761, Gabriel Malagrida, an old man of seventy, was
+burnt by these evangelical executioners. His trial was printed at
+Amsterdam, 1762, from the Lisbon copy. And for what was this unhappy
+Jesuit condemned? Not, as some have imagined, for his having been
+concerned in a conspiracy against the king of Portugal. No other charge
+is laid to him in this trial but that of having indulged certain
+heretical notions, which any other tribunal but that of the Inquisition
+would have looked upon as the delirious fancies of a fanatical old man.
+Will posterity believe, that in the eighteenth century an aged visionary
+was led to the stake for having said, amongst other extravagances, that
+"The holy Virgin having commanded him to write the life of Anti-Christ,
+told him that he, Malagrida, was a second John, but more clear than John
+the Evangelist; that there were to be three Anti-Christs, and that the
+last should be born at Milan, of a monk and a nun, in the year 1920; and
+that he would marry Proserpine, one of the infernal furies."
+
+For such ravings as these the unhappy old man was burnt in recent times.
+Granger assures us, that in his remembrance a _horse_ that had been
+taught to tell the spots upon cards, the hour of the day, &c., by
+significant tokens, was, together with his _owner_, put into the
+Inquisition for _both_ of them dealing with the devil! A man of letters
+declared that, having fallen into their hands, nothing perplexed him so
+much as the ignorance of the inquisitor and his council; and it seemed
+very doubtful whether they had read even the Scriptures.[53]
+
+One of the most interesting anecdotes relating to the terrible
+Inquisition, exemplifying how the use of the diabolical engines of
+torture forces men to confess crimes they have not been guilty of, was
+related to me by a Portuguese gentleman.
+
+A nobleman in Lisbon having heard that his physician and friend was
+imprisoned by the Inquisition, under the stale pretext of Judaism,
+addressed a letter to one of them to request his freedom, assuring the
+inquisitor that his friend was as orthodox a Christian as himself. The
+physician, notwithstanding this high recommendation, was put to the
+torture; and, as was usually the case, at the height of his sufferings
+confessed everything they wished! This enraged the nobleman, and
+feigning a dangerous illness he begged the inquisitor would come to give
+him his last spiritual aid.
+
+As soon as the Dominican arrived, the lord, who had prepared his
+confidential servants, commanded the inquisitor in their presence to
+acknowledge himself a Jew, to write his confession, and to sign it. On
+the refusal of the inquisitor, the nobleman ordered his people to put on
+the inquisitor's head a red-hot helmet, which to his astonishment, in
+drawing aside a screen, he beheld glowing in a small furnace. At the
+sight of this new instrument of torture, "Luke's iron crown," the monk
+wrote and subscribed the abhorred confession. The nobleman then
+observed, "See now the enormity of your manner of proceeding with
+unhappy men! My poor physician, like you, has confessed Judaism; but
+with this difference, only torments have forced that from him which fear
+alone has drawn from you!"
+
+The Inquisition has not failed of receiving its due praises. Macedo, a
+Portuguese Jesuit, has discovered the "Origin of the _Inquisition_" in
+the terrestrial Paradise, and presumes to allege that God was the first
+who began the functions of an _inquisitor_ over Cain and the workmen of
+Babel! Macedo, however, is not so dreaming a personage as he appears;
+for he obtained a Professor's chair at Padua for the arguments he
+delivered at Venice against the pope, which were published by the title
+of "The literary Roarings of the Lion at St. Mark;" besides he is the
+author of 109 different works; but it is curious to observe how far our
+interest is apt to prevail over our conscience,--Macedo praised the
+Inquisition up to the skies, while he sank the pope to nothing!
+
+Among the great revolutions of this age, and since the last edition of
+this work, the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal is abolished--but its
+history enters into that of the human mind; and the history of the
+Inquisition by Limborch, translated by Chandler, with a very curious
+"Introduction," loses none of its value with the philosophical mind.
+This monstrous tribunal of human opinions aimed at the sovereignty of
+the intellectual world, without intellect.
+
+In these changeful times, the history of the Inquisition is not the
+least mutable. The Inquisition, which was abolished, was again
+restored--and at the present moment, I know not whether it is to be
+restored or abolished.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 53: See also the remark of Galileo in a previous page of this
+volume, in the article headed "The Persecuted Learned."]
+
+
+
+
+SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS.
+
+
+The Maldivian islanders eat alone. They retire into the most hidden
+parts of their houses; and they draw down the cloths that serve as
+blinds to their windows, that they may eat unobserved. This custom
+probably arises from the savage, in early periods of society, concealing
+himself to eat: he fears that another, with as sharp an appetite, but
+more strong than himself, should come and ravish his meal from him. The
+ideas of witchcraft are also widely spread among barbarians; and they
+are not a little fearful that some incantation may be thrown among their
+victuals.
+
+In noticing the solitary meal of the Maldivian islander, another reason
+may be alleged for this misanthropical repast. They never will eat with
+any one who is inferior to them in birth, in riches, or dignity; and as
+it is a difficult matter to settle this equality, they are condemned to
+lead this unsocial life.
+
+On the contrary, the islanders of the Philippines are remarkably social.
+Whenever one of them finds himself without a companion to partake of his
+meal, he runs till he meets with one; and we are assured that, however
+keen his appetite may be, he ventures not to satisfy it without a
+guest.[54]
+
+Savages, says Montaigne, when they eat, "_S'essuyent les doigts aux
+cuisses, à la bourse des génitoires, et à la plante des pieds_." We
+cannot forbear exulting in the polished convenience of napkins!
+
+The tables of the rich Chinese shine with a beautiful varnish, and are
+covered with silk carpets very elegantly worked. They do not make use of
+plates, knives, and forks: every guest has two little ivory or ebony
+sticks, which he handles very adroitly.
+
+The Otaheiteans, who are naturally social, and very gentle in their
+manners, feed separately from each other. At the hour of repast, the
+members of each family divide; two brothers, two sisters, and even
+husband and wife, father and mother, have each their respective basket.
+They place themselves at the distance of two or three yards from each
+other; they turn their backs, and take their meal in profound silence.
+
+The custom of drinking at different hours from those assigned for eating
+exists among many savage nations. Originally begun from necessity, it
+became a habit, which subsisted even when the fountain was near to them.
+A people transplanted, observes an ingenious philosopher, preserve in
+another climate modes of living which relate to those from whence they
+originally came. It is thus the Indians of Brazil scrupulously abstain
+from eating when they drink, and from drinking when they eat.[55]
+
+When neither decency nor politeness is known, the man who invites his
+friends to a repast is greatly embarrassed to testify his esteem for his
+guests, and to offer them some amusement; for the savage guest imposes
+on himself this obligation. Amongst the greater part of the American
+Indians, the host is continually on the watch to solicit them to eat,
+but touches nothing himself. In New France, he wearies himself with
+singing, to divert the company while they eat.
+
+When civilization advances, men wish to show their confidence to their
+friends: they treat their guests as relations; and it is said that in
+China the master of a house, to give a mark of his politeness, absents
+himself while his guests regale themselves at his table with undisturbed
+revelry.[56]
+
+The demonstrations of friendship in a rude state have a savage and gross
+character, which it is not a little curious to observe. The Tartars pull
+a man by the ear to press him to drink, and they continue tormenting him
+till he opens his mouth; then they clap their hands and dance before
+him.
+
+No customs seem more ridiculous than those practised by a Kamschatkan,
+when he wishes to make another his friend. He first invites him to eat.
+The host and his guest strip themselves in a cabin which is heated to an
+uncommon degree. While the guest devours the food with which they serve
+him, the other continually stirs the fire. The stranger must bear the
+excess of the heat as well as of the repast. He vomits ten times before
+he will yield; but, at length obliged to acknowledge himself overcome,
+he begins to compound matters. He purchases a moment's respite by a
+present of clothes or dogs; for his host threatens to heat the cabin,
+and oblige him to eat till he dies. The stranger has the right of
+retaliation allowed to him: he treats in the same manner, and exacts the
+same presents. Should his host not accept the invitation of him whom he
+had so handsomely regaled, in that case the guest would take possession
+of his cabin, till he had the presents returned to him which the other
+had in so singular a manner obtained.
+
+For this extravagant custom a curious reason has been alleged. It is
+meant to put the person to a trial, whose friendship is sought. The
+Kamschatkan who is at the expense of the fires, and the repast, is
+desirous to know if the stranger has the strength to support pain with
+him, and if he is generous enough to share with him some part of his
+property. While the guest is employed on his meal, he continues heating
+the cabin to an insupportable degree; and for a last proof of the
+stranger's constancy and attachment, he exacts more clothes and more
+dogs. The host passes through the same ceremonies in the cabin of the
+stranger; and he shows, in his turn, with what degree of fortitude he
+can defend his friend. The most singular customs would appear simple, if
+it were possible for the philosopher to understand them on the spot.
+
+As a distinguishing mark of their esteem, the negroes of Ardra drink out
+of one cup at the same time. The king of Loango eats in one house, and
+drinks in another. A Kamschatkan kneels before his guests; he cuts an
+enormous slice from a sea-calf; he crams it entire into the mouth of his
+friend, furiously crying out "_Tana!_"--There! and cutting away what
+hangs about his lips, snatches and swallows it with avidity.
+
+A barbarous magnificence attended the feasts of the ancient monarchs of
+France. After their coronation or consecration, when they sat at table,
+the nobility served them on horseback.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 54: In Cochin-China, a traveller may always obtain his dinner
+by simply joining the family of the first house he may choose to enter,
+such hospitality being the general custom.]
+
+[Footnote 55: _Esprit des Usages, et des Coutumes._]
+
+[Footnote 56: If the master be present, he devotes himself to cramming
+his guests to repletion.]
+
+
+
+
+MONARCHS.
+
+
+Saint Chrysostom has this very acute observation on _kings_: Many
+monarchs are infected with a strange wish that their successors may turn
+out bad princes. Good kings desire it, as they imagine, continues this
+pious politician, that their glory will appear the more splendid by the
+contrast; and the bad desire it, as they consider such kings will serve
+to countenance their own misdemeanours.
+
+Princes, says Gracian, are willing to be _aided_, but not _surpassed_:
+which maxim is thus illustrated.
+
+A Spanish lord having frequently played at chess with Philip II., and
+won all the games, perceived, when his Majesty rose from play, that he
+was much ruffled with chagrin. The lord, when he returned home, said to
+his family--"My children, we have nothing more to do at court: there we
+must expect no favour; for the king is offended at my having won of him
+every game of chess." As chess entirely depends on the genius of the
+players, and not on fortune, King Philip the chess-player conceived he
+ought to suffer no rival.
+
+This appears still clearer by the anecdote told of the Earl of
+Sunderland, minister to George I., who was partial to the game of chess.
+He once played with the Laird of Cluny, and the learned Cunningham, the
+editor of Horace. Cunningham, with too much skill and too much
+sincerity, beat his lordship. "The earl was so fretted at his
+superiority and surliness, that he dismissed him without any reward.
+Cluny allowed himself sometimes to be beaten; and by that means got his
+pardon, with something handsome besides."
+
+In the Criticon of Gracian, there is a singular anecdote relative to
+kings.
+
+A Polish monarch having quitted his companions when he was hunting, his
+courtiers found him, a few days after, in a market-place, disguised as a
+porter, and lending out the use of his shoulders for a few pence. At
+this they were as much surprised as they were doubtful at first whether
+the _porter_ could be his _majesty_. At length they ventured to express
+their complaints that so great a personage should debase himself by so
+vile an employment. His majesty having heard them, replied--"Upon my
+honour, gentlemen, the load which I quitted is by far heavier than the
+one you see me carry here: the weightiest is but a straw, when compared
+to that world under which I laboured. I have slept more in four nights
+than I have during all my reign. I begin to live, and to be king of
+myself. Elect whom you choose. For me, who am so well, it were madness
+to return to _court_." Another Polish king, who succeeded this
+philosophic _monarchical porter_, when they placed the sceptre in his
+hand, exclaimed--"I had rather tug at an _oar_!" The vacillating
+fortunes of the Polish monarchy present several of these anecdotes;
+their monarchs appear to have frequently been philosophers; and, as the
+world is made, an excellent philosopher proves but an indifferent king.
+
+Two observations on kings were offered to a courtier with great
+_naïveté_ by that experienced politician, the Duke of Alva:--"Kings who
+affect to be familiar with their companions make use of _men_ as they do
+of _oranges_; they take oranges to extract their juice, and when they
+are well sucked they throw them away. Take care the king does not do the
+same to you; be careful that he does not read all your thoughts;
+otherwise he will throw you aside to the back of his chest, as a book of
+which he has read enough." "The squeezed orange," the King of Prussia
+applied in his dispute with Voltaire.
+
+When it was suggested to Dr. Johnson that kings must be unhappy because
+they are deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and
+unreserved society, he observed that this was an ill-founded notion.
+"Being a king does not exclude a man from such society. Great kings have
+always been social. The King of Prussia, the only great king at present
+(this was THE GREAT Frederic) is very social. Charles the Second, the
+last king of England who was a man of parts, was social; our Henries and
+Edwards were all social."
+
+The Marquis of Halifax, in his character of Charles II., has exhibited a
+_trait_ in the royal character of a good-natured monarch; that _trait_,
+is _sauntering_. I transcribe this curious observation, which introduces
+us into a levee.
+
+"There was as much of laziness as of love in all those hours which he
+passed amongst his mistresses, who served only to fill up his seraglio,
+while a bewitching kind of pleasure, called SAUNTERING, was the sultana
+queen he delighted in.
+
+"The thing called SAUNTERING is a stronger temptation to princes than it
+is to others.--The being galled with importunities, pursued from one
+room to another with asking faces; the dismal sound of unreasonable
+complaints and ill-grounded pretences; the deformity of fraud
+ill-disguised:--all these would make any man run away from them, and I
+used to think it was the motive for making him walk so fast."
+
+
+
+
+OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE.
+
+
+The title of _illustrious_ was never given, till the reign of
+Constantine, but to those whose reputation was splendid in arms or in
+letters. Adulation had not yet adopted this noble word into her
+vocabulary. Suetonius composed a book to record those who had possessed
+this title; and, as it was _then_ bestowed, a moderate volume was
+sufficient to contain their names.
+
+In the time of Constantine, the title of _illustrious_ was given more
+particularly to those princes who had distinguished themselves in war;
+but it was not continued to their descendants. At length, it became very
+common; and every son of a prince was _illustrious_. It is now a
+convenient epithet for the poet.
+
+In the rage for TITLES the ancient lawyers in Italy were not satisfied
+by calling kings ILLUSTRES; they went a step higher, and would have
+emperors to be _super-illustres_, a barbarous coinage of their own.
+
+In Spain, they published a book of _titles_ for their kings, as well as
+for the Portuguese; but Selden tells us, that "their _Cortesias_ and
+giving of titles grew at length, through the affectation of heaping
+great attributes on their princes to such an insufferable forme, that a
+remedie was provided against it." This remedy was an act published by
+Philip III. which ordained that all the _Cortesias_, as they termed
+these strange phrases they had so servilely and ridiculously invented,
+should be reduced to a simple superscription, "To the king our lord,"
+leaving out those fantastical attributes of which every secretary had
+vied with his predecessors in increasing the number.
+
+It would fill three or four of these pages to transcribe the titles and
+attributes of the Grand Signior, which he assumes in a letter to Henry
+IV. Selden, in his "Titles of Honour," first part, p. 140, has preserved
+them. This "emperor of victorious emperors," as he styles himself, at
+length condescended to agree with the emperor of Germany, in 1606, that
+in all their letters and instruments they should be only styled _father_
+and _son_: the emperor calling the sultan his son; and the sultan the
+emperor, in regard of his years, his _father_.
+
+Formerly, says Houssaie, the title of _highness_ was only given to
+kings; but now it has become so common that all the great houses assume
+it. All the great, says a modern, are desirous of being confounded with
+princes, and are ready to seize on the privileges of royal dignity. We
+have already come to _highness_. The pride of our descendants, I
+suspect, will usurp that of _majesty_.
+
+Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his queen Isabella of Castile, were only
+treated with the title of _highness_. Charles was the first who took
+that of _majesty_: not in his quality of king of Spain, but as emperor.
+St. Foix informs us, that kings were usually addressed by the titles of
+_most illustrious_, or _your serenity_, or _your grace_; but that the
+custom of giving them that of _majesty_ was only established by Louis
+XI., a prince the least majestic in all his actions, his manners, and
+his exterior--a severe monarch, but no ordinary man, the Tiberius of
+France. The manners of this monarch were most sordid; in public
+audiences he dressed like the meanest of the people, and affected to sit
+on an old broken chair, with a filthy dog on his knees. In an account
+found of his household, this _majestic_ prince has a charge made him for
+two new sleeves sewed on one of his old doublets.
+
+Formerly kings were apostrophised by the title of _your grace_. Henry
+VIII. was the first, says Houssaie, who assumed the title of _highness_;
+and at length _majesty_. It was Francis I. who saluted him with this
+last title, in their interview in the year 1520, though he called
+himself only the first gentleman in his kingdom!
+
+So distinct were once the titles of _highness_ and _excellence_, that
+when Don Juan, the brother of Philip II., was permitted to take up the
+latter title, and the city of Granada saluted him by the title of
+_highness_, it occasioned such serious jealousy at court, that had he
+persisted in it, he would have been condemned for treason.
+
+The usual title of _cardinals_, about 1600, was _seignoria
+illustrissima_; the Duke of Lerma, the Spanish minister and cardinal, in
+his old age, assumed the title of _eccellencia reverendissima_. The
+church of Rome was in its glory, and to be called _reverend_ was then
+accounted a higher honour than to be styled _illustrious_. But by use
+_illustrious_ grew familiar, and _reverend_ vulgar, and at last the
+cardinals were distinguished by the title of _eminent_.
+
+After all these historical notices respecting these titles, the reader
+will smile when he is acquainted with the reason of an honest curate of
+Montferrat, who refused to bestow the title of _highness_ on the duke of
+Mantua, because he found in his breviary these words, _Tu solus Dominus,
+tu solus Altissimus_; from all which he concluded, that none but the
+Lord was to be honoured with the title of _highness_! The "Titles of
+Honour" of Selden is a very curious volume, and, as the learned Usher
+told Evelyn, the most valuable work of this great scholar. The best
+edition is a folio of about one thousand pages. Selden vindicates the
+right of a king of England to the title of _emperor_.
+
+    "And never yet was TITLE did not move;
+    And never eke a mind, _that_ TITLE did not love."
+
+
+
+
+TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS.
+
+
+In countries where despotism exists in all its force, and is gratified
+in all its caprices, either the intoxication of power has occasioned
+sovereigns to assume the most solemn and the most fantastic titles; or
+the royal duties and functions were considered of so high and extensive
+a nature, that the people expressed their notion of the pure monarchical
+state by the most energetic descriptions of oriental fancy.
+
+The chiefs of the Natchez are regarded by their people as the children
+of the sun, and they bear the name of their father.
+
+The titles which some chiefs assume are not always honourable in
+themselves; it is sufficient if the people respect them. The king of
+Quiterva calls himself the _great lion_; and for this reason lions are
+there so much respected, that they are not allowed to kill them, but at
+certain royal huntings.
+
+The king of Monomotapa is surrounded by musicians and poets, who adulate
+him by such refined flatteries as _lord of the sun and moon_; _great
+magician_; and _great thief!_--where probably thievery is merely a term
+for dexterity.
+
+The Asiatics have bestowed what to us appear as ridiculous titles of
+honour on their _princes_. The king of Arracan assumes the following
+ones: "Emperor of Arracan, possessor of the white elephant, and the two
+ear-rings, and in virtue of this possession legitimate heir of Pegu and
+Brama; lord of the twelve provinces of Bengal, and the twelve kings who
+place their heads under his feet."
+
+His majesty of Ava is called _God_: when he writes to a foreign
+sovereign he calls himself the king of kings, whom all others should
+obey, as he is the cause of the preservation of all animals; the
+regulator of the seasons, the absolute master of the ebb and flow of the
+sea, brother to the sun, and king of the four-and-twenty umbrellas!
+These umbrellas are always carried before him as a mark of his dignity.
+
+The titles of the kings of Achem are singular, though voluminous. The
+most striking ones are sovereign of the universe, whose body is luminous
+as the sun; whom God created to be as accomplished as the moon at her
+plenitude; whose eye glitters like the northern star; a king as
+spiritual as a ball is round; who when he rises shades all his people;
+from under whose feet a sweet odour is wafted, &c. &c.
+
+The Kandyan sovereign is called _Dewo_ (God). In a deed of gift he
+proclaims his extraordinary attributes. "The protector of religion,
+whose fame is infinite, and of surpassing excellence, exceeding the
+moon, the unexpanded jessamine buds, the stars, &c.; whose feet are as
+fragrant to the noses of other kings as flowers to bees; our most noble
+patron and god by custom," &c.
+
+After a long enumeration of the countries possessed by the king of
+Persia, they give him some poetical distinctions: _the branch of
+honour_; _the mirror of virtue_; and _the rose of delight_.
+
+
+
+
+ROYAL DIVINITIES.
+
+
+There is a curious dissertation in the "Mémoires de l'Académie des
+Inscriptions et Belles Lettres," by the Abbé Mongault, "on the divine
+honours which were paid to the governors of provinces during the Roman
+republic;" in their lifetime these originally began in gratitude, and at
+length degenerated into flattery. These facts curiously show how far the
+human mind can advance, when led on by customs that operate
+unperceivably on it, and blind us in our absurdities. One of these
+ceremonies was exquisitely ludicrous. When they voted a statue to a
+proconsul, they placed it among the statues of the gods in the festival
+called _Lectisternium_, from the ridiculous circumstances of this solemn
+festival. On that day the gods were invited to a repast, which was
+however spread in various quarters of the city, to satiate mouths more
+mortal. The gods were however taken down from their pedestals, laid on
+beds ornamented in their temples; pillows were placed under their marble
+heads; and while they reposed in this easy posture they were served with
+a magnificent repast. When Cæsar had conquered Rome, the servile senate
+put him to dine with the gods! Fatigued by and ashamed of these honours,
+he desired the senate to erase from his statue in the capitol the title
+they had given him of a _demi-god_!
+
+The adulations lavished on the first Roman emperors were extravagant;
+but perhaps few know that they were less offensive than the flatterers
+of the third century under the Pagan, and of the fourth under the
+Christian emperors. Those who are acquainted with the character of the
+age of Augustulus have only to look at the one, and the other _code_, to
+find an infinite number of passages which had not been tolerable even in
+that age. For instance, here is a law of Arcadius and Honorius,
+published in 404:--
+
+"Let the officers of the palace be warned to abstain from frequenting
+tumultuous meetings; and that those who, instigated by a _sacrilegious_
+temerity, dare to oppose the authority of _our divinity_, shall be
+deprived of their employments, and their estates confiscated." The
+letters they write are _holy_. When the sons speak of their fathers, it
+is, "Their father of _divine_ memory;" or "Their _divine_ father." They
+call their own laws _oracles_, and _celestial_ oracles. So also their
+subjects address them by the titles of "_Your Perpetuity_, _your
+Eternity._" And it appears by a law of Theodoric the Great, that the
+emperors at length added this to their titles. It begins, "If any
+magistrate, after having concluded a public work, put his name rather
+than that of _Our Perpetuity_, let him be judged guilty of
+high-treason." All this reminds one of "the celestial empire" of the
+Chinese.
+
+Whenever the Great Mogul made an observation, Bernier tells us that some
+of the first Omrahs lifted up their hands, crying, "Wonder! wonder!
+wonder!" And a proverb current in his dominion was, "If the king saith
+at noonday it is night, you are to say, Behold the moon and the stars!"
+Such adulation, however, could not alter the general condition and
+fortune of this unhappy being, who became a sovereign without knowing
+what it is to be one. He was brought out of the seraglio to be placed on
+the throne, and it was he, rather than the spectators, who might have
+truly used the interjection of astonishment!
+
+
+
+
+DETHRONED MONARCHS
+
+
+Fortune never appears in a more extravagant humour than when she reduces
+monarchs to become mendicants. Half a century ago it was not imagined
+that our own times should have to record many such instances. After
+having contemplated _kings_ raised into _divinities_, we see them now
+depressed as _beggars_. Our own times, in two opposite senses, may
+emphatically be distinguished as the _age of kings_.
+
+In Candide, or the Optimist, there is an admirable stroke of Voltaire's.
+Eight travellers meet in an obscure inn, and some of them with not
+sufficient money to pay for a scurvy dinner. In the course of
+conversation, they are discovered to be _eight monarchs_ in Europe, who
+had been deprived of their crowns!
+
+What added to this exquisite satire was, that there were eight living
+monarchs at that moment wanderers on the earth;--a circumstance which
+has since occurred!
+
+Adelaide, the widow of Lothario, king of Italy, one of the most
+beautiful women in her age, was besieged in Pavia by Berenger, who
+resolved to constrain her to marry his son after Pavia was taken; she
+escaped from her prison with her almoner. The archbishop of Reggio had
+offered her an asylum: to reach it, she and her almoner travelled on
+foot through the country by night, concealing herself in the day-time
+among the corn, while the almoner begged for alms and food through the
+villages.
+
+The emperor Henry IV. after having been deposed and imprisoned by his
+son, Henry V., escaped from prison; poor, vagrant, and without aid, he
+entreated the bishop of Spires to grant him a lay prebend in his church.
+"I have studied," said he, "and have learned to sing, and may therefore
+be of some service to you." The request was denied, and he died
+miserably and obscurely at Liege, after having drawn the attention of
+Europe to his victories and his grandeur!
+
+Mary of Medicis, the widow of Henry the Great, mother of Louis XIII.,
+mother-in-law of three sovereigns, and regent of France, frequently
+wanted the necessaries of life, and died at Cologne in the utmost
+misery. The intrigues of Richelieu compelled her to exile herself, and
+live an unhappy fugitive. Her petition exists, with this supplicatory
+opening: "Supplie Marie, Reine de France et de Navarre, disant, que
+depuis le 23 Février elle aurait été arrêtée prisonnière au château de
+Compiègne, sans être ni accusée ni soupçonné," &c. Lilly, the
+astrologer, in his Life and Death of King Charles the First, presents us
+with a melancholy picture of this unfortunate monarch. He has also
+described the person of the old queen-mother of France:--
+
+"In the month of August, 1641, I beheld the old queen-mother of France
+departing from London, in company of Thomas, Earl of Arundel. A sad
+spectacle of mortality it was, and produced tears from mine eyes and
+many other beholders, to see an aged, lean, decrepit, poor queen, ready
+for her grave, necessitated to depart hence, having no place of
+residence in this world left her, but where the courtesy of her hard
+fortune assigned it. She had been the only stately and magnificent woman
+of Europe: wife to the greatest king that ever lived in France; mother
+unto one king and unto two queens."
+
+In the year 1595, died at Paris, Antonio, king of Portugal. His body is
+interred at the Cordeliers, and his heart deposited at the Ave-Maria.
+Nothing on earth could compel this prince to renounce his crown. He
+passed over to England, and Elizabeth assisted him with troops; but at
+length he died in France in great poverty. This dethroned monarch was
+happy in one thing, which is indeed rare: in all his miseries he had a
+servant, who proved a tender and faithful friend, and who only desired
+to participate in his misfortunes, and to soften his miseries; and for
+the recompense of his services he only wished to be buried at the feet
+of his dear master. This hero in loyalty, to whom the ancient Romans
+would have raised altars, was Don Diego Bothei, one of the greatest
+lords of the court of Portugal, and who drew his origin from the kings
+of Bohemia.
+
+Hume supplies an anecdote of singular royal distress. The queen of
+England, with her son Charles, "had a moderate pension assigned her; but
+it was so ill paid, and her credit ran so low, that one morning when the
+Cardinal de Retz waited on her, she informed him that her daughter, the
+Princess Henrietta, was obliged to lie a-bed for want of a fire to warm
+her. To such a condition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of
+England, and a daughter of Henry IV. of France!" We find another proof
+of her extreme poverty. Salmasius, after publishing his celebrated
+political book, in favour of Charles I., the _Defensio Regia_, was much
+blamed by a friend for not having sent a copy to the widowed queen of
+Charles, who, he writes, "though poor, would yet have paid the bearer."
+
+The daughter of James the First, who married the Elector Palatine, in
+her attempts to get her husband crowned, was reduced to the utmost
+distress, and wandered frequently in disguise.
+
+A strange anecdote is related of Charles VII. of France. Our Henry V.
+had shrunk his kingdom into the town of Bourges. It is said that having
+told a shoemaker, after he had just tried a pair of his boots, that he
+had no money to pay for them, Crispin had such callous feelings that he
+refused his majesty the boots. "It is for this reason," says Comines, "I
+praise those princes who are on good terms with the lowest of their
+people; for they know not at what hour they may want them."
+
+Many monarchs of this day have experienced more than once the truth of
+the reflection of Comines.
+
+We may add here, that in all conquered countries the descendants of
+royal families have been found among the dregs of the populace. An Irish
+prince has been discovered in the person of a miserable peasant; and in
+Mexico, its faithful historian Clavigero notices, that he has known a
+locksmith, who was a descendant of its ancient kings, and a tailor, the
+representative of one of its noblest families.
+
+
+
+
+FEUDAL CUSTOMS.
+
+
+Barbarous as the feudal customs were, they were the first attempts at
+organising European society. The northern nations, in their irruptions
+and settlements in Europe, were barbarians independent of each other,
+till a sense of public safety induced these hordes to confederate. But
+the private individual reaped no benefit from the public union; on the
+contrary, he seems to have lost his wild liberty in the subjugation; he
+in a short time was compelled to suffer from his chieftain; and the
+curiosity of the philosopher is excited by contemplating in the feudal
+customs a barbarous people carrying into their first social institutions
+their original ferocity. The institution of forming cities into
+communities at length gradually diminished this military and
+aristocratic tyranny; and the freedom of cities, originating in the
+pursuits of commerce, shook off the yoke of insolent lordships. A famous
+ecclesiastical writer of that day, who had imbibed the feudal
+prejudices, calls these communities, which were distinguished by the
+name of _libertates_ (hence probably our municipal term the
+_liberties_), as "execrable inventions, by which, contrary to law and
+justice, slaves withdrew themselves from that obedience which they owed
+to their masters." Such was the expiring voice of aristocratic tyranny!
+This subject has been ingeniously discussed by Robertson in his
+preliminary volume to Charles V.; but the following facts constitute the
+picture which the historian leaves to be gleaned by the minuter
+inquirer.
+
+The feudal government introduced a species of servitude which till that
+time was unknown, and which was called the servitude of the land. The
+bondmen or serfs, and the villains or country servants, did not reside
+in the house of the lord: but they entirely depended on his caprice; and
+he sold them, as he did the animals, with the field where they lived,
+and which they cultivated.
+
+It is difficult to conceive with what insolence the petty lords of those
+times tyrannized over their villains: they not only oppressed their
+slaves with unremitted labour, instigated by a vile cupidity, but their
+whim and caprice led them to inflict miseries without even any motive of
+interest.
+
+In Scotland they had a shameful institution of maiden-rights; and
+Malcolm the Third only abolished it, by ordering that they might be
+redeemed by a quit-rent. The truth of this circumstance Dalrymple has
+attempted, with excusable patriotism, to render doubtful. There seems,
+however, to be no doubt of the existence of this custom; since it also
+spread through Germany, and various parts of Europe; and the French
+barons extended their domestic tyranny to three nights of involuntary
+prostitution. Montesquieu is infinitely French, when he could turn this
+shameful species of tyranny into a _bon mot_; for he boldly observes on
+this, "_C'étoit bien ces trois nuits-là, qu'il falloit choisir; car pour
+les autres on n'auroit pas donné beaucoup d'argent_." The legislator in
+the wit forgot the feelings of his heart.
+
+Others, to preserve this privilege when they could not enjoy it in all
+its extent, thrust their leg booted into the bed of the new-married
+couple. This was called the _droit de cuisse_. When the bride was in
+bed, the esquire or lord performed this ceremony, and stood there, his
+thigh in the bed, with a lance in his hand: in this ridiculous attitude
+he remained till he was tired; and the bridegroom was not suffered to
+enter the chamber till his lordship had retired. Such indecent
+privileges must have originated in the worst of intentions; and when
+afterwards they advanced a step in more humane manners, the ceremonial
+was preserved from avaricious motives. Others have compelled their
+subjects to pass the first night at the top of a tree, and there to
+consummate their marriage; to pass the bridal hours in a river; or to be
+bound naked to a cart, and to trace some furrows as they were dragged;
+or to leap with their feet tied over the horns of stags.
+
+Sometimes their caprice commanded the bridegroom to appear in drawers at
+their castle, and plunge into a ditch of mud; and sometimes they were
+compelled to beat the waters of the ponds to hinder the frogs from
+disturbing the lord!
+
+Wardship, or the privilege of guardianship enjoyed by some lords, was
+one of the barbarous inventions of the feudal ages; the guardian had
+both the care of the person, and for his own use the revenue of the
+estates. This feudal custom was so far abused in England, that the king
+sold these lordships to strangers; and when the guardian had fixed on a
+marriage for the infant, if the youth or maiden did not agree to this,
+they forfeited the value of the marriage; that is, the sum the guardian
+would have obtained by the other party had it taken place. This cruel
+custom was a source of domestic unhappiness, particularly in
+love-affairs, and has served as the ground-work of many a pathetic play
+by our elder dramatists.
+
+There was a time when the German lords reckoned amongst their privileges
+that of robbing on the highways of their territory; which ended in
+raising up the famous Hanseatic Union, to protect their commerce against
+rapine and avaricious exactions of toll.
+
+Geoffrey, lord of Coventry, compelled his wife to ride naked on a white
+pad through the streets of the town; that by this mode he might restore
+to the inhabitants those privileges of which his wantonness had deprived
+them. This anecdote some have suspected to be fictitious, from its
+extreme barbarity; but the character of the middle ages will admit of
+any kind of wanton barbarism.
+
+When the abbot of Figeac made his entry into that town, the lord of
+Montbron, dressed in a harlequin's coat, and one of his legs naked, was
+compelled by an ancient custom to conduct him to the door of his abbey,
+leading his horse by the bridle. Blount's "Jocular Tenures" is a curious
+collection of such capricious clauses in the grants of their lands.[57]
+
+The feudal barons frequently combined to share among themselves those
+children of their villains who appeared to be the most healthy and
+serviceable, or remarkable for their talent; and not unfrequently sold
+them in their markets.
+
+The feudal servitude is not, even in the present enlightened times,
+abolished in Poland, in Germany, and in Russia. In those countries, the
+bondmen are still entirely dependent on the caprice of their masters.
+The peasants of Hungary or Bohemia frequently revolt, and attempt to
+shake off the pressure of feudal tyranny.
+
+An anecdote of comparatively recent date displays their unfeeling
+caprice. A lord or prince of the northern countries passing through one
+of his villages, observed a small assembly of peasants and their
+families amusing themselves with dancing. He commands his domestics to
+part the men from the women, and confine them in the houses. He orders
+the coats of the women to be drawn up above their heads, and tied with
+their garters. The men were then liberated, and those who did not
+recognise their wives in that state received a severe castigation.
+
+Absolute dominion hardens the human heart; and nobles accustomed to
+command their bondmen will treat their domestics as slaves, as
+capricious or inhuman West Indians treated their domestic slaves. Those
+of Siberia punish theirs by a free use of the cudgel or rod. The Abbé
+Chappe saw two Russian slaves undress a chambermaid, who had by some
+trifling negligence given offence to her mistress; after having
+uncovered as far as her waist, one placed her head betwixt his knees;
+the other held her by the feet; while both, armed with two sharp rods,
+violently lashed her back till it pleased the domestic tyrant to decree
+_it was enough_!
+
+After a perusal of these anecdotes of feudal tyranny, we may exclaim
+with Goldsmith--
+
+    "I fly from  PETTY TYRANTS--to the THRONE."
+
+Mr. Hallam's "State of Europe during the Middle Ages" renders this short
+article superfluous in a philosophical view.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 57: Many are of the nature of "peppercorn rents." Thus a manor
+was held from the king "by the service of one rose only, to be paid
+yearly, at the feast of St. John the Baptist, for all services; and they
+gave the king one penny for the price of the said one rose, as it was
+appraised by the barons of the Exchequer." Nicholas De Mora, in the
+reign of Henry III., "rendered at the Exchequer two knives, one good,
+and the other a very bad one, for certain land which he held in
+Shropshire." The citizens of London still pay to the Exchequer six
+horseshoes with nails, for their right to a piece of ground in the
+parish of St. Clement, originally granted to a farrier, as early as the
+reign of Henry III.]
+
+
+
+
+GAMING.
+
+
+Gaming appears to be an universal passion. Some have attempted to deny
+its universality; they have imagined that it is chiefly prevalent in
+cold climates, where such a passion becomes most capable of agitating
+and gratifying the torpid minds of their inhabitants.
+
+The fatal propensity of gaming is to be discovered, as well amongst the
+inhabitants of the frigid and torrid zones, as amongst those of the
+milder climates. The savage and the civilized, the illiterate and the
+learned, are alike captivated by the hope of accumulating wealth without
+the labours of industry.
+
+Barbeyrac has written an elaborate treatise on gaming, and we have two
+quarto volumes, by C. Moore, on suicide, gaming, and duelling, which may
+be placed by the side of Barbeyrac. All these works are excellent
+sermons; but a sermon to a gambler, a duellist, or a suicide! A
+dice-box, a sword, and pistol, are the only things that seem to have any
+power over these unhappy men, for ever lost in a labyrinth of their own
+construction.
+
+I am much pleased with the following thought. "The ancients," says the
+author of _Amusemens Sérieux et Comiques_, "assembled to see their
+gladiators kill one another; they classed this among their _games_! What
+barbarity! But are we less barbarous, we who call a _game_ an
+assembly--who meet at the faro table, where the actors themselves
+confess they only meet to destroy one another?" In both these cases the
+philosopher may perhaps discover their origin in the listless state of
+_ennui_ requiring an immediate impulse of the passions, and very
+inconsiderate as to the fatal means which procure the desired agitation.
+
+The most ancient treatise by a modern on this subject, is said to be by
+a French physician, one Eckeloo, who published in 1569, _De Aleâ, sive
+de curandâ Ludendi in Pecuniam cupiditate_, that is, "On games of
+chance, or a cure for gaming." The treatise itself is only worth notice
+from the circumstance of the author being himself one of the most
+inveterate gamblers; he wrote this work to convince himself of this
+folly. But in spite of all his solemn vows, the prayers of his friends,
+and his own book perpetually quoted before his face, he was a great
+gamester to his last hour! The same circumstance happened to Sir John
+Denham, who also published a tract against gaming, and to the last
+remained a gamester. They had not the good sense of old Montaigne, who
+gives the reason why he gave over gaming. "I used to like formerly games
+of chance with cards and dice; but of that folly I have long been cured;
+merely because I found that whatever good countenance I put on when I
+lost, I did not feel my vexation the less." Goldsmith fell a victim to
+this madness. To play any game well requires serious study, time, and
+experience. If a literary man plays deeply, he will be duped even by
+shallow fellows, as well as by professed gamblers.
+
+_Dice_, and that little pugnacious animal the _cock_, are the chief
+instruments employed by the numerous nations of the East, to agitate
+their minds and ruin their fortunes; to which the Chinese, who are
+desperate gamesters, add the use of _cards_. When all other property is
+played away, the Asiatic gambler scruples not to stake his _wife_ or his
+_child_, on the cast of a die, or the courage and strength of a martial
+bird. If still unsuccessful, the last venture he stakes is _himself_.
+
+In the Island of Ceylon, _cock-fighting_ is carried to a great height.
+The Sumatrans are addicted to the use of dice. A strong spirit of play
+characterises a Malayan. After having resigned everything to the good
+fortune of the winner, he is reduced to a horrid state of desperation;
+he then loosens a certain lock of hair, which indicates war and
+destruction to all whom the raving gamester meets. He intoxicates
+himself with opium; and working himself into a fit of frenzy, he bites
+or kills every one who comes in his way. But as soon as this lock is
+seen flowing, it is _lawful_ to fire at the person and to destroy him
+as fast as possible. This custom is what is called "To run a muck." Thus
+Dryden writes--
+
+    "Frontless and satire-proof, he scours the streets,
+    And _runs_ an Indian _muck_ at all he meets."
+
+Thus also Pope--
+
+    "Satire's my weapon, but =I'm= too discreet
+    To _run a muck_, and tilt at all I meet."
+
+Johnson could not discover the derivation of the word _muck_. To "run a
+muck" is an old phrase for attacking madly and indiscriminately; and has
+since been ascertained to be a Malay word.
+
+To discharge their gambling debts, the Siamese sell their possessions,
+their families, and at length themselves. The Chinese play _night_ and
+_day_, till they have lost all they are worth; and then they usually go
+and hang themselves. Such is the propensity of the Javanese for high
+play, that they were compelled to make a law, that "Whoever ventures his
+money at play shall be put to death." In the newly-discovered islands of
+the Pacific Ocean, they venture even their hatchets, which they hold as
+invaluable acquisitions, on running-matches.--"We saw a man," says Cook,
+"beating his breast and tearing his hair in the violence of rage, for
+having lost three hatchets at one of these races, and which he had
+purchased with nearly half his property."
+
+The ancient nations were not less addicted to gaming: Persians,
+Grecians, and Romans; the Goths, and Germans. To notice the modern ones
+were a melancholy task: there is hardly a family in Europe which cannot
+record, from their own domestic annals, the dreadful prevalence of this
+passion.
+
+_Gamester_ and _cheater_ were synonymous terms in the time of Shakspeare
+and Jonson: they have hardly lost much of their double signification in
+the present day.
+
+The following is a curious picture of a gambling-house, from a
+contemporary account, and appears to be an establishment more systematic
+even than the "Hells" of the present day.
+
+"A list of the officers established in the most notorious
+gaming-houses," from the DAILY JOURNAL, Jan. 9th, 1731.
+
+1st. A COMMISSIONER, always a proprietor, who looks in of a night; and
+the week's account is audited by him and two other proprietors.
+
+2nd. A DIRECTOR, who superintends the room.
+
+3rd. An OPERATOR, who deals the cards at a cheating game, called Faro.
+
+4th. Two CROWPEES, who watch the cards, and gather the money for the
+hank.
+
+5th. Two PUFFS, who have money given them to decoy others to play.
+
+6th. A CLERK, who is a check upon the PUFFS, to see that they sink none
+of the money given them to play with.
+
+7th. A SQUIB is a puff of lower rank, who serves at half-pay salary
+while he is learning to deal.
+
+8th. A FLASHER, to swear how often the bank has been stript.
+
+9th. A DUNNER, who goes about to recover money lost at play.
+
+10th. A WAITER, to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the
+gaming-room.
+
+11th. An ATTORNEY, a Newgate solicitor.
+
+12th. A CAPTAIN, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing
+his money.
+
+13th. An USHER, who lights gentlemen up and down stairs, and gives the
+word to the porter.
+
+14th. A PORTER, who is generally a soldier of the Foot Guards.
+
+15th. An ORDERLY MAN, who walks up and down the outside of the door, to
+give notice to the porter, and alarm the house at the approach of the
+constable.
+
+16th. A RUNNER, who is to get intelligence of the justices' meeting.
+
+17th. LINK-BOYS, COACHMEN, CHAIRMEN, or others who bring intelligence of
+the justices' meetings, or of the constables being out, at half-a-guinea
+reward.
+
+18th. COMMON-BAIL, AFFIDAVIT-MEN, RUFFIANS, BRAVOES, ASSASSINS, _cum
+multis aliis_.
+
+The "Memoirs of the most famous Gamesters from the reign of Charles II.
+to Queen Anne, by T. Lucas, Esq., 1714," appears to be a bookseller's
+job; but probably a few traditional stories are preserved.[58]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 58: This curious little volume deserves more attention than
+the slight mention above would occasion. It is diffuse in style, and
+hence looks a little like a "bookseller's job," of which the most was to
+be made; but the same fault has characterised many works whose authors
+possess a bad style. Many of the tales narrated of well-known London
+characters of the "merry days" of Charles the Second are very
+characteristic, and are not to be met with elsewhere.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ARABIC CHRONICLE.
+
+
+An Arabic chronicle is only valuable from the time of Mahomet. For such
+is the stupid superstition of the Arabs, that they pride themselves on
+being ignorant of whatever has passed before the mission of their
+Prophet. The Arabic chronicle of Jerusalem contains the most curious
+information concerning the crusades: Longuerue translated several
+portions of this chronicle, which appears to be written with
+impartiality. It renders justice to the Christian heroes, and
+particularly dwells on the gallant actions of the Count de St. Gilles.
+
+Our historians chiefly write concerning _Godfrey de Bouillon_; only the
+learned know that the Count _de St. Gilles_ acted there so important a
+character. The stories of the _Saracens_ are just the reverse; they
+speak little concerning Godfrey, and eminently distinguish Saint Gilles.
+
+Tasso has given in to the more vulgar accounts, by making the former so
+eminent, at the cost of the other heroes, in his Jerusalem Delivered.
+Thus Virgil transformed by his magical power the chaste Dido into a
+distracted lover; and Homer the meretricious Penelope into a moaning
+matron. It is not requisite for poets to be historians, but historians
+should not be so frequently poets. The same charge, I have been told,
+must be made against the Grecian historians. The Persians are viewed to
+great disadvantage in Grecian history. It would form a curious inquiry,
+and the result might be unexpected to some, were the Oriental student to
+comment on the Grecian historians. The Grecians were not the demi-gods
+they paint themselves to have been, nor those they attacked the
+contemptible multitudes they describe. These boasted victories might be
+diminished. The same observation attaches to Cæsar's account of his
+British expedition. He never records the defeats he frequently
+experienced. The national prejudices of the Roman historians have
+undoubtedly occasioned us to have a very erroneous conception of the
+Carthaginians, whose discoveries in navigation and commercial
+enterprises were the most considerable among the ancients. We must
+indeed think highly of that people, whose works on agriculture, which
+they had raised into a science, the senate of Rome ordered to be
+translated into Latin. They must indeed have been a wise and grave
+people.--Yet they are stigmatised by the Romans for faction, cruelty,
+and cowardice; and the "Punic" faith has come down to us in a proverb:
+but Livy was a Roman! and there is such a thing as a patriotic
+malignity!
+
+
+
+
+METEMPSYCHOSIS.
+
+
+If we except the belief of a future remuneration beyond this life for
+suffering virtue, and retribution for successful crimes, there is no
+system so simple, and so little repugnant to our understanding, as that
+of the metempsychosis. The pains and the pleasures of this life are by
+this system considered as the recompense or the punishment of our
+actions in an anterior state: so that, says St. Foix, we cease to wonder
+that, among men and animals, some enjoy an easy and agreeable life,
+while others seem born only to suffer all kinds of miseries.
+Preposterous as this system may appear, it has not wanted for advocates
+in the present age, which indeed has revived every kind of fanciful
+theory. Mercier, in _L'an deux mille quatre cents quarante_, seriously
+maintains the present one.
+
+If we seek for the origin of the opinion of the metempsychosis, or the
+transmigration of souls into other bodies, we must plunge into the
+remotest antiquity; and even then we shall find it impossible to fix the
+epoch of its first author. The notion was long extant in Greece before
+the time of Pythagoras. Herodotus assures us that the Egyptian priests
+taught it; but he does not inform us of the time it began to spread. It
+probably followed the opinion of the immortality of the soul. As soon as
+the first philosophers had established this dogma, they thought they
+could not maintain this immortality without a transmigration of souls.
+The opinion of the metempsychosis spread in almost every region of the
+earth; and it continues, even to the present time, in all its force
+amongst those nations who have not yet embraced Christianity. The people
+of Arracan, Peru, Siam, Camboya, Tonquin, Cochin-China, Japan, Java, and
+Ceylon still entertain that fancy, which also forms the chief article of
+the Chinese religion. The Druids believed in transmigration. The bardic
+triads of the Welsh are full of this belief; and a Welsh antiquary
+insists, that by an emigration which formerly took place, it was
+conveyed to the Bramins of India from Wales! The Welsh bards tell us
+that the souls of men transmigrate into the bodies of those animals
+whose habits and characters they most resemble, till after a circuit of
+such penitential miseries, they are purified for the celestial presence;
+for man may be converted into a pig or a wolf, till at length he assumes
+the inoffensiveness of the dove.
+
+My learned friend Sharon Turner has explained, in his "Vindication of
+the ancient British Poems," p. 231, the Welsh system of the
+metempsychosis. Their bards mention three circles of existence. The
+circle of the all-enclosing circle holds nothing alive or dead, but God.
+The second circle, that of felicity, is that which men are to pervade
+after they have passed through their terrestrial changes. The circle of
+evil is that in which human nature passes through those varying stages
+of existence which it must undergo before it is qualified to inhabit the
+circle of felicity.
+
+The progression of man through the circle of evil is marked by three
+infelicities: Necessity, oblivion, and deaths. The deaths which follow
+our changes are so many escapes from their power. Man is a free agent,
+and has the liberty of choosing; his sufferings and changes cannot be
+foreseen. By his misconduct he may happen to fall retrograde into the
+lowest state from which he had emerged. If his conduct in any one state,
+instead of improving his being, had made it worse, he fell back into a
+worse condition, to commence again his purifying revolutions. Humanity
+was the limit of the degraded transmigrations. All the changes above
+humanity produced felicity. Humanity is the scene of the contest; and
+after man has traversed every state of animated existence, and can
+remember all that he has passed through, that consummation follows which
+he attains in the circle of felicity. It is on this system of
+transmigration that Taliessin, the Welsh bard, who wrote in the sixth
+century, gives a recital of his pretended transmigrations. He tells how
+he had been a serpent, a wild ass, a buck, or a crane, &c.; and this
+kind of reminiscence of his former state, this recovery of memory, was a
+proof of the mortal's advances to the happier circle. For to forget what
+we have been was one of the curses of the circle of evil. Taliessin,
+therefore, adds Mr. Turner, as profusely boasts of his recovered
+reminiscence as any modern sectary can do of his state of grace and
+election.
+
+In all these wild reveries there seems to be a moral fable in the
+notion, that the clearer a man recollects what a _brute_ he has been, it
+is a certain proof that he is in an improved state!
+
+According to the authentic Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, we find
+the Pythagorean transmigration carried on in the West, and not less
+fancifully than in the countries of the East. The people of Tlascala
+believe that the souls of persons of rank went after their death to
+inhabit the bodies of _beautiful and sweet singing birds_, and those of
+the _nobler quadrupeds_; while the souls of inferior persons were
+supposed to pass into _weasels_, _beetles_, and such other _meaner
+animals_.
+
+There is something not a little ludicrous in the description Plutarch
+gives at the close of his treatise on "the delay of heavenly justice."
+Thespesius saw at length the souls of those who were condemned to return
+to life, and whom they violently forced to take the forms of all kinds
+of animals. The labourers charged with this transformation forged with
+their instruments certain parts; others, a new form; and made some
+totally disappear; that these souls might be rendered proper for another
+kind of life and other habits. Among these he perceived the soul of
+Nero, which had already suffered long torments, and which stuck to the
+body by nails red from the fire. The workmen seized on him to make a
+viper of, under which form he was now to live, after having devoured the
+breast that had carried him.--But in this Plutarch only copies the fine
+reveries of Plato.
+
+
+
+
+SPANISH ETIQUETTE.
+
+
+The etiquette, or rules to be observed in royal palaces, is necessary
+for keeping order at court. In Spain it was carried to such lengths as
+to make martyrs of their kings. Here is an instance, at which, in spite
+of the fatal consequences it produced, one cannot refrain from smiling.
+
+Philip the Third was gravely seated by the fire-side: the fire-maker of
+the court had kindled so great a quantity of wood, that the monarch was
+nearly suffocated with heat, and his _grandeur_ would not suffer him to
+rise from the chair; the domestics could not _presume_ to enter the
+apartment, because it was against the _etiquette_. At length the Marquis
+de Potat appeared, and the king ordered him to damp the fire; but _he_
+excused himself; alleging that he was forbidden by the _etiquette_ to
+perform such a function, for which the Duke d'Ussada ought to be called
+upon, as it was his business. The duke was gone out: the _fire_ burnt
+fiercer; and the _king_ endured it, rather than derogate from his
+_dignity_. But his blood was heated to such a degree, that an erysipelas
+of the head appeared the next day, which, succeeded by a violent fever,
+carried him off in 1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign.
+
+The palace was once on fire; a soldier, who knew the king's sister was
+in her apartment, and must inevitably have been consumed in a few
+moments by the flames, at the risk of his life rushed in, and brought
+her highness safe out in his arms: but the Spanish _etiquette_ was here
+wofully broken into! The loyal soldier was brought to trial; and as it
+was impossible to deny that he had entered her apartment, the judges
+condemned him to die! The Spanish Princess however condescended, in
+consideration of the circumstance, to _pardon_ the soldier, and very
+benevolently saved his life.
+
+When Isabella, mother of Philip II., was ready to be delivered of him,
+she commanded that all the lights should be extinguished: that if the
+violence of her pain should occasion her face to change colour, no one
+might perceive it. And when the midwife said, "Madam, cry out, that will
+give you ease," she answered in _good Spanish_, "How dare you give me
+such advice? I would rather die than cry out."
+
+    "Spain gives us _pride_--which Spain to all the earth
+    May largely give, nor fear herself a dearth!"--_Churchill._
+
+Philip the Third was a weak bigot, who suffered himself to be governed
+by his ministers. A patriot wished to open his eyes, but he could not
+pierce through the crowds of his flatterers; besides that the voice of
+patriotism heard in a corrupted court would have become a crime never
+pardoned. He found, however, an ingenious manner of conveying to him his
+censure. He caused to be laid on his table, one day, a letter sealed,
+which bore this address--"To the King of Spain, Philip the Third, at
+present in the service of the Duke of Lerma."
+
+In a similar manner, Don Carlos, son to Philip the Second, made a book
+with empty pages, to contain the voyages of his father, which bore this
+title--"The great and admirable Voyages of the King Mr. Philip." All
+these voyages consisted in going to the Escurial from Madrid, and
+returning to Madrid from the Escurial. Jests of this kind at length cost
+him his life.
+
+
+
+
+THE GOTHS AND HUNS.
+
+
+The terrific honours which these ferocious nations paid to their
+deceased monarchs are recorded in history, by the interment of Attila,
+king of the Huns, and Alaric, king of the Goths.
+
+Attila died in 453, and was buried in the midst of a vast champaign in a
+coffin which was inclosed in one of gold, another of silver, and a third
+of iron. With the body were interred all the spoils of the enemy,
+harnesses embroidered with gold and studded with jewels, rich silks, and
+whatever they had taken most precious in the palaces of the kings they
+had pillaged; and that the place of his interment might for ever remain
+concealed, the Huns deprived of life all who assisted at his burial!
+
+The Goths had done nearly the same for Alaric in 410, at Cosença, a town
+in Calabria. They turned aside the river Vasento; and having formed a
+grave in the midst of its bed where its course was most rapid, they
+interred this king with prodigious accumulations of riches. After having
+caused the river to reassume its usual course, they murdered, without
+exception, all those who had been concerned in digging this singular
+grave.
+
+
+
+
+VICARS OF BRAY.
+
+
+The vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, was a papist under the reign of Henry
+the Eighth, and a Protestant under Edward the Sixth; he was a papist
+again under Mary, and once more became a Protestant in the reign of
+Elizabeth.[59] When this scandal to the gown was reproached for his
+versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turncoat and an
+inconstant changeling, as Fuller expresses it, he replied, "Not so
+neither; for if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my
+principle; which is, to live and die the vicar of Bray!"
+
+This vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a proverb peculiar
+to this county, "The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still." But how
+has it happened that this _vicar_ should be so notorious, and one in
+much higher rank, acting the same part, should have escaped notice? Dr.
+_Kitchen_, bishop of Llandaff, from an idle abbot under Henry VIII. was
+made a busy bishop; Protestant under Edward, he returned to his old
+master under Mary; and at last took the oath of supremacy under
+Elizabeth, and finished as a parliament Protestant. A pun spread the
+odium of his name; for they said that he had always loved the _Kitchen_
+better than the _Church_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 59: His name was Simon Symonds. The popular ballad absurdly
+exaggerates his deeds, and gives them untrue amplitude. It is not older
+than the last century, and is printed in Ritson's _English Songs_.]
+
+
+
+
+DOUGLAS.
+
+
+It may be recorded as a species of Puritanic barbarism, that no later
+than the year 1757, a man of genius was persecuted because he had
+written a tragedy which tended by no means to hurt the morals; but, on
+the contrary, by awakening the piety of domestic affections with the
+nobler passions, would rather elevate and purify the mind.
+
+When Home, the author of the tragedy of Douglas, had it performed at
+Edinburgh, some of the divines, his acquaintance, attending the
+representation, the clergy, with the monastic spirit of the darkest
+ages, published a paper, which I abridge for the contemplation of the
+reader, who may wonder to see such a composition written in the
+eighteenth century."
+
+"On Wednesday, February the 2nd, 1757, the Presbytery of Glasgow came to
+the following resolution. They having seen a printed paper, intituled,
+'An admonition and exhortation of the reverend Presbytery of Edinburgh;'
+which, among other _evils_ prevailing, observing the following
+_melancholy_ but _notorious_ facts: that one who is a minister of the
+church of Scotland did _himself_ write and compose _a stage-play_,
+intituled, 'The tragedy of Douglas,' and got it to be acted at the
+theatre of Edinburgh; and that he with several other ministers of the
+church were present; and _some_ of them _oftener than once_, at the
+acting of the said play before a numerous audience. The presbytery being
+_deeply affected_ with this new and strange appearance, do publish these
+sentiments," &c Sentiments with which I will not disgust the reader;
+but which they appear not yet to have purified and corrected, as they
+have shown in the case of Logan and other Scotchmen, who have committed
+the crying sin of composing dramas!
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY.
+
+
+M. Morin, in the Memoirs of the French Academy, has formed a little
+history of Poverty, which I abridge.
+
+The writers on the genealogies of the gods have not noticed the deity of
+Poverty, though admitted as such in the pagan heaven, while she has had
+temples and altars on earth. The allegorical Plato has pleasingly
+narrated, that at the feast which Jupiter gave on the birth of Venus,
+Poverty modestly stood at the gate of the palace to gather the fragments
+of the celestial banquet; when she observed the god of riches,
+inebriated with nectar, roll out of the heavenly residence, and passing
+into the Olympian Gardens, throw himself on a vernal bank. She seized
+this opportunity to become familiar with the god. The frolicsome deity
+honoured her with his caresses; and from this amour sprung the god of
+Love, who resembles his father in jollity and mirth, and his mother in
+his nudity. The allegory is ingenious. The union of poverty with riches
+must inevitably produce the most delightful of pleasures.
+
+The golden age, however, had but the duration of a flower; when it
+finished, Poverty began to appear. The ancestors of the human race, if
+they did not meet her face to face, knew her in a partial degree; the
+vagrant Cain encountered her. She was firmly established in the
+patriarchal age. We hear of merchants who publicly practised the
+commerce of vending slaves, which indicates the utmost degree of
+poverty. She is distinctly marked by Job: this holy man protests, that
+he had nothing to reproach himself with respecting the poor, for he had
+assisted them in their necessities.
+
+In the scriptures, legislators paid great attention to their relief.
+Moses, by his wise precautions, endeavoured to soften the rigours of
+this unhappy state. The division of lands, by tribes and families; the
+septennial jubilees; the regulation to bestow at the harvest-time a
+certain portion of all the fruits of the earth for those families who
+were in want; and the obligation of his moral law to love one's
+neighbour as one's self; were so many mounds erected against the
+inundations of poverty. The Jews under their Theocracy had few or no
+mendicants. Their kings were unjust; and rapaciously seizing on
+inheritances which were not their right, increased the numbers of the
+poor. From the reign of David there were oppressive governors, who
+devoured the people as their bread. It was still worse under the foreign
+powers of Babylon, of Persia, and the Roman emperors. Such were the
+extortions of their publicans, and the avarice of their governors, that
+the number of mendicants dreadfully augmented; and it was probably for
+that reason that the opulent families consecrated a tenth part of their
+property for their succour, as appears in the time of the evangelists.
+In the preceding ages no more was given, as their casuists assure us,
+than the fortieth or thirtieth part; a custom which this singular nation
+still practise. If there are no poor of their nation where they reside,
+they send it to the most distant parts. The Jewish merchants make this
+charity a regular charge in their transactions with each other; and at
+the close of the year render an account to the poor of their nation.
+
+By the example of Moses, the ancient legislators were taught to pay a
+similar attention to the poor. Like him, they published laws respecting
+the division of lands; and many ordinances were made for the benefit of
+those whom fires, inundations, wars, or bad harvests had reduced to
+want. Convinced that _idleness_ more inevitably introduced poverty than
+any other cause, it was rigorously punished; the Egyptians made it
+criminal, and no vagabonds or mendicants were suffered under any
+pretence whatever. Those who were convicted of slothfulness, and still
+refused to labour for the public when labour was offered to them, were
+punished with death. The famous Pyramids are the works of men who
+otherwise had remained vagabonds and mendicants.
+
+The same spirit inspired Greece. Lycurgus would not have in his republic
+either _poor_ or _rich_: they lived and laboured in common. As in the
+present times, every family has its stores and cellars, so they had
+public ones, and distributed the provisions according to the ages and
+constitutions of the people. If the same regulation was not precisely
+observed by the Athenians, the Corinthians, and the other people of
+Greece, the same maxim existed in full force against idleness.
+
+According to the laws of Draco, Solon, &c., a conviction of wilful
+poverty was punished with the loss of life. Plato, more gentle in his
+manners, would have them only banished. He calls them enemies of the
+state; and pronounces as a maxim, that where there are great numbers of
+mendicants, fatal revolutions will happen; for as these people have
+nothing to lose, they plan opportunities to disturb the public repose.
+
+The ancient Romans, whose universal object was the public prosperity,
+were not indebted to Greece on this head. One of the principal
+occupations of their censors was to keep a watch on the vagabonds. Those
+who were condemned as incorrigible sluggards were sent to the mines, or
+made to labour on the public edifices. The Romans of those times, unlike
+the present race, did not consider the _far niente_ as an occupation;
+they were convinced that their liberalities were ill-placed in bestowing
+them on such men. The little republics of the _bees_ and the _ants_ were
+often held out as an example; and the last particularly, where Virgil
+says, that they have elected overseers who correct the sluggards:
+
+    "---- Pars agmina cogunt,
+    Castigantque moras."
+
+And if we may trust the narratives of our travellers, the _beavers_
+pursue this regulation more rigorously and exactly than even these
+industrious societies. But their rigour, although but animals, is not so
+barbarous as that of the ancient Germans; who, Tacitus informs us,
+plunged the idlers and vagabonds in the thickest mire of their marshes,
+and left them to perish by a kind of death which resembled their
+inactive dispositions.
+
+Yet, after all, it was not inhumanity that prompted the ancients thus
+severely to chastise idleness; they were induced to it by a strict
+equity, and it would be doing them injustice to suppose, that it was
+thus they treated those _unfortunate poor_, whose indigence was
+occasioned by infirmities, by age, or unforeseen calamities. Every
+family constantly assisted its branches to save them from being reduced
+to beggary; which to them appeared worse than death. The magistrates
+protected those who were destitute of friends, or incapable of labour.
+When Ulysses was disguised as a mendicant, and presented himself to
+Eurymachus, this prince observing him, to be robust and healthy, offered
+to give him employment, or otherwise to leave him to his ill fortune.
+When the Roman Emperors, even in the reigns of Nero and Tiberius,
+bestowed their largesses, the distributors were ordered to exempt those
+from receiving a share whose bad conduct kept them in misery; for that
+it was better the lazy should die with hunger than be fed in idleness.
+
+Whether the police of the ancients was more exact, or whether they were
+more attentive to practise the duties of humanity, or that slavery
+served as an efficacious corrective of idleness; it clearly appears how
+small was the misery, and how few the numbers of their poor. This they
+did, too, without having recourse to hospitals.
+
+At the establishment of Christianity, when the apostles commanded a
+community of wealth among their disciples, the miseries of the poor
+became alleviated in a greater degree. If they did not absolutely live
+together, as we have seen religious orders, yet the wealthy continually
+supplied their distressed brethren: but matters greatly changed under
+Constantine. This prince published edicts in favour of those Christians
+who had been condemned in the preceding reigns to slavery, to the mines,
+to the galleys, or prisons. The church felt an inundation of prodigious
+crowds of these miserable men, who brought with them urgent wants and
+corporeal infirmities. The Christian families were then not numerous;
+they could not satisfy these claimants. The magistrates protected them:
+they built spacious hospitals, under different titles, for the sick, the
+aged, the invalids, the widows, and orphans. The emperors, and the most
+eminent personages, were seen in these hospitals, examining the
+patients; they assisted the helpless; they dressed the wounded. This did
+so much honour to the new religion, that Julian the Apostate introduced
+this custom among the pagans. But the best things are continually
+perverted.
+
+These retreats were found insufficient. Many slaves, proud of the
+liberty they had just recovered, looked on them as prisons; and, under
+various pretexts, wandered about the country. They displayed with art
+the scars of their former wounds, and exposed the imprinted marks of
+their chains. They found thus a lucrative profession in begging, which
+had been interdicted by the laws. The profession did not finish with
+them: men of an untoward, turbulent, and licentious disposition, gladly
+embraced it. It spread so wide that the succeeding emperors were obliged
+to institute new laws; and individuals were allowed to seize on these
+mendicants for their slaves and perpetual vassals: a powerful
+preservative against this disorder. It is observed in almost every part
+of the world but ours; and prevents that populace of beggary which
+disgraces Europe. China presents us with a noble example. No beggars are
+seen loitering in that country. All the world are occupied, even to the
+blind and the lame; and only those who are incapable of labour live at
+the public expense. What is done _there_ may also be performed _here_.
+Instead of that hideous, importunate, idle, licentious poverty, as
+pernicious to the police as to morality, we should see the poverty of
+the earlier ages, humble, modest, frugal, robust, industrious, and
+laborious. Then, indeed, the fable of Plato might be realised: Poverty
+might be embraced by the god of Riches; and if she did not produce the
+voluptuous offspring of Love, she would become the fertile mother of
+Agriculture, and the ingenious parent of the Arts and Manufactures.
+
+
+
+
+SOLOMON AND SHEBA.
+
+
+A Rabbin once told me an ingenious invention, which in the Talmud is
+attributed to Solomon.
+
+The power of the monarch had spread his wisdom to the remotest parts of
+the known world. Queen Sheba, attracted by the splendour of his
+reputation, visited this poetical king at his own court; there, one day
+to exercise the sagacity of the monarch, Sheba presented herself at the
+foot of the throne: in each hand she held a wreath; the one was composed
+of natural, and the other of artificial, flowers. Art, in the labour of
+the mimetic wreath, had exquisitely emulated the lively hues of nature;
+so that, at the distance it was held by the queen for the inspection of
+the king, it was deemed impossible for him to decide, as her question
+imported, which wreath was the production of nature, and which the work
+of art. The sagacious Solomon seemed perplexed; yet to be vanquished,
+though in a trifle, by a trifling woman, irritated his pride. The son of
+David, he who had written treatises on the vegetable productions "from
+the cedar to the hyssop," to acknowledge himself outwitted by a woman,
+with shreds of paper and glazed paintings! The honour of the monarch's
+reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished, and the whole Jewish
+court looked solemn and melancholy. At length an expedient presented
+itself to the king; and one it must be confessed worthy of the
+naturalist. Observing a cluster of bees hovering about a window, he
+commanded that it should be opened: it was opened; the bees rushed into
+the court, and alighted immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a
+single one fixed on the other. The baffled Sheba had one more reason to
+be astonished at the wisdom of Solomon.
+
+This would make a pretty poetical tale. It would yield an elegant
+description, and a pleasing moral; that _the bee_ only _rests_ on the
+natural beauties, and never _fixes_ on the _painted flowers_, however
+inimitably the colours may be laid on. Applied to the _ladies_, this
+would give it pungency. In the "Practical Education" of the Edgeworths,
+the reader will find a very ingenious conversation founded on this
+story.
+
+
+
+
+HELL.
+
+
+Oldham, in his "Satires upon the Jesuits," a work which would admit of a
+curious commentary, alludes to their "lying legends," and the
+innumerable impositions they practised on the credulous. I quote a few
+lines in which he has collected some of those legendary miracles, which
+I have noticed in the article LEGENDS, and the amours of the Virgin Mary
+are detailed in that on RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.
+
+    Tell, how _blessed Virgin_ to come down was seen,
+    Like play-house punk descending in machine,
+    How she writ _billet-doux_ and _love-discourse_,
+    Made _assignations_, _visits_, and _amours_;
+    How hosts distrest, her _smock_ for _banner_ wore,
+    Which vanquished foes!
+    ---- how _fish_ in conventicles met,
+    And _mackerel_ were with _bait of doctrine_ caught:
+    How cattle have judicious hearers been!--
+    How _consecrated hives_ with bells were hung,
+    And _bees_ kept mass, and holy _anthems sung_!
+    How _pigs_ to th' _rosary_ kneel'd, and _sheep_ were taught
+    To bleat _Te Deum_ and _Magnificat_;
+    How _fly-flap_, of church-censure houses rid
+    Of insects, which at _curse of fryar_ died.
+    How _ferrying cowls_ religious pilgrims bore
+    O'er waves, without the help of sail or oar;
+    How _zealous crab_ the _sacred image_ bore,
+    And swam a catholic to the distant shore.
+    With shams like these the giddy rout mislead,
+    Their folly and their superstition feed.
+
+All these are allusions to the extravagant fictions in the "Golden
+Legend." Among other gross impositions to deceive the mob, Oldham
+likewise attacks them for certain publications on topics not less
+singular. The tales he has recounted, Oldham says, are only baits for
+children, like toys at a fair; but they have their profounder and higher
+matters for the learned and inquisitive. He goes on:--
+
+    One undertakes by scales of miles to tell
+    The bounds, dimensions, and extent of HELL;
+    How many German leagues that realm contains!
+    How many chaldrons Hell each year expends
+    In coals for roasting Hugonots and friends!
+    Another frights the rout with useful stories
+    Of wild chimeras, limbos--PURGATORIES--
+    Where bloated souls in smoky durance hung,
+    Like a Westphalia gammon or neat's tongue,
+    To be redeem'd with masses and a song.--SATIRE IV.
+
+The readers of Oldham, for Oldham must ever have readers among the
+curious in our poetry, have been greatly disappointed in the pompous
+edition of a Captain Thompson, which illustrates none of his allusions.
+In the above lines Oldham alludes to some singular works.
+
+Treatises and topographical descriptions of HELL, PURGATORY, and even
+HEAVEN, were once the favourite researches among certain zealous
+defenders of the Romish Church, who exhausted their ink-horns in
+building up a Hell to their own taste, or for their particular
+purpose.[60] We have a treatise of Cardinal Bellarmin, a Jesuit, on
+_Purgatory_; he seems to have the science of a surveyor among all the
+secret tracks and the formidable divisions of "the bottomless pit."
+
+Bellarmin informs us that there are beneath the earth four different
+places, or a profound place divided into four parts. The deepest of
+these places is _Hell_; it contains all the souls of the damned, where
+will be also their bodies after the resurrection, and likewise all the
+demons. The place nearest _Hell_ is _Purgatory_, where souls are purged,
+or rather where they appease the anger of God by their sufferings. He
+says that the same fires and the same torments are alike in both these
+places, the only difference between _Hell_ and _Purgatory_ consisting in
+their duration. Next to _Purgatory_ is the _limbo_ of those _infants_
+who die without having received the sacrament; and the fourth place is
+the _limbo_ of the _Fathers_; that is to say, of those _just men_ who
+died before the death of Christ. But since the days of the Redeemer,
+this last division is empty, like an apartment to be let. A later
+catholic theologist, the famous Tillemont, condemns _all the illustrious
+pagans_ to the _eternal torments of Hell_? because they lived before the
+time of Jesus, and therefore could not be benefited by the redemption!
+Speaking of young Tiberius, who was compelled to fall on his own sword,
+Tillemont adds, "Thus by his own hand he ended his miserable life, _to
+begin another, the misery of which will never end_!" Yet history records
+nothing bad of this prince. Jortin observes that he added this
+_reflection_ in his later edition, so that the good man as he grew older
+grew more uncharitable in his religious notions. It is in this manner
+too that the Benedictine editor of Justin Martyr speaks of the
+illustrious pagans. This father, after highly applauding Socrates, and a
+few more who resembled him, inclines to think that they are not fixed in
+_Hell_. But the Benedictine editor takes great pains to clear the good
+father from the shameful imputation of supposing that a _virtuous pagan
+might be saved_ as well as a Benedictine monk! For a curious specimen of
+this _odium theologicum_, see the "Censure" of the Sorbonne on
+Marmontel's Belisarius.
+
+The adverse party, who were either philosophers or reformers, received
+all such information with great suspicion. Anthony Cornelius, a lawyer
+in the sixteenth century, wrote a small tract, which was so effectually
+suppressed, as a monster of atheism, that a copy is now only to be found
+in the hands of the curious. This author ridiculed the absurd and horrid
+doctrine of _infant damnation_, and was instantly decried as an atheist,
+and the printer prosecuted to his ruin! Cælius Secundus Curio, a noble
+Italian, published a treatise _De Amplitudine beati Regni Dei_, to prove
+that _Heaven_ has more inhabitants than _Hell_,--or, in his own phrase,
+that the _elect_ are more numerous than the _reprobate_. However we may
+incline to smile at these works, their design was benevolent. They were
+the first streaks of the morning light of the Reformation. Even such
+works assisted mankind to examine more closely, and hold in greater
+contempt, the extravagant and pernicious doctrines of the domineering
+papistical church.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 60: One of the most horrible of these books was the work of
+the Jesuit Pinamonti; it details with frightful minuteness the nature of
+hell-torments, accompanied by the most revolting pictures of the
+condemned under various refined torments. It was translated in an
+abbreviated form, and sold for a few pence as a popular religious book
+in Ireland, and may be so still. It is divided into a series of
+meditations for each day in the week, on hell and its torments.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ABSENT MAN.
+
+
+The character of Bruyère's "Absent Man" has been translated in the
+Spectator, and exhibited on the theatre. It is supposed to be a
+fictitious character, or one highly coloured. It was well known,
+however, to his contemporaries, to be the Count de Brancas. The present
+anecdotes concerning the same person were unknown to, or forgotten by,
+Bruyère; and are to the full as extraordinary as those which
+characterise _Menalcas_, or the Absent Man.
+
+The count was reading by the fireside, but Heaven knows with what degree
+of attention, when the nurse brought him his infant child. He throws
+down the book; he takes the child in his arms. He was playing with her,
+when an important visitor was announced. Having forgot he had quitted
+his book, and that it was his child he held in his hands, he hastily
+flung the squalling innocent on the table.
+
+The count was walking in the street, and the Duke de la Rochefoucault
+crossed the way to speak to him.--"God bless thee, poor man!" exclaimed
+the count. Rochefoucault smiled, and was beginning to address him:--"Is
+it not enough," cried the count, interrupting him, and somewhat in a
+passion; "is it not enough that I have said, at first, I have nothing
+for you? Such lazy vagrants as you hinder a gentleman from walking the
+streets." Rochefoucault burst into a loud laugh, and awakening the
+absent man from his lethargy, he was not a little surprised, himself,
+that he should have taken his friend for an importunate mendicant! La
+Fontaine is recorded to have been one of the most absent men; and
+Furetière relates a most singular instance of this absence of mind. La
+Fontaine attended the burial of one of his friends, and some time
+afterwards he called to visit him. At first he was shocked at the
+information of his death; but recovering from his surprise,
+observed--"True! true! I recollect I went to his funeral."
+
+
+
+
+WAX-WORK.
+
+
+We have heard of many curious deceptions occasioned by the imitative
+powers of wax-work. A series of anatomical sculptures in coloured wax
+was projected by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, under the direction of
+Fontana. Twenty apartments have been filled with those curious
+imitations. They represent in every possible detail, and in each
+successive stage of denudation, the organs of sense and reproduction;
+the muscular, the vascular, the nervous, and the bony system. They
+imitate equally well the form, and more exactly the colouring, of nature
+than injected preparations; and they have been employed to perpetuate
+many transient phenomena of disease, of which no other art could have
+made so lively a record.[61]
+
+There is a species of wax-work, which, though it can hardly claim the
+honours of the fine arts, is adapted to afford much pleasure--I mean
+figures of wax, which may be modelled with great truth of character.
+
+Menage has noticed a work of this kind. In the year 1675, the Duke de
+Maine received a gilt cabinet, about the size of a moderate table. On
+the door was inscribed, "_The Apartment of Wit_." The inside exhibited
+an alcove and a long gallery. In an arm-chair was seated the figure of
+the duke himself, composed of wax, the resemblance the most perfect
+imaginable. On one side stood the Duke de la Rochefoucault, to whom he
+presented a paper of verses for his examination. M. de Marsillac, and
+Bossuet bishop of Meaux, were standing near the arm-chair. In the
+alcove, Madame de Thianges and Madame de la Fayette sat retired, reading
+a book. Boileau, the satirist, stood at the door of the gallery,
+hindering seven or eight bad poets from entering. Near Boileau stood
+Racine, who seemed to beckon to La Fontaine to come forwards. All these
+figures were formed of wax; and this philosophical baby-house,
+interesting for the personages it imitated, might induce a wish in some
+philosophers to play once more with one.
+
+There was lately an old canon at Cologne who made a collection of small
+wax models of characteristic figures, such as personifications of
+Misery, in a haggard old man with a scanty crust and a brown jug before
+him; or of Avarice, in a keen-looking Jew miser counting his gold: which
+were done with such a spirit and reality that a Flemish painter, a
+Hogarth or Wilkie, could hardly have worked up the _feeling_ of the
+figure more impressively. "All these were done with truth and expression
+which I could not have imagined the wax capable of exhibiting," says the
+lively writer of "An Autumn near the Rhine." There is something very
+infantine in this taste; but I lament that it is very rarely gratified
+by such close copiers of nature as was this old canon of Cologne.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 61: The finest collection at present is in Guy's Hospital,
+Southwark; they are the work of an artist especially retained there, who
+by long practice has become perfect, making a labour of love of a
+pursuit that would be disgustful to many.]
+
+
+
+
+PASQUIN AND MARFORIO.
+
+
+All the world have heard of these _statues_: they have served as
+vehicles for the keenest satire in a land of the most uncontrolled
+despotism. The _statue of Pasquin_ (from whence the word _pasquinade_)
+and that of _Marforio_ are placed in Rome in two different quarters.
+_Marforio_ is an ancient _statue_ of _Mars_, found in the _Forum_, which
+the people have corrupted into _Marforio_. _Pasquin_ is a marble
+_statue_, greatly mutilated, supposed to be the figure of a
+gladiator.[62] To one or other of these _statues_, during the
+concealment of the night, are affixed those satires or lampoons which
+the authors wish should be dispersed about Rome without any danger to
+themselves. When _Marforio_ is attacked, _Pasquin_ comes to his succour;
+and when _Pasquin_ is the sufferer, he finds in _Marforio_ a constant
+defender. Thus, by a thrust and a parry, the most serious matters are
+disclosed: and the most illustrious personages are attacked by their
+enemies, and defended by their friends.
+
+Misson, in his Travels in Italy, gives the following account of the
+origin of the name of the statue of _Pasquin_:--
+
+A satirical tailor, who lived at Rome, and whose name was _Pasquin_,
+amused himself by severe raillery, liberally bestowed on those who
+passed by his shop; which in time became the lounge of the newsmongers.
+The tailor had precisely the talents to head a regiment of satirical
+wits; and had he had time to _publish_, he would have been the Peter
+Pindar of his day; but his genius seems to have been satisfied to rest
+cross-legged on his shopboard. When any lampoons or amusing bon-mots
+were current at Rome, they were usually called, from his shop,
+_pasquinades_. After his death, this statue of an ancient gladiator was
+found under the pavement of his shop. It was soon set up, and by
+universal consent was inscribed with his name; and they still attempt to
+raise him from the dead, and keep the caustic tailor alive, in the
+marble gladiator of wit.
+
+There is a very rare work, with this title:--"Pasquillorum Tomi Duo;"
+the first containing the verse, and the second the prose pasquinades,
+published at Basle, 1544. The rarity of this collection of satirical
+pieces is entirely owing to the arts of suppression practised by the
+papal government. Sallengre, in his literary Memoirs, has given an
+account of this work; his own copy had formerly belonged to Daniel
+Heinsius, who, in verses written in his hand, describes its rarity and
+the price it too cost:--
+
+    Roma meos fratres igni dedit, unica Phoenix
+    Vivo, aureisque venio centum Heinsio.
+
+     "Rome gave my brothers to the flames, but I survive a solitary
+     Phoenix. Heinsius bought me for a hundred golden ducats."
+
+This collection contains a great number of pieces composed at different
+times, against the popes, cardinals, &c. They are not, indeed, materials
+for the historian, and they must be taken with grains of allowance. We
+find sarcastic epigrams on Leo X., and the infamous Lucretia, daughter
+of Alexander VI.: even the corrupt Romans of the day were capable of
+expressing themselves with the utmost freedom. Of Alexander VI. we have
+an apology for his conduct:
+
+    Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum;
+    Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest.
+
+    "Alexander _sells_ the keys, the altars, and Christ;
+    As he _bought_ them first, he had a right to _sell them_!"
+
+On Lucretia:--
+
+    Hoc tumulo dormit Lucretia nomine, sed re
+      Thais; Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus!
+
+     "Beneath this stone sleeps Lucretia by name, but by nature Thais;
+     the daughter, the wife, and the daughter-in-law of Alexander!"
+
+Leo X. was a frequent butt for the arrows of Pasquin:--
+
+    Sacra sub extremâ, si forte requiritis, horâ
+      Cur Leo non potuit sumere; vendiderat.
+
+     "Do you ask why Leo did not take the sacrament on his
+     death-bed?--How could he? He had sold it!"
+
+Many of these satirical touches depend on puns. Urban VII., one of the
+_Barberini_ family, pillaged the Pantheon of brass to make cannon,[63]
+on which occasion Pasquin was made to say:--
+
+    Quod non fecerunt _Barbari_ Romæ, fecit _Barberini_.
+
+On Clement VII., whose death was said to be occasioned by the
+prescriptions of his physician:--
+
+    Curtius occidit Clementem; Curtius auro
+      Donandus, per quem publica parta salus.
+
+     "Dr. Curtius has killed the pope by his remedies; he ought to be
+     remunerated as a man who has cured the state."
+
+The following, on Paul III., are singular conceptions:--
+
+    Papa Medusæum caput est, coma turba Nepotum;
+      Perseu cæde caput, Cæsaries periit.
+
+     "The pope is the head of Medusa; the horrid tresses are his
+     nephews; Perseus, cut off the head, and then we shall be rid of
+     these serpent-locks."
+
+Another is sarcastic--
+
+    Ut canerent data multa olim sunt Vatibus æra:
+      Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis?
+
+     "Heretofore money was given to poets that they might sing: how much
+     will you give me, Paul, to be silent?"
+
+This collection contains, among other classes, passages from the
+Scriptures which have been applied to the court of Rome; to different
+nations and persons; and one of "_Sortes Virgilianæ per Pasquillum
+collectæ_,"--passages from Virgil frequently happily applied; and those
+who are curious in the history of those times will find this portion
+interesting. The work itself is not quite so rare as Daniel Heinsius
+imagined; the price might now reach from five to ten guineas.[64]
+
+These satirical statues are placed at opposite ends of the town, so that
+there is always sufficient time to make Marforio reply to the gibes and
+jeers of Pasquin in walking from one to the other. They are an ingenious
+substitute for publishing to the world, what no Roman newspaper would
+dare to print.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 62: The description of these two famous statues is not
+correctly given in the text. The statue called _Marforio_ is the figure
+of a recumbent river god of colossal proportions, found near the arch of
+Septimius Severus. When the museum of the capitol was completed, the
+Pope moved the figure into the court-yard; there it is still to be seen.
+He also wished to move that of _Pasquin_, but the Duke de Braschi
+refused to allow it; and it still stands on its pedestal, at the angle
+of the Braschi Palace, in the small square that takes the name of Piazza
+del Pasquino from that circumstance. It is much mutilated, but is the
+ruin of a very fine work; Bernini expressed great admiration for it. It
+is considered by Count Maffei to represent Ajax supporting Menelaus. The
+torso of the latter figure only is left, the arms of the former are
+broken away; but enough remains of both to conjecture what the original
+might have been in design. The _pose_ of both figures is similar to the
+fine group known as Ajax and Telamon, in the Loggia of the Pitti Palace
+at Florence.]
+
+[Footnote 63: The cannon were to supply the castle of St. Angelo, but a
+large portion of the metal (which formerly covered the roof of the
+temple) was used to construct the canopy and pillars which still stand
+over the tomb of St. Peter, in the great cathedral at Rome.]
+
+
+
+
+FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+
+The ladies in Japan gild their teeth; and those of the Indies paint them
+red. The pearl of teeth must be dyed black to be beautiful in Guzerat.
+In Greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow. However
+fresh the complexion of a Muscovite may be, she would think herself very
+ugly if she was not plastered over with paint. The Chinese must have
+their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goat; and to render them
+thus, their youth is passed in tortures. In ancient Persia an aquiline
+nose was often thought worthy of the crown; and if there was any
+competition between two princes, the people generally went by this
+criterion of majesty. In some countries, the mothers break the noses of
+their children; and in others press the head between two boards, that it
+may become square. The modern Persians have a strong aversion to red
+hair: the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. The female
+Hottentot receives from the hand of her lover, not silks nor wreaths of
+flowers, but warm guts and reeking tripe, to dress herself with enviable
+ornaments.
+
+In China, small round eyes are liked; and the girls are continually
+plucking their eye-brows, that they may be thin and long. The Turkish
+women dip a gold brush in the tincture of a black drug, which they pass
+over their eye-brows. It is too visible by day, but looks shining by
+night. They tinge their nails with a rose-colour. An African beauty must
+have small eyes, thick lips, a large flat nose, and a skin beautifully
+black. The Emperor of Monomotapa would not change his amiable negress
+for the most brilliant European beauty.
+
+An ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unnecessary. The
+Peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they hang on it a weighty ring,
+the thickness of which is proportioned by the rank of their husbands.
+The custom of boring it, as our ladies do their ears, is very common in
+several nations. Through the perforation are hung various materials;
+such as green crystal, gold, stones, a single and sometimes a great
+number of gold rings.[65] This is rather troublesome to them in blowing
+their noses; and the fact is, as some have informed us, that the Indian
+ladies never perform this very useful operation.
+
+The female head-dress is carried in some countries to singular
+extravagance. The Chinese fair carries on her head the figure of a
+certain bird. This bird is composed of copper or of gold, according to
+the quality of the person; the wings spread out, fall over the front of
+the head-dress, and conceal the temples. The tail, long and open, forms
+a beautiful tuft of feathers. The beak covers the top of the nose; the
+neck is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, that
+it may the more freely play, and tremble at the slightest motion.
+
+The extravagance of the Myantses is far more ridiculous than the above.
+They carry on their heads a slight board, rather longer than a foot, and
+about six inches broad; with this they cover their hair, and seal it
+with wax. They cannot lie down, or lean, without keeping the neck
+straight; and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to find
+them with their head-dress entangled in the trees. Whenever they comb
+their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in melting the wax; but this
+combing is only performed once or twice a year.
+
+The inhabitants of the land of Natal wear caps or bonnets, from six to
+ten inches high, composed of the fat of oxen. They then gradually anoint
+the head with a purer grease, which mixing with the hair, fastens these
+_bonnets_ for their lives.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 64: This vehicle for satire was introduced early into England;
+thus, in 1589, was published "The return of the renowned Cavaliero
+Pasquill to England from the other side of the seas, and his meeting
+with Marforio at London, upon the Royall Exchange."]
+
+[Footnote 65: For some very strong remarks on this fashion, the reader
+may consult Bulwer's _Anthropometamorphosis, or Artificiall Changeling_,
+1653. The author is very ungallant in his strictures on "precious jewels
+in the snouts of such swine."]
+
+
+
+
+MODERN PLATONISM.
+
+
+Erasmus, in his Age of Religious Revolution, expressed an alarm, which
+in some shape has been since realized. He strangely, yet acutely
+observes, that "_literature_ began to make a great and happy progress;
+but," he adds, "I fear two things--that the study of _Hebrew_ will
+promote _Judaism_, and the study of _philology_ will revive PAGANISM."
+He speaks to the same purpose in the Adages, c. 189, as Jortin observes.
+Blackwell, in his curious Life of Homer, after showing that the ancient
+oracles were the fountains of knowledge, and that the votaries of the
+_god_ of _Delphi_ had their faith confirmed by the oracle's perfect
+acquaintance with the country, parentage, and fortunes of the suppliant,
+and many predictions verified; that besides all this, the oracles that
+have reached us discover a wide knowledge of everything relating to
+Greece;--this learned writer is at a loss to account for a knowledge
+that he thinks has something divine in it: it was a knowledge to be
+found nowhere in Greece but among the _Oracles_. He would account for
+this phenomenon by supposing there existed a succession of learned men
+devoted to this purpose. He says, "Either we must admit the knowledge of
+the priests, or turn _converts to the ancients_, and believe in the
+_omniscience of Apollo, which in this age I know nobody in hazard of_."
+Yet, to the astonishment of this writer, were he now living, he would
+have witnessed this incredible fact! Even Erasmus himself might have
+wondered.
+
+We discover the origin of MODERN PLATONISM, as it may be distinguished,
+among the Italians. About the middle of the fifteenth century, some time
+before the Turks had become masters of Constantinople, a great number of
+philosophers flourished. _Gemisthus Pletho_ was one distinguished by his
+genius, his erudition, and his fervent passion for _platonism_. Mr.
+Roscoe notices Pletho: "His discourses had so powerful an effect upon
+Cosmo de' Medici, who was his constant auditor, that he established an
+academy at Florence, for the sole purpose of cultivating this new and
+more elevated species of philosophy." The learned Marsilio Ficino
+translated Plotinus, that great archimage of _platonic mysticism_. Such
+were Pletho's eminent abilities, that in his old age those whom his
+novel system had greatly irritated either feared or respected him. He
+had scarcely breathed his last when they began to abuse Plato and our
+Pletho. The following account is written by George of Trebizond.
+
+"Lately has risen amongst us a second Mahomet: and this second, if we do
+not take care, will exceed in greatness the first, by the dreadful
+consequences of his wicked doctrine, as the first has exceeded Plato. A
+disciple and rival of this philosopher in philosophy, in eloquence, and
+in science, he had fixed his residence in the Peloponnese. His common
+name was _Gemisthus_, but he assumed that of _Pletho_. Perhaps
+Gemisthus, to make us believe more easily that he was descended from
+heaven, and to engage us to receive more readily his doctrine and his
+new law, wished to change his name, according to the manner of the
+ancient patriarchs, of whom it is said, that at the time the name was
+changed they were called to the greatest things. He has written with no
+vulgar art, and with no common elegance. He has given new rules for the
+conduct of life, and for the regulation of human affairs; and at the
+same time has vomited forth a great number of blasphemies against the
+Catholic religion. He was so zealous a platonist that he entertained no
+other sentiments than those of Plato, concerning the nature of the gods,
+souls, sacrifices, &c. I have heard him myself, when we were together at
+Florence, say, that in a few years all men on the face of the earth
+would embrace with one common consent, and with one mind, a single and
+simple religion, at the first instructions which should be given by a
+single preaching. And when I asked him if it would be the religion of
+Jesus Christ, or that of Mahomet? he answered, 'Neither one nor the
+other; but a _third_, which will not greatly differ from _paganism_.'
+These words I heard with so much indignation, that since that time I
+have always hated him: I look upon him as a dangerous viper; and I
+cannot think of him without abhorrence."
+
+The pious writer might have been satisfied to have bestowed a smile of
+pity or contempt.
+
+When Pletho died, full of years and honours, the malice of his enemies
+collected all its venom. This circumstance seems to prove that his
+abilities must have been great indeed, to have kept such crowds silent.
+Several Catholic writers lament that his book was burnt, and regret the
+loss of Pletho's work; which, they say, was not designed to subvert the
+Christian religion, but only to unfold the system of Plato, and to
+collect what he and other philosophers had written on religion and
+politics.
+
+Of his religious scheme, the reader may judge by this summary account.
+The general title of the volume ran thus:--"This book treats of the laws
+of the best form of government, and what all men must observe in their
+public and private stations, to live together in the most perfect, the
+most innocent, and the most happy manner." The whole was divided into
+three books. The titles of the chapters where paganism was openly
+inculcated are reported by Gennadius, who condemned it to the flames,
+but who has not thought proper to enter into the manner of his
+arguments. The extravagance of this new legislator appeared, above all,
+in the articles which concerned religion. He acknowledges a plurality of
+gods: some superior, whom he placed above the heavens; and the others
+inferior, on this side the heavens. The first existing from the remotest
+antiquity; the others younger, and of different ages. He gave a king to
+all these gods, and he called him [Greek: ZEUS], or _Jupiter_; as the
+pagans named this power formerly. According to him, the stars had a
+soul; the demons were not malignant spirits; and the world was eternal.
+He established polygamy, and was even inclined to a community of women.
+All his work was filled with such reveries, and, with not a few
+impieties, which my pious author has not ventured to give.
+
+What were the intentions of Pletho? If the work was only an arranged
+system of paganism, or the platonic philosophy, it might have been an
+innocent, if not a curious volume. He was learned and humane, and had
+not passed his life entirely in the solitary recesses of his study.
+
+To strain human curiosity to the utmost limits of human credibility, a
+_modern Pletho_ has risen in Mr. _Thomas Taylor_, who, consonant to the
+platonic philosophy in the present day, religiously professes
+_polytheism_! At the close of the eighteenth century, be it recorded,
+were published many volumes, in which the author affects to avow himself
+a zealous Platonist, and asserts that he can prove that the Christian
+religion is "a bastardized and barbarous Platonism." The divinities of
+Plato are the divinities to be adored, and we are to be taught to call
+God, Jupiter; the Virgin, Venus; and Christ, Cupid! The Iliad of Homer
+allegorised, is converted into a Greek bible of the arcana of nature!
+Extraordinary as this literary lunacy may appear, we must observe, that
+it stands not singular in the annals of the history of the human mind.
+The Florentine Academy, which Cosmo founded, had, no doubt, some
+classical enthusiasts; but who, perhaps, according to the political
+character of their country, were prudent and reserved. The platonic
+furor, however, appears to have reached other countries. In the reign of
+Louis XII., a scholar named Hemon de la Fosse, a native of Abbeville, by
+continually reading the Greek and Latin writers, became mad enough to
+persuade himself that it was impossible that the religion of such great
+geniuses as Homer, Cicero, and Virgil was a false one. On the 25th of
+August, 1503, being at church, he suddenly snatched the host from the
+hands of the priest, at the moment it was raised, exclaiming--"What!
+always this folly!" He was immediately seized. In the hope that he would
+abjure his extravagant errors, they delayed his punishment; but no
+exhortation or entreaties availed. He persisted in maintaining that
+Jupiter was the sovereign God of the universe, and that there was no
+other paradise than the Elysian fields. He was burnt alive, after having
+first had his tongue pierced, and his hand cut off. Thus perished an
+ardent and learned youth, who ought only to have been condemned as a
+Bedlamite.
+
+Dr. More, the most rational of our modern Platonists, abounds, however,
+with the most extravagant reveries, and was inflated with egotism and
+enthusiasm, as much as any of his mystic predecessors. He conceived that
+he communed with the Divinity itself! that he had been shot as a fiery
+dart into the world, and he hoped he had hit the mark. He carried his
+self-conceit to such extravagance, that he thought his urine smelt like
+violets, and his body in the spring season had a sweet odour; a
+perfection peculiar to himself. These visionaries indulge the most
+fanciful vanity.
+
+The "sweet odours," and that of "the violets," might, however, have been
+real--for they mark a certain stage of the disease of diabetes, as
+appears in a medical tract by the elder Dr. Latham.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES OF FASHION.
+
+
+A volume on this subject might be made very curious and entertaining,
+for our ancestors were not less vacillating, and perhaps more
+capriciously grotesque, though with infinitely less taste, than the
+present generation. Were a philosopher and an artist, as well as an
+antiquary, to compose such a work, much diversified entertainment, and
+some curious investigation of the progress of the arts and taste, would
+doubtless be the result; the subject otherwise appears of trifling
+value; the very farthing pieces of history.
+
+The origin of many fashions was in the endeavour to conceal some
+deformity of the inventor: hence the cushions, ruffs, hoops, and other
+monstrous devices. If a reigning beauty chanced to have an unequal hip,
+those who had very handsome hips would load them with that false rump
+which the other was compelled by the unkindness of nature to substitute.
+Patches were invented in England in the reign of Edward VI. by a foreign
+lady, who in this manner ingeniously covered a wen on her neck.
+Full-bottomed wigs were invented by a French barber, one Duviller, whose
+name they perpetuated, for the purpose of concealing an elevation in the
+shoulder of the Dauphin. Charles VII. of France introduced long coats to
+hide his ill-made legs. Shoes with very long points, full two feet in
+length, were invented by Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Anjou, to conceal a
+large excrescence on one of his feet. When Francis I. was obliged to
+wear his hair short, owing to a wound he received in the head, it became
+a prevailing fashion at court. Others, on the contrary, adapted fashions
+to set off their peculiar beauties: as Isabella of Bavaria, remarkable
+for her gallantry, and the fairness of her complexion, introduced the
+fashion of leaving the shoulders and part of the neck uncovered.
+
+Fashions have frequently originated from circumstances as silly as the
+following one. Isabella, daughter of Philip II. and wife of the Archduke
+Albert, vowed not to change her linen till Ostend was taken; this siege,
+unluckily for her comfort, lasted three years; and the supposed colour
+of the archduchess's linen gave rise to a fashionable colour, hence
+called _l'Isabeau_, or the Isabella; a kind of whitish-yellow-dingy.
+Sometimes they originate in some temporary event; as after the battle of
+Steenkirk, where the allies wore large cravats, by which the French
+frequently seized hold of them, a circumstance perpetuated on the medals
+of Louis XIV., cravats were called Steenkirks; and after the battle of
+Ramilies, wigs received that denomination.
+
+The _court_, in all ages and in every country, are the modellers of
+fashions; so that all the ridicule, of which these are so susceptible,
+must fall on them, and not upon their servile imitators the _citizens_.
+This complaint is made even so far back as in 1586, by Jean des Caures,
+an old French moralist, who, in declaiming against the fashions of his
+day, notices one, of the ladies carrying _mirrors fixed to their
+waists_, which seemed to employ their eyes in perpetual activity. From
+this mode will result, according to honest Des Caures, their eternal
+damnation. "Alas! (he exclaims) in what an age do we live: to see such
+depravity which we see, that induces them even to bring into church
+these _scandalous mirrors hanging about their waists_! Let all
+histories, divine, human, and profane, be consulted; never will it be
+found that these objects of vanity were ever thus brought into public by
+the most meretricious of the sex. It is true, at present none but the
+ladies of the court venture to wear them; but long it will not be before
+_every citizen's daughter_ and every _female servant_, will have them!"
+Such in all times has been the rise and decline of fashion; and the
+absurd mimicry of the _citizens_, even of the lowest classes, to their
+very ruin, in straining to rival the _newest fashion_, has mortified and
+galled the courtier.
+
+On this subject old Camden, in his Remains, relates a story of a trick
+played off on a citizen, which I give in the plainness of his own
+venerable style. Sir Philip Calthrop purged John Drakes, the _shoemaker
+of Norwich_, in the time of King Henry VIII. of the _proud humour_ which
+our _people have to be of the gentlemen's cut_. This knight bought on a
+time as much fine French tawny cloth as should make him a gown, and sent
+it to the taylor's to be made. John Drakes, a shoemaker of that town,
+coming to this said taylor's, and seeing the knight's gown cloth lying
+there, liking it well, caused the taylor to buy him as much of the same
+cloth and price to the same intent, and further bade him to _make it of
+the same fashion that the knight would have his made of_. Not long
+after, the knight coming to the taylor's to take measure of his gown,
+perceiving the like cloth lying there, asked of the taylor whose it was?
+Quoth the taylor, it is John Drakes' the _shoemaker_, who will have it
+_made of the self-same fashion that yours is made of_! 'Well!' said the
+knight, 'in good time be it! I will have mine made _as full of cuts as
+thy shears can make it_.' 'It shall be done!' said the taylor;
+whereupon, because the time drew near, he made haste to finish both
+their garments. John Drakes had no time to go to the taylor's till
+Christmas-day, for serving his customers, when he hoped to have worn his
+gown; perceiving the same to be _full of cuts_ began to swear at the
+taylor, for the making his gown after that sort. 'I have done nothing,'
+quoth the taylor, 'but that you bid me; for as Sir Philip Calthrop's
+garment is, even so I have made yours!' 'By my latchet!' quoth John
+Drakes, '_I will never wear gentlemen's fashions again_!'
+
+Sometimes fashions are quite reversed in their use in one age from
+another. Bags, when first in fashion in France, were only worn _en
+déshabillé_; in visits of ceremony, the hair was tied by a riband and
+floated over the shoulders, which is exactly reversed in the present
+fashion. In the year 1735 the men had no hats but a little chapeau de
+bras; in 1745 they wore a very small hat; in 1755 they wore an enormous
+one, as may be seen in Jeffrey's curious "Collection of Habits in all
+Nations." Old Puttenham, in "The Art of Poesie," p. 239, on the present
+topic gives some curious information. "Henry VIII. caused his own head,
+and all his courtiers, to be _polled_ and his _beard_ to be _cut short_;
+_before that time_ it was thought _more decent_, both for old men and
+young, to be _all shaven_, and weare _long haire_, either rounded or
+square. Now _again at this time_ (Elizabeth's reign), the young
+gentlemen of the court have _taken up the long haire_ trayling on their
+shoulders, and think this more decent; for what respect I would be glad
+to know."
+
+When the fair sex were accustomed to behold their lovers with beards,
+the sight of a shaved chin excited feelings of horror and aversion; as
+much indeed as, in this less heroic age, would a gallant whose luxuriant
+beard should
+
+    "Stream like a meteor to the troubled air."
+
+When Louis VII., to obey the injunctions of his bishops, cropped his
+hair, and shaved his beard, Eleanor, his consort, found him, with this
+unusual appearance, very ridiculous, and soon very contemptible. She
+revenged herself as she thought proper, and the poor shaved king
+obtained a divorce. She then married the Count of Anjou, afterwards our
+Henry II. She had for her marriage dower the rich provinces of Poitou
+and Guienne; and this was the origin of those wars which for three
+hundred years ravaged France, and cost the French three millions of men.
+All which, probably, had never occurred had Louis VII. not been so rash
+as to crop his head and shave his beard, by which he became so
+disgustful in the eyes of our Queen Eleanor.
+
+We cannot perhaps sympathise with the feelings of her majesty, though at
+Constantinople she might not have been considered unreasonable. There
+must be something more powerful in _beards_ and _mustachios_ than we are
+quite aware of; for when these were in fashion--and long after this was
+written--the fashion has returned on us--with what enthusiasm were they
+not contemplated! When _mustachios_ were in general use, an author, in
+his Elements of Education, published in 1640, thinks that "hairy
+excrement," as Armado in "Love's Labour Lost" calls it, contributed to
+make men valorous. He says, "I have a favourable opinion of that young
+gentleman who is _curious in fine mustachios_. The time he employs in
+adjusting, dressing, and curling them, is no lost time; for the more he
+contemplates his mustachios, the more his mind will cherish and be
+animated by masculine and courageous notions." The best reason that
+could be given for wearing the _longest and largest beard_ of any
+Englishman was that of a worthy clergyman in Elizabeth's reign, "that no
+act of his life might be unworthy of the gravity of his appearance."
+
+The grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Cromwell, the literary
+friend of Pope, by her account, "was very nice in the mode of that age,
+his valet being some hours every morning in _starching his beard_ and
+_curling his whiskers_; during which time he was always read to."
+Taylor, the water poet, humorously describes the great variety of beards
+in his time, which extract may be found in Grey's Hudibras, Vol. I. p.
+300. The _beard_ dwindled gradually under the two Charleses, till it was
+reduced into _whiskers_, and became extinct in the reign of James II.,
+as if its fatality had been connected with that of the house of Stuart.
+
+The hair has in all ages been an endless topic for the declamation of
+the moralist, and the favourite object of fashion. If the _beau monde_
+wore their hair luxuriant, or their wig enormous, the preachers, in
+Charles the Second's reign, instantly were seen in the pulpit with their
+hair cut shorter, and their sermon longer, in consequence; respect was,
+however, paid by the world to the size of the _wig_, in spite of the
+_hair-cutter_ in the pulpit. Our judges, and till lately our physicians,
+well knew its magical effect. In the reign of Charles II. the
+hair-dress of the ladies was very elaborate; it was not only curled and
+frizzled with the nicest art, but set off with certain artificial curls,
+then too emphatically known by the pathetic terms of _heart-breakers_
+and _love-locks_. So late as William and Mary, lads, and even children,
+wore wigs; and if they had not wigs, they curled their hair to resemble
+this fashionable ornament. Women then were the hair-dressers.
+
+There are flagrant follies in fashion which must be endured while they
+reign, and which never appear ridiculous till they are out of fashion.
+In the reign of Henry III. of France, they could not exist without an
+abundant use of comfits. All the world, the grave and the gay, carried
+in their pockets a _comfit-box_, as we do snuff-boxes. They used them
+even on the most solemn occasions; when the Duke of Guise was shot at
+Blois, he was found with his comfit-box in his hand.--Fashions indeed
+have been carried to so extravagant a length, as to have become a public
+offence, and to have required the interference of government. Short and
+tight breeches were so much the rage in France, that Charles V. was
+compelled to banish this disgusting mode by edicts, which may be found
+in Mezerai. An Italian author of the fifteenth century supposes an
+Italian traveller of nice modesty would not pass through France, that he
+might not be offended by seeing men whose clothes rather exposed their
+nakedness than hid it. The very same fashion was the complaint in the
+remoter period of our Chaucer, in his Parson's Tale.
+
+In the reign of our Elizabeth the reverse of all this took place; then
+the mode of enormous breeches was pushed to a most laughable excess. The
+beaux of that day stuffed out their breeches with rags, feathers, and
+other light matters, till they brought them out to an enormous size.
+They resembled woolsacks, and in a public spectacle they were obliged to
+raise scaffolds for the seats of these ponderous beaux. To accord with
+this fantastical taste, the ladies invented large hoop farthingales; two
+lovers aside could surely never have taken one another by the hand. In a
+preceding reign the fashion ran on square toes; insomuch that a
+proclamation was issued that no person should wear shoes above six
+inches square at the toes! Then succeeded picked-pointed shoes! The
+nation was again, in the reign of Elizabeth, put under the royal
+authority. "In that time," says honest John Stowe, "he was held the
+greatest gallant that had the _deepest ruff_ and _longest rapier_: the
+offence to the eye of the one, and hurt unto the life of the subject
+that came by the other--this caused her Majestie to _make proclamation
+against them both_, and to _place selected grave citizens at every gate,
+to cut the ruffes, and breake the rapiers' points_ of all passengers
+that exceeded a yeard in length of their rapiers, and a nayle of a yeard
+in depth of their ruffes." These "grave citizens," at every gate cutting
+the ruffs and breaking the rapiers, must doubtless have encountered in
+their ludicrous employment some stubborn opposition; but this regulation
+was, in the spirit of that age, despotic and effectual. Paul, the
+Emperor of Russia, one day ordered the soldiers to stop every passenger
+who wore pantaloons, and with their hangers to cut off, upon the leg,
+the offending part of these superfluous breeches; so that a man's legs
+depended greatly on the adroitness and humanity of a Russ or a Cossack;
+however this war against _pantaloons_ was very successful, and obtained
+a complete triumph in favour of the _breeches_ in the course of the
+week.
+
+A shameful extravagance in dress has been a most venerable folly. In the
+reign of Richard II. their dress was sumptuous beyond belief. Sir John
+Arundel had a change of no less than fifty-two new suits of cloth of
+gold tissue. The prelates indulged in all the ostentatious luxury of
+dress. Chaucer says, they had "chaunge of clothing everie daie."
+Brantome records of Elizabeth, Queen of Philip II. of Spain, that she
+never wore a gown twice; this was told him by her majesty's own
+_tailleur_, who from a poor man soon became as rich as any one he knew.
+Our own Elizabeth left no less than three thousand different habits in
+her wardrobe when she died. She was possessed of the dresses of all
+countries.
+
+The catholic religion has ever considered the pomp of the clerical habit
+as not the slightest part of its religious ceremonies; their devotion is
+addressed to the eye of the people. In the reign of our catholic Queen
+Mary, the dress of a priest was costly indeed; and the sarcastic and
+good-humoured Fuller gives, in his Worthies, the will of a priest, to
+show the wardrobe of men of his order, and desires that the priest may
+not be jeered for the gallantry of his splendid apparel. He bequeaths to
+various parish churches and persons, "My vestment of crimson satin--my
+vestment of crimson velvet--my stole and fanon set with pearl--my black
+gown faced with taffeta," &c.
+
+Chaucer has minutely detailed in "The Persone's Tale" the grotesque and
+the costly fashions of his day; and the simplicity of the venerable
+satirist will interest the antiquary and the philosopher. Much, and
+curiously, has his caustic severity or lenient humour descanted on the
+"moche superfluitee," and "wast of cloth in vanitee," as well as "the
+disordinate scantnesse." In the spirit of the good old times, he
+calculates "the coste of the embrouding or embroidering; endenting or
+barring; ounding or wavy; paling or imitating pales; and winding or
+bending; the costlewe furring in the gounes; so much pounsoning of
+chesel to maken holes (that is, punched with a bodkin); so moche dagging
+of sheres (cutting into slips); with the superfluitee in length of the
+gounes trailing in the dong and in the myre, on horse and eke on foot,
+as wel of man as of woman--that all thilke trailing," he verily
+believes, which wastes, consumes, wears threadbare, and is rotten with
+dung, are all to the damage of "the poor folk," who might be clothed
+only out of the flounces and draggle-tails of these children of vanity.
+But then his Parson is not less bitter against "the horrible disordinat
+scantnesse of clothing," and very copiously he describes, though perhaps
+in terms and with a humour too coarse for me to transcribe, the
+consequences of these very tight dresses. Of these persons, among other
+offensive matters, he sees "the buttokkes behind, as if they were the
+hinder part of a sheap, in the ful of the mone." He notices one of the
+most grotesque modes, the wearing a parti-coloured dress; one stocking
+part white and part red, so that they looked as if they had been flayed.
+Or white and blue, or white and black, or black and red; this variety of
+colours gave an appearance to their members of St. Anthony's fire, or
+cancer, or other mischance!
+
+The modes of dress during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were
+so various and ridiculous, that they afforded perpetual food for the
+eager satirist.
+
+The conquests of Edward III. introduced the French fashions into
+England; and the Scotch adopted them by their alliance with the French
+court, and close intercourse with that nation.
+
+Walsingham dates the introduction of French fashions among us from the
+taking of Calais in 1347; but we appear to have possessed such a rage
+for imitation in dress, that an English beau was actually a fantastical
+compound of all the fashions in Europe, and even Asia, in the reign of
+Elizabeth. In Chaucer's time, the prevalence of French fashions was a
+common topic with our satirist; and he notices the affectation of our
+female citizens in speaking the French language, a stroke of satire
+which, after four centuries, is not obsolete, if applied to their faulty
+pronunciation. In the prologue to the Prioresse, Chaucer has these
+humorous lines:--
+
+    Entewned in her voice full seemly,
+    And French she spake full feteously,
+    _After the Scole of Stratford at Bowe_:
+    The _French of Paris_ was to her unknowe.
+
+A beau of the reign of Henry IV. has been made out, by the laborious
+Henry. They wore then long-pointed shoes to such an immoderate length,
+that they could not walk till they were fastened to their knees with
+chains. Luxury improving on this ridiculous mode, these chains the
+English beau of the fourteenth century had made of gold and silver; but
+the grotesque fashion did not finish here, for the tops of their shoes
+were carved in the manner of a church window. The ladies of that period
+were not less fantastical.
+
+The wild variety of dresses worn in the reign of Henry VIII. is alluded
+to in a print of a naked Englishman holding a piece of cloth hanging on
+his right arm, and a pair of shears in his left hand. It was invented by
+Andrew Borde, a learned wit of those days. The print bears the following
+inscription:--
+
+    I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here,
+    Musing in my mind, what rayment I shall were;
+    For now I will were this, and now I will were that,
+    And now I will were what I cannot tell what.
+
+At a lower period, about the reign of Elizabeth, we are presented with a
+curious picture of a man of fashion by Puttenham, in his "Arte of
+Poetry," p. 250. This author was a travelled courtier, and has
+interspersed his curious work with many lively anecdotes of the times.
+This is his fantastical beau in the reign of Elizabeth. "May it not
+seeme enough for a courtier to know how to _weare a feather_ and _set
+his cappe_ aflaunt; his _chain en echarpe_; a straight _buskin, al
+Inglese_; a loose _à la Turquesque_; the cape _alla Spaniola_; the
+breech _à la Françoise_, and, by twentie maner of new-fashioned
+garments, to disguise his body and his face with as many countenances,
+whereof it seems there be many that make a very arte and studie, who
+can shewe himselfe most fine, I will not say most foolish or
+ridiculous." So that a beau of those times wore in the same dress a
+grotesque mixture of all the fashions in the world. About the same
+period the _ton_ ran in a different course in France. There, fashion
+consisted in an affected negligence of dress; for Montaigne honestly
+laments, in Book i. Cap. 25--"I have never yet been apt to imitate the
+_negligent garb_ which is yet observable among the _young men_ of our
+time; to wear my _cloak on one shoulder_, my _bonnet on one side_, and
+_one stocking_ in something _more disorder than the other_, meant to
+express a manly disdain of such exotic ornaments, and a contempt of
+art."
+
+The fashions of the Elizabethan age have been chronicled by honest John
+Stowe. Stowe was originally a _tailor_, and when he laid down the
+shears, and took up the pen, the taste and curiosity for _dress_ was
+still retained. He is the grave chronicler of matters not grave. The
+chronology of ruffs, and tufted taffetas; the revolution of steel
+poking-sticks, instead of bone or wood, used by the laundresses; the
+invasion of shoe-buckles, and the total rout of shoe-roses; that grand
+adventure of a certain Flemish lady, who introduced the art of starching
+the ruffs with a yellow tinge into Britain: while Mrs. Montague emulated
+her in the royal favour, by presenting her highness the queen with a
+pair of black silk stockings, instead of her cloth hose, which her
+majesty now for ever rejected; the heroic achievements of the Right
+Honourable Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who first brought from Italy
+the whole mystery and craft of perfumery, and costly washes; and among
+other pleasant things besides, a perfumed jerkin, a pair of perfumed
+gloves trimmed with roses, in which the queen took such delight, that
+she was actually pictured with those gloves on her royal hands, and for
+many years after the scent was called the Earl of Oxford's Perfume.
+These, and occurrences as memorable, receive a pleasant kind of
+historical pomp in the important, and not incurious, narrative of the
+antiquary and the tailor. The toilet of Elizabeth was indeed an altar of
+devotion, of which she was the idol, and all her ministers were her
+votaries: it was the reign of coquetry, and the golden age of millinery!
+But for grace and elegance they had not the slightest feeling! There is
+a print by Vertue, of Queen Elizabeth going in a procession to Lord
+Hunsdon. This procession is led by Lady Hunsdon, who no doubt was the
+leader likewise of the fashion; but it is impossible, with our ideas of
+grace and comfort, not to commiserate this unfortunate lady; whose
+standing-up wire ruff, rising above her head; whose stays, or bodice, so
+long-waisted as to reach to her knees; and the circumference of her
+large hoop farthingale, which seems to enclose her in a capacious tub;
+mark her out as one of the most pitiable martyrs of ancient modes. The
+amorous Sir Walter Raleigh must have found some of the maids of honour
+the most impregnable fortification his gallant spirit ever assailed: a
+_coup de main_ was impossible.
+
+I shall transcribe from old Stowe a few extracts, which may amuse the
+reader:--
+
+"In the second yeere of Queen Elizabeth, 1560, her _silke woman_,
+Mistris Montague, presented her majestie for a new yeere's gift, a
+_paire of black knit silk stockings_, the which, after a few days'
+wearing, pleased her highness so well, that she sent for Mistris
+Montague, and asked her where she had them, and if she could help her to
+any more; who answered, saying, 'I made them very carefully of purpose
+only for your majestie, and seeing these please you so well, I will
+presently set more in hand.' 'Do so (quoth the queene), for _indeed I
+like silk stockings so well, because they are pleasant, fine, and
+delicate, that henceforth I will wear no more_ CLOTH STOCKINGS'--and
+from that time unto her death the queene never wore any more _cloth
+hose_, but only silke stockings; for you shall understand that King
+Henry the Eight did weare onely cloath hose, or hose cut out of
+ell-broade taffety, or that by great chance there came a pair of
+_Spanish silk stockings_ from Spain. King Edward the Sixt had a _payre
+of long Spanish silk stockings_ sent him for a _great present_.--Dukes'
+daughters then wore gownes of satten of Bridges (Bruges) upon solemn
+dayes. Cushens, and window pillows of velvet and damaske, formerly only
+princely furniture, now be very plenteous in most citizens' houses."
+
+"Milloners or haberdashers had not then any _gloves imbroydered_, or
+trimmed with gold, or silke; neither gold nor imbroydered girdles and
+hangers, neither could they _make any costly wash_ or _perfume_, until
+about the fifteenth yeere of the queene, the Right Honourable Edward de
+Vere, Earl of Oxford, came from _Italy_, and brought with him gloves,
+sweete bagges, a perfumed leather jerkin, and other _pleasant things_;
+and that yeere the queene had a _pair of perfumed gloves_ trimmed only
+with four tuffes, or _roses of coloured silk_. The queene took such
+pleasure in those gloves, that she was pictured with those gloves upon
+her handes, and for many years after it was called '_The Earl of
+Oxford's perfume_.'"
+
+In such a chronology of fashions, an event not less important surely was
+the origin of _starching_; and here we find it treated with the utmost
+historical dignity.
+
+"In the year 1564, Mistris Dinghen Van den Plasse, borne at Tænen in
+Flaunders, daughter to a worshipfull knight of that province, with her
+husband, came to London for their better safeties and there professed
+herself a _starcher_, wherein she excelled, unto whom her owne nation
+presently repaired, and payed her very liberally for her worke. Some
+very few of the best and most curious wives of that time, observing the
+_neatness and delicacy of the Dutch for whitenesse and fine wearing of
+linen_, made them _cambricke ruffs_, and sent them to Mistris Dinghen to
+_starch_, and after awhile they made them _ruffes of lawn_, which was at
+that time a stuff most strange, and wonderfull, and thereupon rose a
+_general scoffe_ or _by-word_, that shortly they would make _ruffs of a
+spider's web_; and then they began to send their daughters and nearest
+kinswomen to Mistris Dinghen to _learn how to starche_; her usuall price
+was at that time, foure or five pound, to teach them how _to starch_,
+and twenty shillings how to _seeth starch_."
+
+Thus Italy, Holland, and France supplied us with fashions and
+refinements. But in those days there were, as I have shown from
+Puttenham, as _extravagant dressers_ as any of their present supposed
+degenerate descendants. Stowe affords us another curious extract.
+"Divers noble personages made them _ruffes, a full quarter of a yeard
+deepe_, and two lengthe in one ruffe. This _fashion_ in _London_ was
+called the _French fashion_; but when Englishmen came to _Paris_, the
+_French_ knew it not, and in derision called it _the English monster_."
+An exact parallel this of many of our own Parisian modes in the present
+day.
+
+This was the golden period of cosmetics. The beaux of that day, it is
+evident, used the abominable art of painting their faces as well as the
+women. Our old comedies abound with perpetual allusions to oils,
+tinctures, quintessences, pomatums, perfumes, paint white and red, &c.
+One of their prime cosmetics was a frequent use of the _bath_, and the
+application of _wine_. Strutt quotes from an old MS. a recipe to make
+the face of a beautiful red colour. The person was to be in a bath that
+he might perspire, and afterwards wash his face with wine, and "so
+should be both faire and roddy." In Mr. Lodge's "Illustrations of
+British History," the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had the keeping of the
+unfortunate Queen of Scots, complains of the expenses of the queen for
+_bathing in wine_, and requires a further allowance. A learned Scotch
+professor informed me that _white wine_ was used for these purposes.
+They also made a bath of _milk_. Elder beauties _bathed in wine_, to get
+rid of their wrinkles; and perhaps not without reason, wine being a
+great astringent. Unwrinkled beauties _bathed in milk_, to preserve the
+softness and sleekness of the skin. Our venerable beauties of the
+Elizabethan age were initiated coquettes; and the mysteries of their
+toilet might be worth unveiling.
+
+The reign of Charles II. was the dominion of French fashions. In some
+respects the taste was a little lighter, but the moral effect of dress,
+and which no doubt it has, was much worse. The dress was very
+inflammatory; and the nudity of the beauties of the portrait-painter,
+Sir Peter Lely, has been observed. The queen of Charles II. exposed her
+breast and shoulders without even the gloss of the lightest gauze; and
+the tucker, instead of standing up on her bosom, is with licentious
+boldness turned down, and lies upon her stays. This custom of baring the
+bosom was much exclaimed against by the authors of that age. That honest
+divine, Richard Baxter, wrote a preface to a book, entitled, "A just and
+seasonable reprehension of _naked breasts and shoulders_." In 1672 a
+book was published, entitled, "New instructions unto youth for their
+behaviour, and also a discourse upon some innovations of habits and
+dressing; _against powdering of hair_, _naked breasts_, _black spots_
+(or patches), and other unseemly customs."A whimsical fashion now
+prevailed among the ladies, of strangely ornamenting their faces with
+abundance of black patches cut into grotesque forms, such as a coach and
+horses, owls, rings, suns, moons, crowns, cross and crosslets. The
+author has prefixed _two ladies' heads_; the one representing _Virtue_,
+and the other _Vice_. _Virtue_ is a lady modestly habited, with a black
+velvet hood, and a plain white kerchief on her neck, with a border.
+_Vice_ wears no handkerchief; her stays cut low, so that they display
+great part of the breasts; and a variety of fantastical patches on her
+face.
+
+The innovations of fashions in the reign of Charles II. were watched
+with a jealous eye by the remains of those strict puritans, who now
+could only pour out their bile in such solemn admonitions. They affected
+all possible plainness and sanctity. When courtiers wore monstrous wigs,
+they cut their hair short; when they adopted hats with broad plumes,
+they clapped on round black caps, and screwed up their pale religious
+faces; and when shoe-buckles were revived, they wore strings. The
+sublime Milton, perhaps, exulted in his intrepidity of still wearing
+latchets! The Tatler ridicules Sir William Whitelocke for his
+singularity in still affecting them. "Thou dear _Will Shoestring_, how
+shall I draw thee? Thou dear outside, will you be _combing your wig_,
+playing with your _box_, or picking your teeth?" &c. _Wigs_ and
+_snuff-boxes_ were then the rage. Steele's own wig, it is recorded, made
+at one time a considerable part of his annual expenditure. His large
+black periwig cost him, even at that day, no less than forty
+guineas!--We wear nothing at present in this degree of extravagance. But
+such a wig was the idol of fashion, and they were performing perpetually
+their worship with infinite self-complacency; combing their wigs in
+public was then the very spirit of gallantry and rank. The hero of
+Richardson, youthful and elegant as he wished him to be, is represented
+waiting at an assignation, and describing his sufferings in bad weather
+by lamenting that "his _wig_ and his linen were dripping with the hoar
+frost dissolving on them." Even Betty, Clarissa's lady's-maid, is
+described as "tapping on her _snuff-box_," and frequently taking
+_snuff_. At this time nothing was so monstrous as the head-dresses of
+the ladies in Queen Anne's reign: they formed a kind of edifice of three
+stories high; and a fashionable lady of that day much resembles the
+mythological figure of Cybele, the mother of the gods, with three towers
+on her head.[66]
+
+It is not worth noticing the changes in fashion, unless to ridicule
+them. However, there are some who find amusement in these records of
+luxurious idleness; these thousand and one follies! Modern fashions,
+till, very lately, a purer taste has obtained among our females, were
+generally mere copies of obsolete ones, and rarely originally
+fantastical. The dress of _some_ of our _beaux_ will only be known in a
+few years hence by their _caricatures_. In 1751 the dress of a _dandy_
+is described in the Inspector. A _black_ velvet coat, a _green_ and
+silver waistcoat, _yellow_ velvet breeches, and _blue_ stockings. This
+too was the æra of _black silk breeches_; an extraordinary novelty
+against which "some frowsy people attempted to raise up _worsted_ in
+emulation." A satirical writer has described a buck about forty years
+ago;[67] one could hardly have suspected such a gentleman to have been
+one of our contemporaries. "A coat of light green, with sleeves too
+small for the arms, and buttons too big for the sleeves; a pair of
+Manchester fine stuff breeches, without money in the pockets; clouded
+silk stockings, but no legs; a club of hair behind larger than the head
+that carries it; a hat of the size of sixpence on a block not worth a
+farthing."
+
+As this article may probably arrest the volatile eyes of my fair
+readers, let me be permitted to felicitate them on their improvement in
+elegance in the forms of their dress; and the taste and knowledge of art
+which they frequently exhibit. But let me remind them that there are
+universal principles of beauty in dress independent of all fashions.
+Tacitus remarks of Poppea, the consort of Nero, that she concealed _a
+part of her face_; to the end that, the imagination having fuller play
+by irritating curiosity, they might think higher of her beauty than if
+the whole of her face had been exposed. The sentiment is beautifully
+expressed by Tasso, and it will not be difficult to remember it:--
+
+    "Non copre sue bellezze, e non l'espose."
+
+I conclude by a poem, written in my youth, not only because the late Sir
+Walter Scott once repeated some of the lines, from memory, to remind me
+of it, and has preserved it in "The English Minstrelsy," but also as a
+memorial of some fashions which have become extinct in my own days.
+
+
+STANZAS
+
+ADDRESSED TO LAURA, ENTREATING HER NOT TO PAINT, TO POWDER, OR TO GAME,
+BUT TO RETREAT INTO THE COUNTRY.
+
+    AH, LAURA! quit the noisy town,
+      And FASHION'S persecuting reign:
+    Health wanders on the breezy down,
+      And Science on the silent plain.
+
+
+    How long from Art's reflected hues
+      Shalt thou a mimic charm receive?
+    Believe, my fair! the faithful muse,
+      They spoil the blush they cannot give.
+
+    Must ruthless art, with tortuous steel,
+      Thy artless locks of gold deface,
+    In serpent folds their charms conceal,
+      And spoil, at every touch, a grace.
+
+    Too sweet thy youth's enchanting bloom
+      To waste on midnight's sordid crews:
+    Let wrinkled age the night consume,
+      For age has but its hoards to lose.
+
+    Sacred to love and sweet repose,
+      Behold that trellis'd bower is nigh!
+    That bower the verdant walls enclose,
+      Safe from pursuing Scandal's eye.
+
+    There, as in every lock of gold
+      Some flower of pleasing hue I weave,
+    A goddess shall the muse behold,
+      And many a votive sigh shall heave.
+
+    So the rude Tartar's holy rite
+      A feeble MORTAL once array'd;
+    Then trembled in that mortal's sight,
+      And own'd DIVINE the power he MADE.[68]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 66: It consisted of three borders of lace of different depths,
+set one above the other, and was called a _Fontange_, from its inventor,
+Mademoiselle Font-Ange, a lady of the Court of Louis XIV.]
+
+[Footnote 67: This was written in 1790.]
+
+
+
+
+A SENATE OF JESUITS.
+
+
+In a book entitled "Intérêts et Maximes des Princes et des Etats
+Souverains, par M. le duc de Rohan; Cologne, 1666," an anecdote is
+recorded concerning the Jesuits, which neither Puffendorf nor Vertot has
+noticed in his history.
+
+When Sigismond, king of Sweden, was elected king of Poland, he made a
+treaty with the states of Sweden, by which he obliged himself to pass
+every fifth year in that kingdom. By his wars with the Ottoman court,
+with Muscovy, and Tartary, compelled to remain in Poland to encounter
+these powerful enemies, during fifteen years he failed in accomplishing
+his promise. To remedy this in some shape, by the advice of the Jesuits,
+who had gained an ascendancy over him, he created a senate to reside at
+Stockholm, composed of forty chosen Jesuits. He presented them with
+letters-patent, and invested them with the royal authority.
+
+While this senate of Jesuits was at Dantzic, waiting for a fair wind to
+set sail for Stockholm, he published an edict, that the Swedes should
+receive them as his own royal person. A public council was immediately
+held. Charles, the uncle of Sigismond, the prelates, and the lords,
+resolved to prepare for them a splendid and magnificent entry.
+
+But in a private council, they came to very contrary resolutions: for
+the prince said, he could not bear that a senate of priests should
+command, in preference to all the princes and lords, natives of the
+country. All the others agreed with him in rejecting this holy senate.
+The archbishop rose, and said, "Since Sigismond has disdained to be our
+king, we also must not acknowledge him as such; and from this moment we
+should no longer consider ourselves as his subjects. His authority is
+_in suspenso_, because he has bestowed it on the Jesuits who form this
+senate. The people have not yet acknowledged them. In this interval of
+resignation on the one side, and assumption on the other, I absolve you
+all of the fidelity the king may claim from you as his Swedish
+subjects." The prince of Bithynia addressing himself to Prince Charles,
+uncle of the king, said, "I own no other king than you; and I believe
+you are now obliged to receive us as your affectionate subjects, and to
+assist us to hunt these vermin from the state." All the others joined
+him, and acknowledged Charles as their lawful monarch.
+
+Having resolved to keep their declaration for some time secret, they
+deliberated in what manner they were to receive and to precede this
+senate in their entry into the harbour, who were now on board a great
+galleon, which had anchored two leagues from Stockholm, that they might
+enter more magnificently in the night, when the fireworks they had
+prepared would appear to the greatest advantage. About the time of their
+reception, Prince Charles, accompanied by twenty-five or thirty vessels,
+appeared before this senate. Wheeling about, and forming a caracol of
+ships, they discharged a volley, and emptied all their cannon on the
+galleon bearing this senate, which had its sides pierced through with
+the balls. The galleon immediately filled with water and sunk, without
+one of the unfortunate Jesuits being assisted: on the contrary, their
+assailants cried to them that this was the time to perform some miracle,
+such as they were accustomed to do in India and Japan; and if they
+chose, they could walk on the waters!
+
+The report of the cannon, and the smoke which the powder occasioned,
+prevented either the cries or the submersion of the holy fathers from
+being observed: and as if they were conducting the senate to the town,
+Charles entered triumphantly; went into the church, where they sung _Te
+Deum_; and to conclude the night, he partook of the entertainment which
+had been prepared for this ill-fated senate.
+
+The Jesuits of the city of Stockholm having come, about midnight, to pay
+their respects to the Fathers, perceived their loss. They directly
+posted up _placards_ of excommunication against Charles and his
+adherents, who had caused the senate of Jesuits to perish. They urged
+the people to rebel; but they were soon expelled the city, and Charles
+made a public profession of Lutheranism.
+
+Sigismond, King of Poland, began a war with Charles in 1604, which
+lasted two years. Disturbed by the invasions of the Tartars, the
+Muscovites, and the Cossacs, a truce was concluded; but Sigismond lost
+both his crowns, by his bigoted attachment to Roman Catholicism.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 68: The _Lama_, or God of the Tartars, is composed of such
+frail materials as mere mortality; contrived, however, by the power of
+priestcraft, to appear immortal; the _succession of Lamas_ never
+failing!]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOVER'S HEART.
+
+
+The following tale, recorded in the Historical Memoirs of Champagne, by
+Bougier, has been a favourite narrative with the old romance writers;
+and the principal incident, however objectionable, has been displayed in
+several modern poems.
+
+Howell, in his "Familiar Letters," in one addressed to Ben Jonson,
+recommends it to him as a subject "which peradventure you may make use
+of in your way;" and concludes by saying, "in my opinion, which vails to
+yours, this is choice and rich stuff for you to put upon your loom, and
+make a curious web of."
+
+The Lord de Coucy, vassal to the Count de Champagne, was one of the most
+accomplished youths of his time. He loved, with an excess of passion,
+the lady of the Lord du Fayel, who felt a reciprocal affection. With the
+most poignant grief this lady heard from her lover, that he had resolved
+to accompany the king and the Count de Champagne to the wars of the Holy
+Land; but she would not oppose his wishes, because she hoped that his
+absence might dissipate the jealousy of her husband. The time of
+departure having come, these two lovers parted with sorrows of the most
+lively tenderness. The lady, in quitting her lover, presented him with
+some rings, some diamonds, and with a string that she had woven herself
+of his own hair, intermixed with silk and buttons of large pearls, to
+serve him, according to the fashion of those days, to tie a magnificent
+hood which covered his helmet. This he gratefully accepted.
+
+In Palestine, at the siege of Acre, in 1191, in gloriously ascending the
+ramparts, he received a wound, which was declared mortal. He employed
+the few moments he had to live in writing to the Lady du Fayel; and he
+poured forth the fervour of his soul. He ordered his squire to embalm
+his heart after his death, and to convey it to his beloved mistress,
+with the presents he had received from her hands in quitting her.
+
+The squire, faithful to the dying injunction of his master, returned to
+France, to present the heart and the gifts to the lady of Du Fayel. But
+when he approached the castle of this lady, he concealed himself in the
+neighbouring wood, watching some favourable moment to complete his
+promise. He had the misfortune to be observed by the husband of this
+lady, who recognised him, and who immediately suspected he came in
+search of his wife with some message from his master. He threatened to
+deprive him of his life if he did not divulge the occasion of his
+return. The squire assured him that his master was dead; but Du Fayel
+not believing it, drew his sword on him. This man, frightened at the
+peril in which he found himself, confessed everything; and put into his
+hands the heart and letter of his master. Du Fayel was maddened by the
+fellest passions, and he took a wild and horrid revenge. He ordered his
+cook to mince the heart; and having mixed it with meat, he caused a
+favourite ragout, which he knew pleased the taste of his wife, to be
+made, and had it served to her. The lady ate heartily of the dish. After
+the repast, Du Fayel inquired of his wife if she had found the ragout
+according to her taste: she answered him that she had found it
+excellent. "It is for this reason that I caused it to be served to you,
+for it is a kind of meat which you very much liked. You have, Madame,"
+the savage Du Fayel continued, "eaten the heart of the Lord de Coucy."
+But this the lady would not believe, till he showed her the letter of
+her lover, with the string of his hair, and the diamonds she had given
+him. Shuddering in the anguish of her sensations, and urged by the
+utmost despair, she told him--"It is true that I loved that heart,
+because it merited to be loved: for never could it find its superior;
+and since I have eaten of so noble a meat, and that my stomach is the
+tomb of so precious a heart, I will take care that nothing of inferior
+worth shall ever be mixed with it." Grief and passion choked her
+utterance. She retired to her chamber: she closed the door for ever; and
+refusing to accept of consolation or food, the amiable victim expired on
+the fourth day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF GLOVES.
+
+
+The present learned and curious dissertation is compiled from the papers
+of an ingenious antiquary, from the "Present State of the Republic of
+Letters," vol. x. p. 289.[69]
+
+The antiquity of this part of dress will form our first inquiry; and we
+shall then show its various uses in the several ages of the world.
+
+It has been imagined that gloves are noticed in the 108th Psalm, where
+the royal prophet declares, he will cast his _shoe_ over Edom; and still
+farther back, supposing them to be used in the times of the Judges, Ruth
+iv. 7, where the custom is noticed of a man taking off his _shoe_ and
+giving it to his neighbour, as a pledge for redeeming or exchanging
+anything. The word in these two texts, usually translated _shoe_ by the
+Chaldee paraphrast, in the latter is rendered _glove_. Casaubon is of
+opinion that _gloves_ were worn by the Chaldeans, from the word here
+mentioned being explained in the Talmud Lexicon, _the clothing of the
+hand_.
+
+_Xenophon_ gives a clear and distinct account of _gloves_. Speaking of
+the manners of the Persians, as a proof of their effeminacy, he
+observes, that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet,
+they also guarded their hands against the cold with _thick gloves_.
+_Homer_, describing Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with
+_gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns_. _Varro_, an
+ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the
+Romans. In lib. ii. cap. 55, _De Re Rusticâ_, he says, that olives
+gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with
+_gloves_. _Athenæus_ speaks of a celebrated glutton who always came to
+table with _gloves_ on his hands, that he might be able to handle and
+eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company.
+
+These authorities show that the ancients were not strangers to the use
+of _gloves_, though their use was not common. In a hot climate to wear
+gloves implies a considerable degree of effeminacy. We can more clearly
+trace the early use of gloves in northern than in southern nations. When
+the ancient severity of manners declined, the use of _gloves_ prevailed
+among the Romans; but not without some opposition from the philosophers.
+_Musonius_, a philosopher, who lived at the close of the first century
+of Christianity, among other invectives against the corruption of the
+age, says, _It is shameful that persons in perfect health should clothe
+their hands and feet with soft and hairy coverings_. Their convenience,
+however, soon made the use general. _Pliny_ the younger informs us, in
+his account of his uncle's journey to Vesuvius, that his secretary sat
+by him ready to write down whatever occurred remarkable; and that he had
+_gloves_ on his hands, that the coldness of the weather might not impede
+his business.
+
+In the beginning of the ninth century, the use of _gloves_ was become so
+universal, that even the church thought a regulation in that part of
+dress necessary. In the reign of _Louis le Debonair_, the council of Aix
+ordered that the monks should only wear _gloves_ made of sheep-skin.
+
+That time has made alterations in the form of this, as in all other
+apparel, appears from the old pictures and monuments.
+
+_Gloves_, beside their original design for a covering of the hand, have
+been employed on several great and solemn occasions; as in the ceremony
+of _investitures_, in bestowing lands, or in conferring _dignities_.
+Giving possession by the delivery of a _glove_, prevailed in several
+parts of Christendom in later ages. In the year 1002, the bishops of
+Paderborn and Moncerco were put into possession of their sees by
+receiving a _glove_. It was thought so essential a part of the episcopal
+habit, that some abbots in France presuming to wear _gloves_, the
+council of Poitiers interposed in the affair, and forbad them the use,
+on the same principle as the ring and sandals; these being peculiar to
+bishops, who frequently wore them richly adorned with jewels.
+
+Favin observes, that the custom of blessing _gloves_ at the coronation
+of the kings of France, which still subsists, is a remain of the eastern
+practice of investiture by _a glove_. A remarkable instance of this
+ceremony is recorded. The unfortunate _Conradin_ was deprived of his
+crown and his life by the usurper _Mainfroy_. When having ascended the
+scaffold, the injured prince lamenting his hard fate, asserted his right
+to the crown, and, as a token of investiture, threw his _glove_ among
+the crowd, intreating it might be conveyed to some of his relations, who
+would revenge his death,--it was taken up by a knight, and brought to
+Peter, king of Aragon, who in virtue of this glove was afterwards
+crowned at Palermo.
+
+As the delivery of _gloves_ was once a part of the ceremony used in
+giving possession, so the depriving a person of them was a mark of
+divesting him of his office, and of degradation. The Earl of Carlisle,
+in the reign of Edward the Second, impeached of holding a correspondence
+with the Scots, was condemned to die as a traitor. Walsingham, relating
+other circumstances of his degradation, says, "His spurs were cut off
+with a hatchet; and his _gloves_ and shoes were taken off," &c.
+
+Another use of _gloves_ was in a duel; he who threw one down was by this
+act understood to give defiance, and he who took it up to accept the
+challenge.[70]
+
+The use of single combat, at first designed only for a trial of
+innocence, like the ordeals of fire and water, was in succeeding ages
+practised for deciding rights and property. Challenging by the _glove_
+was continued down to the reign of Elizabeth, as appears by an account
+given by Spelman of a duel appointed to be fought in Tothill Fields, in
+the year 1571. The dispute was concerning some lands in the county of
+Kent. The plaintiffs appeared in court, and demanded single combat. One
+of them threw down his _glove_, which the other immediately taking up,
+carried off on the point of his sword, and the day of fighting was
+appointed; this affair was, however, adjusted by the queen's judicious
+interference.
+
+The ceremony is still practised of challenging by a _glove_ at the
+coronations of the kings of England, by his majesty's champion entering
+Westminster Hall completely armed and mounted.
+
+Challenging by the _glove_ is still in use in some parts of the world.
+In Germany, on receiving an affront, to send a _glove_ to the offending
+party is a challenge to a duel.
+
+The last use of _gloves_ was for carrying the _hawk_. In former times,
+princes and other great men took so much pleasure in carrying the hawk
+on their hand, that some of them have chosen to be represented in this
+attitude. There is a monument of Philip the First of France, on which he
+is represented at length, on his tomb, holding a _glove_ in his hand.
+
+Chambers says that, formerly, judges were forbid to wear _gloves_ on the
+bench. No reason is assigned for this prohibition. Our judges lie under
+no such restraint; for both they and the rest of the court make no
+difficulty of receiving _gloves_ from the sheriffs, whenever the session
+or assize concludes without any one receiving sentence of death, which
+is called a _maiden assize_; a custom of great antiquity.
+
+Our curious antiquary has preserved a singular anecdote concerning
+_gloves_. Chambers informs us, that it is not safe at present to enter
+the stables of princes without pulling off our _gloves_. He does not
+tell us in what the danger consists; but it is an ancient established
+custom in Germany, that whoever enters the stables of a prince, or great
+man, with his _gloves_ on his hands, is obliged to forfeit them, or
+redeem them by a fee to the servants. The same custom is observed in
+some places at the death of the stag; in which case, if the _gloves_ are
+not taken off, they are redeemed by money given to the huntsmen and
+keepers. The French king never failed of pulling off one of his _gloves_
+on that occasion. The reason of this ceremony seems to be lost.
+
+We meet with the term _glove-money_ in our old records; by which is
+meant, money given to servants to buy _gloves_. This, probably, is the
+origin of the phrase _giving a pair of gloves_, to signify making a
+present for some favour or service.
+
+Gough, in his "Sepulchral Monuments," informs us that gloves formed no
+part of the female dress till after the Reformation.[71] I have seen
+some as late as the time of Anne richly worked and embroidered.
+
+There must exist in the Denny family some of the oldest gloves extant,
+as appears by the following glove anecdote.
+
+At the sale of the Earl of Arran's goods, April 6th, 1759, the gloves
+given by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny were sold for 38_l._ 17_s._;
+those given by James I. to his son Edward Denny for 22_l._ 4_s._; the
+mittens given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Denny's lady, 25_l._
+4_s._; all which were bought for Sir Thomas Denny, of Ireland, who was
+descended in a direct line from the great Sir Anthony Denny, one of the
+executors of the will of Henry VIII.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 69: In 1834 was published a curious little volume by William
+Hull, "The History of the Glove Trade, with the Customs connected with
+the Glove," which adds some interesting information to the present
+article.]
+
+[Footnote 70: A still more curious use for gloves was proposed by the
+Marquis of Worcester, in his "Century of Inventions," 1659; it was to
+make them with "knotted silk strings, to signify any letter," or "pinked
+with the alphabet," that they might by this means be subservient to the
+practice of secret correspondence.]
+
+[Footnote 71: This is an extraordinary mistake for so accurate an
+antiquary to make. They occur on monumental effigies, or brasses; also
+in illuminated manuscripts, continually from the Saxon era; as may be
+seen in Strutt's plates to any of his books.]
+
+
+
+
+RELICS OF SAINTS.
+
+
+When relics of saints were first introduced, the relique-mania was
+universal; they bought and they sold, and, like other collectors, made
+no scruple to _steal_ them. It is entertaining to observe the singular
+ardour and grasping avidity of some, to enrich themselves with these
+religious morsels; their little discernment, the curious impositions of
+the vendor, and the good faith and sincerity of the purchaser. The
+prelate of the place sometimes ordained a fast to implore God that they
+might not be cheated with the relics of saints, which he sometimes
+purchased for the holy benefit of the village or town.
+
+Guibert de Nogent wrote a treatise on the relics of saints;
+acknowledging that there were many false ones, as well as false legends,
+he reprobates the inventors of these lying miracles. He wrote his
+treatise on the occasion of _a tooth_ of our Lord's, by which the monks
+of St. Medard de Soissons pretended to operate miracles. He asserts that
+this pretension is as chimerical as that of several persons, who
+believed they possessed the navel, and other parts less decent, of--the
+body of Christ!
+
+A monk of Bergsvinck has given a history of the translation of St.
+Lewin, a virgin and a martyr: her relics were brought from England to
+Bergs. He collected with religious care the facts from his brethren,
+especially from the conductor of these relics from England. After the
+history of the translation, and a panegyric of the saint, he relates the
+miracles performed in Flanders since the arrival of her relics. The
+prevailing passion of the times to possess fragments of saints is well
+marked, when the author particularises with a certain complacency all
+the knavish modes they used to carry off those in question. None then
+objected to this sort of robbery; because the gratification of the
+reigning passion had made it worth while to supply the demand.
+
+A monk of Cluny has given a history of the translation of the body of
+St. Indalece, one of the earliest Spanish bishops, written by order of
+the abbot of St. Juan de la Penna. He protests he advances nothing but
+facts: having himself seen, or learnt from other witnesses, all he
+relates. It was not difficult for him to be well informed, since it was
+to the monastery of St. Juan de la Penna that the holy relics were
+transported, and those who brought them were two monks of that house. He
+has authenticated his minute detail of circumstances by giving the names
+of persons and places. His account was written for the great festival
+immediately instituted in honour of this translation. He informs us of
+the miraculous manner by which they were so fortunate as to discover the
+body of this bishop, and the different plans they concerted to carry it
+off. He gives the itinerary of the two monks who accompanied the holy
+remains. They were not a little cheered in their long journey by visions
+and miracles.
+
+Another has written a history of what he calls the translation of the
+relics of St. Majean to the monastery of Villemagne. _Translation_ is,
+in fact, only a softened expression for the robbery of the relics of the
+saint committed by two monks, who carried them off secretly to enrich
+their monastery; and they did not hesitate at any artifice or lie to
+complete their design. They thought everything was permitted to acquire
+these fragments of mortality, which had now become a branch of commerce.
+They even regarded their possessors with an hostile eye. Such was the
+religious opinion from the ninth to the twelfth century. Our Canute
+commissioned his agent at Rome to purchase _St. Augustin's arm_ for one
+hundred talents of silver and one of gold; a much greater sum, observes
+Granger, than the finest statue of antiquity would have then sold for.
+
+Another monk describes a strange act of devotion, attested by several
+contemporary writers. When the saints did not readily comply with the
+prayers of their votaries, they flogged their relics with rods, in a
+spirit of impatience which they conceived was necessary to make them
+bend into compliance.
+
+Theofroy, abbot of Epternac, to raise our admiration, relates the daily
+miracles performed by the relics of saints, their ashes, their clothes,
+or other mortal spoils, and even by the instruments of their martyrdom.
+He inveighs against that luxury of ornaments which was indulged under
+religious pretext: "It is not to be supposed that the saints are
+desirous of such a profusion of gold and silver. They care not that we
+should raise to them such magnificent churches, to exhibit that
+ingenious order of pillars which shine with gold, nor those rich
+ceilings, nor those altars sparkling with jewels. They desire not the
+purple parchment of price for their writings, the liquid gold to
+embellish the letters, nor the precious stones to decorate their covers,
+while you have such little care for the ministers of the altar." The
+pious writer has not forgotten _himself_ in this copartnership with _the
+saints_.
+
+The Roman church not being able to deny, says Bayle, that there have
+been false relics, which have operated miracles, they reply that the
+good intentions of those believers who have recourse to them obtained
+from God this reward for their good faith! In the same spirit, when it
+was shown that two or three bodies of the same saint was said to exist
+in different places, and that therefore they all could not be authentic,
+it was answered that they were all genuine; for God had multiplied and
+miraculously reproduced them for the comfort of the faithful! A curious
+specimen of the intolerance of good sense.
+
+When the Reformation was spread in Lithuania, Prince Radzivil was so
+affected by it, that he went in person to pay the pope all possible
+honours. His holiness on this occasion presented him with a precious box
+of relics. The prince having returned home, some monks entreated
+permission to try the effects of these relics on a demoniac, who had
+hitherto resisted every kind of exorcism. They were brought into the
+church with solemn pomp, and deposited on the altar, accompanied by an
+innumerable crowd. After the usual conjurations, which were
+unsuccessful, they applied the relics. The demoniac instantly recovered.
+The people called out "_a miracle!_" and the prince, lifting his hands
+and eyes to heaven, felt his faith confirmed. In this transport of pious
+joy, he observed that a young gentleman, who was keeper of this treasure
+of relics, smiled, and by his motions ridiculed the miracle. The prince
+indignantly took our young keeper of the relics to task; who, on promise
+of pardon, gave the following _secret intelligence_ concerning them. In
+travelling from Rome he had lost the box of relics; and not daring to
+mention it, he had procured a similar one, which he had filled with the
+small bones of dogs and cats, and other trifles similar to what were
+lost. He hoped he might be forgiven for smiling, when he found that such
+a collection of rubbish was idolized with such pomp, and had even the
+virtue of expelling demons. It was by the assistance of this box that
+the prince discovered the gross impositions of the monks and the
+demoniacs, and Radzivil afterwards became a zealous Lutheran.
+
+The elector Frederic, surnamed _the Wise_, was an indefatigable
+collector of relics. After his death, one of the monks employed by him
+solicited payment for several parcels he had purchased for our _wise_
+elector; but the times had changed! He was advised to give over this
+business; the relics for which he desired payment they were willing _to
+return_; that the price had fallen considerably since the reformation of
+Luther; and that they would find a _better market_ in Italy than in
+Germany!
+
+Our Henry III., who was deeply tainted with the superstition of the age,
+summoned all the great in the kingdom to meet in London. This summons
+excited the most general curiosity, and multitudes appeared. The king
+then acquainted them that the great master of the Knights Templars had
+sent him a phial containing _a small portion of the precious blood of
+Christ_ which he had shed upon the _cross_; and _attested to be genuine_
+by the seals of the patriarch of Jerusalem and others! He commanded a
+procession the following day; and the historian adds, that though the
+road between St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey was very deep and miry,
+the king kept his eyes constantly fixed on the phial. Two monks received
+it, and deposited the phial in the abbey, "which made all England shine
+with glory, dedicating it to God and St. Edward."
+
+Lord Herbert, in his Life of Henry VIII., notices the _great fall of the
+price of relics_ at the dissolution of the monasteries. "The respect
+given to relics, and some pretended miracles, fell; insomuch, as I find
+by our records, that _a piece of St. Andrew's finger_ (covered only with
+an ounce of silver), being laid to pledge by a monastery for forty
+pounds, was left unredeemed at the dissolution of the house; the king's
+commissioners, who upon surrender of any foundation undertook to pay the
+debts, refusing to return the price again." That is, they did not
+choose to repay the _forty pounds_, to receive _apiece of the finger of
+St. Andrew_.
+
+About this time the property of relics suddenly sunk to a South-sea
+bubble; for shortly after the artifice of the Rood of Grace, at Boxley,
+in Kent, was fully opened to the eye of the populace; and a far-famed
+relic at Hales, in Gloucestershire, of the blood of Christ, was at the
+same time exhibited. It was shown in a phial, and it was believed that
+none could see it who were in mortal sin; and after many trials usually
+repeated to the same person, the deluded pilgrims at length went away
+fully satisfied. This relic was the _blood of a duck_, renewed every
+week, and put in a phial; one side was _opaque_, and the other
+_transparent_; the monk turned either side to the pilgrim, as he thought
+proper. The success of the pilgrim depended on the oblations he made;
+those who were scanty in their offerings were the longest to get a sight
+of the blood: when a man was in despair, he usually became generous!
+
+
+
+
+PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS.
+
+
+No. 379 of the Spectator relates an anecdote of a person who had opened
+the sepulchre of the famous Rosicrucius. He discovered a lamp burning,
+which a statue of clock-work struck into pieces. Hence, the disciples of
+this visionary said that he made use of this method to show "that he had
+re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients."
+
+Many writers have made mention of these wonderful lamps.
+
+It has happened frequently that inquisitive men examining with a
+flambeau ancient sepulchres which had been just opened, the fat and
+gross vapours kindled as the flambeau approached them, to the great
+astonishment of the spectators, who frequently cried out "_a miracle!_"
+This sudden inflammation, although very natural, has given room to
+believe that these flames proceeded from _perpetual lamps_, which some
+have thought were placed in the tombs of the ancients, and which, they
+said, were extinguished at the moment that these tombs opened, and were
+penetrated by the exterior air.
+
+The accounts of the perpetual lamps which ancient writers give have
+occasioned several ingenious men to search after their composition.
+Licetus, who possessed more erudition than love of truth, has given two
+receipts for making this eternal fire by a preparation of certain
+minerals. More credible writers maintain that it is possible to make
+lamps perpetually burning, and an oil at once inflammable and
+inconsumable; but Boyle, assisted by several experiments made on the
+air-pump, found that these lights, which have been viewed in opening
+tombs, proceeded from the collision of fresh air. This reasonable
+observation conciliates all, and does not compel us to deny the
+accounts.
+
+The story of the lamp of Rosicrucius, even if it ever had the slightest
+foundation, only owes its origin to the spirit of party, which at the
+time would have persuaded the world that Rosicrucius had at least
+discovered something.
+
+It was reserved for modern discoveries in chemistry to prove that air
+was not only necessary for a medium to the existence of the flame, which
+indeed the air-pump had already shown; but also as a constituent part of
+the inflammation, and without which a body, otherwise very inflammable
+in all its parts, cannot, however, burn but in its superficies, which
+alone is in contact with the ambient air.
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS.
+
+
+Some stones are preserved by the curious, for representing distinctly
+figures traced by nature alone, and without the aid of art.
+
+Pliny mentions an agate, in which appeared, formed by the hand of
+nature, Apollo amidst the Nine Muses holding a harp. At Venice another
+may be seen, in which is naturally formed the perfect figure of a man.
+At Pisa, in the church of St. John, there is a similar natural
+production, which represents an old hermit in a desert, seated by the
+side of a stream, and who holds in his hands a small bell, as St.
+Anthony is commonly painted. In the temple of St. Sophia, at
+Constantinople, there was formerly on a white marble the image of St.
+John the Baptist covered with the skin of a camel; with this only
+imperfection, that nature had given but one leg. At Ravenna, in the
+church of St. Vital, a cordelier is seen on a dusky stone. They found in
+Italy a marble, in which a crucifix was so elaborately finished, that
+there appeared the nails, the drops of blood, and the wounds, as
+perfectly as the most excellent painter could have performed. At
+Sneilberg, in Germany, they found in a mine a certain rough metal, on
+which was seen the figure of a man, who carried a child on his back. In
+Provence they found in a mine a quantity of natural figures of birds,
+trees, rats, and serpents; and in some places of the western parts of
+Tartary, are seen on divers rocks the figures of camels, horses, and
+sheep. Pancirollus, in his Lost Antiquities, attests, that in a church
+at Rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest celebrating mass, and
+raising the host. Paul III. conceiving that art had been used, scraped
+the marble to discover whether any painting had been employed: but
+nothing of the kind was discovered. "I have seen," writes a friend,
+"many of these curiosities. They are _always helped out_ by art. In my
+father's house was a gray marble chimney-piece, which abounded in
+portraits, landscapes, &c., the greatest part of which was made by
+myself." I have myself seen a large collection, many certainly untouched
+by art. One stone appears like a perfect cameo of a Minerva's head;
+another shows an old man's head, beautiful as if the hand of Raffaelle
+had designed it. Both these stones are transparent. Some exhibit
+portraits.
+
+There is preserved in the British Museum a black stone, on which nature
+has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer.[72] Stones of
+this kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; but
+art appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort of
+resemblance. There is a species of the orchis, where Nature has formed a
+bee, apparently feeding in the breast of the flower, with so much
+exactness, that it is impossible at a very small distance to distinguish
+the imposition. Hence the plant derives its name, and is called the
+BEE-FLOWER. Langhorne elegantly notices its appearance:--
+
+        See on that flow'ret's velvet breast,
+          How close the busy vagrant lies!
+        His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast,
+           The ambrosial gold that swells his thighs.
+
+        Perhaps his fragrant load may bind
+           His limbs;--we'll set the captive free--
+        I sought the LIVING BEE to find,
+           And found the PICTURE of a BEE.
+
+The late Mr. Jackson, of Exeter, wrote to me on this subject: "This
+orchis is common near our sea-coasts; but instead of being exactly like
+a BEE, _it is not like it at all_. It has a general resemblance to a
+_fly_, and by the help of imagination may be supposed to be a fly
+pitched upon the flower. The mandrake very frequently has a forked root,
+which may be fancied to resemble thighs and legs. I have seen it helped
+out with nails on the toes."
+
+An ingenious botanist, after reading this article, was so kind as to
+send me specimens of the _fly_ orchis, _ophrys muscifera_, and of the
+_bee_ orchis, _ophrys apifera_. Their resemblance to these insects when
+in full flower is the most perfect conceivable: they are distinct
+plants. The poetical eye of Langhorne was equally correct and fanciful;
+and that too of Jackson, who differed so positively. Many controversies
+have been carried on, from a want of a little more knowledge; like that
+of the BEE _orchis_ and the FLY _orchis_, both parties prove to be
+right.
+
+Another curious specimen of the playful operations of nature is the
+mandrake; a plant, indeed, when it is bare of leaves, perfectly
+resembling that of the human form. The ginseng tree is noticed for the
+same appearance. This object the same poet has noticed:--
+
+    Mark how that rooted mandrake wears
+       His human feet, his human hands;
+    Oft, as his shapely form he rears,
+       Aghast the frighted ploughman stands.
+
+He closes this beautiful fable with the following stanza not inapposite
+to the curious subject of this article:
+
+    Helvetia's rocks, Sabrina's waves,
+       Still many a shining pebble bear:
+    Where nature's studious hand engraves
+       The PERFECT FORM, and leaves it there.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 72: One of the most curious of these natural portraits is the
+enormous rock in Wales, known as the Pitt Stone. It is an immense
+fragment, the outline bearing a perfect resemblance to the profile of
+the great statesman. The frontispiece to Brace's "Visit to Norway and
+Sweden" represents an island popularly known as "The Horseman's Island,"
+that takes the form of a gigantic mounted horseman wading through the
+deep. W.B. Cooke, the late eminent engraver, amused himself by depicting
+a landscape with waterfalls and ruins, which, when turned on one side,
+formed a perfect human face.]
+
+
+
+
+THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA.
+
+
+Huet has given a charming description of a present made by a lover to
+his mistress; a gift which romance has seldom equalled for its
+gallantry, ingenuity, and novelty. It was called the garland of Julia.
+To understand the nature of this gift, it will be necessary to give the
+history of the parties.
+
+The beautiful Julia d'Angennes was in the flower of her youth and fame,
+when the celebrated Gustavus, king of Sweden, was making war in Germany
+with the most splendid success. Julia expressed her warm admiration of
+this hero. She had his portrait placed on her toilet, and took pleasure
+in declaring that she would have no other lover than Gustavus. The Duke
+de Montausier was, however, her avowed and ardent admirer. A short time
+after the death of Gustavus, he sent her, as a new-year's gift, the
+POETICAL GARLAND of which the following is a description.
+
+The most beautiful flowers were painted in miniature by an eminent
+artist, one Robert, on pieces of vellum, all of equal dimensions. Under
+every flower a space was left open for a madrigal on the subject of the
+flower there painted. The duke solicited the wits of the time to assist
+in the composition of these little poems, reserving a considerable
+number for the effusions of his own amorous muse. Under every flower he
+had its madrigal written by N. Du Jarry, celebrated for his beautiful
+caligraphy. A decorated frontispiece offered a splendid garland composed
+of all these twenty-nine flowers; and on turning the page a cupid is
+painted to the life. These were magnificently bound, and enclosed in a
+bag of rich Spanish leather. When Julia awoke on new-year's day, she
+found this lover's gift lying on her toilet; it was one quite to her
+taste, and successful to the donor's hopes.
+
+Of this Poetical Garland, thus formed by the hands of Wit and Love, Huet
+says, "As I had long heard of it, I frequently expressed a wish to see
+it: at length the Duchess of Usez gratified me with the sight. She
+locked me in her cabinet one afternoon with this garland: she then went
+to the queen, and at the close of the evening liberated me. I never
+passed a more agreeable afternoon."
+
+One of the prettiest inscriptions of these flowers is the following,
+composed for
+
+    THE VIOLET.
+
+    Modeste en ma couleur, modeste en mon séjour,
+    Franche d'ambition, je me cache sous l'herbe;
+    Mais, si sur votre front je puis me voir un jour,
+    La plus humble des fleurs sera la plus superbe.
+
+    Modest my colour, modest is my place,
+    Pleased in the grass my lowly form to hide;
+    But mid your tresses might I wind with grace,
+    The humblest flower would feel the loftiest pride.
+
+The following is some additional information respecting "the Poetical
+Garland of Julia."
+
+At the sale of the library of the Duke de la Vallière, in 1784, among
+its numerous literary curiosities this garland appeared. It was actually
+sold for the extravagant sum of 14,510 livres! though in 1770, at
+Gaignat's sale, it only cost 780 livres. It is described to be "a
+manuscript on vellum, composed of twenty-nine flowers painted by one
+Robert, under which are inserted madrigals by various authors." But the
+Abbé Rive, the superintendent of the Vallière library, published in 1779
+an inflammatory notice of this garland; and as he and the duke had the
+art of appreciating, and it has been said _making_ spurious literary
+curiosities, this notice was no doubt the occasion of the maniacal
+price.
+
+In the great French Revolution, this literary curiosity found its
+passage into this country. A bookseller offered it for sale at the
+enormous price of 500_l._ sterling! No curious collector has been
+discovered to have purchased this unique; which is most remarkable for
+the extreme folly of the purchaser who gave the 14,510 livres for poetry
+and painting not always exquisite. The history of the Garland of Julia
+is a child's lesson for certain rash and inexperienced collectors, who
+may here
+
+    Learn to do well by others harm.
+
+
+
+
+TRAGIC ACTORS.
+
+
+Montfleury, a French player, was one of the greatest actors of his time
+for characters highly tragic. He died of the violent efforts he made in
+representing Orestes in the Andromache of Racine. The author of the
+"Parnasse Reformé" makes him thus express himself in the shades. There
+is something extremely droll in his lamentations, with a severe
+raillery on the inconveniences to which tragic actors are liable.
+
+"Ah! how sincerely do I wish that tragedies had never been invented! I
+might then have been yet in a state capable of appearing on the stage;
+and if I should not have attained the glory of sustaining sublime
+characters, I should at least have trifled agreeably, and have worked
+off my spleen in laughing! I have wasted my lungs in the violent
+emotions of jealousy, love, and ambition. A thousand times have I been
+obliged to force myself to represent more passions than Le Brun ever
+painted or conceived. I saw myself frequently obliged to dart terrible
+glances; to roll my eyes furiously in my head, like a man insane; to
+frighten others by extravagant grimaces; to imprint on my countenance
+the redness of indignation and hatred; to make the paleness of fear and
+surprise succeed each other by turns; to express the transports of rage
+and despair; to cry out like a demoniac: and consequently to strain all
+the parts of my body to render my gestures fitter to accompany these
+different impressions. The man then who would know of what I died, let
+him not ask if it were of the fever, the dropsy, or the gout; but let
+him know that it was of _the Andromache_!"
+
+The Jesuit Rapin informs us, that when Mondory acted Herod in the
+Mariamne of Tristan, the spectators quitted the theatre mournful and
+thoughtful; so tenderly were they penetrated with the sorrows of the
+unfortunate heroine. In this melancholy pleasure, he says, we have a
+rude picture of the strong impressions which were made by the Grecian
+tragedians. Mondory indeed felt so powerfully the character he assumed,
+that it cost him his life.
+
+Some readers may recollect the death of Bond, who felt so exquisitely
+the character of Lusignan in Zara, which he personated when an old man,
+that Zara, when she addressed him, found him _dead_ in his chair.
+
+The assumption of a variety of characters by a person of irritable and
+delicate nerves, has often a tragical effect on the mental faculties. We
+might draw up a list of ACTORS, who have fallen martyrs to their tragic
+characters. Several have died on the stage, and, like Palmer, usually in
+the midst of some agitated appeal to the feelings.[73]
+
+Baron, who was the French Garrick, had a most elevated notion of his
+profession: he used to say, that tragic actors should be nursed on the
+lap of queens! Nor was his vanity inferior to his enthusiasm for his
+profession; for, according to him, the world might see once in a century
+a _Cæsar_, but that it required a thousand years to produce a _Baron_! A
+variety of anecdotes testify the admirable talents he displayed.
+Whenever he meant to compliment the talents or merits of distinguished
+characters, he always delivered in a pointed manner the striking
+passages of the play, fixing his eye on them. An observation of his
+respecting actors, is not less applicable to poets and to painters.
+"RULES," said this sublime actor, "may teach us not to raise the arms
+above the head; but if PASSION carries them, it will be well done;
+PASSION KNOWS MORE THAN ART."
+
+Betterton, although his countenance was ruddy and sanguine, when he
+performed Hamlet, through the violent and sudden emotion of amazement
+and horror at the presence of his father's spectre, instantly turned as
+white as his neckcloth, while his whole body seemed to be affected with
+a strong tremor: had his father's apparition actually risen before him,
+he could not have been seized with more real agonies. This struck the
+spectators so forcibly, that they felt a shuddering in their veins, and
+participated in the astonishment and the horror so apparent in the
+actor. Davies in his Dramatic Miscellanies records this fact; and in the
+Richardsoniana, we find that the first time Booth attempted the ghost
+when Betterton acted Hamlet, that actor's look at him struck him with
+such horror that he became disconcerted to such a degree, that he could
+not speak his part. Here seems no want of evidence of the force of the
+ideal presence in this marvellous acting: these facts might deserve a
+philosophical investigation.
+
+Le Kain, the French actor, who retired from the Parisian stage, like our
+Garrick, covered with glory and gold, was one day congratulated by a
+company on the retirement which he was preparing to enjoy. "As to
+glory," modestly replied this actor, "I do not flatter myself to have
+acquired much. This kind of reward is always disputed by many, and you
+yourselves would not allow it, were I to assume it. As to the money, I
+have not so much reason to be satisfied; at the Italian Theatre, their
+share is far more considerable than mine; an actor there may get twenty
+to twenty-five thousand livres, and my share amounts at the most to ten
+or twelve thousand." "How! the devil!" exclaimed a rude chevalier of the
+order of St. Louis, who was present, "How! the devil! a vile stroller is
+not content with twelve thousand livres annually, and I, who am in the
+king's service, who sleep upon a cannon and lavish my blood for my
+country, I must consider myself as fortunate in having obtained a
+pension of one thousand livres." "And do you account as nothing, sir,
+the liberty of addressing me thus?" replied Le Kain, with all the
+sublimity and conciseness of an irritated Orosmane.
+
+The memoirs of Mademoiselle Clairon display her exalted feeling of the
+character of a sublime actress; she was of opinion, that in common life
+the truly sublime actor should be a hero, or heroine off the stage. "If
+I am only a vulgar and ordinary woman during twenty hours of the day,
+whatever effort I may make, I shall only be an ordinary and vulgar woman
+in Agrippina or Semiramis, during the remaining four." In society she
+was nicknamed the Queen of Carthage, from her admirable personification
+of Dido in a tragedy of that name.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 73: Palmer's death took place on the Liverpool stage, August
+2, 1798; he was in the fifty-seventh year of his age. The death of his
+wife and his son had some time before thrown him into a profound
+melancholy, and on this occasion he was unfortunately "cast" for the
+agitating part of "the Stranger." He appeared unusually moved on
+uttering the words "there is another and a better world," in the third
+act. In the first scene of the following act, when he was asked "Why did
+you not keep your children with you? they would have amused you in many
+a dreary hour," he turned to reply--and "for the space of about ten
+seconds, he paused as if waiting for the prompter to give him the
+word"--says Mr. Whitfield the actor, who was then with him upon the
+stage--"then put out his right hand, as if going to take hold of mine.
+It dropt, as if to support his fall, but it had no power; in that
+instant he fell, but not at full length, he crouched in falling, so that
+his head did not strike the stage with great violence. He never breathed
+after. I think I may venture to say he died without a pang." It is one
+of the most melancholy incidents connected with theatrical history.]
+
+
+
+
+JOCULAR PREACHERS.
+
+
+These preachers, whose works are excessively rare, form a race unknown
+to the general reader. I shall sketch the characters of these pious
+buffoons, before I introduce them to his acquaintance. They, as it has
+been said of Sterne, seemed to have wished, every now and then, to have
+thrown their wigs into the faces of their auditors.
+
+These preachers flourished in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
+centuries; we are therefore to ascribe their extravagant mixture of
+grave admonition with facetious illustration, comic tales which have
+been occasionally adopted by the most licentious writers, and minute and
+lively descriptions, to the great simplicity of the times, when the
+grossest indecency was never concealed under a gentle periphrasis, but
+everything was called by its name. All this was enforced by the most
+daring personalities, and seasoned by those temporary allusions which
+neither spared, nor feared even the throne. These ancient sermons
+therefore are singularly precious, to those whose inquisitive pleasures
+are gratified by tracing the _manners_ of former ages. When Henry
+Stephens, in his apology for Herodotus, describes the irregularities of
+the age, and the minutiæ of national manners, he effects this chiefly by
+extracts from these sermons. Their wit is not always the brightest, nor
+their satire the most poignant; but there is always that prevailing
+_naïveté_ of the age running through their rude eloquence, which
+interests the reflecting mind. In a word, these sermons were addressed
+to the multitude; and therefore they show good sense and absurdity;
+fancy and puerility; satire and insipidity; extravagance and truth.
+
+Oliver Maillard, a famous cordelier, died in 1502. This preacher having
+pointed some keen traits in his sermons at Louis XI., the irritated
+monarch had our cordelier informed that he would throw him into the
+river. He replied undaunted, and not forgetting his satire: "The king
+may do as he chooses; but tell him that I shall sooner get to paradise
+by water, than he will arrive by all his post-horses." He alluded to
+travelling by post, which this monarch had lately introduced into
+France. This bold answer, it is said, intimidated Louis: it is certain
+that Maillard continued as courageous and satirical as ever in his
+pulpit.
+
+The following extracts are descriptive of the manners of the times.
+
+In attacking rapine and robbery, under the first head he describes a
+kind of usury, which was practised in the days of Ben Jonson, and I am
+told in the present, as well as in the times of Maillard. "This," says
+he, "is called a palliated usury. It is thus. When a person is in want
+of money, he goes to a treasurer (a kind of banker or merchant), on whom
+he has an order for 1000 crowns; the treasurer tells him that he will
+pay him in a fortnight's time, when he is to receive the money. The
+poor man cannot wait. Our good treasurer tells him, I will give you half
+in money and half in goods. So he passes his goods that are worth 100
+crowns for 200." He then touches on the bribes which these treasurers
+and clerks in office took, excusing themselves by alleging the little
+pay they otherwise received. "All these practices be sent to the
+devils!" cries Maillard, in thus addressing himself to the _ladies_: "it
+is for _you_ all this damnation ensues. Yes! yes! you must have rich
+satins, and girdles of gold out of this accursed money. When any one has
+anything to receive from the husband, he must make a present to the wife
+of some fine gown, or girdle, or ring. If you ladies and gentlemen who
+are battening on your pleasures, and wear scarlet clothes, I believe if
+you were closely put in a good press, we should see the blood of the
+poor gush out, with which your scarlet is dyed."
+
+Maillard notices the following curious particulars of the mode of
+_cheating in trade_ in his times.
+
+He is violent against the apothecaries for their cheats. "They mix
+ginger with cinnamon, which they sell for real spices: they put their
+bags of ginger, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, and other drugs in damp
+cellars, that they may weigh heavier; they mix oil with saffron, to give
+it a colour, and to make it weightier." He does not forget those
+tradesmen who put water in their wool, and moisten their cloth that it
+may stretch; tavern-keepers, who sophisticate and mingle wines; the
+butchers, who blow up their meat, and who mix hog's lard with the fat of
+their meat. He terribly declaims against those who buy with a great
+allowance of measure and weight, and then sell with a small measure and
+weight; and curses those who, when they weigh, press the scales down
+with their finger. But it is time to conclude with Master Oliver! His
+catalogue is, however, by no means exhausted; and it may not be amiss to
+observe, that the present age has retained every one of the sins.
+
+The following extracts are from Menot's sermons, which are written, like
+Maillard's, in a barbarous Latin, mixed with old French.
+
+Michael Menot died in 1518. I think he has more wit than Maillard, and
+occasionally displays a brilliant imagination; with the same singular
+mixture of grave declamation and farcical absurdities. He is called in
+the title-page the _golden-tongued_. It runs thus, _Predicatoris qui
+lingua aurea, sua tempestate nuncupatus est, Sermones quadragesimales,
+ab ipso olim Turonis declamati_. _Paris, 1525_, 8vo.
+
+When he compares the church with a vine, he says, "There were once some
+Britons and Englishmen who would have carried away all France into their
+country, because they found our wine better than their beer; but as they
+well knew that they could not always remain in France, nor carry away
+France into their country, they would at least carry with them several
+stocks of vines; they planted some in England; but these stocks soon
+degenerated, because the soil was not adapted to them." Notwithstanding
+what Menot said in 1500, and that we have tried so often, we have often
+flattered ourselves that if we plant vineyards, we may have English
+wine.
+
+The following beautiful figure describes those who live neglectful of
+their aged parents, who had cherished them into prosperity. "See the
+trees flourish and recover their leaves; it is their root that has
+produced all; but when the branches are loaded with flowers and with
+fruits, they yield nothing to the root. This is an image of those
+children who prefer their own amusements, and to game away their
+fortunes, than to give to their old parents that which they want."
+
+He acquaints us with the following circumstances of the immorality of
+that age: "Who has not got a mistress besides his wife? The poor wife
+eats the fruits of bitterness, and even makes the bed for the mistress."
+Oaths were not unfashionable in his day. "Since the world has been
+world, this crime was never greater. There were once pillories for these
+swearers; but now this crime is so common, that the child of five years
+can swear; and even the old dotard of eighty, who has only two teeth
+remaining, can fling out an oath."
+
+On the power of the fair sex of his day, he observes--"A father says, my
+son studies; he must have a bishopric, or an abbey of 500 livres. Then
+he will have dogs, horses, and mistresses, like others. Another says, I
+will have my son placed at court, and have many honourable dignities. To
+succeed well, both employ the mediation of women; unhappily the church
+and the law are entirely at their disposal. We have artful Dalilahs who
+shear us close. For twelve crowns and an ell of velvet given to a woman,
+you gain the worst lawsuit, and the best living."
+
+In his last sermon, Menot recapitulates the various topics he had
+touched on during Lent. This extract presents a curious picture, and a
+just notion of the versatile talents of these preachers.
+
+"I have told _ecclesiastics_ how they should conduct themselves; not
+that they are ignorant of their duties; but I must ever repeat to girls,
+not to suffer themselves to be duped by them. I have told these
+ecclesiastics that they should imitate the lark; if she has a grain she
+does not remain idle, but feels her pleasure in singing, and in singing
+always is ascending towards heaven. So they should not amass; but
+elevate the hearts of all to God; and not do as the frogs who are crying
+out day and night, and think they have a fine throat, but always remain
+fixed in the mud.
+
+"I have told the _men of the law_ that they should have the qualities of
+the eagle. The first is, that this bird when it flies fixes its eye on
+the sun; so all judges, counsellors, and attorneys, in judging, writing,
+and signing, should always have God before their eyes. And secondly,
+this bird is never greedy; it willingly shares its prey with others; so
+all lawyers, who are rich in crowns after having had their bills paid,
+should distribute some to the poor, particularly when they are conscious
+that their money arises from their prey.
+
+"I have spoken of the _marriage state_, but all that I have said has
+been disregarded. See those wretches who break the hymeneal chains, and
+abandon their wives! they pass their holidays out of their parishes,
+because if they remained at home they must have joined their wives at
+church; they liked their prostitutes better; and it will be so every day
+in the year! I would as well dine with a Jew or a heretic, as with them.
+What an infected place is this! Mistress Lubricity has taken possession
+of the whole city; look in every corner, and you'll be convinced.
+
+"For you _married women_! If you have heard the nightingale's song, you
+must know that she sings during three months, and that she is silent
+when she has young ones. So there is a time in which you may sing and
+take your pleasures in the marriage state, and another to watch your
+children. Don't damn yourselves for them; and remember it would be
+better to see them drowned than damned.
+
+"As to _widows_, I observe, that the turtle withdraws and sighs in the
+woods, whenever she has lost her companion; so must they retire into the
+wood of the cross, and having lost their temporal husband, take no other
+but Jesus Christ.
+
+"And, to close all I have told _girls_ that they must fly from the
+company of men, and not permit them to embrace, nor even touch them.
+Look on the rose; it has a delightful odour; it embalms the place in
+which it is placed; but if you grasp it underneath, it will prick you
+till the blood issues. The beauty of the rose is the beauty of the girl.
+The beauty and perfume of the first invite to smell and to handle it,
+but when it is touched underneath it pricks sharply; the beauty of a
+girl likewise invites the hand; but you, my young ladies, you must never
+suffer this, for I tell you that every man who does this designs to make
+you harlots."
+
+These ample extracts may convey the same pleasure to the reader which I
+have received by collecting them from their scarce originals, little
+known even to the curious. Menot, it cannot be denied, displays a poetic
+imagination, and a fertility of conception which distinguishes him among
+his rivals. The same taste and popular manner came into our country, and
+were suited to the simplicity of the age. In 1527, our Bishop Latimer
+preached a sermon,[74] in which he expresses himself thus:--"Now, ye
+have heard what is meant by this _first card_, and how ye ought to
+_play_. I purpose again to _deal_ unto you another _card of the same
+suit_; for they be so nigh affinity, that one cannot be well played
+without the other."[75] It is curious to observe about a century
+afterwards, as Fuller informs us, that when a country clergyman imitated
+these familiar allusions, the taste of the congregation had so changed
+that he was interrupted by peals of laughter!
+
+Even in more modern times have Menot and Maillard found an imitator in
+little Father André, as well as others. His character has been variously
+drawn. He is by some represented as a kind of buffoon in the pulpit; but
+others more judiciously observe, that he only indulged his natural
+genius, and uttered humorous and lively things, as the good Father
+observes himself, to keep the attention of his audience awake. He was
+not always laughing. "He told many a bold truth," says the author of
+_Guerre des Auteurs anciens et modernes_, "that sent bishops to their
+dioceses, and made many a coquette blush. He possessed the art of biting
+when he smiled; and more ably combated vice by his ingenious satire than
+by those vague apostrophes which no one takes to himself. While others
+were straining their minds to catch at sublime thoughts which no one
+understood, he lowered his talents to the most humble situations, and to
+the minutest things. From them he drew his examples and his comparisons;
+and the one and the other never failed of success." Marville says, that
+"his expressions were full of shrewd simplicity. He made very free use
+of the most popular proverbs. His comparisons and figures were always
+borrowed from the most familiar and lowest things." To ridicule
+effectually the reigning vices, he would prefer quirks or puns to
+sublime thoughts; and he was little solicitous of his choice of
+expression, so the things came home. Gozzi, in Italy, had the same power
+in drawing unexpected inferences from vulgar and familiar occurrences.
+It was by this art Whitfield obtained so many followers. In Piozzi's
+British Synonymes, vol. ii. p. 205, we have an instance of Gozzi's
+manner. In the time of Charles II. it became fashionable to introduce
+humour into sermons. Sterne seems to have revived it in his: South's
+sparkle perpetually with wit and pun.
+
+Far different, however, are the characters of the sublime preachers, of
+whom the French have preserved the following descriptions.
+
+We have not any more Bourdaloue, La Rue, and Massillon; but the idea
+which still exists of their manner of addressing their auditors may
+serve instead of lessons. Each had his own peculiar mode, always adapted
+to place, time, circumstance; to their auditors, their style, and their
+subject.
+
+Bourdaloue, with a collected air, had little action; with eyes generally
+half closed he penetrated the hearts of the people by the sound of a
+voice uniform and solemn. The tone with which a sacred orator pronounced
+the words, _Tu est ille vir!_ "Thou art the man!" in suddenly addressing
+them to one of the kings of France, struck more forcibly than their
+application. Madame de Sévigné describes our preacher, by saying,
+"Father Bourdaloue thunders at Notre Dame."
+
+La Rue appeared with the air of a prophet. His manner was irresistible,
+full of fire, intelligence, and force. He had strokes perfectly
+original. Several old men, his contemporaries, still shuddered at the
+recollection of the expression which he employed in an apostrophe to the
+God of vengeance, _Evaginare gladium tuum!_
+
+The person of Massillon affected his admirers. He was seen in the pulpit
+with that air of simplicity, that modest demeanour, those eyes humbly
+declining, those unstudied gestures, that passionate tone, that mild
+countenance of a man penetrated with his subject, conveying to the mind
+the most luminous ideas, and to the heart the most tender emotions.
+Baron, the tragedian, coming out from one of his sermons, truth forced
+from his lips a confession humiliating to his profession; "My friend,"
+said he to one of his companions, "this is an _orator!_ and we are _only
+actors!_"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 74: In it he likens Christianity to a game at cards.]
+
+[Footnote 75: In his "Sermon of the Plough," preached at Paul's Cross,
+1548, we meet the same quaint imagery. "Preaching of the Gospel is one
+of God's plough works, and the preacher is one of God's ploughmen--and
+well may the preacher and the ploughman be likened together: first, for
+their labour at all seasons of the year; for there is no time of the
+year in which the ploughman hath not some special work to do." He says
+that Satan "is ever busy in following his plough;" and he winds up his
+peroration by the somewhat startling words, "the devil shall go for my
+money, for he applieth to his business. Therefore, ye unpreaching
+prelates, learn of the devil: to be diligent in doing your office learn
+of the devil: and if you will not learn of God, nor good men, for shame
+learn of the devil."]
+
+
+
+
+MASTERLY IMITATORS.
+
+
+There have been found occasionally some artists who could so perfectly
+imitate the spirit, the taste, the character, and the peculiarities of
+great masters, that they have not unfrequently deceived the most skilful
+connoisseurs. Michael Angelo sculptured a sleeping Cupid, of which
+having broken off an arm, he buried the statue in a place where he knew
+it would soon be found. The critics were never tired of admiring it, as
+one of the most precious relics of antiquity. It was sold to the
+Cardinal of St. George, to whom Michael Angelo discovered the whole
+mystery, by joining to the Cupid the arm which he had reserved.
+
+An anecdote of Peter Mignard is more singular. This great artist painted
+a Magdalen on a canvas fabricated at Rome. A broker, in concert with
+Mignard, went to the Chevalier de Clairville, and told him as a secret
+that he was to receive from Italy a Magdalen of Guido, and his
+masterpiece. The chevalier caught the bait, begged the preference, and
+purchased the picture at a very high price.
+
+He was informed that he had been imposed upon, and that the Magdalen was
+painted by Mignard. Mignard himself caused the alarm to be given, but
+the amateur would not believe it; all the connoisseurs agreed it was a
+Guido, and the famous Le Brun corroborated this opinion.
+
+The chevalier came to Mignard:--"Some persons assure me that my Magdalen
+is your work!"--"Mine! they do me great honour. I am sure that Le Brun
+is not of this opinion." "Le Brun swears it can be no other than a
+Guido. You shall dine with me, and meet several of the first
+connoisseurs."
+
+On the day of meeting, the picture was again more closely inspected.
+Mignard hinted his doubts whether the piece was the work of that great
+master; he insinuated that it was possible to be deceived; and added,
+that if it was Guido's, he did not think it in his best manner. "It is a
+Guido, sir, and in his very best manner," replied Le Brun, with warmth;
+and all the critics were unanimous. Mignard then spoke in a firm tone of
+voice: "And I, gentlemen, will wager three hundred louis that it is not
+a Guido." The dispute now became violent: Le Brun was desirous of
+accepting the wager. In a word, the affair became such that it could add
+nothing more to the glory of Mignard. "No, sir," replied the latter, "I
+am too honest to bet when I am certain to win. Monsieur le Chevalier,
+this piece cost you two thousand crowns: the money must be
+returned,--the painting is _mine_." Le Brun would not believe it. "The
+proof," Mignard continued, "is easy. On this canvas, which is a Roman
+one, was the portrait of a cardinal; I will show you his cap."--The
+chevalier did not know which of the rival artists to credit. The
+proposition alarmed him. "He who painted the picture shall repair it,"
+said Mignard. He took a pencil dipped in oil, and rubbing the hair of
+the Magdalen, discovered the cap of the cardinal. The honour of the
+ingenious painter could no longer be disputed; Le Brun, vexed,
+sarcastically exclaimed, "Always paint Guido, but never Mignard."
+
+There is a collection of engravings by that ingenious artist Bernard
+Picart, which has been published under the title of _The Innocent
+Impostors_. Picart had long been vexed at the taste of his day, which
+ran wholly in favour of antiquity, and no one would look at, much less
+admire, a modern master. He published a pretended collection, or a set
+of prints, from the designs of the great painters; in which he imitated
+the etchings and engravings of the various masters, and much were these
+prints admired as the works of Guido, Rembrandt, and others. Having had
+his joke, they were published under the title of _Imposteurs
+Innocentes_. The connoisseurs, however, are strangely divided in their
+opinion of the merit of this collection. Gilpin classes these "Innocent
+Impostors" among the most entertaining of his works, and is delighted by
+the happiness with which he has outdone in their own excellences the
+artists whom he copied; but Strutt, too grave to admit of jokes that
+twitch the connoisseurs, declares that they could never have deceived an
+experienced judge, and reprobates such kinds of ingenuity, played off at
+the cost of the venerable brotherhood of the cognoscenti.
+
+The same thing was, however, done by Goltzius, who being disgusted at
+the preference given to the works of Albert Durer, Lucas of Leyden, and
+others of that school, and having attempted to introduce a better taste,
+which was not immediately relished, he published what were afterwards
+called his _masterpieces_. These are six prints in the style of these
+masters, merely to prove that Goltzius could imitate their works, if he
+thought proper. One of these, the Circumcision, he had printed on soiled
+paper; and to give it the brown tint of antiquity had carefully smoked
+it, by which means it was sold as a curious performance, and deceived
+some of the most capital connoisseurs of the day, one of whom bought it
+as one of the finest engravings of Albert Durer: even Strutt
+acknowledges the merit of Goltzius's _masterpieces_!
+
+To these instances of artists I will add others of celebrated authors.
+Muretus rendered Joseph Scaliger, a great stickler for the ancients,
+highly ridiculous by an artifice which he practised. He sent some verses
+which he pretended were copied from an old manuscript. The verses were
+excellent, and Scaliger was credulous. After having read them, he
+exclaimed they were admirable, and affirmed that they were written by an
+old comic poet, Trabeus. He quoted them, in his commentary on Varro _De
+Re Rusticâ_, as one of the most precious fragments of antiquity. It was
+then, when he had fixed his foot firmly in the trap, that Muretus
+informed the world of the little dependence to be placed on the critical
+sagacity of one so prejudiced in favour of the ancients, and who
+considered his judgment as infallible.
+
+The Abbé Regnier Desmarais, having written an ode or, as the Italians
+call it, canzone, sent it to the Abbé Strozzi at Florence, who used it
+to impose on three or four academicians of Della Crusca. He gave out
+that Leo Allatius, librarian of the Vatican, in examining carefully the
+MSS. of Petrarch preserved there, had found two pages slightly glued,
+which having separated, he had discovered this ode. The fact was not at
+first easily credited; but afterwards the similarity of style and manner
+rendered it highly probable. When Strozzi undeceived the public, it
+procured the Abbé Regnier a place in the academy, as an honourable
+testimony of his ingenuity.
+
+Père Commire, when Louis XIV. resolved on the conquest of Holland,
+composed a Latin fable, entitled "The Sun and the Frogs," in which he
+assumed with such felicity the style and character of Phædrus, that the
+learned Wolfius was deceived, and innocently inserted it in his edition
+of that fabulist.
+
+Flaminius Strada would have deceived most of the critics of his age, if
+he had given as the remains of antiquity the different pieces of history
+and poetry which he composed on the model of the ancients, in his
+_Prolusiones Academicæ_. To preserve probability he might have given out
+that he had drawn them, from some old and neglected library; he had then
+only to have added a good commentary, tending to display the conformity
+of the style and manner of these fragments with the works of those
+authors to whom he ascribed them.
+
+Sigonius was a great master of the style of Cicero, and ventured to
+publish a treatise _De Consolatione_, as a composition of Cicero
+recently discovered; many were deceived by the counterfeit, which was
+performed with great dexterity, and was long received as genuine; but he
+could not deceive Lipsius, who, after reading only ten lines, threw it
+away, exclaiming, "_Vah! non est Ciceronis_." The late Mr. Burke
+succeeded more skilfully in his "Vindication of Natural Society," which
+for a long time passed as the composition of Lord Bolingbroke; so
+perfect is this ingenious imposture of the spirit, manner, and course of
+thinking of the noble author. I believe it was written for a wager, and
+fairly won.
+
+
+
+
+EDWARD THE FOURTH.
+
+
+Our Edward the Fourth was dissipated and voluptuous; and probably owed
+his crown to his handsomeness, his enormous debts, and passion for the
+fair sex. He had many Jane Shores. Honest Philip de Comines, his
+contemporary, says, "That what greatly contributed to his entering
+London as soon as he appeared at its gates was the great debts this
+prince had contracted, which made his creditors gladly assist him; and
+the high favour in which he was held by the _bourgeoises_, into whose
+good graces he had frequently glided, and who gained over to him their
+husbands, who, for the tranquillity of their lives, were glad to depose
+or to raise monarchs. Many ladies and rich citizens' wives, of whom
+formerly he had great privacies and familiar acquaintance, gained over
+to him their husbands and relations."
+
+This is the description of his voluptuous life; we must recollect that
+the writer had been an eye-witness, and was an honest man.
+
+"He had been during the last twelve years more accustomed to his ease
+and pleasure than any other prince who lived in his time. He had nothing
+in his thoughts but _les dames_, and of them more than was _reasonable_;
+and hunting-matches, good eating, and great care of his person. When he
+went in their seasons to these hunting-matches, he always had carried
+with him great pavilions for _les dames_, and at the same time gave
+splendid entertainments; so that it is not surprising that his person
+was as jolly as any one I ever saw. He was then young, and as handsome
+as any man of his age; but he has since become enormously fat."
+
+Since I have got old Philip in my hand, the reader will not, perhaps, be
+displeased, if he attends to a little more of his _naïveté_, which will
+appear in the form of a _conversazione_ of the times. He relates what
+passed between the English and the French Monarch.
+
+"When the ceremony of the oath was concluded, our king, who was desirous
+of being friendly, began to say to the king of England, in a laughing
+way, that he must come to Paris, and be jovial amongst our ladies; and
+that he would give him the Cardinal de Bourbon for his confessor, who
+would very willingly absolve him of any _sin_ which perchance he might
+commit. The king of England seemed well pleased at the invitation, and
+laughed heartily; for he knew that the said cardinal was _un fort bon
+compagnon_. When the king was returning, he spoke on the road to me; and
+said that he did not like to find the king of England so much inclined
+to come to Paris. 'He is,' said he, 'a very _handsome_ king; he likes
+the women too much. He may probably find one at Paris that may make him
+like to come too often, or stay too long. His predecessors have already
+been too much at Paris and in Normandy;' and that 'his company was not
+agreeable _this side of the sea_; but that, beyond the sea, he wished
+to be _bon frère et amy_.'"
+
+I have called Philip de Comines _honest_. The old writers, from the
+simplicity of their style, usually receive this honourable epithet; but
+sometimes they deserve it as little as most modern memoir writers. No
+enemy is indeed so terrible as a man of genius. Comines's violent enmity
+to the Duke of Burgundy, which appears in these memoirs, has been traced
+by the minute researchers of anecdotes; and the cause is not honourable
+to the memoir-writer, whose resentment was implacable. De Comines was
+born a subject of the Duke of Burgundy, and for seven years had been a
+favourite; but one day returning from hunting with the Duke, then Count
+de Charolois, in familiar jocularity he sat himself down before the
+prince, ordering the prince to pull off his boots. The count laughed,
+and did this; but in return for Comines's princely amusement, dashed the
+boot in his face, and gave Comines a bloody nose, From that time he was
+mortified in the court of Burgundy by the nickname of the _booted head_.
+Comines long felt a rankling wound in his mind; and after this domestic
+quarrel, for it was nothing more, he went over to the king of France,
+and wrote off his bile against the Duke of Burgundy in these "Memoirs,"
+which give posterity a caricature likeness of that prince, whom he is
+ever censuring for presumption, obstinacy, pride, and cruelty. This Duke
+of Burgundy, however, it is said, with many virtues, had but one great
+vice, the vice of sovereigns, that of ambition!
+
+The impertinence of Comines had not been chastised with great severity;
+but the nickname was never forgiven: unfortunately for the duke, Comines
+was a man of genius. When we are versed in the history of the times, we
+often discover that memoir-writers have some secret poison in their
+hearts. Many, like Comines, have had the boot dashed on their nose.
+Personal rancour wonderfully enlivens the style of Lord Orford and
+Cardinal de Retz. Memoirs are often dictated by its fiercest spirit; and
+then histories are composed from memoirs. Where is TRUTH? Not always in
+histories and memoirs!
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH.
+
+
+This great queen passionately admired handsome persons, and he was
+already far advanced in her favour who approached her with beauty and
+grace. She had so unconquerable an aversion for men who had been treated
+unfortunately by nature, that she could not endure their presence.
+
+When she issued from her palace, her guards were careful to disperse
+from before her eyes hideous and deformed people, the lame, the
+hunchbacked, &c.; in a word, all those whose appearance might shock her
+fastidious sensations.
+
+"There is this singular and admirable in the conduct of Elizabeth that
+she made her pleasures subservient to her policy, and she maintained her
+affairs by what in general occasions the ruin of princes. So secret were
+her amours, that even to the present day their mysteries cannot be
+penetrated; but the utility she drew from them is public, and always
+operated for the good of her people. Her lovers were her ministers, and
+her ministers were her lovers. Love commanded, love was obeyed; and the
+reign of this princess was happy, because it was the reign of _Love_, in
+which its chains and its slavery are liked!"
+
+The origin of Raleigh's advancement in the queen's graces was by an act
+of gallantry. Raleigh spoiled a new plush cloak, while the queen,
+stepping cautiously on this prodigal's footcloth, shot forth a smile, in
+which he read promotion. Captain Raleigh soon became Sir Walter, and
+rapidly advanced in the queen's favour.
+
+Hume has furnished us with ample proofs of the _passion_ which her
+courtiers feigned for her, and it remains a question whether it ever
+went further than boisterous or romantic gallantry. The secrecy of her
+amours is not so wonderful as it seems, if there were impediments to any
+but exterior gallantries. Hume has preserved in his notes a letter
+written by Raleigh. It is a perfect amorous composition. After having
+exerted his poetic talents to exalt _her charms_ and _his affection_, he
+concludes, by comparing her majesty, who was then _sixty_, to Venus and
+Diana. Sir Walter was not her only courtier who wrote in this style.
+Even in her old age she affected a strange fondness for music and
+dancing, with a kind of childish simplicity; her court seemed a court of
+love, and she the sovereign. Secretary Cecil, the youngest son of Lord
+Burleigh, seems to have perfectly entered into her character. Lady Derby
+wore about her neck and in her bosom a portrait; the queen inquired
+about it, but her ladyship was anxious to conceal it. The queen insisted
+on having it; and discovering it to be the portrait of young Cecil, she
+snatched it away, tying it upon her shoe, and walked with it; afterwards
+she pinned it on her elbow, and wore it some time there. Secretary Cecil
+hearing of this, composed some verses and got them set to music; this
+music the queen insisted on hearing. In his verses Cecil said that he
+repined not, though her majesty was pleased to grace others; he
+contented himself with the favour she had given him by wearing his
+portrait on her feet and on her arms! The writer of the letter who
+relates this anecdote, adds, "All these things are very secret." In this
+manner she contrived to lay the fastest hold on her able servants, and
+her servants on her.
+
+Those who are intimately acquainted with the private anecdotes of those
+times, know what encouragement this royal coquette gave to most who were
+near her person. Dodd, in his Church History, says, that the Earls of
+Arran and Arundel, and Sir William Pickering, "were not out of hopes of
+gaining Queen Elizabeth's affections in a matrimonial way."
+
+She encouraged every person of eminence: she even went so far, on the
+anniversary of her coronation, as publicly to take a ring from her
+finger, and put it on the Duke of Aleçnon's hand. She also ranked
+amongst her suitors Henry the Third of France, and Henry the Great.
+
+She never forgave Buzenval for ridiculing her bad pronunciation of the
+French language; and when Henry IV. sent him over on an embassy, she
+would not receive him. So nice was the irritable pride of this great
+queen, that she made her private injuries matters of state.
+
+"This queen," writes Du Maurier, in his _Memoires pour servir à
+l'Histoire de la Hollande_, "who displayed so many heroic
+accomplishments, had this foible, of wishing to be thought beautiful by
+all the world. I heard from my father, that at every audience he had
+with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hundred times to
+display her hands, which indeed were very beautiful and very white."
+
+A not less curious anecdote relates to the affair of the Duke of Anjou
+and our Elizabeth; it is one more proof of her partiality for handsome
+men. The writer was Lewis Guyon, a contemporary.
+
+"Francis Duke of Anjou, being desirous of marrying a crowned head,
+caused proposals of marriage to be made to Elizabeth, queen of England.
+Letters passed betwixt them, and their portraits were exchanged. At
+length her majesty informed him, that she would never contract a
+marriage with any one who sought her, if she did not first _see his
+person_. If he would not come, nothing more should be said on the
+subject. This prince, over-pressed by his young friends (who were as
+little able of judging as himself), paid no attention to the counsels of
+men of maturer judgment. He passed over to England without a splendid
+train. The said lady contemplated his _person_: she found him _ugly_,
+disfigured by deep sears of the _small-pox_, and that he also had an
+_ill-shaped nose_, with _swellings in the neck_! All these were so many
+reasons with her, that he could never be admitted into her good graces."
+
+Puttenham, in his very rare book of the "Art of Poesie," p. 248, notices
+the grace and majesty of Elizabeth's demeanour: "Her stately manner of
+walk, with a certaine granditie rather than gravietie, marching with
+leysure, which our sovereign ladye and mistresse is accustomed to doe
+generally, unless it be when she walketh apace for her pleasure, or to
+catch her a heate in the cold mornings."
+
+By the following extract from a letter from one of her gentlemen, we
+discover that her usual habits, though studious, were not of the
+gentlest kind, and that the service she exacted from her attendants was
+not borne without concealed murmurs. The writer groans in secrecy to his
+friend. Sir John Stanhope writes to Sir Robert Cecil in 1598: "I was all
+the afternowne with her majestie, _at my booke_; and then thinking to
+rest me, went in agayne with your letter. She was pleased with the
+Filosofer's stone, and hath ben _all this daye reasonably quyett_. Mr.
+Grevell is absent, and I am tyed so as I cannot styrr, but shall be _at
+the wourse_ for yt, these two dayes!"[76]
+
+Puttenham, p. 249, has also recorded an honourable anecdote of
+Elizabeth, and characteristic of that high majesty which was in her
+thoughts, as well as in her actions. When she came to the crown, a
+knight of the realm, who had insolently behaved to her when Lady
+Elizabeth, fell upon his knees and besought her pardon, expecting to be
+sent to the Tower: she replied mildly, "Do you not know that we are
+descended of the _lion_, whose nature is not to harme or prey upon the
+mouse, or any other such small vermin?"
+
+Queen Elizabeth was taught to write by the celebrated _Roger Ascham_.
+Her writing is extremely beautiful and correct, as may be seen by
+examining a little manuscript book of prayers, preserved in the British
+Museum. I have seen her first writing book, preserved at Oxford in the
+Bodleian Library: the gradual improvement in her majesty's handwriting
+is very honourable to her diligence; but the most curious thing is the
+paper on which she tried her pens; this she usually did by writing the
+name of her beloved brother Edward; a proof of the early and ardent
+attachment she formed to that amiable prince.
+
+The education of Elizabeth had been severely classical; she thought and
+she wrote in all the spirit of the characters of antiquity; and her
+speeches and her letters are studded with apophthegms, and a terseness
+of ideas and language, that give an exalted idea of her mind. In her
+evasive answers to the Commons, in reply to their petitions to her
+majesty to marry, she has employed an energetic word: "Were I to tell
+you that I do not mean to marry, I might say less than I did intend; and
+were I to tell you that I do mean to marry, I might say more than it is
+proper for you to know; therefore I give you an _answer_, ANSWERLESS!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 76: Sir Robert Cecil, in a letter to Sir John Harrington,
+happily characterized her Majesty as occasionally "being more than a
+man, and, in truth, sometimes less than a woman."]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.
+
+
+The Chinese language is like no other on the globe; it is said to
+contain not more than about three hundred and thirty words, but it is by
+no means monotonous, for it has four accents; the even, the raised, the
+lessened, and the returning, which multiply every word into four; as
+difficult, says Mr. Astle, for an European to understand, as it is for a
+Chinese to comprehend the six pronunciations of the French E. In fact,
+they can so diversify their monosyllabic words by the different _tones_
+which they give them, that the same character differently accented
+signifies sometimes ten or more different things.
+
+P. Bourgeois, one of the missionaries, attempted, after ten months'
+residence at Pekin, to preach in the Chinese language. These are the
+words of the good father: "God knows how much this first Chinese sermon
+cost me! I can assure you this language resembles no other. The same
+word has never but one termination; and then adieu to all that in our
+declensions distinguishes the gender, and the number of things we would
+speak: adieu, in the verbs, to all which might explain the active
+person, how and in what time it acts, if it acts alone or with others:
+in a word, with the Chinese, the same word is substantive, adjective,
+verb, singular, plural, masculine, feminine, &c. It is the person who
+hears who must arrange the circumstances, and guess them. Add to all
+this, that all the words of this language are reduced to three hundred
+and a few more; that they are pronounced in so many different ways, that
+they signify eighty thousand different things, which are expressed by as
+many different characters. This is not all: the arrangement of all these
+monosyllables appears to be under no general rule; so that to know the
+language after having learnt the words, we must learn every particular
+phrase: the least inversion would make you unintelligible to three parts
+of the Chinese.
+
+"I will give you an example of their words. They told me _chou_
+signifies a _book_: so that I thought whenever the word _chou_ was
+pronounced, a _book_ was the subject. Not at all! _Chou_, the next time
+I heard it, I found signified a _tree_. Now I was to recollect; _chou_
+was a _book_ or a _tree_. But this amounted to nothing; _chou_, I found,
+expressed also _great heats_; _chou_ is to _relate_; _chou_ is the
+_Aurora_; _chou_ means to be _accustomed_; _chou_ expresses the _loss of
+a wager_, &c. I should not finish, were I to attempt to give you all its
+significations.
+
+"Notwithstanding these singular difficulties, could one but find a help
+in the perusal of their books, I should not complain. But this is
+impossible! Their language is quite different from that of simple
+conversation. What will ever be an insurmountable difficulty to every
+European is the pronunciation; every word may be pronounced in five
+different tones, yet every tone is not so distinct that an unpractised
+ear can easily distinguish it. These monosyllables fly with amazing
+rapidity; then they are continually disguised by elisions, which
+sometimes hardly leave anything of two monosyllables. From an aspirated
+tone you must pass immediately to an even one; from a whistling note to
+an inward one: sometimes your voice must proceed from the palate;
+sometimes it must be guttural, and almost always nasal. I recited my
+sermon at least fifty times to my servant before I spoke it in public;
+and yet I am told, though he continually corrected me, that of the ten
+parts of the sermon (as the Chinese express themselves), they hardly
+understood three. Fortunately the Chinese are wonderfully patient; and
+they are astonished that any ignorant stranger should be able to learn
+two words of their language."
+
+It has been said that "Satires are often composed in China, which, if
+you attend to the _characters_, their import is pure and sublime; but if
+you regard the _tone_ only, they contain a meaning ludicrous or obscene.
+In the Chinese _one word_ sometimes corresponds to three or four
+thousand characters; a property quite opposite to that of our language,
+in which _myriads_ of different _words_ are expressed by the _same
+letters_."
+
+
+
+
+MEDICAL MUSIC.
+
+
+In the Philosophical Magazine for May, 1806, we find that "several of
+the medical literati on the continent are at present engaged in making
+inquiries and experiments upon the _influence of music in the cure of
+diseases_." The learned Dusaux is said to lead the band of this new
+tribe of _amateurs_ and _cognoscenti_.
+
+The subject excited my curiosity, though I since have found that it is
+no new discovery.
+
+There is a curious article in Dr. Burney's History of Music, "On the
+Medicinal Powers attributed to Music by the Ancients," which he derived
+from the learned labours of a modern physician, M. Burette, who
+doubtless could play a tune to, as well as prescribe one to, his
+patient. He conceives that music can relieve the pains of the sciatica;
+and that, independent of the greater or less skill of the musician, by
+flattering the ear, and diverting the attention, and occasioning certain
+vibrations of the nerves, it can remove those obstructions which
+occasion this disorder. M. Burette, and many modern physicians and
+philosophers, have believed that music has the power of affecting the
+mind, and the whole nervous system, so as to give a temporary relief in
+certain diseases, and even a radical cure. De Mairan, Bianchini, and
+other respectable names, have pursued the same career. But the ancients
+recorded miracles!
+
+The Rev. Dr. Mitchell, of Brighthelmstone, wrote a dissertation, "_De
+Arte Medendi apud Priscos, Musices ope atque Carminum_," printed for J.
+Nichols, 1783. He writes under the assumed name of Michael Gaspar; but
+whether this learned dissertator be grave or jocular, more than one
+critic has not been able to resolve me. I suspect it to be a satire on
+the parade of Germanic erudition, by which they often prove a point by
+the weakest analogies and most fanciful conceits.
+
+Amongst half-civilized nations, diseases have been generally attributed
+to the influence of evil spirits. The depression of mind which is
+generally attendant on sickness, and the delirium accompanying certain
+stages of disease, seem to have been considered as especially denoting
+the immediate influence of a demon. The effect of music in raising the
+energies of the mind, or what we commonly call animal spirits, was
+obvious to early observation. Its power of attracting strong attention
+may in some cases have appeared to affect even those who laboured under
+a considerable degree of mental disorder. The accompanying depression of
+mind was considered as a part of the disease, perhaps rightly enough,
+and music was prescribed as a remedy to remove the symptom, when
+experience had not ascertained the probable cause. Homer, whose heroes
+exhibit high passions, but not refined manners, represents the Grecian
+army as employing music to stay the raging of the plague. The Jewish
+nation, in the time of King David, appear not to have been much further
+advanced in civilization; accordingly we find David employed in his
+youth to remove the mental derangement of Saul by his harp. The method
+of cure was suggested as a common one in those days, by Saul's servants;
+and the success is not mentioned as a miracle. Pindar, with poetic
+licence, speaks of Æsculapius healing acute disorders with soothing
+songs; but Æsculapius, whether man or deity, or between both, is a
+physician of the days of barbarism and fable. Pliny scouts the idea that
+music could affect real bodily injury, but quotes Homer on the subject;
+mentions Theophrastus as suggesting a tune for the cure of the hip gout,
+and Cato as entertaining a fancy that it had a good effect when limbs
+were out of joint, and likewise that Varro thought it good for the gout.
+Aulus Gellius cites a work of Theophrastus, which recommends music as a
+specific for the bite of a viper. Boyle and Shakspeare mention the
+effects of music _super vesicam_. Kircher's "Musurgia," and Swinburne's
+Travels, relate the effects of music on those who are bitten by the
+tarantula. Sir W. Temple seems to have given credit to the stories of
+the power of music over diseases.
+
+The ancients, indeed, record miracles in the tales they relate of the
+medicinal powers of music. A fever is removed by a song, and deafness is
+cured by a trumpet, and the pestilence is chased away by the sweetness
+of an harmonious lyre. That deaf people can hear best in a great noise,
+is a fact alleged by some moderns, in favour of the ancient story of
+curing deafness by a trumpet. Dr. Willis tells us, says Dr. Burney, of a
+lady who could _hear_ only while _a drum was beating_, insomuch, that
+her husband, the account says, hired a drummer as her servant, in order
+to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation.
+
+Music and the sounds of instruments, says the lively Vigneul de
+Marville, contribute to the health of the body and the mind; they
+quicken the circulation of the blood, they dissipate vapours, and open
+the vessels, so that the action of perspiration is freer. He tells a
+story of a person of distinction, who assured him, that once being
+suddenly seized by violent illness, instead of a consultation of
+physicians, he immediately called a band of musicians; and their
+violins-played so well in his inside, that his bowels became perfectly
+in tune, and in a few hours were harmoniously becalmed. I once heard a
+story of Farinelli, the famous singer, who was sent for to Madrid, to
+try the effect of his magical voice on the king of Spain. His majesty
+was buried in the profoundest melancholy; nothing could raise an emotion
+in him; he lived in a total oblivion of life; he sate in a darkened
+chamber, entirely given up to the most distressing kind of madness. The
+physicians ordered Farinelli at first to sing in an outer room; and for
+the first day or two this was done, without any effect, on the royal
+patient. At length, it was observed, that the king, awakening from his
+stupor, seemed to listen; on the next day tears were seen starting in
+his eyes; the day after he ordered the door of his chamber to be left
+open--and at length the perturbed spirit entirely left our modern Saul,
+and the _medicinal voice_ of Farinelli effected what no other medicine
+could.
+
+I now prepare to give the reader some _facts_, which he may consider as
+a trial of credulity.--Their authorities are, however, not
+contemptible.--Naturalists assert that animals and birds, as well as
+"knotted oaks," as Congreve informs us, are sensible to the charms of
+music. This may serve as an instance:--An officer was confined in the
+Bastile; he begged the governor to permit him the use of his lute, to
+soften, by the harmonies of his instrument, the rigours of his prison.
+At the end of a few days, this modern Orpheus, playing on his lute, was
+greatly astonished to see frisking out of their holes great numbers of
+mice, and descending from their woven habitations crowds of spiders, who
+formed a circle about him, while he continued breathing his
+soul-subduing instrument. He was petrified with astonishment. Having
+ceased to play, the assembly, who did not come to see his person, but to
+hear his instrument, immediately broke up. As he had a great dislike to
+spiders, it was two days before he ventured again to touch his
+instrument. At length, having overcome, for the novelty of his company,
+his dislike of them, he recommenced his concert, when the assembly was
+by far more numerous than at first; and in the course of farther time,
+he found himself surrounded by a hundred _musical amateurs_. Having thus
+succeeded in attracting this company, he treacherously contrived to get
+rid of them at his will. For this purpose he begged the keeper to give
+him a cat, which he put in a cage, and let loose at the very instant
+when the little hairy people were most entranced by the Orphean skill he
+displayed.
+
+The Abbé Olivet has described an amusement of Pelisson during his
+confinement in the Bastile, which consisted in feeding a spider, which
+he had discovered forming its web in the corner of a small window. For
+some time he placed his flies at the edge, while his valet, who was with
+him, played on a bagpipe: little by little, the spider used itself to
+distinguish the sound of the instrument, and issued from its hole to run
+and catch its prey. Thus calling it always by the same sound, and
+placing the flies at a still greater distance, he succeeded, after
+several months, to drill the spider by regular exercise, so that at
+length it never failed appearing at the first sound to seize on the fly
+provided for it, even on the knees of the prisoner.
+
+Marville has given us the following curious anecdote on this subject. He
+says, that doubting the truth of those who say that the love of music
+is a natural taste, especially the sound of instruments, and that beasts
+themselves are touched by it, being one day in the country I tried an
+experiment. While a man was playing on the trump marine, I made my
+observations on a cat, a dog, a horse, an ass, a hind, cows, small
+birds, and a cock and hens, who were in a yard, under a window on which
+I was leaning. I did not perceive that the cat was the least affected,
+and I even judged, by her air, that she would have given all the
+instruments in the world for a mouse, sleeping in the sun all the time;
+the horse stopped short from time to time before the window, raising his
+head up now and then, as he was feeding on the grass; the dog continued
+for above an hour seated on his hind legs, looking steadfastly at the
+player; the ass did not discover the least indication of his being
+touched, eating his thistles peaceably; the hind lifted up her large
+wide ears, and seemed very attentive; the cows slept a little, and after
+gazing, as though they had been acquainted with us, went forward; some
+little birds who were in an aviary, and others on the trees and bushes,
+almost tore their little throats with singing; but the cock, who minded
+only his hens, and the hens, who were solely employed in scraping a
+neighbouring dunghill, did not show in any manner that they took the
+least pleasure in hearing the trump marine.
+
+A modern traveller assures us, that he has repeatedly observed in the
+island of Madeira, that the lizards are attracted by the notes of music,
+and that he has assembled a number of them by the powers of his
+instrument. When the negroes catch them for food, they accompany the
+chase by whistling some tune, which has always the effect of drawing
+great numbers towards them. Stedman, in his Expedition to Surinam,
+describes certain sibyls among the negroes, who, among several singular
+practices, can charm or conjure down from the tree certain serpents, who
+will wreath about the arms, neck, and breast of the pretended sorceress,
+listening to her voice. The sacred writers speak of the charming of
+adders and serpents; and nothing, says he, is more notorious than that
+the eastern Indians will rid the houses of the most venomous snakes, by
+charming them with the sound of a flute, which calls them out of their
+holes. These anecdotes seem fully confirmed by Sir William Jones, in his
+dissertation on the musical modes of the Hindus.
+
+"After food, when the operations of digestion and absorption give so
+much employment to the vessels, that a temporary state of mental repose
+must be found, especially in hot climates, essential to health, it seems
+reasonable to believe that a few agreeable airs, either heard or played
+without effort, must have all the good effects of sleep, and none of its
+disadvantages; _putting the soul in tune_, as Milton says, for any
+subsequent exertion; an experiment often successfully made by myself. I
+have been assured by a credible eye-witness, that two wild antelopes
+used often to come from their woods to the place where a more savage
+beast, Sirájuddaulah, entertained himself with concerts, and that they
+listened to the strains with an appearance of pleasure, till the
+monster, in whose soul there was no music, shot one of them to display
+his archery. A learned native told me that he had frequently seen the
+most venomous and malignant snakes leave their holes upon hearing tunes
+on a flute, which, as he supposed, gave them peculiar delight. An
+intelligent Persian declared he had more than once been present, when a
+celebrated lutenist, surnamed Bulbul (i.e., the nightingale), was
+playing to a large company, in a grove near Shiraz, where he distinctly
+saw the nightingales trying to vie with the musician, sometimes warbling
+on the trees, sometimes fluttering from branch to branch, as if they
+wished to approach the instrument, and at length dropping on the ground
+in a kind of ecstacy, from which they were soon raised, he assured me,
+by a change in the mode."
+
+Jackson of Exeter, in reply to a question of Dryden, "What passion
+cannot music raise or quell?" sarcastically returns, "What passion _can_
+music raise or quell?" Would not a savage, who had never listened to a
+musical instrument, feel certain emotions at listening to one for the
+first time? But civilized man is, no doubt, particularly affected by
+_association of ideas_, as all pieces of national music evidently prove.
+
+THE RANZ DES VACHES, mentioned by Rousseau in his Dictionary of Music,
+though without anything striking in the composition, has such a powerful
+influence over the Swiss, and impresses them with so violent a desire to
+return to their own country, that it is forbidden to be played in the
+Swiss regiments, in the French service, on pain of death. There is also
+a Scotch tune, which has the same effect on some of our North Britons.
+In one of our battles in Calabria, a bagpiper of the 78th Highland
+regiment, when the light infantry charged the French, posted himself on
+the right, and remained in his solitary situation during the whole of
+the battle, encouraging the men with a famous Highland charging tune;
+and actually upon the retreat and complete rout of the French changed it
+to another, equally celebrated in Scotland, upon the retreat of and
+victory over an enemy. His next-hand neighbour guarded him so well that
+he escaped unhurt. This was the spirit of the "Last Minstrel," who
+infused courage among his countrymen, by possessing it in so animated a
+degree, and in so venerable a character.
+
+
+
+
+MINUTE WRITING.
+
+
+The Iliad of Homer in a nutshell, which Pliny says that Cicero once saw,
+it is pretended might have been a fact, however to some it may appear
+impossible. Ælian notices an artist who wrote a distich in letters of
+gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn.
+
+Antiquity and modern times record many such penmen, whose glory
+consisted in writing in so small a hand that the writing could not be
+legible to the naked eye. Menage mentions, he saw whole sentences which
+were not perceptible to the eye without the microscope; pictures and
+portraits which appeared at first to be lines and scratches thrown down
+at random; one formed the face of the Dauphiness with the most correct
+resemblance. He read an Italian poem, in praise of this princess,
+containing some thousand verses, written by an officer, in a space of a
+foot and a half. This species of curious idleness has not been lost in
+our own country, where this minute writing has equalled any on record.
+Peter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher in the reign of Elizabeth,
+astonished the eyes of beholders by showing them what they could not
+see; for in the Harleian MSS. 530, we have a narrative of "a rare piece
+of work brought to pass by Peter Bales, an Englishman, and a clerk of
+the chancery;" it seems by the description to have been the whole Bible
+"in an English walnut no bigger than a hen's egg. The nut holdeth the
+book: there are as many leaves in his little book as the great Bible,
+and he hath written as much in one of his little leaves as a great leaf
+of the Bible." We are told that this wonderfully unreadable copy of the
+Bible was "seen by many thousands." There is a drawing of the head of
+Charles I. in the library of St. John's College, at Oxford, wholly
+composed of minute written characters, which, at a small distance,
+resemble the lines of an engraving. The lines of the head, and the ruff,
+are said to contain the book of Psalms, the Creed, and the Lord's
+Prayer. In the British Museum we find a drawing representing the
+portrait of Queen Anne, not much above the size of the hand. On this
+drawing appears a number of lines and scratches, which the librarian
+assures the marvelling spectator includes the entire contents of a thin
+_folio_, which on this occasion is carried in the hand.
+
+The learned Huet asserts that, like the rest of the world, he considered
+as a fiction the story of that indefatigable trifler who is said to have
+enclosed the Iliad in a nutshell. Examining the matter more closely, he
+thought it possible. One day this learned man trifled half an hour in
+demonstrating it. A piece of vellum, about ten inches in length and
+eight in width, pliant and firm, can be folded up, and enclosed in the
+shell of a large walnut. It can hold in its breadth one line, which can
+contain 30 verses, and in its length 250 lines. With a crow-quill the
+writing can be perfect. A page of this piece of vellum will then contain
+7500 verses, and the reverse as much; the whole 15,000 verses of the
+Iliad. And this he proved by using a piece of paper, and with a common
+pen. The thing is possible to be effected; and if on any occasion paper
+should be most excessively rare, it may be useful to know that a volume
+of matter may be contained in a single leaf.
+
+
+
+
+NUMERICAL FIGURES.
+
+
+The learned, after many contests, have at length agreed that the
+numerical figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, usually called _Arabic_,
+are of _Indian_ origin. The Arabians do not pretend to have been the
+inventors of them, but borrowed them from the Indian nations. The
+numeral characters of the Bramins, the Persians, the Arabians, and other
+eastern nations, are similar. They appear afterwards to have been
+introduced into several European nations by their respective travellers,
+who returned from the East. They were admitted into calendars and
+chronicles, but they were not introduced into charters, says Mr. Astle,
+before the sixteenth century. The Spaniards, no doubt, derived their use
+from the Moors who invaded them. In 1210, the Alphonsean astronomical
+tables were made by the order of Alphonsus X. by a Jew, and an Arabian;
+they used these numerals, from whence the Spaniards contend that they
+were first introduced by them.
+
+They were not generally used in Germany until the beginning of the
+fourteenth century; but in general the forms of the ciphers were not
+permanently fixed there till after the year 1531. The Russians were
+strangers to them, before Peter the Great had finished his travels in
+the beginning of the last century.
+
+The origin of these useful characters with the Indians and Arabians is
+attributed to their great skill in the arts of astronomy and of
+arithmetic, which required more convenient characters than alphabetic
+letters for the expressing of numbers.
+
+Before the introduction into Europe of these Arabic numerals, they used
+alphabetical characters, or _Roman numerals_. The learned authors of the
+Nouveau Traité Diplomatique, the most valuable work on everything
+concerning the arts and progress of writing, have given some curious
+notices on the origin of the Roman numerals. Originally men counted by
+their fingers; thus, to mark the first four numbers they used an I,
+which naturally represents them. To mark the fifth, they chose a V,
+which is made out by bending inwards the three middle fingers, and
+stretching out only the thumb and the little finger; and for the tenth
+they used an X, which is a double V, one placed topsy-turvy under the
+other. From this the progression of these numbers is always from one to
+five, and from five to ten. The hundred was signified by the capital
+letter of that word in Latin, C--centum. The other letters, D for 500,
+and M for a 1000, were afterwards added. They subsequently abbreviated
+their characters, by placing one of these figures before another; and
+the figure of less value before a higher number, denotes that so much
+may be deducted from a greater number; for instance, IV signifies five
+less one, that is four; IX ten less one, that is nine; but these
+abbreviations are not found amongst the ancient monuments.[77] These
+numerical letters are still continued by us in the accounts of our
+Exchequer.
+
+That men counted originally by their fingers, is no improbable
+supposition; it is still naturally practised by the people. In
+semi-civilized states small stones have been used, and the etymologists
+derive the words _calculate_ and _calculations_ from _calculus_, the
+Latin term for a pebble-stone, and by which they denominated their
+counters used for arithmetical computations.
+
+Professor Ward, in a learned dissertation on this subject in the
+Philosophical Transactions, concludes that it is easier to falsify the
+Arabic ciphers than the Roman alphabetical numerals; when 1375 is dated
+in Arabic ciphers, if the 3 is only changed into an 0, three centuries
+are taken away; if the 3 is made into a 9 and take away the 1, four
+hundred years are lost. Such accidents have assuredly produced much
+confusion among our ancient manuscripts, and still do in our printed
+books; which is the reason that Dr. Robertson in his histories has also
+preferred writing his dates in _words_, rather than confide them to the
+care of a negligent printer. Gibbon observes, that some remarkable
+mistakes have happened by the word _mil._ in MSS., which is an
+abbreviation for _soldiers_, or for _thousands_; and to this blunder he
+attributes the incredible numbers of martyrdoms, which cannot otherwise
+be accounted for by historical records.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 77: A peculiar arrangement of letters was in use by the German
+and Flemish printers of the 16th century. Thus cI[R 'c'] denoted
+1000, and I[R 'c'], 500. The date 1619 would therefore be thus
+printed:--cI[R 'c']. I[R 'c']cxx.]
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS.
+
+
+A belief in judicial astrology can now only exist in the people, who may
+be said to have no belief at all; for mere traditional sentiments can
+hardly be said to amount to a _belief_. But a faith in this ridiculous
+system in our country is of late existence; and was a favourite
+superstition with the learned.
+
+When Charles the First was confined, Lilly the astrologer was consulted
+for the hour which would favour his escape.
+
+A story, which strongly proves how greatly Charles the Second was
+bigoted to judicial astrology, is recorded is Burnet's History of his
+Own Times.
+
+The most respectable characters of the age, Sir William Dugdale, Ellas
+Ashmole, Dr. Grew, and others, were members of an astrological club.
+Congreve's character of Foresight, in Love for Love, was then no
+uncommon person, though the humour now is scarcely intelligible.
+
+Dryden cast the nativities of his sons; and, what is remarkable, his
+prediction relating to his son Charles took place. This incident is of
+so late a date, one might hope it would have been cleared up.
+
+In 1670, the passion for horoscopes and expounding the stars prevailed
+in France among the first rank. The new-born child was usually presented
+naked to the astrologer, who read the first lineaments in his forehead,
+and the transverse lines in its hand, and thence wrote down its future
+destiny. Catherine de Medicis brought Henry IV., then a child, to old
+Nostradamus, whom antiquaries esteem more for his chronicle of Provence
+than his vaticinating powers. The sight of the reverend seer, with a
+beard which "streamed like a meteor in the air," terrified the future
+hero, who dreaded a whipping from so grave a personage. One of these
+magicians having assured Charles IX. that he would live as many days as
+he should turn about on his heels in an hour, standing on one leg, his
+majesty every morning performed that solemn gyration; the principal
+officers of the court, the judges, the chancellors, and generals,
+likewise, in compliment, standing on one leg and turning round!
+
+It has been reported of several famous for their astrologic skill, that
+they have suffered a voluntary death merely to verify their own
+predictions; this has been reported of _Cardan_, and _Burton_, the
+author of the Anatomy of Melancholy.
+
+It is curious to observe the shifts to which astrologers are put when
+their predictions are not verified. Great _winds_ were predicted, by a
+famous adept, about the year 1586. No unusual storms, however, happened.
+Bodin, to save the reputation of the art, applied it as _figure_ to some
+_revolutions_ in the _state_, and of which there were instances enough
+at that moment. Among their lucky and unlucky days, they pretend to give
+those of various illustrious persons and of families. One is very
+striking.--Thursday was the unlucky day of our Henry VIII. He, his son
+Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, all died on a Thursday!
+This fact had, no doubt, great weight in this controversy of the
+astrologers with their adversaries.[78]
+
+Lilly, the astrologer, is the Sidrophel of Butler. His Life, written by
+himself, contains so much artless narrative, and so much palpable
+imposture, that it is difficult to know when he is speaking what he
+really believes to be the truth. In a sketch of the state of astrology
+in his day, those adepts, whose characters he has drawn, were the lowest
+miscreants of the town. They all speak of each other as rogues and
+impostors. Such were Booker, Backhouse, Gadbury; men who gained a
+livelihood by practising on the credulity of even men of learning so
+late as in 1650, nor were they much out of date in the eighteenth
+century. In Ashmole's Life an account of these artful impostors may be
+found. Most of them had taken the air in the pillory, and others had
+conjured themselves up to the gallows. This seems a true statement of
+facts. But Lilly informs us, that in his various conferences with
+_angels_, their voices resembled that of the _Irish_!
+
+The work contains anecdotes of the times. The amours of Lilly with his
+mistress are characteristic. He was a very artful man, and admirably
+managed matters which required deception and invention.
+
+Astrology greatly flourished in the time of the civil wars. The
+royalists and the rebels had their _astrologers_, as well as their
+_soldiers!_ and the predictions of the former had a great influence over
+the latter.
+
+On this subject, it may gratify curiosity to notice three or four works,
+which hear an excessive price. The price cannot entirely be occasioned
+by their rarity, and I am induced to suppose that we have still adepts,
+whose faith must be strong, or whose scepticism but weak.
+
+The Chaldean sages were nearly put to the rout by a quarto park of
+artillery, fired on them by Mr. John Chamber, in 1601. Apollo did not
+use Marsyas more inhumanly than his scourging pen this mystical race,
+and his personalities made them feel more sore. However, a Norwich
+knight, the very Quixote of astrology, arrayed in the enchanted armour
+of his occult authors, encountered this pagan in a most stately
+carousal. He came forth with "A Defence of Judiciall Astrologye, in
+answer to a treatise lately published by Mr. John Chamber. By Sir
+Christopher Heydon, Knight; printed at Cambridge, 1603." This is a
+handsome quarto of about 500 pages. Sir Christopher is a learned writer,
+and a knight worthy to defend a better cause. But his Dulcinea had
+wrought most wonderfully on his imagination. This defence of this
+fanciful science, if science it may be called, demonstrates nothing,
+while it defends everything. It confutes, according to the knight's own
+ideas: it alleges a few scattered facts in favour of astrological
+predictions, which may be picked up in that immensity of fabling which
+disgraces history. He strenuously denies, or ridicules, what the
+greatest writers have said against this fanciful art, while he lays
+great stress on some passages from authors of no authority. The most
+pleasant part is at the close, where he defends the art from the
+objections of Mr. Chamber by recrimination. Chamber had enriched himself
+by medical practice; and when he charges the astrologers with merely
+aiming to gain a few beggarly pence, Sir Christopher catches fire, and
+shows by his quotations, that if we are to despise an art, by its
+professors attempting to subsist on it, or for the objections which may
+be raised against its vital principles, we ought by this argument most
+heartily to despise the medical science and medical men! He gives here
+all he can collect against physic and physicians; and from the
+confessions of Hippocrates and Galen, Avicenna and Agrippa, medicine
+appears to be a vainer science than even astrology! Sir Christopher is a
+shrewd and ingenious adversary; but when he says he means only to give
+Mr. Chamber oil for his vinegar, he has totally mistaken its quality.
+
+The defence was answered by Thomas Vicars, in his "Madnesse of
+Astrologers."
+
+But the great work is by Lilly; and entirely devoted to the adepts. He
+defends nothing; for this oracle delivers his dictum, and details every
+event as matters not questionable. He sits on the tripod; and every page
+is embellished by a horoscope, which he explains with the utmost
+facility. This voluminous monument of the folly of the age is a quarto
+valued at some guineas! It is entitled, "Christian Astrology, modestly
+treated of in three books, by William Lilly, student in Astrology, 2nd
+edition, 1659." The most curious part of this work is "a Catalogue of
+most astrological authors." There is also a portrait of this arch rogue,
+and astrologer: an admirable illustration for Lavater![79]
+
+Lilly's opinions, and his pretended science, were such favourites with
+the age, that the learned Gataker wrote professedly against this popular
+delusion. Lilly, at the head of his star-expounding friends, not only
+formally replied to, but persecuted Gataker annually in his predictions,
+and even struck at his ghost, when beyond the grave. Gataker died in
+July, 1654; and Lilly having written in his almanac of that year for the
+month of August this barbarous Latin verse:--
+
+    _Hoc in tumbo jacet presbyter et nebulo!_
+    Here in this tomb lies a presbyter and a knave!
+
+he had the impudence to assert that he had predicted Gataker's death!
+But the truth is, it was an epitaph like lodgings to let; it stood empty
+ready for the first passenger to inhabit. Had any other of that party of
+any eminence died in that month, it would have been as appositely
+applied to him. But Lilly was an exquisite rogue, and never at fault.
+Having prophesied in his almanac for 1650, that the parliament stood
+upon a tottering foundation, when taken up by a messenger, during the
+night he was confined, he contrived to cancel the page, printed off
+another, and showed his copies before the committee, assuring them that
+the others were none of his own, but forged by his enemies.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 78: "Day fatality" was especially insisted on by these
+students, and is curiously noted in a folio tract, published in 1687,
+particularly devoted to "Remarques on the 14th of October, being the
+auspicious birth-day of his present Majesty James II.," whose author
+speaks of having seen in the hands of "that genera scholar, and great
+astrologer, E. Ashmole," a manuscript in which the following barbarous
+monkish rhymes were inserted, noting the unlucky days of each month:--
+
+    JANUARY      Prima dies menses, et septima truncat ut ensis.
+    FEBRUARY     Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia fortem.
+    MARCH        Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem.
+    APRIL        Denus et undenus est mortis vulnere plenus.
+    MAY          Tertius occidit, et septimus ora relidit.
+    JUNE         Denus pallescit, quindenus foedra nescit.
+    JULY         Ter-decimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat.
+    AUGUST       Prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem.
+    SEPTEMBER    Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala membris.
+    OCTOBER      Tertius et denus, est sicut mors alienus.
+    NOVEMBER     Scorpius est quintus, et tertius e nece cinctus.
+    DECEMBER     Septimus exanguis, virosus denus et anguis.
+
+The author of this strange book fortifies his notions on "day fatality"
+by printing a letter from Sir Winstan Churchill, who says, "I have made
+great experience of the truth of it, and have set down Fryday as my own
+lucky day; the day on which I was born, christened, married, and I
+believe will be the day of my death. The day whereon I have had sundry
+deliverances from perils by sea and land, perils by false brethren,
+perils of lawsuits, &c. I was knighted (by chance unexpected of myself)
+on the same day, and have several good accidents happened to me on that
+day; and am so superstitious in the belief of its good omen, that I
+choose to begin any considerable action that concerns me on the same
+day."]
+
+[Footnote 79: Lilly was at one time a staunch adherent of the
+Roundheads, and "read in the stars" all kinds of successes for them. His
+great feat was a prediction made for the month of June, 1645--"If now we
+fight, a victory stealeth upon us." A fight did occur at Naseby, and
+concluded the overthrow of the unfortunate Charles the First. The words
+are sufficiently ambiguous; but not so much so, as many other
+"prophecies" of the same notable quack, happily constructed to shift
+with changes in events, and so be made to fit them. Lilly was opposed by
+Wharton, who saw in the stars as many good signs for the Royal Army; and
+Lilly himself began to see differently as the power of Cromwell waned.
+Among the hundreds of pamphlets poured from the press in the excited
+days of the great civil wars in England, few are more curious than these
+"strange and remarkable predictions," "Signs in the Sky," and "Warnings
+to England," the productions of star-gazing knaves, which "terrified our
+isle from its propriety."]
+
+
+
+
+ALCHYMY.
+
+
+Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Dryden, in her Life, has recorded one of the
+delusions of alchymy.
+
+An infatuated lover of this delusive art met with one who pretended to
+have the power of transmuting lead to gold; that is, in their language,
+the _imperfect_ metals to the _perfect one_. The hermetic philosopher
+required only the materials, and time, to perform his golden operations.
+He was taken, to the country residence of his patroness. A long
+laboratory was built, and that his labours might not be impeded by any
+disturbance, no one was permitted to enter into it. His door was
+contrived to turn on a pivot; so that, unseen and unseeing, his meals
+were conveyed to him without distracting the sublime meditations of the
+sage.
+
+During a residence of two years, he never condescended to speak but two
+or three times in a year to his infatuated patroness. When she was
+admitted into the laboratory, she saw, with pleasing astonishment,
+stills, cauldrons, long flues, and three or four Vulcanian fires blazing
+at different corners of this magical mine; nor did she behold with less
+reverence the venerable figure of the dusty philosopher. Pale and
+emaciated with daily operations and nightly vigils, he revealed to her,
+in unintelligible jargon, his progresses; and having sometimes
+condescended to explain the mysteries of the arcana, she beheld, or
+seemed to behold, streams of fluid and heaps of solid ore scattered
+around the laboratory. Sometimes he required a new still, and sometimes
+vast quantities of lead. Already this unfortunate lady had expended the
+half of her fortune in supplying the demands of the philosopher. She
+began now to lower her imagination to the standard of reason. Two years
+had now elapsed, vast quantities of lead had gone in, and nothing but
+lead had come out. She disclosed her sentiments to the philosopher. He
+candidly confessed he was himself surprised at his tardy processes; but
+that now he would exert himself to the utmost, and that he would venture
+to perform a laborious operation, which hitherto he had hoped not to
+have been necessitated to employ. His patroness retired, and the golden
+visions resumed all their lustre.
+
+One day, as they sat at dinner, a terrible shriek, and one crack
+followed by another, loud as the report of cannon, assailed their ears.
+They hastened to the laboratory; two of the greatest stills had burst,
+and one part of the laboratory and the house were in flames. We are told
+that, after another adventure of this kind, this victim to alchymy,
+after ruining another patron, in despair swallowed poison.
+
+Even more recently we have a history of an alchymist in the life of
+Romney, the painter. This alchymist, after bestowing much time and money
+on preparations for the grand projection, and being near the decisive
+hour, was induced, by the too earnest request of his wife, to quit his
+furnace one evening, to attend some of her company at the tea-table.
+While the projector was attending the ladies, his furnace blew up! In
+consequence of this event, he conceived such an antipathy against his
+wife, that he could not endure the idea of living with her again.[80]
+
+Henry VI., Evelyn observes in his Numismata, endeavoured to recruit his
+empty coffers by _alchymy_. The _record_ of this singular proposition
+contains "the most solemn and serious account of the feasibility and
+virtues of the _philosopher's stone_, encouraging the search after it,
+and dispensing with all statutes and prohibitions to the contrary." This
+record was probably communicated by Mr. Selden to his beloved friend Ben
+Jonson, when the poet was writing his comedy of the Alchymist.
+
+After this patent was published, many promised to answer the king's
+expectations so effectually, that the next year he published _another
+patent_; wherein he tells his subjects, that the _happy hour_ was
+drawing nigh, and by means of THE STONE, which he should soon be master
+of, he would pay all the debts of the nation in real _gold and silver_.
+The persons picked out for his new operators were as remarkable as the
+patent itself, being a most "miscellaneous rabble" of friars, grocers,
+mercers, and fishmongers!
+
+This patent was likewise granted _authoritate Parliamenti_; and is given
+by Prynne in his _Aurum Reginæ_, p. 135.
+
+Alchymists were formerly called _multipliers_, although they never could
+_multiply_; as appears from a statute of Henry IV. repealed in the
+preceding record.
+
+"None from henceforth shall use to _multiply_ gold or silver, or use the
+_craft of multiplication_; and if any the same do, he shall incur the
+pain of felony." Among the articles charged on the Protector Somerset is
+this extraordinary one:--"You commanded _multiplication_ and
+_alcumestry_ to be practised, thereby _to abate the king's coin_."
+Stowe, p. 601. What are we to understand? Did they believe that alchymy
+would be so productive of the precious metals as to _abate_ the value of
+the coin; or does _multiplication_ refer to an arbitrary rise in the
+currency by order of the government?
+
+Every philosophical mind must be convinced that alchymy is not an art,
+which some have fancifully traced to the _remotest times_; it may be
+rather regarded, when opposed to such a distance of time, as a modern
+imposture. Cæsar commanded the treatises of alchymy to be burnt
+throughout the Roman dominions: Cæsar, who is not less to be admired as
+a philosopher than as a monarch.
+
+Gibbon has this succinct passage relative to alchymy:--"The ancient
+books of alchymy, so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon, or to
+Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were
+inattentive either to the use or the abuse of chemistry. In that immense
+register where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the
+errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutations
+of metals; and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic
+event in the history of alchymy. The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs
+diffused that vain science over the globe. Congenial to the avarice of
+the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal
+eagerness and equal success. The darkness of the middle ages ensured a
+favourable reception to every tale of wonder; and the revival of
+learning gave new vigour to hope, and suggested more specious arts to
+deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length
+banished the study of alchymy; and the present age, however desirous of
+riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and
+industry."
+
+Elias Ashmole writes in his diary--"May 13, 1653. My father Backhouse
+(an astrologer who had adopted him for his son, a common practice with
+these men) lying sick in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstan's
+church, and not knowing whether he should live or die, about eleven of
+the clock, told me in _syllables_ the true matter of the _philosopher's
+stone_, which he bequeathed to me as a _legacy_." By this we learn that
+a miserable wretch knew the art of _making gold_, yet always lived a
+beggar; and that Ashmole really imagined he was in possession of the
+_syllables of a secret_! He has, however, built a curious monument of
+the learned follies of the last age, in his "Theatrum Chemicum
+Britannicum." Though Ashmole is rather the historian of this vain
+science than an adept, it may amuse literary leisure to turn over this
+quarto volume, in which he has collected the works of several English
+alchymists, subjoining his commentary. It affords a curious specimen of
+Rosicrucian mysteries; and Ashmole relates several miraculous stories.
+Of the philosopher's stone, he says he knows enough to hold his tongue,
+but not enough to speak. This stone has not only the power of
+transmuting any imperfect earthy matter into its utmost degree of
+perfection, and can convert the basest metals into gold, flints into
+stone, &c.; but it has still more occult virtues, when the arcana have
+been entered into by the choice fathers of hermetic mysteries. The
+vegetable stone has power over the natures of man, beast, fowls, fishes,
+and all kinds of trees and plants, to make them flourish and bear fruit
+at any time. The magical stone discovers any person wherever he is
+concealed; while the angelical stone gives the apparitions of angels,
+and a power of conversing with them. These great mysteries are supported
+by occasional facts, and illustrated by prints of the most divine and
+incomprehensible designs, which we would hope were intelligible to the
+initiated. It may be worth showing, however, how liable even the latter
+were to blunder on these mysterious hieroglyphics. Ashmole, in one of
+his chemical works, prefixed a frontispiece, which, in several
+compartments, exhibited Phoebus on a lion, and opposite to him a lady,
+who represented Diana, with the moon in one hand and an arrow in the
+other, sitting on a crab; Mercury on a tripod, with the scheme of the
+heavens in one hand, and his caduccus in the other. These were intended
+to express the materials of the stone, and the season for the process.
+Upon the altar is the bust of a man, his head covered by an astrological
+scheme dropped from the clouds; and on the altar are these words,
+"Mercuriophilus Anglicus," _i.e._, the English lover of hermetic
+philosophy. There is a tree, and a little creature gnawing the root, a
+pillar adorned with musical and mathematical instruments, and another
+with military ensigns. This strange composition created great inquiry
+among the chemical sages. Deep mysteries were conjectured to be veiled
+by it. Verses were written in the highest strain of the Rosicrucian
+language. _Ashmole_ confessed he meant nothing more than a kind of _pun_
+on his own name, for the tree was the _ash_, and the creature was a
+_mole_. One pillar tells his love of music and freemasonry, and the
+other his military preferment and astrological studies! He afterwards
+regretted that no one added a second volume to his work, from which he
+himself had been hindered, for the honour of the family of Hermes, and
+"to show the world what excellent men we had once of our nation, famous
+for this kind of philosophy, and masters of so transcendant a secret."
+
+Modern chemistry is not without a _hope_, not to say a _certainty_, of
+verifying the golden visions of the alchymists. Dr. Girtanner, of
+Gottingen, not long ago adventured the following prophecy: "In the
+_nineteenth century_ the transmutation of metals will be generally known
+and practised. Every chemist and every artist will _make gold_; kitchen
+utensils will be of silver, and even gold, which will contribute more
+than anything else to _prolong life_, poisoned at present by the oxides
+of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily swallow with our food." Phil.
+Mag. vol. vi., p. 383. This sublime chemist, though he does not venture
+to predict that universal _elixir_, which is to prolong life at
+pleasure, yet approximates to it. A chemical friend writes to me, that
+"The _metals_ seem to be _composite bodies_, which nature is perpetually
+preparing; and it may be reserved for the future researches of science
+to trace, and perhaps to imitate, some of these curious operations." Sir
+Humphry Davy told me that he did not consider this undiscovered art an
+impossible thing, but which, should it ever be discovered, would
+certainly be useless.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 80: He was assisted in the art by one Williamson, a
+watchmaker, of Dalton, Lancashire, with whom Romney lived in constant
+companionship. They were partners in a furnace, and had kept the fire
+burning for nine months, when the contents of the crucible began to
+assume the yellow hue which excited all their hopes; a few moments of
+neglect led to the catastrophe narrated above.]
+
+
+
+
+TITLES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+Were it inquired of an ingenious writer what page of his work had
+occasioned him most perplexity, he would often point to the
+_title-page_. The curiosity which we there would excite, is, however,
+most fastidious to gratify.
+
+Among those who appear to have felt this irksome situation, are most of
+our periodical writers. The "Tatler" and the "Spectator," enjoying
+priority of conception, have adopted titles with characteristic
+felicity; but perhaps the invention of the authors begins to fail in the
+"Reader," the "Lover," and the "Theatre!" Succeeding writers were as
+unfortunate in their titles, as their works; such are the "Universal
+Spectator," and the "Lay Monastery." The copious mind of Johnson could
+not discover an appropriate title, and indeed in the first "Idler"
+acknowledged his despair. The "Rambler" was so little understood, at the
+time of its appearance, that a French journalist has translated it as
+"_Le Chevalier Errant_;" and when it was corrected to _L'Errant_, a
+foreigner drank Johnson's health one day, by innocently addressing him
+by the appellation of Mr. "Vagabond!" The "Adventurer" cannot be
+considered as a fortunate title; it is not appropriate to those pleasing
+miscellanies, for any writer is an adventurer. The "Lounger," the
+"Mirror," and even the "Connoisseur," if examined accurately, present
+nothing in the titles descriptive of the works. As for the "World," it
+could only have been given by the fashionable egotism of its authors,
+who considered the world as merely a circuit round St. James's Street.
+When the celebrated father of reviews, _Le Journal des Sçavans_, was
+first published, the very title repulsed the public. The author was
+obliged in his succeeding volumes to soften it down, by explaining its
+general tendency. He there assures the curious, that not only men of
+learning and taste, but the humblest mechanic, may find a profitable
+amusement. An English novel, published with the title of "The Champion
+of Virtue," could find no readers; but afterwards passed through several
+editions under the happier invitation of "The Old English Baron." "The
+Concubine," a poem by Mickle, could never find purchasers, till it
+assumed the more delicate title of "Sir Martyn."
+
+As a subject of literary curiosity, some amusement may be gathered from
+a glance at what has been doing in the world, concerning this important
+portion of every book.
+
+The Jewish and many oriental authors were fond of allegorical titles,
+which always indicate the most puerile age of taste. The titles were
+usually adapted to their obscure works. It might exercise an able
+enigmatist to explain their allusions; for we must understand by "The
+Heart of Aaron," that it is a commentary on several of the prophets.
+"The Bones of Joseph" is an introduction to the Talmud. "The Garden of
+Nuts," and "The Golden Apples," are theological questions; and "The
+Pomegranate with its Flower," is a treatise of ceremonies, not any more
+practised. Jortin gives a title, which he says of all the fantastical
+titles he can recollect is one of the prettiest. A rabbin published a
+catalogue of rabbinical writers, and called it _Labia Dormientium_, from
+Cantic. vii. 9. "Like the best wine of my beloved that goeth down
+sweetly, causing _the lips of those that are asleep to speak_." It hath
+a double meaning, of which he was not aware, for most of his rabbinical
+brethren talk very much like _men in their sleep_.
+
+Almost all their works bear such titles as
+bread--gold--silver--roses--eyes, &c.; in a word, anything that
+signifies nothing.
+
+Affected title-pages were not peculiar to the orientals: the Greeks and
+the Romans have shown a finer taste. They had their Cornucopias, or
+horns of abundance--Limones, or meadows--Pinakidions, or
+tablets--Pancarpes, or all sorts of fruits; titles not unhappily adapted
+for the miscellanists. The nine books of Herodotus, and the nine
+epistles of Æschines, were respectively honoured by the name of a Muse;
+and three orations of the latter, by those of the Graces.
+
+The modern fanatics have had a most barbarous taste for titles. We could
+produce numbers from abroad, and at home. Some works have been called,
+"Matches lighted at the Divine Fire,"--and one "The Gun of Penitence:" a
+collection of passages from the fathers is called "The Shop of the
+Spiritual Apothecary:" we have "The Bank of Faith," and "The
+Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit:" one of these works bears the following
+elaborate title: "Some fine Biscuits baked in the Oven of Charity,
+carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the
+Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation." Sometimes their quaintness
+has some humour. Sir Humphrey Lind, a zealous puritan, published a work
+which a Jesuit answered by another, entitled "A Pair of Spectacles for
+Sir Humphrey Lind." The doughty knight retorted, by "A Case for Sir
+Humphrey Lind's Spectacles."
+
+Some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity; as "The
+Three Daughters of Job," which is a treatise on the three virtues of
+patience, fortitude, and pain. "The Innocent Love, or the Holy Knight,"
+is a description of the ardours of a saint for the Virgin. "The Sound of
+the Trumpet," is a work on the day of judgment; and "A Fan to drive away
+Flies," is a theological treatise on purgatory.
+
+We must not write to the utter neglect of our title; and a fair author
+should have the literary piety of ever having "the fear of his
+title-page before his eyes." The following are improper titles. Don
+Matthews, chief huntsman to Philip IV. of Spain, entitled his book "The
+Origin and Dignity of the Royal House," but the entire work relates only
+to hunting. De Chantereine composed several moral essays, which being at
+a loss how to entitle, he called "The Education of a Prince." He would
+persuade the reader in his preface, that though they were not composed
+with a view to this subject, they should not, however, be censured for
+the title, as they partly related to the education of a prince. The
+world was too sagacious to be duped, and the author in his second
+edition acknowledges the absurdity, drops "the magnificent title," and
+calls his work "Moral Essays." Montaigne's immortal history of his own
+mind, for such are his "Essays," has assumed perhaps too modest a title,
+and not sufficiently discriminative. Sorlin equivocally entitled a
+collection of essays, "The Walks of Richelieu," because they were
+composed at that place; "The Attic Nights" of Aulus Gellius were so
+called, because they were written in Attica. Mr. Tooke, in his
+grammatical "Diversions of Purley," must have deceived many.
+
+A rhodomontade title-page was once a great favourite. There was a time
+when the republic of letters was over-built with "Palaces of Pleasure,"
+"Palaces of Honour," and "Palaces of Eloquence;" with "Temples of
+Memory," and "Theatres of Human Life," and "Amphitheatres of
+Providence;" "Pharoses, Gardens, Pictures, Treasures." The epistles of
+Guevara dazzled the public eye with their splendid title, for they were
+called "Golden Epistles;" and the "Golden Legend" of Voragine had been
+more appropriately entitled leaden.
+
+They were once so fond of novelty, that every book recommended itself by
+such titles as "A new Method; new Elements of Geometry; the new Letter
+Writer, and the new Art of Cookery."
+
+To excite the curiosity of the pious, some writers employed artifices of
+a very ludicrous nature. Some made their titles rhyming echoes; as this
+one of a father, who has given his works under the title of _Scalæ Alæ
+animi_; and _Jesus esus novus Orbis_. Some have distributed them
+according to the measure of time, as one Father Nadasi, the greater part
+of whose works are _years_, _months_, _weeks_, _days_, and _hours_. Some
+have borrowed their titles from the parts of the body; and others have
+used quaint expressions, such as--_Think before you leap_--_We must all
+die_--_Compel them to enter_. Some of our pious authors appear not to
+have been aware that they were burlesquing religion. One Massieu having
+written a moral explanation of the solemn anthems sung in Advent, which
+begin with the letter O, published this work under the punning title of
+_La douce Moelle, et la Sauce friande des os Savoureux de l'Avent_.[81]
+
+The Marquis of Carraccioli assumed the ambiguous title of _La Jouissance
+de soi-même_. Seduced by the epicurean title of self-enjoyment, the sale
+of the work was continual with the libertines, who, however, found
+nothing but very tedious essays on religion and morality. In the sixth
+edition the marquis greatly exults in his successful contrivance; by
+which means he had punished the vicious curiosity of certain persons,
+and perhaps had persuaded some, whom otherwise his book might never have
+reached.
+
+If a title be obscure, it raises a prejudice against the author; we are
+apt to suppose that an ambiguous title is the effect of an intricate or
+confused mind. Baillet censures the Ocean Macromicrocosmic of one Sachs.
+To understand this title, a grammarian would send an inquirer to a
+geographer, and he to a natural philosopher; neither would probably
+think of recurring to a physician, to inform one that this ambiguous
+title signifies the connexion which exists between the motion of the
+waters with that of the blood. He censures Leo Allatius for a title
+which appears to me not inelegantly conceived. This writer has entitled
+one of his books the _Urban Bees_; it is an account of those illustrious
+writers who flourished during the pontificate of one of the Barberinis.
+The allusion refers to the _bees_ which were the arms of this family,
+and Urban VIII. is the Pope designed.
+
+The false idea which a title conveys is alike prejudicial to the author
+and the reader. Titles are generally too prodigal of their promises, and
+their authors are contemned; but the works of modest authors, though
+they present more than they promise, may fail of attracting notice by
+their extreme simplicity. In either case, a collector of books is
+prejudiced; he is induced to collect what merits no attention, or he
+passes over those valuable works whose titles may not happen to be
+interesting. It is related of Pinelli, the celebrated collector of
+books, that the booksellers permitted him to remain hours, and sometimes
+days, in their shops to examine books before he purchased. He was
+desirous of not injuring his precious collection by useless
+acquisitions; but he confessed that he sometimes could not help being
+dazzled by magnificent titles, nor being mistaken by the simplicity of
+others, which had been chosen by the modesty of their authors. After
+all, many authors are really neither so vain, nor so honest, as they
+appear; for magnificent, or simple titles, have often been given from
+the difficulty of forming any others.
+
+It is too often with the Titles of Books, as with those painted
+representations exhibited by the keepers of wild beasts; where, in
+general, the picture itself is made more striking and inviting to the
+eye, than the inclosed animal is always found to be.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 81: Religious parody seems to have carried no sense of
+impropriety with it to the minds of the men of the 15th and 16th
+centuries. Luther was an adept in this art, and the preachers who
+followed him continued the practice. The sermons of divines in the
+following century often sought an attraction by quaint titles, such
+as--"Heaven ravished"--"The Blacksmith, a sermon preached at Whitehall
+before the King," 1606. Beloe, in his _Anecdotes of Literature_, vol. 6,
+has recorded many of these quaint titles, among them the
+following:--"_The Nail hit on the head_, and driven into the city and
+cathedral wall of Norwich. By John Carter, 1644." "_The Wheel turned_ by
+a voice from the throne of glory. By John Carter, 1647." "_Two Sticks
+made one_, or the excellence of Unity. By Matthew Mead, 1691." "_Peter's
+Net let downe_, or the Fisher and the Fish, both prepared towards a
+blessed haven. By R. Matthew, 1634." In the middle of the last century
+two religious tracts were published, one bearing the alarming title,
+"Die and be Damned," the other being termed, "A sure Guide to Hell." The
+first was levelled against the preaching of the Methodists, and the
+title obtained from what the author asserts to be the words of
+condemnation then frequently applied by them to all who differed from
+their creed. The second is a satirical attack on the prevalent follies
+and vices of the day, which form the surest "guide," in the opinion of
+the author, to the bottomless pit.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY FOLLIES.
+
+
+The Greeks composed lipogrammatic works; works in which one letter of
+the alphabet is omitted. A lipogrammatist is a letter-dropper. In this
+manner Tryphiodorus wrote his Odyssey; he had not [Greek: alpha] in his
+first book, nor [Greek: beta] in his second; and so on with the
+subsequent letters one after another. This Odyssey was an imitation of
+the lipogrammatic Iliad of Nestor. Among other works of this kind,
+Athenæus mentions an ode by Pindar, in which he had purposely omitted
+the letter S; so that this inept ingenuity appears to have been one of
+those literary fashions which are sometimes encouraged even by those who
+should first oppose such progresses into the realms of nonsense.
+
+There is in Latin a little prose work of Fulgentius, which the author
+divides into twenty-three chapters, according to the order of the
+twenty-three letters of the Latin alphabet. From A to O are still
+remaining. The first chapter is with out A; the second without B; the
+third without C; and so with the rest. There are five novels in prose of
+Lopes de Vega; the first without A, the second without E, the third
+without I, &c. Who will attempt to verify them?
+
+The Orientalists are not without this literary folly. A Persian poet
+read to the celebrated Jami a gazel of his own composition, which Jami
+did not like: but the writer replied, it was notwithstanding a very
+curious sonnet, for the _letter Aliff_ was not to be found in any one of
+the words! Jami sarcastically replied, "You can do a better thing yet;
+take away _all the letters_ from every word you have written."
+
+To these works may be added the _Ecloga de Calvis_, by Hugbald the monk.
+All the words of this silly work begin with a C. It is printed in
+Dornavius. _Pugna Porcorum_; all the words beginning with a P, in the
+Nugæ Venales. _Canum cum cattis certamen_; the words beginning with a C:
+a performance of the same kind in the same work. Gregorio Leti presented
+a discourse to the Academy of the Humorists at Rome, throughout which he
+had purposely omitted the letter R, and he entitled it the exiled R. A
+friend having requested a copy, as a literary curiosity, for so he
+considered this idle performance, Leti, to show that this affair was not
+so difficult, replied by a copious answer of seven pages, in which he
+had observed the same severe ostracism against the letter R! Lord
+North, in the court of James, I., has written a set of Sonnets, each of
+which begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. The Earl of
+Rivers, in the reign of Edward IV., translated the Moral Proverbs of
+Christiana of Pisa, a poem of about two hundred lines, the greatest part
+of which he contrived to conclude with the letter E; an instance of his
+lordship's hard application, and the bad taste of an age which, Lord
+Orford observes, had witticisms and whims to struggle with, as well as
+ignorance.
+
+It has been well observed of these minute triflers, that extreme
+exactness is the sublime of fools, whose labours may be well called, in
+the language of Dryden,
+
+    Pangs without birth, and fruitless industry.
+
+And Martial says,
+
+    Turpe est difficiles habere nugas,
+    Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.
+
+Which we may translate,
+
+    'Tis a folly to sweat o'er a difficult trifle,
+    And for silly devices invention to rifle.
+
+I shall not dwell on the wits who composed verses in the forms of
+hearts, wings, altars, and true-love knots; or as Ben Jonson describes
+their grotesque shapes,
+
+    A pair of scissors and a comb in verse.
+
+Tom Nash, who loved to push the ludicrous to its extreme, in his amusing
+invective against the classical Gabriel Harvey, tells us that "he had
+writ verses in all kinds; in form of a pair of gloves, a pair of
+spectacles, and a pair of pot-hooks," &c. They are not less absurd, who
+expose to public ridicule the name of their mistress by employing it to
+form their acrostics. I have seen some of the latter where, _both sides_
+and _crossways_, the name of the mistress or the patron has been sent
+down to posterity with eternal torture. When _one name_ is made out
+_four times_ in the same acrostic, the great difficulty must have been
+to have found words by which the letters forming the name should be
+forced to stand in their particular places. It might be incredible that
+so great a genius as Boccaccio could have lent himself to these literary
+fashions; yet one of the most gigantic of acrostics may be seen in his
+works; it is a poem of fifty cantos! Ginguené has preserved a specimen
+in his Literary History of Italy, vol. iii. p.54. Puttenham, in "The Art
+of Poesie," p. 75, gives several odd specimens of poems in the forms of
+lozenges, rhomboids, pillars, &c. Puttenham has contrived to form a
+defence for describing and making such trifling devices. He has done
+more: he has erected two pillars himself to the honour of Queen
+Elizabeth; every pillar consists of a base of eight syllables, the shaft
+or middle of four, and the capital is equal with the base. The only
+difference between the two pillars consists in this; in the one "ye must
+read upwards," and in the other the reverse. These pillars,
+notwithstanding this fortunate device and variation, may be fixed as two
+columns in the porch of the vast temple of literary folly.
+
+It was at this period, when _words_ or _verse_ were tortured into such
+fantastic forms, that the trees in gardens were twisted and sheared into
+obelisks and giants, peacocks, or flower-pots. In a copy of verses, "To
+a hair of my mistress's eye-lash," the merit, next to the choice of the
+subject, must have been the arrangement, or the disarrangement, of the
+whole poem into the form of a heart. With a pair of wings many a sonnet
+fluttered, and a sacred hymn was expressed by the mystical triangle.
+_Acrostics_ are formed from the initial letters of every verse; but a
+different conceit regulated _chronograms_, which were used to describe
+_dates_--the _numeral letters_, in whatever part of the word they stood,
+were distinguished from other letters by being written in capitals. In
+the following chronogram from Horace,
+
+    --_feriam sidera vertice_,
+
+by a strange elevation of CAPITALS the _chronogrammatist_ compels even
+Horace to give the year of our Lord thus,
+
+    --feriaM siDera VertIce. MDVI.
+
+The Acrostic and the Chronogram are both ingeniously described in the
+mock epic of the Scribleriad.[82] The _initial letters_ of the
+acrostics are thus alluded to in the literary wars:--
+
+    Firm and compact, in three fair columns wove,
+    O'er the smooth plain, the bold _acrostics_ move;
+    _High_ o'er the rest, the TOWERING LEADERS rise
+    With _limbs gigantic_, and _superior size_.[83]
+
+But the looser character of the _chronograms_, and the disorder in which
+they are found, are ingeniously sung thus:--
+
+    Not thus the _looser chronograms_ prepare
+    Careless their troops, undisciplined to war;
+    With _rank irregular, confused_ they stand,
+    The CHIEFTAINS MINGLING with the vulgar band.
+
+He afterwards adds others of the illegitimate race of wit:--
+
+    To join these squadrons, o'er the champaign came
+    A numerous race of no ignoble name;
+    _Riddle_ and _Rebus_, Riddle's dearest son,
+    And _false Conundrum_ and _insidious Pun_.
+    _Fustian_, who scarcely deigns to tread the ground,
+    And _Rondeau_, wheeling in repeated round.
+    On their fair standards, by the wind display'd,
+    _Eggs_, _altars_, _wings_, _pipes_, _axes_, were pourtray'd.
+
+I find the origin of _Bouts-rimés_, or "Rhyming Ends," in Goujet's Bib.
+Fr. xvi. p. 181. One Dulot, a foolish poet, when sonnets were in demand,
+had a singular custom of preparing the rhymes of these poems to be
+filled up at his leisure. Having been robbed of his papers, he was
+regretting most the loss of three hundred sonnets: his friends were
+astonished that he had written so many which they had never heard. "They
+were _blank sonnets_," he replied; and explained the mystery by
+describing his _Bouts-rimés_. The idea appeared ridiculously amusing;
+and it soon became fashionable to collect the most difficult rhymes, and
+fill up the lines.
+
+The _Charade_ is of recent birth, and I cannot discover the origin of
+this species of logogriphes. It was not known in France so late as in
+1771; in the great Dictionnaire de Trévoux, the term appears only as the
+name of an Indian sect of a military character. Its mystical conceits
+have occasionally displayed singular felicity.
+
+_Anagrams_ were another whimsical invention; with the _letters_ of any
+_name_ they contrived to make out some entire word, descriptive of the
+character of the person who bore the name. These anagrams, therefore,
+were either satirical or complimentary. When in fashion, lovers made use
+of them continually: I have read of one, whose mistress's name was
+Magdalen, for whom he composed, not only an epic under that name, but as
+a proof of his passion, one day he sent her three dozen of anagrams all
+on her lovely name. Scioppius imagined himself fortunate that his
+adversary _Scaliger_ was perfectly _Sacrilege_ in all the oblique cases
+of the Latin language; on this principle Sir John _Wiat_ was made out,
+to his own satisfaction--_a wit_. They were not always correct when a
+great compliment was required; the poet _John Cleveland_ was strained
+hard to make _Heliconian dew_. This literary trifle has, however, in our
+own times produced several, equally ingenious and caustic.
+
+Verses of grotesque shapes have sometimes been contrived to convey
+ingenious thoughts. Pannard, a modern French poet, has tortured his
+agreeable vein of poetry into such forms. He has made some of his
+Bacchanalian songs to take the figures of _bottles_, and others of
+_glasses_. These objects are perfectly drawn by the various measures of
+the verses which form the songs. He has also introduced an _echo_ in his
+verses which he contrives so as not to injure their sense. This was
+practised by the old French bards in the age of Marot, and this poetical
+whim is ridiculed by Butler in his Hudibras, Part I. Canto 3, Verse 190.
+I give an example of these poetical echoes. The following ones are
+ingenious, lively, and satirical:--
+
+        Pour nous plaire, un pl_umet_
+
+        _Met_
+
+        Tout en usage:
+
+        Mais on trouve sou_vent_
+
+        _Vent_
+
+        Dans son langage.
+
+        On y voit des Com_mis_
+
+        _Mis_
+
+        Comme des Princes,
+
+        Après être ve_nus_
+
+        _Nuds_
+
+        De leurs Provinces.
+
+The poetical whim of Cretin, a French poet, brought into fashion punning
+or equivocal rhymes. Maret thus addressed him in his own way:--
+
+    L'homme, sotart, et _non sçavant_
+    Comme un rotisseur, _qui lave oye_,
+    La faute d'autrui, _nonce avant_,
+    Qu'il la cognoisse, ou _qu'il la voye_, &c.
+
+In these lines of Du Bartas, this poet imagined that he imitated the
+harmonious notes of the lark: "the sound" is here, however, _not_ "an
+echo to the sense."
+
+    La gentille aloüette, avec son tirelire,
+    Tirelire, à lire, et tireliran, tire
+    Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu,
+    Vire et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu.
+
+The French have an ingenious kind of Nonsense Verses called
+_Amphigouries_. This word is composed of a Greek adverb signifying
+_about_, and of a substantive signifying _a circle_. The following is a
+specimen, elegant in the selection of words, and what the French called
+richly rhymed, but in fact they are fine verses without any meaning
+whatever. Pope's Stanzas, said to be written by a _person of quality_,
+to ridicule the tuneful nonsense of certain bards, and which Gilbert
+Wakefield mistook for a serious composition, and wrote two pages of
+Commentary to prove this song was disjointed, obscure, and absurd, is an
+excellent specimen of these _Amphigouries_.
+
+        AMPHIGOURIE.
+
+        Qu'il est heureux de se defendre
+        Quand le coeur ne s'est pas rendu!
+        Mais qu'il est facheux de se rendre
+        Quand le bonheur est suspendu!
+
+        Par un discours sans suite et tendre,
+        Egarez un coeur éperdu;
+        Souvent par un mal-entendu
+        L'amant adroit se fait entendre.
+
+        IMITATED.
+
+        How happy to defend our heart,
+        When Love has never thrown a dart!
+        But ah! unhappy when it bends,
+        If pleasure her soft bliss suspends!
+        Sweet in a wild disordered strain,
+        A lost and wandering heart to gain!
+        Oft in mistaken language wooed,
+        The skilful lover's understood.
+
+These verses have such a resemblance to meaning, that Fontenelle, having
+listened to the song, imagined that he had a glimpse of sense, and
+requested to have it repeated. "Don't you perceive," said Madame Tencin,
+"that they are _nonsense verses_?" The malicious wit retorted, "They are
+so much like the fine verses I have heard here, that it is not
+surprising I should be for once mistaken."
+
+In the "Scribleriad" we find a good account of _the Cento_. A Cento
+primarily signifies a cloak made of patches. In poetry it denotes a work
+wholly composed of verses, or passages promiscuously taken from other
+authors, only disposed in a new form or order, so as to compose a new
+work and a new meaning. Ausonius has laid down the rules to be observed
+in composing _Cento's_. The pieces may be taken either from the same
+poet, or from several; and the verses may be either taken entire, or
+divided into two; one half to be connected with another half taken
+elsewhere; but two verses are never to be taken together. Agreeable to
+these rules, he has made a pleasant nuptial _Cento_ from Virgil.[84]
+
+The Empress Eudoxia wrote the life of Jesus Christ, in centos taken from
+Homer; Proba Falconia from Virgil. Among these grave triflers may be
+mentioned Alexander Ross, who published "Virgilius Evangelizans, sive
+Historia Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi Virgilianis verbis et
+versibus descripta." It was republished in 1769.
+
+A more difficult whim is that of "_Reciprocal Verses_," which give the
+same words whether read backwards or forwards. The following lines by
+Sidonius Apollinaris were once infinitely admired:--
+
+    _Signa te signa temere me tangis et angis.
+    Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor._
+
+The reader has only to take the pains of reading the lines backwards,
+and he will find himself just where he was after all his fatigue.[85]
+
+Capitaine Lasphrise, a French self-taught poet, boasts of his
+inventions; among other singularities, one has at least the merit of _la
+difficulté vaincue_. He asserts this novelty to be entirely his own; the
+last word of every verse forms the first word of the following verse:
+
+    Falloit-il que le ciel me rendit amoureux
+    Amoureux, jouissant d'une beauté craintive,
+    Craintive à recevoir la douceur excessive,
+    Excessive au plaisir qui rend l'amant heureux;
+    Heureux si nous avions quelques paisibles lieux,
+    Lieux où plus surement l'ami fidèle arrive,
+    Arrive sans soupçon de quelque ami attentive,
+    Attentive à vouloir nous surprendre tous deux.
+
+Francis Colonna, an Italian Monk, is the author of a singular book
+entitled "The Dream of Poliphilus," in which he relates his amours with
+a lady of the name of Polia. It was considered improper to prefix his
+name to the work; but being desirous of marking it by some peculiarity,
+that he might claim it at any distant day, he contrived that the initial
+letters of every chapter should be formed of those of his name, and of
+the subject he treats. This strange invention was not discovered till
+many years afterwards: when the wits employed themselves in deciphering
+it, unfortunately it became a source of literary altercation, being
+susceptible of various readings. The correct appears thus:--POLIAM
+FRATER FRANCISCUS COLUMNA PERAMAVIT. "Brother Francis Colonna
+passionately loved Polia." This gallant monk, like another Petrarch,
+made the name of his mistress the subject of his amatorial meditations;
+and as the first called his Laura, his Laurel, this called his Polia,
+his Polita.
+
+A few years afterwards, Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus employed a
+similar artifice in his ZODIACUS VITÆ, "The Zodiac of Life:" the initial
+letters of the first twenty-nine verses of the first book of this poem
+forming his name, which curious particular was probably unknown to
+Warton in his account of this work.--The performance is divided into
+twelve books, but has no reference to astronomy, which we might
+naturally expect. He distinguished his twelve books by the twelve names
+of the celestial signs, and probably extended or confined them purposely
+to that number, to humour his fancy. Warton, however, observes, "This
+strange pedantic title is not totally without a _conceit_, as the author
+was born at _Stellada_ or _Stellata_, a province of Ferrara, and from
+whence he called himself Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus." The work
+itself is a curious satire on the Pope and the Church of Rome. It
+occasioned Bayle to commit a remarkable _literary blunder_, which I
+shall record in its place. Of Italian conceit in those times, of which
+Petrarch was the father, with his perpetual play on words and on his
+_Laurel_, or his mistress _Laura_, he has himself afforded a remarkable
+example. Our poet lost his mother, who died in her thirty-eighth year:
+he has commemorated her death by a sonnet composed of thirty-eight
+lines. He seems to have conceived that the exactness of the number was
+equally natural and tender.
+
+Are we not to class among _literary follies_ the strange researches
+which writers, even of the present day, have made in _Antediluvian_
+times? Forgeries of the grossest nature have been alluded to, or quoted
+as authorities. A _Book of Enoch_ once attracted considerable attention;
+this curious forgery has been recently translated. The Sabeans pretend
+they possess a work written by _Adam_! and this work has been _recently_
+appealed to in favour of a visionary theory![86] Astle gravely observes,
+that "with respect to _Writings_ attributed to the _Antediluvians_, it
+seems not only decent but rational to say that we know nothing
+concerning them." Without alluding to living writers, Dr. Parsons, in
+his erudite "Remains of Japhet," tracing the origin of the alphabetical
+character, supposes that _letters_ were known to _Adam_! Some, too, have
+noticed astronomical libraries in the Ark of Noah! Such historical
+memorials are the deliriums of learning, or are founded on forgeries.
+
+Hugh Broughton, a writer of controversy in the reign of James the First,
+shows us, in a tedious discussion on Scripture chronology, that Rahab
+was a harlot at _ten_ years of age; and enters into many grave
+discussions concerning the _colour_ of Aaron's _ephod_, and the language
+which _Eve_ first spoke. This writer is ridiculed in Ben Jonson's
+Comedies:--he is not without rivals even in the present day!
+Covarruvias, after others of his school, discovers that when male
+children are born they cry out with an A, being the first vowel of the
+word _Adam_, while the female infants prefer the letter E, in allusion
+to _Eve_; and we may add that, by the pinch of a negligent nurse, they
+may probably learn all their vowels. Of the pedantic triflings of
+commentators, a controversy among the Portuguese on the works of Camoens
+is not the least. Some of these profound critics, who affected great
+delicacy in the laws of epic poetry, pretended to be doubtful whether
+the poet had fixed on the right time for a _king's dream_; whether, said
+they, a king should have a propitious dream on his _first going to bed_
+or at the _dawn of the following morning_? No one seemed to be quite
+certain; they puzzled each other till the controversy closed in this
+felicitous manner, and satisfied both the night and the dawn critics.
+Barreto discovered that an _accent_ on one of the words alluded to in
+the controversy would answer the purpose, and by making king Manuel's
+dream to take place at the dawn would restore Camoens to their good
+opinion, and preserve the dignity of the poet.
+
+Chevreau begins his History of the World in these words:--"Several
+learned men have examined in _what season_ God created the world, though
+there could hardly be any season then, since there was no sun, no moon,
+nor stars. But as the world must have been created in one of the four
+seasons, this question has exercised the talents of the most curious,
+and opinions are various. Some say it was in the month of _Nisan_, that
+is, in the spring: others maintain that it was in the month of _Tisri_,
+which begins the civil year of the Jews, and that it was on the _sixth
+day_ of this month, which answers to our _September_, that _Adam_ and
+_Eve_ were created, and that it was on a _Friday_, a little after four
+o'clock in the afternoon!" This is according to the Rabbinical notion
+of the eve of the Sabbath.
+
+The Irish antiquaries mention _public libraries_ that were before the
+flood; and Paul Christian Ilsker, with profounder erudition, has given
+an exact catalogue of _Adam's_. Messieurs O'Flaherty, O'Connor, and
+O'Halloran, have most gravely recorded as authentic narrations the
+wildest legendary traditions; and more recently, to make confusion
+doubly confounded, others have built up what they call theoretical
+histories on these nursery tales. By which species of black art they
+contrive to prove that an Irishman is an Indian, and a Peruvian may be a
+Welshman, from certain emigrations which took place many centuries
+before Christ, and some about two centuries after the flood! Keating, in
+his "History of Ireland," starts a favourite hero in the giant
+Partholanus, who was descended from Japhet, and landed on the coast of
+Munster 14th May, in the year of the world 1987. This giant succeeded in
+his enterprise, but a domestic misfortune attended him among his Irish
+friends:--his wife exposed him to their laughter by her loose behaviour,
+and provoked him to such a degree that he killed two favourite
+greyhounds; and this the learned historian assures us was the _first_
+instance of female infidelity ever known in Ireland!
+
+The learned, not contented with Homer's poetical pre-eminence, make him
+the most authentic historian and most accurate geographer of antiquity,
+besides endowing him with all the arts and sciences to be found in our
+Encyclopædia. Even in surgery, a treatise has been written to show, by
+the variety of the _wounds_ of his heroes, that he was a most scientific
+anatomist; and a military scholar has lately told us, that from him is
+derived all the science of the modern adjutant and quarter-master
+general; all the knowledge of _tactics_ which we now possess; and that
+Xenophon, Epaminondas, Philip, and Alexander, owed all their warlike
+reputation to Homer!
+
+To return to pleasanter follies. Des Fontaines, the journalist, who had
+wit and malice, inserted the fragment of a letter which the poet
+Rousseau wrote to the younger Racine whilst he was at the Hague. These
+were the words: "I enjoy the conversation within these few days of my
+associates in Parnassus. Mr. Piron is an excellent antidote against
+melancholy; _but_"--&c. Des Fontaines maliciously stopped at this _but_.
+In the letter of Rousseau it was, "but unfortunately he departs soon."
+Piron was very sensibly affected at this equivocal _but_, and resolved
+to revenge himself by composing one hundred epigrams against the
+malignant critic. He had written sixty before Des Fontaines died: but of
+these only two attracted any notice.
+
+Towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, Antonio Cornezano wrote
+a hundred different sonnets on one subject, "the eyes of his mistress!"
+to which possibly Shakspeare may allude, when Jaques describes a lover,
+with his
+
+                    Woeful ballad,
+    Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
+
+Not inferior to this ingenious trifler is Nicholas Franco, well known in
+Italian literature, who employed himself in writing two hundred and
+eighteen satiric sonnets, chiefly on the famous Peter Aretin. This
+lampooner had the honour of being hanged at Rome for his defamatory
+publications. In the same class are to be placed two other writers.
+Brebeuf, who wrote one hundred and fifty epigrams against a painted
+lady. Another wit, desirous of emulating him, and for a literary
+bravado, _continued_ the same subject, and pointed at this unfortunate
+fair three hundred more, without once repeating the thoughts of Brebeuf!
+There is a collection of poems called "_La_ PUCE _des grands jours de
+Poitiers_." "The FLEA of the carnival of Poietiers." These poems were
+begun by the learned Pasquier, who edited the collection, upon a FLEA
+which was found one morning in the bosom of the famous Catherine des
+Roches!
+
+Not long ago, a Mr. and Mrs. Bilderdyk, in Flanders, published poems
+under the whimsical title of "White and Red."--His own poems were called
+white, from the colour of his hair; and those of his lady red, in
+allusion to the colour of the rose. The idea must be Flemish!
+
+Gildon, in his "Laws of Poetry," commenting on this line of the Duke of
+Buckingham's "Essay on Poetry,"
+
+    Nature's chief masterpiece is _writing well_:
+
+very profoundly informs his readers "That what is here said has not the
+least regard to the _penmanship_, that is, to the fairness or badness of
+the handwriting," and proceeds throughout a whole page, with a panegyric
+on a _fine handwriting_! The stupidity of dulness seems to have at times
+great claims to originality!
+
+Littleton, the author of the Latin and English Dictionary, seems to
+have indulged his favourite propensity to punning so far as even to
+introduce a pun in the grave and elaborate work of a Lexicon. A story
+has been raised to account for it, and it has been ascribed to the
+impatient interjection of the lexicographer to his scribe, who, taking
+no offence at the peevishness of his master, put it down in the
+Dictionary. The article alluded to is, "CONCURRO, to run with others; to
+run together; to come together; to fall foul of one another; to
+CON-_cur,_ to CON-_dog_."
+
+Mr. Todd, in his Dictionary, has laboured to show the "inaccuracy of
+this pretended narrative." Yet a similar blunder appears to have
+happened to Ash. Johnson, while composing his Dictionary, sent a note to
+the Gentleman's Magazine to inquire the etymology of the word
+_curmudgeon_. Having obtained the information, he records in his work
+the obligation to an anonymous letter-writer. "Curmudgeon, a vicious way
+of pronouncing _coeur méchant_. An unknown correspondent." Ash copied
+the word into his dictionary in this manner: "Curmudgeon: from the
+French _coeur_ unknown; and _méchant_, a correspondent." This singular
+negligence ought to be placed in the class of our _literary blunders_;
+these form a pair of lexicographical anecdotes.
+
+Two singular literary follies have been practised on Milton. There is a
+_prose version_ of his "Paradise Lost," which was innocently
+_translated_ from the French version of his epic! One Green published a
+specimen of a _new version_ of the "Paradise Lost" into _blank verse_!
+For this purpose he has utterly ruined the harmony of Milton's cadences,
+by what he conceived to be "bringing that amazing work somewhat _nearer
+the summit of perfection_."
+
+A French author, when his book had been received by the French Academy,
+had the portrait of Cardinal Richelieu engraved on his title-page,
+encircled by a crown of _forty rays_, in each of which was written the
+name of the celebrated _forty academicians_.
+
+The self-exaltation frequently employed by injudicious writers,
+sometimes places them in ridiculous attitudes. A writer of a bad
+dictionary, which he intended for a Cyclopaedia, formed such an opinion
+of its extensive sale, that he put on the title-page the words "_first
+edition_," a hint to the gentle reader that it would not be the last.
+Desmarest was so delighted with his "Clovis," an epic poem, that he
+solemnly concludes his preface with a thanksgiving to God, to whom he
+attributes all its glory! This is like that conceited member of a French
+Parliament, who was overheard, after his tedious harangue, muttering
+most devoutly to himself, "_Non nobis Domine_."
+
+Several works have been produced from some odd coincidence with the
+_name of their authors_. Thus, De Saussay has written a folio volume,
+consisting of panegyrics of persons of eminence whose Christian names
+were _Andrew_; because _Andrew_ was his own name. Two Jesuits made a
+similar collection of illustrious men whose Christian names were
+_Theophilus_ and _Philip_, being their own. _Anthony Saunderus_ has also
+composed a treatise of illustrious _Anthonies_! And we have one
+_Buchanan_, who has written the lives of those persons who were so
+fortunate as to have been his namesakes.
+
+Several forgotten writers have frequently been intruded on the public
+eye, merely through such trifling coincidences as being members of some
+particular society, or natives of some particular country. Cordeliers
+have stood forward to revive the writings of Duns Scotus, because he had
+been a cordelier; and a Jesuit compiled a folio on the antiquities of a
+province, merely from the circumstance that the founder of his order,
+Ignatius Loyola, had been born there. Several of the classics are
+violently extolled above others, merely from the accidental circumstance
+of their editors having collected a vast number of notes, which they
+resolved to discharge on the public. County histories have been
+frequently compiled, and provincial writers have received a temporary
+existence, from the accident of some obscure individual being an
+inhabitant of some obscure town.
+
+On such literary follies Malebranche has made this refined observation.
+The _critics_, standing in some way connected with _the author_, their
+_self-love_ inspires them, and abundantly furnishes eulogiums which the
+author never merited, that they may thus obliquely reflect some praise
+on themselves. This is made so adroitly, so delicately, and so
+concealed, that it is not perceived.
+
+The following are strange inventions, originating in the wilful bad
+taste of the authors. OTTO VENIUS, the master of Rubens, is the designer
+of _Le Théâtre moral de la Vie humaine_. In this emblematical history of
+human life, he has taken his subjects from Horace; but certainly his
+conceptions are not Horatian. He takes every image in a _literal_
+sense. If Horace says, "_Misce stultitiam_ CONSILIIS BREVEM," behold,
+Venius takes _brevis_ personally, and represents Folly as a _little
+short child_! of not above three or four years old! In the emblem which
+answers Horace's "_Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit_ PEDE POENA
+CLAUDO," we find Punishment with _a wooden leg_.--And for "PULVIS ET
+UMBRA SUMUS," we have a dark burying vault, with _dust_ sprinkled about
+the floor, and a _shadow_ walking upright between two ranges of urns.
+For "_Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima stultitiâ caruisse_,"
+most flatly he gives seven or eight Vices pursuing Virtue, and Folly
+just at the heels of Wisdom. I saw in an English Bible printed in
+Holland an instance of the same taste: the artist, to illustrate "Thou
+seest the _mote_ in thy neighbour's eye, but not the _beam_ in thine
+own," has actually placed an immense beam which projects from the eye of
+the cavalier to the ground![87]
+
+As a contrast to the too obvious taste of VENIUS, may be placed CESARE
+DI RIPA, who is the author of an Italian work, translated into most
+European languages, the _Iconologia_; the favourite book of the age, and
+the fertile parent of the most absurd offspring which Taste has known.
+Ripa is as darkly subtle as Venius is obvious; and as far-fetched in his
+conceits as the other is literal. Ripa represents Beauty by a naked
+lady, with her head in a cloud; because the true idea of beauty is hard
+to be conceived! Flattery, by a lady with a flute in her hand, and a
+stag at her feet; because stags are said to love music so much, that
+they suffer themselves to be taken, if you play to them on a flute.
+Fraud, with two hearts in one hand, and a mask in the other;--his
+collection is too numerous to point out more instances. Ripa also
+describes how the allegorical figures are to be coloured; Hope is to
+have a sky-blue robe, because she always looks towards heaven. Enough of
+these _capriccios_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 82: The Scribleriad is a poem now scarcely known. It was a
+partial imitation of the Dunciad written by Richard Owen Cambridge, a
+scholar and man of fortune, who, in his residence at Twickenham,
+surrounded by friends of congenial tastes, enjoyed a life of literary
+ease. The Scribleriad is an attack on pseudo-science, the hero being a
+virtuoso of the most Quixotic kind, who travels far to discover
+rarities, loves a lady with the _plica Polonica_, waits three years at
+Naples to see the eruption of Vesuvius; and plays all kinds of fantastic
+tricks, as if in continual ridicule of _The Philosophical Transactions_,
+which are especially aimed at in the notes which accompany the poem. It
+achieved considerable notoriety in its own day, and is not without
+merit. It was published by Dodsley, in 1751, in a handsome quarto, with
+some good engravings by Boitard.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Thomas Jordan, a poet of the time of Charles II., has the
+following specimen of a double acrostic, which must have occupied a
+large amount of labour. He calls it "a cross acrostick on two crost
+lovers." The man's name running through from top to bottom, and the
+female's the contrary way of the poem.
+
+    Though crost in our affections, still the flames
+    Of Honour shall secure our noble Names;
+    Nor shall Our fate divorce our faith, Or cause
+    The least Mislike of love's Diviner lawes.
+    Crosses sometimes Are cures, Now let us prove,
+    That no strength Shall Abate the power of love:
+    Honour, wit, beauty, Riches, wise men call
+    Frail fortune's Badges, In true love lies all.
+    Therefore to him we Yield, our Vowes shall be
+    Paid--Read, and written in Eternity:
+    That All may know when men grant no Redress,
+    Much love can sweeten the unhappinesS.]
+
+[Footnote 84: The following example, barbarously made up in this way
+from passages in the Æneid and the Georgics, is by Stephen de Pleurre,
+and describes the adoration of the Magi. The references to each half
+line of the originals are given, the central cross marks the length of
+each quotation.
+
+                  Tum Reges----
+    7 Æ · 98. Externi veniunt x quæ cuiq; est copia læti. 5 Æ · 100.
+    11 Æ · 333. Munera portantes x molles sua tura Sabæi. 1 G · 57.
+    3 Æ · 464. Dona dehinc auro gravia x Myrrhaque madentes.  12 Æ · 100.
+    9 Æ · 659. Agnovere Deum Regum x Regumque parentum. 6 Æ · 548.
+    1 G · 418. Mutavere vias x perfectis ordine votis. 10 Æ · 548.]
+
+[Footnote 85: The old Poet, Gascoigne, composed one of the longest
+English specimens, which he says gave him infinite trouble. It is as
+follows:--
+
+    "Lewd did I live, evil I did dwel."]
+
+[Footnote 86: We need feel little wonder at this when "The Book of
+Mormon" could be fabricated in our own time, and, with abundant evidence
+of that fact, yet become the Gospel of a very large number of persons.]
+
+[Footnote 87: There are several instances of this ludicrous literal
+representation. Daniel Hopfer, a German engraver of the 16th century,
+published a large print of this subject; the scene is laid in the
+interior of a Gothic church, and _the beam_ is a solid squared piece of
+timber, reaching from the eye of the man to the walls of the building.
+This peculiar mode of treating the subject may be traced to the earliest
+picture-books--thus the _Ars Memorandi_, a block-book of the early part
+of the 15th century, represents this figure of speech by a piece of
+timber transfixing a human eye.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY CONTROVERSY.
+
+
+In the article MILTON, I had occasion to give some strictures on the
+asperity of literary controversy, drawn from his own and Salmasius's
+writings. If to some the subject has appeared exceptionable, to me, I
+confess, it seems useful, and I shall therefore add some other
+particulars; for this topic has many branches. Of the following
+specimens the grossness and malignity are extreme; yet they were
+employed by the first scholars in Europe.
+
+Martin Luther was not destitute of genius, of learning, or of eloquence;
+but his violence disfigured his works with singularities of abuse. The
+great reformer of superstition had himself all the vulgar ones of his
+day; he believed that flies were devils; and that he had had a buffeting
+with Satan, when his left ear felt the prodigious beating. Hear him
+express himself on the Catholic divines: "The Papists are all asses, and
+will always remain asses. Put them in whatever sauce you choose, boiled,
+roasted, baked, fried, skinned, beat, hashed, they are always the same
+asses."
+
+Gentle and moderate, compared with a salute to his holiness:--"The Pope
+was born out of the Devil's posteriors. He is full of devils, lies,
+blasphemies, and idolatries; he is anti-Christ; the robber of churches;
+the ravisher of virgins; the greatest of pimps; the governor of Sodom,
+&c. If the Turks lay hold of us, then we shall be in the hands of the
+Devil; but if we remain with the Pope, we shall be in hell.--What a
+pleasing sight would it be to see the Pope and the Cardinals hanging on
+one gallows in exact order, like the seals which dangle from the bulls
+of the Pope! What an excellent council would they hold under the
+gallows!"[88]
+
+Sometimes, desirous of catching the attention of the vulgar, Luther
+attempts to enliven his style by the grossest buffooneries: "Take care,
+my little Popa! my little ass! Go on slowly: the times are slippery:
+this year is dangerous: if them fallest, they will exclaim, See! how
+our little Pope is spoilt!" It was fortunate for the cause of the
+Reformation that the violence of Luther was softened in a considerable
+degree by the meek Melancthon, who often poured honey on the sting
+inflicted by the angry wasp. Luther was no respecter of kings; he was so
+fortunate, indeed, as to find among his antagonists a crowned head; a
+great good fortune for an obscure controversialist, and the very
+_punctum saliens_ of controversy. Our Henry VIII. wrote his book against
+the new doctrine: then warm from scholastic studies, Henry presented Leo
+X. with a work highly creditable to his abilities, according to the
+genius of the age. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History, has analysed
+the book, and does not ill describe its spirit: "Henry seems superior to
+his adversary in the vigour and propriety of his style, in the force of
+his reasoning, and the learning of his citations. It is true he leans
+_too much_ upon his character, argues in his _garter-robes_, and writes
+as 'twere with his _sceptre_." But Luther in reply abandons his pen to
+all kinds of railing and abuse. He addresses Henry VIII. in the
+following style: "It is hard to say if folly can be more foolish, or
+stupidity more stupid, than is the head of Henry. He has not attacked me
+with the heart of a king, but with the impudence of a knave. This rotten
+worm of the earth having blasphemed the majesty of my king, I have a
+just right to bespatter his English majesty with his own dirt and
+ordure. This Henry has lied." Some of his original expressions to our
+Henry VIII. are these: "Stulta, ridicula, et verissimè _Henricicana_ et
+_Thomastica_ sunt hæc--Regem Angliæ Henricum istum planè mentiri,
+&c.--Hoc agit inquietus Satan, ut nos a Scripturis avocet per
+_sceleratos Henricos_," &c.--He was repaid with capital and interest by
+an anonymous reply, said to have been written by Sir Thomas More, who
+concludes his arguments by leaving Luther in language not necessary to
+translate: "cum suis furiis et furoribus, cum suis merdis et stercoribus
+cacantem cacatumque." Such were the vigorous elegancies of a controversy
+on the Seven Sacraments! Long after, the court of Rome had not lost the
+taste of these "bitter herbs:" for in the bull of the canonization of
+Ignatius Loyola in August, 1623, Luther is called _monstrum teterrimum
+et detestabilis pestis_.
+
+Calvin was less tolerant, for he had no Melancthon! His adversaries are
+never others than knaves, lunatics, drunkards and assassins! Sometimes
+they are characterised by the familiar appellatives of bulls, asses,
+cats, and hogs! By him Catholic and Lutheran are alike hated. Yet, after
+having given vent to this virulent humour, he frequently boasts of his
+mildness. When he reads over his writings, he tells us, that he is
+astonished at his forbearance; but this, he adds, is the duty of every
+Christian! at the same time, he generally finishes a period with--"Do
+you hear, you dog?" "Do you hear, madman?"
+
+Beza, the disciple of Calvin, sometimes imitates the luxuriant abuse of
+his master. When he writes against Tillemont, a Lutheran minister, he
+bestows on him the following titles of honour:--"Polyphemus; an ape; a
+great ass, who is distinguished from other asses by wearing a hat; an
+ass on two feet; a monster composed of part of an ape and wild ass; a
+villain who merits hanging on the first tree we find." And Beza was, no
+doubt, desirous of the office of executioner!
+
+The Catholic party is by no means inferior in the felicities of their
+style. The Jesuit Raynaud calls Erasmus the "Batavian buffoon," and
+accuses him of nourishing the egg which Luther hatched. These men were
+alike supposed by their friends to be the inspired regulators of
+religion![89]
+
+Bishop Bedell, a great and good man, respected even by his adversaries,
+in an address to his clergy, observes, "Our calling is to deal with
+errors, not to disgrace the man with scolding words. It is said of
+Alexander, I think, when he overheard one of his soldiers railing
+lustily against Darius his enemy, that he reproved him, and added,
+"Friend, I entertain thee to fight against Darius, not to revile him;"
+and my sentiments of treating the Catholics," concludes Bedell, "are
+not conformable to the practice of Luther and Calvin; but they were but
+men, and perhaps we must confess they suffered themselves to yield to
+the violence of passion."
+
+The Fathers of the Church were proficients in the art of abuse, and very
+ingeniously defended it. St. Austin affirms that the most caustic
+personality may produce a wonderful effect, in opening a man's eyes to
+his own follies. He illustrates his position with a story, given with
+great simplicity, of his mother Saint Monica with her maid. Saint Monica
+certainly would have been a confirmed drunkard, had not her maid
+timelily and outrageously abused her. The story will amuse.--"My mother
+had by little and little accustomed herself to relish wine. They used to
+send her to the cellar, as being one of the soberest in the family: she
+first sipped from the jug and tasted a few drops, for she abhorred wine,
+and did not care to drink. However, she gradually accustomed herself,
+and from sipping it on her lips she swallowed a draught. As people from
+the smallest faults insensibly increase, she at length liked wine, and
+drank bumpers. But one day being alone with the maid who usually
+attended her to the cellar, they quarrelled, and the maid bitterly
+reproached her with being a _drunkard_! That _single word_ struck her so
+poignantly that it opened her understanding; and reflecting on the
+deformity of the vice, she desisted for ever from its use."
+
+To jeer and play the droll, or, in his own words, _de bouffonner_, was a
+mode of controversy the great Arnauld defended, as permitted by the
+writings of the holy fathers. It is still more singular, when he not
+only brings forward as an example of this ribaldry, Elijah _mocking_ at
+the false divinities, but _God_ himself _bantering_ the first man after
+his fall. He justifies the injurious epithets which he has so liberally
+bestowed on his adversaries by the example of Jesus Christ and the
+apostles! It was on these grounds also that the celebrated Pascal
+apologised for the invectives with which he has occasionally disfigured
+his Provincial Letters. A Jesuit has collected "An Alphabetical
+Catalogue of the Names of _Beasts_ by which the Fathers characterised
+the Heretics!" It may be found in _Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris_,
+p. 93, 4to. 1653, of Father Kaynaud. This list of brutes and insects,
+among which are a vast variety of serpents, is accompanied by the names
+of the heretics designated!
+
+Henry Fitzsermon, an Irish Jesuit, was imprisoned for his papistical
+designs and seditious preaching. During his confinement he proved
+himself to be a great amateur of controversy. He said, "he felt like a
+_bear_ tied to a stake, and wanted somebody to _bait_ him." A kind
+office, zealously undertaken by the learned _Usher_, then a young man.
+He _engaged to dispute_ with him _once a week_ on the subject of
+_antichrist_! They met several times. It appears that _our bear_ was
+out-worried, and declined any further _dog-baiting_. This spread an
+universal joy through the Protestants in Dublin. At the early period of
+the Reformation, Dr. Smith of Oxford abjured papistry, with the hope of
+retaining his professorship, but it was given to Peter Martyr. On this
+our Doctor recants, and writes several controversial works against Peter
+Martyr; the most curious part of which is the singular mode adopted of
+attacking others, as well as Peter Martyr. In his margin he frequently
+breaks out thus: "Let Hooper read this!"--"Here, Ponet, open your eyes
+and see your errors!"--"Ergo, Cox, thou art damned!" In this manner,
+without expressly writing against these persons, the stirring polemic
+contrived to keep up a sharp bush-fighting in his margins. Such was the
+spirit of those times, very different from our own. When a modern bishop
+was just advanced to a mitre, his bookseller begged to re-publish a
+popular theological tract of his against another bishop, because he
+might now meet him on equal terms. My lord answered--"Mr.----, no more
+controversy now!" Our good bishop resembled Baldwin, who from a simple
+monk, arrived to the honour of the see of Canterbury. The successive
+honours successively changed his manners. Urban the Second inscribed his
+brief to him in this concise description--_Balduino Monastico
+ferventissimo, Abbati calido, Episcopo tepido, Archiepiscopo remisso_!
+
+On the subject of literary controversies, we cannot pass over the
+various sects of the scholastics: a volume might be compiled of their
+ferocious wars, which in more than one instance were accompanied by
+stones and daggers. The most memorable, on account of the extent, the
+violence, and duration of their contests, are those of the NOMINALISTS
+and the REALISTS.
+
+It was a most subtle question assuredly, and the world thought for a
+long while that their happiness depended on deciding, whether
+universals, that is _genera_, have a real essence, and exist
+independent of particulars, that is _species_:--whether, for instance,
+we could form an idea of asses, prior to individual asses? Roscelinus,
+in the eleventh century, adopted the opinion that universals have no
+real existence, either before or in individuals, but are mere names and
+words by which the kind of individuals is expressed; a tenet propagated
+by Abelard, which produced the sect of _Nominalists_. But the _Realists_
+asserted that universals existed independent of individuals,--though
+they were somewhat divided between the various opinions of Plato and
+Aristotle. Of the Realists the most famous were Thomas Aquinas and Duns
+Scotus. The cause of the Nominalists was almost desperate, till Occam in
+the fourteenth century revived the dying embers. Louis XI. adopted the
+Nominalists, and the Nominalists flourished at large in France and
+Germany; but unfortunately Pope John XXIII. patronised the Realists, and
+throughout Italy it was dangerous for a Nominalist to open his lips. The
+French King wavered, and the Pope triumphed; his majesty published an
+edict in 1474, in which he silenced for ever the Nominalists, and
+ordered their books to be fastened up in their libraries with iron
+chains, that they might not be read by young students! The leaders of
+that sect fled into England and Germany, where they united their forces
+with Luther and the first Reformers.
+
+Nothing could exceed the violence with which these disputes were
+conducted. Vives himself, who witnessed the contests, says that, "when
+the contending parties had exhausted their stock of verbal abuse, they
+often came to blows; and it was not uncommon in these quarrels about
+_universals_, to see the combatants engaging not only with their fists,
+but with clubs and swords, so that many have been wounded and some
+killed."
+
+On this war of words, and all this terrifying nonsense John of Salisbury
+observes, "that there had been more time consumed than the Cæsars had
+employed in making themselves masters of the world; that the riches of
+Croesus were inferior to the treasures that had been exhausted in this
+controversy; and that the contending parties, after having spent their
+whole lives in this single point, had neither been so happy as to
+determine it to their satisfaction, nor to find in the labyrinths of
+science where they had been groping any discovery that was worth the
+pains they had taken." It may be added that Ramus having attacked
+Aristotle, for "teaching us chimeras," all his scholars revolted; the
+parliament put a stop to his lectures, and at length having brought the
+matter into a law court, he was declared "to be insolent and
+daring"--the king proscribed his works, he was ridiculed on the stage,
+and hissed at by his scholars. When at length, during the plague, he
+opened again his schools, he drew on himself a fresh storm by reforming
+the pronunciation of the letter Q, which they then pronounced like
+K--Kiskis for Quisquis, and Kamkam for Quamquam. This innovation Was
+once more laid to his charge: a new rebellion! and a new ejection of the
+Anti-Aristotelian! The brother of that Gabriel Harvey who was the friend
+of Spenser, and with Gabriel had been the whetstone of the town-wits of
+his time, distinguished himself by his wrath against the Stagyrite.
+After having with Gabriel predicted an earthquake, and alarmed the
+kingdom, which never took place (that is the earthquake, not the alarm),
+the wits buffeted him. Nash says of him, that "Tarlton at the theatre
+made jests of him, and Elderton consumed his ale-crammed nose to
+nothing, in bear-baiting him with whole bundles of ballads." Marlow
+declared him to be "an ass fit only to preach of the iron age." Stung to
+madness by this lively nest of hornets, he avenged himself in a very
+cowardly manner--he attacked Aristotle himself! for he set _Aristotle_
+with his _heels upwards_ on the school gates at Cambridge, and with
+_asses' ears_ on his head!
+
+But this controversy concerning Aristotle and the school divinity was
+even prolonged. A professor in the College at Naples published in 1688
+four volumes of peripatetic philosophy, to establish the principles of
+Aristotle. The work was exploded, and he wrote an abusive treatise under
+the _nom de guerre_ of Benedetto Aletino. A man of letters, Constantino
+Grimaldi, replied. Aletino rejoined; he wrote letters, an apology for
+the letters, and would have written more for Aristotle than Aristotle
+himself perhaps would have done. However, Grimaldi was no ordinary
+antagonist, and not to be outwearied. He had not only the best of the
+argument, but he was resolved to tell the world so, as long as the world
+would listen. Whether he killed off Father Benedictus, the first author,
+is not affirmed; but the latter died during the controversy. Grimaldi,
+however, afterwards pursued his ghost, and buffeted the father in his
+grave. This enraged the University of Naples; and the Jesuits, to a man,
+denounced Grimaldi to Pope Benedict XIII. and to the Viceroy of Naples.
+On this the Pope issued a bull prohibiting the reading of Grimaldi's
+works, or keeping them, under pain of excommunication; and the viceroy,
+more active than the bull, caused all the copies which were found in the
+author's house to be thrown _into the sea_! The author with tears in his
+eyes beheld his expatriated volumes, hopeless that their voyage would
+have been successful. However, all the little family of the Grimaldis
+were not drowned--for a storm arose, and happily drove ashore many of
+the floating copies, and these falling into charitable hands, the
+heretical opinions of poor Grimaldi against Aristotle and school
+divinity were still read by those who were not out-terrified by the
+Pope's bulls. The _salted_ passages were still at hand, and quoted with
+a double zest against the Jesuits!
+
+We now turn to writers whose controversy was kindled only by subjects of
+polite literature. The particulars form a curious picture of the taste
+of the age.
+
+"There is," says Joseph Scaliger, that great critic and reviler, "an art
+of abuse or slandering, of which those that are ignorant may be said to
+defame others much less than they show a willingness to defame."
+
+"Literary wars," says Bayle, "are sometimes as lasting as they are
+terrible." A disputation between two great scholars was so interminably
+violent, that it lasted thirty years! He humorously compares its
+duration to the German war which lasted as long.
+
+Baillet, when he refuted the sentiments of a certain author always did
+it without naming him; but when he found any observation which, he
+deemed commendable, he quoted his name. Bayle observes, that "this is an
+excess of politeness, prejudicial to that freedom which should ever
+exist in the republic of letters; that it should be allowed always to
+name those whom we refute; and that it is sufficient for this purpose
+that we banish asperity, malice, and indecency."
+
+After these preliminary observations, I shall bring forward various
+examples where this excellent advice is by no means regarded.
+
+Erasmus produced a dialogue, in which he ridiculed those scholars who
+were servile imitators of Cicero; so servile, that they would employ no
+expression but what was found in the works of that writer; everything
+with them was Ciceronianised. This dialogue is written with great
+humour. Julius Cæsar Scaliger, the father, who was then unknown to the
+world, had been long looking for some occasion to distinguish himself;
+he now wrote a defence of Cicero, but which in fact was one continued
+invective against Erasmus: he there treats the latter as illiterate, a
+drunkard, an impostor, an apostate, a hangman, a demon hot from hell!
+The same Scaliger, acting on the same principle of distinguishing
+himself at the cost of others, attacked Cardan's best work _De
+Subtilitate_: his criticism did not appear till seven years after the
+first edition of the work, and then he obstinately stuck to that
+edition, though Cardan had corrected it in subsequent ones; but this
+Scaliger chose, that he might have a wider field for his attack. After
+this, a rumour spread that Cardan had died of vexation from Julius
+Cæsar's invincible pen; then Scaliger pretended to feel all the regret
+possible for a man he had killed, and whom he now praised: however, his
+regret had as little foundation as his triumph; for Cardan outlived
+Scaliger many years, and valued his criticisms too cheaply to have
+suffered them to have disturbed his quiet. All this does not exceed the
+_Invectives_ of Poggius, who has thus entitled several literary libels
+composed against some of his adversaries, Laurentius Valla, Philelphus,
+&c., who returned the poisoned chalice to his own lips; declamations of
+scurrility, obscenity, and calumny!
+
+Scioppius was a worthy successor of the Scaligers: his favourite
+expression was, that he had trodden down his adversary.
+
+Scioppius was a critic, as skilful as Salmasius or Scaliger, but still
+more learned in the language of abuse. This cynic was the Attila of
+authors. He boasted that he had occasioned the deaths of Casaubon and
+Scaliger. Detested and dreaded as the public scourge, Scioppius, at the
+close of his life, was fearful he should find no retreat in which he
+might be secure.
+
+The great Casaubon employs the dialect of St. Giles's in his furious
+attacks on the learned Dalechamps, the Latin translator of Athenæus. To
+this great physician he stood more deeply indebted than he chose to
+confess; and to conceal the claims of this literary creditor, he called
+out _Vesanum!_ _Insanum!_ _Tiresiam!_ &c. It was the fashion of that day
+with the ferocious heroes of the literary republic, to overwhelm each
+other with invectives, and to consider that their own grandeur
+consisted in the magnitude of their volumes; and their triumphs in
+reducing their brother giants into puny dwarfs. In science, Linnæus had
+a dread of controversy--conqueror or conquered we cannot escape without
+disgrace! Mathiolus would have been the great man of his day, had he not
+meddled with such matters. Who is gratified by "the mad Cornarus," or
+"the flayed Fox?" titles which Fuchsius and Cornarus, two eminent
+botanists, have bestowed on each other. Some who were too fond of
+controversy, as they grew wiser, have refused to take up the gauntlet.
+
+The heat and acrimony of verbal critics have exceeded description. Their
+stigmas and anathemas have been long known to bear no proportion to the
+offences against which they have been directed. "God confound you,"
+cried one grammarian to another, "for your theory of impersonal verbs!"
+There was a long and terrible controversy formerly, whether the
+Florentine dialect was to prevail over the others. The academy was put
+to great trouble, and the Anti-Cruscans were often on the point of
+annulling this supremacy; _una mordace scritura_ was applied to one of
+these literary canons; and in a letter of those times the following
+paragraph appears:--"Pescetti is preparing to give a second answer to
+Beni, which will not please him; I now believe the prophecy of Cavalier
+Tedeschi will be verified, and that this controversy, begun with pens,
+will end with poniards!"
+
+Fabretti, an Italian, wrote furiously against Gronovius, whom he calls
+_Grunnovius_: he compared him to all those animals whose voice was
+expressed by the word _Grunnire, to grunt_. Gronovius was so malevolent
+a critic, that he was distinguished by the title of the "Grammatical
+Cur."
+
+When critics venture to attack the person as well as the performance of
+an author, I recommend the salutary proceedings of Huberus, the writer
+of an esteemed Universal History. He had been so roughly handled by
+Perizonius, that he obliged him to make the _amende honorable_ in a
+court of justice; where, however, I fear an English jury would give the
+smallest damages.
+
+Certain authors may be distinguished by the title of LITERARY BOBADILS,
+or fighting authors. One of our own celebrated writers drew his sword on
+a reviewer; and another, when his farce was condemned, offered to fight
+any one of the audience who hissed. Scudery, brother of the celebrated
+Mademoiselle Scudery, was a true Parnassian bully. The first
+publication which brought him into notice was his edition of the works
+of his friend Theophile. He concludes the preface with these singular
+expressions--"I do not hesitate to declare, that, amongst all the dead,
+and all the living, there is no person who has anything to show that
+approaches the force of this vigorous genius; but if amongst the latter,
+any one were so extravagant as to consider that I detract from his
+imaginary glory, to show him that I fear as little as I esteem him, this
+is to inform him that my name is
+                                                    "DE SCUDERY."
+
+A similar rhodomontade is that of Claude Trellon, a poetical soldier,
+who begins his poems by challenging the critics, assuring them that if
+any one attempts to censure him, he will only condescend to answer sword
+in hand. Father Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, having written against
+Cardinal Noris, on the monkery of St. Austin, it was deemed necessary to
+silence both parties. Macedo, compelled to relinquish the pen, sent his
+adversary a challenge, and according to the laws of chivalry, appointed
+a place for meeting in the wood of Boulogne. Another edict forbad the
+duel! Macedo then murmured at his hard fate, which would not suffer him,
+for the sake of St. Austin, for whom he had a particular regard, to
+spill either his _ink_ or his _blood_.
+
+ANTI, prefixed to the name of the person attacked, was once a favourite
+title to books of literary controversy. With a critical review of such
+books Baillet has filled a quarto volume; yet such was the abundant
+harvest, that he left considerable gleanings for posterior industry.
+
+Anti-Gronovius was a book published against Gronovius, by Kuster.
+Perizonius, another pugilist of literature, entered into this dispute on
+the subject of the Æs grave of the ancients, to which Kuster had just
+adverted at the close of his volume. What was the consequence?
+Dreadful!--Answers and rejoinders from both, in which they bespattered
+each other with the foulest abuse. A journalist pleasantly blames this
+acrimonious controversy. He says, "To read the pamphlets of a Perizonius
+and a Kuster on the Æs grave of the ancients, who would not renounce all
+commerce with antiquity? It seems as if an Agamemnon and an Achilles
+were railing at each other. Who can refrain from laughter, when one of
+these commentators even points his attacks at the very name of his
+adversary? According to Kuster, the name of Perizonius signifies a
+_certain part_ of the human body. How is it possible, that with such a
+name he could be right concerning the Æs grave? But does that of Kuster
+promise a better thing, since it signifies a beadle; a man who drives
+dogs out of churches?--What madness is this!"
+
+Corneille, like our Dryden, felt the acrimony of literary irritation. To
+the critical strictures of D'Aubignac it is acknowledged he paid the
+greatest attention, for, after this critic's _Pratique du Théâtre_
+appeared, his tragedies were more artfully conducted. But instead of
+mentioning the critic with due praise, he preserved an ungrateful
+silence. This occasioned a quarrel between the poet and the critic, in
+which the former exhaled his bile in several abusive epigrams, which
+have, fortunately for his credit, not been preserved in his works.
+
+The lively Voltaire could not resist the charm of abusing his
+adversaries. We may smile when he calls a blockhead, a blockhead; a
+dotard, a dotard; but when he attacks, for a difference of opinion, the
+_morals_ of another man, our sensibility is alarmed. A higher tribunal
+than that of criticism is to decide on the _actions_ of men.
+
+There is a certain disguised malice, which some writers have most
+unfairly employed in characterising a contemporary. Burnet called Prior,
+_one Prior_. In Bishop Parker's History of his Own Times, an innocent
+reader may start at seeing the celebrated Marvell described as an
+outcast of society; an infamous libeller; and one whose talents were
+even more despicable than his person. To such lengths did the hatred of
+party, united with personal rancour, carry this bishop, who was himself
+the worst of time-servers. He was, however, amply paid by the keen wit
+of Marvell in "The Rehearsal Transposed," which may still be read with
+delight, as an admirable effusion of banter, wit, and satire. Le Clerc,
+a cool ponderous Greek critic, quarrelled with Boileau about a passage
+in Longinus, and several years afterwards, in revising Moreri's
+Dictionary, gave a short sarcastic notice of the poet's brother; in
+which he calls him the elder brother of _him who has written the book
+entitled, "Satires of Mr. Boileau Despréaux_!"--the works of the modern
+Horace, which were then delighting Europe, he calls, with simple
+impudence, "a book entitled Satires!"
+
+The works of Homer produced a controversy, both long and virulent,
+amongst the wits of France. This literary quarrel is of some note in
+the annals of literature, since it has produced two valuable books; La
+Motte's "Réflexions sur la Critique," and Madame Dacier's "Des Causes de
+la Corruption du Goût." La Motte wrote with feminine delicacy, and
+Madame Dacier like a University pedant. "At length, by the efforts of
+Valincour, the friend of art, of artists, and of peace, the contest was
+terminated." Both parties were formidable in number, and to each he made
+remonstrances, and applied reproaches. La Motte and Madame Dacier, the
+opposite leaders, were convinced by his arguments, made reciprocal
+concessions, and concluded a peace. The treaty was formally ratified at
+a dinner, given on the occasion by a Madame De Staël, who represented
+"Neutrality." Libations were poured to the memory of old Homer, and the
+parties were reconciled.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 88: Caricaturists were employed on both sides of the question,
+and by pictures as well as words the war of polemics was vigorously
+carried on. In one instance, the head of Luther is represented as the
+Devil's Bagpipe; he blows into his ear, and uses his nose as a chanter.
+Cocleus, in one of his tracts, represents Luther as a monster with seven
+heads, indicative of his follies; the first is that of a disputatious
+doctor, the last that of Barabbas! Luther replied in other pamphlets,
+adorned with equally gross delineations levelled at his opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Bishop Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ will
+furnish an example of the coarseness of invective used by both parties
+during the era of the Reformation; in such rhymes as "Plain Truth and
+Blind Ignorance"--"A Ballad of Luther and the Pope," &c. The old
+interlude of "Newe Custome," printed in Dodsley's _Old Plays_; and that
+of "Lusty Juventus," in Hawkins's _English Drama_, are choice specimens
+of the vulgarest abuse. Bishop Bale in his play of _King John_
+(published in 1838 by the Camden Society), indulges in a levity and
+coarseness that would not now be tolerated in an alehouse--"stynkyng
+heretic" on one side, and "vile popysh swyne" on the other, are among
+the mildest epithets used in these religious satires. One of the most
+curious is a dialogue between John Bon, a husbandman, and "Master
+Parson" of his parish, on the subject of transubstantiation; it was so
+violent in its style as to threaten great trouble to author and printer
+(see Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_). It may be seen in vol. xxx.
+of the Percy Society's publications.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY BLUNDERS.
+
+
+When Dante published his "Inferno," the simplicity of the age accepted
+it as a true narrative of his descent into hell.
+
+When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned a
+pleasant mistake. This political romance represents a perfect, but
+visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered
+in America. "As this was the age of discovery," says Granger, "the
+learned Budæus, and others, took it for a genuine history; and
+considered it as highly expedient, that missionaries should be sent
+thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity."
+
+It was a long while after publication that many readers were convinced
+that Gulliver's Travels were fictitious.[90]
+
+But the most singular blunder was produced by the ingenious "Hermippus
+Redivivus" of Dr. Campbell, a curious banter on the hermetic philosophy,
+and the universal medicine; but the grave irony is so closely kept up,
+that it deceived for a length of time the most learned. His notion of
+the art of prolonging life, by inhaling the breath of young women, was
+eagerly credited. A physician, who himself had composed a treatise on
+health, was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings at a
+female boarding-school, that he might never be without a constant supply
+of the breath of young ladies. Mr. Thicknesse seriously adopted the
+project. Dr. Kippis acknowledged that after he had read the work in his
+youth, the reasonings and the facts left him several days in a kind of
+fairy land. I have a copy with manuscript notes by a learned physician,
+who seems to have had no doubts of its veracity. After all, the
+intention of the work was long doubtful; till Dr. Campbell assured a
+friend it was a mere jeu-d'esprit; that Bayle was considered as standing
+without a rival in the art of treating at large a difficult subject,
+without discovering to which side his own sentiments leaned: Campbell
+had read more uncommon books than most men, and wished to rival Bayle,
+and at the same time to give many curious matters little known.
+
+Palavicini, in his History of the Council of Trent, to confer an honour
+on M. Lansac, ambassador of Charles IX. to that council, bestows on him
+a collar of the order of Saint Esprit; but which order was not
+instituted till several years afterwards by Henry III. A similar
+voluntary blunder is that of Surita, in his _Annales de la Corona de
+Aragon_. This writer represents, in the battles he describes, many
+persons who were not present; and this, merely to confer honour on some
+particular families.
+
+Fabiana, quoting a French narrative of travels in Italy, took for the
+name of the author the words, found at the end of the title-page,
+_Enrichi de deux Listes_; that is, "Enriched with two lists:" on this he
+observes, "that Mr. Enriched with two lists has not failed to do that
+justice to Ciampini which he merited."[91] The abridgers of Gesner's
+Bibliotheca ascribe the romance of Amadis to one _Acuerdo Olvido_;
+Remembrance, Oblivion; mistaking the French translator's Spanish motto
+on the title-page for the name of the author.
+
+D'Aquin, the French king's physician, in his Memoir on the Preparation
+of Bark, takes _Mantissa_, which is the title of the Appendix to the
+History of Plants, by Johnstone, for the name of an author, and who, he
+says, is so extremely rare, that he only knows him by name.
+
+Lord Bolingbroke imagined, that in those famous verses, beginning with
+_Excudent alii_, &c., Virgil attributed to the Romans the glory of
+having surpassed the Greeks in historical composition: according to his
+idea, those Roman historians whom Virgil preferred to the Grecians were
+Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. But Virgil died before Livy had written his
+history, or Tacitus was born.
+
+An honest friar, who compiled a church history, has placed in the class
+of ecclesiastical writers Guarini, the Italian poet, on the faith of the
+title of his celebrated amorous pastoral, _Il Pastor Fido_, "The
+Faithful Shepherd;" our good father imagined that the character of a
+curate, vicar, or bishop, was represented in this work.
+
+A blunder has been recorded of the monks in the dark ages, which was
+likely enough to happen when their ignorance was so dense. A rector of a
+parish going to law with his parishioners about paving the church,
+quoted this authority from St. Peter--_Paveant illi, non paveam ego_;
+which he construed, _They are to pave the church, not I_. This was
+allowed to be good law by a judge, himself an ecclesiastic too.
+
+One of the grossest literary blunders of modern times is that of the
+late Gilbert Wakefield, in his edition of Pope. He there takes the
+well-known "Song by a Person of Quality," which is a piece of ridicule
+on the glittering tuneful nonsense of certain poets, as a serious
+composition. In a most copious commentary, he proves that every line
+seems unconnected with its brothers, and that the whole reflects
+disgrace on its author! A circumstance which too evidently shows how
+necessary the knowledge of modern literary history is to a modern
+commentator, and that those who are profound in verbal Greek are not the
+best critics on English writers.
+
+The Abbé Bizot, the author of the medallic history of Holland, fell into
+a droll mistake. There is a medal, struck when Philip II. set forth his
+_invincible Armada_, on which are represented the King of Spain, the
+Emperor, the Pope, Electors, Cardinals, &c., with their eyes covered
+with a bandage, and bearing for inscription this fine verse of
+Lucretius:--
+
+    O cæcas hominum menteis! O pectora cæca!
+
+The Abbé, prepossessed with the prejudice that a nation persecuted by
+the Pope and his adherents could not represent them without some insult,
+did not examine with sufficient care the ends of the bandages which
+covered the eyes and waved about the heads of the personages represented
+on this medal: he rashly took them for _asses' ears_, and as such they
+are engraved!
+
+Mabillon has preserved a curious literary blunder of some pious
+Spaniards, who applied to the Pope for consecrating a day in honour of
+_Saint Viar_. His holiness, in the voluminous catalogue of his saints,
+was ignorant of this one. The only proof brought forward for his
+existence was this inscription:--
+
+    S. VIAR.
+
+An antiquary, however, hindered one more festival in the Catholic
+calendar, by convincing them that these letters were only the remains of
+an inscription erected for an ancient surveyor of the roads; and he read
+their saintship thus:--
+
+    PRÆFECTUS VIARUM.
+
+Maffei, in his comparison between Medals and Inscriptions, detects a
+literary blunder in Spon, who, meeting with this inscription,
+
+    Maximo VI Consule
+
+takes the letters VI for numerals, which occasions a strange
+anachronism. They are only contractions of _Viro Illustri_--V I.
+
+As absurd a blunder was this of Dr. Stukeley on the coins of Carausius;
+finding a battered one with a defaced inscription of
+
+    FORTVNA AVG.
+
+he read it
+
+    ORIVNA AVG.
+
+And sagaciously interpreting this to be the _wife_ of Carausius, makes
+a new personage start up in history; he contrives even to give some
+_theoretical Memoirs_ of the _August Oriuna_.[92]
+
+Father Sirmond was of opinion that St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
+Virgins were all created out of a blunder. In some ancient MS. they
+found _St. Ursula et Undecimilla V. M._ meaning St. Ursula and
+_Undecimilla_, Virgin Martyrs; imagining that _Undecimilla_ with the
+_V._ and _M._ which followed, was an abbreviation for _Undecem Millia
+Martyrum Virginum_, they made out of _Two Virgins_ the whole _Eleven
+Thousand_!
+
+Pope, in a note on Measure for Measure, informs us, that its story was
+taken from Cinthio's Novels, _Dec._ 8. _Nov._ 5. That is, _Decade 8,
+Novel 5._ The critical Warburton, in his edition of Shakspeare, puts the
+words in full length thus, _December_ 8, _November 5._
+
+When the fragments of Petronius made a great noise in the literary
+world, Meibomius, an erudit of Lubeck, read in a letter from another
+learned scholar from Bologna, "We have here _an entire Petronius_; I saw
+it with mine own eyes, and with admiration." Meibomius in post-haste is
+on the road, arrives at Bologna, and immediately inquires for the
+librarian Capponi. He inquires if it were true that they had at Bologna
+_an entire Petronius_? Capponi assures him that it was a thing which had
+long been public. "Can I see this Petronius? Let me examine
+it!"--"Certainly," replies Capponi, and leads our erudit of Lubeck to
+the church where reposes _the body of St. Petronius_. Meibomius bites
+his lips, calls for his chaise, and takes his flight.
+
+A French translator, when he came to a passage of Swift, in which it is
+said that the Duke of Marlborough _broke_ an officer; not being
+acquainted with this Anglicism, he translated it _roué_, broke on a
+wheel!
+
+Cibber's play of "_Love's Last Shift_" was entitled "_La Dernière
+Chemise de l'Amour_." A French writer of Congreve's life has taken his
+_Mourning_ for a _Morning_ Bride, and translated it _L'Espouse du
+Matin_.
+
+Sir John Pringle mentions his having cured a soldier by the use of two
+quarts of _Dog and Duck water_ daily: a French translator specifies it
+as an excellent _broth_ made of a duck and a dog! In a recent catalogue
+compiled by a French writer of _Works on Natural History_, he has
+inserted the well-known "Essay on _Irish Bulls_" by the Edgeworths. The
+proof, if it required any, that a Frenchman cannot understand the
+idiomatic style of Shakspeare appears in a French translator, who prided
+himself on giving a verbal translation of our great poet, not approving
+of Le Tourneur's paraphrastical version. He found in the celebrated
+speech of Northumberland in Henry IV.
+
+    Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
+    So dull, so dead in look, so _woe-begone_--
+
+which he renders "_Ainsi douleur! va-t'en!"_
+
+The Abbé Gregoire affords another striking proof of the errors to which
+foreigners are liable when they decide on the _language_ and _customs_
+of another country. The Abbé, in the excess of his philanthropy, to show
+to what dishonourable offices human nature is degraded, acquaints us
+that at London he observed a sign-board, proclaiming the master as
+_tueur des punaises de sa majesté_! Bug-destroyer to his majesty! This
+is, no doubt, the honest Mr. Tiffin, in the Strand; and the idea which
+must have occurred to the good Abbé was, that his majesty's bugs were
+hunted by the said destroyer, and taken by hand--and thus human nature
+was degraded!
+
+A French writer translates the Latin title of a treatise of Philo-Judæus
+_Omnis bonus liber est_, Every good man is a free man, by _Tout livre
+est bon_. It was well for him, observes Jortin, that he did not live
+within the reach of the Inquisition, which might have taken this as a
+reflection on the _Index Expurgatorius_.
+
+An English translator turned "Dieu _défend_ l'adultère" into "God
+_defends_ adultery."--Guthrie, in his translation of Du Halde, has "the
+twenty-sixth day of the _new_ moon." The whole age of the moon is but
+twenty-eight days. The blunder arose from his mistaking the word
+_neuvième_ (ninth) for _nouvelle_ or _neuve_ (new).
+
+The facetious Tom Brown committed a strange blunder in his translation
+of Gelli's Circe. The word _Starne_, not aware of its signification, he
+boldly rendered _stares_, probably from the similitude of sound; the
+succeeding translator more correctly discovered _Starne_ to be
+red-legged partridges!
+
+In Charles II.'s reign a new collect was drawn, in which a new epithet
+was added to the king's title, that gave great offence, and occasioned
+great raillery. He was styled _our most religious king_. Whatever the
+signification of _religious_ might be in the _Latin_ word, as importing
+the sacredness of the king's person, yet in the _English language_ it
+bore a signification that was no way applicable to the king. And he was
+asked by his familiar courtiers, what must the nation think when they
+heard him prayed for as their _most religious king_?--Literary blunders
+of this nature are frequently discovered in the versions of good
+classical scholars, who would make the _English_ servilely bend to the
+Latin and Greek. Even Milton has been justly censured for his free use
+of Latinisms and Grecisms.
+
+The blunders of modern antiquaries on sepulchral monuments are numerous.
+One mistakes _a lion_ at a knight's feet for a _curled water dog_;
+another could not distinguish _censers_ in the hands of angels from
+_fishing-nets_; _two angels_ at a lady's feet were counted as her two
+cherub-like _babes_; and another has mistaken a _leopard_ and a
+_hedgehog_ for a _cat_ and a _rat!_ In some of these cases, are the
+antiquaries or the sculptors most to be blamed?[93]
+
+A literary blunder of Thomas Warton is a specimen of the manner in which
+a man of genius may continue to blunder with infinite ingenuity. In an
+old romance he finds these lines, describing the duel of Saladin with
+Richard Coeur de Lion:--
+
+    A _Faucon brode_ in hande he bare,
+    For he thought he wolde thare
+    Have slayne Richard.
+
+He imagines this _Faucon brode_ means a _falcon bird_, or a hawk, and
+that Saladin is represented with this bird on his fist to express his
+contempt of his adversary. He supports his conjecture by noticing a
+Gothic picture, supposed to be the subject of this duel, and also some
+old tapestry of heroes on horseback with hawks on their fists; he
+plunges into feudal times, when no gentleman appeared on horseback
+without his hawk. After all this curious erudition, the rough but
+skilful Ritson inhumanly triumphed by dissolving the magical fancies of
+the more elegant Warton, by explaining a _Faucon brode_ to be nothing
+more than a _broad faulchion_, which, in a duel, was certainly more
+useful than a _bird_. The editor of the private reprint of Hentzner, on
+that writer's tradition respecting "the Kings of Denmark who reigned in
+England" buried in the Temple Church, metamorphosed the two Inns of
+Court, _Gray's Inn_ and _Lincoln's Inn_, into the names of the Danish
+kings, _Gresin_ and _Lyconin_.[94]
+
+Bayle supposes that Marcellus Palingenius, who wrote the poem entitled
+the _Zodiac_, the twelve books bearing the names of the signs, from this
+circumstance assumed the title of _Poeta Stellatus_. But it appears that
+this writer was an Italian and a native of _Stellada_, a town in the
+Ferrarese. It is probable that his birthplace originally produced the
+conceit of the title of his poem: it is a curious instance how critical
+conjecture may be led astray by its own ingenuity, when ignorant of the
+real fact.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 90: The first edition had all the external appearance of
+truth: a portrait of "Captain Lemuel Gulliver, of Redriff, aetat. suæ
+lviii." faces the title; and maps of all the places, he only, visited,
+are carefully laid down in connexion with the realities of geography.
+Thus "Lilliput, discovered A.D. 1699," lies between Sumatra and Van
+Dieman's Land. "Brobdignag, discovered A.D. 1703," is a peninsula of
+North America. One Richard Sympson vouches for the veracity of his
+"antient and intimate friend," in a Preface detailing some "facts" of
+Gulliver's Life. Arbuthnot says he "lent the book to an old gentleman,
+who went immediately to his map to search for Lilliput."]
+
+[Footnote 91: In Nagler's _Kunstler-Lexicon_ is a whimsical error
+concerning a living English artist--George Cruikshank. Some years ago
+the relative merits of himself and brother were contrasted in an English
+review, and George was spoken of as "The real Simon Pure"--the first who
+had illustrated scenes of "Life in London." Unaware of the real
+significance of a quotation which has become proverbial among us, the
+German editor begins his Memoir of Cruikshank, by gravely informing us
+that he is an English artist, "whose real name is Simon Pure!" Turning
+to the artists under the letter P, we accordingly read:--"PURE (Simon),
+the real name of the celebrated caricaturist, George Cruikshank."]
+
+[Footnote 92: The whole of Dr. Stukeley's tract is a most curious
+instance of learned perversity and obstinacy. The coin is broken away
+where the letter F should be, and Stukeley himself allows that the upper
+part of the T might be worn away, and so the inscription really be
+_Fortuna Aug_; but he cast all such evidence aside, to construct an
+imaginary life of an imaginary empress; "that we have no history of this
+lady," he says, "is not to be wondered at," and he forthwith imagines
+one; that she was of a martial disposition, and "signalized herself in
+battle, and obtained a victory," as he guesses from the laurel wreath
+around her bust on the coin; her name he believes to be Gaulish, and
+"equivalent to what we now call Lucia," and that a regiment of soldiers
+was under her command, after the fashion of "the present Czarina," the
+celebrated Catherine of Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 93: One of the most curious pictorial and antiquarian blunders
+may be seen in Vallancey's _Collectanea_. He found upon one of the
+ancient stones on the Hill of Tara an inscription which he read _Beli
+Divose_, "to Belus, God of Fire;" but which ultimately proved to be the
+work of some idler who, lying on the stone, cut upside down his name and
+the date of the year, E. Conid, 1731; upon turning this engraving, the
+fact is apparent.]
+
+
+
+
+A LITERARY WIFE.
+
+
+    Marriage is such a rabble rout;
+    That those that are out, would fain get in;
+    And those that are in, would fain get out.
+
+                                      CHAUCER.
+
+Having examined some _literary blunders_, we will now proceed to the
+subject of a _literary wife_, which may happen to prove one. A learned
+lady is to the taste of few. It is however matter of surprise, that
+several literary men should have felt such a want of taste in respect to
+"their soul's far dearer part," as Hector calls his Andromache. The
+wives of many men of letters have been dissolute, ill-humoured,
+slatternly, and have run into all the frivolities of the age. The wife
+of the learned Budæus was of a different character.
+
+How delightful is it when the mind of the female is so happily disposed,
+and so richly cultivated, as to participate in the literary avocations
+of her husband! It is then truly that the intercourse of the sexes
+becomes the most refined pleasure. What delight, for instance, must the
+great Budæus have tasted, even in those works which must have been for
+others a most dreadful labour! His wife left him nothing to desire. The
+frequent companion of his studies, she brought him the books he required
+to his desk; she collated passages, and transcribed quotations; the same
+genius, the same inclination, and the same ardour for literature,
+eminently appeared in those two fortunate persons. Far from withdrawing
+her husband from his studies, she was sedulous to animate him when he
+languished. Ever at his side, and ever assiduous; ever with some useful
+book in her hand, she acknowledged herself to be a most happy woman. Yet
+she did not neglect the education of eleven children. She and Budæus
+shared in the mutual cares they owed their progeny. Budæus was not
+insensible of his singular felicity. In one of his letters, he
+represents himself as married to two _ladies_; one of whom gave him boys
+and girls, the other was Philosophy, who produced books. He says that in
+his twelve first years, Philosophy had been less fruitful than marriage;
+he had produced less books than children; he had laboured more
+corporally than intellectually; but he hoped to make more books than
+men. "The soul (says he) will be productive in its turn; it will rise on
+the ruins of the body; a prolific virtue is not given at the same time
+to the bodily organs and the pen."
+
+The lady of Evelyn designed herself the frontispiece to his translation
+of Lucretius. She felt the same passion in her own breast which animated
+her husband's, who has written, with such various ingenuity. Of Baron
+Haller it is recorded that he inspired his wife and family with a taste
+for his different pursuits. They were usually employed in assisting his
+literary occupations; they transcribed manuscripts, consulted authors,
+gathered plants, and designed and coloured under his eye. What a
+delightful family picture has the younger Pliny given posterity in his
+letters! Of Calphurnia, his wife, he says, "Her affection to me has
+given her a turn to books; and my compositions, which she takes a
+pleasure in reading, and even getting by heart, are continually in her
+hands. How full of tender solicitude is she when I am entering upon any
+cause! How kindly does she rejoice with me when it is over! While I am
+pleading, she places persons to inform her from time to time how I am
+heard, what applauses I receive, and what success attends the cause.
+When at any time I recite my works, she conceals herself behind some
+curtain, and with secret rapture enjoys my praises. She sings my verses
+to her lyre, with no other master but love, the best instructor, for her
+guide. Her passion will increase with our days, for it is not my youth
+nor my person, which time gradually impairs, but my reputation and my
+glory, of which, she is enamoured."
+
+On the subject of a literary wife, I must introduce to the acquaintance
+of the reader Margaret Duchess of Newcastle. She is known, at least by
+her name, as a voluminous writer; for she extended her literary
+productions to the number of twelve folio volumes.
+
+Her labours have been ridiculed by some wits; but had her studies been
+regulated, she would have displayed no ordinary genius. The
+_Connoisseur_ has quoted her poems, and her verses have been imitated by
+Milton.
+
+The duke, her husband, was also an author; his book on horsemanship
+still preserves his name. He has likewise written comedies, and his
+contemporaries have not been, penurious in their eulogiums. It is true
+he was a duke. Shadwell says of him, "That he was the greatest master of
+wit, the most exact observer of mankind, and the most accurate judge of
+humour that ever he knew." The life of the duke is written "by the hand
+of his incomparable duchess." It was published in his lifetime. This
+curious piece of biography is a folio of 197 pages, and is entitled "The
+Life of the Thrice Noble, High, and Puissant Prince, William Cavendish."
+His titles then follow:--"Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and
+Excellent Princess, Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, his wife. London,
+1667." This Life is dedicated to Charles the Second; and there is also
+prefixed a copious epistle to her husband the duke.
+
+In this epistle the character of our Literary Wife is described with all
+its peculiarities.
+
+"Certainly, my lord, you have had as many enemies and as many friends as
+ever any one particular person had; nor do I so much wonder at it,
+since I, a woman, cannot be exempt from the malice and aspersions of
+spiteful tongues, which they cast upon my poor writings, some denying me
+to be the true authoress of them; for your grace remembers well, that
+those books I put out first to the judgment of this censorious age were
+accounted not to be written by a woman, but that somebody else had writ
+and published them in my name; by which your lordship was moved to
+prefix an epistle before one of them in my vindication, wherein you
+assure the world, upon your honour, that what was written and printed in
+my name was my own; and I have also made known that your lordship was my
+only tutor, in declaring to me what you had found and observed by your
+own experience; for I being young when your lordship married me, could
+not have much knowledge of the world; but it pleased God to command his
+servant Nature to endue me with a poetical and philosophical genius,
+even from my birth; for I did write some books in that kind before I was
+twelve years of age, which for want of good method and order I would
+never divulge. But though the world would not believe that those
+conceptions and fancies which I writ were my own, but transcended my
+capacity, yet they found fault, that they were defective for want of
+learning, and on the other side, they said I had pluckt feathers out of
+the universities; which was a very preposterous judgment. Truly, my
+lord, I confess that for want of scholarship, I could not express myself
+so well as otherwise I might have done in those philosophical writings I
+published first; but after I was returned with your lordship into my
+native country, and led a retired country life, I applied myself to the
+reading of philosophical authors, on purpose to learn those names and
+words of art that are used in schools; which at first were so hard to
+me, that I could not understand them, but was fain to guess at the sense
+of them by the whole context, and so writ them down, as I found them in
+those authors; at which my readers did wonder, and thought it impossible
+that a woman could have so much learning and understanding in terms of
+art and scholastical expressions; so that I and my books are like the
+old apologue mentioned in Æsop, of a father and his son who rid on an
+ass." Here follows a long narrative of this fable, which she applies to
+herself in these words--"The old man seeing he could not please mankind
+in any manner, and having received so many blemishes and aspersions for
+the sake of his ass, was at last resolved to drown him when he came to
+the next bridge. But I am not so passionate to burn my writings for the
+various humours of mankind, and for their finding fault; since there is
+nothing in this world, be it the noblest and most commendable action
+whatsoever, that shall escape blameless. As for my being the true and
+only authoress of them, your lordship knows best; and my attending
+servants are witness that I have had none but my own thoughts, fancies,
+and speculations, to assist me; and as soon as I set them down I send
+them to those that are to transcribe them, and fit them for the press;
+whereof, since there have been several, and amongst them such as only
+could write a good hand, but neither understood orthography, nor had any
+learning, (I being then in banishment, with your lordship, and not able
+to maintain learned secretaries,) which hath been a great disadvantage
+to my poor works, and the cause that they have been printed so false and
+so full of errors; for besides that I want also skill in scholarship and
+true writing, I did many times not peruse the copies that were
+transcribed, lest they should disturb my following conceptions; by which
+neglect, as I said, many errors are slipt into my works, which, yet I
+hope, learned and impartial men will soon rectify, and look more upon
+the sense than carp at words. I have been a student even from childhood;
+and since I have been your lordship's wife I have lived for the most
+part a strict and retired life, as is best known to your lordship; and
+therefore my censurers cannot know much of me, since they have little or
+no acquaintance with me. 'Tis true I have been a traveller both before
+and after I was married to your lordship, and some times shown myself at
+your lordship's command in public places or assemblies, but yet I
+converse with few. Indeed, my lord, I matter not the censures of this
+age, but am rather proud of them; for it shows that my actions are more
+than ordinary, and according to the old proverb, it is better to be
+envied than pitied; for I know well that it is merely out of spite and
+malice, whereof this present age is so full that none can escape them,
+and they'll make no doubt to stain even your lordship's loyal, noble,
+and heroic actions, as well as they do mine; though yours have been of
+war and fighting, mine of contemplating and writing: yours were
+performed publicly in the field, mine privately in my closet; yours had
+many thousand eye-witnesses; mine none but my waiting-maids. But the
+great God, that hitherto bless'd both your grace and me, will, I
+question not, preserve both our fames to after-ages.
+
+                "Your grace's honest wife,
+                    "and humble servant,
+                        "M. NEWCASTLE."
+
+The last portion of this life, which consists of the observations and
+good things which she had gathered from the conversations of her
+husband, forms an excellent Ana; and shows that when Lord Orford, in his
+"Catalogue of Noble Authors," says, that "this stately poetic couple was
+a picture of foolish nobility," he writes, as he does too often, with
+extreme levity. But we must now attend to the reverse of our medal.
+
+Many chagrins may corrode the nuptial state of literary men. Females
+who, prompted by vanity, but not by taste, unite themselves to scholars,
+must ever complain of neglect. The inexhaustible occupations of a
+library will only present to such a most dreary solitude. Such a lady
+declared of her learned husband, that she was more jealous of his books
+than his mistresses. It was probably while Glover was composing his
+"Leonidas," that his lady avenged herself for this _Homeric_ inattention
+to her, and took her flight with a lover. It was peculiar to the learned
+Dacier to be united to woman, his equal in erudition and his superior in
+taste. When she wrote in the album of a German traveller a verse from
+Sophocles as an apology for her unwillingness to place herself among his
+learned friends, that "Silence is the female's ornament," it was a trait
+of her modesty. The learned Pasquier was coupled to a female of a
+different character, since he tells us in one of his Epigrams that to
+manage the vociferations of his lady, he was compelled himself to become
+a vociferator.--"Unfortunate wretch that I am, I who am a lover of
+universal peace! But to have peace I am obliged ever to be at war."
+
+Sir Thomas More was united to a woman of the harshest temper and the
+most sordid manners. To soften the moroseness of her disposition, "he
+persuaded her to play on the lute, viol, and other instruments, every
+day." Whether it was that she had no ear for music, she herself never
+became harmonious as the instrument she touched. All these ladies may be
+considered as rather too alert in thought, and too spirited in action;
+but a tame cuckoo bird who is always repeating the same note must be
+very fatiguing. The lady of Samuel Clarke, the great compiler of books
+in 1680, whose name was anagrammatised to "_suck all cream_," alluding
+to his indefatigable labours in sucking all the cream of every other
+author, without having any cream himself, is described by her husband as
+entertaining the most sublime conceptions of his illustrious
+compilations. This appears by her behaviour. He says, "that she never
+rose from table without making him a curtsey, nor drank to him without
+bowing, and that his word was a law to her."
+
+I was much surprised in looking over a correspondence of the times, that
+in 1590 the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, writing to the Earl of
+Shrewsbury on the subject of his living separate from his countess, uses
+as one of his arguments for their union the following curious one, which
+surely shows the gross and cynical feeling which the fair sex excited
+even among the higher classes of society. The language of this good
+bishop is neither that of truth, we hope, nor certainly that of
+religion.
+
+"But some will saye in your Lordship's behalfe that the Countesse is a
+sharpe and bitter shrewe, and therefore licke enough to shorten your
+lief, if shee should kepe yow company, Indeede, my good Lord, I have
+heard some say so; but if shrewdnesse or sharpnesse may be a juste cause
+of separation between a man and wiefe, I thinck fewe men in Englande
+would keepe their wives longe; for it is a common jeste, yet trewe in
+some sense, that there is but one shrewe in all the worlde, and everee
+man hath her: and so everee man must be ridd of his wiefe that wolde be
+ridd of a shrewe." It is wonderful this good bishop did not use another
+argument as cogent, and which would in those times be allowed as
+something; the name of his lordship, _Shrewsbury_, would have afforded a
+consolatory _pun_!
+
+The entertaining Marville says that the generality of ladies married to
+literary men are so vain of the abilities and merit of their husbands,
+that they are frequently insufferable.
+
+The wife of Barclay, author of "The Argenis," considered herself as the
+wife of a demigod. This appeared glaringly after his death; for Cardinal
+Barberini having erected a monument to the memory of his tutor, next to
+the tomb of Barclay, Mrs. Barclay was so irritated at this that she
+demolished his monument, brought home his bust, and declared that the
+ashes of so great a genius as her husband should never be placed beside
+a pedagogue.
+
+Salmasius's wife was a termagant; Christina said she admired his
+patience more than his erudition. Mrs. Salmasius indeed considered
+herself as the queen of science, because her husband was acknowledged as
+sovereign among the critics. She boasted that she had for her husband
+the most learned of all the nobles, and the most noble of all the
+learned. Our good lady always joined the learned conferences which he
+held in his study. She spoke loud, and decided with a tone of majesty.
+Salmasius was mild in conversation, but the reverse in his writings, for
+our proud Xantippe considered him as acting beneath himself if he did
+not magisterially call every one names!
+
+The wife of Rohault, when her husband gave lectures on the philosophy of
+Descartes, used to seat herself on these days at the door, and refused
+admittance to every one shabbily dressed, or who did not discover a
+genteel air. So convinced was she that, to be worthy of hearing the
+lectures of her husband, it was proper to appear fashionable. In vain
+our good lecturer exhausted himself in telling her, that fortune does
+not always give fine clothes to philosophers.
+
+The ladies of Albert Durer and Berghem were both shrews. The wife of
+Durer compelled that great genius to the hourly drudgery of his
+profession, merely to gratify her own sordid passion: in despair, Albert
+ran away from his Tisiphone; she wheedled him back, and not long
+afterwards this great artist fell a victim to her furious
+disposition.[95] Berghem's wife would never allow that excellent artist
+to quit his occupations; and she contrived an odd expedient to detect
+his indolence. The artist worked in a room above her; ever and anon she
+roused him by thumping a long stick against the ceiling, while the
+obedient Berghem answered by stamping his foot, to satisfy Mrs. Berghem
+that he was not napping.
+
+Ælian had an aversion to the married state. Sigonius, a learned and
+well-known scholar, would never marry, and alleged no inelegant reason;
+"Minerva and Venus could not live together."
+
+Matrimony has been considered by some writers as a condition not so well
+suited to the circumstances of philosophers and men of learning. There
+is a little tract which professes to investigate the subject. It has for
+title, _De Matrimonio Literati, an coelibem esse, an verò nubere
+conveniat_, i.e., of the Marriage of a Man of Letters, with an inquiry
+whether it is most proper for him to continue a bachelor, or to marry?
+
+The author alleges the great merit of some women; particularly that of
+Gonzaga the consort of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino; a lady of such
+distinguished accomplishments, that Peter Bembus said, none but a stupid
+man would not prefer one of her conversations to all the formal meetings
+and disputations of the philosophers.
+
+The ladies perhaps will be surprised to find that it is a question among
+the learned, _Whether they ought to marry?_ and will think it an
+unaccountable property of learning that it should lay the professors of
+it under an obligation to disregard the sex. But it is very questionable
+whether, in return for this want of complaisance in them, the generality
+of ladies would not prefer the beau, and the man of fashion. However,
+let there be Gonzagas, they will find converts enough to their charms.
+
+The sentiments of Sir Thomas Browne on the consequences of marriage are
+very curious, in the second part of his Religio Medici, sect, 9. When he
+wrote that work, he said, "I was never yet once, and commend their
+resolutions, who never marry twice." He calls woman "the rib and crooked
+piece of man." He adds, "I could be content that we might procreate like
+trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to procreate the
+world without this trivial and vulgar way." He means the union of sexes,
+which he declares, "is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his
+life; nor is there anything that will more deject his cooled
+imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of
+folly he hath committed." He afterwards declares he is not averse to
+that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful: "I could
+look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but
+of a horse." He afterwards disserts very profoundly on the music there
+is in beauty, "and the silent note which Cupid strikes is far sweeter
+than the sound of an instrument." Such were his sentiments when
+youthful, and residing at Leyden; Dutch philosophy had at first chilled
+his passion; it is probable that passion afterwards inflamed his
+philosophy--for he married, and had sons and daughters!
+
+Dr. Cocchi, a modern Italian writer, but apparently a cynic as old as
+Diogenes, has taken the pains of composing a treatise on the present
+subject enough to terrify the boldest _Bachelor_ of Arts! He has
+conjured up every chimera against the marriage of a literary man. He
+seems, however, to have drawn his disgusting portrait from his own
+country; and the chaste beauty of Britain only looks the more lovely
+beside this Florentine wife.
+
+I shall not retain the cynicism which has coloured such revolting
+features. When at length the doctor finds a woman as all women ought to
+be, he opens a new string of misfortunes which must attend her husband.
+He dreads one of the probable consequences of matrimony--progeny, in
+which we must maintain the children we beget! He thinks the father gains
+nothing in his old age from the tender offices administered by his own
+children: he asserts these are much better performed by menials and
+strangers! The more children he has, the less he can afford to have
+servants! The maintenance of his children will greatly diminish his
+property! Another alarming object in marriage is that, by affinity, you
+become connected with the relations of the wife. The envious and
+ill-bred insinuations of the mother, the family quarrels, their poverty
+or their pride, all disturb the unhappy sage who falls into the trap of
+connubial felicity! But if a sage has resolved to marry, he impresses on
+him the prudential principle of increasing his fortune by it, and to
+remember his "additional expenses!" Dr. Cocchi seems to have thought
+that a human being is only to live for himself; he had neither heart to
+feel, a head to conceive, nor a pen that could have written one
+harmonious period, or one beautiful image! Bayle, in his article
+_Raphelengius_, note B, gives a singular specimen of logical subtlety,
+in "a reflection on the consequence of marriage." This learned man was
+imagined to have died of grief, for having lost his wife, and passed
+three years in protracted despair. What therefore must we think of an
+unhappy marriage, since a happy one is exposed to such evils? He then
+shows that an unhappy marriage is attended by beneficial consequences to
+the survivor. In this dilemma, in the one case, the husband lives afraid
+his wife will die, in the other that she will not! If you love her, you
+will always be afraid of losing her; if you do not love her, you will
+always be afraid of not losing her. Our satirical _celibataire_ is gored
+by the horns of the dilemma he has conjured up.
+
+James Petiver, a famous botanist, then a bachelor, the friend of Sir
+Hans Sloane, in an album signs his name with this designation:--
+
+    "From the Goat tavern in the Strand, London,
+    Nov. 27. In the 34th year of my _freedom_,
+    A.D. 1697."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 94: Erroneous proper names of places occur continually in
+early writers, particularly French ones. There are some in Froissart
+that cannot be at all understood. Bassompierre is equally erroneous.
+_Jorchaux_ is intended by him for _York House_; and, more wonderful
+still, _Inhimthort_, proves by the context to be _Kensington_!]
+
+[Footnote 95: Leopold Schefer, the German novelist, has composed an
+excellent sketch of Durer's married life. It is an admirably philosophic
+narrative of an intellectual man's wretchedness.]
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATIONS.
+
+
+Some authors excelled in this species of literary artifice. The Italian
+Doni dedicated each of his letters in a book called _La Libraria_, to
+persons whose name began with the first letter of the epistle, and
+dedicated the whole collection in another epistle; so that the book,
+which only consisted of forty-five pages, was dedicated to above twenty
+persons. This is carrying literary mendicity pretty high. Politi, the
+editor of the _Martyrologium Romanum_, published at Rome in 1751, has
+improved on the idea of Doni; for to the 365 days of the year of this
+Martyrology he has prefixed to each an epistle dedicatory. It is
+fortunate to have a large circle of acquaintance, though they should not
+be worthy of being saints. Galland, the translator of the Arabian
+Nights, prefixed a dedication to each tale which he gave; had he
+finished the "one thousand and one," he would have surpassed even the
+Martyrologist.
+
+Mademoiselle Scudery tells a remarkable expedient of an ingenious trader
+in this line--One Rangouze made a collection of letters which he printed
+without numbering them. By this means the bookbinder put that letter
+which the author ordered him first; so that all the persons to whom he
+presented this book, seeing their names at the head, considered they had
+received a particular compliment. An Italian physician, having written
+on Hippocrates's Aphorisms, dedicated each book of his Commentaries to
+one of his friends, and the index to another!
+
+More than one of our own authors have dedications in the same spirit. It
+was an expedient to procure dedicatory fees: for publishing books by
+subscription was then an art undiscovered. One prefixed a different
+dedication to a certain number of printed copies, and addressed them to
+every great man he knew, who he thought relished a morsel of flattery,
+and would pay handsomely for a coarse luxury. Sir Balthazar Gerbier, in
+his "Counsel to Builders," has made up half the work with forty-two
+dedications, which he excuses by the example of Antonio Perez; but in
+these dedications Perez scatters a heap of curious things, for he was a
+very universal genius. Perez, once secretary of state to Philip II. of
+Spain, dedicates his "Obras," first to "Nuestro sanctissimo Padre," and
+"Al Sacro Collegio," then follows one to "Henry IV.," and then one still
+more embracing, "A Todos." Fuller, in his "Church History," has with
+admirable contrivance introduced twelve title-pages, besides the general
+one, and as many particular dedications, and no less than fifty or sixty
+of those by inscriptions which are addressed to his benefactors; a
+circumstance which Heylin in his severity did not overlook; for "making
+his work bigger by forty sheets at the least; and he was so ambitious of
+the number of his patrons, that having but four leaves at the end of his
+History, he discovers a particular benefactress to inscribe them to!"
+This unlucky lady, the patroness of four leaves, Heylin compares to
+Roscius Regulus, who accepted the consular dignity for that part of the
+day on which Cecina by a decree of the senate was degraded from it,
+which occasioned Regulus to be ridiculed by the people all his life
+after, as the consul of half a day.
+
+The price for the dedication of a play was at length fixed, from five to
+ten guineas from the Revolution to the time of George I., when it rose
+to twenty; but sometimes a bargain was to be struck when the author and
+the play were alike indifferent. Sometimes the party haggled about the
+price, or the statue while stepping into his niche would turn round on
+the author to assist his invention. A patron of Peter Motteux,
+dissatisfied with Peter's colder temperament, actually composed the
+superlative dedication to himself, and completed the misery of the
+apparent author by subscribing it with his name. This circumstance was
+so notorious at the time, that it occasioned a satirical dialogue
+between Motteux and his patron Heveningham. The patron, in his zeal to
+omit no possible distinction that might attach to him, had given one
+circumstance which no one but himself could have known.
+
+        PATRON.
+
+        I must confess I was to blame,
+        That one particular to name;
+        The rest could never have been known
+        _I made the style so like thy own_.
+
+        POET.
+
+        I beg your pardon, Sir, for that.
+
+        PATRON.
+
+        Why d----e what would you be at?
+        I _writ below myself_, you sot!
+        Avoiding figures, tropes, what not;
+        For fear I should my fancy raise
+        _Above the level of thy plays_!
+
+Warton notices the common practice, about the reign of Elizabeth, of an
+author's dedicating a work at once to a number of the nobility.
+Chapman's Translation of Homer has sixteen sonnets addressed to lords
+and ladies. Henry Lock, in a collection of two hundred religious
+sonnets, mingles with such heavenly works the terrestrial composition of
+a number of sonnets to his noble patrons; and not to multiply more
+instances, our great poet Spenser, in compliance with this disgraceful
+custom, or rather in obedience to the established tyranny of patronage,
+has prefixed to the Faery Queen fifteen of these adulatory pieces, which
+in every respect are the meanest of his compositions. At this period all
+men, as well as writers, looked up to the peers as if they were beings
+on whose smiles or frowns all sublunary good and evil depended. At a
+much later period, Elkanah Settle sent copies round to the chief party,
+for he wrote for both parties, accompanied by addresses to extort
+pecuniary presents in return. He had latterly one standard _Elegy_, and
+one _Epithalamium_, printed off with blanks, which by ingeniously
+filling up with the printed names of any great person who died or was
+married; no one who was going out of life, or was entering into it,
+could pass scot-free.
+
+One of the most singular anecdotes respecting DEDICATIONS in English
+bibliography is that of the Polyglot Bible of Dr. Castell. Cromwell,
+much to his honour, patronized that great labour, and allowed the paper
+to be imported free of all duties, both of excise and custom. It was
+published under the protectorate, but many copies had not been disposed
+of ere Charles II. ascended the throne. Dr. Castell had dedicated the
+work gratefully to Oliver, by mentioning him with peculiar respect in
+the preface, but he wavered with Richard Cromwell. At the Restoration,
+he cancelled the two last leaves, and supplied their places with three
+others, which softened down the republican strains, and blotted
+Oliver's name out of the book of life! The differences in what are now
+called the _republican_ and the _loyal_ copies have amused the curious
+collectors; and the former being very scarce, are most sought after. I
+have seen the republican. In the _loyal_ copies the patrons of the work
+are mentioned, but their _titles_ are essentially changed;
+_Serenissimus_, _Illustrissimus_, and _Honoratissimus_, were epithets
+that dared not shew themselves under the _levelling_ influence of the
+great fanatic republican.
+
+It is a curious literary folly, not of an individual but of the Spanish
+nation, who, when the laws of Castile were reduced into a code under the
+reign of Alfonso X. surnamed the Wise, divided the work into _seven
+volumes_; that they might be dedicated to the _seven letters_ which
+formed the name of his majesty!
+
+Never was a gigantic baby of adulation so crammed with the soft pap of
+_Dedications_ as Cardinal Richelieu. French flattery even exceeded
+itself.--Among the vast number of very extraordinary dedications to this
+man, in which the Divinity itself is disrobed of its attributes to
+bestow them on this miserable creature of vanity, I suspect that even
+the following one is not the most blasphemous he received. "Who has seen
+your face without being seized by those softened terrors which made the
+prophets shudder when God showed the beams of his glory! But as He whom
+they dared not to approach in the burning bush, and in the noise of
+thunders, appeared to them sometimes in the freshness of the zephyrs, so
+the softness of your august countenance dissipates at the same time, and
+changes into dew, the small vapours which cover its majesty." One of
+these herd of dedicators, after the death of Richelieu, suppressed in a
+second edition his hyperbolical panegyric, and as a punishment to
+himself, dedicated the work to Jesus Christ!
+
+The same taste characterises our own dedications in the reigns of
+Charles II. and James II. The great Dryden has carried it to an
+excessive height; and nothing is more usual than to compare the _patron_
+with the _Divinity_--and at times a fair inference may be drawn that the
+former was more in the author's mind than God himself! A Welsh bishop
+made an _apology_ to James I. for _preferring_ the Deity--to his
+Majesty! Dryden's extravagant dedications were the vices of the time
+more than of the man; they were loaded with flattery, and no disgrace
+was annexed to such an exercise of men's talents; the contest being who
+should go farthest in the most graceful way, and with the best turns of
+expression.
+
+An ingenious dedication was contrived by Sir Simon Degge, who dedicated
+"the Parson's Counsellor" to Woods, Bishop of Lichfield. Degge highly
+complimented the bishop on having most nobly restored the church, which
+had been demolished in the civil wars, and was rebuilt but left
+unfinished by Bishop Hacket. At the time he wrote the dedication, Woods
+had not turned a single stone, and it is said, that much against his
+will he did something, from having been so publicly reminded of it by
+this ironical dedication.
+
+
+
+
+PHILOSOPHICAL DESCRIPTIVE POEMS.
+
+
+The "BOTANIC GARDEN" once appeared to open a new route through the
+trodden groves of Parnassus. The poet, to a prodigality of IMAGINATION,
+united all the minute accuracy of SCIENCE. It is a highly-repolished
+labour, and was in the mind and in the hand of its author for twenty
+years before its first publication. The excessive polish of the verse
+has appeared too high to be endured throughout a long composition; it is
+certain that, in poems of length, a versification, which is not too
+florid for lyrical composition, will weary by its brilliance. Darwin,
+inasmuch as a rich philosophical fancy constitutes a poet, possesses the
+entire art of poetry; no one has carried the curious mechanism of verse
+and the artificial magic of poetical diction to a higher perfection. His
+volcanic head flamed with imagination, but his torpid heart slept
+unawakened by passion. His standard of poetry is by much too limited; he
+supposes that the essence of poetry is something of which a painter can
+make a picture. A picturesque verse was with him a verse completely
+poetical. But the language of the passions has no connexion with this
+principle; in truth, what he delineates as poetry itself, is but one of
+its provinces. Deceived by his illusive standard, he has composed a poem
+which is perpetually fancy, and never passion. Hence his processional
+splendour fatigues, and his descriptive ingenuity comes at length to be
+deficient in novelty, and all the miracles of art cannot supply us with
+one touch of nature.
+
+Descriptive poetry should be relieved by a skilful intermixture of
+passages addressed to the heart as well as to the imagination: uniform
+description satiates; and has been considered as one of the inferior
+branches of poetry. Of this both Thomson and Goldsmith were sensible. In
+their beautiful descriptive poems they knew the art of animating the
+pictures of FANCY with the glow of SENTIMENT.
+
+Whatever may be thought of the originality of Darwin's poem, it had been
+preceded by others of a congenial disposition. Brookes's poem on
+"Universal Beauty," published about 1735, presents us with the very
+model of Darwin's versification: and the Latin poem of De la Croix, in
+1727, entitled "_Connubia Florum_," with his subject. There also exists
+a race of poems which have hitherto been confined to _one subject_,
+which the poet selected from the works of nature, to embellish with all
+the splendour of poetic imagination. I have collected some titles.
+
+Perhaps it is Homer, in his battle of the _Frogs and Mice_, and Virgil
+in the poem on a _Gnat_, attributed to him, who have given birth to
+these lusory poems. The Jesuits, particularly when they composed in
+Latin verse, were partial to such subjects. There is a little poem on
+_Gold_, by P. Le Fevre, distinguished for its elegance; and Brumoy has
+given the _Art of making Glass_; in which he has described its various
+productions with equal felicity and knowledge. P. Vanière has written on
+_Pigeons_, Du Cerceau on _Butterflies_. The success which attended these
+productions produced numerous imitations, of which several were
+favourably received. Vanière composed three on the _Grape_, the
+_Vintage_, and the _Kitchen Garden_. Another poet selected _Oranges_ for
+his theme; others have chosen for their subjects, _Paper, Birds_, and
+fresh-water _Fish_. Tarillon has inflamed his imagination with
+_gunpowder_; a milder genius, delighted with the oaten pipe, sang of
+_Sheep_; one who was more pleased with another kind of pipe, has written
+on _Tobacco_; and a droll genius wrote a poem on _Asses_. Two writers
+have formed didactic poems on the _Art of Enigmas_, and on _Ships_.
+
+Others have written on moral subjects. Brumoy has painted the
+_Passions_, with a variety of imagery and vivacity of description; P.
+Meyer has disserted on _Anger_; Tarillon, like our Stillingfleet, on the
+_Art of Conversation_; and a lively writer has discussed the subjects of
+_Humour and Wit_.
+
+Giannetazzi, an Italian Jesuit, celebrated for his Latin poetry, has
+composed two volumes of poems on _Fishing_ and _Navigation_. Fracastor
+has written delicately on an indelicate subject, his _Syphilis_. Le Brun
+wrote a delectable poem on _Sweetmeats_; another writer on _Mineral
+Waters_, and a third on _Printing_. Vida pleases with his _Silk-worms_,
+and his _Chess_; Buchanan is ingenious with the _Sphere_. Malapert has
+aspired to catch the _Winds_; the philosophic Huet amused himself with
+_Salt_ and again with _Tea_. The _Gardens_ of Rapin is a finer poem than
+critics generally can write; Quillet's _Callipedia_, or Art of getting
+handsome Children, has been translated by Rowe; and Du Fresnoy at length
+gratifies the connoisseur with his poem on _Painting_, by the
+embellishments which his verses have received from the poetic diction of
+Mason, and the commentary of Reynolds.
+
+This list might be augmented with a few of our own poets, and there
+still remain some virgin themes which only require to be touched by the
+hand of a true poet. In the "Memoirs of Trevoux," they observe, in their
+review of the poem on _Gold_, "That poems of this kind have the
+advantage of instructing us very agreeably. All that has been most
+remarkably said on the subject is united, compressed in a luminous
+order, and dressed in all the agreeable graces of poetry. Such writers
+have no little difficulties to encounter: the style and expression cost
+dear; and still more to give to an arid topic an agreeable form, and to
+elevate the subject without falling into another extreme.--In the other
+kinds of poetry the matter assists and prompts genius; here we must
+possess an abundance to display it."
+
+
+
+
+PAMPHLETS.
+
+
+Myles Davis's "ICON LIBELLORUM, or a Critical History Pamphlets,"
+affords some curious information; and as this is a _pamphlet_-reading
+age, I shall give a sketch of its contents.
+
+The author observes: "From PAMPHLETS may be learned the genius of the
+age, the debates of the learned, the follies of the ignorant, the
+_bévues_ of government, and the mistakes of the courtiers. Pamphlets
+furnish beaus with their airs, coquettes with their charms. Pamphlets
+are as modish ornaments to gentlewomen's toilets as to gentlemen's
+pockets; they carry reputation of wit and learning to all that make them
+their companions; the poor find their account in stall-keeping and in
+hawking them; the rich find in them their shortest way to the secrets of
+church and state. There is scarce any class of people but may think
+themselves interested enough to be concerned with what is published in
+pamphlets, either as to their private instruction, curiosity, and
+reputation, or to the public advantage and credit; with all which both
+ancient and modern pamphlets are too often over familiar and free.--In
+short, with pamphlets the booksellers and stationers adorn the gaiety of
+shop-gazing. Hence accrues to grocers, apothecaries, and chandlers, good
+furniture, and supplies to necessary retreats and natural occasions. In
+pamphlets lawyers will meet with their chicanery, physicians with their
+cant, divines with their Shibboleth. Pamphlets become more and more
+daily amusements to the curious, idle, and inquisitive; pastime to
+gallants and coquettes; chat to the talkative; catch-words to informers;
+fuel to the envious; poison to the unfortunate; balsam to the wounded;
+employ to the lazy; and fabulous materials to romancers and novelists."
+
+This author sketches the origin and rise of pamphlets. He deduces them
+from the short writings published by the Jewish Rabbins; various little
+pieces at the time of the first propagation of Christianity; and notices
+a certain pamphlet which was pretended to have been the composition of
+Jesus Christ, thrown from heaven, and picked up by the archangel Michael
+at the entrance of Jerusalem. It was copied by the priest Leora, and
+sent about from priest to priest, till Pope Zachary ventured to
+pronounce it a _forgery_. He notices several such extraordinary
+publications, many of which produced as extraordinary effects.
+
+He proceeds in noticing the first Arian and Popish pamphlets, or rather
+_libels_, i. e. little books, as he distinguishes them. He relates a
+curious anecdote respecting the forgeries of the monks. Archbishop Usher
+detected in a manuscript of St. Patrick's life, pretended to have been
+found at Louvain, as an original of a very remote date, several passages
+taken, with little alteration, from his own writings.
+
+The following notice of our immortal Pope I cannot pass over: "Another
+class of pamphlets writ by Roman Catholics is that of _Poems_, written
+chiefly by a Pope himself, a gentleman of that name. He passed always
+amongst most of his acquaintance for what is commonly called a Whig; for
+it seems the Roman politics are divided as well as popish missionaries.
+However, one _Esdras_, an apothecary, as he qualifies himself, has
+published a piping-hot pamphlet against Mr. Pope's '_Rape of the Lock_,'
+which he entitles '_A Key to the Lock_,' wherewith he pretends to unlock
+nothing less than a _plot_ carried on by Mr. Pope in that poem against
+the last and this present ministry and government."
+
+He observes on _Sermons_,--"'Tis not much to be questioned, but of all
+modern pamphlets what or wheresoever, the _English stitched Sermons_ be
+the most edifying, useful, and instructive, yet they could not escape
+the critical Mr. Bayle's sarcasm. He says, 'République des Lettres,'
+March, 1710, in this article _London_, 'We see here sermons swarm daily
+from the press. Our eyes only behold manna: are you desirous of knowing
+the reason? It is, that the ministers being allowed to _read_ their
+sermons in the pulpit, _buy all they meet with_, and take no other
+trouble than to read them, and thus pass for very able scholars at a
+very cheap rate!'"
+
+He now begins more directly the history of pamphlets, which he branches
+out from four different etymologies. He says, "However foreign the word
+_Pamphlet_ may appear, it is a genuine English word, rarely known or
+adopted in any other language: its pedigree cannot well be traced higher
+than the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. In its first state
+wretched must have been its appearance, since the great linguist John
+Minshew, in his '_Guide into Tongues_,' printed in 1617, gives it the
+most miserable character of which any libel can be capable. Mr. Minshew
+says (and his words were quoted by Lord Chief Justice Holt), 'A
+PAMPHLET, that is _Opusculum Stolidorum_, the diminutive performance of
+fools; from [Greek: pan], _all_, and [Greek: plêtho], I _fill_, to wit,
+_all_ places. According to the vulgar saying, all things are full of
+fools, or foolish things; for such multitudes of pamphlets, unworthy of
+the very names of libels, being more vile than common shores and the
+filth of beggars, and being flying papers daubed over and besmeared with
+the foams of drunkards, are tossed far and near into the mouths and
+hands of scoundrels; neither will the sham oracles of Apollo be esteemed
+so mercenary as a Pamphlet.'"
+
+Those who will have the word to be derived from PAM, the famous knave of
+LOO, do not differ much from Minshew; for the derivation of the word
+_Pam_ is in all probability from [Greek: pan], _all_; or the _whole_ or
+the _chief_ of the game.
+
+Under this _first_ etymological notion of Pamphlets may be comprehended
+the _vulgar stories_ of the Nine Worthies of the World, of the Seven
+Champions of Christendom, Tom Thumb, Valentine and Orson, &c., as also
+most of apocryphal lucubrations. The greatest collection of this first
+sort of Pamphlets are the Rabbinic traditions in the Talmud, consisting
+of fourteen volumes in folio, and the Popish legends of the Lives of the
+Saints, which, though not finished, form fifty folio volumes, all which
+tracts were originally in pamphlet forms.
+
+The _second_ idea of the _radix_ of the word _Pamphlet_ is, that it
+takes its derivations from [Greek: pan], _all_, and [Greek: phileo], _I
+love_, signifying a thing beloved by all; for a pamphlet being of a
+small portable bulk, and of no great price, is adapted to every one's
+understanding and reading. In this class may be placed all stitched
+books on serious subjects, the best of which fugitive pieces have been
+generally preserved, and even reprinted in collections of some tracts,
+miscellanies, sermons, poems, &c.; and, on the contrary, bulky volumes
+have been reduced, for the convenience of the public, into the familiar
+shapes of stitched pamphlets. Both these methods have been thus censured
+by the majority of the lower house of convocation 1711. These abuses are
+thus represented: "They have republished, and collected into volumes,
+pieces written long ago on the side of infidelity. They have reprinted
+together in the most contracted manner, many loose and licentious
+pieces, in order to their being purchased more cheaply, and dispersed
+more easily."
+
+The _third_ original interpretation of the word Pamphlet may be that of
+the learned Dr. Skinner, in his _Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ_, that it
+is derived from the Belgic word _Pampier_, signifying a little paper, or
+libel. To this third set of Pamphlets may be reduced all sorts of
+printed single sheets, or half sheets, or any other quantity of single
+paper prints, such as Declarations, Remonstrances, Proclamations,
+Edicts, Orders, Injunctions, Memorials, Addresses, Newspapers, &c.
+
+The _fourth_ radical signification of the word Pamphlet is that
+homogeneal acceptation of it, viz., as it imports any little book, or
+small volume whatever, whether stitched or bound, whether good or bad,
+whether serious or ludicrous. The only proper Latin term for a Pamphlet
+is _Libellus_, or little book. This word indeed signifies in English an
+_abusive_ paper or little book, and is generally taken in the worst
+sense.
+
+After all this display of curious literature, the reader may smile at
+the guesses of Etymologists; particularly when he is reminded that the
+derivation of _Pamphlet_ is drawn from quite another meaning to any of
+the present, by Johnson, which I shall give for his immediate
+gratification.
+
+PAMPHLET [_par un filet_, Fr. Whence this word is written anciently, and
+by Caxton, _paunflet_] a small book; properly a book sold unbound, and
+only stitched.
+
+The French have borrowed the word _Pamphlet_ from us, and have the
+goodness of not disfiguring its orthography. _Roast Beef_ is also in the
+same predicament. I conclude that _Pamphlets_ and _Roast Beef_ have
+therefore their origin in our country.
+
+Pinkerton favoured me with the following curious notice concerning
+pamphlets:--
+
+"Of the etymon of _pamphlet_ I know nothing; but that the word is far
+more ancient than is commonly believed, take the following proof from
+the celebrated _Philobiblon_, ascribed to Richard de Buri, bishop of
+Durham, but written by Robert Holkot, at his desire, as Fabricius says,
+about the year 1344, (Fabr. Bibl. Medii Ævi, vol. i.); it is in the
+eighth chapter.
+
+"Sed, revera, libros non libras maluimus; codicesque plus dileximus quam
+florenos: ac PANFLETOS exiguos phaleratis prætulimus palescedis."
+
+"But, indeed, we prefer books to pounds; and we love manuscripts better
+than florins; and we prefer small _pamphlets_ to war horses."
+
+This word is as old as Lydgate's time: among his works, quoted by
+Warton, is a poem "translated from a _pamflete_ in Frenshe."
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOOKS.
+
+
+Myles Davies has given an opinion of the advantages of Little Books,
+with some humour.
+
+"The smallness of the size of a book was always its own commendation;
+as, on the contrary, the largeness of a book is its own disadvantage, as
+well as the terror of learning. In short, a big book is a scare-crow to
+the head and pocket of the author, student, buyer, and seller, as well
+as a harbour of ignorance; hence the inaccessible masteries of the
+inexpugnable ignorance and superstition of the ancient heathens,
+degenerate Jews, and of the popish scholasters and canonists,
+entrenched under the frightful bulk of huge, vast, and innumerable
+volumes; such as the great folio that the Jewish rabbins fancied in a
+dream was given by the angel Raziel to his pupil Adam, containing all
+the celestial sciences. And the volumes writ by Zoroaster, entitled The
+Similitude, which is said to have taken up no more space than 1260 hides
+of cattle: as also the 25,000, or, as some say, 36,000 volumes, besides
+525 lesser MSS. of his. The grossness and multitude of Aristotle and
+Varro's books were both a prejudice to the authors, and an hindrance to
+learning, and an occasion of the greatest part of them being lost. The
+largeness of Plutarch's treatises is a great cause of his being
+neglected, while Longinus and Epictetus, in their pamphlet Remains, are
+every one's companions. Origen's 6000 volumes (as Epiphanius will have
+it) were not only the occasion of his venting more numerous errors, but
+also for the most part of their perdition.--Were it not for Euclid's
+Elements, Hippocrates' Aphorisms, Justinian's Institutes, and
+Littleton's Tenures, in small pamphlet volumes, young mathematicians,
+fresh-water physicians, civilian novices, and _les apprentices en la ley
+d'Angleterre_, would be at a loss and stand, and total disencouragement.
+One of the greatest advantages the _Dispensary_ has over _King Arthur_
+is its pamphlet size. So Boileau's Lutrin, and his other pamphlet poems,
+in respect of Perrault's and Chapelain's St. Paulin and la Pucelle.
+_These_ seem to pay a deference to the reader's quick and great
+understanding; _those_ to mistrust his capacity, and to confine his time
+as well as his intellect."
+
+Notwithstanding so much may be alleged in favour of books of a small
+size, yet the scholars of a former age regarded them with contempt.
+Scaliger, says Baillet, cavils with Drusius for the smallness of his
+books; and one of the great printers of the time (Moret, the successor
+of Plantin) complaining to the learned Puteanus, who was considered as
+the rival of Lipsius, that his books were too small for sale, and that
+purchasers turned away, frightened at their diminutive size; Puteanus
+referred him to Plutarch, whose works consist of small treatises; but
+the printer took fire at the comparison, and turned him out of his shop,
+for his vanity at pretending that he wrote in any manner like Plutarch!
+a specimen this of the politeness and reverence of the early printers
+for their learned authors; Jurieu reproaches Calomiès that he is _a
+great author of little books_!
+
+At least, if a man is the author only of little books, he will escape
+the sarcastic observation of Cicero on a voluminous writer--that "his
+body might be burned with his writings," of which we have had several,
+eminent for the worthlessness and magnitude of their labours.
+
+It was the literary humour of a certain Mæcenas, who cheered the lustre
+of his patronage with the steams of a good dinner, to place his guests
+according to the size and thickness of the books they had printed. At
+the head of the table sat those who had published in _folio,
+foliissimo_; next the authors in _quarto_; then those in _octavo_. At
+that table Blackmore would have had the precedence of Gray. Addison, who
+found this anecdote in one of the Anas, has seized this idea, and
+applied it with his felicity of humour in No. 529 of the Spectator.
+
+Montaigne's Works have been called by a Cardinal, "The Breviary of
+Idlers." It is therefore the book for many men. Francis Osborne has a
+ludicrous image in favour of such opuscula. "Huge volumes, like the ox
+roasted whole at Bartholomew fair, may proclaim plenty of labour, but
+afford less of what is _delicate_, _savoury_, and _well-concocted_, than
+SMALLER PIECES."
+
+In the list of titles of minor works, which Aulus Gellius has preserved,
+the lightness and beauty of such compositions are charmingly expressed.
+Among these we find--a Basket of Flowers; an Embroidered Mantle; and a
+Variegated Meadow.
+
+
+
+
+A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION.
+
+
+In a religious book published by a fellow of the Society of Jesus,
+entitled, "The Faith of a Catholic," the author examines what concerns
+the incredulous Jews and other infidels. He would show that Jesus
+Christ, author of the religion which bears his name, did not impose on
+or deceive the Apostles whom he taught; that the Apostles who preached
+it did not deceive those who were converted; and that those who were
+converted did not deceive us. In proving these three not difficult
+propositions, he says, he confounds "the _Atheist_, who does not believe
+in God; the _Pagan_, who adores several; the _Deist_, who believes in
+one God, but who rejects a particular Providence; the _Freethinker_, who
+presumes to serve God according to his fancy, without being attached to
+any religion; the _Philosopher_, who takes reason and not revelation for
+the rule of his belief; the _Gentile_, who, never having regarded the
+Jewish people as a chosen nation, does not believe God promised them a
+Messiah; and finally, the _Jew_, who refuses to adore the Messiah in the
+person of Christ."
+
+I have given this sketch, as it serves for a singular Catalogue of
+_Heretics_.
+
+It is rather singular that so late as in the year 1765, a work should
+have appeared in Paris, which bears the title I translate, "The
+Christian Religion _proved_ by a _single fact_; or a dissertation in
+which is shown that those _Catholics_ of whom Huneric, King of the
+Vandals, cut the tongues, _spoke miraculously_ all the remainder of
+their days; from whence is deduced the _consequences of this miracle_
+against the Arians, the Socinians, and the Deists, and particularly
+against the author of Emilius, by solving their difficulties." It bears
+this Epigraph, "_Ecce Ego admirationem faciam populo huic, miraculo
+grandi et stupendo_." There needs no further account of this book than
+the title.
+
+
+
+
+THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER.
+
+
+Authors of moderate capacity have unceasingly harassed the public; and
+have at length been remembered only by the number of wretched volumes
+their unhappy industry has produced. Such an author was the Abbé de
+Marolles, otherwise a most estimable and ingenious man, and the
+patriarch of print-collectors.
+
+This Abbé was a most egregious scribbler; and so tormented with violent
+fits of printing, that he even printed lists and catalogues of his
+friends. I have even seen at the end of one of his works a list of names
+of those persons who had given him books. He printed his works at his
+own expense, as the booksellers had unanimously decreed this. Menage
+used to say of his works, "The reason why I esteem the productions of
+the Abbé is, for the singular neatness of their bindings; he embellishes
+them so beautifully, that the eye finds pleasure in them." On a book of
+his versions of the Epigrams of Martial, this critic wrote, _Epigrams
+against Martial._ Latterly, for want of employment, our Abbé began a
+translation of the Bible; but having inserted the notes of the
+visionary Isaac de la Peyrere, the work was burnt by order of the
+ecclesiastical court. He was also an abundant writer in verse, and
+exultingly told a poet, that his verses cost him little: "They cost you
+what they are worth," replied the sarcastic critic. De Marolles in his
+_Memoirs_ bitterly complains of the injustice done to him by his
+contemporaries; and says, that in spite of the little favour shown to
+him by the public, he has nevertheless published, by an accurate
+calculation, one hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and
+twenty-four verses! Yet this was not the heaviest of his literary sins.
+He is a proof that a translator may perfectly understand the language of
+his original, and yet produce an unreadable translation.
+
+In the early part of his life this unlucky author had not been without
+ambition; it was only when disappointed in his political projects that
+he resolved to devote himself to literature. As he was incapable of
+attempting original composition, he became known by his detestable
+versions. He wrote above eighty volumes, which have never found favour
+in the eyes of the critics; yet his translations are not without their
+use, though they never retain by any chance a single passage of the
+spirit of their originals.
+
+The most remarkable anecdote respecting these translations is, that
+whenever this honest translator came to a difficult passage, he wrote in
+the margin, "I have not translated this passage, because it is very
+difficult, and in truth I could never understand it." He persisted to
+the last in his uninterrupted amusement of printing books; and his
+readers having long ceased, he was compelled to present them to his
+friends, who, probably, were not his readers. After a literary existence
+of forty years, he gave the public a work not destitute of entertainment
+in his own Memoirs, which he dedicated to his relations and all his
+illustrious friends. The singular postscript to his Epistle Dedicatory
+contains excellent advice for authors.
+
+"I have omitted to tell you, that I do not advise any one of my
+relatives or friends to apply himself as I have done to study, and
+particularly to the composition of books, if he thinks that will add to
+his fame or fortune. I am persuaded that of all persons in the kingdom,
+none are more neglected than those who devote themselves entirely to
+literature. The small, number of successful persons in that class (at
+present I do not recollect more than two or three) should not impose on
+one's understanding, nor any consequences from them be drawn in favour
+of others. I know how it is by my own experience, and by that of several
+amongst you, as well as by many who are now no more, and with whom I was
+acquainted. Believe me, gentlemen! to pretend to the favours of fortune
+it is only necessary to render one's self useful, and to be supple and
+obsequious to those who are in possession of credit and authority; to be
+handsome in one's person; to adulate the powerful; to smile, while you
+suffer from them every kind of ridicule and contempt whenever they shall
+do you the honour to amuse themselves with you; never to be frightened
+at a thousand obstacles which may be opposed to one; have a face of
+brass and a heart of stone; insult worthy men who are persecuted; rarely
+venture to speak the truth; appear devout, with every nice scruple of
+religion, while at the same time every duty must be abandoned when it
+clashes with your interest. After these any other accomplishment is
+indeed superfluous."
+
+
+
+
+MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES.
+
+
+The origin of the theatrical representations of the ancients has been
+traced back to a Grecian stroller singing in a cart to the honour of
+Bacchus. Our European exhibitions, perhaps as rude in their
+commencement, were likewise for a long time devoted to pious purposes,
+under the titles of Mysteries and Moralities. Of these primeval
+compositions of the drama of modern Europe, I have collected some
+anecdotes and some specimens.[96]
+
+It appears that pilgrims introduced these devout spectacles. Those who
+returned from the Holy Land or other consecrated places composed
+canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by
+interweaving scenes of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of
+devotion, served as the themes. Menestrier informs us that these
+pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where
+they recited their poems, with their staff in hand; while their chaplets
+and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours formed a
+picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the
+citizens to erect occasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground.
+These spectacles served as the amusements and instruction of the people.
+So attractive were these gross exhibitions in the middle ages, that they
+formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception of princes on
+their public entrances.
+
+When the Mysteries were performed at a more improved period, the actors
+were distinguished characters, and frequently consisted of the
+ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages, who incorporated themselves
+under the title of _Confrères de la Passion_. Their productions were
+divided, not into acts, but into different days of performance, and they
+were performed in the open plain. This was at least conformable to the
+critical precept of that mad knight whose opinion is noticed by Pope. It
+appears by a MS. in the Harleian library, that they were thought to
+contribute so much to the information and instruction of the people,
+that one of the Popes granted a pardon of one thousand days to every
+person who resorted peaceably to the plays performed in the Whitsun week
+at Chester, beginning with "The Creation," and ending with the "General
+Judgment." These were performed at the expense of the different
+corporations of that city, and the reader may smile at the ludicrous
+combinations. "The Creation" was performed by the Drapers; the "Deluge"
+by the Dyers; "Abraham, Melchisedech, and Lot," by the Barbers; "The
+Purification" by the Blacksmiths; "The Last Supper" by the Bakers; the
+"Resurrection" by the Skinners; and the "Ascension" by the Tailors. In
+these pieces the actors represented the person of the Almighty without
+being sensible of the gross impiety. So unskilful were they in this
+infancy of the theatrical art, that very serious consequences were
+produced by their ridiculous blunders and ill-managed machinery. The
+following singular anecdotes are preserved, concerning a Mystery which
+took up several days in the performance.
+
+"In the year 1437, when Conrad Bayer, Bishop of Metz, caused the Mystery
+of 'The Passion' to be represented on the plain of Veximel near that
+city, _God_ was _an old gentleman_, named Mr. Nicholas Neufchatel, of
+Touraine, curate of Saint Victory, of Metz, and who was very near
+expiring on the cross had he not been timely assisted. He was so
+enfeebled, that it was agreed another priest should be placed on the
+cross the next day, to finish the representation of the person
+crucified, and which was done; at the same time Mr. Nicholas undertook
+to perform 'The Resurrection,' which being a less difficult task, he did
+it admirably well."--Another priest, whose name was Mr. John de Nicey,
+curate of Metrange, personated Judas, and he had like to have been
+stifled while he hung on the tree, for his neck slipped; this being at
+length luckily perceived, he was quickly cut down and recovered.
+
+John Bouchet, in his "Annales d'Aquitaine," a work which contains many
+curious circumstances of the times, written with that agreeable
+simplicity which characterises the old writers, informs us, that in 1486
+he saw played and exhibited in Mysteries by persons of Poitiers, "The
+Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ," in great triumph and
+splendour; there were assembled on this occasion most of the ladies and
+gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.
+
+We will now examine the Mysteries themselves. I prefer for this purpose
+to give a specimen from the French, which are livelier than our own. It
+is necessary to premise to the reader, that my versions being in prose
+will probably lose much of that quaint expression and vulgar _naïveté_
+which prevail through the originals, written in octo-syllabic verses.
+
+One of these Mysteries has for its subject the election of an apostle to
+supply the place of the traitor Judas. A dignity so awful is conferred
+in the meanest manner; it is done by drawing straws, of which he who
+gets the longest becomes the apostle. Louis Chocquet was a favourite
+composer of these religious performances: when he attempts the
+pathetic, he has constantly recourse to devils; but, as these characters
+are sustained with little propriety, his pathos succeeds in raising a
+laugh. In the following dialogue Annas and Caiaphas are introduced
+conversing about St. Peter and St. John:----
+
+    ANNAS.
+    I remember them once very honest people. They have often brought
+    their fish to my house to sell.
+
+    CAIAPHAS.
+    Is this true?
+
+    ANNAS.
+    By God, it is true; my servants remember them very well. To live
+    more at their ease they have left off business; or perhaps they were in
+    want of customers. Since that time they have followed Jesus, that
+    wicked heretic, who has taught them magic; the fellow understands
+    necromancy, and is the greatest magician alive, as far as Rome itself.
+
+St. John, attacked by the satellites of Domitian, amongst whom the
+author has placed Longinus and Patroclus, gives regular answers to their
+insulting interrogatories. Some of these I shall transcribe; but leave
+to the reader's conjectures the replies of the Saint, which are not
+difficult to anticipate.
+
+     PARTHEMIA.
+
+     You tell us strange things, to say there is but one God in three
+     persons.
+
+     LONGINUS.
+
+     Is it any where said that we must believe your old prophets (with
+     whom your memory seems overburdened) to be more perfect than our
+     gods?
+
+     PATHOCLUS. You must be very cunning to maintain impossibilities.
+     Now listen to me: Is it possible that a virgin can bring forth a
+     child without ceasing to be a virgin?
+
+     DOMITIAN.
+
+     Will you not change these foolish sentiments? Would you pervert us?
+     Will you not convert yourself? Lords! you perceive now very clearly
+     what an obstinate fellow this is! Therefore let him be stripped and
+     put into a great caldron of boiling oil. Let him die at the Latin
+     Gate.
+
+     PESART.
+
+     The great devil of hell fetch me if I don't Latinise him well.
+     Never shall they hear at the Latin Gate any one sing so well as he
+     shall sing.
+
+     TORNEAU.
+
+     I dare venture to say he won't complain of being frozen.
+
+     PATROCLUS.
+
+     Frita, run quick; bring wood and coals, and make the caldron ready.
+
+     FRITA.
+
+     I promise him, if he has the gout or the itch, he will soon get rid
+     of them.
+
+St. John dies a perfect martyr, resigned to the boiling oil and gross
+jests of Patroclus and Longinus. One is astonished in the present times
+at the excessive absurdity, and indeed blasphemy, which the writers of
+these Moralities permitted themselves, and, what is more extraordinary,
+were permitted by an audience consisting of a whole town. An extract
+from the "Mystery of St. Dennis" is in the Duke de la Vallière's
+"Bibliothèque du Théâtre François depuis son Origine: Dresde, 1768."
+
+The emperor Domitian, irritated against the Christians, persecutes them,
+and thus addresses one of his courtiers:----
+
+    Seigneurs Romains, j'ai entendu
+    Que d'un crucifix d'un pendu,
+    On fait un Dieu par notre empire,
+    Sans ce qu'on le nous daigne dire.
+
+    Roman lords, I understand
+    That of a crucified hanged man
+    They make a God in our kingdom,
+    Without even deigning to ask our permission.
+
+He then orders an officer to seize on Dennis in France. When this
+officer arrives at Paris, the inhabitants acquaint him of the rapid and
+grotesque progress of this future saint:----
+
+        Sire, il preche un Dieu à Paris
+        Qui fait tout les mouls et les vauls.
+        Il va à cheval sans chevauls.
+        Il fait et defait tout ensemble.
+        Il vit, il meurt, il sue, il tremble.
+        Il pleure, il rit, il veille, et dort.
+        Il est jeune et vieux, foible et fort.
+        Il fait d'un coq une poulette.
+        Il joue des arts de roulette,
+        Ou je ne Sçais que ce peut être.
+
+        Sir, he preaches a God at Paris
+        Who has made mountain and valley.
+        He goes a horseback without horses.
+        He does and undoes at once.
+        He lives, he dies, he sweats, he trembles.
+        He weeps, he laughs, he wakes, and sleeps.
+        He is young and old, weak and strong.
+        He turns a cock into a hen.
+        He knows how to conjure with cup and ball,
+        Or I do not know who this can be.
+
+Another of these admirers says, evidently alluding to the rite of
+baptism,----
+
+    Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:
+    Il prend de l'yaue en une escuele,
+    Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,
+    Et dit que partants sont sauvés!
+
+    Sir, hear what this mad priest does:
+    He takes water out of a ladle,
+    And, throwing it at people's heads,
+    He says that when they depart they are saved!
+
+This piece then proceeds to entertain the spectators with the tortures
+of St. Dennis, and at length, when more than dead, they mercifully
+behead him: the Saint, after his decapitation, rises very quietly, takes
+his head under his arm, and walks off the stage in all the dignity of
+martyrdom.
+
+It is justly observed by Bayle on these wretched representations, that
+while they prohibited the people from meditating on the sacred history
+in the book which contains it in all its purity and truth, they
+permitted them to see it on the theatre sullied with a thousand gross
+inventions, which were expressed in the most vulgar manner and in a
+farcical style. Warton, with his usual elegance, observes, "To those who
+are accustomed to contemplate the great picture of human follies which
+the unpolished ages of Europe hold up to our view, it will not appear
+surprising that the people who were forbidden to read the events of the
+sacred history in the Bible, in which they are faithfully and
+beautifully related, should at the same time be permitted to see them
+represented on the stage disgraced with the grossest improprieties,
+corrupted with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous kind,
+sullied with impurities, and expressed in the language and
+gesticulations of the lowest farce." Elsewhere he philosophically
+observes that, however, they had their use, "not only teaching the great
+truths of scripture to men who could not read the Bible, but in
+abolishing the barbarous attachment to military games and the bloody
+contentions of the tournament, which had so long prevailed as the sole
+species of popular amusement. Rude, and even ridiculous as they were,
+they softened the manners of the people, by diverting the public
+attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by creating
+a regard for other arts than those of bodily strength and savage
+valour."
+
+_Mysteries_ are to be distinguished from _Moralities_, and _Farces_, and
+_Sotties_. _Moralities_ are dialogues where the interlocutors
+represented feigned or allegorical personages. _Farces_ were more
+exactly what their title indicates--obscene, gross, and dissolute
+representations, where both the actions and words are alike
+reprehensible.
+
+The _Sotties_ were more farcical than farce, and frequently had the
+licentiousness of pasquinades. I shall give an ingenious specimen of one
+of the MORALITIES. This Morality is entitled, "The Condemnation of
+Feasts, to the Praise of Diet and Sobriety for the Benefit of the Human
+Body."
+
+The perils of gormandising form the present subject. Towards the close
+is a trial between _Feasting_ and _Supper_. They are summoned before
+_Experience_, the Lord Chief Justice! _Feasting_ and _Supper_ are
+accused of having murdered four persons by force of gorging them.
+_Experience_ condemns _Feasting_ to the gallows; and his executioner is
+_Diet_. _Feasting_ asks for a father-confessor, and makes a public
+confession of so many crimes, such numerous convulsions, apoplexies,
+head-aches, and stomach-qualms, &c., which he has occasioned, that his
+executioner _Diet_ in a rage stops his mouth, puts the cord about his
+neck, and strangles him. _Supper_ is only condemned to load his hands
+with a certain quantity of lead, to hinder him from putting too many
+dishes on table: he is also bound over to remain at the distance of six
+hours' walking from _Dinner_ upon pain of death. _Supper_ felicitates
+himself on his escape, and swears to observe the mitigated sentence.[97]
+
+The MORALITIES were allegorical dramas, whose tediousness seems to have
+delighted a barbarous people not yet accustomed to perceive that what
+was obvious might be omitted to great advantage: like children,
+everything must be told in such an age; their own unexercised
+imagination cannot supply anything.
+
+Of the FARCES the licentiousness is extreme, but their pleasantry and
+their humour are not contemptible. The "Village Lawyer," which is never
+exhibited on our stage without producing the broadest mirth, originates
+among these ancient drolleries. The humorous incident of the shepherd,
+who having stolen his master's sheep, is advised by his lawyer only to
+reply to his judge by mimicking the bleating of a sheep, and when the
+lawyer in return claims his fee, pays him by no other coin, is
+discovered in these ancient farces. Bruèys got up the ancient farce of
+the "_Patelin_" in 1702, and we borrowed it from him.
+
+They had another species of drama still broader than Farce, and more
+strongly featured by the grossness, the severity, and personality of
+satire:--these were called _Sotties_, of which the following one I find
+in the Duke de la Vallière's "Bibliothèque du Théâtre François."[98]
+
+The actors come on the stage with their fools'-caps each wanting the
+right ear, and begin with stringing satirical proverbs, till, after
+drinking freely, they discover that their fools'-caps want the right
+ear. They call on their old grandmother _Sottie_ (or Folly), who advises
+them to take up some trade. She introduces this progeny of her fools to
+the _World_, who takes them into his service. The _World_ tries their
+skill, and is much displeased with their work. The _Cobbler_-fool
+pinches his feet by making the shoes too small; the _Tailor_-fool hangs
+his coat too loose or too tight about him; the _Priest_-fool says his
+masses either too short or too tedious. They all agree that the _World_
+does not know what he wants, and must be sick, and prevail upon him to
+consult a physician. The _World_ obligingly sends what is required to a
+Urine-doctor, who instantly pronounces that "the _World_ is as mad as a
+March hare!" He comes to visit his patient, and puts a great many
+questions on his unhappy state. The _World_ replies, "that what most
+troubles his head is the idea of a new deluge by fire, which must one
+day consume him to a powder;" on which the physician gives this
+answer:----
+
+    Et te troubles-tu pour cela?
+    Monde, tu ne te troubles pas
+    De voir ce larrons attrapars
+    Vendre et acheter benefices;
+    Les enfans en bras des Nourices
+    Estre Abbés, Eveques, Prieurs,
+    Chevaucher tres bien les deux soeurs,
+    Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,
+    Jouer le leur, l'autrui saisir,
+    Donner aux flatteurs audience,
+    Faire la guerre à toute outrance
+    Pour un rien entre les chrestiens!
+
+    And you really trouble yourself about this?
+    Oh, _World!_ you do not trouble yourself about
+    Seeing those impudent rascals
+    Selling and buying livings;
+    Children in the arms of their nurses
+    Made Abbots, Bishops, and Priors,
+    Intriguing with girls,
+    Killing people for their pleasures,
+    Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs to another,
+    Lending their ears to flatterers,
+    Making war, exterminating war,
+    For a bubble, among Christians!
+
+The _World_ takes leave of his physician, but retains his advice; and to
+cure his fits of melancholy gives himself up entirely to the direction
+of his fools. In a word, the _World_ dresses himself in the coat and cap
+of _Folly_, and he becomes as gay and ridiculous as the rest of the
+fools.
+
+This _Sottie_ was represented in the year 1524.
+
+Such was the rage for Mysteries, that René d'Anjou, king of Naples and
+Sicily, and Count of Provence, had them magnificently represented and
+made them a serious concern. Being in Provence, and having received
+letters from his son the Prince of Calabria, who asked him for an
+immediate aid of men, he replied, that "he had a very different matter
+in hand, for he was fully employed in settling the order of a
+Mystery--_in honour of God_."[99]
+
+Strutt, in his "Manners and Customs of the English," has given a
+description of the stage in England when Mysteries were the only
+theatrical performances. Vol. iii, p. 130.
+
+"In the early dawn of literature, and when the sacred Mysteries were the
+only theatrical performances, what is now called the stage did then
+consist of three several platforms, or stages raised one above another.
+On the uppermost sat the _Pater Coelestis_, surrounded with his Angels;
+on the second appeared the Holy Saints, and glorified men; and the last
+and lowest was occupied by mere men who had not yet passed from this
+transitory life to the regions of eternity. On one side of this lowest
+platform was the resemblance of a dark pitchy cavern, from whence issued
+appearance of fire and flames; and, when it was necessary, the audience
+were treated with hideous yellings and noises as imitative of the
+howlings and cries of the wretched souls tormented by the relentless
+demons. From this yawning cave the devils themselves constantly ascended
+to delight and to instruct the spectators:--to delight, because they
+were usually the greatest jesters and buffoons that then appeared; and
+to instruct, for that they treated the wretched mortals who were
+delivered to them with the utmost cruelty, warning thereby all men
+carefully to avoid the falling into the clutches of such hardened and
+remorseless spirits." An anecdote relating to an English Mystery
+presents a curious specimen of the manners of our country, which then
+could admit of such a representation; the simplicity, if not the
+libertinism, of the age was great. A play was acted in one of the
+principal cities of England, under the direction of the trading
+companies of that city, before a numerous assembly of both sexes,
+wherein _Adam_ and _Eve_ appeared on the stage entirely naked, performed
+their whole part in the representation of Eden, to the serpent's
+temptation, to the eating of the forbidden fruit, the perceiving of, and
+conversing about, their nakedness, and to the supplying of fig-leaves to
+cover it. Warton observes they had the authority of scripture for such a
+representation, and they gave matters just as they found them in the
+third chapter of Genesis. The following article will afford the reader a
+specimen of an _Elegant Morality_.
+
+
+
+
+LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY.
+
+
+One of the most elegant Moralities was composed by Louise L'Abé; the
+Aspasia of Lyons in 1550, adored by her contemporaries. With no
+extraordinary beauty, she however displayed the fascination of classical
+learning, and a vein of vernacular poetry refined and fanciful. To
+accomplishments so various she added the singular one of distinguishing
+herself by a military spirit, and was nicknamed Captain Louise. She was
+a fine rider and a fine lutanist. She presided in the assemblies of
+persons of literature and distinction. Married to a rope-manufacturer,
+she was called _La belle Cordière_, and her name is still perpetuated by
+that of the street she lived in. Her anagram was _Belle à Soy_.--But she
+was _belle_ also for others. Her _Morals_ in one point were not correct,
+but her taste was never gross: the ashes of her perishable graces may
+preserve themselves sacred from our severity; but the productions of her
+genius may still delight.
+
+Her Morality, entitled "Débat de Folie et d'Amour--the Contest of _Love_
+and _Folly_," is divided into five parts, and contains six mythological
+or allegorical personages. This division resembles our five acts, which,
+soon after the publication of this Morality, became generally practised.
+
+In the first part, _Love_ and _Folly_ arrive at the same moment at the
+gate of Jupiter's palace, to join a festival to which he had invited the
+gods. _Folly_ observing _Love_ just going to step in at the hall, pushes
+him aside and enters first. _Love_ is enraged, but _Folly_ insists on
+her precedency. _Love_, perceiving there was no reasoning with _Folly_,
+bends his bow and shoots an arrow; but she baffled his attempt by
+rendering herself invisible. She in her turn becomes furious, falls on
+the boy, tearing out his eyes, and then covers them with a bandage which
+could not be taken off.
+
+In the second part, _Love_, in despair for having lost his sight,
+implores the assistance of his mother; she tries in vain to undo the
+magic fillet; the knots are never to be unloosed.
+
+In the third part, Venus presents herself at the foot of the throne of
+Jupiter to complain of the outrage committed by _Folly_ on her son.
+Jupiter commands _Folly_ to appear.--She replies, that though she has
+reason to justify herself, she will not venture to plead her cause, as
+she is apt to speak too much, or to omit what should be said. _Folly_
+asks for a counsellor, and chooses Mercury; Apollo is selected by
+Venus. The fourth part consists of a long dissertation between Jupiter
+and _Love_, on the manner of loving. _Love_ advises Jupiter, if he
+wishes to taste of truest happiness, to descend on earth, to lay down
+all his majesty, and, in the figure of a mere mortal, to please some
+beautiful maiden: "Then wilt thou feel quite another contentment than
+that thou hast hitherto enjoyed: instead of a single pleasure it will be
+doubled; for there is as much pleasure to be loved as to love." Jupiter
+agrees that this may be true, but he thinks that to attain this it
+requires too much time, too much trouble, too many attentions,--and
+that, after all, it is not worth them.
+
+In the fifth part, Apollo, the advocate for Venus, in a long pleading
+demands justice against _Folly_. The Gods, seduced by his eloquence,
+show by their indignation that they would condemn _Folly_ without
+hearing her advocate Mercury. But Jupiter commands silence, and Mercury
+replies. His pleading is as long as the adverse party's, and his
+arguments in favour of _Folly_ are so plausible, that, when he concludes
+his address, the gods are divided in opinion; some espouse the cause of
+_Love_, and some, that of _Folly_. Jupiter, after trying in vain to make
+them agree together, pronounces this award:----
+
+"On account of the difficulty and importance of your disputes and the
+diversity of your opinions, we have suspended your contest from this day
+to three times seven times nine centuries. In the mean time we command
+you to live amicably together without injuring one another. _Folly_
+shall lead _Love,_ and take him whithersoever he pleases, and when
+restored to his sight, the Fates may pronounce sentence."
+
+Many beautiful conceptions are scattered in this elegant Morality. It
+has given birth to subsequent imitations; it was too original and
+playful an idea not to be appropriated by the poets. To this Morality we
+perhaps owe the panegyric of _Folly_ by Erasmus, and the _Love and
+Folly_ of La Fontaine.
+
+
+
+
+RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.
+
+
+I shall notice a class of very singular works, in which the spirit of
+romance has been called in to render religion more attractive to certain
+heated imaginations.
+
+In the fifteenth century was published a little book of _prayers_,
+accompanied by _figures_, both of a very uncommon nature for a religious
+publication. It is entitled _Hortulus Animæ, cum Oratiunculis aliquibus
+superadditis quæ in prioribus Libris non habentur_.
+
+It is a small octavo _en lettres gothiques_, printed by John Grunninger,
+1500. "A garden," says the author, "which abounds with flowers for the
+pleasure of the soul;" but they are full of poison. In spite of his fine
+promises, the chief part of these meditations are as puerile as they are
+superstitious. This we might excuse, because the ignorance and
+superstition of the times allowed such things: but the _figures_ which
+accompany this work are to be condemned in all ages; one represents
+Saint Ursula and some of her eleven thousand virgins, with all the
+licentious inventions of an Aretine. What strikes the ear does not so
+much irritate the senses, observes the sage Horace, as what is presented
+in all its nudity to the eye. One of these designs is only ridiculous:
+David is represented as examining Bathsheba bathing, while Cupid
+hovering throws his dart, and with a malicious smile triumphs in his
+success. We have had many gross anachronisms in similar designs. There
+is a laughable picture in a village in Holland, in which Abraham appears
+ready to sacrifice his son Isaac by a loaded blunderbuss; but his pious
+intention is entirely frustrated by an angel urining in the pan. In
+another painting, the Virgin receives the annunciation of the angel
+Gabriel with a huge chaplet of beads tied round her waist, reading her
+own offices, and kneeling before a crucifix; another happy invention, to
+be seen on an altar-piece at Worms, is that in which the Virgin throws
+Jesus into the hopper of a mill, while from the other side he issues
+changed into little morsels of bread, with which the priests feast the
+people. Matthison, a modern traveller, describes a picture in a church
+at Constance, called the Conception of the Holy Virgin. An old man lies
+on a cloud, whence he darts out a vast beam, which passes through a dove
+hovering just below; at the end of a beam appears a large transparent
+egg, in which egg is seen a child in swaddling clothes with a glory
+round it. Mary sits leaning in an arm chair, and opens her mouth to
+receive the egg.
+
+I must not pass unnoticed in this article a production as extravagant in
+its design, in which the author prided himself in discussing three
+thousand questions concerning the Virgin Mary.
+
+The publication now adverted to was not presented to the world in a
+barbarous age and in a barbarous country, but printed at Paris in 1668.
+It bears for title, _Dévote Salutation des Membres sacres du Corps de la
+Glorieuse Vièrge, Mère de Dieu_. That is, "A Devout Salutation of the
+Holy Members of the Body of the glorious Virgin, Mother of God." It was
+printed and published with an approbation and privilege, which is more
+strange than the work itself. Valois reprobates it in these just terms:
+"What would Innocent XI. have done, after having abolished the shameful
+_Office of the Conception, Indulgences, &c._ if he had seen a volume in
+which the impertinent devotion of that visionary monk caused to be
+printed, with permission of his superiors, Meditations on all the Parts
+of the Body of the Holy Virgin? Religion, decency, and good sense, are
+equally struck at by such an extravagance." I give a specimen of the
+most decent of these _salutations_.
+
+_Salutation to the Hair._
+
+"I salute you, charming hair of Maria! Rays of the mystical sun! Lines
+of the centre and circumference of all created perfection! Veins of gold
+of the mine of love! Chains of the prison of God! Roots of the tree of
+life! Rivulets of the fountain of Paradise! Strings of the bow of
+charity! Nets that caught Jesus, and shall be used in the hunting-day of
+souls!"
+
+_Salutation to the Ears._
+
+"I salute ye, intelligent ears of Maria! ye presidents of the princes of
+the poor! Tribunal for their petitions; salvation at the audience of the
+miserable! University of all divine wisdom! Receivers general of all
+wards! Ye are pierced with the rings of our chains; ye are impearled
+with our necessities!"
+
+The images, prints, and miniatures, with which the catholic religion has
+occasion to decorate its splendid ceremonies, have frequently been
+consecrated to the purposes of love: they have been so many votive
+offerings worthy to have been suspended in the temple of Idalia. Pope
+Alexander VI. had the images of the Virgin made to represent some of his
+mistresses; the famous Vanozza, his favourite, was placed on the altar
+of Santa, Maria del Popolo; and Julia Farnese furnished a subject for
+another Virgin. The same genius of pious gallantry also visited our
+country. The statuaries made the queen of Henry III. a model for the
+face of the Virgin Mary. Hearne elsewhere affirms, that the Virgin Mary
+was generally made to bear a resemblance to the queens of the age,
+which, no doubt, produced some real devotion among the courtiers.
+
+The prayer-books of certain pious libertines were decorated with the
+portraits of their favourite minions and ladies in the characters of
+saints, and even of the Virgin and Jesus. This scandalous practice was
+particularly prevalent in that reign of debauchery in France, when Henry
+III. held the reins of government with a loose hand. In a missal once
+appertaining to the queen of Louis XII. may be seen a mitred ape, giving
+its benediction to a man prostrate before it; a keen reproach to the
+clergy of that day. Charles V., however pious that emperor affected to
+be, had a missal painted for his mistress by the great Albert Durer, the
+borders of which are crowded with extravagant grotesques, consisting of
+apes, who were sometimes elegantly sportive, giving clysters to one
+another, and in more offensive attitudes, not adapted to heighten the
+piety of the Royal Mistress. This missal has two French verses written
+by the Emperor himself, who does not seem to have been ashamed of his
+present. The Italians carried this taste to excess. The manners of our
+country were more rarely tainted with this deplorable licentiousness,
+although I have observed an innocent tendency towards it, by examining
+the illuminated manuscripts of our ancient metrical romances: while we
+admire the vivid colouring of these splendid manuscripts, the curious
+observer will perceive that almost every heroine is represented in a
+state which appears incompatible with her reputation. Most of these
+works are, I believe, by French artists.
+
+A supplement might be formed to religious indecencies from the Golden
+Legend, which abounds in them. Henry Stephens's Apology for Herodotus
+might be likewise consulted with effect for the same purpose. There is a
+story of St. Mary the Egyptian, who was perhaps a looser liver than Mary
+Magdalen; for not being able to pay for her passage to Jerusalem,
+whither she was going to adore the holy cross and sepulchre, in despair
+she thought of an expedient in lieu of payment to the ferryman, which
+required at least going twice, instead of once, to Jerusalem as a
+penitential pilgrimage. This anecdote presents the genuine character of
+certain _devotees_.
+
+Melchior Inchoffer, a Jesuit, published a book to vindicate the miracle
+of a _Letter_ which the Virgin Mary had addressed to the citizens of
+Messina: when Naudé brought him positive proofs of its evident forgery,
+Inchoffer ingenuously confessed the imposture, but pleaded that it was
+done by the _orders_ of his _superiors_.
+
+This same _letter_ of the Virgin Mary was like a _donation_ made to her
+by Louis the Eleventh of the _whole county_ of Boulogne, retaining,
+however, for _his own use the revenues_! This solemn act bears the date
+of the year 1478, and is entitled, "Conveyance of Louis the Eleventh to
+the Virgin of Boulogne, of the right and title of the fief and homage of
+the county of Boulogne, which is held by the Count of Saint Pol, to
+render a faithful account before the image of the said lady."
+
+Maria Agreda, a religious visionary, wrote _The Life of the Virgin_. She
+informs us that she resisted the commands of God and the holy Mary till
+the year 1637, when she began to compose this curious rhapsody. When she
+had finished this _original_ production, her confessor advised her to
+_burn_ it; she obeyed. Her friends, however, who did not think her less
+inspired than she informed them she was, advised her to re-write the
+work. When printed it spread rapidly from country to country: new
+editions appeared at Lisbon, Madrid, Perpignan, and Antwerp. It was the
+rose of Sharon for those climates. There are so many pious absurdities
+in this book, which were found to give such pleasure to the devout, that
+it was solemnly honoured with the censure of the Sorbonne; and it spread
+the more.
+
+The head of this lady was quite turned by her religion. In the first six
+chapters she relates the visions of the Virgin, which induced her to
+write her life. She begins the history _ab ovo_, as it may be expressed;
+for she has formed a narrative of what passed during the nine months in
+which the Virgin was confined in the womb of her mother St. Anne. After
+the birth of Mary, she received an augmentation of angelic guards; we
+have several conversations which God held with the Virgin during the
+first eighteen months after her birth. And it is in this manner she
+formed a _circulating novel_, which delighted the female devotees of the
+seventeenth century.
+
+The worship paid to the Virgin Mary in Spain and Italy exceeds that
+which is given to the Son or the Father. When they pray to Mary, their
+imagination pictures a beautiful woman, they really feel a _passion_;
+while Jesus is only regarded as a _Bambino_, or infant at the breast,
+and the _Father_ is hardly ever recollected: but the _Madonna la
+Senhora, la Maria Santa_, while she inspires their religious
+inclinations, is a mistress to those who have none.
+
+Of similar works there exists an entire race, and the libraries of the
+curious may yet preserve a shelf of these religious _nouvellettes_. The
+Jesuits were the usual authors of these rhapsodies. I find an account of
+a book which pretends to describe what passes in Paradise. A Spanish
+Jesuit published at Salamanca a volume in folio, 1652, entitled
+_Empyreologia_. He dwells with great complacency on the joys of the
+celestial abode; there always will be music in heaven with material
+instruments as our ears are already accustomed to; otherwise he thinks
+the celestial music would not be music for us! But another Jesuit is
+more particular in his accounts. He positively assures us that we shall
+experience a supreme pleasure in kissing and embracing the bodies of the
+blessed; they will bathe in the presence of each other, and for this
+purpose there are most agreeable baths in which we shall swim like fish;
+that we shall all warble as sweetly as larks and nightingales; that the
+angels will dress themselves in female habits, their hair curled;
+wearing petticoats and fardingales, and with the finest linen; that men
+and women will amuse themselves in masquerades, feasts, and
+balls.--Women will sing more agreeably than men to heighten these
+entertainments, and at the resurrection will have more luxuriant
+tresses, ornamented with ribands and head-dresses as in this life!
+
+Such were the books once so devoutly studied, and which doubtless were
+often literally understood. How very bold must the minds of the Jesuits
+have been, and how very humble those of their readers, that such
+extravagances should ever be published! And yet, even to the time in
+which I am now writing,--even at this day,--the same picturesque and
+impassioned pencil is employed by the modern Apostles of Mysticism--the
+Swedenborgians, the Moravians, the Methodists!
+
+I find an account of another book of this class, ridiculous enough to be
+noticed. It has for title, "The Spiritual Kalendar, composed of as many
+Madrigals or Sonnets and Epigrams as there are days in the year;
+written for the consolation of the pious and the curious. By Father G.
+Cortade, Austin Preacher at Bayonne, 1665." To give a notion of this
+singular collection take an Epigram addressed to a Jesuit, who, young as
+he was, used to _put spurs under his shirt_ to mortify the outer man!
+The Kalendar-poet thus gives a point to these spurs:--
+
+    Il ne pourra done plus ni ruer ni hennir
+    Sous le rude Eperon dont tu fais son supplice;
+    Qui vit jamais tel artifice,
+    De piquer un cheval pour le mieux retenir!
+
+    HUMBLY INTIMATED.
+
+    Your body no more will neigh and will kick,
+    The point of the spur must eternally prick;
+    Whoever contrived a thing with such skill,
+    To keep spurring a horse to make him stand still!
+
+One of the most extravagant works projected on the subject of the Virgin
+Mary was the following:--The prior of a convent in Paris had
+reiteratedly entreated Varillas the historian to examine a work composed
+by one of the monks; and of which--not being himself addicted to
+letters--he wished to be governed by his opinion. Varillas at length
+yielded to the entreaties of the prior; and to regale the critic, they
+laid on two tables for his inspection seven enormous volumes in folio.
+
+This rather disheartened our reviewer: but greater was his astonishment,
+when, having opened the first volume, he found its title to be _Summa
+Dei-paræ_; and as Saint Thomas had made a _Sum_, or System of Theology,
+so our monk had formed a _System_ of the _Virgin_! He immediately
+comprehended the design of our good father, who had laboured on this
+work full thirty years, and who boasted he had treated _Three Thousand_
+Questions concerning the Virgin! of which he flattered himself not a
+single one had ever yet been imagined by any one but himself!
+
+Perhaps a more extraordinary design was never known. Varillas, pressed
+to give his judgment on this work, advised the prior with great prudence
+and good-nature to amuse the honest old monk with the hope of printing
+these seven folios, but always to start some new difficulties; for it
+would be inhuman to occasion so deep a chagrin to a man who had reached
+his seventy-fourth year, as to inform him of the nature of his favourite
+occupations; and that after his death he should throw the seven folios
+into the fire.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 96: Since this article was written, many of these ancient
+Mysteries and Moralities have been printed at home and abroad. Hone, in
+his "Ancient Mysteries Described," 1825, first gave a summary of the
+_Ludus Coventriæ,_ the famous mysteries performed by the trading
+companies of Coventry; the entire series have been since printed by the
+Shakspeare Society, under the editorship of Mr. Halliwell, and consist
+of forty-two dramas, founded on incidents in the Old and New Testaments.
+The equally famous _Chester Mysteries_ were also printed by the same
+society under the editorship of Mr. Wright, and consist of twenty-five
+long dramas, commencing with "The Fall of Lucifer," and ending with
+"Doomsday." In 1834, the Abbotsford Club published some others from the
+Digby MS., in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In 1825, Mr. Sharp, of
+Coventry, published a dissertation on the Mysteries once performed
+there, and printed the Pageant of the Sheremen and Taylor's Company; and
+in 1836 the Abbotsford Club printed the Pageant played by the Weavers of
+that city. In 1836, the Surtees Society published the series known as
+_The Towneley Mysteries,_ consisting of thirty-two dramas; in 1838, Dr.
+Marriott published in English, at Basle, a selection of the most curious
+of these dramas. In 1837, M. Achille Jubinal published two octavo
+volumes of French "Mystères inédits du Quinzième Siècle." This list
+might be swelled by other notes of such books, printed within the last
+thirty years, in illustration of these early religious dramas.]
+
+[Footnote 97: In Jubinal's _Tapisseries Anciennes_ is engraved that
+found in the tent of Charles the Bold, at Nancy, and still preserved in
+that city. It is particularly curious, inasmuch as it depicts the
+incidents described in the Morality above-named.]
+
+[Footnote 98: The British Museum library was enriched in 1845 by a very
+curions collection of these old comic plays, which was formed about
+1560. It consists of sixty-four dramas, of which number only five or six
+were known before. They are exceedingly curious as pictures of early
+manners and amusements; very simple in construction, and containing few
+characters. One is a comic dialogue between two persons as to the best
+way of managing a wife. Another has for its plot the adventure of a
+husband sent from home by the seigneur of the village, that he may
+obtain access to his wife; and who is checkmated by the peasant, who
+repairs to the neglected lady of the seigneur. Some are entirely
+composed of allegorical characters; all are broadly comic, in language
+equally broad. They were played by a jocular society, whose chief was
+termed Prince des Sots; hence the name Sotties given to the farces.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The peasants of the Ober-Ammergau, a village in the
+Bavarian Alps, still perform, at intervals of ten years, a long miracle
+play, detailing the chief incidents of the Passion of our Saviour from
+his entrance into Jerusalem to his ascension. It is done in fulfilment
+of a vow made during a pestilence in 1633. The performance lasted twelve
+hours in 1850, when it was last performed. The actors were all of the
+peasant class.]
+
+
+
+
+"CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S MILTON.
+
+
+    ----BENTLEY, long to wrangling schools confined,
+    And but by books acquainted with mankind----
+    To MILTON lending sense, to HORACE wit,
+    He makes them write, what never poet writ.
+
+DR. BENTLEY'S edition of our English Homer is sufficiently known by
+name. As it stands a terrifying beacon to conjectural criticism, I shall
+just notice some of those violations which the learned critic ventured
+to commit, with all the arrogance of a Scaliger. This man, so deeply
+versed in ancient learning, it will appear, was destitute of taste and
+genius in his native language.
+
+Our critic, to persuade the world of the necessity of his edition,
+imagined a fictitious editor of Milton's Poems: and it was this
+ingenuity which produced all his absurdities. As it is certain that the
+blind bard employed an amanuensis, it was not improbable that many words
+of similar sound, but very different signification, might have
+disfigured the poem; but our Doctor was bold enough to conjecture that
+this amanuensis _interpolated_ whole verses of his own composition in
+the "Paradise Lost!" Having laid down this fatal position, all the
+consequences of his folly naturally followed it. Yet if there needs any
+conjecture, the more probable one will be, that Milton, who was never
+careless of his future fame, had his poem _read_ to him after it had
+been published. The first edition appeared in 1667, and the second in
+1674, in which all the faults of the former edition are continued. By
+these _faults_, the Doctor means what _he_ considers to be such: for we
+shall soon see that his "Canons of Criticism" are apocryphal.
+
+Bentley says that he will _supply_ the want of manuscripts to collate
+(to use his own words) by his own "SAGACITY," and "HAPPY CONJECTURE."
+
+Milton, after the conclusion of Satan's speech to the fallen angels,
+proceeds thus:--
+
+    1. He spake: and to confirm his words out flew
+    2. Millions of flaming _swords_, drawn from the thighs
+    3. Of mighty cherubim: the sudden blaze
+    4. Far round illumin'd hell; highly they rag'd
+    5. Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped _arms_
+    6. Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
+    7. Hurling defiance tow'rd the _Vault_ of heaven.
+
+In this passage, which is as perfect as human wit can make, the Doctor
+alters three words. In the second line he puts _blades_ instead of
+_swords_; in the fifth he puts _swords_ instead of _arms_; and in the
+last line he prefers _walls_ to _vault_. All these changes are so many
+defoedations of the poem. The word _swords_ is far more poetical than
+_blades_, which may as well be understood of _knives_ as _swords_. The
+word _arms_, the generic for the specific term, is still stronger and
+nobler than _swords_; and the beautiful conception of _vault_, which is
+always indefinite to the eye, while the solidity of _walls_ would but
+meanly describe the highest Heaven, gives an idea of grandeur and
+modesty.
+
+Milton writes, book i. v. 63--
+
+    No light, but rather DARKNESS VISIBLE
+    Served only to discover sights of woe.
+
+Perhaps borrowed from Spenser:--
+
+    A little glooming light, much like a shade.
+            _Faery Queene_, b. i. c. 2. st. 14.
+
+This fine expression of "DARKNESS VISIBLE" the Doctor's critical
+sagacity has thus rendered clearer:--
+
+    No light, but rather A TRANSPICIUOUS GLOOM.
+
+Again, our learned critic distinguishes the 74th line of the first
+book--
+
+    As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole,
+
+as "a vicious verse," and therefore with "happy conjecture," and no
+taste, thrusts in an entire verse of his own composition--
+
+    DISTANCE WHICH TO EXPRESS ALL MEASURE FAILS.
+
+Milton _writes_,
+
+    Our torments, also, may in length of time
+    Become our elements.    B. ii. ver. 274.
+
+Bentley _corrects_--
+
+    _Then, AS WAS WELL OBSERV'D_ our torments may
+    Become our elements.
+
+A curious instance how the insertion of a single prosaic expression
+turns a fine verse into something worse than the vilest prose.
+
+To conclude with one more instance of critical emendation: Milton says,
+with an agreeable turn of expression--
+
+    So parted they; the angel up to heaven,
+    From the thick shade; and Adam to his bower.
+
+Bentley "conjectures" these two verses to be inaccurate, and in lieu of
+the last writes--
+
+    ADAM, TO RUMINATE ON PAST DISCOURSE.
+
+And then our erudite critic reasons! as thus:--
+
+After the conversation between the Angel and Adam in the bower, it may
+be well presumed that our first parent waited on his heavenly guest at
+his departure to some little distance from it, till he began to take his
+flight towards heaven; and therefore "sagaciously" thinks that the poet
+could not with propriety say that the angel parted from the _thick
+shade_, that is, the _bower_, to go to heaven. But if Adam attended the
+Angel no farther than the door or entrance of the bower, then he
+shrewdly asks, "How Adam could return to his bower if he was never out
+of it?"
+
+Our editor has made a thousand similar corrections in his edition of
+Milton! Some have suspected that the same kind intention which prompted
+Dryden to persuade Creech to undertake a translation of Horace
+influenced those who encouraged our Doctor, in thus exercising his
+"sagacity" and "happy conjecture" on the epic of Milton. He is one of
+those learned critics who have happily "elucidated their author into
+obscurity," and comes nearest to that "true conjectural critic" whose
+practice a Portuguese satirist so greatly admired: by which means, if he
+be only followed up by future editors, we might have that immaculate
+edition, in which little or nothing should be found of the original!
+
+I have collected these few instances as not uninteresting to men of
+taste; they may convince us that a scholar may be familiarized to Greek
+and Latin, though a stranger to his vernacular literature; and that a
+verbal critic may sometimes be successful in his attempts on a _single
+word_, though he may be incapable of tasting an _entire sentence_. Let
+it also remain as a gibbet on the high roads of literature; that
+"conjectural critics" as they pass may not forget the unhappy fate of
+Bentley.
+
+The following epigram appeared on this occasion:--
+
+    ON MILTON'S EXECUTIONER.
+
+    Did MILTON'S PROSE, O CHARLES! thy death defend?
+    A furious foe, unconscious, proves a friend;
+    On MILTON'S VERSE does BENTLEY comment? know,
+    A weak officious friend becomes a foe.
+    While he would seem his author's fame to farther,
+    The MURTHEROUS critic has avenged thy MURTHER.
+
+The classical learning of Bentley was singular and acute; but the
+erudition of words is frequently found not to be allied to the
+sensibility of taste.[100]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 100: An amusing instance of his classical emendations occurs
+in the text of Shakspeare. [King Henry IV. pt. 2, act 1, sc. 1.] The
+poet speaks of one who
+
+         "----woebegone
+    Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
+    And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd."
+
+Bentley alters the first word of the sentence to a proper name, which is
+given in the third book of the Iliad, and the second of the Æneid; and
+reads the passage thus:--
+
+         "----Ucaligon
+    Drew Priam's curtain," &c.!]
+
+
+
+
+A JANSENIST DICTIONARY.
+
+
+When L'Advocat published his concise Biographical Dictionary, the
+Jansenists, the methodists of France, considered it as having been
+written with a view to depreciate the merit of _their_ friends. The
+spirit of party is too soon alarmed. The Abbé Barral undertook a
+dictionary devoted to their cause. In this labour, assisted by his good
+friends the Jansenists, he indulged all the impetuosity and acerbity of
+a splenetic adversary. The Abbé was, however, an able writer; his
+anecdotes are numerous and well chosen; and his style is rapid and
+glowing. The work bears for title, "Dictionnaire Historique, Littéraire,
+et Critique, des Hommes Célèbres," 6 vols. 8vo. 1719. It is no unuseful
+speculation to observe in what manner a faction represents those who
+have not been its favourites: for this purpose I select the characters
+of Fenelon, Cranmer, and Luther.
+
+Of Fenelon they write, "He composed for the instruction of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri, several works; amongst others, the
+Telemachus--a singular book, which partakes at once of the character of
+a romance and of a poem, and which substitutes a prosaic cadence for
+versification."
+
+But several luscious pictures would not lead us to suspect that this
+book issued from the pen of a sacred minister for the education of a
+prince; and what we are told by a famous poet is not improbable, that
+Fenelon did not compose it at court, but that it is the fruits of his
+retreat in his diocese. And indeed the amours of Calypso and Eucharis
+should not be the first lessons that a minister ought to give his
+scholars; and, besides, the fine moral maxims which the author
+attributes to the Pagan divinities are not well placed in their mouth.
+Is not this rendering homage to the demons of the great truths which we
+receive from the Gospel, and to despoil J. C. to render respectable the
+annihilated gods of paganism? This prelate was a wretched divine, more
+familiar with the light of profane authors than with that of the fathers
+of the church. Phelipeaux has given us, in his narrative of Quietism,
+the portrait of the friend of Madame Guyon. This archbishop has a lively
+genius, artful and supple, which can flatter and dissimulate, if ever
+any could. Seduced by a woman, he was solicitous to spread his
+seduction. He joined to the politeness and elegance of conversation a
+modest air, which rendered him amiable. He spoke of spirituality with
+the expression and the enthusiasm of a prophet; with such talents he
+flattered himself that everything would yield to him.
+
+In this work the Protestants, particularly the first Reformers, find no
+quarter; and thus virulently their rabid catholicism exults over the
+hapless end of Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop:--
+
+"Thomas Cranmer married the sister of Osiander. As Henry VIII. detested
+married priests, Cranmer kept this second marriage in profound secrecy.
+This action serves to show the character of this great reformer, who is
+the hero of Burnet, whose history is so much esteemed in England. What
+blindness to suppose him an Athanasius, who was at once a Lutheran
+secretly married, a consecrated archbishop under the Roman pontiff whose
+power he detested, saying the mass in which he did not believe, and
+granting a power to say it! The divine vengeance burst on this
+sycophantic courtier, who had always prostituted his conscience to his
+fortune."
+
+Their character of Luther is quite Lutheran in one sense, for Luther was
+himself a stranger to moderate strictures:--
+
+"The furious Luther, perceiving himself assisted by the credit of
+several princes, broke loose against the church with the most
+inveterate rage, and rung the most terrible alarum against the pope.
+According to him we should have set fire to everything, and reduced to
+one heap of ashes the pope and the princes who supported him. Nothing
+equals the rage of this phrenetic man, who was not satisfied with
+exhaling his fury in horrid declamations, but who was for putting all in
+practice. He raised his excesses to the height by inveighing against the
+vow of chastity, and in marrying publicly Catherine de Bore, a nun, whom
+he enticed, with eight others, from their convents. He had prepared the
+minds of the people for this infamous proceeding by a treatise which he
+entitled 'Examples of the Papistical Doctrine and Theology,' in which he
+condemns the praises which all the saints had given to continence. He
+died at length quietly enough, in 1546, at Eisleben, his country
+place--God reserving the terrible effects of his vengeance to another
+life."
+
+Cranmer, who perished at the stake, these fanatic religionists proclaim
+as an example of "divine vengeance;" but Luther, the true parent of the
+Reformation, "died quietly at Eisleben:" this must have puzzled their
+mode of reasoning; but they extricate themselves out of the dilemma by
+the usual way. Their curses are never what the lawyers call "lapsed
+legacies."
+
+
+
+
+MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS.
+
+
+It would be no uninteresting literary speculation to describe the
+difficulties which some of our most favourite works encountered in their
+manuscript state, and even after they had passed through the press.
+Sterne, when he had finished his first and second volumes of Tristram
+Shandy, offered them to a bookseller at York for fifty pounds; but was
+refused: he came to town with his MSS.; and he and Robert Dodsley agreed
+in a manner of which neither repented.
+
+The Rosciad, with all its merit, lay for a considerable time in a
+dormant state, till Churchill and his publisher became impatient, and
+almost hopeless of success.--Burn's Justice was disposed of by its
+author, who was weary of soliciting booksellers to purchase the MS., for
+a trifle, and it now yields an annual income. Collins burnt his odes
+after indemnifying his publisher. The publication of Dr. Blair's Sermons
+was refused by Strahan, and the "Essay on the Immutability of Truth,"
+by Dr. Beattie, could find no publisher, and was printed by two friends
+of the author, at their joint expense.
+
+"The sermon in Tristram Shandy" (says Sterne, in his preface to his
+Sermons) "was printed by itself some years ago, but could find neither
+purchasers nor readers." When it was inserted in his eccentric work, it
+met with a most favourable reception, and occasioned the others to be
+collected.
+
+Joseph Warton writes, "When Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton
+College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it." The
+Polyeucte of Corneille, which is now accounted to be his masterpiece,
+when he read it to the literary assembly held at the Hotel de
+Rambouillet, was not approved. Voiture came the next day, and in gentle
+terms acquainted him with the unfavourable opinion of the critics. Such
+ill judges were then the most fashionable wits of France!
+
+It was with great difficulty that Mrs. Centlivre could get her "Busy
+Body" performed. Wilks threw down his part with an oath of
+detestation--our comic authoress fell on her knees and wept.--Her tears,
+and not her wit, prevailed.
+
+A pamphlet published in the year 1738, entitled "A Letter to the Society
+of Booksellers, on the Method of forming a true Judgment of the
+Manuscripts of Authors," contains some curious literary intelligence.
+
+"We have known books, that in the MS. have been damned, as well as
+others which seem to be so, since, after their appearance in the world,
+they have often lain by neglected. Witness the 'Paradise Lost' of the
+famous Milton, and the Optics of Sir Isaac Newton, which last, 'tis
+said, had no character or credit here till noticed in France. 'The
+Historical Connection of the Old and New Testament,' by Shuckford, is
+also reported to have been seldom inquired after for about a
+twelvemonth's time; however, it made a shift, though not without some
+difficulty, to creep up to a second edition, and afterwards even to a
+third. And which is another remarkable instance, the manuscript of Dr.
+Prideaux's 'Connection' is well known to have been bandied about from
+hand to hand among several, at least five or six, of the most eminent
+booksellers, during the space of at least two years, to no purpose, none
+of them undertaking to print that excellent work. It lay in obscurity,
+till Archdeacon Echard, the author's friend, strongly recommended it to
+Tonson. It was purchased, and the publication was very successful.
+Robinson Crusoe in manuscript also ran through the whole trade, nor
+would any one print it, though the writer, De Foe, was in good repute as
+an author. One bookseller at last, not remarkable for his discernment,
+but for his speculative turn, engaged in this publication. _This_
+bookseller got above a thousand guineas by it; and the booksellers are
+accumulating money every hour by editions of this work in all shapes.
+The undertaker of the translation of Rapin, after a very considerable
+part of the work had been published, was not a little dubious of its
+success, and was strongly inclined to drop the design. It proved at last
+to be a most profitable literary adventure." It is, perhaps, useful to
+record, that while the fine compositions of genius and the elaborate
+labours of erudition are doomed to encounter these obstacles to fame,
+and never are but slightly remunerated, works of another description are
+rewarded in the most princely manner; at the recent sale of a
+bookseller, the copyright of "Vyse's Spelling-book" was sold at the
+enormous price of £2200, with an annuity of 50 guineas to the author!
+
+
+
+
+THE TURKISH SPY.
+
+
+Whatever may be the defects of the "Turkish Spy," the author has shown
+one uncommon merit, by having opened a new species of composition, which
+has been pursued by other writers with inferior success, if we except
+the charming "Persian Letters" of Montesquieu. The "Turkish Spy" is a
+book which has delighted our childhood, and to which we can still recur
+with pleasure. But its ingenious author is unknown to three parts of his
+admirers.
+
+In Boswell's "Life of Johnson" is this dialogue concerning the writer of
+the "Turkish Spy." "B.--Pray, Sir, is the 'Turkish Spy' a genuine book?
+J.--No, Sir. Mrs. Mauley, in her 'Life' says, that _her father wrote the
+two first volumes_; and in another book--'Dunton's Life and Errours,' we
+find that the rest was _written_ by _one Sault_, at two guineas a sheet,
+under the direction of Dr. Midgeley."
+
+I do not know on what authority Mrs. Manley advances that her father was
+the author; but this lady was never nice in detailing facts. Dunton,
+indeed, gives some information in a very loose manner. He tells us, p.
+242, that it is probable, by reasons which he insinuates, that _one
+Bradshaw_, a hackney author, was the writer of the "Turkish Spy." This
+man probably was engaged by Dr. Midgeley to translate the volumes as
+they appeared, at the rate of 40s. per sheet. On the whole, all this
+proves, at least, how little the author was known while the volumes were
+publishing, and that he is as little known at present by the extract
+from Boswell.
+
+The ingenious writer of the Turkish Spy is John Paul Marana, an Italian;
+so that the Turkish Spy is just as real a personage as Cid Hamet, from
+whom Cervantes says he had his "History of Don Quixote." Marana had been
+imprisoned for a political conspiracy; after his release he retired to
+Monaco, where he wrote the "History of the Plot," which is said to be
+valuable for many curious particulars. Marana was at once a man of
+letters and of the world. He had long wished to reside at Paris; in that
+emporium of taste and luxury his talents procured him patrons. It was
+during his residence there that he produced his "Turkish Spy." By this
+ingenious contrivance he gave the history of the last age. He displays a
+rich memory, and a lively imagination; but critics have said that he
+touches everything, and penetrates nothing. His first three volumes
+greatly pleased: the rest are inferior. Plutarch, Seneca, and Pliny,
+were his favourite authors. He lived in philosophical mediocrity; and in
+the last years of his life retired to his native country, where he died
+in 1693.
+
+Charpentier gave the first particulars of this ingenious man. Even in
+his time the volumes were read as they came out, while its author
+remained unknown. Charpentier's proof of the author is indisputable; for
+he preserved the following curious certificate, written in Marana's own
+handwriting.
+
+"I, the under-written John Paul Marana, author of a manuscript Italian
+volume, entitled '_L'Esploratore Turco, tomo terzo_,' acknowledge that
+Mr. Charpentier, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to revise the said
+manuscript, has not granted me his certificate for printing the said
+manuscript, but on condition to rescind four passages. The first
+beginning, &c. By this I promise to suppress from the said manuscript
+the places above marked, so that there shall remain no vestige; since,
+without agreeing to this, the said certificate would not have been
+granted to me by the said Mr. Charpentier; and for surety of the above,
+which I acknowledge to be true, and which I promise punctually to
+execute, I have signed the present writing. Paris, 28th September, 1686.
+
+    "JOHN PAUL MARANA."
+
+This paper serves as a curious instance in what manner the censors of
+books clipped the wings of genius when it was found too daring or
+excursive.
+
+These rescindings of the Censor appear to be marked by Marana in the
+printed work. We find more than once chasms, with these words: "the
+beginning of _this_ letter is wanting in the Italian translation; the
+_original_ paper _being torn_."
+
+No one has yet taken the pains to observe the date of the first editions
+of the French and the English Turkish Spies, which would settle the
+disputed origin. It appears by the document before us, to have been
+originally _written_ in Italian, but probably was first _published_ in
+French. Does the English Turkish Spy differ from the French one?[101]
+
+
+
+
+SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The characters of these three great masters of English poetry are
+sketched by Fuller, in his "Worthies of England." It is a literary
+morsel that must not be passed by. The criticisms of those who lived in
+or near the times when authors flourished merit our observation. They
+sometimes elicit a ray of intelligence, which later opinions do not
+always give.
+
+He observes on SPENSER--"The many _Chaucerisms_ used (for I will not say
+affected by him) are thought by the ignorant to be _blemishes_, known by
+the learned to be _beauties_, to his book; which, notwithstanding, had
+been more SALEABLE, if more conformed to our modern language."
+
+On JONSON.--"His parts were not so ready _to run of themselves_, as able
+to answer the spur; so that it may be truly said of him, that he had an
+_elaborate wit_, wrought out by his own industry.--He would _sit silent_
+in learned company, and suck in (_besides wine_) their several humours
+into his observation. What was _ore_ in _others_, he was able to
+_refine_ himself.
+
+"He was paramount in the dramatic part of poetry, and taught the stage
+an exact conformity to the laws of comedians. His comedies were above
+the _Volge_ (which are only tickled with downright obscenity), and took
+not so well at the _first stroke_ as at the _rebound_, when beheld the
+second time; yea, they will endure reading so long as either ingenuity
+or learning are fashionable in our nation. If his latter be not so
+spriteful and vigorous as his first pieces, all that are old will, and
+all who desire to be old should, excuse him therein."
+
+On SHAKSPEARE.--"He was an eminent instance of the truth of that rule,
+_poëta non fit, sed nascitur_; one is not made, but born a poet. Indeed
+his _learning_ was but very little; so that as _Cornish diamonds_ are
+not polished by any lapidary, but are pointed and smooth, even as they
+are taken out of the earth, so _Nature_ itself was all the _art_ which
+was used upon him.
+
+"Many were the _wit-combats_ betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I
+beheld like a _Spanish great galleon_ and an _English man of war_.
+Master _Jonson_ (like the former) was built far higher in learning;
+_solid_, but _slow_ in his performances. _Shakspeare_, with an English
+man of war, lesser in _bulk_, but lighter in _sailing_, could _turn with
+all tides_, and take advantage of _all winds_, by the quickness of his
+wit and invention."
+
+Had these "Wit-combats," between Shakspeare and Jonson, which Fuller
+notices, been chronicled by some faithful _Boswell_ of the age, our
+literary history would have received an interesting accession. A letter
+has been published by Dr. Berkenhout relating to an evening's
+conversation between our great rival bards, and Alleyn the actor. Peele,
+a dramatic poet, writes to his friend Marlow, another poet. The Doctor
+unfortunately in giving this copy did not recollect his authority.
+
+
+  "FRIEND MARLOW,
+
+"I never longed for thy companye more than last night: we were all very
+merrye at the Globe, where Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affirme
+pleasantly to thy friend WILL, that he had stolen his speech about the
+qualityes of an actor's excellencye in Hamlet his Tragedye, from
+conversations manyfold which had passed between them, and opinyons given
+by Alleyn touchinge this subject. SHAKSPEARE did not take this talk in
+good sorte; but JONSON put an end to the strife, by wittylie
+remarking,--this affaire needeth no contention: you stole it from NED,
+no doubt, do not marvel; have you not seen him act times out of number?"
+
+This letter is one of those ingenious forgeries which the late George
+Steevens practised on the literary antiquary; they were not always of
+this innocent cast. The present has been frequently quoted as an
+original document. I have preserved it as an example of _Literary
+Forgeries_, and the danger which literary historians incur by such
+nefarious practices.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 101: Marana appears to have carelessly deserted his literary
+offspring. It is not improbable that his English translators continued
+his plan, and that their volumes were translated; so that what appears
+the French original may be, for the greater part, of our own home
+manufacture. The superiority of the first part was early perceived. The
+history of our ancient Grub-street is enveloped in the obscurity of its
+members, and there are more claimants than one for the honour of this
+continuation. We know too little of Marana to account for his silence;
+Cervantes was indignant at the impudent genius who dared to continue the
+immortal Quixote.
+
+The tale remains imperfectly told.
+
+See a correspondence on this subject in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1840
+and 1841.]
+
+
+
+
+BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH.
+
+
+Ben Jonson, like most celebrated wits, was very unfortunate in
+conciliating the affections of his brother writers. He certainly
+possessed a great share of arrogance, and was desirous of ruling the
+realms of Parnassus with a despotic sceptre. That he was not always
+successful in his theatrical compositions is evident from his abusing,
+in their title-page, the actors and the public. In this he has been
+imitated by Fielding. I have collected the following three satiric odes,
+written when the reception of his "_New Inn_, or _The Light Heart_,"
+warmly exasperated the irritable disposition of our poet.
+
+He printed the title in the following manner:--
+
+"_The New Inn_, or _The Light Heart_; a Comedy never acted, but most
+negligently played by some, the King's servants; and more squeamishly
+beheld and censured by others, the King's subjects, 1629. Now at last
+set at liberty to the readers, his Majesty's servants and subjects, to
+be judged, 1631."
+
+At the end of this play he published the following Ode, in which he
+threatens to quit the stage for ever; and turn at once a Horace, an
+Anacreon, and a Pindar.
+
+"The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of his play,
+begat this following Ode to himself:--
+
+          Come, leave the loathed stage,
+          And the more loathsome age;
+      Where pride and impudence (in faction knit,)
+          Usurp the chair of wit;
+      Inditing and arraigning every day
+          Something they call a play.
+        Let their fastidious, vaine
+        Commission of braine
+    Run on, and rage, sweat, censure, and condemn;
+    They were not made for thee,--less thou for them.
+
+          Say that thou pour'st them wheat,
+          And they will acorns eat;
+      'Twere simple fury, still, thyself to waste
+          On such as have no taste!
+      To offer them a surfeit of pure bread,
+          Whose appetites are dead!
+        No, give them graines their fill,
+        Husks, draff, to drink and swill.
+    If they love lees, and leave the lusty wine,
+    Envy them not their palate with the swine.
+
+          No doubt some mouldy tale
+          Like PERICLES,[102] and stale
+      As the shrieve's crusts, and nasty as his fish--
+          Scraps, out of every dish
+      Thrown forth, and rak't into the common-tub,
+          May keep up the play-club:
+        There sweepings do as well
+        As the best order'd meale,
+    For who the relish of these guests will fit,
+    Needs set them but the almes-basket of wit.
+
+          And much good do't you then,
+          Brave plush and velvet men
+      Can feed on orts, and safe in your stage clothes,
+          Dare quit, upon your oathes,
+      The stagers, and the stage-wrights too (your peers),
+          Of larding your large ears
+        With their foul comic socks,
+        Wrought upon twenty blocks:
+    Which if they're torn, and turn'd, and patch'd enough
+    The gamesters share your gilt and you their stuff.
+
+          Leave things so prostitute,
+          And take the Alcæick lute,
+      Or thine own Horace, or Anacreon's lyre;
+        Warm thee by Pindar's fire;
+      And, tho' thy nerves be shrunk, and blood be cold,
+        Ere years have made thee old,
+      Strike that disdainful heat
+      Throughout, to their defeat;
+    As curious fools, and envious of thy strain,
+    May, blushing, swear no palsy's in thy brain.[103]
+
+            But when they hear thee sing
+            The glories of thy King,
+          His zeal to God, and his just awe o'er men,
+    They may blood-shaken then,
+      Feel such a flesh-quake to possess their powers,
+          As they shall cry 'like ours,
+        In sound of peace, or wars,
+        No harp ere hit the stars,
+    In tuning forth the acts of his sweet raign,
+    And raising Charles his chariot 'bove his wain.'"
+
+This Magisterial Ode, as Langbaine calls it, was answered by _Owen
+Feltham_, author of the admirable "Resolves," who has written with great
+satiric acerbity the retort courteous. His character of this poet should
+be attended to:--
+
+AN ANSWER TO THE ODE, COME LEAVE THE LOATHED STAGE, &C.
+
+              Come leave this sawcy way
+              Of baiting those that pay
+          Dear for the sight of your declining wit:
+              'Tis known it is not fit
+            That a sale poet, just contempt once thrown,
+              Should cry up thus his own.
+            I wonder by what dower,
+            Or patent, you had power
+        From all to rape a judgment. Let't suffice,
+        Had you been modest, y'ad been granted wise.
+
+              'Tis known you can do well,
+              And that you do excell
+          As a translator; but when things require
+              A genius, and fire,
+          Not kindled heretofore by other pains,
+              As oft y'ave wanted brains
+            And art to strike the white,
+            As you have levell'd right:
+        Yet if men vouch not things apocryphal,
+        You bellow, rave, and spatter round your gall.
+
+              Jug, Pierce, Peek, Fly,[104] and all
+              Your jests so nominal,
+          Are things so far beneath an able brain,
+              As they do throw a stain
+          Thro' all th' unlikely plot, and do displease
+              As deep as PERICLES.
+            Where yet there is not laid
+            Before a chamber-maid
+        Discourse so weigh'd,[105] as might have serv'd of old
+        For schools, when they of love and valour told.
+
+              Why rage, then? when the show
+              Should judgment be, and know-[106]
+          ledge, there are plush who scorn to drudge
+              For stages, yet can judge
+          Not only poet's looser lines, but wits,
+              And all their perquisits;
+            A gift as rich as high
+            Is noble poesie:
+        Yet, tho' in sport it be for Kings to play,
+        'Tis next mechanicks' when it works for pay.
+
+              Alcæus lute had none,
+              Nor loose Anacreon
+          E'er taught so bold assuming of the bays
+              When they deserv'd no praise.
+          To rail men into approbation
+              Is new to your's alone:
+            And prospers not: for known,
+            Fame is as coy, as you
+        Can be disdainful; and who dares to prove
+        A rape on her shall gather scorn--not love.
+
+              Leave then this humour vain,
+              And this more humourous strain,
+          Where self-conceit, and choler of the blood,
+              Eclipse what else is good:
+          Then, if you please those raptures high to touch,
+              Whereof you boast so much:
+            And but forbear your crown
+            Till the world puts it on:
+        No doubt, from all you may amazement draw,
+        Since braver theme no Phoebus ever saw.
+
+To console dejected Ben for this just reprimand, Randolph, of the
+adopted poetical sons of Jonson, addressed him with all that warmth of
+grateful affection which a man of genius should have felt on the
+occasion.
+
+AN ANSWER TO MR. BEN JONSON'S ODE, TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO LEAVE THE
+STAGE.
+
+                    I.
+
+          Ben, do not leave the stage
+          Cause 'tis a loathsome age;
+      For pride and impudence will grow too bold,
+        When they shall hear it told
+      They frighted thee; Stand high, as is thy cause;
+          Their hiss is thy applause:
+        More just were thy disdain,
+        Had they approved thy vein:
+    So thou for them, and they for thee were born;
+    They to incense, and thou as much to scorn.
+
+                     II.
+
+          Wilt thou engross thy store
+          Of wheat, and pour no more,
+      Because their bacon-brains had such a taste
+        As more delight in mast:
+      No! set them forth a board of dainties, full
+          As thy best muse can cull
+        Whilst they the while do pine
+        And thirst, midst all their wine.
+    What greater plague can hell itself devise,
+    Than to be willing thus to tantalise?
+
+                     III.
+
+          Thou canst not find them stuff,
+          That will be bad enough
+      To please their palates: let 'em them refuse,
+        For some Pye-corner muse;
+      She is too fair an hostess, 'twere a sin
+          For them to like thine Inn:
+        'Twas made to entertain
+        Guests of a nobler strain;
+    Yet, if they will have any of the store,
+    Give them some scraps, and send them from thy dore.
+
+                      IV.
+
+          And let those things in plush
+          Till they be taught to blush,
+      Like what they will, and more contented be
+        With what Broome[107] swept from thee.
+      I know thy worth, and that thy lofty strains
+          Write not to cloaths, but brains:
+        But thy great spleen doth rise,
+        'Cause moles will have no eyes;
+    This only in my Ben I faulty find,
+    He's angry they'll not see him that are blind.
+
+                      V.
+
+          Why shou'd the scene be mute
+          'Cause thou canst touch the lute
+      And string thy Horace! Let each Muse of nine
+        Claim thee, and say, th'art mine.
+      'Twere fond, to let all other flames expire,
+          To sit by Pindar's fire:
+        For by so strange neglect
+        I should myself suspect
+    Thy palsie were as well thy brain's disease,
+    If they could shake thy muse which way they please.
+
+                     VI.
+
+          And tho' thou well canst sing
+          The glories of thy King,
+      And on the wings of verse his chariot bear
+        To heaven, and fix it there;
+      Yet let thy muse as well some raptures raise
+          To please him, as to praise.
+        I would not have thee chuse
+        Only a treble muse;
+    But have this envious, ignorant age to know,
+    Thou that canst sing so high, canst reach as low.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 102: This play, Langbaine says, is written by Shakspeare.]
+
+[Footnote 103: He had the palsy at that time.]
+
+[Footnote 104: The names of several of Jonson's dramatis personæ.]
+
+[Footnote 105: New Inn, Act iii. Scene 2.--Act iv. Scene 4.]
+
+[Footnote 106: This break was purposely designed by the poet, to expose
+that singular one in Ben's third stanza.]
+
+[Footnote 107: His man, Richard Broome, wrote with success several
+comedies. He had been the amanuensis or attendant of Jonson. The epigram
+made against Pope for the assistance W. Broome gave him appears to have
+been borrowed from this pun. Johnson has inserted it in "Broome's
+Life."]
+
+
+
+
+ARIOSTO AND TASSO.
+
+
+It surprises one to find among the literary Italians the merits of
+Ariosto most keenly disputed: slaves to classical authority, they bend
+down to the majestic regularity of Tasso. Yet the father of Tasso,
+before his son had rivalled the romantic Ariosto, describes in a letter
+the effect of the "Orlando" on the people:--"There is no man of
+learning, no mechanic, no lad, no girl, no old man, who is satisfied to
+read the 'Orlando Furioso' once. This poem serves as the solace of the
+traveller, who fatigued on his journey deceives his lassitude by
+chanting some octaves of this poem. You may hear them sing these stanzas
+in the streets and in the fields every day." One would have expected
+that Ariosto would have been the favourite of the people, and Tasso of
+the critics. But in Venice the gondoliers, and others, sing passages
+which are generally taken from Tasso, and rarely from Ariosto. A
+different fate, I imagined, would have attended the poet who has been
+distinguished by the epithet of "_The Divine_." I have been told by an
+Italian man of letters, that this circumstance arose from the relation
+which Tasso's poem bears to Turkish affairs; as many of the common
+people have passed into Turkey either by chance or by war. Besides, the
+long antipathy existing between the Venetians and the Turks gave
+additional force to the patriotic poetry of Tasso. We cannot boast of
+any similar poems. Thus it was that the people of Greece and Ionia sang
+the poems of Homer.
+
+The Accademia della Crusca gave a public preference to Ariosto. This
+irritated certain critics, and none more than Chapelain, who could
+_taste_ the regularity of Tasso, but not _feel_ the "brave disorder" of
+Ariosto. He could not approve of those writers,
+
+    Who snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.
+
+"I thank you," he writes, "for the sonnet which your indignation
+dictated, at the Academy's preference of Ariosto to Tasso. This judgment
+is overthrown by the confessions of many of the _Cruscanti_, my
+associates. It would be tedious to enter into its discussion; but it was
+passion and not equity that prompted that decision. We confess, that, as
+to what concerns invention and purity of language, Ariosto has eminently
+the advantage over Tasso; but majesty, pomp, numbers, and a style truly
+sublime, united to regularity of design, raise the latter so much above
+the other that no comparison can fairly exist."
+
+The decision of Chapelain is not unjust; though I did not know that
+Ariosto's language was purer than Tasso's.
+
+Dr. Cocchi, the great Italian critic, compared "Ariosto's poem to the
+richer kind of harlequin's habit, made up of pieces of the very best
+silk, and of the liveliest colours. The parts of it are, many of them,
+_more beautiful_ than in Tasso's poem, but the whole in Tasso is without
+comparison more of a piece and better made." The critic was extricating
+himself as safely as he could out of this critical dilemma; for the
+disputes were then so violent, that I think one of the disputants took
+to his bed, and was said to have died of Ariosto and Tasso.
+
+It is the conceit of an Italian to give the name of _April_ to
+_Ariosto_, because it is the season of _flowers_; and that of
+_September_ to _Tasso_, which is that of _fruits_. Tiraboschi
+judiciously observes that no comparison ought to be made between these
+great rivals. It is comparing "Ovid's Metamorphoses" with "Virgil's
+Æneid;" they are quite different things. In his characters of the two
+poets, he distinguishes between a romantic poem and a regular epic.
+Their designs required distinct perfections. But an English reader is
+not enabled by the wretched versions of Hoole to echo the verse of La
+Fontaine, "JE CHERIS L'Arioste et J'ESTIME le Tasse."
+
+Boileau, some time before his death, was asked by a critic if he had
+repented of his celebrated decision concerning the merits of Tasso,
+which some Italians had compared with those of Virgil? Boileau had
+hurled his bolts at these violators of classical majesty. It is supposed
+that he was ignorant of the Italian language, but some expressions in
+his answer may induce us to think that he was not.
+
+"I have so little changed my opinion, that, on a _re-perusal_ lately of
+Tasso, I was sorry that I had not more amply explained myself on this
+subject in some of my reflections on 'Longinus.' I should have begun by
+acknowledging that Tasso had a sublime genius, of great compass, with
+happy dispositions for the higher poetry. But when I came to the use he
+made of his talents, I should have shown that judicious discernment
+rarely prevailed in his works. That in the greater portion of his
+narrations he attached himself to the agreeable, oftener than to the
+just. That his descriptions are almost always overcharged with
+superfluous ornaments. That in painting the strongest passions, and in
+the midst of the agitations they excite, frequently he degenerates into
+witticisms, which abruptly destroy the pathetic. That he abounds with
+images of too florid a kind; affected turns; conceits and frivolous
+thoughts; which, far from being adapted to his Jerusalem, could hardly
+be supportable in his 'Aminta.' So that all this, opposed to the
+gravity, the sobriety, the majesty of Virgil, what is it but tinsel
+compared with gold?"
+
+The merits of Tasso seem here precisely discriminated; and this
+criticism must be valuable to the lovers of poetry. The errors of Tasso
+were national.
+
+In Venice the gondoliers know by heart long passages from Ariosto and
+Tasso, and often chant them with a peculiar melody. Goldoni, in his
+life, notices the gondolier returning with him to the city: "He turned
+the prow of the gondola towards the city, singing all the way the
+twenty-sixth stanza of the sixteenth canto of the Jerusalem Delivered."
+The late Mr. Barry once chanted to me a passage of Tasso in the manner
+of the gondoliers; and I have listened to such from one who in his youth
+had himself been a gondolier. An anonymous gentleman has greatly obliged
+me with his account of the recitation of these poets by the gondoliers
+of Venice.
+
+There are always two concerned, who alternately sing the strophes. We
+know the melody eventually by Rousseau, to whose songs it is printed; it
+has properly no melodious movement, and is a sort of medium between the
+canto fermo and the canto figurato; it approaches to the former by
+recitativical declamation, and to the latter by passages and course, by
+which one syllable is detained and embellished.
+
+I entered a gondola by moonlight: one singer placed himself forwards,
+and the other aft, and thus proceeded to Saint Giorgio. One began the
+song: when he had ended his strophe the other took up the lay, and so
+continued the song alternately. Throughout the whole of it, the same
+notes invariably returned; but, according to the subject matter of the
+strophe, they laid a greater or a smaller stress, sometimes on one, and
+sometimes on another note, and indeed changed the enunciation of the
+whole strophe, as the object of the poem altered.
+
+On the whole, however, their sounds were hoarse and screaming: they
+seemed, in the manner of all rude uncivilised men, to make the
+excellency of their singing consist in the force of their voice: one
+seemed desirous of conquering the other by the strength of his lungs,
+and so far from receiving delight from this scene (shut up as I was in
+the box of the gondola), I found myself in a very unpleasant situation.
+
+My companion, to whom I communicated this circumstance, being very
+desirous to keep up the credit of his countrymen, assured me that this
+singing was very delightful when heard at a distance. Accordingly we got
+out upon the shore, leaving one of the singers in the gondola, while the
+other went to the distance of some hundred paces. They now began to sing
+against one another; and I kept walking up and down between them both,
+so as always to leave him who was to begin his part. I frequently stood
+still, and hearkened to the one and to the other.
+
+Here the scene was properly introduced. The strong declamatory, and, as
+it were, shrieking sound, met the ear from far, and called forth the
+attention; the quickly succeeding transitions, which necessarily
+required to be sung in a lower tone, seemed like plaintive strains
+succeeding the vociferations of emotion or of pain. The other, who
+listened attentively, immediately began where the former left off,
+answering him in milder or more vehement notes, according as the purport
+of the strophe required. The sleepy canals, the lofty buildings, the
+splendour of the moon, the deep shadows of the few gondolas that moved
+like spirits hither and thither, increased the striking peculiarity of
+the scene, and amidst all these circumstances it was easy to confess the
+character of this wonderful harmony.
+
+It suits perfectly well with an idle solitary mariner, lying at length
+in his vessel at rest on one of these canals, waiting for his company or
+for a fare; the tiresomeness of which situation is somewhat alleviated
+by the songs and poetical stories he has in memory. He often raises his
+voice as loud as he can, which extends itself to a vast distance over
+the tranquil mirror; and, as all is still around, he is as it were in a
+solitude in the midst of a large and populous town. Here is no rattling
+of carriages, no noise of foot passengers; a silent gondola glides now
+and then by him, of which the splashing of the oars is scarcely to be
+heard.
+
+At a distance he hears another, perhaps utterly unknown to him. Melody
+and verse immediately attach the two strangers; he becomes the
+responsive echo to the former, and exerts himself to be heard as he had
+heard the other. By a tacit convention they alternate verse for verse;
+though the song should last the whole night through, they entertain,
+themselves without fatigue; the hearers, who are passing between the
+two, take part in the amusement.
+
+This vocal performance sounds best at a great distance, and is then
+inexpressibly charming, as it only fulfils its design in the sentiment
+of remoteness. It is plaintive, but not dismal in its sound; and at
+times it is scarcely possible to refrain from tears. My companion, who
+otherwise was not a very delicately organised person, said quite
+unexpectedly, "E singolare come quel canto intenerisce, e molto più
+quando la cantano meglio."
+
+I was told that the women of Lido, the long row of islands that divides
+the Adriatic from the Lagouns, particularly the women of the extreme
+districts of Malamocca and Palestrina, sing in like manner the works of
+Tasso to these and similar tunes.
+
+They have the custom, when their husbands are fishing out at sea, to sit
+along the shore in the evenings and vociferate these songs, and continue
+to do so with great violence, till each of them can distinguish the
+responses of her own husband at a distance.
+
+How much more delightful and more appropriate does this song show itself
+here, than the call of a solitary person uttered far and wide, till
+another equally disposed shall hear and answer him! It is the expression
+of a vehement and hearty longing, which yet is every moment nearer to
+the happiness of satisfaction.
+
+Lord Byron has told us that with the independence of Venice the song of
+the gondolier has died away--
+
+    In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more.
+
+If this be not more poetical than true, it must have occurred at a
+moment when their last political change may have occasioned this silence
+on the waters. My servant _Tita_, who was formerly the servant of his
+lordship, and whose name has been immortalised in the "Italy" of Mr.
+Rogers, was himself a gondolier. He assures me that every night on the
+river the chant may be heard. Many who cannot even read have acquired
+the whole of Tasso, and some chant the stanzas of Ariosto. It is a sort
+of poetical challenge, and he who cannot take up the subject by
+continuing it is held as vanquished, and which occasions him no slight
+vexation. In a note in Lord Byron's works, this article is quoted by
+mistake as written by me, though I had mentioned it as the contribution
+of a stranger. We find by that note that there are two kinds of Tasso;
+the original, and another called the "_Canta alla Barcarola_," a
+spurious Tasso in the Venetian dialect: this latter, however, is rarely
+used. In the same note, a printer's error has been perpetuated through
+all the editions of Byron; the name of _Barry_, the painter, has been
+printed _Berry_.
+
+
+
+
+BAYLE.
+
+
+Few philosophers were more deserving of the title than, Bayle. His last
+hour exhibits the Socratic intrepidity with which he encountered the
+formidable approach of death. I have seen the original letter of the
+bookseller Leers, where he describes the death of our philosopher. "On
+the evening preceding his decease, having studied all day, he gave my
+corrector some copy of his 'Answer to Jacquelot,' and told him that he
+was very ill. At nine in the morning his laundress entered his chamber;
+he asked her, with a dying voice, if his fire was kindled? and a few
+moments after he died." His disease was an hereditary consumption, and
+his decline must have been gradual; speaking had become with him a great
+pain, but he laboured with the same tranquillity of mind to his last
+hour; and, with Bayle, it was death alone which, could interrupt the
+printer.
+
+The irritability of genius is forcibly characterised by this
+circumstance in his literary life. When a close friendship had united
+him to Jurieu, he lavished on him the most flattering eulogiums: he is
+the hero of his "Republic of Letters." Enmity succeeded to friendship;
+Jurieu is then continually quoted in his "Critical Dictionary," whenever
+an occasion offers to give instances of gross blunders, palpable
+contradictions, and inconclusive arguments. These inconsistent opinions
+may be sanctioned by the similar conduct of a _Saint_! St. Jerome
+praised Rufinus as the most learned man of his age, while his friend;
+but when the same Rufinus joined his adversary Origen, he called him one
+of the most ignorant!
+
+As a logician Bayle had no superior; the best logician will, however,
+frequently deceive himself. Bayle made long and close arguments to show
+that La Motte le Vayer never could have been a preceptor to the king;
+but all his reasonings are overturned by the fact being given in the
+"History of the Academy," by Pelisson.
+
+Basnage said of Bayle, that _he read much by his fingers_. He meant that
+he ran over a book more than he read it; and that he had the art of
+always falling upon that which was most essential and curious in the
+book he examined.
+
+There are heavy hours in which the mind of a man of letters is unhinged;
+when the intellectual faculties lose all their elasticity, and when
+nothing but the simplest actions are adapted to their enfeebled state.
+At such hours it is recorded of the Jewish Socrates, Moses Mendelssohn,
+that he would stand at his window, and count the tiles of his
+neighbour's house. An anonymous writer has told of Bayle, that he would
+frequently wrap himself in his cloak, and hasten to places where
+mountebanks resorted; and that this was one of his chief amusements. He
+is surprised that so great a philosopher should delight in so trifling
+an object. This objection is not injurious to the character of Bayle;
+it only proves that the writer himself was no philosopher.
+
+The "Monthly Reviewer," in noticing this article, has continued the
+speculation by giving two interesting anecdotes. "The observation
+concerning 'heavy hours,' and the want of elasticity in the intellectual
+faculties of men of letters, when the mind is fatigued and the attention
+blunted by incessant labour, reminds us of what is related by persons
+who were acquainted with the late sagacious magistrate Sir John
+Fielding; who, when fatigued with attending to complicated cases, and
+perplexed with discordant depositions, used to retire to a little closet
+in a remote and tranquil part of the house, to rest his mental powers
+and sharpen perception. He told a great physician, now living, who
+complained of the distance of places, as caused by the great extension
+of London, that 'he (the physician) would not have been able to visit
+many patients to any purpose, if they had resided nearer to each other;
+as he could have had no time either to think or to rest his mind.'"
+
+Our excellent logician was little accustomed to a mixed society: his
+life was passed in study. He had such an infantine simplicity in his
+nature, that he would speak on anatomical subjects before the ladies
+with as much freedom as before surgeons. When they inclined their eyes
+to the ground, and while some even blushed, he would then inquire if
+what he spoke was indecent; and, when told so, he smiled, and stopped.
+His habits of life were, however, extremely pure; he probably left
+himself little leisure "_to fall into temptation_."
+
+Bayle knew nothing of geometry; and, as Le Clerc informs us,
+acknowledged that he could never comprehend the demonstration of the
+first problem in Euclid. Le Clerc, however, was a rival to Bayle; with
+greater industry and more accurate learning, but with very inferior
+powers of reasoning and philosophy. Both of these great scholars, like
+our Locke, were destitute of fine taste and poetical discernment.
+
+When Fagon, an eminent physician, was consulted on the illness of our
+student, he only prescribed a particular regimen, without the use of
+medicine. He closed his consultation by a compliment remarkable for its
+felicity. "I ardently wish one could spare this great man all this
+constraint, and that it were possible to find a remedy as singular as
+the merit of him for whom it is asked."
+
+Voltaire has said that Bayle confessed he would not have made his
+Dictionary exceed a folio volume, had he written only for himself, and
+not for the booksellers. This Dictionary, with all its human faults, is
+a stupendous work, which must last with literature itself. I take an
+enlarged view of BAYLE and his DICTIONARY, in a subsequent article.
+
+
+
+
+CERVANTES.
+
+
+M. Du Boulay accompanied the French ambassador to Spain, when Cervantes
+was yet living. He told Segrais that the ambassador one day complimented
+Cervantes on the great reputation he had acquired by his Don Quixote;
+and that Cervantes whispered in his ear, "Had it not been for the
+Inquisition, I should have made my book much more entertaining."
+
+Cervantes, at the battle of Lepanto, was wounded, and enslaved. He has
+given his own history in Don Quixote, as indeed every great writer of
+fictitious narratives has usually done. Cervantes was known at the court
+of Spain, but he did not receive those favours which might have been
+expected; he was neglected. His first volume is the finest; and his
+design was to have finished there: but he could not resist the
+importunities of his friends, who engaged him to make a second, which
+has not the same force, although it has many splendid passages.
+
+We have lost many good things of Cervantes, and other writers, through
+the tribunal of religion and dulness. One Aonius Palearius was sensible
+of this; and said, "that the Inquisition was a poniard aimed at the
+throat of literature." The image is striking, and the observation just;
+but this victim of genius was soon led to the stake!
+
+
+
+
+MAGLIABECHI.
+
+
+Anthony Magliabechi, who died at the age of eighty, was celebrated for
+his great knowledge of books. He has been called the _Helluo_, or the
+Glutton of Literature, as Peter _Comestor_ received his nickname from
+his amazing voracity for food he could never digest; which appeared when
+having fallen sick of so much false learning, he threw it all up in his
+"_Sea of Histories_," which proved to be the history of all things, and
+a bad history of everything. Magliabechi's character is singular; for
+though his life was wholly passed in libraries, being librarian to the
+Duke of Tuscany, he never _wrote_ himself. There is a medal which
+represents him sitting, with a book in one hand, and a great number of
+books scattered on the ground. The candid inscription signifies, that
+"it is not sufficient to become learned to have read much, if we read
+without reflection." This is the only remains we have of his own
+composition that can be of service to posterity. A simple truth, which
+may, however, be inscribed in the study of every man of letters.
+
+His habits of life were uniform. Ever among his books, he troubled
+himself with no other concern whatever; and the only interest he
+appeared to take for any living thing was his spiders. While sitting
+among his literary piles, he affected great sympathy for these weavers
+of webs, and perhaps in contempt of those whose curiosity appeared
+impertinent, he frequently cried out, "to take care not to hurt his
+spiders!" Although he lost no time in writing himself, he gave
+considerable assistance to authors who consulted him. He was himself an
+universal index to all authors; the late literary antiquary, Isaac Reed,
+resembled him.[108] He had one book, among many others, dedicated to
+him, and this dedication consisted of a collection of titles of works
+which he had had at different times dedicated to him, with all the
+eulogiums addressed to him in prose and verse. When he died, he left his
+vast collection for the public use; they now compose the public library
+of Florence.
+
+Heyman, a celebrated Dutch professor, visited this erudite librarian,
+who was considered as the ornament of Florence. He found him amongst his
+books, of which the number was prodigious. Two or three rooms in the
+first story were crowded with them, not only along their sides, but
+piled in heaps on the floor; so that it was difficult to sit, and more
+so to walk. A narrow space was contrived, indeed, so that by walking
+sideways you might extricate yourself from one room to another. This was
+not all; the passage below stairs was full of books, and the staircase
+from the top to the bottom was lined with them. When you reached the
+second story, you saw with astonishment three rooms, similar to those
+below, equally so crowded, that two good beds in these chambers were
+also crammed with books.
+
+This apparent confusion did not, however, hinder Magliabechi from
+immediately finding the books he wanted. He knew them all so well, that
+even to the least of them it was sufficient to see its outside, to say
+what it was; he knew his flock, as shepherds are said, by their faces;
+and indeed he read them day and night, and never lost sight of any.[109]
+He ate on his books, he slept on his books, and quitted them as rarely
+as possible. During his whole life he only went twice from Florence;
+once to see Fiesoli, which is not above two leagues distant, and once
+ten miles further by order of the Grand Duke. Nothing could be more
+simple than his mode of life; a few eggs, a little bread, and some
+water, were his ordinary food. A drawer of his desk being open, Mr.
+Heyman saw there several eggs, and some money which Magliabechi had
+placed there for his daily use. But as this drawer was generally open,
+it frequently happened that the servants of his friends, or strangers
+who came to see him, pilfered some of these things; the money or the
+eggs.
+
+His dress was as cynical as his repasts. A black doublet, which
+descended to his knees; large and long breeches; an old patched black
+cloak; an amorphous hat, very much worn, and the edges ragged; a large
+neckcloth of coarse cloth, begrimed with snuff; a dirty shirt, which he
+always wore as long as it lasted, and which the broken elbows of his
+doublet did not conceal; and, to finish this inventory, a pair of
+ruffles which did not belong to the shirt. Such was the brilliant dress
+of our learned Florentine; and in such did he appear in the public
+streets, as well as in his own house. Let me not forget another
+circumstance; to warm his hands, he generally had a stove with fire
+fastened to his arms, so that his clothes were generally singed and
+burnt, and his hands scorched. He had nothing otherwise remarkable about
+him. To literary men he was extremely affable, and a cynic only to the
+eye; anecdotes almost incredible are related of his memory. It is
+somewhat uncommon that as he was so fond of literary _food_, he did not
+occasionally dress some dishes of his own invention, or at least some
+sandwiches to his own relish. He indeed should have written CURIOSITIES
+OF LITERATURE. He was a living Cyclopaedia, though a dark lantern.[110]
+
+Of such reading men, Hobbes entertained a very contemptible, if not a
+rash opinion. His own reading was inconsiderable; and he used to say,
+that if he had spent as much time in _reading_ as other men of learning,
+he should have been as _ignorant_ as they. He put little value on a
+_large library_, for he considered all _books_ to be merely _extracts_
+and _copies_, for that most authors were like sheep, never deviating
+from the beaten path. History he treated lightly, and thought there were
+more lies than truths in it. But let us recollect after all this, that
+Hobbes was a mere metaphysician, idolising his own vain and empty
+hypotheses. It is true enough that weak heads carrying in them too much
+reading may be staggered. Le Clerc observes of two learned men, De
+Marcilly and Barthius, that they would have composed more useful works
+had they _read_ less numerous authors, and digested the better writers.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 108: He was remarkable for his memory of all that he read, not
+only the matter but the form, the contents of each page and the peculiar
+spelling of every word. It is said he was once tested by the pretended
+destruction of a manuscript, which he reproduced without a variation of
+word or line.]
+
+[Footnote 109: He used to lie in a sort of lounging-chair in the midst
+of his study, surrounded by heaps of dusty volumes, never allowed to be
+removed, and forming a colony for the spiders whose society he so highly
+valued.]
+
+
+
+
+ABRIDGERS.
+
+
+Abridgers are a kind of literary men to whom the indolence of modern
+readers, and indeed the multiplicity of authors, give ample employment.
+
+It would be difficult, observed the learned Benedictines, the authors of
+the Literary History of France, to relate all the unhappy consequences
+which ignorance introduced, and the causes which produced that
+ignorance. But we must not forget to place in this number the mode of
+reducing, by way of abridgment, what the ancients had written in bulky
+volumes. Examples of this practice may be observed in preceding
+centuries, but in the fifth century it began to be in general use. As
+the number of students and readers diminished, authors neglected
+literature, and were disgusted with composition; for to write is seldom
+done, but when the writer entertains the hope of finding readers.
+Instead of original authors, there suddenly arose numbers of Abridgers.
+These men, amidst the prevailing disgust for literature, imagined they
+should gratify the public by introducing a mode of reading works in a
+few hours, which otherwise could not be done in many months; and,
+observing that the bulky volumes of the ancients lay buried in dust,
+without any one condescending to examine them, necessity inspired them
+with an invention that might bring those works and themselves into
+public notice, by the care they took of renovating them. This they
+imagined to effect by forming abridgments of these ponderous tomes.
+
+All these Abridgers, however, did not follow the same mode. Some
+contented themselves with making a mere abridgment of their authors, by
+employing their own expressions, or by inconsiderable alterations.
+Others formed abridgments in drawing them from various authors, but from
+whose works they only took what appeared to them most worthy of
+observation, and embellished them in their own style. Others again,
+having before them several authors who wrote on the same subject, took
+passages from each, united them, and thus combined a new work; they
+executed their design by digesting in commonplaces, and under various
+titles, the most valuable parts they could collect, from the best
+authors they read. To these last ingenious scholars we owe the rescue of
+many valuable fragments of antiquity. They fortunately preserved the
+best maxims, characters, descriptions, and curious matters which they
+had found interesting in their studies.
+
+Some learned men have censured these Abridgers as the cause of our
+having lost so many excellent entire works of the ancients; for
+posterity becoming less studious was satisfied with these extracts, and
+neglected to preserve the originals, whose voluminous size was less
+attractive. Others, on the contrary, say that these Abridgers have not
+been so prejudicial to literature; and that had it not been for their
+care, which snatched many a perishable fragment from that shipwreck of
+letters which the barbarians occasioned, we should perhaps have had no
+works of the ancients remaining. Many voluminous works have been greatly
+improved by their Abridgers. The vast history of Trogus Pompeius was
+soon forgotten and finally perished, after the excellent epitome of it
+by Justin, who winnowed the abundant chaff from the grain.
+
+Bayle gives very excellent advice to an Abridger, Xiphilin, in his
+"Abridgment of Dion," takes no notice of a circumstance very material
+for entering into the character of Domitian:--the recalling the empress
+Domitia after having turned her away for her intrigues with a player. By
+omitting this fact in the abridgment, and which is discovered through
+Suetonius, Xiphilin has evinced, he says, a deficient judgment; for
+Domitian's ill qualities are much better exposed, when it is known that
+he was mean-spirited enough to restore to the dignity of Empress the
+prostitute of a player.
+
+Abridgers, Compilers, and Translators, are now slightly regarded; yet to
+form their works with skill requires an exertion of judgment, and
+frequently of taste, of which their contemners appear to have no due
+conception. Such literary labours it is thought the learned will not be
+found to want; and the unlearned cannot discern the value. But to such
+Abridgers as Monsieur Le Grand, in his "Tales of the Minstrels," and Mr.
+Ellis, in his "English Metrical Romances," we owe much; and such writers
+must bring to their task a congeniality of genius, and even more taste
+than their original possessed. I must compare such to fine etchers after
+great masters:--very few give the feeling touches in the right place.
+
+It is an uncommon circumstance to quote the Scriptures on subjects of
+_modern literature_! but on the present topic the elegant writer of the
+books of the Maccabees has delivered, in a kind of preface to that
+history, very pleasing and useful instructions to an _Abridger_. I shall
+transcribe the passages, being concise, from Book ii. Chap. ii. v. 23,
+that the reader may have them at hand:--
+
+"All these things, I say, being declared by Jason of Cyrene, in _five
+books_, we will assay to _abridge_ in one volume. We will be careful
+that they that will read may have _delight_, and that they that are
+desirous to commit to memory might have _ease_, and that all into whose
+hands it comes might have _profit_." How concise and Horatian! He then
+describes his literary labours with no insensibility:--"To us that have
+taken upon us this painful labour of _abridging_, it was not easy, but a
+matter of _sweat_ and _watching_."--And the writer employs an elegant
+illustration: "Even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet,
+and seeketh the benefit of others; yet for the pleasuring of many, we
+will undertake gladly this great pain; leaving to the author the exact
+handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the _rules of an
+abridgment_." He now embellishes his critical account with a sublime
+metaphor to distinguish the original from the copier:--"For as the
+master builder of a new house must care for the whole building; but he
+that undertaketh to set it out, and paint it, must seek out fit things
+for the adorning thereof; even so I think it is with us. To stand upon
+_every point_, and _go over things at large_, and to be _curious_ in
+_particulars_, belonging to the _first author_ of the story; but to use
+_brevity_, and avoid _much labouring_ of the work, is to be granted to
+him that will make an Abridgment."
+
+Quintilian has not a passage more elegantly composed, nor more
+judiciously conceived.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 110: His comparatively useless life was quietly satirized by
+the Rev. Mr. Spence, in "a parallel after the manner of Plutarch,"
+between Magliabechi and Hill, a self-taught tailor of Buckinghamshire.
+It is published in Dodsley's _Fugitive Pieces_, 2 vols., 12mo, 1774.]
+
+
+
+
+PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY.
+
+
+Among the most singular characters in literature may be ranked those who
+do not blush to profess publicly its most dishonourable practices. The
+first vender of printed sermons imitating manuscript, was, I think, Dr.
+Trusler. He to whom the following anecdotes relate had superior
+ingenuity. Like the famous orator, Henley, he formed a school of his
+own. The present lecturer openly taught not to _imitate_ the best
+authors, but to _steal_ from them!
+
+Richesource, a miserable declaimer, called himself "Moderator of the
+Academy of Philosophical Orators." He taught how a person destitute of
+literary talents might become eminent for literature; and published the
+principles of his art under the title of "The Mask of Orators; or the
+manner of disguising all kinds of composition; briefs, sermons,
+panegyrics, funeral orations, dedications, speeches, letters, passages,"
+&c. I will give a notion of the work:--
+
+The author very truly observes, that all who apply themselves to polite
+literature do not always find from their own funds a sufficient supply
+to insure success. For such he labours; and teaches to gather, in the
+gardens of others, those fruits of which their own sterile grounds are
+destitute; but so artfully to gather, that the public shall not perceive
+their depredations. He dignifies this fine art by the title of
+PLAGIANISM, and thus explains it:--
+
+"The Plagianism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode,
+which some adroitly employ, to change, or disguise, all sorts of
+speeches of their own composition, or that of other authors, for their
+pleasure or their utility; in such a manner that it becomes impossible,
+even for the author himself to recognise his own work, his own genius,
+and his own style, so skilfully shall the whole be disguised."
+
+Our professor proceeds to reveal the manner of managing the whole
+economy of the piece which is to be copied or disguised; and which
+consists in giving a new order to the parts, changing the phrases, the
+words, &c. An orator, for instance, having said that a plenipotentiary
+should possess three qualities,--_probity_, _capacity_, and _courage_;
+the plagiarist, on the contrary, may employ, _courage_, _capacity_, and
+_probity_. This is only for a general rule, for it is too simple to
+practise frequently. To render the part perfect we must make it more
+complex, by changing the whole of the expressions. The plagiarist in
+place of _courage_, will put _force_, _constancy_, or _vigour_. For
+_probity_ he may say _religion_, _virtue_, or _sincerity_. Instead of
+_capacity_, he may substitute _erudition_, _ability_, or _science_. Or
+he may disguise the whole by saying, that the _plenipotentiary should be
+firm, virtuous_, and _able_.
+
+The rest of this uncommon work is composed of passages extracted from
+celebrated writers, which are turned into the new manner of the
+plagiarist; their beauties, however, are never improved by their dress.
+Several celebrated writers when young, particularly the famous Flechier,
+who addressed verses to him, frequented the lectures of this professor!
+
+Richesource became so zealous in this course of literature, that he
+published a volume, entitled, "The Art of Writing and Speaking; or, a
+Method of composing all sorts of Letters, and holding a polite
+Conversation." He concludes his preface by advertising his readers, that
+authors who may be in want of essays, sermons, letters of all kinds,
+written pleadings and verses, may be accommodated on application to him.
+
+Our professor was extremely fond of copious title-pages, which I suppose
+to be very attractive to certain readers; for it is a custom which the
+Richesources of the day fail not to employ. Are there persons who value
+_books_ by the length of their titles, as formerly the ability of a
+physician was judged by the dimensions of his wig?
+
+To this article may be added an account of another singular school,
+where the professor taught _obscurity_ in literary composition!
+
+I do not believe that those who are unintelligible are very
+intelligent. Quintilian has justly observed, that the obscurity of a
+writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity. However, as there
+is hardly a defect which does not find partisans, the same author
+informs us of a rhetorician, who was so great an admirer of obscurity,
+that he always exhorted his scholars to preserve it; and made them
+correct, as blemishes, those passages of their works which appeared to
+him too intelligible. Quintilian adds, that the greatest panegyric they
+could give to a composition in that school was to declare, "I understand
+nothing of this piece." Lycophron possessed this taste, and he protested
+that he would hang himself if he found a person who should understand
+his poem, called the "Prophecy of Cassandra." He succeeded so well, that
+this piece has been the stumbling-block of all the grammarians,
+scholiasts, and commentators; and remains inexplicable to the present
+day. Such works Charpentier admirably compares to those subterraneous
+places, where the air is so thick and suffocating, that it extinguishes
+all torches. A most sophistical dilemma, on the subject of _obscurity_,
+was made by Thomas Anglus, or White, an English Catholic priest, the
+friend of Sir Kenelm Digby. This learned man frequently wandered in the
+mazes of metaphysical subtilties; and became perfectly unintelligible to
+his readers. When accused of this obscurity, he replied, "Either the
+learned understand me, or they do not. If they understand me, and find
+me in an error, it is easy for them to refute me; if they do not
+understand me, it is very unreasonable for them to exclaim against my
+doctrines."
+
+This is saying all that the wit of man can suggest in favour of
+_obscurity_! Many, however, will agree with an observation made by
+Gravina on the over-refinement of modern composition, that "we do not
+think we have attained genius, till others must possess as much
+themselves to understand us." Fontenelle, in France, followed by
+Marivaux, Thomas, and others, first introduced that subtilised manner of
+writing, which tastes more natural and simple reject; one source of such
+bitter complaints of obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY DUTCH.
+
+
+Pere Bohours seriously asks if a German _can be a_ BEL ESPRIT? This
+concise query was answered by Kramer, in a ponderous volume which bears
+for title, _Vindiciæ nominis Germanici_. This mode of refutation does
+not prove that the question was _then_ so ridiculous as it was
+considered. The Germans of the present day, although greatly superior to
+their ancestors, there are who opine are still distant from the _acmé_
+of TASTE, which characterises the finished compositions of the French
+and the English authors. Nations display _genius_ before they form
+_taste_.
+
+It was the mode with English and French writers to dishonour the Germans
+with the epithets of heavy, dull, and phlegmatic compilers, without
+taste, spirit, or genius; genuine descendants of the ancient Boeotians,
+
+    Crassoque sub æëre nati.
+
+Many imaginative and many philosophical performances have lately shown
+that this censure has now become unjust; and much more forcibly answers
+the sarcastic question of Bohours than the thick quarto of Kramer.
+
+Churchill finely says of genius that it is independent of situation,
+
+    And may hereafter even in HOLLAND rise.
+
+Vondel, whom, as Marchand observes, the Dutch regard as their Æschylus,
+Sophocles, and Euripides, had a strange defective taste; the poet
+himself knew none of these originals, but he wrote on patriotic
+subjects, the sure way to obtain popularity; many of his tragedies are
+also drawn from the Scriptures; all badly chosen and unhappily executed.
+In his _Deliverance of the Children of Israel_, one of his principal
+characters is the _Divinity_! In his _Jerusalem Destroyed_ we are
+disgusted with a tedious oration by the angel Gabriel, who proves
+theologically, and his proofs extend through nine closely printed pages
+in quarto, that this destruction has been predicted by the prophets;
+and, in the _Lucifer_ of the same author, the subject is grossly
+scandalised by this haughty spirit becoming stupidly in love with Eve,
+and it is for her he causes the rebellion of the evil angels, and the
+fall of our first parents. Poor Vondel kept a hosier's shop, which he
+left to the care of his wife, while he indulged his poetical genius.
+His stocking-shop failed, and his poems produced him more chagrin than
+glory; for in Holland, even a patriotic poet, if a bankrupt, would, no
+doubt, be accounted by his fellow-citizens as a madman. Vondel had no
+other master but his genius, which, with his uncongenial situation,
+occasioned all his errors.
+
+Another Dutch poet is even less tolerable. Having written a long
+rhapsody concerning Pyramus and Thisbe, he concludes it by a ridiculous
+parallel between the death of these unfortunate victims of love, and the
+passion of Jesus Christ. He says:--
+
+    Om t'concluderem van onsen begrypt,
+    Dees Historie moraliserende,
+    Is in den verstande wel accorderende,
+    By der Passie van Christus gebenedyt.
+
+And upon this, after having turned Pyramus into the Son of God, and
+Thisbe into the Christian soul, he proceeds with a number of
+comparisons; the latter always more impertinent than the former.
+
+I believe it is well known that the actors on the Dutch theatre are
+generally tradesmen, who quit their aprons at the hour of public
+representation. This was the fact when I was in Holland more than forty
+years ago. Their comedies are offensive by the grossness of their
+buffooneries. One of their comic incidents was a miller appearing in
+distress for want of wind to turn his mill; he had recourse to the novel
+scheme of placing his back against it, and by certain imitative sounds
+behind the scenes the mill is soon set a-going. It is hard to rival such
+a depravity of taste.
+
+I saw two of their most celebrated tragedies. The one was Gysbert Van
+Amstel, by Vondel; that is Gysbrecht of Amsterdam, a warrior, who in the
+civil wars preserved this city by his heroism. It is a patriotic
+historical play, and never fails to crowd the theatre towards Christmas,
+when it is usually performed successively. One of the acts concludes
+with the scene of a convent; the sound of warlike instruments is heard;
+the abbey is stormed; the nuns and fathers are slaughtered; with the aid
+of "blunderbuss and thunder," every Dutchman appears sensible of the
+pathos of the poet. But it does not here conclude. After this terrible
+slaughter, the conquerors and the vanquished remain for _ten minutes_ on
+the stage, silent and motionless, in the attitudes in which the groups
+happened to fall! and this pantomimic pathos commands loud bursts of
+applause.[111]
+
+The other was the Ahasuerus of Schubart, or the Fall of Haman. In the
+triumphal entry the Batavian Mordecai was mounted on a genuine Flanders
+mare, that, fortunately, quietly received _her_ applause with a lumpish
+majesty resembling her rider. I have seen an English ass once introduced
+on our stage which did not act with this decorum. Our late actors have
+frequently been beasts;--a Dutch taste![112]
+
+Some few specimens of the best Dutch poetry which we have had, yield no
+evidence in favour of the national poetical taste. The Dutch poet Katz
+has a poem on the "Games of Children," where all the games are
+moralised; I suspect the taste of the poet as well as his subject is
+puerile. When a nation has produced no works above mediocrity, with them
+a certain mediocrity is excellence, and their masterpieces, with a
+people who have made a greater progress in refinement, can never be
+accepted as the works of a master.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 111: The Dutch are not, however, to be entirely blamed for
+repulsive scenes on the stage. Shakspeare's Titus Andronicus, and many
+of the dramas of our Elizabethan writers, exhibit cruelties very
+repulsive to modern ideas. The French stage has occasionally exhibited
+in modern times scenes that have been afterwards condemned by the
+censors; and in Italy the "people's theatre" occasionally panders to
+popular tastes by execution scenes, where the criminal is merely taken
+off the stage; the blow struck on a wooden block, to give reality to the
+action; and the executioner re-enters flourishing a bloody axe.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Ned Shuter was the comedian who first introduced a donkey
+on the stage. Seated on the beast he delivered a prologue written on the
+occasion of his benefit. Sometimes the donkey wore a great tie-wig.
+Animals educated to play certain parts are a later invention. Horses,
+dogs, and elephants have been thus trained in the present century, and
+plays written expressly to show their proficiency.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS.
+
+
+When Crebillon, the French tragic poet, published his Catiline, it was
+attended with an honour to literature, which though it is probably
+forgotten, for it was only registered, I think, as the news of the day,
+it becomes one zealous in the cause of literature to preserve. I give
+the circumstance, the petition, and the decree.
+
+At the time Catiline was given to the public, the creditors of the poet
+had the cruelty to attach the produce of this piece, as well at the
+bookseller's, who had printed the tragedy, as at the theatre where it
+was performed. The poet, irritated at these proceedings, addressed a
+petition to the king, in which he showed "that it was a thing yet
+unknown, that it should be allowed to class amongst seizable effects the
+productions of the human mind; that if such a practice was permitted,
+those who had consecrated their vigils to the studies of literature, and
+who had made the greatest efforts to render themselves, by this means,
+useful to their country, would see themselves placed in the cruel
+predicament of not venturing to publish works, often precious and
+interesting to the state; that the greater part of those who devote
+themselves to literature require for the first wants of life those aids
+which they have a right to expect from their labours; and that it never
+has been suffered in France to seize the fees of lawyers, and other
+persons of liberal professions."
+
+In answer to this petition, a decree immediately issued from the King's
+council, commanding a replevy of the arrests and seizures of which the
+petitioner complained. This honourable decree was dated 21st of May,
+1749, and bore the following title:--"Decree of the Council of his
+Majesty, in favour of M. Crebillon, author of the tragedy of Catiline,
+which declares that the productions of the mind are not amongst seizable
+effects."
+
+Louis XV. exhibits the noble example of bestowing a mark of
+consideration to the remains of a man of letters. This King not only
+testified his esteem of Crebillon by having his works printed at the
+Louvre, but also by consecrating to his glory a tomb of marble.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICS.
+
+
+Writers who have been unsuccessful in original composition have their
+other productions immediately decried, whatever merit they might once
+have been allowed to possess. Yet this is very unjust; an author who has
+given a wrong direction to his literary powers may perceive, at length,
+where he can more securely point them. Experience is as excellent a
+mistress in the school of literature as in the school of human life.
+Blackmore's epics are insufferable; yet neither Addison nor Johnson
+erred when they considered his philosophical poem as a valuable
+composition. An indifferent poet may exert the art of criticism in a
+very high degree; and if he cannot himself produce an original work, he
+may yet be of great service in regulating the happier genius of another.
+This observation I shall illustrate by the characters of two French
+critics; the one is the Abbé d'Aubignac, and the other Chapelain.
+
+Boileau opens his Art of Poetry by a precept which though it be common
+is always important; this critical poet declares, that "It is in vain a
+daring author thinks of attaining to the height of Parnassus if he does
+not feel the secret influence of heaven, and if his natal star has not
+formed him to be a poet." This observation he founded on the character
+of our Abbé; who had excellently written on the economy of dramatic
+composition. His _Pratique du Théâtre_ gained him an extensive
+reputation. When he produced a tragedy, the world expected a finished
+piece; it was acted, and reprobated. The author, however, did not
+acutely feel its bad reception; he everywhere boasted that he, of all
+the dramatists, had most scrupulously observed the _rules_ of Aristotle.
+The Prince de Guemené, famous for his repartees, sarcastically observed,
+"I do not quarrel with the Abbé d'Aubignac for having so closely
+followed the precepts of Aristotle; but I cannot pardon the precepts of
+Aristotle, that occasioned the Abbé d'Aubignac to write so wretched a
+tragedy."
+
+The _Pratique du Théâtre_ is not, however, to be despised, because the
+_Tragedy_ of its author is despicable.
+
+Chapelain's unfortunate epic has rendered him notorious. He had gained,
+and not undeservedly, great reputation for his critical powers. After a
+retention of above thirty years, his _Pucelle_ appeared. He immediately
+became the butt of every unfledged wit, and his former works were
+eternally condemned; insomuch that when Camusat published, after the
+death of our author, a little volume of extracts from his manuscript
+letters, it is curious to observe the awkward situation in which he
+finds himself. In his preface he seems afraid that the very name of
+Chapelain will be sufficient to repel the reader.
+
+Camusat observes of Chapelain, that "he found flatterers, who assured
+him his _Pucelle_ ranked above the Æneid; and this Chapelain but feebly
+denied. However this may be, it would be difficult to make the bad
+taste which reigns throughout this poem agree with that sound and exact
+criticism with which he decided on the works of others. So true is it,
+that _genius_ is very superior to a justness of mind which is
+_sufficient to judge_ and to advise others." Chapelain was ordered to
+draw up a critical list of the chief living authors and men of letters
+in France, for the king. It is extremely impartial, and performed with
+an analytical skill of their literary characters which could not have
+been surpassed by an Aristotle or a Boileau.
+
+The _talent of judging_ may exist separately from the _power of
+execution_. An amateur may not be an artist, though an artist should be
+an amateur; and it is for this reason that young authors are not to
+contemn the precepts of such critics as even the Abbé d'Aubignac and
+Chapelain. It is to Walsh, a miserable versifier, that Pope stands
+indebted for the hint of our poetry then being deficient in correctness
+and polish; and it is from this fortunate hint that Pope derived his
+poetical excellence. Dionysius Halicarnassensis has composed a lifeless
+history; yet, as Gibbon observes, how admirably has _he_ judged the
+masters, and defined the rules, of historical composition! Gravina, with
+great taste and spirit, has written on poetry and poets, but he composed
+tragedies which give him no title to be ranked among them.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS.
+
+
+It is an ingenious observation made by a journalist of Trevoux, on
+perusing a criticism not ill written, which pretended to detect several
+faults in the compositions of Bruyère, that in ancient Rome the great
+men who triumphed amidst the applauses of those who celebrated their
+virtues, were at the same time compelled to listen to those who
+reproached them with their vices. This custom is not less necessary to
+the republic of letters than it was formerly to the republic of Rome.
+Without this it is probable that authors would be intoxicated with
+success, and would then relax in their accustomed vigour; and the
+multitude who took them for models would, for want of judgment, imitate
+their defects.
+
+Sterne and Churchill were continually abusing the Reviewers, because
+they honestly told the one that obscenity was not wit, and obscurity was
+not sense; and the other that dissonance in poetry did not excel
+harmony, and that his rhymes were frequently prose lines of ten
+syllables cut into verse. They applauded their happier efforts.
+Notwithstanding all this, it is certain that so little discernment
+exists among common writers and common readers, that the obscenity and
+flippancy of Sterne, and the bald verse and prosaic poetry of Churchill,
+were precisely the portion which they selected for imitation. The
+blemishes of great men are not the less blemishes, but they are,
+unfortunately, the easiest parts for imitation.
+
+Yet criticism may be too rigorous, and genius too sensible to its direst
+attacks. Sir John Marsham, having published the first part of his
+"Chronology," suffered so much chagrin at the endless controversies
+which it raised--and some of his critics went so far as to affirm it was
+designed to be detrimental to revelation--that he burned the second
+part, which was ready for the press. Pope was observed to writhe with
+anguish in his chair on hearing mentioned the letter of Cibber, with
+other temporary attacks; and it is said of Montesquieu, that he was so
+much affected by the criticisms, true and false, which he daily
+experienced, that they contributed to hasten his death. Ritson's extreme
+irritability closed in lunacy, while ignorant Reviewers, in the shapes
+of assassins, were haunting his death-bed. In the preface to his
+"Metrical Romances," he describes himself as "brought to an end in ill
+health and low spirits--certain to be insulted by a base and prostitute
+gang of lurking assassins who stab in the dark, and whose poisoned
+daggers he has already experienced." Scott, of Amwell, never recovered
+from a ludicrous criticism, which I discovered had been written by a
+physician who never pretended to poetical taste.
+
+Pelisson has recorded a literary anecdote, which forcibly shows the
+danger of caustic criticism. A young man from a remote province came to
+Paris with a play, which he considered as a masterpiece. M. L'Etoile was
+more than just in his merciless criticism. He showed the youthful bard a
+thousand glaring defects in his chef-d'oeuvre. The humbled country
+author burnt his tragedy, returned home, took to his chamber, and died
+of vexation and grief. Of all unfortunate men, one of the unhappiest is
+a middling author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.
+Athenæus, in his tenth book, has given us a lively portrait of this
+melancholy being. Anaxandrides appeared one day on horseback in the
+public assembly at Athens, to recite a dithyrambic poem, of which he
+read a portion. He was a man of fine stature, and wore a purple robe
+edged with golden fringe. But his complexion was saturnine and
+melancholy, which was the cause that he never spared his own writings.
+Whenever he was vanquished by a rival, he immediately gave his
+compositions to the druggists to be cut into pieces to wrap their
+articles in, without ever caring to revise his writings. It is owing to
+this that he destroyed a number of pleasing compositions; age increased
+his sourness, and every day he became more and more dissatisfied with
+the awards of his auditors. Hence his "Tereus," because it failed to
+obtain the prize, has not reached us, which, with other of his
+productions, deserved preservation, though they had missed the crown
+awarded by the public.
+
+Batteux having been chosen by the French government for the compilation
+of elementary hooks for the Military School, is said to have felt their
+unfavourable reception so acutely, that he became a prey to excessive
+grief. The lamentable death of Dr. Hawkesworth was occasioned by a
+similar circumstance. Government had consigned to his care the
+compilation of the voyages that pass under his name: how he succeeded is
+well known. He felt the public reception so sensibly, that he preferred
+the oblivion of death to the mortifying recollections of life.[113]
+
+On this interesting subject Fontenelle, in his "Eloge sur Newton," has
+made the following observation:--"Newton was more desirous of remaining
+unknown than of having the calm of life disturbed by those literary
+storms which genius and science attract about those who rise to
+eminence." In one of his letters we learn that his "Treatise on Optics"
+being ready for the press, several premature objections which appeared
+made him abandon its publication. "I should reproach myself," he said,
+"for my imprudence, if I were to lose a thing so real as my ease to run
+after a shadow." But this shadow he did not miss: it did not cost him
+the ease he so much loved, and it had for him as much reality as ease
+itself. I refer to Bayle, in his curious article, "Hipponax," note F. To
+these instances we may add the fate of the Abbé Cassagne, a man of
+learning, and not destitute of talents. He was intended for one of the
+preachers at court; but he had hardly made himself known in the pulpit,
+when he was struck by the lightning of Boileau's muse. He felt so
+acutely the caustic verses, that they rendered him almost incapable of
+literary exertion; in the prime of life he became melancholy, and
+shortly afterwards died insane. A modern painter, it is known, never
+recovered from the biting ridicule of a popular, but malignant wit.
+Cummyns, a celebrated quaker, confessed he died of an anonymous letter
+in a public paper, which, said he, "fastened on my heart, and threw me
+into this slow fever." Racine, who died of his extreme sensibility to a
+royal rebuke, confessed that the pain which one severe criticism
+inflicted outweighed all the applause he could receive. The feathered
+arrow of an epigram has sometimes been wet with the heart's blood of its
+victim. Fortune has been lost, reputation destroyed, and every charity
+of life extinguished, by the inhumanity of inconsiderate wit.
+
+Literary history, even of our own days, records the fate of several who
+may be said to have _died of Criticism_.[114] But there is more sense
+and infinite humour in the mode which Phædrus adopted to answer the
+cavillers of his age. When he first published his Fables, the taste for
+conciseness and simplicity were so much on the decline, that they were
+both objected to him as faults. He used his critics as they deserved. To
+those who objected against the _conciseness_ of his style, he tells a
+long _tedious story_ (Lib. iii. Fab. 10, ver. 59), and treats those who
+condemned the _simplicity_ of his style with a run of _bombast verses_,
+that have a great many noisy elevated words in them, without any sense
+at the bottom--this in Lib. iv. Fab. 6.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 113: The doctor was paid 6000_l._ to prepare the narrative of
+the Voyages of Captain Cook from the rough notes. He indulged in much
+pruriency of description, and occasional remarks savouring of
+infidelity. They were loudly and generally condemned, and he died soon
+afterwards.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Keats is the most melancholy instance. The effect of the
+severe criticism in the Quarterly Review upon his writings, is said by
+Shelley to have "appeared like madness, and he was with difficulty
+prevented from suicide." He never recovered its baneful effect; and when
+he died in Rome, desired his epitaph might be, "Here lies one whose name
+was writ in water." The tombstone in the Protestant cemetery is
+nameless, and simply records that "A young English poet" lies there.]
+
+
+
+
+VIRGINITY.
+
+
+The writings of the Fathers once formed the studies of the learned.
+These labours abound with that subtilty of argument which will repay the
+industry of the inquisitive, and the antiquary may turn them over for
+pictures of the manners of the age. A favourite subject with Saint
+Ambrose was that of Virginity, on which he has several works; and
+perhaps he wished to revive the order of the vestals of ancient Rome,
+which afterwards produced the institution of Nuns. From his "Treatise on
+Virgins," written in the fourth century, we learn the lively impressions
+his exhortations had made on the minds and hearts of girls, not less in
+the most distant provinces, than in the neighbourhood of Milan, where he
+resided. The Virgins of Bologna, amounting only, it appears, to the
+number of twenty, performed all kinds of needlework, not merely to gain
+their livelihood, but also to be enabled to perform acts of liberality,
+and exerted their industry to allure other girls to join the holy
+profession of VIRGINITY. He exhorts daughters, in spite of their
+parents, and even their lovers, to consecrate themselves. "I do not
+blame marriage," he says, "I only show the advantages of VIRGINITY."
+
+He composed this book in so florid a style, that he considered it
+required some apology. A Religious of the Benedictines published a
+translation in 1689.
+
+So sensible was St. Ambrose of the _rarity_ of the profession he would
+establish, that he thus combats his adversaries: "They complain that
+human nature will be exhausted; but I ask, who has ever sought to marry
+without finding women enough from amongst whom he might choose? What
+murder, or what war, has ever been occasioned for a virgin? It is one of
+the consequences of marriage to kill the adulterer, and to war with the
+ravisher."
+
+He wrote another treatise _On the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of
+God_. He attacks Bonosius on this subject, and defends her virginity,
+which was indeed greatly suspected by Bonosius, who, however, incurred
+by this bold suspicion the anathema of _Heresy_. A third treatise was
+entitled _Exhortation to Virginity_; a fourth, _On the Fate of a
+Virgin_, is more curious. He relates the misfortunes of one _Susannah_,
+who was by no means a companion for her namesake; for having made a vow
+of virginity, and taken the veil, she afterwards endeavoured to conceal
+her shame, but the precaution only tended to render her more culpable.
+Her behaviour, indeed, had long afforded ample food for the sarcasms of
+the Jews and Pagans. Saint Ambrose compelled her to perform public
+penance, and after having declaimed on her double crime, gave her hopes
+of pardon, if, like "Soeur Jeanne," this early nun would sincerely
+repent: to complete her chastisement, he ordered her every day to recite
+the fiftieth psalm.
+
+
+
+
+A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY.
+
+
+In the republic of letters the establishment of an academy has been a
+favourite project; yet perhaps it is little more than an Utopian scheme.
+The united efforts of men of letters in Academies have produced little.
+It would seem that no man likes to bestow his great labours on a small
+community, for whose members he himself does not feel, probably, the
+most flattering partiality. The French Academy made a splendid
+appearance in Europe; yet when this society published their Dictionary,
+that of Furetière's became a formidable rival; and Johnson did as much
+as the _forty_ themselves. Voltaire confesses that the great characters
+of the literary republic were formed without the aid of academies.--"For
+what then," he asks, "are they necessary?--To preserve and nourish the
+fire which great geniuses have kindled." By observing the _Junto_ at
+their meetings we may form some opinion of the indolent manner in which
+they trifled away their time. We are fortunately enabled to do this, by
+a letter in which Patru describes, in a very amusing manner, the visit
+which Christina of Sweden took a sudden fancy to pay to the Academy.
+
+The Queen of Sweden suddenly resolved to visit the French Academy, and
+gave so short a notice of her design, that it was impossible to inform
+the majority of the members of her intention. About four o'clock fifteen
+or sixteen academicians were assembled. M. Gombaut, who had never
+forgiven her majesty, because she did not relish his verses, thought
+proper to show his resentment by quitting the assembly.
+
+She was received in a spacious hall. In the middle was a table covered
+with rich blue velvet, ornamented with a broad border of gold and
+silver. At its head was placed an armchair of black velvet embroidered
+with gold, and round the table were placed chairs with tapestry backs.
+The chancellor had forgotten to hang in the hall the portrait of the
+queen, which she had presented to the Academy, and which was considered
+as a great omission. About five, a footman belonging to the queen
+inquired if the company were assembled. Soon after, a servant of the
+king informed the chancellor that the queen was at the end of the
+street; and immediately her carriage drew up in the court-yard. The
+chancellor, followed by the rest of the members, went to receive her as
+she stepped out of her chariot; but the crowd was so great, that few of
+them could reach her majesty. Accompanied by the chancellor, she passed
+through the first hall, followed by one of her ladies, the captain of
+her guards, and one or two of her suite.
+
+When she entered the Academy she approached the fire, and spoke in a low
+voice to the chancellor. She then asked why M. Menage was not there? and
+when she was told that he did not belong to the Academy, she asked why
+he did not? She was answered, that, however he might merit the honour,
+he had rendered himself unworthy of it by several disputes he had had
+with its members. She then inquired aside of the chancellor whether the
+academicians were to sit or stand before her? On this the chancellor
+consulted with a member, who observed that in the time of Ronsard, there
+was held an assembly of men of letters before Charles IX. several times,
+and that they were always seated. The queen conversed with M. Bourdelot;
+and suddenly turning to Madame de Bregis, told her that she believed she
+must not be present at the assembly; but it was agreed that this lady
+deserved the honour. As the queen was talking with a member she abruptly
+quitted him, as was her custom, and in her quick way sat down in the
+arm-chair; and at the same time the members seated themselves. The queen
+observing that they did not, out of respect to her, approach the table,
+desired them to come near; and they accordingly approached it.
+
+During these ceremonious preparations several officers of state had
+entered the hall, and stood behind the academicians. The chancellor sat
+at the queen's left hand by the fire-side; and at the right was placed
+M. de la Chambre, the director; then Boisrobert, Patru, Pelisson, Cotin,
+the Abbé Tallemant, and others. M. de Mezeray sat at the bottom of the
+table facing the queen, with an inkstand, paper, and the portfolio of
+the company lying before him: he occupied the place of the secretary.
+When they were all seated the director rose, and the academicians
+followed him, all but the chancellor, who remained in his seat. The
+director made his complimentary address in a low voice, his body was
+quite bent, and no person but the queen and the chancellor could hear
+him. She received his address with great satisfaction.
+
+All compliments concluded, they returned to their seats. The director
+then told the queen that he had composed a treatise on Pain, to add to
+his character of the Passions, and if it was agreeable to her majesty,
+he would read the first chapter.--"Very willingly," she answered. Having
+read it, he said to her majesty, that he would read no more lest he
+should fatigue her. "Not at all," she replied, "for I suppose what
+follows is like what I have heard."
+
+M. de Mezeray observed that M. Cotin had some verses, which her majesty
+would doubtless find beautiful, and if it was agreeable they should be
+read. M. Cotin read them: they were versions of two passages from
+Lucretius: the one in which he attacks a Providence, and the other,
+where he gives the origin of the world according to the Epicurean
+system: to these he added twenty lines of his own, in which he
+maintained the existence of a Providence. This done, an abbé rose, and,
+without being desired or ordered, read two sonnets, which by courtesy
+were allowed to be tolerable. It is remarkable that both the _poets_
+read their verses standing, while the rest read their compositions
+seated.
+
+After these readings, the director informed the queen that the ordinary
+exercise of the company was to labour on the dictionary; and that if her
+majesty should not find it disagreeable, they would read a _cahier_.
+"Very willingly," she answered. M. de Mezeray then read what related to
+the word _Jeu; Game_. Amongst other proverbial expressions was this:
+_Game of Princes, which only pleases the player_, to express a malicious
+violence committed by one in power. At this the queen laughed heartily;
+and they continued reading all that was fairly written. This lasted
+about an hour, when the queen observing that nothing more remained,
+arose, made a bow to the company, and returned in the manner she
+entered.
+
+Furetière, who was himself an academician, has described the miserable
+manner in which time was consumed at their assemblies. I confess he was
+a satirist, and had quarrelled with the Academy; there must have been,
+notwithstanding, sufficient resemblance for the following picture,
+however it may be overcharged. He has been blamed for thus exposing the
+Eleusinian mysteries of literature to the uninitiated.
+
+"He who is most clamorous, is he whom they suppose has most reason. They
+all have the art of making long orations upon a trifle. The second
+repeats like an echo what the first said; but generally three or four
+speak together. When there is a bench of five or six members, one reads,
+another decides, two converse, one sleeps, and another amuses himself
+with reading some dictionary which happens to lie before him. When a
+second member is to deliver his opinion, they are obliged to read again
+the article, which at the first perusal he had been too much engaged to
+hear. This is a happy manner of finishing their work. They can hardly
+get over two lines without long digressions; without some one telling a
+pleasant story, or the news of the day; or talking of affairs of state,
+and reforming the government."
+
+That the French Academy were generally frivolously employed appears also
+from an epistle to Balzac, by Boisrobert, the amusing companion of
+Cardinal Richelieu. "Every one separately," says he, "promises great
+things; when they meet they do nothing. They have been _six years_
+employed on the letter F; and I should be happy if I were certain of
+living till they got through G."
+
+The following anecdote concerns the _forty arm-chairs_ of the
+academicians.[115] Those cardinals who were academicians for a long time
+had not attended the meetings of the Academy, because they thought that
+_arm-chairs_ were indispensable to their dignity, and the Academy had
+then only common chairs. These cardinals were desirous of being present
+at the election of M. Monnoie, that they might give him a distinguished
+mark of their esteem. "The king," says D'Alembert, "to satisfy at once
+the delicacy of their friendship, and that of their cardinalship, and to
+preserve at the same time that academical equality, of which this
+enlightened monarch (Louis XIV.) well knew the advantage, sent to the
+Academy forty arm-chairs for the forty academicians, the same chairs
+which we now occupy; and the motive to which we owe them is sufficient
+to render the memory of Louis XIV. precious to the republic of letters,
+to whom it owes so many more important obligations!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 115: A very clever satire has been concocted in an imaginary
+history of "a forty-first chair" of the Academy which has been occupied
+by the great men of literature who have not been recognised members of
+the official body, and whose "existence there has been unaccountably
+forgotten" in the annals of its members.]
+
+
+
+
+POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS.
+
+
+It will appear by the following anecdotes, that some men may be said to
+have died _poetically_ and even _grammatically_.
+
+There must be some attraction existing in poetry which is not merely
+fictitious, for often have its genuine votaries felt all its powers on
+the most trying occasions. They have displayed the energy of their mind
+by composing or repeating verses, even with death on their lips.
+
+The Emperor Adrian, dying, made that celebrated address to his soul,
+which is so happily translated by Pope. Lucan, when he had his veins
+opened by order of Nero, expired reciting a passage from his Pharsalia,
+in which he had described the wound of a dying soldier. Petronius did
+the same thing on the same occasion.
+
+Patris, a poet of Caen, perceiving himself expiring, composed some
+verses which are justly admired. In this little poem he relates a dream,
+in which he appeared to be placed next to a beggar, when, having
+addressed him in the haughty strain he would probably have employed on
+this side of the grave, he receives the following reprimand:--
+
+    Ici tous sont égaux; je ne te dois plus rien;
+    Je suis sur mon fumier comme toi sur le tien.
+
+    Here all are equal! now thy lot is mine!
+    I on my dunghill, as thou art on thine.
+
+Des Barreaux, it is said, wrote on his death-bed that well-known sonnet
+which is translated in the "Spectator."
+
+Margaret of Austria, when she was nearly perishing in a storm at sea,
+composed her epitaph in verse. Had she perished, what would have become
+of the epitaph? And if she escaped, of what use was it? She should
+rather have said her prayers. The verses however have all the _naïveté_
+of the times. They are--
+
+    Cy gist Margot, la gente demoiselle,
+    Qu'eut deux maris, et si mourut pucelle.
+
+    Beneath this tomb is high-born Margaret laid,
+    Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid.
+
+She was betrothed to Charles VIII. of France, who forsook her; and being
+next intended for the Spanish infant, in her voyage to Spain, she wrote
+these lines in a storm.
+
+Mademoiselle de Serment was surnamed the philosopher. She was celebrated
+for her knowledge and taste in polite literature. She died of a cancer
+in her breast, and suffered her misfortune with exemplary patience. She
+expired in finishing these verses, which she addressed to Death:--
+
+                      Nectare clausa suo,
+    Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum.
+
+It was after Cervantes had received extreme unction that he wrote the
+dedication of his Persiles.
+
+Roscommon, at the moment he expired, with an energy of voice that
+expressed the most fervent devotion, uttered two lines of his own
+version of "Dies Iræ!" Waller, in his last moments, repeated some lines
+from Virgil; and Chaucer seems to have taken his farewell of all human
+vanities by a moral ode, entitled, "A balade made by Geffrey Chaucyer
+upon his dethe-bedde lying in his grete anguysse."[116]
+
+Cornelius de Witt fell an innocent victim to popular prejudice. His
+death is thus noticed by Hume:--"This man, who had bravely served his
+country in war, and who had been invested with the highest dignities,
+was delivered into the hands of the executioner, and torn in pieces by
+the most inhuman torments. Amidst the severe agonies which he endured he
+frequently repeated an ode of Horace, which contained sentiments suited
+to his deplorable condition." It was the third ode of the third book
+which this illustrious philosopher and statesman then repeated.
+
+Metastasio, after receiving the sacrament, a very short time before his
+last moments, broke out with all the enthusiasm of poetry and religion
+in these stanzas:--
+
+        T' offro il tuo proprio Figlio,
+          Che già d'amore in pegno,
+          Racchiuso in picciol segno
+          Si volle a noi donar.
+
+        A lui rivolgi il ciglio.
+          Guardo chi t' offro, e poi
+          Lasci, Signor, se vuoi,
+          Lascia di perdonar.
+
+     "I offer to thee, O Lord, thine own Son, who already has given the
+     pledge of love, enclosed in this thin emblem. Turn on him thine
+     eyes: ah! behold whom I offer to thee, and then desist, O Lord! if
+     thou canst desist from mercy."
+
+"The muse that has attended my course," says the dying Gleim in a letter
+to Klopstock, "still hovers round my steps to the very verge of the
+grave." A collection of lyrical poems, entitled "Last Hours," composed
+by old Gleim on his death-bed, was intended to be published. The death
+of Klopstock was one of the most poetical: in this poet's "Messiah," he
+had made the death of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, a picture
+of the death of the Just; and on his own death-bed he was heard
+repeating, with an expiring voice, his own verses on Mary; he was
+exhorting himself to die by the accents of his own harp, the sublimities
+of his own muse! The same song of Mary was read at the public funeral of
+Klopstock.
+
+Chatelar, a French gentleman, beheaded in Scotland for having loved the
+queen, and even for having attempted her honour, Brantome says, would
+not have any other viaticum than a poem of Ronsard. When he ascended the
+scaffold he took the hymns of this poet, and for his consolation read
+that on death, which our old critic says is well adapted to conquer its
+fear.
+
+When the Marquis of Montrose was condemned by his judges to have his
+limbs nailed to the gates of four cities, the brave soldier said that
+"he was sorry he had not limbs sufficient to be nailed to all the gates
+of the cities in Europe, as monuments of his loyalty." As he proceeded
+to his execution, he put this thought into verse.
+
+Philip Strozzi, imprisoned by Cosmo the First, Great Duke of Tuscany,
+was apprehensive of the danger to which he might expose his friends who
+had joined in his conspiracy against the duke, from the confessions
+which the rack might extort from him. Having attempted every exertion
+for the liberty of his country, he considered it as no crime therefore
+to die. He resolved on suicide. With the point of the sword, with which
+he killed himself, he cut out on the mantel-piece of the chimney this
+verse of Virgil:--
+
+    Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
+    Rise some avenger from our blood!
+
+I can never repeat without a strong emotion the following stanzas, begun
+by André Chenier, in the dreadful period of the French revolution. He
+was waiting for his turn to be dragged to the guillotine, when he
+commenced this poem:--
+
+    Comme un dernier rayon, comme un dernier zéphyre
+        Anime la fin d'un beau jour;
+    Au pied de l'échafaud j'essaie encore ma lyre,
+        Peut-être est ce bientôt mon tour;
+
+    Peut-être avant que l'heure en cercle promenée
+        Ait posé sur l'émail brillant,
+    Dans les soixante pas où sa route est bornée
+        Son pied sonore et vigilant,
+
+    Le sommeil du tombeau pressera ma paupière--
+
+Here, at this pathetic line, was André Chenier summoned to the
+guillotine! Never was a more beautiful effusion of grief interrupted by
+a more affecting incident!
+
+Several men of science have died in a scientific manner. Haller, the
+poet, philosopher, and physician, beheld his end approach with the
+utmost composure. He kept feeling his pulse to the last moment, and when
+he found that life was almost gone, he turned to his brother physician,
+observing, "My friend, the artery ceases to beat," and almost instantly
+expired. The same remarkable circumstance had occurred to the great
+Harvey: he kept making observations on the state of his pulse, when life
+was drawing to its close, "as if," says Dr. Wilson, in the oration
+spoken a few days after the event, "that he who had taught us the
+beginning of life might himself, at his departing from it, become
+acquainted with those of death."
+
+De Lagny, who was intended by his friends for the study of the law,
+having fallen on an Euclid, found it so congenial to his dispositions,
+that he devoted himself to mathematics. In his last moments, when he
+retained no further recollection of the friends who surrounded his bed,
+one of them, perhaps to make a philosophical experiment, thought proper
+to ask him the square of twelve: our dying mathematician instantly, and
+perhaps without knowing that he answered, replied, "One hundred and
+forty-four."
+
+The following anecdotes are of a different complexion, and may excite a
+smile.
+
+Père Bohours was a French grammarian, who had been justly accused of
+paying too scrupulous an attention to the minutiæ of letters. He was
+more solicitous of his _words_ than his _thoughts_. It is said, that
+when he was dying, he called out to his friends (a correct grammarian to
+the last), "_Je_ VAS _ou je_ VAIS _mourir; l'un ou l'autre se dit_!"
+
+When Malherbe was dying, he reprimanded his nurse for making use of a
+solecism in her language; and when his confessor represented to him the
+felicities of a future state in low and trite expressions, the dying
+critic interrupted him:--"Hold your tongue," he said; "your wretched
+style only makes me out of conceit with them!"
+
+The favourite studies and amusements of the learned La Mothe le Vayer
+consisted in accounts of the most distant countries. He gave a striking
+proof of the influence of this master-passion, when death hung upon his
+lips. Bernier, the celebrated traveller, entering and drawing the
+curtains of his bed to take his eternal farewell, the dying man turning
+to him, with a faint voice inquired, "Well, my friend, what news from
+the Great Mogul?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 116: Barham, the author of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, wrote a
+similar death-bed lay in imitation of the older poets. It is termed "As
+I laye a-thinkynge." Bewick, the wood-engraver, was last employed upon,
+and left unfinished at his death, a cut, the subject of which was "The
+old Horse waiting for Death."]
+
+
+
+
+SCARRON.
+
+
+Scarron, as a burlesque poet, but no other comparison exists, had his
+merit, but is now little read; for the uniformity of the burlesque style
+is as intolerable as the uniformity of the serious. From various sources
+we may collect some uncommon anecdotes, although he was a mere author.
+
+His father, a counsellor, having married a second wife, the lively
+Scarron became the object of her hatred.
+
+He studied, and travelled, and took the clerical tonsure; but discovered
+dispositions more suitable to the pleasures of his age than to the
+gravity of his profession. He formed an acquaintance with the wits of
+the times; and in the carnival of 1638 committed a youthful
+extravagance, for which his remaining days formed a continual
+punishment. He disguised himself as a savage; the singularity of a naked
+man attracted crowds. After having been hunted by the mob, he was forced
+to escape from his pursuers; and concealed himself in a marsh. A
+freezing cold seized him, and threw him, at the age of twenty-seven
+years, into a kind of palsy; a cruel disorder which tormented him all
+his life. "It was thus," he says, "that pleasure deprived me suddenly of
+legs which had danced with elegance, and of hands, which could manage
+the pencil and the lute."
+
+Goujet, without stating this anecdote, describes his disorder as an
+acrid humour, distilling itself on his nerves, and baffling the skill of
+his physicians; the sciatica, rheumatism, in a word, a complication of
+maladies attacked him, sometimes successively, sometimes together, and
+made of our poor Abbé a sad spectacle. He thus describes himself in one
+of his letters; and who could be in better humour?
+
+"I have lived to thirty: if I reach forty, I shall only add many
+miseries to those which I have endured these last eight or nine years.
+My person was well made, though short; my disorder has shortened it
+still more by a foot. My head is a little broad for my shape; my face is
+full enough for my body to appear very meagre; I have hair enough to
+render a wig unnecessary; I have got many white hairs, in spite of the
+proverb. My teeth, formerly square pearls, are now of the colour of
+wood, and will soon be of slate. My legs and thighs first formed an
+obtuse angle, afterwards an equilateral angle, and at length, an acute
+one. My thighs and body form another; and my head, always dropping on my
+breast, makes me not ill represent a Z. I have got my arms shortened as
+well as my legs, and my fingers as well as my arms. In a word, I am an
+abridgment of human miseries."
+
+He had the free use of nothing but his tongue and his hands; and he
+wrote on a portfolio placed on his knees.
+
+Balzac said of Scarron, that he had gone further in insensibility than
+the Stoics, who were satisfied in appearing insensible to pain; but
+Scarron was gay, and amused all the world with his sufferings.
+
+He pourtrays himself thus humorously in his address to the queen:--
+
+           Je ne regard plus qu'en bas,
+       Je suis torticolis, j'ai la tête penchante;
+           Ma mine devient si plaisante
+    Que quand on en riroit, je ne m'en plaindrois pas.
+
+     "I can only see under me; I am wry-necked; my head hangs down; my
+     appearance is so droll, that if people laugh, I shall not
+     complain."
+
+He says elsewhere,
+
+    Parmi les torticolis
+    Je passe pour un des plus jolis.
+
+     "Among your wry-necked people I pass for one of the handsomest."
+
+After having suffered this distortion of shape, and these acute pains
+for four years, he quitted his usual residence, the quarter du Marais,
+for the baths of the Fauxbourg Saint Germain. He took leave of his
+friends, by addressing some verses to them, entitled, _Adieu aux
+Marais_; in which he describes several celebrated persons. When he was
+brought into the street in a chair, the pleasure of seeing himself there
+once more overcame the pains which the motion occasioned, and he has
+celebrated the transport by an ode, which has for title, "The Way from
+le Marais to the Fauxbourg Saint Germain."
+
+The baths he tried had no effect on his miserable disorder. But a new
+affliction was added to the catalogue of his griefs.
+
+His father, who had hitherto contributed to his necessities, having
+joined a party against Cardinal Richelieu, was exiled. This affair was
+rendered still more unfortunate by his mother-in-law with her children
+at Paris, in the absence of her husband, appropriating the property of
+the family to her own use.
+
+Hitherto Scarron had had no connexion with Cardinal Richelieu. The
+conduct of his father had even rendered his name disagreeable to the
+minister, who was by no means prone to forgiveness. Scarron, however,
+when he thought his passion moderated, ventured to present a petition,
+which is considered by the critics as one of his happiest productions.
+Richelieu permitted it to be read to him, and acknowledged that it
+afforded him much pleasure, and that it was _pleasantly dated_. This
+_pleasant date_ is thus given by Scarron:--
+
+    Fait à Paris dernier jour d'Octobre,
+    Par moi, Scarron, qui malgre moi suis sobre,
+    L'an que l'on prit le fameux Perpignan,
+    Et, sans canon, la ville de Sedan.
+
+    At Paris done, the last day of October,
+    By me, Scarron, who wanting wine am sober,
+    The year they took fam'd Perpignan,
+    And, without cannon-ball, Sedan.
+
+This was flattering the minister adroitly in two points very agreeable
+to him. The poet augured well of the dispositions of the cardinal, and
+lost no time to return to the charge, by addressing an ode to him, to
+which he gave the title of THANKS, as if he had already received the
+favours which he hoped he should receive! Thus Ronsard dedicated to
+Catherine of Medicis, who was prodigal of promises, his hymn to
+PROMISE. But all was lost for Scarron by the death of the Cardinal.
+
+When Scarron's father died, he brought his mother-in-law into court;
+and, to complete his misfortunes, lost his suit. The cases which he drew
+up for the occasion were so extremely burlesque, that the world could
+not easily conceive how a man could amuse himself so pleasantly on a
+subject on which his existence depended.
+
+The successor of Richelieu, the Cardinal Mazarin, was insensible to his
+applications. He did nothing for him, although the poet dedicated to him
+his _Typhon_, a burlesque poem, in which the author describes the wars
+of the giants with the gods. Our bard was so irritated at this neglect,
+that he suppressed a sonnet he had written in his favour, and aimed at
+him several satirical bullets. Scarron, however, consoled himself for
+this kind of disgrace with those select friends who were not inconstant
+in their visits to him. The Bishop of Mans also, solicited by a friend,
+gave him a living in his diocese. When Scarron had taken possession of
+it, he began his _Roman Comique_, ill translated into English by
+_Comical Romance_. He made friends by his dedications. Such resources
+were indeed necessary, for he not only lived well, but had made his
+house an asylum for his two sisters, who there found refuge from an
+unfeeling step-mother.
+
+It was about this time that the beautiful and accomplished Mademoiselle
+d'Aubigné, afterwards so well known by the name of Madame de Maintenon,
+she who was to be one day the mistress, if not the queen of France,
+formed with Scarron the most romantic connexion. She united herself in
+marriage with one whom she well knew could only be a lover. It was
+indeed amidst that literary society she formed her taste and embellished
+with her presence his little residence, where assembled the most
+polished courtiers and some of the finest geniuses of Paris of that
+famous party, called _La Fronde_, formed against Mazarin. Such was the
+influence this marriage had over Scarron, that after this period his
+writings became more correct and more agreeable than those which he had
+previously composed. Scarron, on his side, gave a proof of his
+attachment to Madame de Maintenon; for by marrying her he lost his
+living of Mans. But though without wealth, he was accustomed to say that
+"his wife and he would not live uncomfortable by the produce of his
+estate and the _Marquisate of Quinet_." Thus he called the revenue which
+his compositions produced, and _Quinet_ was his bookseller.
+
+Scarron addressed one of his dedications to his dog, to ridicule those
+writers who dedicate their works indiscriminately, though no author has
+been more liberal of dedications than himself; but, as he confessed, he
+made dedication a kind of business. When he was low in cash he always
+dedicated to some lord, whom he praised as warmly as his dog, but whom
+probably he did not esteem as much.
+
+When Scarron was visited, previous to general conversation his friends
+were taxed with a perusal of what he had written since he saw them last.
+Segrais and a friend calling on him, "Take a chair," said our author,
+"and let me _try on you_ my 'Roman Comique.'" He took his manuscript,
+read several pages, and when he observed that they laughed, he said,
+"Good, this goes well; my book can't fail of success, since it obliges
+such able persons as yourselves to laugh;" and then remained silent to
+receive their compliments. He used to call this _trying on his romance_,
+as a tailor _tries_ his _coat_. He was agreeable and diverting in all
+things, even in his complaints and passions. Whatever he conceived he
+immediately too freely expressed; but his amiable lady corrected him of
+this in three months after marriage.
+
+He petitioned the queen, in his droll manner, to be permitted the honour
+of being her _Sick-Man by right of office_. These verses form a part of
+his address to her majesty:
+
+    Scarron, par la grace de Dieu,
+    Malade indigne de la reine,
+    Homme n'ayant ni feu, ni lieu,
+    Mais bien du mal et de la peine;
+    Hôpital allant et venant,
+    Des jambes d'autrui cheminant,
+    Des sieunes n'ayant plus l'usage,
+    Souffrant beaucoup, dormant bien pen,
+    Et pourtant faisant par courage
+    Bonne mine et fort mauvais jeu.
+
+    "Scarron, by the grace of God, the unworthy Sick-Man of the Queen;
+    a man without a house, though a moving hospital of disorders;
+    walking only with other people's legs, with great sufferings, but
+    little sleep; and yet, in spite of all, very courageously showing a
+    hearty countenance, though indeed he plays a losing game."
+
+She smiled, granted the title, and, what was better, added a small
+pension, which losing, by lampooning the minister Mazarin, Fouquet
+generously granted him a more considerable one.
+
+The termination of the miseries of this facetious genius was now
+approaching. To one of his friends, who was taking leave of him for some
+time, Scarron said, "I shall soon die; the only regret I have in dying
+is not to be enabled to leave some property to my wife, who is possessed
+of infinite merit, and whom I have every reason imaginable to admire and
+to praise."
+
+One day he was seized with so violent a fit of the hiccough, that his
+friends now considered his prediction would soon be verified. When it
+was over, "If ever I recover," cried Scarron, "I will write a bitter
+satire against the hiccough." The satire, however, was never written,
+for he died soon after. A little before his death, when he observed his
+relations and domestics weeping and groaning, he was not much affected,
+but humorously told them, "My children, you will never weep for me so
+much as I have made you laugh." A few moments before he died, he said,
+that "he never thought that it was so easy a matter to laugh at the
+approach of death."
+
+The burlesque compositions of Scarron are now neglected by the French.
+This species of writing was much in vogue till attacked by the critical
+Boileau, who annihilated such puny writers as D'Assoucy and Dulot, with
+their stupid admirers. It is said he spared Scarron because his merit,
+though it appeared but at intervals, was uncommon. Yet so much were
+burlesque verses the fashion after Scarron's works, that the booksellers
+would not publish poems, but with the word "Burlesque" in the
+title-page. In 1649 appeared a poem, which shocked the pious, entitled,
+"The Passion of our Lord, in _burlesque Verses_."
+
+Swift, in his dotage, appears to have been gratified by such puerilities
+as Scarron frequently wrote. An ode which Swift calls "A Lilliputian
+Ode," consisting of verses of three syllables, probably originated in a
+long epistle in verses of three syllables, which Scarron addressed to
+Sarrazin. It is pleasant, and the following lines will serve as a
+specimen:--
+
+_Epître à M. Sarrazin._
+
+        Sarrazin
+        Mon voisin,
+        Cher ami,
+        Qu'à demi,
+        Je ne voi,
+        Dont ma foi
+        J'ai dépit
+        Un petit.
+        N'es-tu pas
+        Barrabas,
+        Busiris,
+        Phalaris,
+        Ganelon,
+        Le Felon?
+
+He describes himself--
+
+    Un pauvret,
+    Très maigret;
+    Au col tors,
+    Dont le corps
+    Tout tortu,
+    Tout bossu,
+    Suranné,
+    Décharné,
+    Est réduit,
+    Jour et nuit,
+    A souffrir
+    Sans guérir
+    Des tourmens
+    Vehemens.
+
+He complains of Sarrazin's not visiting him, threatens to reduce him
+into powder if he comes not quickly; and concludes,
+
+    Mais pourtant,
+    Repentant
+    Si tu viens
+    Et tu tiens
+    Settlement
+    Un moment
+    Avec nous,
+    Mon courroux
+    Finira,
+    ET CÆTERA.
+
+The Roman Comique of our author abounds with pleasantry, with wit and
+character. His "Virgile Travestie" it is impossible to read long: this
+we likewise feel in "Cotton's Virgil travestied," which has
+notwithstanding considerable merit. Buffoonery after a certain time
+exhausts our patience. It is the chaste actor only who can keep the
+attention awake for a length of time. It is said that Scarron intended
+to write a tragedy; this perhaps would not have been the least facetious
+of his burlesques.
+
+
+
+
+PETER CORNEILLE.
+
+    Exact Racine and Corneille's noble fire
+    Show'd us that France had something to admire.
+
+                                          POPE.
+
+The great Corneille having finished his studies, devoted himself to the
+bar; but this was not the stage on which his abilities were to be
+displayed. He followed the occupation of a lawyer for some time, without
+taste and without success. A trifling circumstance discovered to the
+world and to himself a different genius. A young man who was in love
+with a girl of the same town, having solicited him to be his companion
+in one of those secret visits which he paid to the lady, it happened
+that the stranger pleased infinitely more than his introducer. The
+pleasure arising from this adventure excited in Corneille a talent which
+had hitherto been unknown to him, and he attempted, as if it were by
+inspiration, dramatic poetry. On this little subject he wrote his comedy
+of Mélite, in 1625. At that moment the French drama was at a low ebb:
+the most favourable ideas were formed of our juvenile poet, and comedy,
+it was expected, would now reach its perfection. After the tumult of
+approbation had ceased, the critics thought that Mélite was too simple
+and barren of incident. Roused by this criticism, our poet wrote his
+Clitandre, and in that piece has scattered incidents and adventures with
+such a licentious profusion, that the critics say he wrote it rather to
+expose the public taste than to accommodate himself to it. In this piece
+the persons combat on the theatre; there are murders and assassinations;
+heroines fight; officers appear in search of murderers, and women are
+disguised as men. There is matter sufficient for a romance of ten
+volumes; "And yet," says a French critic, "nothing can be more cold and
+tiresome." He afterwards indulged his natural genius in various other
+performances; but began to display more forcibly his tragic powers in
+Medea. A comedy which he afterwards wrote was a very indifferent
+composition. He regained his full lustre in the famous Cid, a tragedy,
+of which he preserved in his closet translations in all the European
+languages, except the Sclavonian and the Turkish. He pursued his
+poetical career with uncommon splendour in the Horaces, Cinna, and at
+length in Polyeucte; which productions, the French critics say, can
+never be surpassed.
+
+At length the tragedy of "Pertharite" appeared, and proved unsuccessful.
+This so much disgusted our veteran bard, that, like Ben Jonson, he could
+not conceal his chagrin in the preface. There the poet tells us that he
+renounces the theatre for ever! and indeed this _eternity_ lasted for
+_several years_!
+
+Disgusted by the fate of his unfortunate tragedy, he directed his
+poetical pursuits to a different species of composition. He now finished
+his translation in verse, of the "Imitation of Jesus Christ," by Thomas
+à Kempis. This work, perhaps from the singularity of its dramatic author
+becoming a religious writer, was attended with astonishing success. Yet
+Fontenelle did not find in this translation the prevailing charm of the
+original, which consists in that simplicity and _naïveté_ which are lost
+in the pomp of versification so natural to Corneille. "This book," he
+continues, "the finest that ever proceeded from the hand of man (since
+the gospel does not come from man) would not go so direct to the heart,
+and would not seize on it with such force, if it had not a natural and
+tender air, to which even that negligence which prevails in the style
+greatly contributes." Voltaire appears to confirm the opinion of our
+critic, in respect to the translation: "It is reported that Corneille's
+translation of the Imitation of Jesus Christ has been printed thirty-two
+times; it is as difficult to believe this as it is to _read the book
+once_!"
+
+Corneille seems not to have been ignorant of the truth of this
+criticism. In his dedication to the Pope, he says, "The translation
+which I have chosen, by the simplicity of its style, precludes all the
+rich ornaments of poetry, and far from increasing my reputation, must be
+considered rather as a sacrifice made to the glory of the Sovereign
+Author of all, which I may have acquired by my poetical productions."
+This is an excellent elucidation of the truth of that precept of Johnson
+which respects religious poetry; but of which the author of "Calvary"
+seemed not to have been sensible. The merit of religious compositions
+appears, like this "Imitation of Jesus Christ," to consist in a
+simplicity inimical to the higher poetical embellishments; these are too
+human!
+
+When Racine, the son, published a long poem on "Grace," taken in its
+holy sense, a most unhappy subject at least for poetry; it was said that
+he had written on _Grace_ without _grace_.
+
+During the space of six years Corneille rigorously kept his promise of
+not writing for the theatre. At length, overpowered by the persuasions
+of his friends, and probably by his own inclinations, he once more
+directed his studies to the drama. He recommenced in 1659, and finished
+in 1675. During this time he wrote ten new pieces, and published a
+variety of little religious poems, which, although they do not attract
+the attention of posterity, were then read with delight, and probably
+preferred to the finest tragedies by the good catholics of the day.
+
+In 1675 he terminated his career. In the last year of his life his mind
+became so enfeebled as to be incapable of thinking, and he died in
+extreme poverty. It is true that his uncommon genius had been amply
+rewarded; but amongst his talents that of preserving the favours of
+fortune he had not acquired.
+
+Fontenelle, his nephew, presents a minute and interesting description of
+this great man. Vigneul Marville says, that when he saw Corneille he had
+the appearance of a country tradesman, and he could not conceive how a
+man of so rustic an appearance could put into the mouths of his Romans
+such heroic sentiments. Corneille was sufficiently large and full in his
+person; his air simple and vulgar; always negligent; and very little
+solicitous of pleasing by his exterior. His face had something
+agreeable, his nose large, his mouth not unhandsome, his eyes full of
+fire, his physiognomy lively, with strong features, well adapted to be
+transmitted to posterity on a medal or bust. His pronunciation was not
+very distinct: and he read his verses with force, but without grace.
+
+He was acquainted with polite literature, with history, and politics;
+but he generally knew them best as they related to the stage. For other
+knowledge he had neither leisure, curiosity, nor much esteem. He spoke
+little, even on subjects which he perfectly understood. He did not
+embellish what he said, and to discover the great Corneille it became
+necessary to read him.
+
+He was of a melancholy disposition, had something blunt in his manner,
+and sometimes he appeared rude; but in fact he was no disagreeable
+companion, and made a good father and husband. He was tender, and his
+soul was very susceptible of friendship. His constitution was very
+favourable to love, but never to debauchery, and rarely to violent
+attachment. His soul was fierce and independent: it could never be
+managed, for it would never bend. This, indeed, rendered him very
+capable of portraying Roman virtue, but incapable of improving his
+fortune. Nothing equalled his incapacity for business but his aversion:
+the slightest troubles of this kind occasioned him alarm and terror. He
+was never satiated with praise, although he was continually receiving
+it; but if he was sensible to fame, he was far removed from vanity.
+
+What Fontenelle observes of Corneille's love of fame is strongly proved
+by our great poet himself, in an epistle to a friend, in which we find
+the following remarkable description of himself; an instance that what
+the world calls vanity, at least interests in a great genius.
+
+    Nous nous aimons un peu, c'est notre foible à tous;
+    Le prix que nous valons que le sçait mieux que nous?
+    Et puis la mode en est, et la cour l'autorise,
+    Nous parlons de nous-mêmes avec toute franchise,
+    La fausse humilité ne met plus en credit.
+    Je sçais ce que je vaux, et crois ce qu'on m'en dit,
+    Pour me faire admirer je ne fais point de ligue;
+    J'ai peu de voix pour moi, mais je les ai sans brigue;
+    Et mon ambition, pour faire plus de bruit
+    Ne les va point quêter de réduit en réduit.
+    Mon travail sans appui monte sur le theâtre,
+    Chacun en liberté l'y blame ou idolâtre;
+    Là, sans que mes amis prêchent leurs sentimens,
+    J'arrache quelquefois leurs applaudissemens;
+    Là, content da succès que le mérite donne,
+    Par d'illustres avis je n'éblouis personne;
+    Je satisfais ensemble et peuple et courtisans;
+    Et mes vers en tous lieux sent mes seuls partisans;
+    Par leur seule beauté ma plume est estimée;
+    Je ne dois qu'à moi seul toute ma renommée;
+    Et pense toutefois n'avoir point de rival,
+    A qui je fasse tort, en le traitant d'égal.
+
+I give his sentiments in English verse.
+
+        Self-love prevails too much in every state;
+        Who, like ourselves, our secret worth can rate?
+        Since 'tis a fashion authorised at court,
+        Frankly our merits we ourselves report.
+        A proud humility will not deceive;
+        I know my worth; what others say, believe.
+        To be admired I form no petty league;
+        Few are my friends, but gain'd without intrigue.
+        My bold ambition, destitute of grace,
+        Scorns still to beg their votes from place to place.
+        On the fair stage my scenic toils I raise,
+        While each is free to censure or to praise;
+        And there, unaided by inferior arts,
+        I snatch the applause that rushes from their hearts.
+        Content by Merit still to win the crown,
+        With no illustrious names I cheat the town.
+        The galleries thunder, and the pit commends;
+        My verses, everywhere, my only friends!
+        'Tis from their charms alone my praise I claim;
+        'Tis to myself alone, I owe my fame;
+        And know no rival whom I fear to meet,
+        Or injure, when I grant an equal seat.
+
+Voltaire censures Corneille for making his heroes say continually they
+are great men. But in drawing the character of a hero he draws his own.
+All his heroes are only so many Corneilles in different situations.
+
+Thomas Corneille attempted the same career as his brother; perhaps his
+name was unfortunate, for it naturally excited a comparison which could
+not be favourable to him. Gaçon, the Dennis of his day, wrote the
+following smart impromptu under his portrait:--
+
+    Voyant le portrait de Corneille,
+    Gardez-vous de crier merveille;
+    Et dans vos transports n'allez pas
+    Prendre ici _Pierre_ pour _Thomas_.
+
+
+
+
+POETS.
+
+
+In all ages there has existed an anti-poetical party. This faction
+consists of those frigid intellects incapable of that glowing expansion
+so necessary to feel the charms of an art, which only addresses itself
+to the imagination; or of writers who, having proved unsuccessful in
+their court to the muses, revenge themselves by reviling them; and also
+of those religious minds who consider the ardent effusions of poetry as
+dangerous to the morals and peace of society.
+
+Plato, amongst the ancients, is the model of those moderns who profess
+themselves to be ANTI-POETICAL.
+
+This writer, in his ideal republic, characterises a man who occupies
+himself with composing verses as a very dangerous member of society,
+from the inflammatory tendency of his writings. It is by arguing from
+its abuse, that he decries this enchanting talent. At the same time it
+is to be recollected, that no head was more finely organised for the
+visions of the muse than Plato's: he was a true poet, and had addicted
+himself in his prime of life to the cultivation of the art, but
+perceiving that he could not surpass his inimitable original, Homer, he
+employed this insidious manner of depreciating his works. In the Phædon
+he describes the feelings of a genuine Poet. To become such, he says, it
+will never be sufficient to be guided by the rules of art, unless we
+also feel the ecstasies of that _furor_, almost divine, which in this
+kind of composition is the most palpable and least ambiguous character
+of a true inspiration. Cold minds, ever tranquil and ever in possession
+of themselves, are incapable of producing exalted poetry; their verses
+must always be feeble, diffusive, and leave no impression; the verses of
+those who are endowed with a strong and lively imagination, and who,
+like Homer's personification of Discord, have their heads incessantly in
+the skies, and their feet on the earth, will agitate you, burn in your
+heart, and drag you along with them; breaking like an impetuous torrent,
+and swelling your breast with that enthusiasm with which they are
+themselves possessed.
+
+Such is the character of a _poet_ in a _poetical age_!--The tuneful race
+have many corporate bodies of mechanics; Pontypool manufacturers,
+inlayers, burnishers, gilders, and filers!
+
+Men of taste are sometimes disgusted in turning over the works of the
+anti-poetical, by meeting with gross railleries and false judgments
+concerning poetry and poets. Locke has expressed a marked contempt of
+poets; but we see what ideas he formed of poetry by his warm panegyric
+of one of Blackmore's epics! and besides he was himself a most unhappy
+poet! Selden, a scholar of profound erudition, has given us _his_
+opinion concerning poets. "It is ridiculous for a _lord_ to print
+verses; he may make them to please himself. If a man in a private
+chamber twirls his band-strings, or plays with a rush to please himself,
+it is well enough; but if he should go into Fleet-street, and sit upon a
+stall and twirl a band-string, or play with a rush, then all the boys in
+the street would laugh at him."--As if "the sublime and the beautiful"
+can endure a comparison with the twirling of a band-string or playing
+with a rush!--A poet, related to an illustrious family, and who did not
+write unpoetically, entertained a far different notion concerning poets.
+So persuaded was he that to be a true poet required an elevated mind,
+that it was a maxim with him that no writer could be an excellent poet
+who was not descended from a noble family. This opinion is as absurd as
+that of Selden:--but when one party will not grant enough, the other
+always assumes too much. The great Pascal, whose extraordinary genius
+was discovered in the sciences, knew little of the nature of poetical
+beauty. He said "Poetry has no settled object." This was the decision of
+a geometrician, not of a poet. "Why should he speak of what he did not
+understand?" asked the lively Voltaire. Poetry is not an object which
+comes under the cognizance of philosophy or wit.
+
+Longuerue had profound erudition; but he decided on poetry in the same
+manner as those learned men. Nothing so strongly characterises such
+literary men as the following observations in the Longueruana, p. 170.
+
+"There are two _books on Homer_, which I prefer to _Homer himself_. The
+first is _Antiquitates Homericæ_ of Feithius, where he has extracted
+everything relative to the usages and customs of the Greeks; the other
+is, _Homeri Gnomologia per Duportum_, printed at Cambridge. In these two
+books is found everything valuable in Homer, without being obliged to
+get through his _Contes à dormir debout_!" Thus men of _science_ decide
+on men of _taste_! There are who study Homer and Virgil as the blind
+travel through a fine country, merely to get to the end of their
+journey. It was observed at the death of Longuerue that in his immense
+library not a volume of poetry was to be found. He had formerly read
+poetry, for indeed he had read everything. Racine tells us, that when
+young he paid him a visit; the conversation turned on _poets_; our
+_erudit_ reviewed them all with the most ineffable contempt of the
+poetical talent, from which he said we learn nothing. He seemed a little
+charitable towards Ariosto.--"As for that _madman_," said he, "he has
+amused me sometimes." Dacier, a poetical pedant after all, was asked who
+was the greater poet, Homer or Virgil? he honestly answered, "Homer by a
+thousand years!"
+
+But it is mortifying to find among the _anti-poetical_ even _poets_
+themselves! Malherbe, the first poet in France in his day, appears
+little to have esteemed the art. He used to say that "a good poet was
+not more useful to the state than a skilful player of nine-pins!"
+Malherbe wrote with costive labour. When a poem was shown to him which
+had been highly commended, he sarcastically asked if it would "lower the
+price of bread?" In these instances he maliciously confounded the
+_useful_ with the _agreeable_ arts. Be it remembered, that Malherbe had
+a cynical heart, cold and unfeeling; his character may be traced in his
+poetry; labour and correctness, without one ray of enthusiasm.
+
+Le Clerc was a scholar not entirely unworthy to be ranked amongst the
+Lockes, the Seldens, and the Longuerues; and his opinions are as just
+concerning poets. In the Parhasiana he has written a treatise on poets
+in a very unpoetical manner. I shall notice his coarse railleries
+relating to what he calls "the personal defects of poets." In vol. i. p.
+33, he says, "In the Scaligerana we have Joseph Scaliger's opinion
+concerning poets. 'There never was a man who was a poet, or addicted to
+the study of poetry, but his heart was puffed up with his
+greatness.'--This is very true. The poetical enthusiasm persuades those
+gentlemen that they have something in them superior to others, because
+they employ a language peculiar to themselves. When the poetic furor
+seizes them, its traces frequently remain on their faces, which make
+connoisseurs say with Horace,
+
+    Aut insanit homo, ant versus facit.
+
+    There goes a madman or a bard!
+
+"Their thoughtful air and melancholy gait make them appear insane; for,
+accustomed to versify while they walk, and to bite their nails in
+apparent agonies, their steps are measured and slow, and they look as if
+they were reflecting on something of consequence, although they are only
+thinking, as the phrase runs, of nothing!" I have only transcribed the
+above description of our jocular scholar, with an intention of
+describing those exterior marks of that fine enthusiasm, of which the
+poet is peculiarly susceptible, and which have exposed many an elevated
+genius to the ridicule of the vulgar.
+
+I find this admirably defended by Charpentier: "Men may ridicule as much
+as they please those gesticulations and contortions which poets are apt
+to make in the act of composing; it is certain, however, that they
+greatly assist in putting the imagination into motion. These kinds of
+agitation do not always show a mind which labours with its sterility;
+they frequently proceed from a mind which excites and animates itself.
+Quintilian has nobly compared them to those lashings of his tail which a
+lion gives himself when he is preparing to combat. Persius, when he
+would give us an idea of a cold and languishing oration, says that its
+author did not strike his desk nor bite his nails."
+
+    Nec pluteum cædit, nec demorsos sapit ungues.
+
+These exterior marks of enthusiasm may be illustrated by the following
+curious anecdote:--Domenichino, the painter, was accustomed to act the
+characters of all the figures he would represent on his canvas, and to
+speak aloud whatever the passion he meant to describe could prompt.
+Painting the martyrdom of St. Andrew, Carracci one day caught him in a
+violent passion, speaking in a terrible and menacing tone. He was at
+that moment employed on a soldier who was threatening the saint. When
+this fit of enthusiastic abstraction had passed, Carracci ran and
+embraced him, acknowledging that Domenichino had been that day his
+master; and that he had learnt from him the true manner to succeed in
+catching the expression--that great pride of the painter's art.
+
+Thus different are the sentiments of the intelligent and the
+unintelligent on the same subject. A Carracci embraced a kindred genius
+for what a Le Clerc or a Selden would have ridiculed.
+
+Poets, I confess, frequently indulge _reveries_, which, though they
+offer no charms to their friends, are too delicious to forego. In the
+ideal world, peopled with all its fairy inhabitants, and ever open to
+their contemplation, they travel with an unwearied foot. Crebillon, the
+celebrated tragic poet, was enamoured of solitude, that he might there
+indulge, without interruption, in those fine romances with which his
+imagination teemed. One day when he was in a deep reverie, a friend
+entered hastily: "Don't disturb me," cried the poet; "I am enjoying a
+moment of happiness: I am going to hang a villain of a minister, and
+banish another who is an idiot."
+
+Amongst the anti-poetical may be placed the father of the great monarch
+of Prussia. George the Second was not more the avowed enemy of the
+muses. Frederic would not suffer the prince to read verses; and when he
+was desirous of study, or of the conversation of literary men, he was
+obliged to do it secretly. Every poet was odious to his majesty. One
+day, having observed some lines written on one of the doors of the
+palace, he asked a courtier their signification. They were explained to
+him; they were Latin verses composed by Wachter, a man of letters, then
+resident at Berlin. The king immediately sent for the bard, who came
+warm with the hope of receiving a reward for his ingenuity. He was
+astonished, however, to hear the king, in a violent passion, accost him,
+"I order you immediately to quit this city and my kingdom." Wachter
+took refuge in Hanover. As little indeed was this anti-poetical monarch
+a friend to philosophers. Two or three such kings might perhaps renovate
+the ancient barbarism of Europe. Barratier, the celebrated child, was
+presented to his majesty of Prussia as a prodigy of erudition; the king,
+to mortify our ingenious youth, coldly asked him, "If he knew the law?"
+The learned boy was constrained to acknowledge that he knew nothing of
+the law. "Go," was the reply of this Augustus, "go, and study it before
+you give yourself out as a scholar." Poor Barratier renounced for this
+pursuit his other studies, and persevered with such ardour that he
+became an excellent lawyer at the end of fifteen months; but his
+exertions cost him at the same time his life!
+
+Every monarch, however, has not proved so destitute of poetic
+sensibility as this Prussian. Francis I. gave repeated marks of his
+attachment to the favourites of the muses, by composing several
+occasional sonnets, which are dedicated to their eulogy. Andrelin, a
+French poet, enjoyed the happy fate of Oppian, to whom the emperor
+Caracalla counted as many pieces of gold as there were verses in one of
+his poems; and with great propriety they have been called "golden
+verses." Andrelin, when he recited his poem on the Conquest of Naples
+before Charles VIII., received a sack of silver coin, which with
+difficulty he carried home. Charles IX., says Brantome, loved verses,
+and recompensed poets, not indeed immediately, but gradually, that they
+might always be stimulated to excel. He used to say, that poets
+resembled race-horses, that must be fed but not fattened, for then they
+were good for nothing. Marot was so much esteemed by kings, that he was
+called the poet of princes, and the prince of poets.
+
+In the early state of poetry what honours were paid to its votaries!
+Ronsard, the French Chaucer, was the first who carried away the prize at
+the Floral Games. This meed of poetic honour was an eglantine composed
+of silver. The reward did not appear equal to the merit of the work and
+the reputation of the poet; and on this occasion the city of Toulouse
+had a Minerva of solid silver struck, of considerable value. This image
+was sent to Ronsard, accompanied by a decree, in which he was declared,
+by way of eminence, "The French Poet."
+
+It is a curious anecdote to add, that when, at a later period, a similar
+Minerva was adjudged to Maynard for his verses, the Capitouls, of
+Toulouse, who were the executors of the Floral gifts, to their shame,
+out of covetousness, never obeyed the decision of the poetical judges.
+This circumstance is noticed by Maynard in an epigram, which bears this
+title: _On a Minerva of silver, promised but not given_.
+
+The anecdote of Margaret of Scotland, wife of the Dauphin of France, and
+Alain the poet, is generally known. Who is not charmed with that fine
+expression of her poetical sensibility? The person of Alain was
+repulsive, but his poetry had attracted her affections. Passing through
+one of the halls of the palace, she saw him sleeping on a bench; she
+approached and kissed him. Some of her attendants could not conceal
+their astonishment that she should press with her lips those of a man so
+frightfully ugly. The amiable princess answered, smiling, "I did not
+kiss the man, but the mouth which has uttered so many fine things."
+
+The great Colbert paid a pretty compliment to Boileau and Racine. This
+minister, at his villa, was enjoying the conversation of our two poets,
+when the arrival of a prelate was announced: turning quickly to the
+servant, he said, "Let him be shown everything except myself!"
+
+To such attentions from this great minister, Boileau alludes in these
+verses:--
+
+    Plus d'un grand m'aima jusqnes à la tendresse;
+    Et ma vue à Colbert inspiroit l'allégresse.
+
+Several pious persons have considered it as highly meritable to abstain
+from the reading of poetry! A good father, in his account of the last
+hours of Madame Racine, the lady of the celebrated tragic poet, pays
+high compliments to her religious disposition, which, he says, was so
+austere, that she would not allow herself to read poetry, as she
+considered it to be a dangerous pleasure; and he highly commends her for
+never having read the tragedies of her husband! Arnauld, though so
+intimately connected with Racine for many years, had not read his
+compositions. When at length he was persuaded to read Phædra, he
+declared himself to be delighted, but complained that the poet had set a
+dangerous example, in making the manly Hippolytus dwindle to an
+effeminate lover. As a critic, Arnauld was right; but Racine had his
+nation to please. Such persons entertain notions of poetry similar to
+that of an ancient father, who calls poetry the wine of Satan; or to
+that of the religious and austere Nicole, who was so ably answered by
+Racine: he said, that dramatic poets were public poisoners, not of
+bodies, but of souls.
+
+Poets, it is acknowledged, have foibles peculiar to themselves. They
+sometimes act in the daily commerce of life as if every one was
+concerned in the success of their productions. Poets are too frequently
+merely poets. Segrais has recorded that the following maxim of
+Rochefoucault was occasioned by reflecting on the characters of Boileau
+and Racine. "It displays," he writes, "a great poverty of mind to have
+only one kind of genius." On this Segrais observes, and Segrais knew
+them intimately, that their conversation only turned on poetry; take
+them from that, and they knew nothing. It was thus with one Du Perrier,
+a good poet, but very poor. When he was introduced to Pelisson, who
+wished to be serviceable to him, the minister said, "In what can he be
+employed? He is only occupied by his verses."
+
+All these complaints are not unfounded; yet, perhaps, it is unjust to
+expect from an excelling artist all the petty accomplishments of
+frivolous persons, who have studied no art but that of practising on the
+weaknesses of their friends. The enthusiastic votary, who devotes his
+days and nights to meditations on his favourite art, will rarely be
+found that despicable thing, a mere man of the world. Du Bos has justly
+observed, that men of genius, born for a particular profession, appear
+inferior to others when they apply themselves to other occupations. That
+absence of mind which arises from their continued attention to their
+ideas, renders them awkward in their manners. Such defects are even a
+proof of the activity of genius.
+
+It is a common foible with poets to read their verses to friends.
+Segrais has ingeniously observed, to use his own words, "When young I
+used to please myself in reciting my verses indifferently to all
+persons; but I perceived when Scarron, who was my intimate friend, used
+to take his portfolio and read his verses to me, although they were
+good, I frequently became weary. I then reflected, that those to whom I
+read mine, and who, for the greater part, had no taste for poetry, must
+experience the same disagreeable sensation. I resolved for the future to
+read my verses only to those who entreated me, and to read but a few at
+a time. We flatter ourselves too much; we conclude that what please us
+must please others. We will have persons indulgent to us, and frequently
+we will have no indulgence for those who are in want of it." An
+excellent hint for young poets, and for those old ones who carry odes
+and elegies in their pockets, to inflict the pains of the torture on
+their friends.
+
+The affection which a poet feels for his verses has been frequently
+extravagant. Bayle, ridiculing that parental tenderness which writers
+evince for their poetical compositions, tells us, that many having
+written epitaphs on friends whom they believed on report to have died,
+could not determine to keep them in their closet, but suffered them to
+appear in the lifetime of those very friends whose death they
+celebrated. In another place he says, such is their infatuation for
+their productions, that they prefer giving to the public their
+panegyrics of persons whom afterwards they satirized, rather than
+suppress the verses which contain those panegyrics. We have many
+examples of this in the poems, and even in the epistolary correspondence
+of modern writers. It is customary with most authors, when they quarrel
+with a person after the first edition of their work, to cancel his
+eulogies in the next. But poets and letter-writers frequently do not do
+this; because they are so charmed with the happy turn of their
+expressions, and other elegancies of composition, that they perfer the
+praise which they may acquire for their style to the censure which may
+follow from their inconsistency.
+
+After having given a hint to _young_ poets, I shall offer one to
+_veterans_. It is a common defect with them that they do not know when
+to quit the muses in their advanced age. Bayle says, "Poets and orators
+should be mindful to retire from their occupations, which so peculiarly
+require the fire of imagination; yet it is but too common to see them in
+their career, even in the decline of life. It seems as if they would
+condemn the public to drink even the lees of their nectar." Afer and
+Daurat were both poets who had acquired considerable reputation, but
+which they overturned when they persisted to write in their old age
+without vigour and without fancy.
+
+    What crowds of these impenitently bold,
+    In sounds and jingling syllables grown old,
+    They run on poets, in a raging rein,
+    E'en to the dregs and squeezings of the brain:
+    Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense,
+    And rhyme with all the rage of impotence.
+
+                                      POPE.
+
+It is probable he had Wycherley in his eye when he wrote this. The
+veteran bard latterly scribbled much indifferent verse; and Pope had
+freely given his opinion, by which he lost his friendship!
+
+It is still worse when aged poets devote their exhausted talents to
+_divine poems_, as did Waller; and Milton in his second epic. Such
+poems, observes Voltaire, are frequently entitled "_sacred poems_;" and
+_sacred_ they are, for no one touches them. From a soil so arid what can
+be expected but insipid fruits? Corneille told Chevreau several years
+before his death, that he had taken leave of the theatre, for he had
+lost his poetical powers with his teeth.
+
+Poets have sometimes displayed an obliquity of taste in their female
+favourites. As if conscious of the power of ennobling others, some have
+selected them from the lowest classes, whom, having elevated into
+divinities, they have addressed in the language of poetical devotion.
+The Chloe of Prior, after all his raptures, was a plump barmaid. Ronsard
+addressed many of his verses to Miss Cassandra, who followed the same
+occupation: in one of his sonnets to her, he fills it with a crowd of
+personages taken from the Iliad, which to the honest girl must have all
+been extremely mysterious. Colletet, a French bard, married three of his
+servants. His last lady was called _la belle Claudine_. Ashamed of such
+menial alliances, he attempted to persuade the world that he had married
+the tenth muse; and for this purpose published verses in her name. When
+he died, the vein of Claudine became suddenly dry. She indeed published
+her "Adieux to the Muses;" but it was soon discovered that all the
+verses of this lady, including her "Adieux," were the compositions of
+her husband.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, the ostensible mistresses of poets have no existence;
+and a slight occasion is sufficient to give birth to one. Racan and
+Malherbe were one day conversing on their amours; that is, of selecting
+a lady who should be the object of their verses. Racan named one, and
+Malherbe another. It happening that both had the same name, Catherine,
+they passed the whole afternoon in forming it into an anagram. They
+found three: Arthenice, Eracinthe, and Charinté. The first was
+preferred, and many a fine ode was written in praise of the beautiful
+Arthenice!
+
+Poets change their opinions of their own productions wonderfully at
+different periods of life. Baron Haller was in his youth warmly attached
+to poetic composition. His house was on fire, and to rescue his poems
+he rushed through the flames. He was so fortunate as to escape with his
+beloved manuscripts in his hand. Ten years afterwards he condemned to
+the flames those very poems which he had ventured his life to preserve.
+
+Satirists, if they escape the scourges of the law, have reason to dread
+the cane of the satirised. Of this kind we have many anecdotes on
+record; but none more poignant than the following:--Benserade was caned
+for lampooning the Duc d'Epernon. Some days afterwards he appeared at
+court, but being still lame from the rough treatment he had received, he
+was forced to support himself by a cane. A wit, who knew what had
+passed, whispered the affair to the queen. She, dissembling, asked him
+if he had the gout? "Yes, madam," replied our lame satirist, "and
+therefore I make use of a cane." "Not so," interrupted the malignant
+Bautru, "Benserade in this imitates those holy martyrs who are always
+represented with the instrument which occasioned their sufferings."
+
+
+
+
+ROMANCES.
+
+
+Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of FICTION and LOVE.
+Men of learning have amused themselves with tracing the epocha of
+romances; but the erudition is desperate which would fix on the inventor
+of the first romance: for what originates in nature, who shall hope to
+detect the shadowy outlines of its beginnings? The Theagenes and
+Chariclea of Heliodorus appeared in the fourth century; and this elegant
+prelate was the Grecian Fenelon. It has been prettily said, that
+posterior romances seem to be the children of the marriage of Theagenes
+and Chariclea. The Romance of "The Golden Ass," by Apuleius, which
+contains the beautiful tale of "Cupid and Psyche," remains unrivalled;
+while the "Däphne and Chloe" of Longus, in the old version of Amyot, is
+inexpressibly delicate, simple, and inartificial, but sometimes offends
+us, for nature there "plays her virgin fancies."
+
+Beautiful as these compositions are, when the imagination of the writer
+is sufficiently stored with accurate observations on human nature, in
+their birth, like many of the fine arts, the zealots of an ascetic
+religion opposed their progress. However Heliodorus may have delighted
+those who were not insensible to the felicities of a fine imagination,
+and to the enchanting elegancies of style, he raised himself, among his
+brother ecclesiastics, enemies, who at length so far prevailed, that, in
+a synod, it was declared that his performance was dangerous to young
+persons, and that if the author did not suppress it, he must resign his
+bishopric. We are told he preferred his romance to his bishopric. Even
+so late as in Racine's time it was held a crime to peruse these
+unhallowed pages. He informs us that the first effusions of his muse
+were in consequence of studying that ancient romance, which, his tutor
+observing him to devour with the keenness of a famished man, snatched
+from his hands and flung it in the fire. A second copy experienced the
+same fate. What could Racine do? He bought a third, and took the
+precaution of devouring it secretly till he got it by heart: after which
+he offered it to the pedagogue with a smile, to burn like the others.
+
+The decision of these ascetic bigots was founded in their opinion of the
+immorality of such works. They alleged that the writers paint too warmly
+to the imagination, address themselves too forcibly to the passions, and
+in general, by the freedom of their representations, hover on the
+borders of indecency. Let it be sufficient, however, to observe, that
+those who condemned the liberties which these writers take with the
+imagination could indulge themselves with the Anacreontic voluptuousness
+of the wise _Solomon_, when sanctioned by the authority of the church.
+
+The marvellous power of romance over the human mind is exemplified in
+this curious anecdote of oriental literature.
+
+Mahomet found they had such an influence over the imaginations of his
+followers, that he has expressly forbidden them in his Koran; and the
+reason is given in the following anecdote:--An Arabian merchant having
+long resided in Persia, returned to his own country while the prophet
+was publishing his Koran. The merchant, among his other riches, had a
+treasure of romances concerning the Persian heroes. These he related to
+his delighted countrymen, who considered them to be so excellent, that
+the legends of the Koran were neglected, and they plainly told the
+prophet that the "Persian Tales" were superior to his. Alarmed, he
+immediately had a visitation from the angel Gabriel, declaring them
+impious and pernicious, hateful to God and Mahomet. This checked their
+currency; and all true believers yielded up the exquisite delight of
+poetic fictions for the insipidity of religious ones. Yet these romances
+may be said to have outlived the Koran itself; for they have spread into
+regions which the Koran could never penetrate. Even to this day Colonel
+Capper, in his travels across the Desert, saw "Arabians sitting round a
+fire, listening to their tales with such attention and pleasure, as
+totally to forget the fatigue and hardship with which an instant before
+they were entirely overcome." And Wood, in his journey to Palmyra:--"At
+night the Arabs sat in a circle drinking coffee, while one of the
+company diverted the rest by relating a piece of history on the subject
+of love or war, or with an extempore tale."
+
+Mr. Ellis has given us "Specimens of the Early English Metrical
+Romances," and Ritson and Weber have printed two collections of them
+entire, valued by the poetical antiquary. Learned inquirers have traced
+the origin of romantic fiction to various sources.[117] From Scandinavia
+issued forth the giants, dragons, witches, and enchanters. The curious
+reader will be gratified by "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities," a
+volume in quarto; where he will find extracts from "The Book of Heroes"
+and "The Nibelungen Lay,"[118] with many other metrical tales from the
+old German, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic languages. In the East,
+Arabian fancy bent her iris of many softened hues over a delightful land
+of fiction: while the Welsh, in their emigration to Britanny, are
+believed to have brought with them their national fables. That
+subsequent race of minstrels, known by the name of _Troubadours_ in the
+South of France, composed their erotic or sentimental poems; and those
+romancers called _Troveurs_, or finders, in the North of France, culled
+and compiled their domestic tales or _Fabliaux_, _Dits_, _Conte_, or
+_Lai_. Millot, Sainte Palaye, and Le Grand, have preserved, in their
+"Histories of the Troubadours," their literary compositions. They were a
+romantic race of ambulatory poets, military and religious subjects their
+favourite themes, yet bold and satirical on princes, and even on
+priests; severe moralisers, though libertines in their verse; so refined
+and chaste in their manners, that few husbands were alarmed at the
+enthusiastic language they addressed to their wives. The most romantic
+incidents are told of their loves. But love and its grosser passion were
+clearly distinguished from each other in their singular intercourse with
+their "Dames." The object of their mind was separated from the object of
+their senses; the virtuous lady to whom they vowed their hearts was in
+their language styled "_la dame de ses pensées_," a very distinct being
+from their other mistress! Such was the Platonic chimera that charmed in
+the age of chivalry; the Laura of Petrarch might have been no other than
+"the lady of his thoughts."
+
+From such productions in their improved state poets of all nations have
+drawn their richest inventions. The agreeable wildness of that fancy
+which characterised the Eastern nations was often caught by the
+crusaders. When they returned home, they mingled in their own the
+customs of each country. The Saracens, being of another religion, brave,
+desperate, and fighting for their fatherland, were enlarged to their
+fears, under the tremendous form of _Paynim Giants_, while the reader of
+that day followed with trembling sympathy the _Redcross Knight_. Thus
+fiction embellished religion, and religion invigorated fiction; and such
+incidents have enlivened the cantos of Ariosto, and adorned the epic of
+Tasso. Spenser is the child of their creation; and it is certain that we
+are indebted to them for some of the bold and strong touches of Milton.
+Our great poet marks his affection for "these lofty Fables and Romances,
+among which his young feet wandered." Collins was bewildered among their
+magical seductions; and Dr. Johnson was enthusiastically delighted by
+the old Spanish folio romance of "Felixmarte of Hircania," and similar
+works. The most ancient romances were originally composed in verse
+before they were converted into prose: no wonder that the lacerated
+members of the poet have been cherished by the sympathy of poetical
+souls. Don Quixote's was a very agreeable insanity.
+
+The most voluminous of these ancient romances is "Le Roman de
+Perceforest." I have seen an edition in six small folio volumes, and its
+author has been called the French Homer by the writers of his age. In
+the class of romances of chivalry, we have several translations in the
+black letter. These books are very rare, and their price is as
+voluminous. It is extraordinary that these writers were so unconscious
+of their future fame, that not one of their names has travelled down to
+us. There were eager readers in their days, but not a solitary
+bibliographer! All these romances now require some indulgence for their
+prolixity, and their Platonic amours; but they have not been surpassed
+in the wildness of their inventions, the ingenuity of their incidents,
+the simplicity of their style, and their curious manners. Many a Homer
+lies hid among them; but a celebrated Italian critic suggested to me
+that many of the fables of Homer are only disguised and degraded in the
+romances of chivalry. Those who vilify them as only barbarous imitations
+of classical fancy condemn them as some do Gothic architecture, as mere
+corruptions of a purer style: such critics form their decision by
+preconceived notions; they are but indifferent philosophers, and to us
+seem to be deficient in imagination.
+
+As a specimen I select two romantic adventures:--
+
+The title of the extensive romance of Perceforest is, "The most elegant,
+delicious, mellifluous, and delightful history of Perceforest, King of
+Great Britain, &c." The most ancient edition is that of 1528. The
+writers of these Gothic fables, lest they should be considered as mere
+triflers, pretended to an allegorical meaning concealed under the
+texture of their fable. From the following adventure we learn the power
+of beauty in making _ten days_ appear as _yesterday_! Alexander the
+Great in search of Perceforest, parts with his knights in an enchanted
+wood, and each vows they will not remain longer than one night in one
+place. Alexander, accompanied by a page, arrives at Sebilla's castle,
+who is a sorceress. He is taken by her witcheries and beauty, and the
+page, by the lady's maid, falls into the same mistake as his master, who
+thinks he is there only one night. They enter the castle with deep
+wounds, and issue perfectly recovered. I transcribe the latter part as a
+specimen of the manner. When they were once out of the castle, the king
+said, "Truly, Floridas, I know not how it has been with me; but
+certainly Sebilla is a very honourable lady, and very beautiful, and
+very charming in conversation. Sire (said Floridas), it is true; but one
+thing surprises me:--how is it that our wounds have healed in one night?
+I thought at least ten or fifteen days were necessary. Truly, said the
+king, that is astonishing! Now king Alexander met Gadiffer, king of
+Scotland, and the valiant knight Le Tors. Well, said the king, have ye
+news of the king of England? Ten days we have hunted him, and cannot
+find him out. How, said Alexander, did we not separate _yesterday_ from
+each other? In God's name, said Gadiffer, what means your majesty? It is
+_ten days_! Have a care what you say, cried the king. Sire, replied
+Gadiffer, it is so; ask Le Tors. On my honour, said Le Tors, the king of
+Scotland speaks truth. Then, said the king, some of us are enchanted;
+Floridas, didst thou not think we separated _yesterday_? Truly, truly,
+your majesty, I thought so! But when I saw our wounds healed in one
+night, I had some suspicion that WE were _enchanted_."
+
+In the old romance of Melusina, this lovely fairy (though to the world
+unknown as such), enamoured of Count Raymond, marries him, but first
+extorts a solemn promise that he will never disturb her on Saturdays. On
+those days the inferior parts of her body are metamorphosed to that of a
+mermaid, as a punishment for a former error. Agitated by the malicious
+insinuations of a friend, his curiosity and his jealousy one day conduct
+him to the spot she retired to at those times. It was a darkened passage
+in the dungeon of the fortress. His hand gropes its way till it feels an
+iron gate oppose it; nor can he discover a single chink, but at length
+perceives by his touch a loose nail; he places his sword in its head and
+screws it out. Through this cranny he sees Melusina in the horrid form
+she is compelled to assume. That tender mistress, transformed into a
+monster bathing in a fount, flashing the spray of the water from a scaly
+tail! He repents of his fatal curiosity: she reproaches him, and their
+mutual happiness is for ever lost. The moral design of the tale
+evidently warns the lover to revere a _Woman's Secret_!
+
+Such are the works which were the favourite amusements of our English
+court, and which doubtless had a due effect in refining the manners of
+the age, in diffusing that splendid military genius, and that tender
+devotion to the fair sex, which dazzle us in the reign of Edward III.,
+and through that enchanting labyrinth of History constructed by the
+gallant Froissart. In one of the revenue rolls of Henry III. there is an
+entry of "Silver clasps and studs for his majesty's _great book of
+Romances_." Dr. Moore observes that the enthusiastic admiration of
+chivalry which Edward III. manifested during the whole course of his
+reign, was probably, in some measure, owing to his having studied the
+_clasped book_ in his great grandfather's library.
+
+The Italian romances of the fourteenth century were spread abroad in
+great numbers. They formed the polite literature of the day. But if it
+is not permitted to authors freely to express their ideas, and give full
+play to the imagination, these works must never be placed in the study
+of the rigid moralist. They, indeed, pushed their indelicacy to the
+verge of grossness, and seemed rather to seek than to avoid scenes,
+which a modern would blush to describe. They, to employ the expression
+of one of their authors, were not ashamed to name what God had created.
+Cinthio, Bandello, and others, but chiefly Boccaccio, rendered
+libertinism agreeable by the fascinating charms of a polished style and
+a luxuriant imagination.
+
+This, however, must not be admitted as an apology for immoral works; for
+poison is not the less poison, even when delicious. Such works were, and
+still continue to be, the favourites of a nation stigmatized for being
+prone to impure amours. They are still curious in their editions, and
+are not parsimonious in their price for what they call an uncastrated
+copy. There are many Italians, not literary men, who are in possession
+of an ample library of these old novelists.
+
+If we pass over the moral irregularities of these romances, we may
+discover a rich vein of invention, which only requires to be released
+from that rubbish which disfigures it, to become of an invaluable price.
+The _Decamerones_, the _Hecatommiti_, and the _Novellas_ of these
+writers, translated into English, made no inconsiderable figure in the
+little library of our Shakspeare.[119] Chaucer had been a notorious
+imitator and lover of them. His "Knight's Tale" is little more than a
+paraphrase of "Boccaccio's Teseoide." Fontaine has caught all their
+charms with all their licentiousness. From such works these great poets,
+and many of their contemporaries, frequently borrowed their plots; not
+uncommonly kindled at their flame the ardour of their genius; but
+bending too submissively to the taste of their age, in extracting the
+ore they have not purified it of the alloy. The origin of these tales
+must be traced to the inventions of the Troveurs, who doubtless often
+adopted them from various nations. Of these tales, Le Grand has printed
+a curious collection; and of the writers Mr. Ellis observes, in his
+preface to "Way's Fabliaux," that the authors of the "Cento Novelle
+Antiche," Boccaccio, Bandello, Chaucer, Gower,--in short, the writers of
+all Europe have probably made use of the inventions of the elder
+fablers. They have borrowed their general outlines, which they have
+filled up with colours of their own, and have exercised their ingenuity
+in varying the drapery, in combining the groups, and in forming them
+into more regular and animated pictures.
+
+We now turn to the French romances of the last century, called heroic,
+from the circumstance of their authors adopting the name of some hero.
+The manners are the modern antique; and the characters are a sort of
+beings made out of the old epical, the Arcadian pastoral, and the
+Parisian sentimentality and affectation of the days of Voiture.[120] The
+Astrea of D'Urfé greatly contributed to their perfection. As this work
+is founded on several curious circumstances, it shall be the subject of
+the following article; for it may be considered as a literary curiosity.
+The Astrea was followed by the illustrious Bassa, Artamene, or the Great
+Cyrus, Clelia, &c., which, though not adapted to the present age, once
+gave celebrity to their authors; and the Great Cyrus, in ten volumes,
+passed through five or six editions. Their style, as well as that of the
+Astrea, is diffuse and languid; yet Zaïde, and the Princess of Cleves,
+are masterpieces of the kind. Such works formed the first studies of
+Rousseau, who, with his father, would sit up all night, till warned by
+the chirping of the swallows how foolishly they had spent it! Some
+incidents in his Nouvelle Heloise have been retraced to these sources;
+and they certainly entered greatly into the formation of his character.
+
+Such romances at length were regarded as pernicious to good sense,
+taste, and literature. It was in this light they were considered by
+Boileau, after he had indulged in them in his youth.
+
+A celebrated Jesuit pronounced an oration against these works. The
+rhetorician exaggerates and hurls his thunders on flowers. He entreats
+the magistrates not to suffer foreign romances to be scattered amongst
+the people, but to lay on them heavy penalties, as on prohibited goods;
+and represents this prevailing taste as being more pestilential than the
+plague itself. He has drawn a striking picture of a family devoted to
+romance-reading; he there describes women occupied day and night with
+their perusal; children just escaped from the lap of their nurse
+grasping in their little hands the fairy tales; and a country squire
+seated in an old arm-chair, reading to his family the most wonderful
+passages of the ancient works of chivalry.
+
+These romances went out of fashion with our square-cocked hats: they had
+exhausted the patience of the public, and from them sprung NOVELS. They
+attempted to allure attention by this inviting title, and reducing their
+works from ten to two volumes. The name of romance, including imaginary
+heroes and extravagant passions, disgusted; and they substituted scenes
+of domestic life, and touched our common feelings by pictures of real
+nature. Heroes were not now taken from the throne: they were sometimes
+even sought after amongst the lowest ranks of the people. Scarron seems
+to allude sarcastically to this degradation of the heroes of Fiction:
+for in hinting at a new comic history he had projected, he tells us that
+he gave it up suddenly because he had "heard that his hero had just been
+hanged at Mans."
+
+NOVELS, as they were long _manufactured_, form a library of illiterate
+authors for illiterate readers; but as they are _created_ by genius, are
+precious to the philosopher. They paint the character of an individual
+or the manners of the age more perfectly than any other species of
+composition: it is in novels we observe as it were passing under our
+eyes the refined frivolity of the French; the gloomy and disordered
+sensibility of the German; and the petty intrigues of the modern Italian
+in some Venetian Novels. We have shown the world that we possess writers
+of the first order in this delightful province of Fiction and of Truth;
+for every Fiction invented naturally, must be true. After the abundant
+invective poured on this class of books, it is time to settle for ever
+the controversy, by asserting that these works of fiction are among the
+most instructive of every polished nation, and must contain all the
+useful truths of human life, if composed with genius. They are pictures
+of the passions, useful to our youth to contemplate. That acute
+philosopher, Adam Smith, has given an opinion most favourable to
+NOVELS. "The poets and romance writers who best paint the refinements
+and delicacies of love and friendship, and of all other private and
+domestic affections, Racine and Voltaire, Richardson Marivaux, and
+Riccoboni, are in this case much better instructors than Zeno,
+Chrysippus, or Epictetus."
+
+The history of romances has been recently given by Mr. Dunlop, with many
+pleasing details; but this work should be accompanied by the learned
+Lenglet du Fresnoy's "Bibliothèque des Romans," published under the name
+of M. le C. Gordon de Percel; which will be found useful for immediate
+reference for titles, dates, and a copious catalogue of romances and
+novels to the year 1734.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 117: Since the above was written, many other volumes have been
+published illustrative of this branch of literature. The Bannatyne and
+Maitland Club and the Camden and Percy Societies have printed Metrical
+Romances entire.]
+
+[Footnote 118: This famed lay has been magnificently published in
+Germany, where it is now considered as the native epic of the ancient
+kingdom. Its scenes have been delineated by the greatest of their
+artists, who have thus given a world-wide reputation to a poem
+comparatively unknown when the first edition of this work was printed.]
+
+[Footnote 119: These early novels have been collected and published by
+Mr. J. P. Collier, under the title of _Shakespeare's Library_. They form
+the foundation of some of the great Poet's best dramas.]
+
+[Footnote 120: They were ridiculed in a French burlesque Romance of the
+Shepherd Lysis, translated by Davis, and published 1660. Don Quixote,
+when dying, made up his mind, if he recovered, to turn shepherd, in
+imitation of some of the romance-heroes, who thus finished their career.
+This old "anti-romance" works out this notion by a mad reader of
+pastorals, who assumes the shepherd habit and tends a few wretched sheep
+at St. Cloud.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ASTREA.
+
+
+I bring the Astrea forward to point out the ingenious manner by which a
+fine imagination can veil the common incidents of life, and turn
+whatever it touches into gold.
+
+Honoré D'Urfé was the descendant of an illustrious family. His brother
+Anne married Diana of Chateaumorand, the wealthy heiress of another
+great house. After a marriage of no less duration than twenty-two years,
+this union was broken by the desire of Anne himself, for a cause which
+the delicacy of Diana had never revealed. Anne then became an
+ecclesiastic. Some time afterwards, Honoré, desirous of retaining the
+great wealth of Diana in the family, addressed this lady, and married
+her. This union, however, did not prove fortunate. Diana, like the
+goddess of that name, was a huntress, continually surrounded by her
+dogs:--they dined with her at table, and slept with her in bed. This
+insupportable nuisance could not be patiently endured by the elegant
+Honoré. He was also disgusted with the barrenness of the huntress Diana,
+who was only delivered every year of abortions. He separated from her,
+and retired to Piedmont, where he passed his remaining days in peace,
+without feeling the thorns of marriage and ambition rankling in his
+heart. In this retreat he composed his Astrea; a pastoral romance, which
+was the admiration of Europe during half a century. It forms a striking
+picture of human life, for the incidents are facts beautifully
+concealed. They relate the amours and gallantries of the court of Henry
+the Fourth. The personages in the Astrea display a rich invention; and
+the work might be still read, were it not for those wire-drawn
+conversations, or rather disputations, which were then introduced into
+romances. In a modern edition, the Abbé Souchai has _curtailed_ these
+tiresome dialogues; the work still consists of ten duodecimos.
+
+In this romance, Celidée, to cure the unfortunate Celadon, and to
+deprive Thamire at the same time of every reason for jealousy, tears her
+face with a pointed diamond, and disfigures it in so cruel a manner,
+that she excites horror in the breast of Thamire; but he so ardently
+admires this exertion of virtue, that he loves her, hideous as she is
+represented, still more than when she was most beautiful. Heaven, to be
+just to these two lovers, restores the beauty of Celidée; which is
+effected by a sympathetic powder. This romantic incident is thus
+explained:--One of the French princes (Thamire), when he returned from
+Italy, treated with coldness his amiable princess (Celidée); this was
+the effect of his violent passion, which had become jealousy. The
+coolness subsisted till the prince was imprisoned, for state affairs, in
+the wood of Vincennes. The princess, with the permission of the court,
+followed him into his confinement. This proof of her love soon brought
+back the wandering heart and affections of the prince. The small-pox
+seized her; which is the pointed diamond, and the dreadful disfigurement
+of her face. She was so fortunate as to escape being marked by this
+disease; which is meant by the sympathetic powder. This trivial incident
+is happily turned into the marvellous: that a wife should choose to be
+imprisoned with her husband is not singular; to escape being marked by
+the small-pox happens every day; but to romance, as he has done, on such
+common circumstances, is beautiful and ingenious.
+
+D'Urfé, when a boy, is said to have been enamoured of Diana; this indeed
+has been questioned. D'Urfé, however, was sent to the island of Malta to
+enter into that order of knighthood; and in his absence Diana was
+married to Anne. What an affliction for Honoré on his return to see her
+married, and to his brother! His affection did not diminish, but he
+concealed it in respectful silence. He had some knowledge of his
+brother's unhappiness, and on this probably founded his hopes. After
+several years, during which the modest Diana had uttered no complaint,
+Anne declared himself; and shortly afterwards Honoré, as we have
+noticed, married Diana.
+
+Our author has described the parties under this false appearance of
+marriage. He assumes the names of Celadon and Sylvander, and gives Diana
+those of Astrea and Diana. He is Sylvander and she Astrea while she is
+married to Anne; and he Celadon and she Diana when the marriage is
+dissolved. Sylvander is represented always as a lover who sighs
+secretly; nor does Diana declare her passion till overcome by the long
+sufferings of her faithful shepherd. For this reason Astrea and Diana,
+as well as Sylvander and Celadon, go together, prompted by the same
+despair, to the FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE.
+
+Sylvander is called an unknown shepherd, who has no other wealth than
+his flock; because our author was the youngest of his family, or rather
+a knight of Malta who possessed nothing but honour.
+
+Celadon in despair throws himself into a river; this refers to his
+voyage to Malta. Under the name of Alexis he displays the friendship of
+Astrea for him, and all those innocent freedoms which passed between
+them as relatives; from this circumstance he has contrived a difficulty
+inimitably delicate.
+
+Something of passion is to be discovered in these expressions of
+friendship. When Alexis assumes the name of Celadon, he calls that love
+which Astrea had mistaken for fraternal affection. This was the trying
+moment. For though she loved him, she is rigorous in her duty and
+honour. She says, "what will they think of me if I unite myself to him,
+after permitting, for so many years, those familiarities which a brother
+may have taken with a sister, with me, who knew that in fact I remained
+unmarried?"
+
+How she got over this nice scruple does not appear; it was, however, for
+a long time a great obstacle to the felicity of our author. There is an
+incident which shows the purity of this married virgin, who was fearful
+the liberties she allowed Celadon might be ill construed. Phillis tells
+the druid Adamas that Astrea was seen sleeping by the fountain of the
+Truth of Love, and that the unicorns which guarded those waters were
+observed to approach her, and lay their heads on her lap. According to
+fable, it is one of the properties of these animals never to approach
+any female but a maiden: at this strange difficulty our druid remains
+surprised; while Astrea has thus given an incontrovertible proof of her
+purity.
+
+The history of Philander is that of the elder D'Urfé. None but boys
+disguised as girls, and girls as boys, appear in the history. In this
+manner he concealed, without offending modesty, the defect of his
+brother. To mark the truth of this history, when Philander is disguised
+as a woman, while he converses with Astrea of his love, he frequently
+alludes to his misfortune, although in another sense.
+
+Philander, ready to expire, will die with the glorious name of the
+husband of Astrea. He entreats her to grant him this favour; she accords
+it to him, and swears before the gods that she receives him in her heart
+for her husband. The truth is, he enjoyed nothing but the name.
+Philander dies too, in combating with a hideous Moor, which is the
+personification of his conscience, and which at length compelled him to
+quit so beautiful an object, and one so worthy of being eternally
+beloved.
+
+The gratitude of Sylvander, on the point of being sacrificed, represents
+the consent of Honoré's parents to dissolve his vow of celibacy, and
+unite him to Diana; and the druid Adamas represents ecclesiastical
+power. The FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE is that of marriage; the
+unicorns are the symbols of that purity which should ever guard it; and
+the flaming eyes of the lions, which are also there, represent those
+inconveniences attending marriage, but over which a faithful passion
+easily triumphs.
+
+In this manner has our author disguised his own private history; and
+blended in his works a number of little amours which passed at the court
+of Henry the Great. These particulars were confided to Patru, on
+visiting the author in his retirement.
+
+
+
+
+POETS LAUREAT.
+
+
+The present article is a sketch of the history of POETS LAUREAT, from a
+memoir of the French Academy, by the Abbé Resnel.
+
+The custom of crowning poets is as ancient as poetry itself; it has,
+indeed, frequently varied; it existed, however, as late as the reign of
+Theodosius, when it was abolished as a remain of paganism.
+
+When the barbarians overspread Europe, few appeared to merit this
+honour, and fewer who could have read their works. It was about the time
+of PETRARCH that POETRY resumed its ancient lustre; he was publicly
+honoured with the LAUREL CROWN. It was in this century (the thirteenth)
+that the establishment of Bachelor and Doctor was fixed in the
+universities. Those who were found worthy of the honour, obtained the
+_laurel of Bachelor_, or the _laurel of Doctor_; _Laurea
+Baccalaureatus_; _Laurea Doctoratus_. At their reception they not only
+assumed this _title_ but they also had a _crown of laurel_ placed on
+their heads.
+
+To this ceremony the ingenious writer attributes the revival of the
+custom. The _poets_ were not slow in putting in their claims to what
+they had most a right; and their patrons sought to encourage them by
+these honourable distinctions.
+
+The following _formula_ is the exact style of those which are yet
+employed in the universities to confer the degree of Bachelor and
+Doctor, and serves to confirm the conjecture of Resnel:--
+
+"We, count and senator," (Count d'Anguillara, who bestowed the laurel on
+Petrarch,) "for us and our College, declare FRANCIS PETRARCH great poet
+and historian, and for a special mark of his quality of poet we have
+placed with our hands on his head a _crown of laurel_, granting to him,
+by the tenor of these presents, and by the authority of King Robert, of
+the senate and the people of Rome, in the poetic, as well as in the
+historic art, and generally in whatever relates to the said arts, as
+well in this holy city as elsewhere, the free and entire power of
+reading, disputing, and interpreting all ancient books, to make new
+ones, and compose poems, which, God assisting, shall endure from age to
+age."
+
+In Italy, these honours did not long flourish; although Tasso dignified
+the laurel crown by his acceptance of it. Many got crowned who were
+unworthy of the distinction. The laurel was even bestowed on QUERNO,
+whose character is given in the Dunciad:--
+
+    Not with more glee, by hands pontific crown'd,
+    With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round,
+    Rome in her capitol saw _Querno_ sit,
+    Thron'd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.
+
+                                      CANTO II.
+
+This man was made laureat, for the joke's sake; his poetry was inspired
+by his cups, a kind of poet who came in with the dessert; and he recited
+twenty thousand verses. He was rather the _arch-buffoon_ than the
+_arch-poet_ of Leo. X. though honoured with the latter title. They
+invented for him a new kind of laureated honour, and in the intermixture
+of the foliage raised to Apollo, slily inserted the vine and the cabbage
+leaves, which he evidently deserved, from his extreme dexterity in
+clearing the pontiff's dishes and emptying his goblets.
+
+Urban VIII. had a juster and more elevated idea of the children of
+Fancy. It appears that he possessed much poetic sensibility. Of him it
+is recorded, that he wrote a letter to Chiabrera to felicitate him on
+the success of his poetry: letters written by a pope were then an honour
+only paid to crowned heads. One is pleased also with another testimony
+of his elegant dispositions. Charmed with a poem which Bracciolini
+presented to him, he gave him the surname of DELLE-APE, of the bees,
+which were the arms of this amiable pope. He, however, never crowned
+these favourite bards with the laurel, which, probably, he deemed
+unworthy of them.
+
+In Germany, the laureat honours flourished under the reign of Maximilian
+the First. He founded, in 1504, a Poetical College at Vienna; reserving
+to himself and the regent the power of bestowing the laurel. But the
+institution, notwithstanding this well-concerted scheme, fell into
+disrepute, owing to a cloud of claimants who were fired with the rage of
+versifying, and who, though destitute of poetic talents, had the laurel
+bestowed on them. Thus it became a prostituted honour; and satires were
+incessantly levelled against the usurpers of the crown of Apollo: it
+seems, notwithstanding, always to have had charms in the eyes of the
+Germans, who did not reflect, as the Abbé elegantly expresses himself,
+that it faded when it passed over so many heads.
+
+The Emperor of Germany retains the laureatship in all its splendour. The
+selected bard is called _Il Poeta Cesareo_. APOSTOLO ZENO, as celebrated
+for his erudition as for his poetic powers, was succeeded by that most
+enchanting poet, METASTASIO.
+
+The French never had a _Poet Laureat_, though they had _Regal Poets_;
+for none were ever solemnly crowned. The Spanish nation, always desirous
+of titles of honour, seem to have known that of the _Laureat_; but
+little information concerning it can be gathered from their authors.
+
+Respecting our own country little can be added to the information of
+Selden. John Kay, who dedicated a History of Rhodes to Edward IV., takes
+the title of his _humble Poet Laureat_. Gower and Chaucer were laureats;
+so was likewise Skelton to Henry VIII. In the Acts of Rymer, there is a
+charter of Henry VII. with the title of _pro Poeta Laureato_, t hat is,
+perhaps, only _a Poet laureated at the university_, in the king's
+household.
+
+Our poets were never solemnly crowned as in other countries. Selden,
+after all his recondite researches, is satisfied with saying, that some
+trace of this distinction is to be found in our nation. Our kings from
+time immemorial have placed a miserable dependent in their household
+appointment, who was sometimes called the _King's poet_, and the _King's
+versificator_. It is probable that at length the selected bard assumed
+the title of _Poet Laureat_, without receiving the honours of the
+ceremony; or, at the most, the _crown of laurel_ was a mere obscure
+custom practised at our universities, and not attended with great public
+distinction. It was oftener placed on the skull of a pedant than
+wreathed on the head of a man of genius. Shadwell united the offices
+both of Poet Laureat and Historiographer; and by a MS. account of the
+public revenue, it appears that for two years' salary he received six
+hundred pounds. At his death Rymer became the Historiographer and Tate
+the Laureat: both offices seem equally useless, but, if united, will not
+prove so to the Poet Laureat.
+
+
+
+
+ANGELO POLITIAN.
+
+
+Angelo Politian, an Italian, was one of the most polished writers of the
+fifteenth century. Baillet has placed him amongst his celebrated
+children; for he was a writer at twelve years of age. The Muses indeed
+cherished him in his cradle, and the Graces hung round it their wreaths.
+When he became professor of the Greek language, such were the charms of
+his lectures, that Chalcondylas, a native of Greece, saw himself
+abandoned by his pupils, who resorted to the delightful disquisitions of
+the elegant Politian. Critics of various nations have acknowledged that
+his poetical versions have frequently excelled the originals. This happy
+genius was lodged in a most unhappy form; nor were his morals untainted:
+it is only in his literary compositions that he appears perfect.
+
+As a specimen of his Epistles, here is one, which serves as prefatory
+and dedicatory. The letter is replete with literature, though void of
+pedantry; a barren subject is embellished by its happy turns. Perhaps no
+author has more playfully defended himself from the incertitude of
+criticism and the fastidiousness of critics.
+
+
+MY LORD,
+
+You have frequently urged me to collect my letters, to revise and to
+publish them in a volume. I have now gathered them, that I might not
+omit any mark of that obedience which I owe to him, on whom I rest all
+my hopes, and all my prosperity. I have not, however, collected them
+all, because that would have been a more laborious task than to have
+gathered the scattered leaves of the Sibyl. It was never, indeed, with
+an intention of forming my letters into one body that I wrote them, but
+merely as occasion prompted, and as the subjects presented themselves
+without seeking for them. I never retained copies except of a few,
+which, less fortunate, I think, than the others, were thus favoured for
+the sake of the verses they contained. To form, however, a tolerable
+volume, I have also inserted some written by others, but only those with
+which several ingenious scholars favoured me, and which, perhaps, may
+put the reader in good humour with my own.
+
+There is one thing for which some will be inclined to censure me; the
+style of my letters is very unequal; and, to confess the truth, I did
+not find myself always in the same humour, and the same modes of
+expression were not adapted to every person and every topic. They will
+not fail then to observe, when they read such a diversity of letters (I
+mean if they do read them), that I have composed not epistles, but (once
+more) miscellanies.
+
+I hope, my Lord, notwithstanding this, that amongst such a variety of
+opinions, of those who write letters, and of those who give precepts how
+letters should be written, I shall find some apology. Some, probably,
+will deny that they are Ciceronian. I can answer such, and not without
+good authority, that in epistolary composition we must not regard Cicero
+as a model. Another perhaps will say that I imitate Cicero. And him I
+will answer by observing, that I wish nothing better than to be capable
+of grasping something of this great man, were it but his shadow!
+
+Another will wish that I had borrowed a little from the manner of Pliny
+the orator, because his profound sense and accuracy were greatly
+esteemed. I shall oppose him by expressing my contempt of all writers of
+the age of Pliny. If it should be observed, that I have imitated the
+manner of Pliny, I shall then screen myself by what Sidonius
+Apollinaris, an author who is by no means disreputable, says in
+commendation of his epistolary style. Do I resemble Symmachus? I shall
+not be sorry, for they distinguish his openness and conciseness. Am I
+considered in nowise resembling him? I shall confess that I am not
+pleased with his dry manner.
+
+Will my letters be condemned for their length? Plato, Aristotle,
+Thucydides, and Cicero, have all written long ones. Will some of them be
+criticised for their brevity? I allege in my favour the examples of
+Dion, Brutus, Apollonius, Philostratus, Marcus Antoninus, Alciphron,
+Julian, Symmachus, and also Lucian, who vulgarly, but falsely, is
+believed to have been Phalaris.
+
+I shall be censured for having treated of topics which are not generally
+considered as proper for epistolary composition. I admit this censure,
+provided, while I am condemned, Seneca also shares in the condemnation.
+Another will not allow of a sententious manner in my letters; I will
+still justify myself by Seneca. Another, on the contrary, desires abrupt
+sententious periods; Dionysius shall answer him for me, who maintains
+that pointed sentences should not be admitted into letters.
+
+Is my style too perspicuous? It is precisely that which Philostratus
+admires. Is it obscure? Such is that of Cicero to Attica. Negligent? An
+agreeable negligence in letters is more graceful than elaborate
+ornaments. Laboured? Nothing can be more proper, since we send epistles
+to our friends as a kind of presents. If they display too nice an
+arrangement, the Halicarnassian shall vindicate me. If there is none;
+Artemon says there should be none.
+
+Now as a good and pure Latinity has its peculiar taste, its manners,
+and, to express myself thus, its Atticisms; if in this sense a letter
+shall be found not sufficiently Attic, so much the better; for what was
+Herod the sophist censured? but that having been born an Athenian, he
+affected too much to appear one in his language. Should a letter seem
+too Attical; still better, since it was by discovering Theophrastus, who
+was no Athenian, that a good old woman of Athens laid hold of a word,
+and shamed him.
+
+Shall one letter be found not sufficiently serious? I love to jest. Or
+is it too grave? I am pleased with gravity. Is another full of figures?
+Letters being the images of discourse, figures have the effect of
+graceful action in conversation. Are they deficient in figures? This is
+just what characterises a letter, this want of figure! Does it discover
+the genius of the writer? This frankness is recommended. Does it conceal
+it? The writer did not think proper to paint himself; and it is one
+requisite in a letter, that it should be void of ostentation. You
+express yourself, some one will observe, in common terms on common
+topics, and in new terms on new topics. The style is thus adapted to the
+subject. No, no, he will answer; it is in common terms you express new
+ideas, and in new terms common ideas. Very well! It is because I have
+not forgotten an ancient Greek precept which expressly recommends this.
+
+It is thus by attempting to be ambidextrous, I try to ward off attacks.
+My critics, however, will criticise me as they please. It will be
+sufficient for me, my Lord, to be assured of having satisfied you, by my
+letters, if they are good; or by my obedience, if they are not so.
+
+    Florence, 1494.
+
+
+
+
+ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
+
+
+In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian, F. III. is preserved a letter
+written by Queen Elizabeth, then Princess. Her brother, Edward the
+Sixth, had desired to have her picture; and in gratifying the wishes of
+his majesty, Elizabeth accompanies the present with an elaborate letter.
+It bears no date of the _year_ in which it was written; but her place of
+residence was at Hatfield. There she had retired to enjoy the silent
+pleasures of a studious life, and to be distant from the dangerous
+politics of the time. When Mary died, Elizabeth was still at Hatfield.
+At the time of its composition she was in habitual intercourse with the
+most excellent writers of antiquity: her letter displays this in every
+part of it; but it is too rhetorical. It is here now first published.
+
+
+LETTER.
+
+"Like as the riche man that dayly gathereth riches to riches, and to one
+bag of money layeth a greate sort til it come to infinit, so me thinkes,
+your Majestie not beinge suffised with many benefits and gentilnes
+shewed to me afore this time, dothe now increase them in askinge and
+desiring wher you may bid and comaunde, requiring a thinge not worthy
+the desiringe for it selfe, but made worthy for your highness request.
+My pictur I mene, in wiche if the inward good mynde towarde your grace
+might as wel be declared as the outwarde face and countenance shal be
+seen, I wold nor haue taried the comandement but prevent it, nor haue
+bine the last to graunt but the first to offer it. For the face, I
+graunt, I might wel blusche to offer, but the mynde I shall neur be
+ashamed to present. For thogth from the grace of the pictur, the coulers
+may fade by time, may giue by wether, may be spotted by chance, yet the
+other nor time with her swift winges shall ouertake, nor the mistie
+cloudes with their loweringes may darken, nor chance with her slipery
+fote may ouerthrow. Of this althogth yet the profe could not be greate
+because the occasions hath bine but smal, notwithstandinge as a dog
+hathe a day, so may I perchaunce haue time to declare it in dides wher
+now I do write them but in wordes. And further I shal most humbly
+beseche your Maiestie that whan you shal loke on my pictur you wil
+witsafe to thinke that as you haue but the outwarde shadow of the body
+afore you, so my inwarde minde wischeth, that the body it selfe wer
+oftener in your presence; howbeit bicause bothe my so beinge I thinke
+coulde do your Maiestie litel pleasure thogth my selfe great good, and
+againe bicause I se as yet not the time agreing ther[=u]to, I shal lerne
+to folow this saing of Orace, Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest.
+And thus I wil (troblinge your Maiestie I fere) end with my most humble
+thankes, beseching God long to preserue you to his honour, to your
+c[=o]fort, to the realmes profit, and to my joy. From Hatfilde this 1
+day of May.
+
+               "Your Maiesties most humbly Sistar
+                        "and Seruante
+                              "ELIZABETH."
+
+
+
+
+ANNE BULLEN.
+
+
+That minute detail of circumstances frequently found in writers of the
+history of their own times is more interesting than the elegant and
+general narratives of later, and probably of more philosophical
+historians. It is in the artless recitals of memoir-writers, that the
+imagination is struck with a lively impression, and fastens on petty
+circumstances, which must be passed over by the classical historian. The
+writings of Brantome, Comines, Froissart, and others, are dictated by
+their natural feelings: while the passions of modern writers are
+temperate with dispassionate philosophy, or inflamed by the virulence of
+faction. History instructs, but Memoirs delight. These prefatory
+observations may serve as an apology for Anecdotes which are gathered
+from obscure corners, on which the dignity of the historian must not
+dwell.
+
+In Houssaie's _Memoirs_, Vol. I. p. 435, a little circumstance is
+recorded concerning the decapitation of the unfortunate Anne Bullen,
+which illustrates an observation of Hume. Our historian notices that her
+executioner was a Frenchman of Calais, who was supposed to have uncommon
+skill. It is probable that the following incident might have been
+preserved by tradition in France, from the account of the executioner
+himself:--Anne Bullen being on the scaffold, would not consent to have
+her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had no fear of death.
+All that the divine who assisted at her execution could obtain from her
+was, that she would shut her eyes. But as she was opening them at every
+moment, the executioner could not bear their tender and mild glances;
+fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to invent an expedient to
+behead the queen. He drew off his shoes, and approached her silently;
+while he was at her left hand, another person advanced at her right, who
+made a great noise in walking, so that this circumstance drawing the
+attention of Anne, she turned her face from the executioner, who was
+enabled by this artifice to strike the fatal blow, without being
+disarmed by that spirit of affecting resignation which shone in the eyes
+of the lovely Anne Bullen.
+
+            The Common Executioner,
+    Whose heart th' accustom'd sight of death makes hard,
+    Falls not the axe upon the humble neck
+    But first begs pardon.
+
+                SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+JAMES THE FIRST.
+
+
+It was usual, in the reign of James the First, when they compared it
+with the preceding glorious one, to distinguish him by the title of
+_Queen James_, and his illustrious predecessor by that of _King
+Elizabeth_! Sir Anthony Weldon informs us, "That when James the First
+sent Sir Roger Aston as his messenger to Elizabeth, Sir Roger was always
+placed in the lobby: the hangings being turned so that he might see the
+Queen dancing to a little fiddle, which was to no other end than that he
+should tell his master, by her youthful disposition, how likely he was
+to come to the crown he so much thirsted after;"--and, indeed, when at
+her death this same knight, whose origin was low, and whose language was
+suitable to that origin, appeared before the English council, he could
+not conceal his Scottish rapture, for, asked how the king did? he
+replied, "Even, my lords, like a poore man wandering about forty years
+in a wildernesse and barren soyle, and now arrived at the _Land of
+Promise_." A curious anecdote, respecting the economy of the court in
+these reigns, is noticed in some manuscript memoirs written in James's
+reign, preserved in a family of distinction. The lady, who wrote these
+memoirs, tells us that a great change had taken place in _cleanliness_,
+since the last reign; for, having rose from her chair, she found, on her
+departure, that she had the honour of carrying _upon_ her some
+companions who must have been inhabitants of the palace. The court of
+Elizabeth was celebrated occasionally for its magnificence, and always
+for its nicety. James was singularly effeminate; he could not behold a
+drawn sword without shuddering; was much too partial to handsome men;
+and appears to merit the bitter satire of Churchill. If wanting other
+proofs, we should only read the second volume of "Royal Letters," 6987,
+in the Harleian collections, which contains Stenie's correspondence with
+James. The gross familiarity of Buckingham's address is couched in such
+terms as these:--he calls his majesty "Dere dad and Gossope!" and
+concludes his letters with "your humble slaue and dogge, Stenie."[121]
+He was a most weak, but not quite a vicious man; yet his expertness in
+the art of dissimulation was very great indeed. He called this
+_King-Craft_. Sir Anthony Weldon gives a lively anecdote of this
+dissimulation in the king's behaviour to the Earl of Somerset at the
+very moment he had prepared to disgrace him. The earl accompanied the
+king to Royston, and, to his apprehension, never parted from him with
+more seeming affection, though the king well knew he should never see
+him more. "The earl, when he kissed his hand, the king hung about his
+neck, slabbering his cheeks, saying--'For God's sake, when shall I see
+thee again? On my soul I shall neither eat nor sleep until you come
+again.' The earl told him on Monday (this being on the Friday). 'For
+God's sake let me,' said the king:--'Shall I, shall I?'--then lolled
+about his neck; 'then for God's sake give thy lady this kisse for me, in
+the same manner at the stayre's head, at the middle of the stayres, and
+at the stayre's foot.' The earl was not in his coach when the king used
+these very words (in the hearing of four servants, one of whom reported
+it instantly to the author of this history), 'I shall never see his face
+more.'"
+
+He displayed great imbecility in his amusements, which are characterised
+by the following one, related by Arthur Wilson:--When James became
+melancholy in consequence of various disappointments in state matters,
+Buckingham and his mother used several means of diverting him. Amongst
+the most ludicrous was the present. They had a young lady, who brought a
+pig in the dress of a new-born infant: the countess carried it to the
+king, wrapped in a rich mantle. One Turpin, on this occasion, was
+dressed like a bishop in all his pontifical ornaments. He began the
+rites of baptism with the common prayer-book in his hand; a silver ewer
+with water was held by another. The marquis stood as godfather. When
+James turned to look at the infant, the pig squeaked: an animal which he
+greatly abhorred. At this, highly displeased, he exclaimed,--"Out! Away
+for shame! What blasphemy is this!"
+
+This ridiculous joke did not accord with the feelings of James at that
+moment; he was not "i' the vein." Yet we may observe, that had not such
+artful politicians as Buckingham and his mother been strongly persuaded
+of the success of this puerile fancy, they would not have ventured on
+such "blasphemies." They certainly had witnessed amusements heretofore
+not less trivial which had gratified his majesty. The account which Sir
+Anthony Weldon gives, in his Court of King James, exhibits a curious
+scene of James's amusements. "After the king supped, he would come
+forth to see pastimes and fooleries; in which Sir Ed. Zouch, Sir George
+Goring, and Sir John Finit, were the chiefe and master fools, and surely
+this fooling got them more than any others wisdome; Zouch's part was to
+sing bawdy songs, and tell bawdy tales; Finit's to compose these songs:
+there was a set of fiddlers brought to court on purpose for this
+fooling, and Goring was master of the game for fooleries, sometimes
+presenting David Droman and Archee Armstrong, the kings foole, on the
+back of the other fools, to tilt one at another, till they fell together
+by the eares; sometimes they performed antick dances. But Sir John
+Millicent (who was never known before) was commended for notable
+fooling; and was indeed the best _extemporary foole_ of them all."
+Weldon's "Court of James" is a scandalous chronicle of the times.
+
+His dispositions were, however, generally grave and studious. He seems
+to have possessed a real love of letters, but attended with that
+mediocrity of talent which in a private person had never raised him into
+notice. "While there was a chance," writes the author of the Catalogue
+of Noble Authors, "that the dyer's son, Vorstius, might be
+divinity-professor at Leyden, instead of being burnt, as his majesty
+hinted _to the Christian prudence_ of the Dutch that he deserved to be,
+our ambassadors could not receive instructions, and consequently could
+not treat on any other business. The king, who did not resent the
+massacre at Amboyna, was on the point of breaking with the States for
+supporting a man who professed the heresies of Enjedius, Ostodorus, &c.,
+points of extreme consequence to Great Britain! Sir Dudley Carleton was
+forced to threaten the Dutch, not only with the hatred of King James,
+but also with his pen."
+
+This royal pedant is forcibly characterised by the following
+observations of the same writer:--
+
+"Among his majesty's works is a small collection of poetry. Like several
+of his subjects, our royal author has condescended to apologise for its
+imperfections, as having been written in his youth, and his maturer age
+being otherwise occupied. So that (to employ his own language) 'when his
+ingyne and age could, his affaires and fascherie would not permit him to
+correct them, scarslie but at stolen moments, he having the leisure to
+blenk upon any paper.' When James sent a present of his harangues,
+turned into Latin, to the Protestant princes in Europe, it is not
+unentertaining to observe in their answers of compliments and thanks,
+how each endeavoured to insinuate that he had read them, without
+positively asserting it! Buchanan, when asked how he came to make a
+pedant of his royal pupil, answered that it was the best he could make
+of him. Sir George Mackenzie relates a story of his tutelage, which
+shows Buchanan's humour, and the veneration of others for royalty. The
+young king being one day at play with his fellow-pupil, the master of
+Erskine, Buchanan was reading, and desired them to make less noise. As
+they disregarded his admonition, he told his majesty, if he did not hold
+his tongue, he would certainly whip his breech. The king replied, he
+would be glad to see who would _bell the cat_, alluding to the fable.
+Buchanan lost his temper, and throwing his book from him, gave his
+majesty a sound flogging. The old countess of Mar rushed into the room,
+and taking the king in her arms, asked how he dared to lay his hands on
+the Lord's anointed? Madam, replied the elegant and immortal historian,
+I have whipped his a----, you may kiss it if you please!"
+
+Many years after this was published, I discovered a curious
+anecdote:--Even so late as when James I. was seated on the throne of
+England, once the appearance of his _frowning tutor in a dream_ greatly
+agitated the king, who in vain attempted to pacify his illustrious
+pedagogue in this portentous vision. Such was the terror which the
+remembrance of this inexorable republican tutor had left on the
+imagination of his royal pupil.
+
+James I. was certainly a zealous votary of literature; his wish was
+sincere, when at viewing the Bodleian Library at Oxford, he exclaimed,
+"Were I not a king I would be an university man; and if it were so that
+I must be a prisoner, if I might have my wish, I would have no other
+prison than this library, and be chained together with these good
+authors."
+
+Hume has informed us, that "his death was decent." The following are the
+minute particulars: I have drawn them from an imperfect manuscript
+collection, made by the celebrated Sir Thomas Browne.
+
+"The lord keeper, on March 22, received a letter from the court, that it
+was feared his majesty's sickness was dangerous to death; which fear was
+more confirmed, for he, meeting Dr. Harvey in the road, was told by him
+that the king used to have a beneficial evacuation of nature, a
+sweating in his left arm, as helpful to him as any fontenel could be,
+which of late failed.
+
+"When the lord keeper presented himself before him, he moved to cheerful
+discourse, but it would not do. He stayed by his bedside until midnight.
+Upon the consultations of the physicians in the morning he was out of
+comfort, and by the prince's leave told him, kneeling by his pallet,
+that his days to come would be but few in this world. '_I am
+satisfied_,' said the king; 'but pray you assist me to make me ready for
+the next world, to go away hence for Christ, whose mercies I call for,
+and hope to find.'
+
+"From that time the keeper never left him, or put off his clothes to go
+to bed. The king took the communion, and professed he died in the bosom
+of the Church of England, whose doctrine he had defended with his pen,
+being persuaded it was according to the mind of Christ, as he should
+shortly answer it before him.
+
+"He stayed in the chamber to take notice of everything the king said,
+and to repulse those who crept much about the chamber door, and into the
+chamber; they were for the most addicted to the Church of Rome. Being
+rid of them, he continued in prayer, while the king lingered on, and at
+last _shut his eyes with his own hands_."
+
+Thus, in the full power of his faculties, a timorous prince
+
+encountered the horrors of dissolution. _Religion_ rendered cheerful the
+abrupt night of futurity; and what can _philosophy_ do more, or rather,
+can philosophy do as much?
+
+I proposed to have examined with some care the works of James I.; but
+that uninviting task has been now postponed till it is too late. As a
+writer, his works may not be valuable, and are infected with the
+pedantry and the superstition of the age; yet I _suspect_ that James was
+not that degraded and feeble character in which he ranks by the
+contagious voice of criticism. He has had more critics than readers.
+After a great number of acute observations and witty allusions, made
+extempore, which we find continually recorded of him by contemporary
+writers, and some not friendly to him, I conclude that he possessed a
+great promptness of wit, and much solid judgment and acute ingenuity. It
+requires only a little labour to prove this.
+
+That labour I have since zealously performed. This article, composed
+_more than thirty years_ ago, displays the effects of first impressions
+and popular clamours. About _ten_ years I _suspected_ that his character
+was grossly injured, and _lately_ I found how it has suffered from a
+variety of causes. That monarch preserved for us a peace of more than
+twenty years; and his talents were of a higher order than the calumnies
+of the party who have remorselessly degraded him have allowed a common
+inquirer to discover. For the rest I must refer the reader to "An
+Inquiry into the Literary and Political Character of James I.;" in which
+he may find many correctives for this article. I shall in a future work
+enter into further explanations of this ambiguous royal author.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 121: Buckingham's style was even stronger and coarser than the
+text leads one to suppose. "Your sowship" is the beginning of one
+letter, and "I kiss your dirty hands" the conclusion of another. The
+king had encouraged this by his own extraordinary familiarity. "My own
+sweet and dear child," "Sweet hearty," "My sweet Steenie and gossip,"
+are the commencements of the royal epistles to Buckingham; and in one
+instance, where he proposes a hunting party and invites the ladies of
+his family, he does it in words of perfect obscenity.]
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE.
+
+
+From the MS. collection of Sir Thomas Browne, I shall rescue an
+anecdote, which has a tendency to show that it is not advisable to
+permit ladies to remain at home, when political plots are to be secretly
+discussed. And while it displays the treachery of Monk's wife, it will
+also appear that, like other great revolutionists, it was ambition that
+first induced him to become the reformer he pretended to be.
+
+"Monk gave fair promises to the Rump, but last agreed with the French
+Ambassador to take the government on himself; by whom he had a promise
+from Mazarin of assistance from France. This bargain was struck late at
+night: but not so secretly but that Monk's wife, who had posted herself
+conveniently behind the hangings, finding what was resolved upon, sent
+her brother Clarges away immediately with notice of it to Sir A.A. She
+had promised to watch her husband, and inform Sir A. how matters went.
+Sir A. caused the council of state, whereof he was a member, to be
+summoned, and charged Monk that he was playing false. The general
+insisted that he was true to his principles, and firm to what he had
+promised, and that he was ready to give them all satisfaction. Sir A.
+told him if he were sincere he might remove all scruples, and should
+instantly take away their commissions from such and such men in his
+army, and appoint others, and that before he left the room. Monk
+consented; a great part of the commissions of his officers were changed,
+and Sir Edward Harley, a member of the council, and then present was
+made governor of Dunkirk, in the room of Sir William Lockhart; the army
+ceased to be at Monk's devotion; the ambassador was recalled, and broke
+his heart."
+
+Such were the effects of the infidelity of the wife of General Monk!
+
+
+
+
+PHILIP AND MARY.
+
+
+Houssaie, in his Mémoires, vol. i. p. 261, has given the following
+curious particulars of this singular union:--
+
+     "The second wife of Philip was Mary Queen of England; a virtuous
+     princess (Houssaie was a good catholic), but who had neither youth
+     nor beauty. This marriage was as little happy for the one as for
+     the other. The husband did not like his wife, although she doted on
+     him; and the English hated Philip still more than he hated them.
+     Silhon says, that the rigour which he exercised in England against
+     heretics partly hindered Prince Carlos from succeeding to that
+     crown, and for _which purpose_ Mary had invited him in case she
+     died childless!"--But no historian speaks of this pretended
+     inclination, and is it probable that Mary ever thought proper to
+     call to the succession of the English throne the son of the Spanish
+     Monarch? This marriage had made her nation detest her, and in the
+     last years of her life she could be little satisfied with him, from
+     his marked indifference for her. She well knew that the Parliament
+     would never consent to exclude her sister Elizabeth, whom the
+     nobility loved for being more friendly to the new religion, and
+     more hostile to the house of Austria.
+
+     In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian F. III. is preserved a note of
+     instructions in the handwriting of Queen Mary, of which the
+     following is a copy. It was, probably, written when Philip was just
+     seated on the English throne.
+
+     "Instructions for my lorde Previsel.
+
+     "Firste, to tell the Kinge the whole state of this realme, wt all
+     things appartaynyng to the same, as myche as ye knowe to be trewe.
+
+     "Seconde, to obey his commandment in all thyngs.
+
+     "Thyrdly, in all things he shall aske your aduyse to declare your
+     opinion as becometh a faythfull conceyllour to do.
+
+                                         "MARY the Quene."
+
+Houssaie proceeds: "After the death of Mary, Philip sought Elizabeth in
+marriage; and she, who was yet unfixed at the beginning of her reign,
+amused him at first with hopes. But as soon as she unmasked herself to
+the pope, she laughed at Philip, telling the Duke of Feria, his
+ambassador, that her conscience would not permit her to marry the
+husband of her sister."
+
+This monarch, however, had no such scruples. Incest appears to have had
+in his eyes peculiar charms; for he offered himself three times to three
+different sisters-in-law. He seems also to have known the secret of
+getting quit of his wives when they became inconvenient. In state
+matters he spared no one whom he feared; to them he sacrificed his only
+son, his brother, and a great number of princes and ministers.
+
+It is said of Philip, that before he died he advised his son to make
+peace with England, and war with the other powers. _Pacem cum Anglo,
+bellum cum reliquis_. Queen Elizabeth, and the ruin of his invincible
+fleet, physicked his frenzy into health, and taught him to fear and
+respect that country which he thought he could have made a province of
+Spain.
+
+On his death-bed he did everything he could for _salvation_. The
+following protestation, a curious morsel of bigotry, he sent to his
+confessor a few days before he died:--
+
+"Father confessor! as you occupy the place of God, I protest to you that
+I will do everything you shall say to be necessary for my being saved;
+so that what I omit doing will be placed to your account, as I am ready
+to acquit myself of all that shall be ordered to me."
+
+Is there, in the records of history, a more glaring instance of the idea
+which a good Catholic attaches to the power of a confessor, than the
+present authentic example? The most licentious philosophy seems not more
+dangerous than a religion whose votary believes that the accumulation of
+crimes can be dissipated by the breath of a few orisons, and which,
+considering a venal priest to "occupy the place of God," can traffic
+with the divine power at a very moderate price.
+
+After his death a Spanish grandee wrote with a coal on the
+chimney-piece of his chamber the following epitaph, which ingeniously
+paints his character in four verses:--
+
+    Siendo moço luxurioso;
+    Siendo hombre, fue cruel;
+    Siendo viejo, codicioso:
+    Que se puede esperar del?
+
+    In youth he was luxurious;
+    In manhood he was cruel;
+    In old age he was avaricious:
+    What could be hoped from him?
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of
+3), by Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ***
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3), by 
+Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
+
+Author: Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+Editor: The Earl Of Beaconsfield
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21615]
+Last updated: January 16, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/icover.jpg"  width="369" height="600" alt="CONFUCIUS" title="" /></div>
+
+
+<h1>CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.</h1>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>ISAAC DISRAELI.</h2>
+
+<h4>A New Edition,</h4>
+
+<h4>EDITED, WITH MEMOIR AND NOTES,<br />
+BY HIS SON,<br />
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.<br /><br /></h4>
+
+<h4>IN THREE VOLUMES.</h4>
+
+<h2>VOL. I.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">LONDON:<br />
+FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.,<br />
+BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.<br />
+LONDON:<br /><br />
+BRADBURY, AGNEW, &amp; CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2>
+
+<p>This is the first collected edition of a series of works which have
+separately attained to a great popularity: volumes that have been always
+delightful to the young and ardent inquirer after knowledge. They offer
+as a whole a diversified miscellany of literary, artistic, and political
+history, of critical disquisition and biographic anecdote, such as it is
+believed cannot be elsewhere found gathered together in a form so
+agreeable and so attainable. To this edition is appended a Life of the
+Author by his son, also original notes, which serve to illustrate or to
+correct the text, where more recent discoveries have brought to light
+facts unknown when these volumes were originally published.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 2em;">London</span>, 1881.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/dis.jpg"  width="477" height="600" alt="CONFUCIUS" title="" /></div>
+
+<h4>ISAAC DISRAELI.</h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ON_THE" id="ON_THE"></a>ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MR. DISRAELI.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>BY HIS SON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The traditionary notion that the life of a man of letters is necessarily
+deficient in incident, appears to have originated in a misconception of
+the essential nature of human action. The life of every man is full of
+incidents, but the incidents are insignificant, because they do not
+affect his species; and in general the importance of every occurrence is
+to be measured by the degree with which it is recognised by mankind. An
+author may influence the fortunes of the world to as great an extent as
+a statesman or a warrior; and the deeds and performances by which this
+influence is created and exercised, may rank in their interest and
+importance with the decisions of great Congresses, or the skilful valour
+of a memorable field. M. de Voltaire was certainly a greater Frenchman
+than Cardinal Fleury, the Prime Minister of France in his time. His
+actions were more important; and it is certainly not too much to
+maintain that the exploits of Homer, Aristotle, Dante, or my Lord Bacon,
+were as considerable events as anything that occurred at Actium,
+Lepanto, or Blenheim. A Book may be as great a thing as a battle, and
+there are systems of philosophy that have produced as great revolutions
+as any that have disturbed even the social and political existence of
+our centuries.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The life of the author, whose character and career we are venturing to
+review, extended far beyond the allotted term of man: and, perhaps, no
+existence of equal duration ever exhibited an uniformity more sustained.
+The strong bent of his infancy was pursued through youth, matured in
+manhood, and maintained without decay to an advanced old age. In the
+biographic spell, no ingredient is more magical than predisposition. How
+pure, and native, and indigenous it was in the character of this writer,
+can only be properly appreciated by an acquaintance with the
+circumstances amid which he was born, and by being able to estimate how
+far they could have directed or developed his earliest inclinations.</p>
+
+<p>My grandfather, who became an English Denizen in 1748, was an Italian
+descendant from one of those Hebrew families whom the Inquisition forced
+to emigrate from the Spanish Peninsula at the end of the fifteenth
+century, and who found a refuge in the more tolerant territories of the
+Venetian Republic. His ancestors had dropped their Gothic surname on
+their settlement in the Terra Firma, and grateful to the God of Jacob
+who had sustained them through unprecedented trials and guarded them
+through unheard-of perils, they assumed the name of DISRAELI, a name
+never borne before or since by any other family, in order that their
+race might be for ever recognised. Undisturbed and unmolested, they
+flourished as merchants for more than two centuries under the protection
+of the lion of St. Mark, which was but just, as the patron saint of the
+Republic was himself a child of Israel. But towards the middle of the
+eighteenth century, the altered circumstances of England, favourable, as
+it was then supposed, to commerce and religious liberty, attracted the
+attention of my great-grandfather to this island, and he resolved that
+the youngest of his two sons, Benjamin, the "son of his right hand,"
+should settle in a country where the dynasty seemed at length
+established,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> through the recent failure of Prince Charles Edward, and
+where public opinion appeared definitively adverse to persecution on
+matters of creed and conscience.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish families who were then settled in England were few, though,
+from their wealth and other circumstances, they were far from
+unimportant. They were all of them Sephardim, that is to say, children
+of Israel, who had never quitted the shores of the Midland Ocean, until
+Torquamada had driven them from their pleasant residences and rich
+estates in Arragon, and Andalusia, and Portugal, to seek greater
+blessings, even than a clear atmosphere and a glowing sun, amid the
+marshes of Holland and the fogs of Britain. Most of these families, who
+held themselves aloof from the Hebrews of Northern Europe, then only
+occasionally stealing into England, as from an inferior caste, and whose
+synagogue was reserved only for Sephardim, are now extinct; while the
+branch of the great family, which, notwithstanding their own sufferings
+from prejudice, they had the hardihood to look down upon, have achieved
+an amount of wealth and consideration which the Sephardim, even with the
+patronage of Mr. Pelham, never could have contemplated. Nevertheless, at
+the time when my grandfather settled in England, and when Mr. Pelham,
+who was very favourable to the Jews, was Prime Minister, there might be
+found, among other Jewish families flourishing in this country, the
+Villa Reals, who brought wealth to these shores almost as great as their
+name, though that is the second in Portugal, and who have twice allied
+themselves with the English aristocracy, the Medinas&mdash;the Laras, who
+were our kinsmen&mdash;and the Mendez da Costas, who, I believe, still exist.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it were that my grandfather, on his arrival, was not encouraged
+by those to whom he had a right to look up,&mdash;which is often our hard
+case in the outset of life,&mdash;or whether he was alarmed at the unexpected
+consequences of Mr. Pelham's favourable disposition to his countrymen
+in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> the disgraceful repeal of the Jew Bill, which occurred a very few
+years after his arrival in this country, I know not; but certainly he
+appears never to have cordially or intimately mixed with his community.
+This tendency to alienation was, no doubt, subsequently encouraged by
+his marriage, which took place in 1765. My grandmother, the beautiful
+daughter of a family who had suffered much from persecution, had imbibed
+that dislike for her race which the vain are too apt to adopt when they
+find that they are born to public contempt. The indignant feeling that
+should be reserved for the persecutor, in the mortification of their
+disturbed sensibility, is too often visited on the victim; and the cause
+of annoyance is recognised not in the ignorant malevolence of the
+powerful, but in the conscientious conviction of the innocent sufferer.
+Seventeen years, however, elapsed before my grandfather entered into
+this union, and during that interval he had not been idle. He was only
+eighteen when he commenced his career, and when a great responsibility
+devolved upon him. He was not unequal to it. He was a man of ardent
+character; sanguine, courageous, speculative, and fortunate; with a
+temper which no disappointment could disturb, and a brain, amid
+reverses, full of resource. He made his fortune in the midway of life,
+and settled near Enfield, where he formed an Italian garden, entertained
+his friends, played whist with Sir Horace Mann, who was his great
+acquaintance, and who had known his brother at Venice as a banker, eat
+macaroni which was dressed by the Venetian Consul, sang canzonettas, and
+notwithstanding a wife who never pardoned him for his name, and a son
+who disappointed all his plans, and who to the last hour of his life was
+an enigma to him, lived till he was nearly ninety, and then died in
+1817, in the full enjoyment of prolonged existence.</p>
+
+<p>My grandfather retired from active business on the eve of that great
+financial epoch, to grapple with which his talents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> were well adapted;
+and when the wars and loans of the Revolution were about to create those
+families of millionaires, in which he might probably have enrolled his
+own. That, however, was not our destiny. My grandfather had only one
+child, and nature had disqualified him, from his cradle, for the busy
+pursuits of men.</p>
+
+<p>A pale, pensive child, with large dark brown eyes, and flowing hair,
+such as may be beheld in one of the portraits annexed to these volumes,
+had grown up beneath this roof of worldly energy and enjoyment,
+indicating even in his infancy, by the whole carriage of his life, that
+he was of a different order from those among whom he lived. Timid,
+susceptible, lost in reverie, fond of solitude, or seeking no better
+company than a book, the years had stolen on, till he had arrived at
+that mournful period of boyhood when eccentricities excite attention and
+command no sympathy. In the chapter on Predisposition, in the most
+delightful of his works,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> my father has drawn from his own, though his
+unacknowledged feelings, immortal truths. Then commenced the age of
+domestic criticism. His mother, not incapable of deep affections, but so
+mortified by her social position that she lived until eighty without
+indulging in a tender expression, did not recognise in her only
+offspring a being qualified to control or vanquish his impending fate.
+His existence only served to swell the aggregate of many humiliating
+particulars. It was not to her a source of joy, or sympathy, or solace.
+She foresaw for her child only a future of degradation. Having a strong,
+clear mind, without any imagination, she believed that she beheld an
+inevitable doom. The tart remark and the contemptuous comment on her
+part, elicited, on the other, all the irritability of the poetic
+idiosyncrasy. After frantic ebullitions, for which, when the
+circumstances were analysed by an ordinary mind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> there seemed no
+sufficient cause, my grandfather always interfered to soothe with
+good-tempered commonplaces, and promote peace. He was a man who thought
+that the only way to make people happy was to make them a present. He
+took it for granted that a boy in a passion wanted a toy or a guinea. At
+a later date, when my father ran away from home, and after some
+wanderings was brought back, found lying on a tombstone in Hackney
+churchyard, he embraced him, and gave him a pony.</p>
+
+<p>In this state of affairs, being sent to school in the neighbourhood, was
+a rather agreeable incident. The school was kept by a Scotchman, one
+Morison, a good man, and not untinctured with scholarship, and it is
+possible that my father might have reaped some advantage from this
+change; but the school was too near home, and his mother, though she
+tormented his existence, was never content if he were out of her sight.
+His delicate health was an excuse for converting him, after a short
+interval, into a day scholar; then many days of attendance were omitted;
+finally, the solitary walk home through Mr. Mellish's park was dangerous
+to the sensibilities that too often exploded when they encountered on
+the arrival at the domestic hearth a scene which did not harmonise with
+the fairy-land of reverie.</p>
+
+<p>The crisis arrived, when, after months of unusual abstraction and
+irritability, my father produced a poem. For the first time, my
+grandfather was seriously alarmed. The loss of one of his argosies,
+uninsured, could not have filled him with more blank dismay. His idea of
+a poet was formed from one of the prints of Hogarth hanging in his room,
+where an unfortunate wight in a garret was inditing an ode to riches,
+while dunned for his milk-score. Decisive measures were required to
+eradicate this evil, and to prevent future disgrace&mdash;so, as seems the
+custom when a person is in a scrape, it was resolved that my father
+should be sent abroad, where a new scene and a new language might divert
+his mind from the ignominious pursuit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> which so fatally attracted him.
+The unhappy poet was consigned like a bale of goods to my grandfather's
+correspondent at Amsterdam, who had instructions to place him at some
+collegium of repute in that city. Here were passed some years not
+without profit, though his tutor was a great impostor, very neglectful
+of his pupils, and both unable and disinclined to guide them in severe
+studies. This preceptor was a man of letters, though a wretched writer,
+with a good library, and a spirit inflamed with all the philosophy of
+the eighteenth century, then (1780-1) about to bring forth and bear its
+long-matured fruits. The intelligence and disposition of my father
+attracted his attention, and rather interested him. He taught his charge
+little, for he was himself generally occupied in writing bad odes, but
+he gave him free warren in his library, and before his pupil was
+fifteen, he had read the works of Voltaire and had dipped into Bayle.
+Strange that the characteristics of a writer so born and brought up
+should have been so essentially English; not merely from his mastery
+over our language, but from his keen and profound sympathy with all that
+concerned the literary and political history of our country at its most
+important epoch.</p>
+
+<p>When he was eighteen, he returned to England a disciple of Rousseau. He
+had exercised his imagination during the voyage in idealizing the
+interview with his mother, which was to be conducted on both sides with
+sublime pathos. His other parent had frequently visited him during his
+absence. He was prepared to throw himself on his mother's bosom, to
+bedew her hands with his tears, and to stop her own with his lips; but,
+when he entered, his strange appearance, his gaunt figure, his excited
+manners, his long hair, and his unfashionable costume, only filled her
+with a sentiment of tender aversion; she broke into derisive laughter,
+and noticing his intolerable garments, she reluctantly lent him her
+cheek. Whereupon Emile, of course, went into heroics, wept, sobbed, and
+finally, shut up in his chamber, composed an impas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span>sioned epistle. My
+grandfather, to soothe him, dwelt on the united solicitude of his
+parents for his welfare, and broke to him their intention, if it were
+agreeable to him, to place him in the establishment of a great merchant
+at Bordeaux. My father replied that he had written a poem of
+considerable length, which he wished to publish, against Commerce, which
+was the corrupter of man. In eight-and-forty hours confusion again
+reigned in this household, and all from a want of psychological
+perception in its master and mistress.</p>
+
+<p>My father, who had lost the timidity of his childhood, who, by nature,
+was very impulsive, and indeed endowed with a degree of volatility which
+is only witnessed in the south of France, and which never deserted him
+to his last hour, was no longer to be controlled. His conduct was
+decisive. He enclosed his poem to Dr. Johnson, with an impassioned
+statement of his case, complaining, which he ever did, that he had never
+found a counsellor or literary friend. He left his packet himself at
+Bolt Court, where he was received by Mr. Francis Barber, the doctor's
+well-known black servant, and told to call again in a week. Be sure that
+he was very punctual; but the packet was returned to him unopened, with
+a message that the illustrious doctor was too ill to read anything. The
+unhappy and obscure aspirant, who received this disheartening message,
+accepted it, in his utter despondency, as a mechanical excuse. But,
+alas! the cause was too true; and, a few weeks after, on that bed,
+beside which the voice of Mr. Burke faltered, and the tender spirit of
+Benett Langton was ever vigilant, the great soul of Johnson quitted
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>But the spirit of self-confidence, the resolution to struggle against
+his fate, the paramount desire to find some sympathising sage&mdash;some
+guide, philosopher, and friend&mdash;was so strong and rooted in my father,
+that I observed, a few weeks ago, in a magazine, an original letter,
+written by him about this time to Dr. Vicesimus Knox, full of high-flown
+sentiments, reading indeed like a romance of Scudery, and entreat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span>ing
+the learned critic to receive him in his family, and give him the
+advantage of his wisdom, his taste, and his erudition.</p>
+
+<p>With a home that ought to have been happy, surrounded with more than
+comfort, with the most good-natured father in the world, and an
+agreeable man; and with a mother whose strong intellect, under ordinary
+circumstances, might have been of great importance to him; my father,
+though himself of a very sweet disposition, was most unhappy. His
+parents looked upon him as moonstruck, while he himself, whatever his
+aspirations, was conscious that he had done nothing to justify the
+eccentricity of his course, or the violation of all prudential
+considerations in which he daily indulged. In these perplexities, the
+usual alternative was again had recourse to&mdash;absence; he was sent
+abroad, to travel in France, which the peace then permitted, visit some
+friends, see Paris, and then proceed to Bordeaux if he felt inclined. My
+father travelled in France, and then proceeded to Paris, where he
+remained till the eve of great events in that capital. This was a visit
+recollected with satisfaction. He lived with learned men and moved in
+vast libraries, and returned in the earlier part of 1788, with some
+little knowledge of life, and with a considerable quantity of books.</p>
+
+<p>At this time Peter Pindar flourished in all the wantonness of literary
+riot. He was at the height of his flagrant notoriety. The novelty and
+the boldness of his style carried the million with him. The most exalted
+station was not exempt from his audacious criticism, and learned
+institutions trembled at the sallies whose ribaldry often cloaked taste,
+intelligence, and good sense. His "Odes to the Academicians," which
+first secured him the ear of the town, were written by one who could
+himself guide the pencil with skill and feeling, and who, in the form of
+a mechanic's son, had even the felicity to discover the vigorous genius
+of Opie. The mock-heroic which invaded with success the sacred recesses
+of the palace, and which was fruitlessly menaced by Secretaries of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>
+State, proved a reckless intrepidity, which is apt to be popular with
+"the general." The powerful and the learned quailed beneath the lash
+with an affected contempt which scarcely veiled their tremor. In the
+meantime, as in the latter days of the Empire, the barbarian ravaged the
+country, while the pale-faced patricians were inactive within the walls.
+No one offered resistance.</p>
+
+<p>There appeared about this time a satire "On the Abuse of Satire." The
+verses were polished and pointed; a happy echo of that style of Mr. Pope
+which still lingered in the spell-bound ear of the public. Peculiarly
+they offered a contrast to the irregular effusions of the popular
+assailant whom they in turn assailed, for the object of their indignant
+invective was the bard of the "Lousiad." The poem was anonymous, and was
+addressed to Dr. Warton in lines of even classic grace. Its publication
+was appropriate. There are moments when every one is inclined to praise,
+especially when the praise of a new pen may at the same time revenge the
+insults of an old one.</p>
+
+<p>But if there could be any doubt of the success of this new hand, it was
+quickly removed by the conduct of Peter Pindar himself. As is not
+unusual with persons of his habits, Wolcot was extremely sensitive, and,
+brandishing a tomahawk, always himself shrank from a scratch. This was
+shown some years afterwards by his violent assault on Mr. Gifford, with
+a bludgeon, in a bookseller's shop, because the author of the "Baviad
+and M&aelig;viad" had presumed to castigate the great lampooner of the age. In
+the present instance, the furious Wolcot leapt to the rash conclusion,
+that the author of the satire was no less a personage than Mr. Hayley,
+and he assailed the elegant author of the "Triumphs of Temper" in a
+virulent pasquinade. This ill-considered movement of his adversary of
+course achieved the complete success of the anonymous writer.</p>
+
+<p>My father, who came up to town to read the newspapers at the St. James's
+Coffee-house, found their columns filled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> with extracts from the
+fortunate effusion of the hour, conjectures as to its writer, and much
+gossip respecting Wolcot and Hayley. He returned to Enfield laden with
+the journals, and, presenting them to his parents, broke to them the
+intelligence, that at length he was not only an author, but a successful
+one.</p>
+
+<p>He was indebted to this slight effort for something almost as agreeable
+as the public recognition of his ability, and that was the acquaintance,
+and almost immediately the warm personal friendship, of Mr. Pye. Mr. Pye
+was the head of an ancient English family that figured in the
+Parliaments and struggles of the Stuarts; he was member for the County
+of Berkshire, where his ancestral seat of Faringdon was situate, and at
+a later period (1790) became Poet Laureat. In those days, when literary
+clubs did not exist, and when even political ones were extremely limited
+and exclusive in their character, the booksellers' shops were social
+rendezvous. Debrett's was the chief haunt of the Whigs; Hatchard's, I
+believe, of the Tories. It was at the latter house that my father made
+the acquaintance of Mr. Pye, then publishing his translation of
+Aristotle's Poetics, and so strong was party feeling at that period,
+that one day, walking together down Piccadilly, Mr. Pye, stopping at the
+door of Debrett, requested his companion to go in and purchase a
+particular pamphlet for him, adding that if he had the audacity to
+enter, more than one person would tread upon his toes.</p>
+
+<p>My father at last had a friend. Mr. Pye, though double his age, was
+still a young man, and the literary sympathy between them was complete.
+Unfortunately, the member for Berkshire was a man rather of an elegant
+turn of mind, than one of that energy and vigour which a youth required
+for a companion at that moment. Their tastes and pursuits were perhaps a
+little too similar. They addressed poetical epistles to each other, and
+were, reciprocally, too gentle critics. But Mr. Pye was a most amiable
+and accomplished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span> man, a fine classical scholar, and a master of correct
+versification. He paid a visit to Enfield, and by his influence hastened
+a conclusion at which my grandfather was just arriving, to wit, that he
+would no longer persist in the fruitless effort of converting a poet
+into a merchant, and that content with the independence he had realised,
+he would abandon his dreams of founding a dynasty of financiers. From
+this moment all disquietude ceased beneath this always well-meaning,
+though often perplexed, roof, while my father, enabled amply to gratify
+his darling passion of book-collecting, passed his days in tranquil
+study, and in the society of congenial spirits.</p>
+
+<p>His new friend introduced him almost immediately to Mr. James Pettit
+Andrews, a Berkshire gentleman of literary pursuits, and whose
+hospitable table at Brompton was the resort of the best literary society
+of the day. Here my father was a frequent guest, and walking home one
+night together from this house, where they had both dined, he made the
+acquaintance of a young poet, which soon ripened into intimacy, and
+which throughout sixty years, notwithstanding many changes of life,
+never died away. This youthful poet had already gained laurels, though
+he was only three or four years older than my father, but I am not at
+this moment quite aware whether his brow was yet encircled with the
+amaranthine wreath of the "Pleasures of Memory."</p>
+
+<p>Some years after this, great vicissitudes unhappily occurred in the
+family of Mr. Pye. He was obliged to retire from Parliament, and to sell
+his family estate of Faringdon. His Majesty had already, on the death of
+Thomas Warton, nominated him Poet Laureat, and after his retirement from
+Parliament, the government which he had supported, appointed him a
+Commissioner of Police. It was in these days that his friend, Mr. Penn,
+of Stoke Park, in Buckinghamshire, presented him with a cottage worthy
+of a poet on his beautiful estate; and it was thus my father became
+acquainted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> with the amiable descendant of the most successful of
+colonisers, and with that classic domain which the genius of Gray, as it
+were, now haunts, and has for ever hallowed, and from which he beheld
+with fond and musing eye, those</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Distant spires and antique towers,<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>that no one can now look upon without remembering him. It was amid these
+rambles in Stoke Park, amid the scenes of Gray's genius, the elegiac
+churchyard, and the picturesque fragments of the Long Story, talking
+over the deeds of "Great Rebellion" with the descendants of Cavaliers
+and Parliament-men, that my father first imbibed that feeling for the
+county of Buckingham, which induced him occasionally to be a dweller in
+its limits, and ultimately, more than a quarter of a century afterwards,
+to establish his household gods in its heart. And here, perhaps, I may
+be permitted to mention a circumstance, which is indeed trifling, and
+yet, as a coincidence, not, I think, without interest. Mr. Pye was the
+great-grandson of Sir Robert Pye, of Bradenham, who married Anne, the
+eldest daughter of Mr. Hampden. How little could my father dream, sixty
+years ago, that he would pass the last quarter of his life in the
+mansion-house of Bradenham; that his name would become intimately
+connected with the county of Buckingham; and that his own remains would
+be interred in the vault of the chancel of Bradenham Church, among the
+coffins of the descendants of the Hampdens and the Pyes. All which
+should teach us that whatever may be our natural bent, there is a power
+in the disposal of events greater than human will.</p>
+
+<p>It was about two years after his first acquaintance with Mr. Pye, that
+my father, being then in his twenty-fifth year, influenced by the circle
+in which he then lived, gave an anonymous volume to the press, the fate
+of which he could little have foreseen. The taste for literary history
+was then of recent date in England. It was developed by Dr. Johnson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> and
+the Wartons, who were the true founders of that elegant literature in
+which France had so richly preceded us. The fashion for literary
+anecdote prevailed at the end of the last century. Mr. Pettit Andrews,
+assisted by Mr. Pye and Captain Grose, and shortly afterwards, his
+friend, Mr. Seward, in his "Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons," had
+both of them produced ingenious works, which had experienced public
+favour. But these volumes were rather entertaining than substantial, and
+their interest in many instances was necessarily fleeting; all which
+made Mr. Rogers observe, that the world was far gone in its anecdotage.</p>
+
+<p>While Mr. Andrews and his friend were hunting for personal details in
+the recollections of their contemporaries, my father maintained one day,
+that the most interesting of miscellanies might be drawn up by a
+well-read man from the library in which he lived. It was objected, on
+the other hand, that such a work would be a mere compilation, and could
+not succeed with its dead matter in interesting the public. To test the
+truth of this assertion, my father occupied himself in the preparation
+of an octavo volume, the principal materials of which were found in the
+diversified collections of the French Ana; but he enriched his subjects
+with as much of our own literature as his reading afforded, and he
+conveyed the result in that lively and entertaining style which he from
+the first commanded. This collection of "Anecdotes, Characters,
+Sketches, and Observations; Literary, Critical, and Historical," as the
+title-page of the first edition figures, he invested with the happy
+baptism of "Curiosities of Literature."</p>
+
+<p>He sought by this publication neither reputation nor a coarser reward,
+for he published his work anonymously, and avowedly as a compilation;
+and he not only published the work at his own expense, but in his
+heedlessness made a present of the copyright to the bookseller, which
+three or four years afterwards he was fortunate enough to purchase at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span>
+public sale. The volume was an experiment whether a taste for literature
+could not be infused into the multitude. Its success was so decided,
+that its projector was tempted to add a second volume two years
+afterward, with a slight attempt at more original research; I observe
+that there was a second edition of both volumes in 1794. For twenty
+years the brother volumes remained favourites of the public; when after
+that long interval their writer, taking advantage of a popular title,
+poured forth all the riches of his matured intellect, his refined taste,
+and accumulated knowledge into their pages, and produced what may be
+fairly described as the most celebrated Miscellany of Modern Literature.</p>
+
+<p>The moment that the name of the youthful author of the "Abuse of Satire"
+had transpired, Peter Pindar, faithful to the instinct of his nature,
+wrote a letter of congratulation and compliment to his assailant, and
+desired to make his acquaintance. The invitation was responded to, and
+until the death of Wolcot, they were intimate. My father always
+described Wolcot as a warm-hearted man; coarse in his manners, and
+rather rough, but eager to serve those whom he liked, of which, indeed,
+I might appropriately mention an instance.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened, that about the year 1795, when he was in his 29th year
+there came over my father that mysterious illness to which the youth of
+men of sensibility, and especially literary men, is frequently
+subject&mdash;a failing of nervous energy, occasioned by study and too
+sedentary habits, early and habitual reverie, restless and indefinite
+purpose. The symptoms, physical and moral, are most distressing:
+lassitude and despondency. And it usually happens, as in the present
+instance, that the cause of suffering is not recognised; and that
+medical men, misled by the superficial symptoms, and not seeking to
+acquaint themselves with the psychology of their patients, arrive at
+erroneous, often fatal, conclusions. In this case, the most eminent of
+the faculty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> gave it as their opinion, that the disease was consumption.
+Dr. Turton, if I recollect right, was then the most considered physician
+of the day. An immediate visit to a warmer climate was his specific; and
+as the Continent was then disturbed and foreign residence out of the
+question, Dr. Turton recommended that his patient should establish
+himself without delay in Devonshire.</p>
+
+<p>When my father communicated this impending change in his life to Wolcot,
+the modern Skelton shook his head. He did not believe that his friend
+was in a consumption, but being a Devonshire man, and loving very much
+his native province, he highly approved of the remedy. He gave my father
+several letters of introduction to persons of consideration at Exeter;
+among others, one whom he justly described as a poet and a physician,
+and the best of men, the late Dr. Hugh Downman. Provincial cities very
+often enjoy a transient term of intellectual distinction. An eminent man
+often collects around him congenial spirits, and the power of
+association sometimes produces distant effects which even an individual,
+however gifted, could scarcely have anticipated. A combination of
+circumstances had made at this time Exeter a literary metropolis. A
+number of distinguished men flourished there at the same moment: some of
+their names are even now remembered. Jackson of Exeter still survives as
+a native composer of original genius. He was also an author of high
+&aelig;sthetical speculation. The heroic poems of Hole are forgotten, but his
+essay on the Arabian Nights is still a cherished volume of elegant and
+learned criticism. Hayter was the classic antiquary who first discovered
+the art of unrolling the MSS. of Herculaneum. There were many others,
+noisier and more bustling, who are now forgotten, though they in some
+degree influenced the literary opinion of their time. It was said, and I
+believe truly, that the two principal, if not sole, organs of periodical
+criticism at that time, I think the "Critical Review" and the "Monthly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span>
+Review," were principally supported by Exeter contributions. No doubt
+this circumstance may account for a great deal of mutual praise and
+sympathetic opinion on literary subjects, which, by a convenient
+arrangement, appeared in the pages of publications otherwise professing
+contrary opinions on all others. Exeter had then even a learned society
+which published its Transactions.</p>
+
+<p>With such companions, by whom he was received with a kindness and
+hospitality which to the last he often dwelt on, it may easily be
+supposed that the banishment of my father from the delights of literary
+London was not as productive a source of gloom as the exile of Ovid to
+the savage Pontus, even if it had not been his happy fortune to have
+been received on terms of intimate friendship by the accomplished family
+of Mr. Baring, who was then member for Exeter, and beneath whose roof he
+passed a great portion of the period of nearly three years during which
+he remained in Devonshire.</p>
+
+<p>The illness of my father was relieved, but not removed, by this change
+of life. Dr. Downman was his physician, whose only remedies were port
+wine, horse-exercise, rowing on the neighbouring river, and the
+distraction of agreeable society. This wise physician recognised the
+temperament of his patient, and perceived that his physical derangement
+was an effect instead of a cause. My father instead of being in a
+consumption, was endowed with a frame of almost super-human strength,
+and which was destined for half a century of continuous labour and
+sedentary life. The vital principle in him, indeed, was so strong that
+when he left us at eighty-two, it was only as the victim of a violent
+epidemic, against whose virulence he struggled with so much power, that
+it was clear, but for this casualty, he might have been spared to this
+world even for several years.</p>
+
+<p>I should think that this illness of his youth, and which, though of a
+fitful character, was of many years' duration,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span> arose from his inability
+to direct to a satisfactory end the intellectual power which he was
+conscious of possessing. He would mention the ten years of his life,
+from twenty-five to thirty-five years of age, as a period very deficient
+in self-contentedness. The fact is, with a poetic temperament, he had
+been born in an age when the poetic faith of which he was a votary had
+fallen into decrepitude, and had become only a form with the public, not
+yet gifted with sufficient fervour to discover a new creed. He was a
+pupil of Pope and Boileau, yet both from his native impulse and from the
+glowing influence of Rousseau, he felt the necessity and desire of
+infusing into the verse of the day more passion than might resound from
+the frigid lyre of Mr. Hayley. My father had fancy, sensibility, and an
+exquisite taste, but he had not that rare creative power, which the
+blended and simultaneous influence of the individual organisation and
+the spirit of the age, reciprocally acting upon each other, can alone,
+perhaps, perfectly develope; the absence of which, at periods of
+transition, is so universally recognised and deplored, and yet which
+always, when it does arrive, captivates us, as it were, by surprise. How
+much there was of freshness, and fancy, and natural pathos in his mind,
+may be discerned in his Persian romance of "The Loves of Mejnoon and
+Leila." We who have been accustomed to the great poets of the nineteenth
+century seeking their best inspiration in the climate and manners of the
+East; who are familiar with the land of the Sun from the isles of Ionia
+to the vales of Cashmere; can scarcely appreciate the literary
+originality of a writer who, fifty years ago, dared to devise a real
+Eastern story, and seeking inspiration in the pages of Oriental
+literature, compose it with reference to the Eastern mind, and customs,
+and landscape. One must have been familiar with the Almorans and Hamets,
+the Visions of Mirza and the kings of Ethiopia, and the other dull and
+monstrous masquerades of Orientalism then prevalent, to estimate such an
+enterprise, in which, however, one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span> should not forget the author had the
+advantage of the guiding friendship of that distinguished Orientalist,
+Sir William Ouseley. The reception of this work by the public, and of
+other works of fiction which its author gave to them anonymously, was in
+every respect encouraging, and their success may impartially be
+registered as fairly proportionate to their merits; but it was not a
+success, or a proof of power, which, in my father's opinion, compensated
+for that life of literary research and study which their composition
+disturbed and enfeebled. It was at the ripe age of five-and-thirty that
+he renounced his dreams of being an author, and resolved to devote
+himself for the rest of his life to the acquisition of knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>When my father, many years afterwards, made the acquaintance of Sir
+Walter Scott, the great poet saluted him by reciting a poem of
+half-a-dozen stanzas which my father had written in his early youth. Not
+altogether without agitation, surprise was expressed that these lines
+should have been known, still more that they should have been
+remembered. "Ah!" said Sir Walter, "if the writer of these lines had
+gone on, he would have been an English poet."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is possible; it is even probable that, if my father had devoted
+himself to the art, he might have become the author of some elegant and
+popular didactic poem, on some ordinary subject, which his fancy would
+have adorned with grace and his sensibility invested with sentiment;
+some small volume which might have reposed with a classic title upon our
+library shelves, and served as a prize volume at Ladies' Schools. This
+celebrity was not reserved for him: instead of this he was destined to
+give to his country a series of works illustrative of its literary and
+political history, full of new information and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> new views, which time
+and opinion has ratified as just. But the poetical temperament was not
+thrown away upon him; it never is on any one; it was this great gift
+which prevented his being a mere literary antiquary; it was this which
+animated his page with picture and his narrative with interesting
+vivacity; above all, it was this temperament, which invested him with
+that sympathy with his subject, which made him the most delightful
+biographer in our language. In a word, it was because he was a poet,
+that he was a popular writer, and made belles-lettres charming to the
+multitude.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the ten years that now occurred that he mainly acquired
+that store of facts which were the foundation of his future
+speculations. His pen was never idle, but it was to note and to
+register, not to compose. His researches were prosecuted every morning
+among the MSS. of the British Museum, while his own ample collections
+permitted him to pursue his investigation in his own library into the
+night. The materials which he accumulated during this period are only
+partially exhausted. At the end of ten years, during which, with the
+exception of one anonymous work, he never indulged in composition, the
+irresistible desire of communicating his conclusions to the world came
+over him, and after all his almost childish aspirations, his youth of
+reverie and hesitating and imperfect effort, he arrived at the mature
+age of forty-five before his career as a great author, influencing
+opinion, really commenced.</p>
+
+<p>The next ten years passed entirely in production: from 1812 to 1822 the
+press abounded with his works. His "Calamities of Authors," his "Memoirs
+of Literary Controversy," in the manner of Bayle; his "Essay on the
+Literary Character," the most perfect of his compositions; were all
+chapters in that History of English Literature which he then commenced
+to meditate, and which it was fated should never be completed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was during this period also that he published his "Inquiry into the
+Literary and Political Character of James the First," in which he first
+opened those views respecting the times and the conduct of the Stuarts,
+which were opposed to the long prevalent opinions of this country, but
+which with him were at least the result of unprejudiced research, and
+their promulgation, as he himself expressed it, "an affair of literary
+conscience."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>But what retarded his project of a History of our Literature at this
+time was the almost embarrassing success of his juvenile production,
+"The Curiosities of Literature." These two volumes had already reached
+five editions, and their author found himself, by the public demand,
+again called upon to sanction their re-appearance. Recognising in this
+circumstance some proof of their utility, he resolved to make the work
+more worthy of the favour which it enjoyed, and more calculated to
+produce the benefit which he desired. Without attempting materially to
+alter the character of the first two volumes, he revised and enriched
+them, while at the same time he added a third volume of a vein far more
+critical, and conveying the results of much original research. The
+success of this publication was so great, that its author, after much
+hesitation, resolved, as he was wont to say, to take advantage of a
+popular title, and pour forth the treasures of his mind in three
+additional volumes, which, unlike continuations in general, were at once
+greeted with the highest degree of popular delight and esteem. And,
+indeed, whether we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> consider the choice variety of the subjects, the
+critical and philosophical speculation which pervades them, the amount
+of new and interesting information brought to bear, and the animated
+style in which all is conveyed, it is difficult to conceive
+miscellaneous literature in a garb more stimulating and attractive.
+These six volumes, after many editions, are now condensed into the form
+at present given to the public, and in which the development of the
+writer's mind for a quarter of a century may be completely traced.</p>
+
+<p>Although my father had on the whole little cause to complain of unfair
+criticism, especially considering how isolated he always remained, it is
+not to be supposed that a success so eminent should have been exempt in
+so long a course from some captious comments. It has been alleged of
+late years by some critics, that he was in the habit of exaggerating the
+importance of his researches; that he was too fond of styling every
+accession to our knowledge, however slight, as a discovery; that there
+were some inaccuracies in his early volumes (not very wonderful in so
+multifarious a work), and that the foundation of his "secret history"
+was often only a single letter, or a passage in a solitary diary.</p>
+
+<p>The sources of secret history at the present day are so rich and
+various; there is such an eagerness among their possessors to publish
+family papers, even sometimes in shapes, and at dates so recent, as
+scarcely to justify their appearance; that modern critics, in their
+embarrassment of manuscript wealth, are apt to view with too
+depreciating an eye the more limited resources of men of letters at the
+commencement of the century. Not five-and-twenty years ago, when
+preparing his work on King Charles the First, the application of my
+father to make some researches in the State Paper Office was refused by
+the Secretary of State of the day. Now, foreign potentates and ministers
+of State, and public corporations and the heads of great houses, feel
+honoured by such appeals, and respond to them with cordiality. It is not
+only the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span> State Paper Office of England, but the Archives of France,
+that are open to the historical investigator. But what has produced this
+general and expanding taste for literary research in the world, and
+especially in England? The labours of our elder authors, whose taste and
+acuteness taught us the value of the materials which we in our ignorance
+neglected. When my father first frequented the reading-room of the
+British Museum at the end of the last century, his companions never
+numbered half-a-dozen; among them, if I remember rightly, were Mr.
+Pinkerton and Mr. Douce. Now these daily pilgrims of research may be
+counted by as many hundreds. Few writers have more contributed to form
+and diffuse this delightful and profitable taste for research than the
+author of the "Curiosities of Literature;" few writers have been more
+successful in inducing us to pause before we accepted without a scruple
+the traditionary opinion that has distorted a fact or calumniated a
+character; and independently of every other claim which he possesses to
+public respect, his literary discoveries, viewed in relation to the age
+and the means, were considerable. But he had other claims: a vital
+spirit in his page, kindred with the souls of a Bayle and a Montaigne.
+His innumerable imitators and their inevitable failure for half a
+century alone prove this, and might have made them suspect that there
+were some ingredients in the spell besides the accumulation of facts and
+a happy title. Many of their publications, perpetually appearing and
+constantly forgotten, were drawn up by persons of considerable
+acquirements, and were ludicrously mimetic of their prototype, even as
+to the size of the volume and the form of the page. What has become of
+these "Varieties of Literature," and "Delights of Literature," and
+"Delicacies of Literature," and "Relics of Literature,"&mdash;and the other
+Protean forms of uninspired compilation? Dead as they deserve to be:
+while the work, the idea of which occurred to its writer in his early
+youth, and which he lived virtually to execute in all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> the ripeness of
+his studious manhood, remains as fresh and popular as ever,&mdash;the
+Literary Miscellany of the English People.</p>
+
+<p>I have ventured to enter into some details as to the earlier and
+obscurer years of my father's life, because I thought that they threw
+light upon human character, and that without them, indeed, a just
+appreciation of his career could hardly be formed. I am mistaken, if we
+do not recognise in his instance two very interesting qualities of life:
+predisposition and self-formation. There was a third, which I think is
+to be honoured, and that was his sympathy with his order. No one has
+written so much about authors, and so well. Indeed, before his time, the
+Literary Character had never been fairly placed before the world. He
+comprehended its idiosyncrasy: all its strength and all its weakness. He
+could soften, because he could explain, its infirmities; in the analysis
+and record of its power, he vindicated the right position of authors in
+the social scale. They stand between the governors and the governed, he
+impresses on us in the closing pages of his greatest work.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Though he
+shared none of the calamities, and scarcely any of the controversies, of
+literature, no one has sympathised so intimately with the sorrows, or so
+zealously and impartially registered the instructive disputes, of
+literary men. He loved to celebrate the exploits of great writers, and
+to show that, in these ages, the pen is a weapon as puissant as the
+sword. He was also the first writer who vindicated the position of the
+great artist in the history of genius. His pages are studded with
+pregnant instances and graceful details, borrowed from the life of Art
+and its votaries, and which his intimate and curious acquaintance with
+Italian letters readily and happily supplied. Above all writers, he has
+maintained the greatness of intellect, and the immortality of thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He was himself a complete literary character, a man who really passed
+his life in his library. Even marriage produced no change in these
+habits; he rose to enter the chamber where he lived alone with his
+books, and at night his lamp was ever lit within the same walls.
+Nothing, indeed, was more remarkable than the isolation of this
+prolonged existence; and it could only be accounted for by the united
+influence of three causes: his birth, which brought him no relations or
+family acquaintance; the bent of his disposition; and the circumstance
+of his inheriting an independent fortune, which rendered unnecessary
+those exertions that would have broken up his self-reliance. He disliked
+business, and he never required relaxation; he was absorbed in his
+pursuits. In London his only amusement was to ramble among booksellers;
+if he entered a club, it was only to go into the library. In the
+country, he scarcely ever left his room but to saunter in abstraction
+upon a terrace; muse over a chapter, or coin a sentence. He had not a
+single passion or prejudice: all his convictions were the result of his
+own studies, and were often opposed to the impressions which he had
+early imbibed. He not only never entered into the politics of the day,
+but he could never understand them. He never was connected with any
+particular body or set of men; comrades of school or college, or
+confederates in that public life which, in England, is, perhaps, the
+only foundation of real friendship. In the consideration of a question,
+his mind was quite undisturbed by traditionary preconceptions; and it
+was this exemption from passion and prejudice which, although his
+intelligence was naturally somewhat too ingenious and fanciful for the
+conduct of close argument, enabled him, in investigation, often to show
+many of the highest attributes of the judicial mind, and particularly to
+sum up evidence with singular happiness and ability.</p>
+
+<p>Although in private life he was of a timid nature, his moral courage as
+a writer was unimpeachable. Most certainly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a></span> throughout his long career,
+he never wrote a sentence which he did not believe was true. He will
+generally be found to be the advocate of the discomfited and the
+oppressed. So his conclusions are often opposed to popular impressions.
+This was from no love of paradox, to which he was quite superior; but
+because in the conduct of his researches, he too often found that the
+unfortunate are calumniated. His vindication of King James the First, he
+has himself described as "an affair of literary conscience:" his greater
+work on the Life and Times of the son of the first Stuart arose from the
+same impulse. He had deeply studied our history during the first moiety
+of the seventeenth century; he looked upon it as a famous age; he was
+familiar with the works of its great writers, and there was scarcely one
+of its almost innumerable pamphlets with which he was not acquainted.
+During the thoughtful investigations of many years, he had arrived at
+results which were not adapted to please the passing multitude, but
+which, because he held them to be authentic, he was uneasy lest he
+should die without recording. Yet strong as were his convictions,
+although, notwithstanding his education in the revolutionary philosophy
+of the eighteenth century, his nature and his studies had made him a
+votary of loyalty and reverence, his pen was always prompt to do justice
+to those who might be looked upon as the adversaries of his own cause:
+and this was because his cause was really truth. If he has upheld Laud
+under unjust aspersions, the last labour of his literary life was to
+vindicate the character of Hugh Peters. If, from the recollection of the
+sufferings of his race, and from profound reflection on the principles
+of the Institution, he was hostile to the Papacy, no writer in our
+literature has done more complete justice to the conduct of the English
+Romanists. Who can read his history of Chidiock Titchbourne unmoved? or
+can refuse to sympathise with his account of the painful difficulties of
+the English Monarchs with their loyal subjects of the old faith? If in
+a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a></span> parliamentary country he has dared to criticise the conduct of
+Parliaments, it was only because an impartial judgment had taught him,
+as he himself expresses it, that "Parliaments have their passions as
+well as individuals."</p>
+
+<p>He was five years in the composition of his work on the "Life and Reign
+of Charles the First," and the five volumes appeared at intervals
+between 1828 and 1831. It was feared by his publisher, that the
+distracted epoch at which this work was issued, and the tendency of the
+times, apparently so adverse to his own views, might prove very
+injurious to its reception. But the effect of these circumstances was
+the reverse. The minds of men were inclined to the grave and national
+considerations that were involved in these investigations. The
+principles of political institutions, the rival claims of the two Houses
+of Parliament, the authority of the Established Church, the demands of
+religious sects, were, after a long lapse of years, anew the theme of
+public discussion. Men were attracted to a writer who traced the origin
+of the anti-monarchical principle in modern Europe; treated of the arts
+of insurgency; gave them, at the same time, a critical history of the
+Puritans, and a treatise on the genius of the Papacy; scrutinised the
+conduct of triumphant patriots, and vindicated a decapitated monarch.
+The success of this work was eminent; and its author appeared for the
+first and only time of his life in public, when amidst the cheers of
+under-graduates, and the applause of graver men, the solitary student
+received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford, a fitting
+homage, in the language of the great University, "OPTIMI REGIS OPTIMO
+VINDICI."</p>
+
+<p>I cannot but recall a trait that happened on this occasion. After my
+father returned to his hotel from the theatre, a stranger requested an
+interview with him. A Swiss gentleman, travelling in England at the
+time, who had witnessed the scene just closed, begged to express the
+reason why he presumed thus personally and cordially to congratulate
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a></span> new Doctor of Civil Law. He was the son of my grandfather's chief
+clerk, and remembered his parent's employer; whom he regretted did not
+survive to be aware of this honourable day. Thus, amid all the strange
+vicissitudes of life, we are ever, as it were, moving in a circle.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding he was now approaching his seventieth year, his health
+being unbroken and his constitution very robust, my father resolved
+vigorously to devote himself to the composition of the history of our
+vernacular Literature. He hesitated for a moment, whether he should at
+once address himself to this greater task, or whether he should first
+complete a Life of Pope, for which he had made great preparations, and
+which had long occupied his thoughts. His review of "Spence's Anecdotes"
+in the Quarterly, so far back as 1820, which gave rise to the celebrated
+Pope Controversy, in which Mr. Campbell, Lord Byron, Mr. Bowles, Mr.
+Roscoe, and others less eminent broke lances, would prove how well
+qualified, even at that distant date, the critic was to become the
+biographer of the great writer, whose literary excellency and moral
+conduct he, on that occasion, alike vindicated. But, unfortunately as it
+turned out, my father was persuaded to address himself to the weightier
+task. Hitherto, in his publications, he had always felt an extreme
+reluctance to travel over ground which others had previously visited. He
+liked to give new matter, and devote himself to detached points, on
+which he entertained different opinions from those prevalent. Thus his
+works are generally of a supplementary character, and assume in their
+readers a certain degree of preliminary knowledge. In the present
+instance he was induced to frame his undertaking on a different scale,
+and to prepare a history which should be complete in itself, and supply
+the reader with a perfect view of the gradual formation of our language
+and literature. He proposed to effect this in six volumes; though, I
+apprehend, he would not have succeeded in fulfilling his intentions
+within that limit. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxv" id="Page_xxxv">[Pg xxxv]</a></span> treatment of the period of Queen Anne would have
+been very ample, and he would also have accomplished in this general
+work a purpose which he had also long contemplated, and for which he had
+made curious and extensive collections, namely, a History of the English
+Freethinkers.</p>
+
+<p>But all these great plans were destined to a terrible defeat. Towards
+the end of the year 1839, still in the full vigour of his health and
+intellect, he suffered a paralysis of the optic nerve; and that eye,
+which for so long a term had kindled with critical interest over the
+volumes of so many literatures and so many languages, was doomed to
+pursue its animated course no more. Considering the bitterness of such a
+calamity to one whose powers were otherwise not in the least impaired,
+he bore on the whole his fate with magnanimity, even with cheerfulness.
+Unhappily, his previous habits of study and composition rendered the
+habit of dictation intolerable, even impossible to him. But with the
+assistance of his daughter, whose intelligent solicitude he has
+commemorated in more than one grateful passage, he selected from his
+manuscripts three volumes, which he wished to have published under the
+becoming title of "A Fragment of a History of English Literature," but
+which were eventually given to the public under that of "Amenities of
+Literature."</p>
+
+<p>He was also enabled during these last years of physical, though not of
+moral, gloom, to prepare a new edition of his work on the Life and Times
+of Charles the First, which had been for some time out of print. He
+contrived, though slowly, and with great labour, very carefully to
+revise, and improve, and enrich these volumes. He was wont to say that
+the best monument to an author was a good edition of his works: it is my
+purpose that he should possess this memorial. He has been described by a
+great authority as a writer sui generis; and indeed had he never
+written, it appears to me, that there would have been a gap in our
+libraries, which it would have been difficult to supply. Of him it might
+be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvi" id="Page_xxxvi">[Pg xxxvi]</a></span> added that, for an author, his end was an euthanasia, for on the day
+before he was seized by that fatal epidemic, of the danger of which, to
+the last moment, he was unconscious, he was apprised by his publishers,
+that all his works were out of print, and that their re-publication
+could no longer be delayed.</p>
+
+<p>In this notice of the career of my father, I have ventured to draw
+attention to three circumstances which I thought would be esteemed
+interesting; namely, predisposition, self-formation, and sympathy with
+his order. There is yet another which completes and crowns the
+character,&mdash;constancy of purpose; and it is only in considering his
+course as a whole, that we see how harmonious and consistent have been
+that life and its labours, which, in a partial and brief view, might be
+supposed to have been somewhat desultory and fragmentary.</p>
+
+<p>On his moral character I shall scarcely presume to dwell. The
+philosophic sweetness of his disposition, the serenity of his lot, and
+the elevating nature of his pursuits, combined to enable him to pass
+through life without an evil act, almost without an evil thought. As the
+world has always been fond of personal details respecting men who have
+been celebrated, I will mention that he was fair, with a Bourbon nose,
+and brown eyes of extraordinary beauty and lustre. He wore a small black
+velvet cap, but his white hair latterly touched his shoulders in curls
+almost as flowing as in his boyhood. His extremities were delicate and
+well-formed, and his leg, at his last hour, as shapely as in his youth,
+which showed the vigour of his frame. Latterly he had become corpulent.
+He did not excel in conversation, though in his domestic circle he was
+garrulous. Everything interested him; and blind, and eighty-two, he was
+still as susceptible as a child. One of his last acts was to compose
+some verses of gay gratitude to his daughter-in-law, who was his London
+correspondent, and to whose lively pen his last years were indebted for
+constant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvii" id="Page_xxxvii">[Pg xxxvii]</a></span> amusement. He had by nature a singular volatility which never
+deserted him. His feelings, though always amiable, were not painfully
+deep, and amid joy or sorrow, the philosophic vein was ever evident. He
+more resembled Goldsmith than any man that I can compare him to: in his
+conversation, his apparent confusion of ideas ending with some
+felicitous phrase of genius, his na&iuml;vet&eacute;, his simplicity not untouched
+with a dash of sarcasm affecting innocence&mdash;one was often reminded of
+the gifted and interesting friend of Burke and Johnson. There was,
+however, one trait in which my father did not resemble Goldsmith: he had
+no vanity. Indeed, one of his few infirmities was rather a deficiency of
+self-esteem.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, I hope&mdash;nay I believe&mdash;that taking all into
+consideration&mdash;the integrity and completeness of his existence, the fact
+that, for sixty years, he largely contributed to form the taste, charm
+the leisure, and direct the studious dispositions, of the great body of
+the public, and that his works have extensively and curiously
+illustrated the literary and political history of our country, it will
+be conceded, that in his life and labours, he repaid England for the
+protection and the hospitality which this country accorded to his father
+a century ago.</p>
+
+<p class="author">D.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 2em;">Hughenden Manor</span>,</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Christmas</i>, 1848.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxviii" id="Page_xxxviii">[Pg xxxviii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxix" id="Page_xxxix">[Pg xxxix]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h4><br /><br />TO</h4>
+
+<h2>FRANCIS DOUCE, ESQ.</h2>
+
+<h3>THESE VOLUMES OF SOME LITERARY RESEARCHES<br />
+
+ARE INSCRIBED;<br />
+
+AS A SLIGHT MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP<br />
+
+AND<br />
+
+A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT<br />
+
+TO<br />
+
+A LOVER OF LITERATURE.<br /><br /></h3>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xl" id="Page_xl">[Pg xl]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="CURIOSITIES_OF_LITERATURE" id="CURIOSITIES_OF_LITERATURE"></a>CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.</h2>
+
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>I. DISRAELI.</h2>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Of a work which long has been placed on that shelf which Voltaire has
+discriminated as <i>la Biblioth&egrave;que du Monde</i>, it is never mistimed for
+the author to offer the many, who are familiar with its pages, a settled
+conception of its design.</p>
+
+<p>The "Curiosities of Literature," commenced fifty years since, have been
+composed at various periods, and necessarily partake of those successive
+characters which mark the eras of the intellectual habits of the writer.</p>
+
+<p>In my youth, the taste for modern literary history was only of recent
+date. The first elegant scholar who opened a richer vein in the mine of
+<span class="smcap">Modern Literature</span> was <span class="smcap">Joseph Warton</span>;&mdash;he had a fragmentary mind, and he
+was a rambler in discursive criticism. Dr. <span class="smcap">Johnson</span> was a famished man
+for anecdotical literature, and sorely complained of the penury of our
+literary history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Thomas Warton</span> must have found, in the taste of his brother and the
+energy of Johnson, his happiest prototypes; but he had too frequently to
+wrestle with barren antiquarianism, and was lost to us at the gates of
+that paradise which had hardly opened on him. These were the true
+founders of that more elegant literature in which France had preceded
+us. These works created a more pleasing species of erudition:&mdash;the age
+of taste and genius had come; but the age of philosophical thinking was
+yet but in its dawn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xli" id="Page_xli">[Pg xli]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Among my earliest literary friends, two distinguished themselves by
+their anecdotical literature: <span class="smcap">James Petit Andrews</span>, by his "Anecdotes,
+Ancient and Modern," and <span class="smcap">William Seward</span>, by his "Anecdotes of
+Distinguished Persons." These volumes were favourably received, and to
+such a degree, that a wit of that day, and who is still a wit as well as
+a poet, considered that we were far gone in our "Anecdotage."</p>
+
+<p>I was a guest at the banquet, but it seemed to me to consist wholly of
+confectionery. I conceived the idea of a collection of a different
+complexion. I was then seeking for instruction in modern literature; and
+our language afforded no collection of the <i>res litterari&aelig;</i>. In the
+diversified volumes of the French <i>Ana</i>, I found, among the best,
+materials to work on. I improved my subjects with as much of our own
+literature as my limited studies afforded. The volume, without a name,
+was left to its own unprotected condition. I had not miscalculated the
+wants of others by my own.</p>
+
+<p>This first volume had reminded the learned of much which it is grateful
+to remember, and those who were restricted by their classical studies,
+or lounged only in perishable novelties, were in modern literature but
+dry wells, for which I had opened clear waters from a fresh spring. The
+work had effected its design in stimulating the literary curiosity of
+those, who, with a taste for its tranquil pursuits, are impeded in their
+acquirement. Imitations were numerous. My reading became more various,
+and the second volume of "Curiosities of Literature" appeared, with a
+slight effort at more original investigation. The two brother volumes
+remained favourites during an interval of twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>It was as late as 1817 that I sent forth the third volume; without a
+word of preface. I had no longer anxieties to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlii" id="Page_xlii">[Pg xlii]</a></span> conceal or promises to
+perform. The subjects chosen were novel, and investigated with more
+original composition. The motto prefixed to this third volume from the
+Marquis of Halifax is lost in the republications, but expresses the
+peculiar delight of all literary researches for those who love them:
+"The struggling for knowledge hath a pleasure in it like that of
+wrestling with a fine woman."</p>
+
+<p>The notice which the third volume obtained, returned me to the dream of
+my youth. I considered that essay writing, from Addison to the
+successors of Johnson, which had formed one of the most original
+features of our national literature, would now fail in its attraction,
+even if some of those elegant writers themselves had appeared in a form
+which their own excellence had rendered familiar and deprived of all
+novelty. I was struck by an observation which Johnson has thrown out.
+That sage, himself an essayist and who had lived among our essayists,
+fancied that "mankind may come in time to write all aphoristically;" and
+so athirst was that first of our great moral biographers for the details
+of human life and the incidental characteristics of individuals, that he
+was desirous of obtaining anecdotes without preparation or connexion.
+"If a man," said this lover of literary anecdotes, "is to wait till he
+weaves anecdotes, we may be long in getting them, and get but few in
+comparison to what we might get." Another observation, of Lord
+Bolingbroke, had long dwelt in my mind, that "when examples are pointed
+out to us, there is a kind of appeal with which we are flattered made to
+our senses as well as our understandings." An induction from a variety
+of particulars seemed to me to combine that delight, which Johnson
+derived from anecdotes, with that philosophy which Bolingbroke founded
+on examples; and on this principle the last three volumes of the
+"Curiosities of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xliii" id="Page_xliii">[Pg xliii]</a></span> Literature" were constructed, freed from the formality
+of dissertation, and the vagueness of the lighter essay.</p>
+
+<p>These "Curiosities of Literature" have passed through a remarkable
+ordeal of time; they have survived a generation of rivals; they are
+found wherever books are bought, and they have been repeatedly reprinted
+at foreign presses, as well as translated. These volumes have imbued our
+youth with their first tastes for modern literature, have diffused a
+delight in critical and philosophical speculation among circles of
+readers who were not accustomed to literary topics; and finally, they
+have been honoured by eminent contemporaries, who have long consulted
+them and set their stamp on the metal.</p>
+
+<p>A voluminous miscellany, composed at various periods, cannot be exempt
+from slight inadvertencies. Such a circuit of multifarious knowledge
+could not be traced were we to measure and count each step by some
+critical pedometer; life would be too short to effect any reasonable
+progress. Every work must be judged by its design, and is to be valued
+by its result.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 2em;">Bradenham House</span>,</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;"><i>March</i>, 1839.</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xliv" id="Page_xliv">[Pg xliv]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_I" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_I"></a>CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LIBRARIES">LIBRARIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BIBLIOMANIA">THE BIBLIOMANIA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_JOURNALS">LITERARY JOURNALS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#RECOVERY_OF_MANUSCRIPTS">RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SKETCHES_OF_CRITICISM">SKETCHES OF CRITICISM.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_PERSECUTED_LEARNED">THE PERSECUTED LEARNED.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#POVERTY_OF_THE_LEARNED">POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IMPRISONMENT_OF_THE_LEARNED">IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AMUSEMENTS_OF_THE_LEARNED">AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PORTRAITS_OF_AUTHORS">PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DESTRUCTION_OF_BOOKS">DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SOME_NOTICES_OF_LOST_WORKS">SOME NOTICES OF LOST WORKS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#QUODLIBETS_OR_SCHOLASTIC_DISQUISITIONS">QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FAME_CONTEMNED">FAME CONTEMNED.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_SIX_FOLLIES_OF_SCIENCE">THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IMITATORS">IMITATORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CICEROS_PUNS">CICERO'S PUNS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PREFACES">PREFACES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EARLY_PRINTING">EARLY PRINTING.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ERRATA">ERRATA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PATRONS">PATRONS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#POETS_PHILOSOPHERS_AND_ARTISTS_MADE_BY_ACCIDENT">POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INEQUALITIES_OF_GENIUS">INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GEOGRAPHICAL_STYLE">GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LEGENDS">LEGENDS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_PORT-ROYAL_SOCIETY">THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_PROGRESS_OF_OLD_AGE_IN_NEW_STUDIES">THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SPANISH_POETRY">SPANISH POETRY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SAINT_EVREMOND">SAINT EVREMOND.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MEN_OF_GENIUS_DEFICIENT_IN_CONVERSATION">MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VIDA">VIDA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_SCUDERIES">THE SCUDERIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DE_LA_ROCHEFOUCAULT">DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PRIORS_HANS_CARVEL">PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_STUDENT_IN_THE_METROPOLIS">THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_TALMUD">THE TALMUD.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#RABBINICAL_STORIES">RABBINICAL STORIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ON_THE_CUSTOM_OF_SALUTING_AFTER_SNEEZING">ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BONAVENTURE_DE_PERIERS">BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GROTIUS">GROTIUS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#NOBLEMEN_TURNED_CRITICS">NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_IMPOSTURES">LITERARY IMPOSTURES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CARDINAL_RICHELIEU">CARDINAL RICHELIEU.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ARISTOTLE_AND_PLATO">ARISTOTLE AND PLATO.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ABELARD_AND_ELOISA">ABELARD AND ELOISA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PHYSIOGNOMY">PHYSIOGNOMY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CHARACTERS_DESCRIBED_BY_MUSICAL_NOTES">CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MILTON">MILTON.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ORIGIN_OF_NEWSPAPERS">ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TRIALS_AND_PROOFS_OF_GUILT_IN_SUPERSTITIOUS_AGES">TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_INQUISITION">THE INQUISITION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SINGULARITIES_OBSERVED_BY_VARIOUS_NATIONS_IN_THEIR_REPASTS">SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MONARCHS">MONARCHS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OF_THE_TITLES_OF_ILLUSTRIOUS_HIGHNESS_AND_EXCELLENCE">OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TITLES_OF_SOVEREIGNS">TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ROYAL_DIVINITIES">ROYAL DIVINITIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DETHRONED_MONARCHS">DETHRONED MONARCHS</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FEUDAL_CUSTOMS">FEUDAL CUSTOMS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GAMING">GAMING.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_ARABIC_CHRONICLE">THE ARABIC CHRONICLE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#METEMPSYCHOSIS">METEMPSYCHOSIS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SPANISH_ETIQUETTE">SPANISH ETIQUETTE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_GOTHS_AND_HUNS">THE GOTHS AND HUNS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VICARS_OF_BRAY">VICARS OF BRAY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DOUGLAS">DOUGLAS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CRITICAL_HISTORY_OF_POVERTY">CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SOLOMON_AND_SHEBA">SOLOMON AND SHEBA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#HELL">HELL.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_ABSENT_MAN">THE ABSENT MAN.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PASQUIN_AND_MARFORIO">PASQUIN AND MARFORIO.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FEMALE_BEAUTY_AND_ORNAMENTS">FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MODERN_PLATONISM">MODERN PLATONISM.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ANECDOTES_OF_FASHION">ANECDOTES OF FASHION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_SENATE_OF_JESUITS">A SENATE OF JESUITS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_LOVERS_HEART">THE LOVER'S HEART.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_HISTORY_OF_GLOVES">THE HISTORY OF GLOVES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#RELICS_OF_SAINTS">RELICS OF SAINTS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PERPETUAL_LAMPS_OF_THE_ANCIENTS">PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#NATURAL_PRODUCTIONS_RESEMBLING_ARTIFICIAL_COMPOSITIONS">NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_POETICAL_GARLAND_OF_JULIA">THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TRAGIC_ACTORS">TRAGIC ACTORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JOCULAR_PREACHERS">JOCULAR PREACHERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MASTERLY_IMITATORS">MASTERLY IMITATORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EDWARD_THE_FOURTH">EDWARD THE FOURTH.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ELIZABETH">ELIZABETH.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_CHINESE_LANGUAGE">THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MEDICAL_MUSIC">MEDICAL MUSIC.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MINUTE_WRITING">MINUTE WRITING.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#NUMERICAL_FIGURES">NUMERICAL FIGURES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ENGLISH_ASTROLOGERS">ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ALCHYMY">ALCHYMY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TITLES_OF_BOOKS">TITLES OF BOOKS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_FOLLIES">LITERARY FOLLIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_CONTROVERSY">LITERARY CONTROVERSY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_BLUNDERS">LITERARY BLUNDERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_LITERARY_WIFE">A LITERARY WIFE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DEDICATIONS">DEDICATIONS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PHILOSOPHICAL_DESCRIPTIVE_POEMS">PHILOSOPHICAL DESCRIPTIVE POEMS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PAMPHLETS">PAMPHLETS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITTLE_BOOKS">LITTLE BOOKS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_CATHOLICS_REFUTATION">A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_GOOD_ADVICE_OF_AN_OLD_LITERARY_SINNER">THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MYSTERIES_MORALITIES_FARCES_AND_SOTTIES">MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LOVE_AND_FOLLY_AN_ANCIENT_MORALITY">LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#RELIGIOUS_NOUVELLETTES">RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CRITICAL_SAGACITY_AND_HAPPY_CONJECTURE_OR_BENTLEYS_MILTON">"CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S MILTON.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_JANSENIST_DICTIONARY">A JANSENIST DICTIONARY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MANUSCRIPTS_AND_BOOKS">MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_TURKISH_SPY">THE TURKISH SPY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SPENSER_JONSON_AND_SHAKSPEARE">SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BEN_JONSON_FELTHAM_AND_RANDOLPH">BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ARIOSTO_AND_TASSO">ARIOSTO AND TASSO.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BAYLE">BAYLE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CERVANTES">CERVANTES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MAGLIABECHI">MAGLIABECHI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ABRIDGERS">ABRIDGERS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PROFESSORS_OF_PLAGIARISM_AND_OBSCURITY">PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_DUTCH">LITERARY DUTCH.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_PRODUCTIONS_OF_THE_MIND_NOT_SEIZABLE_BY_CREDITORS">THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CRITICS">CRITICS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ANECDOTES_OF_CENSURED_AUTHORS">ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VIRGINITY">VIRGINITY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_GLANCE_INTO_THE_FRENCH_ACADEMY">A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#POETICAL_AND_GRAMMATICAL_DEATHS">POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SCARRON">SCARRON.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PETER_CORNEILLE">PETER CORNEILLE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#POETS">POETS.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ROMANCES">ROMANCES.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_ASTREA">THE ASTREA.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#POETS_LAUREAT">POETS LAUREAT.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ANGELO_POLITIAN">ANGELO POLITIAN.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ORIGINAL_LETTER_OF_QUEEN_ELIZABETH">ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ANNE_BULLEN">ANNE BULLEN.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#JAMES_THE_FIRST">JAMES THE FIRST.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GENERAL_MONK_AND_HIS_WIFE">GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PHILIP_AND_MARY">PHILIP AND MARY.</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LIBRARIES" id="LIBRARIES"></a>LIBRARIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The passion for forming vast collections of books has necessarily
+existed in all periods of human curiosity; but long it required regal
+munificence to found a national library. It is only since the art of
+multiplying the productions of the mind has been discovered, that men of
+letters themselves have been enabled to rival this imperial and
+patriotic honour. The taste for books, so rare before the fifteenth
+century, has gradually become general only within these four hundred
+years: in that small space of time the public mind of Europe has been
+created.</p>
+
+<p>Of <span class="smcap">Libraries</span>, the following anecdotes seem most interesting, as they
+mark either the affection, or the veneration, which civilised men have
+ever felt for these perennial repositories of their minds. The first
+national library founded in Egypt seemed to have been placed under the
+protection of the divinities, for their statues magnificently adorned
+this temple, dedicated at once to religion and to literature. It was
+still further embellished by a well-known inscription, for ever grateful
+to the votary of literature; on the front was engraven,&mdash;"The
+nourishment of the soul;" or, according to Diodorus, "The medicine of
+the mind."</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptian Ptolemies founded the vast library of Alexandria, which was
+afterwards the emulative labour of rival monarchs; the founder infused a
+soul into the vast body he was creating, by his choice of the librarian,
+Demetrius Phalereus, whose skilful industry amassed from all nations
+their choicest productions. Without such a librarian, a national library
+would be little more than a literary chaos; his well exercised memory
+and critical judgment are its best catalogue. One of the Ptolemies
+refused supplying the famished Athenians with wheat, until they
+presented him with the original manuscripts of &AElig;schylus, Sophocles, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+Euripides; and in returning copies of these autographs, he allowed them
+to retain the fifteen talents which he had pledged with them as a
+princely security.</p>
+
+<p>When tyrants, or usurpers, have possessed sense as well as courage, they
+have proved the most ardent patrons of literature; they know it is their
+interest to turn aside the public mind from political speculations, and
+to afford their subjects the inexhaustible occupations of curiosity, and
+the consoling pleasures of the imagination. Thus Pisistratus is said to
+have been among the earliest of the Greeks, who projected an immense
+collection of the works of the learned, and is supposed to have been the
+collector of the scattered works, which passed under the name of Homer.</p>
+
+<p>The Romans, after six centuries of gradual dominion, must have possessed
+the vast and diversified collections of the writings of the nations they
+conquered: among the most valued spoils of their victories, we know that
+manuscripts were considered as more precious than vases of gold. Paulus
+Emilius, after the defeat of Perseus, king of Macedon, brought to Rome a
+great number which he had amassed in Greece, and which he now
+distributed among his sons, or presented to the Roman people. Sylla
+followed his example. Alter the siege of Athens, he discovered an entire
+library in the temple of Apollo, which having carried to Rome, he
+appears to have been the founder of the first Roman public library.
+After the taking of Carthage, the Roman senate rewarded the family of
+Regulus with the books found in that city. A library was a national
+gift, and the most honourable they could bestow. From the intercourse of
+the Romans with the Greeks, the passion for forming libraries rapidly
+increased, and individuals began to pride themselves on their private
+collections.</p>
+
+<p>Of many illustrious Romans, their magnificent taste in their <i>libraries</i>
+has been recorded. Asinius Pollio, Crassus, C&aelig;sar, and Cicero, have,
+among others, been celebrated for their literary splendor. Lucullus,
+whose incredible opulence exhausted itself on more than imperial
+luxuries, more honourably distinguished himself by his vast collections
+of books, and the happy use he made of them by the liberal access he
+allowed the learned. "It was a library," says Plutarch, "whose walks,
+galleries, and cabinets, were open to all visitors; and the ingenious
+Greeks, when at leisure, resorted to this abode of the Muses to hold
+literary conversations, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> which Lucullus himself loved to join." This
+library enlarged by others, Julius C&aelig;sar once proposed to open for the
+public, having chosen the erudite Varro for its librarian; but the
+daggers of Brutus and his party prevented the meditated projects of
+C&aelig;sar. In this museum, Cicero frequently pursued his studies, during the
+time his friend Faustus had the charge of it; which he describes to
+Atticus in his 4th Book, Epist. 9. Amidst his public occupations and his
+private studies, either of them sufficient to have immortalised one man,
+we are astonished at the minute attention Cicero paid to the formation
+of his libraries and his cabinets of antiquities.</p>
+
+<p>The emperors were ambitious, at length, to give <i>their names</i> to the
+<i>libraries</i> they founded; they did not consider the purple as their
+chief ornament. Augustus was himself an author; and to one of those
+sumptuous buildings, called <i>Therm&aelig;</i>, ornamented with porticos,
+galleries, and statues, with shady walks, and refreshing baths,
+testified his love of literature by adding a magnificent library. One of
+these libraries he fondly called by the name of his sister Octavia; and
+the other, the temple of Apollo, became the haunt of the poets, as
+Horace, Juvenal, and Persius have commemorated. The successors of
+Augustus imitated his example, and even Tiberius had an imperial
+library, chiefly consisting of works concerning the empire and the acts
+of its sovereigns. These Trajan augmented by the Ulpian library,
+denominated from his family name. In a word, we have accounts of the
+rich ornaments the ancients bestowed on their libraries; of their floors
+paved with marble, their walls covered with glass and ivory, and their
+shelves and desks of ebony and cedar.</p>
+
+<p>The first <i>public library</i> in Italy was founded by a person of no
+considerable fortune: his credit, his frugality, and fortitude, were
+indeed equal to a treasury. Nicholas Niccoli, the son of a merchant,
+after the death of his father relinquished the beaten roads of gain, and
+devoted his soul to study, and his fortune to assist students. At his
+death, he left his library to the public, but his debts exceeding his
+effects, the princely generosity of Cosmo de' Medici realised the
+intention of its former possessor, and afterwards enriched it by the
+addition of an apartment, in which he placed the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
+Chaldaic, and Indian MSS. The intrepid spirit of Nicholas V. laid the
+foundations of the Vatican; the affection of Cardinal Bessarion for his
+country first gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Venice the rudiments of a public library; and to Sir
+T. Bodley we owe the invaluable one of Oxford. Sir Robert Cotton, Sir
+Hans Sloane, Dr. Birch, Mr. Cracherode, Mr. Douce, and others of this
+race of lovers of books, have all contributed to form these literary
+treasures, which our nation owe to the enthusiasm of individuals, who
+have consecrated their fortunes and their days to this great public
+object; or, which in the result produces the same public good, the
+collections of such men have been frequently purchased on their deaths,
+by government, and thus have been preserved entire in our national
+collections.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Literature</span>, like virtue, is often its own reward, and the enthusiasm
+some experience in the permanent enjoyments of a vast library has far
+outweighed the neglect or the calumny of the world, which some of its
+votaries have received. From the time that Cicero poured forth his
+feelings in his oration for the poet Archias, innumerable are the
+testimonies of men of letters of the pleasurable delirium of their
+researches. Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, and Chancellor of England
+so early as 1341, perhaps raised the first private library in our
+country. He purchased thirty or forty volumes of the Abbot of St. Albans
+for fifty pounds' weight of silver. He was so enamoured of his large
+collection, that he expressly composed a treatise on his love of books,
+under the title of <i>Philobiblion</i>; and which has been recently
+translated.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>He who passes much of his time amid such vast resources, and does not
+aspire to make some small addition to his library, were it only by a
+critical catalogue, must indeed be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> not more animated than a leaden
+Mercury. He must be as indolent as that animal called the Sloth, who
+perishes on the tree he climbs, after he has eaten all its leaves.</p>
+
+<p>Rantzau, the founder of the great library at Copenhagen, whose days were
+dissolved in the pleasures of reading, discovers his taste and ardour in
+the following elegant effusion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Salvete aureoli mei libelli,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Me&aelig; delici&aelig;, mei lepores!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Quam vos s&aelig;pe oculis juvat videre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et tritos manibus tenere nostris!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tot vos eximii, tot eruditi,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Prisci lumina s&aelig;culi et recentis,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Confecere viri, suasque vobis<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ausi credere lucubrationes:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et sperare decus perenne scriptis;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Neque h&aelig;c irrita spes fefellit illos.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">IMITATED.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Golden volumes! richest treasures!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Objects of delicious pleasures!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You my eyes rejoicing please,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You my hands in rapture seize!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Brilliant wits, and musing sages,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lights who beamed through many ages,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Left to your conscious leaves their story,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And dared to trust you with their glory;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And now their hope of fame achieved,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dear volumes! you have not deceived!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This passion for the enjoyment of <i>books</i> has occasioned their lovers
+embellishing their outsides with costly ornaments;<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> fancy which
+ostentation may have abused; but when these volumes belong to the real
+man of letters, the most fanciful bindings are often the emblems of his
+taste and feelings. The great Thuanus procured the finest copies for his
+library, and his volumes are still eagerly purchased, bearing his
+autograph on the last page. A celebrated amateur was Grollier; the Muses
+themselves could not more ingeniously have ornamented their favourite
+works. I have seen several in the libraries of curious collectors. They
+are gilded and stamped with peculiar neatness; the compartments on the
+binding are drawn, and painted, with subjects analogous to the works
+themselves; and they are further adorned by that amiable inscription,
+<i>Jo. Grollierii et amicorum!</i>&mdash;purporting that these literary treasures
+were collected for himself and for his friends.</p>
+
+<p>The family of the Fuggers had long felt an hereditary passion for the
+accumulation of literary treasures: and their portraits, with others in
+their picture gallery, form a curious quarto volume of 127 portraits,
+rare even in Germany, entitled "Fuggerorum Pinacotheca."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Wolfius, who
+daily haunted their celebrated library, pours out his gratitude in some
+Greek verses, and describes this biblioth&egrave;que as a literary heaven,
+furnished with as many books as there were stars in the firmament; or as
+a literary garden, in which he passed entire days in gathering fruit and
+flowers, delighting and instructing himself by perpetual occupation.</p>
+
+<p>In 1364, the royal library of France did not exceed twenty volumes.
+Shortly after, Charles V. increased it to 900, which, by the fate of
+war, as much at least as by that of money, the Duke of Bedford
+afterwards purchased and transported to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> London, where libraries were
+smaller than on the continent, about 1440. It is a circumstance worthy
+observation, that the French sovereign, Charles V. surnamed the Wise,
+ordered that thirty portable lights, with a silver lamp suspended from
+the centre, should be illuminated at night, that students might not find
+their pursuits interrupted at any hour. Many among us, at this moment,
+whose professional avocations admit not of morning studies, find that
+the resources of a public library are not accessible to them, from the
+omission of the regulation of the zealous Charles V. of France. An
+objection to night-studies in public libraries is the danger of fire,
+and in our own British Museum not a light is permitted to be carried
+about on any pretence whatever. The history of the "Biblioth&egrave;que du Roi"
+is a curious incident in literature; and the progress of the human mind
+and public opinion might be traced by its gradual accessions, noting the
+changeable qualities of its literary stores chiefly from theology, law,
+and medicine, to philosophy and elegant literature. It was first under
+Louis XIV. that the productions of the art of engraving were there
+collected and arranged; the great minister Colbert purchased the
+extensive collections of the Abb&eacute; de Marolles, who may be ranked among
+the fathers of our print-collectors. Two hundred and sixty-four ample
+portfolios laid the foundations, and the very catalogues of his
+collections, printed by Marolles himself, are rare and high-priced. Our
+own national print gallery is growing from its infant establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Hallam has observed, that in 1440, England had made comparatively
+but little progress in learning&mdash;and Germany was probably still less
+advanced. However, in Germany, Trithemius, the celebrated abbot of
+Spanheim, who died in 1516, had amassed about two thousand manuscripts;
+a literary treasure which excited such general attention, that princes
+and eminent men travelled to visit Trithemius and his library. About
+this time, six or eight hundred volumes formed a royal collection, and
+their cost could only be furnished by a prince. This was indeed a great
+advancement in libraries, for at the beginning of the fourteenth century
+the library of Louis IX. contained only four classical authors; and that
+of Oxford, in 1300, consisted of "a few tracts kept in chests."</p>
+
+<p>The pleasures of study are classed by Burton among those exercises or
+recreations of the mind which pass <i>within doors</i>. Looking about this
+"world of books," he exclaims, "I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> even live and die with such
+meditations, and take more delight and true content of mind in them than
+in all thy wealth and sport! There is a sweetness, which, as Circe's
+cup, bewitcheth a student: he cannot leave off, as well may witness
+those many laborious hours, days, and nights, spent in their voluminous
+treatises. So sweet is the delight of study. The last day is <i>prioris
+discipulus</i>. Heinsius was mewed up in the library of Leyden all the year
+long, and that which, to my thinking, should have bred a loathing,
+caused in him a greater liking. 'I no sooner,' saith he, 'come into the
+library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding Lust, Ambition, Avarice,
+and all such vices, whose nurse is Idleness, the mother of Ignorance and
+Melancholy. In the very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I
+take my seat with so lofty a spirit, and sweet content, that I pity all
+our great ones and rich men, that know not this happiness.'" Such is the
+incense of a votary who scatters it on the altar less for the ceremony
+than from the devotion.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>There is, however, an intemperance in study, incompatible often with our
+social or more active duties. The illustrious Grotius exposed himself to
+the reproaches of some of his contemporaries for having too warmly
+pursued his studies, to the detriment of his public station. It was the
+boast of Cicero that his philosophical studies had never interfered with
+the services he owed the republic, and that he had only dedicated to
+them the hours which others give to their walks, their repasts, and
+their pleasures. Looking on his voluminous labours, we are surprised at
+this observation;&mdash;how honourable is it to him, that his various
+philosophical works bear the titles of the different villas he
+possessed, which indicates that they were composed in these respective
+retirements! Cicero must have been an early riser; and practised that
+magic art in the employment of time, which multiplies our days.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BIBLIOMANIA" id="THE_BIBLIOMANIA"></a>THE BIBLIOMANIA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The preceding article is honourable to literature, yet even a passion
+for collecting books is not always a passion for literature.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Bibliomania</span>, or the collecting an enormous heap of books without
+intelligent curiosity, has, since libraries have existed, infected weak
+minds, who imagine that they themselves acquire knowledge when they keep
+it on their shelves. Their motley libraries have been called the
+<i>madhouses of the Human mind</i>; and again, <i>the tomb of books</i>, when the
+possessor will not communicate them, and coffins them up in the cases of
+his library. It was facetiously observed, these collections are not
+without a <i>Lock on the Human Understanding</i>.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Bibliomania</span> never raged more violently than in our own times. It is
+fortunate that literature is in no ways injured by the follies of
+collectors, since though they preserve the worthless, they necessarily
+protect the good.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Some collectors place all their fame on the <i>view</i> of a splendid
+library, where volumes, arrayed in all the pomp of lettering, silk
+linings, triple gold bands, and tinted leather, are locked up in wire
+cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the <i>mere reader</i>, dazzling
+our eyes like eastern beauties peering through their jalousies!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">La Bruyere</span> has touched on this mania with humour:&mdash;"Of such a collector,
+as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the staircase, from
+a strong smell of Morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions,
+gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, and naming them one after another, as if
+he were showing a gallery of pictures! a gallery, by-the-bye, which he
+seldom traverses when <i>alone</i>, for he rarely reads; but me he offers to
+conduct through it! I thank him for his politeness, and as little as
+himself care to visit the tan-house, which he calls his library."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lucian</span> has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of
+a vast library, like him, who in the present day, after turning over the
+pages of an old book, chiefly admires the <i>date</i>. <span class="smcap">Lucian</span> compares him to
+a pilot, who was never taught the science of navigation; to a rider who
+cannot keep his seat on a spirited horse; to a man who, not having the
+use of his feet, would conceal the defect by wearing embroidered shoes;
+but, alas! he cannot stand in them! He ludicrously compares him to
+Thersites wearing the armour of Achilles, tottering at every step;
+leering with his little eyes under his enormous helmet, and his
+hunchback raising the cuirass above his shoulders. Why do you buy so
+many books? You have no hair, and you purchase a comb; you are blind,
+and you will have a grand mirror; you are deaf, and you will have fine
+musical instruments! Your costly bindings are only a source of vexation,
+and you are continually discharging your librarians for not preserving
+them from the silent invasion of the worms, and the nibbling triumphs of
+the rats!</p>
+
+<p>Such <i>collectors</i> will contemptuously smile at the <i>collection</i> of the
+amiable Melancthon. He possessed in his library only four
+authors,&mdash;Plato, Pliny, Plutarch, and Ptolemy the geographer.</p>
+
+<p>Ancillon was a great collector of curious books, and dexterously
+defended himself when accused of the <i>Bibliomania</i>. He gave a good
+reason for buying the most elegant editions; which he did not consider
+merely as a literary luxury.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> less the eyes are fatigued in
+reading a work, the more liberty the mind feels to judge of it: and as
+we perceive more clearly the excellences and defects of a printed book
+than when in MS.; so we see them more plainly in good paper and clear
+type, than when the impression and paper are both bad. He always
+purchased <i>first editions</i>, and never waited for second ones; though it
+is the opinion of some that a first edition is only to be considered as
+an imperfect essay, which the author proposes to finish after he has
+tried the sentiments of the literary world. Bayle approves of Ancillon's
+plan. Those who wait for a book till it is reprinted, show plainly that
+they prefer the saving of a pistole to the acquisition of knowledge.
+With one of these persons, who waited for a second edition, which never
+appeared, a literary man argued, that it was better to have two editions
+of a book rather than to deprive himself of the advantage which the
+reading of the first might procure him. It has frequently happened,
+besides, that in second editions, the author omits, as well as adds, or
+makes alterations from prudential reasons; the displeasing truths which
+he <i>corrects</i>, as he might call them, are so many losses incurred by
+Truth itself. There is an advantage in comparing the first and
+subsequent editions; among other things, we feel great satisfaction in
+tracing the variations of a work after its revision. There are also
+other secrets, well known to the intelligent curious, who are versed in
+affairs relating to books. Many first editions are not to be purchased
+for the treble value of later ones. The collector we have noticed
+frequently said, as is related of Virgil, "I collect gold from Ennius's
+dung." I find, in some neglected authors, particular things, not
+elsewhere to be found. He read many of these, but not with equal
+attention&mdash;"<i>Sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugiens</i>;" like a dog at
+the Nile, drinking and running.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunate are those who only consider a book for the utility and
+pleasure they may derive from its possession. Students, who know much,
+and still thirst to know more, may require this vast sea of books; yet
+in that sea they may suffer many shipwrecks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the
+damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the
+<i>borrowers</i>, not to say a word of the <i>purloiners</i>!</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_JOURNALS" id="LITERARY_JOURNALS"></a>LITERARY JOURNALS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When writers were not numerous, and readers rare, the unsuccessful
+author fell insensibly into oblivion; he dissolved away in his own
+weakness. If he committed the private folly of printing what no one
+would purchase, he was not arraigned at the public tribunal&mdash;and the
+awful terrors of his day of judgment consisted only in the retributions
+of his publisher's final accounts. At length, a taste for literature
+spread through the body of the people; vanity induced the inexperienced
+and the ignorant to aspire to literary honours. To oppose these forcible
+entries into the haunts of the Muses, periodical criticism brandished
+its formidable weapon; and the fall of many, taught some of our greatest
+geniuses to rise. Multifarious writings produced multifarious
+strictures; and public criticism reached to such perfection, that taste
+was generally diffused, enlightening those whose occupations had
+otherwise never permitted them to judge of literary compositions.</p>
+
+<p>The invention of <span class="smcap">Reviews</span>, in the form which they have at length
+gradually assumed, could not have existed but in the most polished ages
+of literature: for without a constant supply of authors, and a refined
+spirit of criticism, they could not excite a perpetual interest among
+the lovers of literature. These publications were long the chronicles of
+taste and science, presenting the existing state of the public mind,
+while they formed a ready resource for those idle hours, which men of
+letters would not pass idly.</p>
+
+<p>Their multiplicity has undoubtedly produced much evil; puerile critics
+and venal drudges manufacture reviews; hence that shameful discordance
+of opinion, which is the scorn and scandal of criticism. Passions
+hostile to the peaceful truths of literature have likewise made
+tremendous inroads in the republic, and every literary virtue has been
+lost! In "Calamities of Authors" I have given the history of a literary
+conspiracy, conducted by a solitary critic, <span class="smcap">Gilbert Stuart</span>, against the
+historian <span class="smcap">Henry</span>.</p>
+
+<p>These works may disgust by vapid panegyric, or gross in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>vective; weary
+by uniform dulness, or tantalise by superficial knowledge. Sometimes
+merely written to catch the public attention, a malignity is indulged
+against authors, to season the caustic leaves. A reviewer has admired
+those works in private, which he has condemned in his official capacity.
+But good sense, good temper, and good taste, will ever form an estimable
+journalist, who will inspire confidence, and give stability to his
+decisions.</p>
+
+<p>To the lovers of literature these volumes, when they have outlived their
+year, are not unimportant. They constitute a great portion of literary
+history, and are indeed the annals of the republic.</p>
+
+<p>To our own reviews, we must add the old foreign journals, which are
+perhaps even more valuable to the man of letters. Of these the variety
+is considerable; and many of their writers are now known. They delight
+our curiosity by opening new views, and light up in observing minds many
+projects of works, wanted in our own literature. <span class="smcap">Gibbon</span> feasted on them;
+and while he turned them over with constant pleasure, derived accurate
+notions of works, which no student could himself have verified; of many
+works a notion is sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of literary journals was the happy project of <span class="smcap">Denis de Sallo</span>,
+a counsellor in the parliament of Paris. In 1665 appeared his <i>Journal
+des S&ccedil;avans</i>. He published his essay in the name of the Sieur de
+Hedouville, his footman! Was this a mere stroke of humour, or designed
+to insinuate that the freedom of criticism could only be allowed to his
+lacquey? The work, however, met with so favourable a reception, that
+<span class="smcap">Sallo</span> had the satisfaction of seeing it, the following year, imitated
+throughout Europe, and his Journal, at the same time, translated into
+various languages. But as most authors lay themselves open to an acute
+critic, the animadversions of <span class="smcap">Sallo</span> were given with such asperity of
+criticism, and such malignity of wit, that this new journal excited loud
+murmurs, and the most heart-moving complaints. The learned had their
+plagiarisms detected, and the wit had his claims disputed. Sarasin
+called the gazettes of this new Aristarchus, Hebdomadary Flams!
+<i>Billeves&eacute;es hebdomadaires!</i> and Menage having published a law book,
+which Sallo had treated with severe raillery, he entered into a long
+argument to prove, according to Justinian, that a lawyer is not allowed
+to defame another lawyer, &amp;c.: <i>Sena<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>tori maledicere non licet,
+remaledicere jus fasque est</i>. Others loudly declaimed against this new
+species of imperial tyranny, and this attempt to regulate the public
+opinion by that of an individual. Sallo, after having published only his
+third volume, felt the irritated wasps of literature thronging so thick
+about him, that he very gladly abdicated the throne of criticism. The
+journal is said to have suffered a short interruption by a remonstrance
+from the nuncio of the pope, for the energy with which Sallo had
+defended the liberties of the Gallican church.</p>
+
+<p>Intimidated by the fate of <span class="smcap">Sallo</span>, his successor, the Abb&eacute; <span class="smcap">Gallois</span>,
+flourished in a milder reign. He contented himself with giving the
+titles of books, accompanied with extracts; and he was more useful than
+interesting. The public, who had been so much amused by the raillery and
+severity of the founder of this dynasty of new critics, now murmured at
+the want of that salt and acidity by which they had relished the
+fugitive collation. They were not satisfied with having the most
+beautiful, or the most curious parts of a new work brought together;
+they wished for the unreasonable entertainment of railing and raillery.
+At length another objection was conjured up against the review;
+mathematicians complained that they were neglected to make room for
+experiments in natural philosophy; the historian sickened over works of
+natural history; the antiquaries would have nothing but discoveries of
+MSS. or fragments of antiquity. Medical works were called for by one
+party, and reprobated by another. In a word, each reader wished only to
+have accounts of books, which were interesting to his profession or his
+taste. But a review is a work presented to the public at large, and
+written for more than one country. In spite of all these difficulties,
+this work was carried to a vast extent. An <i>index</i> to the <i>Journal des
+S&ccedil;avans</i> has been arranged on a critical plan, occupying ten volumes in
+quarto, which may be considered as a most useful instrument to obtain
+the science and literature of the entire century.</p>
+
+<p>The next celebrated reviewer is <span class="smcap">Bayle</span>, who undertook, in 1684, his
+<i>Nouvelles de la R&eacute;publique des Lettres</i>. He possessed the art, acquired
+by habit, of reading a book by his fingers, as it has been happily
+expressed; and of comprising, in concise extracts, a just notion of a
+book, without the addition of irrelevant matter. Lively, neat, and full
+of that attic salt which gives a relish to the driest disquisitions,
+for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> the first time the ladies and all the <i>beau-monde</i> took an interest
+in the labours of the critic. He wreathed the rod of criticism with
+roses. Yet even <span class="smcap">Bayle</span>, who declared himself to be a reporter, and not a
+judge, <span class="smcap">Bayle</span>, the discreet sceptic, could not long satisfy his readers.
+His panegyric was thought somewhat prodigal; his fluency of style
+somewhat too familiar; and others affected not to relish his gaiety. In
+his latter volumes, to still the clamour, he assumed the cold sobriety
+of an historian: and has bequeathed no mean legacy to the literary
+world, in thirty-six small volumes of criticism, closed in 1687. These
+were continued by Bernard, with inferior skill; and by Basnage more
+successfully, in his <i>Histoire des Ouvrages des S&ccedil;avans</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The contemporary and the antagonist of <span class="smcap">Bayle</span> was <span class="smcap">Le Clerc</span>. His firm
+industry has produced three <i>Biblioth&egrave;ques</i>&mdash;<i>Universelle et
+Historique</i>, <i>Choisie</i>, and <i>Ancienne et Moderne</i>; forming in all
+eighty-two volumes, which, complete, bear a high price. Inferior to
+<span class="smcap">Bayle</span> in the more pleasing talents, he is perhaps superior in erudition,
+and shows great skill in analysis: but his hand drops no flowers! <span class="smcap">Gibbon</span>
+resorted to Le Clerc's volumes at his leisure, "as an inexhaustible
+source of amusement and instruction." Apostolo Zeno's <i>Giornale del
+Litterati d'Italia</i>, from 1710 to 1733, is valuable.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Beausobre</span> and <span class="smcap">L'Enfant</span>, two learned Protestants, wrote a <i>Biblioth&egrave;que
+Germanique</i>, from 1720 to 1740, in 50 volumes. Our own literature is
+interested by the "<i>Biblioth&egrave;que Britannique</i>," written by some literary
+Frenchmen, noticed by La Croze, in his "Voyage Litt&eacute;raire," who
+designates the writers in this most tantalising manner: "Les auteurs
+sont gens de m&eacute;rite, et qui entendent tous parfaitement l'Anglois;
+Messrs. S.B., le M.D., et le savant Mr. D." Posterity has been partially
+let into the secret: De Missy was one of the contributors, and Warburton
+communicated his project of an edition of Velleius Patereulus. This
+useful account of English books begins in 1733, and closes in 1747,
+Hague, 23 vols.: to this we must add the <i>Journal Britannique</i>, in 18
+vols., by Dr. <span class="smcap">Maty</span>, a foreign physician residing in London; this Journal
+exhibits a view of the state of English literature from 1750 to 1755.
+<span class="smcap">Gibbon</span> bestows a high character on the journalist, who sometimes
+"aspires to the character of a poet and a philosopher; one of the last
+disciples of the school of Fontenelle."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maty's</span> son produced here a review known to the curious, his style and
+decisions often discover haste and heat, with some striking
+observations: alluding to his father, in his motto, Maty applies
+Virgil's description of the young Ascanius, "Sequitur <i>patrem</i> non
+passibus &aelig;quis." He says he only holds a <i>monthly conversation</i> with the
+public. His obstinate resolution of carrying on this review without an
+associate, has shown its folly and its danger; for a fatal illness
+produced a cessation, at once, of his periodical labours and his life.</p>
+
+<p>Other reviews, are the <i>M&eacute;moires de Trevoux</i>, written by the Jesuits.
+Their caustic censure and vivacity of style made them redoubtable in
+their day; they did not even spare their brothers. The <i>Journal
+Litt&eacute;raire</i>, printed at the Hague, was chiefly composed by Prosper
+Marchand, Sallengre, and Van Effen, who were then young writers. This
+list may be augmented by other journals, which sometimes merit
+preservation in the history of modern literature.</p>
+
+<p>Our early English journals notice only a few publications, with little
+acumen. Of these, the "Memoirs of Literature," and the "Present State of
+the Republic of Letters," are the best. The Monthly Review, the
+venerable (now the deceased) mother of our journals, commenced in 1749.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to form a literary journal in a manner such as might be
+wished; it must be the work of many, of different tempers and talents.
+An individual, however versatile and extensive his genius, would soon be
+exhausted. Such a regular labour occasioned Bayle a dangerous illness,
+and Maty fell a victim to his Review. A prospect always extending as we
+proceed, the frequent novelty of the matter, the pride of considering
+one's self as the arbiter of literature, animate a journalist at the
+commencement of his career; but the literary Hercules becomes fatigued;
+and to supply his craving pages he gives copious extracts, till the
+journal becomes tedious, or fails in variety. The Abb&eacute; Gallois was
+frequently diverted from continuing his journal, and Fontenelle remarks,
+that this occupation was too restrictive for a mind so extensive as his;
+the Abb&eacute; could not resist the charms of revelling in a new work, and
+gratifying any sudden curiosity which seized him; this interrupted
+perpetually the regularity which the public expects from a journalist.</p>
+
+<p>The character of a perfect journalist would be only an ideal portrait;
+there are, however, some acquirements which are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> indispensable. He must
+be tolerably acquainted with the subjects he treats on; no <i>common</i>
+acquirement! He must possess the <i>literary history of his own times</i>; a
+science which, Fontenelle observes, is almost distinct from any other.
+It is the result of an active curiosity, which takes a lively interest
+in the tastes and pursuits of the age, while it saves the journalist
+from some ridiculous blunders. We often see the mind of a reviewer half
+a century remote from the work reviewed. A fine feeling of the various
+manners of writers, with a style adapted to fix the attention of the
+indolent, and to win the untractable, should be his study; but candour
+is the brightest gem of criticism! He ought not to throw everything into
+the crucible, nor should he suffer the whole to pass as if he trembled
+to touch it. Lampoons and satires in time will lose their effect, as
+well as panegyrics. He must learn to resist the seductions of his own
+pen: the pretension of composing a treatise on the <i>subject</i>, rather
+than on the <i>book</i> he criticises&mdash;proud of insinuating that he gives, in
+a dozen pages, what the author himself has not been able to perform in
+his volumes. Should he gain confidence by a popular delusion, and by
+unworthy conduct, he may chance to be mortified by the pardon or by the
+chastisement of insulted genius. The most noble criticism is that in
+which the critic is not the antagonist so much as the rival of the
+author.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="RECOVERY_OF_MANUSCRIPTS" id="RECOVERY_OF_MANUSCRIPTS"></a>RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Our ancient classics had a very narrow escape from total annihilation.
+Many have perished: many are but fragments; and chance, blind arbiter of
+the works of genius, has left us some, not of the highest value; which,
+however, have proved very useful, as a test to show the pedantry of
+those who adore antiquity not from true feeling, but from traditional
+prejudice.</p>
+
+<p>We lost a great number of ancient authors by the conquest of Egypt by
+the Saracens, which deprived Europe of the use of the <i>papyrus</i>. They
+could find no substitute, and knew no other expedient but writing on
+parchment, which became every day more scarce and costly. Ignorance and
+barbarism unfortunately seized on Roman manuscripts, and industriously
+defaced pages once imagined to have been immortal! The most elegant
+compositions of classic Rome were converted into the psalms of a
+breviary, or the prayers of a missal. Livy and Tacitus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> "hide their
+diminished heads" to preserve the legend of a saint, and immortal truths
+were converted into clumsy fictions. It happened that the most
+voluminous authors were the greatest sufferers; these were preferred,
+because their volume being the greatest, most profitably repaid their
+destroying industry, and furnished ampler scope for future
+transcription. A Livy or a Diodorus was preferred to the smaller works
+of Cicero or Horace; and it is to this circumstance that Juvenal,
+Persius, and Martial have come down to us entire, rather probably than
+to these pious personages preferring their obscenities, as some have
+accused them. At Rome, a part of a book of Livy was found, between the
+lines of a parchment but half effaced, on which they had substituted a
+book of the Bible; and a recent discovery of Cicero <i>De Republic&acirc;</i>,
+which lay concealed under some monkish writing, shows the fate of
+ancient manuscripts.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>That the Monks had not in high veneration the <i>profane</i> authors, appears
+by a facetious anecdote. To read the classics was considered as a very
+idle recreation, and some held them in great horror. To distinguish them
+from other books, they invented a disgraceful sign: when a monk asked
+for a pagan author, after making the general sign they used in their
+manual and silent language when they wanted a book, he added a
+particular one, which consisted in scratching under his ear, as a dog,
+which feels an itching, scratches himself in that place with his
+paw&mdash;because, said they, an unbeliever is compared to a dog! In this
+manner they expressed an <i>itching</i> for those <i>dogs</i> Virgil or
+Horace!<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>There have been ages when, for the possession of a manuscript, some
+would transfer an estate, or leave in pawn for its loan hundreds of
+golden crowns; and when even the sale or loan of a manuscript was
+considered of such importance as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> have been solemnly registered by
+public acts. Absolute as was Louis XI. he could not obtain the MS. of
+Rasis, an Arabian writer, from the library of the Faculty of Paris, to
+have a copy made, without pledging a hundred golden crowns; and the
+president of his treasury, charged with this commission, sold part of
+his plate to make the deposit. For the loan of a volume of Avicenna, a
+Baron offered a pledge of ten marks of silver, which was refused:
+because it was not considered equal to the risk incurred of losing a
+volume of Avicenna! These events occurred in 1471. One cannot but smile,
+at an anterior period, when a Countess of Anjou bought a favourite book
+of homilies for two hundred sheep, some skins of martins, and bushels of
+wheat and rye.</p>
+
+<p>In those times, manuscripts were important articles of commerce; they
+were excessively scarce, and preserved with the utmost care. Usurers
+themselves considered them as precious objects for pawn. A student of
+Pavia, who was reduced, raised a new fortune by leaving in pawn a
+manuscript of a body of law; and a grammarian, who was ruined by a fire,
+rebuilt his house with two small volumes of Cicero.</p>
+
+<p>At the restoration of letters, the researches of literary men were
+chiefly directed to this point; every part of Europe and Greece was
+ransacked; and, the glorious end considered, there was something sublime
+in this humble industry, which often recovered a lost author of
+antiquity, and gave one more classic to the world. This occupation was
+carried on with enthusiasm, and a kind of mania possessed many, who
+exhausted their fortunes in distant voyages and profuse prices. In
+reading the correspondence of the learned Italians of these times, their
+adventures of manuscript-hunting are very amusing; and their raptures,
+their congratulations, or at times their condolence, and even their
+censures, are all immoderate. The acquisition of a province would not
+have given so much satisfaction as the discovery or an author little
+known, or not known at all. "Oh, great gain! Oh, unexpected felicity! I
+intreat you, my Poggio, send me the manuscript as soon as possible, that
+I may see it before I die!" exclaims Aretino, in a letter overflowing
+with enthusiasm, on Poggio's discovery of a copy of Quintilian. Some of
+the half-witted, who joined in this great hunt, were often thrown out,
+and some paid high for manuscripts not authentic; the knave played on
+the bungling amateur of manuscripts, whose credulity exceeded his purse.
+But even among the learned, much ill-blood was inflamed; he who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+been most successful in acquiring manuscripts was envied by the less
+fortunate, and the glory of possessing a manuscript of Cicero seemed to
+approximate to that of being its author. It is curious to observe that
+in these vast importations into Italy of manuscripts from Asia, John
+Aurispa, who brought many hundreds of Greek manuscripts, laments that he
+had chosen more profane than sacred writers; which circumstance he tells
+us was owing to the Greeks, who would not so easily part with
+theological works, but did not highly value profane writers!</p>
+
+<p>These manuscripts were discovered in the obscurest recesses of
+monasteries; they were not always imprisoned in libraries, but rotting
+in dark unfrequented corners with rubbish. It required not less
+ingenuity to find out places where to grope in, than to understand the
+value of the acquisition. An universal ignorance then prevailed in the
+knowledge of ancient writers. A scholar of those times gave the first
+rank among the Latin writers to one Valerius, whether he meant Martial
+or Maximus is uncertain; he placed Plato and Tully among the poets, and
+imagined that Ennius and Statius were contemporaries. A library of six
+hundred volumes was then considered as an extraordinary collection.</p>
+
+<p>Among those whose lives were devoted to this purpose, Poggio the
+Florentine stands distinguished; but he complains that his zeal was not
+assisted by the great. He found under a heap of rubbish in a decayed
+coffer, in a tower belonging to the monastery of St. Gallo, the work of
+Quintilian. He is indignant at its forlorn situation; at least, he
+cries, it should have been preserved in the library of the monks; but I
+found it <i>in teterrimo quodam et obscuro carcere</i>&mdash;and to his great joy
+drew it out of its grave! The monks have been complimented as the
+preservers of literature, but by facts, like the present, their real
+affection may be doubted.</p>
+
+<p>The most valuable copy of Tacitus, of whom so much is wanting, was
+likewise discovered in a monastery of Westphalia. It is a curious
+circumstance in literary history, that we should owe Tacitus to this
+single copy; for the Roman emperor of that name had copies of the works
+of his illustrious ancestor placed in all the libraries of the empire,
+and every year had ten copies transcribed; but the Roman libraries seem
+to have been all destroyed, and the imperial protection availed nothing
+against the teeth of time.</p>
+
+<p>The original manuscript of Justinian's Pandects was dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>covered by the
+Pisans, when they took a city in Calabria; that vast code of laws had
+been in a manner unknown from the time of that emperor. This curious
+book was brought to Pisa; and when Pisa was taken by the Florentines,
+was transferred to Florence, where it is still preserved.</p>
+
+<p>It sometimes happened that manuscripts were discovered in the last
+agonies of existence. Papirius Masson found, in the house of a
+bookbinder of Lyons, the works of Agobard; the mechanic was on the point
+of using the manuscripts to line the covers of his books.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> A page of
+the second decade of Livy, it is said, was found by a man of letters in
+the parchment of his battledore, while he was amusing himself in the
+country. He hastened to the maker of the battledore&mdash;but arrived too
+late! The man had finished the last page of Livy&mdash;about a week before.</p>
+
+<p>Many works have undoubtedly perished in this manuscript state. By a
+petition of Dr. Dee to Queen Mary, in the Cotton library, it appears
+that Cicero's treatise <i>De Republic&acirc;</i> was once extant in this country.
+Huet observes that Petronius was probably entire in the days of John of
+Salisbury, who quotes fragments, not now to be found in the remains of
+the Roman bard. Raimond Soranzo, a lawyer in the papal court, possessed
+two books of Cicero "on Glory," which he presented to Petrarch, who lent
+them to a poor aged man of letters, formerly his preceptor. Urged by
+extreme want, the old man pawned them, and returning home died suddenly
+without having revealed where he had left them. They have never been
+recovered. Petrarch speaks of them with ecstasy, and tells us that he
+had studied them perpetually. Two centuries afterwards, this treatise on
+Glory by Cicero was mentioned in a catalogue of books bequeathed to a
+monastery of nuns, but when inquired after was missing. It was supposed
+that Petrus Alcyonius, physician to that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> household, purloined it, and
+after transcribing as much of it as he could into his own writings, had
+destroyed the original. Alcyonius, in his book <i>De Exilio</i>, the critics
+observed, had many splendid passages which stood isolated in his work,
+and were quite above his genius. The beggar, or in this case the thief,
+was detected by mending his rags with patches of purple and gold.</p>
+
+<p>In this age of manuscript, there is reason to believe, that when a man
+of letters accidentally obtained an unknown work, he did not make the
+fairest use of it, but cautiously concealed it from his contemporaries.
+Leonard Aretino, a distinguished scholar at the dawn of modern
+literature, having found a Greek manuscript of Procopius <i>De Bello
+Gothico</i>, translated it into Latin, and published the work; but
+concealing the author's name, it passed as his own, till another
+manuscript of the same work being dug out of its grave, the fraud of
+Aretino was apparent. Barbosa, a bishop of Ugento, in 1649, has printed
+among his works a treatise, obtained by one of his domestics bringing in
+a fish rolled in a leaf of written paper, which his curiosity led him to
+examine. He was sufficiently interested to run out and search the fish
+market, till he found the manuscript out of which it had been torn. He
+published it, under the title <i>De Officio Episcopi</i>. Machiavelli acted
+more adroitly in a similar case; a manuscript of the Apophthegms of the
+Ancients by Plutarch having fallen into his hands, he selected those
+which pleased him, and put them into the mouth of his hero Castrucio
+Castricani.</p>
+
+<p>In more recent times, we might collect many curious anecdotes concerning
+manuscripts. Sir Robert Cotton one day at his tailor's discovered that
+the man was holding in his hand, ready to cut up for measures&mdash;an
+original Magna Charta, with all its appendages of seals and signatures.
+This anecdote is told by Colomi&eacute;s, who long resided in this country; and
+an original Magna Charta is preserved in the Cottonian library
+exhibiting marks of dilapidation.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Granvelle<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> left behind him several chests filled with a
+prodigious quantity of letters written in different languages,
+commented, noted, and underlined by his own hand. These curious
+manuscripts, after his death, were left in a garret to the mercy of the
+rain and the rats. Five or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> six of these chests the steward sold to the
+grocers. It was then that a discovery was made of this treasure. Several
+learned men occupied themselves in collecting sufficient of these
+literary relics to form eighty thick folios, consisting of original
+letters by all the crowned heads in Europe, with instructions for
+ambassadors, and other state-papers.</p>
+
+<p>A valuable secret history by Sir George Mackenzie, the king's advocate
+in Scotland, was rescued from a mass of waste paper sold to a grocer,
+who had the good sense to discriminate it, and communicated this curious
+memorial to Dr. M'Crie. The original, in the handwriting of its author,
+has been deposited in the Advocate's Library. There is an hiatus, which
+contained the history of six years. This work excited inquiry after the
+rest of the MSS., which were found to be nothing more than the sweepings
+of an attorney's office.</p>
+
+<p>Montaigne's Journal of his Travels into Italy has been but recently
+published. A prebendary of Perigord, travelling through this province to
+make researches relative to its history, arrived at the ancient
+<i>ch&acirc;teau</i> of Montaigne, in possession of a descendant of this great man.
+He inquired for the archives, if there had been any. He was shown an old
+worm-eaten coffer, which had long held papers untouched by the incurious
+generations of Montaigne. Stifled in clouds of dust, he drew out the
+original manuscript of the travels of Montaigne. Two-thirds of the work
+are in the handwriting of Montaigne, and the rest is written by a
+servant, who always speaks of his master in the third person. But he
+must have written what Montaigne dictated, as the expressions and the
+egotisms are all Montaigne's. The bad writing and orthography made it
+almost unintelligible. They confirmed Montaigne's own observation, that
+he was very negligent in the correction of his works.</p>
+
+<p>Our ancestors were great hiders of manuscripts: Dr. Dee's singular MSS.
+were found in the secret drawer of a chest, which had passed through
+many hands undiscovered; and that vast collection of state-papers of
+Thurloe's, the secretary of Cromwell, which formed about seventy volumes
+in the original manuscripts, accidentally fell out of the false ceiling
+of some chambers in Lincoln's-Inn.</p>
+
+<p>A considerable portion of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters I
+discovered in the hands of an attorney: family-papers are often
+consigned to offices of lawyers, where many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> valuable manuscripts are
+buried. Posthumous publications of this kind are too frequently made
+from sordid motives: discernment and taste would only be detrimental to
+the views of bulky publishers.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SKETCHES_OF_CRITICISM" id="SKETCHES_OF_CRITICISM"></a>SKETCHES OF CRITICISM.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It may, perhaps, be some satisfaction to show the young writer, that the
+most celebrated ancients have been as rudely subjected to the tyranny of
+criticism as the moderns. Detraction has ever poured the "waters of
+bitterness."</p>
+
+<p>It was given out, that Homer had stolen from anterior poets whatever was
+most remarkable in the Iliad and Odyssey. Naucrates even points out the
+source in the library at Memphis in a temple of Vulcan, which according
+to him the blind bard completely pillaged. Undoubtedly there were good
+poets before Homer; how absurd to conceive that an elaborate poem could
+be the first! We have indeed accounts of anterior poets, and apparently
+of epics, before Homer; &AElig;lian notices Syagrus, who composed a poem on
+the Siege of Troy; and Suidas the poem of Corinnus, from which it is
+said Homer greatly borrowed. Why did Plato so severely condemn the great
+bard, and imitate him?</p>
+
+<p>Sophocles was brought to trial by his children as a lunatic; and some,
+who censured the inequalities of this poet, have also condemned the
+vanity of Pindar; the rough verses of &AElig;schylus; and Euripides, for the
+conduct of his plots.</p>
+
+<p>Socrates, considered as the wisest and the most moral of men, Cicero
+treated as an usurer, and the pedant Athen&aelig;us as illiterate; the latter
+points out as a Socratic folly our philosopher disserting on the nature
+of justice before his judges, who were so many thieves. The malignant
+buffoonery of Aristophanes treats him much worse; but he, as Jortin
+says, was a great wit, but a great rascal.</p>
+
+<p>Plato&mdash;who has been called, by Clement of Alexandria, the Moses of
+Athens; the philosopher of the Christians, by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Arnobius; and the god of
+philosophers, by Cicero&mdash;Athen&aelig;us accuses of envy; Theopompus of lying;
+Suidas of avarice; Aulus Gellius, of robbery; Porphyry, of incontinence;
+and Aristophanes, of impiety.</p>
+
+<p>Aristotle, whose industry composed more than four hundred volumes, has
+not been less spared by the critics; Diogenes Laertius, Cicero, and
+Plutarch, have forgotten nothing that can tend to show his ignorance,
+his ambition, and his vanity.</p>
+
+<p>It has been said, that Plato was so envious of the celebrity of
+Democritus, that he proposed burning all his works; but that Amydis and
+Clinias prevented it, by remonstrating that there were copies of them
+everywhere; and Aristotle was agitated by the same passion against all
+the philosophers his predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>Virgil is destitute of invention, if we are to give credit to Pliny,
+Carbilius, and Seneca. Caligula has absolutely denied him even
+mediocrity; Herennus has marked his faults; and Perilius Faustinus has
+furnished a thick volume with his plagiarisms. Even the author of his
+apology has confessed, that he has stolen from Homer his greatest
+beauties; from Apollonius Rhodius, many of his pathetic passages; from
+Nicander, hints for his Georgies; and this does not terminate the
+catalogue.</p>
+
+<p>Horace censures the coarse humour of Plautus; and Horace, in his turn,
+has been blamed for the free use he made of the Greek minor poets.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of the critics regard Pliny's Natural History only as a
+heap of fables; and Pliny cannot bear with Diodorus and Vopiscus; and in
+one comprehensive criticism, treats all the historians as narrators of
+fables.</p>
+
+<p>Livy has been reproached for his aversion to the Gauls; Dion, for his
+hatred of the republic; Velleius Paterculus, for speaking too kindly of
+the vices of Tiberius; and Herodotus and Plutarch, for their excessive
+partiality to their own country: while the latter has written an entire
+treatise on the malignity of Herodotus. Xenophon and Quintus Curtius
+have been considered rather as novelists than historians; and Tacitus
+has been censured for his audacity in pretending to discover the
+political springs and secret causes of events. Dionysius of
+Harlicarnassus has made an elaborate attack on Thucydides for the
+unskilful choice of his subject, and his manner of treating it.
+Dionysius would have nothing written but what tended to the glory of his
+country and the pleasure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of the reader&mdash;as if history were a song! adds
+Hobbes, who also shows a personal motive in this attack. The same
+Dionysius severely criticises the style of Xenophon, who, he says, in
+attempting to elevate his style, shows himself incapable of supporting
+it. Polybius has been blamed for his frequent introduction of
+reflections which interrupt the thread of his narrative; and Sallust has
+been blamed by Cato for indulging his own private passions, and
+studiously concealing many of the glorious actions of Cicero. The Jewish
+historian, Josephus, is accused of not having designed his history for
+his own people so much as for the Greeks and Romans, whom he takes the
+utmost care never to offend. Josephus assumes a Roman name, Flavius; and
+considering his nation as entirely subjugated, to make them appear
+dignified to their conquerors, alters what he himself calls the <i>Holy
+books</i>. It is well known how widely he differs from the scriptural
+accounts. Some have said of Cicero, that there is no connexion, and to
+adopt their own figures, no <i>blood</i> and <i>nerves</i>, in what his admirers
+so warmly extol. Cold in his extemporaneous effusions, artificial in his
+exordiums, trifling in his strained raillery, and tiresome in his
+digressions. This is saying a good deal about Cicero.</p>
+
+<p>Quintilian does not spare Seneca; and Demosthenes, called by Cicero the
+prince of orators, has, according to Hermippus, more of art than of
+nature. To Demades, his orations appear too much laboured; others have
+thought him too dry; and, if we may trust &AElig;schines, his language is by
+no means pure.</p>
+
+<p>The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, and the Deipnosophists of Athen&aelig;us,
+while they have been extolled by one party, have been degraded by
+another. They have been considered as botchers of rags and remnants;
+their diligence has not been accompanied by judgment; and their taste
+inclined more to the frivolous than to the useful. Compilers, indeed,
+are liable to a hard fate, for little distinction is made in their
+ranks; a disagreeable situation, in which honest Burton seems to have
+been placed; for he says of his work, that some will cry out, "This is a
+thinge of meere industrie; a <i>collection</i> without wit or invention; a
+very toy! So men are valued; their labours vilified by fellowes of no
+worth themselves, as things of nought: Who could not have done as much?
+Some understande too little, and some too much."</p>
+
+<p>Should we proceed with this list to our own country, and to our own
+times, it might be curiously augmented, and show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> the world what men the
+Critics are! but, perhaps, enough has been said to soothe irritated
+genius, and to shame fastidious criticism. "I would beg the critics to
+remember," the Earl of Roscommon writes, in his preface to Horace's Art
+of Poetry, "that Horace owed his favour and his fortune to the character
+given of him by Virgil and Varus; that Fundanius and Pollio are still
+valued by what Horace says of them; and that, in their golden age, there
+was a good understanding among the ingenious; and those who were the
+most esteemed, were the best natured."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_PERSECUTED_LEARNED" id="THE_PERSECUTED_LEARNED"></a>THE PERSECUTED LEARNED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Those who have laboured most zealously to instruct mankind have been
+those who have suffered most from ignorance; and the discoverers of new
+arts and sciences have hardly ever lived to see them accepted by the
+world. With a noble perception of his own genius, Lord Bacon, in his
+prophetic Will, thus expresses himself: "For my name and memory, I leave
+it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next
+ages." Before the times of Galileo and Harvey the world believed in the
+stagnation of the blood, and the diurnal immovability of the earth; and
+for denying these the one was persecuted and the other ridiculed.</p>
+
+<p>The intelligence and the virtue of Socrates were punished with death.
+Anaxagoras, when he attempted to propagate a just notion of the Supreme
+Being, was dragged to prison. Aristotle, after a long series of
+persecution, swallowed poison. Heraclitus, tormented by his countrymen,
+broke off all intercourse with men. The great geometricians and
+chemists, as Gerbert, Roger Bacon, and Cornelius Agrippa, were abhorred
+as magicians. Pope Gerbert, as Bishop Otho gravely relates, obtained the
+pontificate by having given himself up entirely to the devil: others
+suspected him, too, of holding an intercourse with demons; but this was
+indeed a devilish age!</p>
+
+<p>Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburg, having asserted that there existed
+antipodes, the Archbishop of Mentz declared him a heretic; and the Abbot
+Trithemius, who was fond of improving steganography or the art of secret
+writing, having published several curious works on this subject, they
+were condemned, as works full of diabolical mysteries; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Frederic
+II., Elector Palatine, ordered Trithemius's original work, which was in
+his library, to be publicly burnt.</p>
+
+<p>Galileo was condemned at Rome publicly to disavow sentiments, the truth
+of which must have been to him abundantly manifest. "Are these then my
+judges?" he exclaimed, in retiring from the inquisitors, whose ignorance
+astonished him. He was imprisoned, and visited by Milton, who tells us,
+he was then <i>poor</i> and <i>old</i>. The confessor of his widow, taking
+advantage of her piety, perused the MSS. of this great philosopher, and
+destroyed such as in his <i>judgment</i> were not fit to be known to the
+world!</p>
+
+<p>Gabriel Naud&eacute;, in his apology for those great men who have been accused
+of magic, has recorded a melancholy number of the most eminent scholars,
+who have found, that to have been successful in their studies, was a
+success which harassed them with continual persecution&mdash;a prison or a
+grave!</p>
+
+<p>Cornelius Agrippa was compelled to fly his country, and the enjoyment of
+a large income, merely for having displayed a few philosophical
+experiments, which now every school-boy can perform; but more
+particularly having attacked the then prevailing opinion, that St. Anne
+had three husbands, he was obliged to fly from place to place. The
+people beheld him as an object of horror; and when he walked, he found
+the streets empty at his approach.</p>
+
+<p>In those times, it was a common opinion to suspect every great man of an
+intercourse with some familiar spirit. The favourite black dog of
+Agrippa was supposed to be a demon. When Urban Grandier, another victim
+to the age, was led to the stake, a large fly settled on his head: a
+monk, who had heard that Beelzebub signifies in Hebrew the God of Flies,
+reported that he saw this spirit come to take possession of him. M. de
+Langier, a French minister, who employed many spies, was frequently
+accused of diabolical communication. Sixtus the Fifth, Marechal Faber,
+Roger Bacon, C&aelig;sar Borgia, his son Alexander VI., and others, like
+Socrates, had their diabolical attendant.</p>
+
+<p>Cardan was believed to be a magician. An able naturalist, who happened
+to know something of the arcana of nature, was immediately suspected of
+magic. Even the learned themselves, who had not applied to natural
+philosophy, seem to have acted with the same feelings as the most
+ignorant; for when Albert, usually called the Great, an epithet it has
+been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> said that he derived from his name <i>De Groot</i>, constructed a
+curious piece of mechanism, which sent forth distinct vocal sounds,
+Thomas Aquinas was so much terrified at it, that he struck it with his
+staff, and, to the mortification of Albert, annihilated the curious
+labour of thirty years!</p>
+
+<p>Petrarch was less desirous of the laurel for the honour, than for the
+hope of being sheltered by it from the thunder of the priests, by whom
+both he and his brother poets were continually threatened. They could
+not imagine a poet, without supposing him to hold an intercourse with
+some demon. This was, as Abb&eacute; Resnel observes, having a most exalted
+idea of poetry, though a very bad one of poets. An anti-poetic Dominican
+was notorious for persecuting all verse-makers; whose power he
+attributed to the effects of <i>heresy</i> and <i>magic</i>. The lights of
+philosophy have dispersed all these accusations of magic, and have shown
+a dreadful chain of perjuries and conspiracies.</p>
+
+<p>Descartes was horribly persecuted in Holland, when he first published
+his opinions. Voetius, a bigot of great influence at Utrecht, accused
+him of atheism, and had even projected in his mind to have this
+philosopher burnt at Utrecht in an extraordinary fire, which, kindled on
+an eminence, might be observed by the seven provinces. Mr. Hallam has
+observed, that "the ordeal of fire was the great purifier of books and
+men." This persecution of science and genius lasted till the close of
+the seventeenth century.</p>
+
+<p>"If the metaphysician stood a chance of being burnt as a heretic, the
+natural philosopher was not in less jeopardy as a magician," is an
+observation of the same writer, which sums up the whole.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POVERTY_OF_THE_LEARNED" id="POVERTY_OF_THE_LEARNED"></a>POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius: others
+find a hundred by-roads to her palace; there is but one open, and that a
+very indifferent one, for men of letters. Were we to erect an asylum for
+venerable genius, as we do for the brave and the helpless part of our
+citizens, it might be inscribed, "An Hospital for Incurables!" When even
+Fame will not protect the man of genius from Famine, Charity ought. Nor
+should such an act be considered as a debt incurred by the helpless
+member, but a just tribute we pay in his person<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> to Genius itself. Even
+in these enlightened times, many have lived in obscurity, while their
+reputation was widely spread, and have perished in poverty, while their
+works were enriching the booksellers.</p>
+
+<p>Of the heroes of modern literature the accounts are as copious as they
+are sorrowful.</p>
+
+<p>Xylander sold his notes on Dion Cassius for a dinner. He tells us that
+at the age of eighteen he studied to acquire glory, but at twenty-five
+he studied to get bread.</p>
+
+<p>Cervantes, the immortal genius of Spain, is supposed to have wanted
+food; Cam&ouml;ens, the solitary pride of Portugal, deprived of the
+necessaries of life, perished in an hospital at Lisbon. This fact has
+been accidentally preserved in an entry in a copy of the first edition
+of the Lusiad, in the possession of Lord Holland. It is a note, written
+by a friar who must have been a witness of the dying scene of the poet,
+and probably received the volume which now preserves the sad memorial,
+and which recalled it to his mind, from the hands of the unhappy
+poet:&mdash;"What a lamentable thing to see so great a genius so ill
+rewarded! I saw him die in an hospital in Lisbon, without having a sheet
+or shroud, <i>una sauana</i>, to cover him, after having triumphed in the
+East Indies, and sailed 5500 leagues! What good advice for those who
+weary themselves night and day in study without profit!" Cam&ouml;ens, when
+some fidalgo complained that he had not performed his promise in writing
+some verses for him, replied, "When I wrote verses I was young, had
+sufficient food, was a lover, and beloved by many friends and by the
+ladies; then I felt poetical ardour: now I have no spirits, no peace of
+mind. See there my Javanese, who asks me for two pieces to purchase
+firing, and I have them not to give him." The Portuguese, after his
+death, bestowed on the man of genius they had starved, the appellation
+of Great!<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Vondel, the Dutch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> Shakspeare, after composing a number of
+popular tragedies, lived in great poverty, and died at ninety years of
+age; then he had his coffin carried by fourteen poets, who without his
+genius probably partook of his wretchedness.</p>
+
+<p>The great Tasso was reduced to such a dilemma that he was obliged to
+borrow a crown for a week's subsistence. He alludes to his distress
+when, entreating his cat to assist him, during the night, with the
+lustre of her eyes&mdash;"<i>Non avendo candele per iscrivere i suoi versi</i>!"
+having no candle to see to write his verses.</p>
+
+<p>When the liberality of Alphonso enabled Ariosto to build a small house,
+it seems that it was but ill furnished. When told that such a building
+was not fit for one who had raised so many fine palaces in his writings,
+he answered, that the structure of <i>words</i> and that of <i>stones</i> was not
+the same thing. <i>"Che pervi le pietre, e porvi le parole, non &egrave; il
+medesimo!"</i> At Ferrari this house is still shown, "Parva sed apta" he
+calls it, but exults that it was paid for with his own money. This was
+in a moment of good humour, which he did not always enjoy; for in his
+Satires he bitterly complains of the bondage of dependence and poverty.
+Little thought the poet that the <i>commune</i> would order this small house
+to be purchased with their own funds, that it might be dedicated to his
+immortal memory.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Bentivoglio, the ornament of Italy and of literature,
+languished, in his old age, in the most distressful poverty; and having
+sold his palace to satisfy his creditors, left nothing behind him but
+his reputation. The learned Pomponius L&aelig;tus lived in such a state of
+poverty, that his friend Platina, who wrote the lives of the popes, and
+also a book of cookery, introduces him into the cookery book by a
+facetious observation, that "If Pomponius L&aelig;tus should be robbed of a
+couple of eggs, he would not have wherewithal to purchase two other
+eggs." The history of Aldrovandus is noble and pathetic; having expended
+a large fortune in forming his collections of natural history, and
+employing the first artists in Europe, he was suffered to die in the
+hospital of that city, to whose fame he had eminently contributed.</p>
+
+<p>Du Ryer, a celebrated French poet, was constrained to write with
+rapidity, and to live in the cottage of an obscure village. His
+bookseller bought his heroic verses for one hundred sols the hundred
+lines, and the smaller ones for fifty sols. What an interesting picture
+has a contemporary given<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of a visit to this poor and ingenious author!
+"On a fine summer day we went to him, at some distance from town. He
+received us with joy, talked to us of his numerous projects, and showed
+us several of his works. But what more interested us was, that, though
+dreading to expose to us his poverty, he contrived to offer some
+refreshments. We seated ourselves under a wide oak, the table-cloth was
+spread on the grass, his wife brought us some milk, with fresh water and
+brown bread, and he picked a basket of cherries. He welcomed us with
+gaiety, but we could not take leave of this amiable man, now grown old,
+without tears, to see him so ill treated by fortune, and to have nothing
+left but literary honour!"</p>
+
+<p>Vaugelas, the most polished writer of the French language, who devoted
+thirty years to his translation of Quintus Curtius, (a circumstance
+which modern translators can have no conception of), died possessed of
+nothing valuable but his precious manuscripts. This ingenious scholar
+left his corpse to the surgeons, for the benefit of his creditors!</p>
+
+<p>Louis the Fourteenth honoured Racine and Boileau with a private monthly
+audience. One day the king asked what there was new in the literary
+world. Racine answered, that he had seen a melancholy spectacle in the
+house of Corneille, whom he found dying, deprived even of a little
+broth! The king preserved a profound silence; and sent the dying poet a
+sum of money.</p>
+
+<p>Dryden, for less than three hundred pounds, sold Tonson ten thousand
+verses, as may be seen by the agreement.</p>
+
+<p>Purchas, who in the reign of our first James, had spent his life in
+compiling his <i>Relation of the World</i>, when he gave it to the public,
+for the reward of his labours was thrown into prison, at the suit of his
+printer. Yet this was the book which, he informs Charles I. in his
+dedication, his father read every night with great profit and
+satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>The Marquis of Worcester, in a petition to parliament, in the reign of
+Charles II., offered to publish the hundred processes and machines,
+enumerated in his very curious "Centenary of Inventions," on condition
+that money should be granted to extricate him from the <i>difficulties in
+which he had involved himself by the prosecution of useful discoveries</i>.
+The petition does not appear to have been attended to! Many of these
+admirable inventions were lost. The <i>steam-engine</i> and the <i>telegraph</i>,
+may be traced among them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It appears by the Harleian MS. 7524, that Rushworth, the author of the
+"Historical Collections," passed the last years of his life in gaol,
+where indeed he died. After the Restoration, when he presented to the
+king several of the privy council's books, which he had preserved from
+ruin, he received for his only reward the <i>thanks of his majesty</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Rymer, the collector of the F&oelig;dera, must have been sadly reduced, by
+the following letter, I found addressed by Peter le Neve, Norroy, to the
+Earl of Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>"I am desired by Mr. Rymer, historiographer, to lay before your lordship
+the circumstances of his affairs. He was forced some years back to part
+with all his choice printed books to subsist himself: and now, he says,
+he must be forced, for subsistence, to sell all his MS. collections to
+the best bidder, without your lordship will be pleased to buy them for
+the queen's library. They are fifty volumes in folio, of public affairs,
+which he hath collected, but not printed. The price he asks is five
+hundred pounds."</p>
+
+<p>Simon Ockley, a learned student in Oriental literature, addresses a
+letter to the same earl, in which he paints his distresses in glowing
+colours. After having devoted his life to Asiatic researches, then very
+uncommon, he had the mortification of dating his preface to his great
+work from Cambridge Castle, where he was confined for debt; and, with an
+air of triumph, feels a martyr's enthusiasm in the cause for which he
+perishes.</p>
+
+<p>He published his first volume of the History of the Saracens in 1708;
+and, ardently pursuing his oriental studies, published his second, ten
+years afterwards, without any patronage. Alluding to the encouragement
+necessary to bestow on youth, to remove the obstacles to such studies,
+he observes, that "young men will hardly come in on the prospect of
+finding leisure, in a prison, to transcribe those papers for the press,
+which they have collected with indefatigable labour, and oftentimes at
+the expense of their rest, and all the other conveniences of life, for
+the service of the public. No! though I were to assure them, from my own
+experience, that <i>I have enjoyed more true liberty, more happy leisure,
+and more solid repose, in six months</i> HERE, than in thrice the same
+number of years before. <i>Evil is the condition of that historian who
+undertakes to write the lives of others, before he knows how to live
+himself.</i>&mdash;Not that I speak thus as if I thought I had any just cause to
+be angry with the world&mdash;I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> did always in my judgment give the
+possession of <i>wisdom</i> the preference to that of <i>riches</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Spenser, the child of Fancy, languished out his life in misery, "Lord
+Burleigh," says Granger, "who it is said prevented the queen giving him
+a hundred pounds, seems to have thought the lowest clerk in his office a
+more deserving person." Mr. Malone attempts to show that Spenser had a
+small pension, but the poet's querulous verses must not be forgotten&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Full little knowest thou, that hast not try'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What Hell it is, in suing long to bide."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>To lose good days&mdash;to waste long nights&mdash;and, as he feelingly exclaims,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To speed, to give, to want, to be undone!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>How affecting is the death of Sydenham, who had devoted his life to a
+laborious version of Plato! He died in a sponging-house, and it was his
+death which appears to have given rise to the Literary Fund "for the
+relief of distressed authors."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>Who will pursue important labours when they read these anecdotes? Dr.
+Edmund Castell spent a great part of his life in compiling his <i>Lexicon
+Heptaglotton</i>, on which he bestowed incredible pains, and expended on it
+no less than 12,000<i>l</i>., broke his constitution, and exhausted his
+fortune. At length it was printed, but the copies remained <i>unsold</i> on
+his hands. He exhibits a curious picture of literary labour in his
+preface. "As for myself, I have been unceasingly occupied for such a
+number of years in this mass," <i>Molendino</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> he calls them, "that that
+day seemed, as it were, a holiday in which I have not laboured so much
+as sixteen or eighteen hours in these enlarging lexicons and Polyglot
+Bibles."</p>
+
+<p>Le Sage resided in a little cottage while he supplied the world with
+their most agreeable novels, and appears to have derived the sources of
+his existence in his old age from the filial exertions of an excellent
+son, who was an actor of some genius. I wish, however, that every man of
+letters could apply to himself the epitaph of this delightful writer:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>"Sous ce tombeau git <span class="smcap">Le Sage</span>, abattu Par le ciseau de la Parque
+importune; S'il ne fut pas ami de la fortune, Il fut toujours ami de la
+vertu."</i></p>
+
+<p>Many years after this article had been written, I published "Calamities
+of Authors," confining myself to those of our own country; the catalogue
+is incomplete, but far too numerous.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IMPRISONMENT_OF_THE_LEARNED" id="IMPRISONMENT_OF_THE_LEARNED"></a>IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Imprisonment has not always disturbed the man of letters in the progress
+of his studies, but has unquestionably greatly promoted them.</p>
+
+<p>In prison B&oelig;thius composed his work on the Consolations of
+Philosophy; and Grotius wrote his Commentary on Saint Matthew, with
+other works: the detail of his allotment of time to different studies,
+during his confinement, is very instructive.</p>
+
+<p>Buchanan, in the dungeon of a monastery in Portugal, composed his
+excellent Paraphrases of the Psalms of David.</p>
+
+<p>Cervantes composed the most agreeable book in the Spanish language
+during his captivity in Barbary.</p>
+
+<p>Fleta, a well-known law production, was written by a person confined in
+the Fleet for debt; the name of the <i>place</i>, though not that of the
+<i>author</i>, has thus been preserved; and another work, "Fleta Minor, or
+the Laws of Art and Nature in, knowing the bodies of Metals, &amp;c. by Sir
+John Pettus, 1683;" received its title from the circumstance of his
+having translated it from the German during his confinement in this
+prison.</p>
+
+<p>Louis the Twelfth, when Duke of Orleans, was long imprisoned in the
+Tower of Bourges: applying himself to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> studies, which he had
+hitherto neglected, he became, in consequence, an enlightened monarch.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret, queen of Henry the Fourth, King of France, confined in the
+Louvre, pursued very warmly the studies of elegant literature, and
+composed a very skilful apology for the irregularities of her conduct.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Walter Raleigh's unfinished History of the World, which leaves us to
+regret that later ages had not been celebrated by his eloquence, was the
+fruits of eleven years of imprisonment. It was written for the use of
+Prince Henry, as he and Dallington, who also wrote "Aphorisms" for the
+same prince, have told us; the prince looked over the manuscript. Of
+Raleigh it is observed, to employ the language of Hume, "They were
+struck with the extensive genius of the man, who, being educated amidst
+naval and military enterprises, had surpassed, in the pursuits of
+literature, even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives; and they
+admired his unbroken magnanimity, which, at his age, and under his
+circumstances, could engage him to undertake and execute so great a
+work, as his History of the World." He was assisted in this great work
+by the learning of several eminent persons, a circumstance which has not
+been usually noticed.</p>
+
+<p>The plan of the "<i>Henriade</i>" was sketched, and the greater part
+composed, by Voltaire during his imprisonment in the Bastile; and "the
+Pilgrim's Progress" of Bunyan was performed in the circuit of a prison's
+walls.</p>
+
+<p>Howell, the author of "Familiar Letters," wrote the chief part of them,
+and almost all his other works, during his long confinement in the Fleet
+prison: he employed his fertile pen for subsistence; and in all his
+books we find much entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>Lydiat, while confined in the King's Bench for debt, wrote his
+Annotations on the Parian Chronicle, which were first published by
+Prideaux. He was the learned scholar alluded to by Johnson; an allusion
+not known to Boswell and others.</p>
+
+<p>The learned Selden, committed to prison for his attacks on the divine
+right of tithes and the king's prerogative, prepared during his
+confinement his "History of Eadmer," enriched by his notes.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Polignac formed the design of refuting the arguments of the
+sceptics which Bayle had been renewing in his dictionary; but his public
+occupations hindered him. Two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> exiles at length fortunately gave him the
+leisure; and the Anti-Lucretius is the fruit of the court disgraces of
+its author.</p>
+
+<p>Freret, when imprisoned in the Bastile, was permitted only to have Bayle
+for his companion. His dictionary was always before him, and his
+principles were got by heart. To this circumstance we owe his works,
+animated by all the powers of scepticism.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William Davenant finished his poem of Gondibert during his
+confinement by the rebels in Carisbrook Castle. George Withers dedicates
+his "Shepherds Hunting," "To his friends, my visitants in the
+Marshalsea:" these "eclogues" having been printed in his
+imprisonment.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p>De Foe, confined in Newgate for a political pamphlet, began his
+"Review;" a periodical paper, which was extended to nine thick volumes
+in quarto, and it has been supposed served as the model of the
+celebrated papers of Steele.</p>
+
+<p>Wicquefort's curious work "on Ambassadors" is dated from his prison,
+where he had been confined for state affairs. He softened the rigour of
+those heavy hours by several historical works.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting facts of this kind is the fate of an Italian
+scholar, of the name of Maggi. Early addicted to the study of the
+sciences, and particularly to the mathematics, and military
+architecture, he successfully defended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> Famagusta, besieged by the
+Turks, by inventing machines which destroyed their works. When that city
+was taken in 1571, they pillaged his library and carried him away in
+chains. Now a slave, after his daily labours he amused a great part of
+his nights by literary compositions; <i>De Tintinnabulis</i>, on Bells, a
+treatise still read by the curious, was actually composed by him when a
+slave in Turkey, without any other resource than the erudition of his
+own memory, and the genius of which adversity could not deprive him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="AMUSEMENTS_OF_THE_LEARNED" id="AMUSEMENTS_OF_THE_LEARNED"></a>AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Among the Jesuits it was a standing rule of the order, that after an
+application to study for two hours, the mind of the student should be
+unbent by some relaxation, however trifling. When Petavius was employed
+in his <i>Dogmata Theologica</i>, a work of the most profound and extensive
+erudition, the great recreation of the learned father was, at the end of
+every second hour, to twirl his chair for five minutes. After protracted
+studies Spinosa would mix with the family-party where he lodged, and
+join in the most trivial conversations, or unbend his mind by setting
+spiders to fight each other; he observed their combats with so much
+interest, that he was often seized with immoderate fits of laughter. A
+continuity of labour deadens the soul, observes Seneca, in closing his
+treatise on "The Tranquillity of the Soul," and the mind must unbend
+itself by certain amusements. Socrates did not blush to play with
+children; Cato, over his bottle, found an alleviation from the fatigues
+of government; a circumstance, Seneca says in his manner, which rather
+gives honour to this defect, than the defect dishonours Cato. Some men
+of letters portioned out their day between repose and labour. Asinius
+Pollio would not suffer any business to occupy him beyond a stated hour;
+after that time he would not allow any letter to be opened, that his
+hours of recreation might not be interrupted by unforeseen labours. In
+the senate, after the tenth hour, it was not allowed to make any new
+motion.</p>
+
+<p>Tycho Brahe diverted himself with polishing glasses for all kinds of
+spectacles, and making mathematical instruments; an employment too
+closely connected with his studies to be deemed an amusement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>D'Andilly, the translator of Josephus, after seven or eight hours of
+study every day, amused himself in cultivating trees; Barclay, the
+author of the Argenis, in his leisure hours was a florist; Balzac amused
+himself with a collection of crayon portraits; Peirese found his
+amusement amongst his medals and antiquarian curiosities; the Abb&eacute; de
+Marolles with his prints; and Politian in singing airs to his lute.
+Descartes passed his afternoons in the conversation of a few friends,
+and in cultivating a little garden; in the morning, occupied by the
+system of the world, he relaxed his profound speculations by rearing
+delicate flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Conrad ab Uffenbach, a learned German, recreated his mind, after severe
+studies, with a collection of prints of eminent persons, methodically
+arranged; he retained this ardour of the <i>Grangerite</i> to his last days.</p>
+
+<p>Rohault wandered from shop to shop to observe the mechanics labour;
+Count Caylus passed his mornings in the <i>studios</i> of artists, and his
+evenings in writing his numerous works on art. This was the true life of
+an amateur.</p>
+
+<p>Granville Sharp, amidst the severity of his studies, found a social
+relaxation in the amusement of a barge on the Thames, which was well
+known to the circle of his friends; there, was festive hospitality with
+musical delight. It was resorted to by men of the most eminent talents
+and rank. His little voyages to Putney, to Kew, and to Richmond, and the
+literary intercourse they produced, were singularly happy ones. "The
+history of his amusements cannot be told without adding to the dignity
+of his character," observes Prince Hoare, in the life of this great
+philanthropist.</p>
+
+<p>Some have found amusement in composing treatises on odd subjects. Seneca
+wrote a burlesque narrative of Claudian's death. Pierius Valerianus has
+written an eulogium on beards; and we have had a learned one recently,
+with due gravity and pleasantry, entitled "Eloge de Perruques."</p>
+
+<p>Holstein has written an eulogium on the North Wind; Heinsius, on "the
+Ass;" Menage, "the Transmigration of the Parasitical Pedant to a
+Parrot;" and also the "Petition of the Dictionaries."</p>
+
+<p>Erasmus composed, to amuse himself when travelling, his panegyric on
+<i>Moria</i>, or folly; which, authorised by the pun, he dedicated to Sir
+Thomas More.</p>
+
+<p>Sallengre, who would amuse himself like Erasmus, wrote, in imitation of
+his work, a panegyric on <i>Ebriety</i>. He says,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> that he is willing to be
+thought as drunken a man as Erasmus was a foolish one. Synesius composed
+a Greek panegyric on <i>Baldness</i>. These burlesques were brought into
+great vogue by Erasmus's <i>Mori&aelig; Encomium</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It seems, Johnson observes in his life of Sir Thomas Browne, to have
+been in all ages the pride of art to show how it could exalt the low and
+amplify the little. To this ambition, perhaps, we owe the Frogs of
+Homer; the Gnat and the Bees of Virgil; the Butterfly of Spenser; the
+Shadow of Wowerus; and the Quincunx of Browne.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal de Richelieu, amongst all his great occupations, found a
+recreation in violent exercises; and he was once discovered jumping with
+his servant, to try who could reach the highest side of a wall. De
+Grammont, observing the cardinal to be jealous of his powers, offered to
+jump with him; and, in the true spirit of a courtier, having made some
+efforts which nearly reached the cardinal's, confessed the cardinal
+surpassed him. This was jumping like a politician; and by this means he
+is said to have ingratiated himself with the minister.</p>
+
+<p>The great Samuel Clarke was fond of robust exercise; and this profound
+logician has been found leaping over tables and chairs. Once perceiving
+a pedantic fellow, he said, "Now we must desist, for a fool is coming
+in!"<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>An eminent French lawyer, confined by his business to a Parisian life,
+amused himself with collecting from the classics all the passages which
+relate to a country life. The collection was published after his death.</p>
+
+<p>Contemplative men seem to be fond of amusements which accord with their
+habits. The thoughtful game of chess, and the tranquil delight of
+angling, have been favourite recreations with the studious. Paley had
+himself painted with a rod and line in his hand; a strange
+characteristic for the author of "Natural Theology." Sir Henry Wotton
+called angling "idle time not idly spent:" we may suppose that his
+meditations and his amusements were carried on at the same moment.</p>
+
+<p>The amusements of the great d'Aguesseau, chancellor of France, consisted
+in an interchange of studies; his relaxations were all the varieties of
+literature. "Le changement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> de l'&eacute;tude est mon seul d&eacute;lassement," said
+this great man; and "in the age of the passions, his only passion was
+study."</p>
+
+<p>Seneca has observed on amusements proper for literary men, that, in
+regard to robust exercises, it is not decent to see a man of letters
+exult in the strength of his arm, or the breadth of his back! Such
+amusements diminish the activity of the mind. Too much fatigue exhausts
+the animal spirits, as too much food blunts the finer faculties: but
+elsewhere he allows his philosopher an occasional slight inebriation; an
+amusement which was very prevalent among our poets formerly, when they
+exclaimed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Fetch me Ben Jonson's scull, and fill't with sack,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rich as the same he drank, when the whole pack<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of jolly sisters pledged, and did agree<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It was no sin to be as drunk as he!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Seneca concludes admirably, "whatever be the amusements you choose,
+return not slowly from those of the body to the mind; exercise the
+latter night and day. The mind is nourished at a cheap rate; neither
+cold nor heat, nor age itself, can interrupt this exercise; give
+therefore all your cares to a possession which ameliorates even in its
+old age!"</p>
+
+<p>An ingenious writer has observed, that "a garden just accommodates
+itself to the perambulations of a scholar, who would perhaps rather wish
+his walks abridged than extended." There is a good characteristic
+account of the mode in which the Literati may take exercise, in Pope's
+Letters. "I, like a poor squirrel, am continually in motion indeed, but
+it is but a cage of three foot! my little excursions are like those of a
+shopkeeper, who walks every day a mile or two before his own door, but
+minds his business all the while." A turn or two in a garden will often
+very happily close a fine period, mature an unripened thought, and raise
+up fresh associations, whenever the mind, like the body, becomes rigid
+by preserving the same posture. Buffon often quitted the old tower he
+studied in, which was placed in the midst of his garden, for a walk in
+it. Evelyn loved "books and a garden."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PORTRAITS_OF_AUTHORS" id="PORTRAITS_OF_AUTHORS"></a>PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>With the ancients, it was undoubtedly a custom to place the portraits of
+authors before their works. Martial's 186th epigram of his fourteenth
+book is a mere play on words, concerning a little volume containing the
+works of Virgil, and which had his portrait prefixed to it. The volume
+and the characters must have been very diminutive.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Quam brevis immensum cepit membrana Maronem!</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Ipsius Vultus prima tabella gerit.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Martial is not the only writer who takes notice of the ancients
+prefixing portraits to the works of authors. Seneca, in his ninth
+chapter on the Tranquillity of the Soul, complains of many of the
+luxurious great, who, like so many of our own collectors, possessed
+libraries as they did their estates and equipages. "It is melancholy to
+observe how the portraits of men of genius, and the works of their
+divine intelligence, are used only as the luxury and the ornaments of
+walls."</p>
+
+<p>Pliny has nearly the same observation, <i>lib.</i> xxxv. <i>cap.</i> 2. He
+remarks, that the custom was rather modern in his time; and attributes
+to Asinius Pollio the honour of having introduced it into Rome. "In
+consecrating a library with the portraits of our illustrious authors, he
+has formed, if I may so express myself, a republic of the intellectual
+powers of men." To the richness of book-treasures, Asinius Pollio had
+associated a new source of pleasure, by placing the statues of their
+authors amidst them, inspiring the minds of the spectators, even by
+their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>A taste for collecting portraits, or busts, was warmly pursued in the
+happier periods of Rome; for the celebrated Atticus, in a work he
+published of illustrious Romans, made it more delightful, by ornamenting
+it with the portraits of those great men; and the learned Varro, in his
+biography of Seven Hundred celebrated Men, by giving the world their
+true features and their physiognomy <i>in some manner, aliquo modo
+imaginibus</i> is Pliny's expression, showed that even their persons should
+not entirely be annihilated; they indeed, adds Pliny, form a spectacle
+which the gods themselves might contemplate; for if the gods sent those
+heroes to the earth, it is Varro who secured their immortality, and has
+so multi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>plied and distributed them in all places, that we may carry
+them about us, place them wherever we choose, and fix our eyes on them
+with perpetual admiration. A spectacle that every day becomes more
+varied and interesting, as new heroes appear, and as works of this kind
+are spread abroad.</p>
+
+<p>But as printing was unknown, to the ancients (though <i>stamping an
+impression</i> was daily practised, and, in fact, they possessed the art of
+printing without being aware of it<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>), how were these portraits of
+Varro so easily propagated? If copied with a pen, their correctness was
+in some danger, and their diffusion must have been very confined and
+slow; perhaps they were outlines. This passage of Pliny excites
+curiosity difficult to satisfy; I have in vain inquired of several
+scholars, particularly of the late Grecian, Dr. Burney.</p>
+
+<p>A collection of the portraits of illustrious characters affords not only
+a source of entertainment and curiosity, but displays the different
+modes or habits of the time; and in settling our floating ideas upon the
+true features of famous persons, they also fix the chronological
+particulars of their birth, age, death, sometimes with short characters
+of them, besides the names of painter and engraver. It is thus a single
+print, by the hand of a skilful artist, may become a varied banquet. To
+this Granger adds, that in a collection of engraved portraits, the
+contents of many galleries are reduced into the narrow compass of a few
+volumes; and the portraits of eminent persons, who distinguished
+themselves through a long succession of ages, may be turned over in a
+few hours.</p>
+
+<p>"Another advantage," Granger continues, "attending such an assemblage
+is, that the methodical arrangement has a surprising effect upon the
+memory. We see the celebrated contemporaries of every age almost at one
+view; and the mind is insensibly led to the history of that period. I
+may add to these, an important circumstance, which is, the power that
+such a collection will have in <i>awakening genius</i>. A skilful preceptor
+will presently perceive the true bent of the temper of his pupil, by his
+being struck with a Blake or a Boyle, a Hyde or a Milton."</p>
+
+<p>A circumstance in the life of Cicero confirms this observa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>tion. Atticus
+had a gallery adorned with the images or portraits of the great men of
+Rome, under each of which he had severally described their principal
+acts and honours, in a few concise verses of his own composition. It was
+by the contemplation of two of these portraits (the ancient Brutus and a
+venerable relative in one picture) that Cicero seems to have incited
+Brutus, by the example of these his great ancestors, to dissolve the
+tyranny of C&aelig;sar. General Fairfax made a collection of engraved
+portraits of warriors. A story much in favour of portrait-collectors is
+that of the Athenian courtesan, who, in the midst of a riotous banquet
+with her lovers, accidentally casting her eyes on the <i>portrait</i> of a
+philosopher that hung opposite to her seat, the happy character of
+temperance and virtue struck her with so lively an image of her own
+unworthiness, that she suddenly retreated for ever from the scene of
+debauchery. The Orientalists have felt the same charm in their pictured
+memorials; for "the imperial Akber," says Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental
+Memoirs, "employed artists to make portraits of all the principal omrahs
+and officers in his court;" they were bound together in a thick volume,
+wherein, as the Ayeen Akbery, or the Institutes of Akber, expresses it,
+"The <span class="smcap">Past</span> are kept in lively remembrance; and the <span class="smcap">Present</span> are insured
+immortality."</p>
+
+<p>Leonard Aretin, when young and in prison, found a portrait of Petrarch,
+on which his eyes were perpetually fixed; and this sort of contemplation
+inflamed the desire of imitating this great man. Buffon hung the
+portrait of Newton before his writing-table.</p>
+
+<p>On this subject, Tacitus sublimely expresses himself at the close of his
+admired biography of Agricola: "I do not mean to censure the custom of
+preserving in brass or marble the shape and stature of eminent men; but
+busts and statues, like their originals, are frail and perishable. The
+soul is formed of finer elements, its inward form is not to be expressed
+by the hand of an artist with unconscious matter; our manners and our
+morals may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of Agricola that
+gained our love and raised our admiration still subsists, and ever will
+subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register of ages and the
+records of fame."</p>
+
+<p>What is more agreeable to the curiosity of the mind and the eye than the
+portraits of great characters? An old philosopher, whom Marville invited
+to see a collection of landscapes by a celebrated artist, replied,
+"Landscapes I prefer seeing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the country itself, but I am fond of
+contemplating the pictures of illustrious men." This opinion has some
+truth; Lord Orford preferred an interesting portrait to either landscape
+or historical painting. "A landscape, however excellent in its
+distributions of wood, and water, and buildings, leaves not one trace in
+the memory; historical painting is perpetually false in a variety of
+ways, in the costume, the grouping, the portraits, and is nothing more
+than fabulous painting; but a real portrait is truth itself, and calls
+up so many collateral ideas as to fill an intelligent mind more than any
+other species."</p>
+
+<p>Marville justly reprehends the fastidious feelings of those ingenious
+men who have resisted the solicitations of the artist, to sit for their
+portraits. In them it is sometimes as much pride as it is vanity in
+those who are less difficult in this respect. Of Gray, Fielding, and
+Akenside, we have no heads for which they sat; a circumstance regretted
+by their admirers, and by physiognomists.</p>
+
+<p>To an arranged collection of <span class="smcap">Portraits</span>, we owe several interesting
+works. Granger's justly esteemed volumes originated in such a
+collection. Perrault's <i>Eloges</i> of "the illustrious men of the
+seventeenth century" were drawn up to accompany the engraved portraits
+of the most celebrated characters of the age, which a fervent love of
+the fine arts and literature had had engraved as an elegant tribute to
+the fame of those great men. They are confined to his nation, as
+Granger's to ours. The parent of this race of books may perhaps be the
+Eulogiums of Paulus Jovius, which originated in a beautiful <span class="smcap">Cabinet</span>,
+whose situation he has described with all its amenity.</p>
+
+<p>Paulus Jovius had a country house, in an insular situation, of a most
+romantic aspect. Built on the ruins of the villa of Pliny, in his time
+the foundations were still to be traced. When the surrounding lake was
+calm, in its lucid bosom were still viewed sculptured marbles, the
+trunks of columns, and the fragments of those pyramids which had once
+adorned the residence of the friend of Trajan. Jovius was an enthusiast
+of literary leisure: an historian, with the imagination of a poet; a
+Christian prelate nourished on the sweet fictions of pagan mythology.
+His pen colours like a pencil. He paints rapturously his gardens bathed
+by the waters of the lake, the shade and freshness of his woods, his
+green hills, his sparkling fountains, the deep silence, and the calm of
+solitude.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> He describes a statue raised in his gardens to <span class="smcap">Nature</span>; in his
+hall an Apollo presided with his lyre, and the Muses with their
+attributes; his library was guarded by Mercury, and an apartment devoted
+to the three Graces was embellished by Doric columns, and paintings of
+the most pleasing kind. Such was the interior! Without, the pure and
+transparent lake spread its broad mirror, or rolled its voluminous
+windings, by banks richly covered with olives and laurels; and in the
+distance, towns, promontories, hills rising in an amphitheatre blushing
+with vines, and the elevations of the Alps covered with woods and
+pasturage, and sprinkled with herds and flocks.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of this enchanting habitation stood the <span class="smcap">Cabinet</span>, where
+Paulus Jovius had collected, at great cost, the <span class="smcap">Portraits</span> of celebrated
+men of the fourteenth and two succeeding centuries. The daily view of
+them animated his mind to compose their eulogiums. These are still
+curious, both for the facts they preserve, and the happy conciseness
+with which Jovius delineates a character. He had collected these
+portraits as others form a collection of natural history; and he pursued
+in their characters what others do in their experiments.</p>
+
+<p>One caution in collecting portraits must not be forgotten; it respects
+their authenticity. We have too many supposititious heads, and ideal
+personages. Conrad ab Uffenbach, who seems to have been the first
+collector who projected a methodical arrangement, condemned those
+spurious portraits which were fit only for the amusement of children.
+The painter does not always give a correct likeness, or the engraver
+misses it in his copy. Goldsmith was a short thick man, with wan
+features and a vulgar appearance, but looks tall and fashionable in a
+bag-wig. Bayle's portrait does not resemble him, as one of his friends
+writes. Rousseau, in his Montero cap, is in the same predicament.
+Winkelmann's portrait does not preserve the striking physiognomy of the
+man, and in the last edition a new one is substituted. The faithful
+Vertue refused to engrave for Houbraken's set, because they did not
+authenticate their originals; and some of these are spurious, as that of
+Ben Jonson, Sir Edward Coke, and others. Busts are not so liable to
+these accidents. It is to be regretted that men of genius have not been
+careful to transmit their own portraits to their admirers: it forms a
+part of their character; a false delicacy has interfered. Erasmus did
+not like to have his own diminutive person sent down to posterity, but
+Holbein<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> was always affectionately painting his friend. Montesquieu once
+sat to Dassier the medallist, after repeated denials, won over by the
+ingenious argument of the artist; "Do you not think," said Dassier,
+"that there is as much pride in refusing my offer as in accepting it?"</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DESTRUCTION_OF_BOOKS" id="DESTRUCTION_OF_BOOKS"></a>DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The literary treasures of antiquity have suffered from the malice of Men
+as well as that of Time. It is remarkable that conquerors, in the moment
+of victory, or in the unsparing devastation of their rage, have not been
+satisfied with destroying <i>men</i>, but have even carried their vengeance
+to <i>books</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Persians, from hatred of the religion of the Ph&oelig;nicians and the
+Egyptians, destroyed their books, of which Eusebius notices a great
+number. A Grecian library at Gnidus was burnt by the sect of
+Hippocrates, because the Gnidians refused to follow the doctrines of
+their master. If the followers of Hippocrates formed the majority, was
+it not very unorthodox in the Gnidians to prefer taking physic their own
+way? But Faction has often annihilated books.</p>
+
+<p>The Romans burnt the books of the Jews, of the Christians, and the
+Philosophers; the Jews burnt the books of the Christians and the Pagans;
+and the Christians burnt the books of the Pagans and the Jews. The
+greater part of the books of Origen and other heretics were continually
+burnt by the orthodox party. Gibbon pathetically describes the empty
+library of Alexandria, after the Christians had destroyed it. "The
+valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near
+twenty years afterwards the appearance of the <i>empty shelves</i> excited
+the regret and indignation of every spectator, whose mind was not
+totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient
+genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have
+been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and
+instruction of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or avarice of the
+archbishop might have been satiated with the richest spoils which were
+the rewards of his victory."</p>
+
+<p>The pathetic narrative of Nicetas Choniates, of the ravages committed by
+the Christians of the thirteenth century in Constantinople, was
+fraudulently suppressed in the printed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> editions. It has been preserved
+by Dr. Clarke; who observes, that the Turks have committed fewer
+injuries to the works of art than the barbarous Christians of that age.</p>
+
+<p>The reading of the Jewish Talmud has been forbidden by various edicts,
+of the Emperor Justinian, of many of the French and Spanish kings, and
+numbers of Popes. All the copies were ordered to be burnt: the intrepid
+perseverance of the Jews themselves preserved that work from
+annihilation. In 1569 twelve thousand copies were thrown into the flames
+at Cremona. John Reuchlin interfered to stop this universal destruction
+of Talmuds; for which he became hated by the monks, and condemned by the
+Elector of Mentz, but appealing to Rome, the prosecution was stopped;
+and the traditions of the Jews were considered as not necessary to be
+destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>Conquerors at first destroy with the rashest zeal the national records
+of the conquered people; hence it is that the Irish people deplore the
+irreparable losses of their most ancient national memorials, which their
+invaders have been too successful in annihilating. The same event
+occurred in the conquest of Mexico; and the interesting history of the
+New World must ever remain imperfect, in consequence of the unfortunate
+success of the first missionaries. Clavigero, the most authentic
+historian of Mexico, continually laments this affecting loss. Everything
+in that country had been painted, and painters abounded there as scribes
+in Europe. The first missionaries, suspicious that superstition was
+mixed with all their paintings, attacked the chief school of these
+artists, and collecting, in the market-place, a little mountain of these
+precious records, they set fire to it, and buried in the ashes the
+memory of many interesting events. Afterwards, sensible of their error,
+they tried to collect information from the mouths of the Indians; but
+the Indians were indignantly silent: when they attempted to collect the
+remains of these painted histories, the patriotic Mexican usually buried
+in concealment the fragmentary records of his country.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the Caliph Omar proclaiming throughout the kingdom, at the
+taking of Alexandria, that the Koran contained everything which was
+useful to believe and to know, and therefore he commanded that all the
+books in the Alexandrian library should be distributed to the masters of
+the baths, amounting to 4000, to be used in heating their stoves during
+a period of six months, modern paradox would attempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> to deny. But the
+tale would not be singular even were it true: it perfectly suits the
+character of a bigot, a barbarian, and a blockhead. A similar event
+happened in Persia. When Abdoolah, who in the third century of the
+Mohammedan &aelig;ra governed Khorassan, was presented at Nishapoor with a MS.
+which was shown as a literary curiosity, he asked the title of it&mdash;it
+was the tale of Wamick and Oozra, composed by the great poet Noshirwan.
+On this Abdoolah observed, that those of his country and faith had
+nothing to do with any other book than the Koran; and all Persian MSS.
+found within the circle of his government, as the works of idolaters,
+were to be burnt. Much of the most ancient poetry of the Persians
+perished by this fanatical edict.</p>
+
+<p>When Buda was taken by the Turks, a Cardinal offered a vast sum to
+redeem the great library founded by Matthew Corvini, a literary monarch
+of Hungary: it was rich in Greek and Hebrew lore, and the classics of
+antiquity. Thirty amanuenses had been employed in copying MSS. and
+illuminating them by the finest art. The barbarians destroyed most of
+the books in tearing away their splendid covers and their silver bosses;
+an Hungarian soldier picked up a book as a prize: it proved to be the
+Ethiopics of Heliodorus, from which the first edition was printed in
+1534.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Ximenes seems to have retaliated a little on the Saracens; for
+at the taking of Granada, he condemned to the flames five thousand
+Korans.</p>
+
+<p>The following anecdote respecting a Spanish missal, called St.
+Isidore's, is not incurious; hard fighting saved it from destruction. In
+the Moorish wars, all these missals had been destroyed, excepting those
+in the city of Toledo. There, in six churches, the Christians were
+allowed the free exercise of their religion. When the Moors were
+expelled several centuries afterwards from Toledo, Alphonsus the Sixth
+ordered the Roman missal to be used in those churches; but the people of
+Toledo insisted on having their own, as revised by St. Isidore. It
+seemed to them that Alphonsus was more tyrannical than the Turks. The
+contest between the Roman and the Toletan missals came to that height,
+that at length it was determined to decide their fate by single combat;
+the champion of the Toletan missal felled by one blow the knight of the
+Roman missal. Alphonsus still considered this battle as merely the
+effect of the heavy arm of the doughty Toletan, and ordered a fast to be
+proclaimed, and a great fire to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> prepared, into which, after his
+majesty and the people had joined in prayer for heavenly assistance in
+this ordeal, both the rivals (not the men, but the missals) were thrown
+into the flames&mdash;again St. Isidore's missal triumphed, and this iron
+book was then allowed to be orthodox by Alphonsus, and the good people
+of Toledo were allowed to say their prayers as they had long been used
+to do. However, the copies of this missal at length became very scarce;
+for now, when no one opposed the reading of St. Isidore's missal, none
+cared to use it. Cardinal Ximenes found it so difficult to obtain a
+copy, that he printed a large impression, and built a chapel,
+consecrated to St. Isidore, that this service might be daily chaunted as
+it had been by the ancient Christians.</p>
+
+<p>The works of the ancients were frequently destroyed at the instigation
+of the monks. They appear sometimes to have mutilated them, for passages
+have not come down to us, which once evidently existed; and occasionally
+their interpolations and other forgeries formed a destruction in a new
+shape, by additions to the originals. They were indefatigable in erasing
+the best works of the most eminent Greek and Latin authors, in order to
+transcribe their ridiculous lives of saints on the obliterated vellum.
+One of the books of Livy is in the Vatican most painfully defaced by
+some pious father for the purpose of writing on it some missal or
+psalter, and there have been recently others discovered in the same
+state. Inflamed with the blindest zeal against everything pagan, Pope
+Gregory VII. ordered that the library of the Palatine Apollo, a treasury
+of literature formed by successive emperors, should be committed to the
+flames! He issued this order under the notion of confining the attention
+of the clergy to the holy scriptures! From that time all ancient
+learning which was not sanctioned by the authority of the church, has
+been emphatically distinguished as <i>profane</i> in opposition to <i>sacred</i>.
+This pope is said to have burnt the works of Varro, the learned Roman,
+that Saint Austin should escape from the charge of plagiarism, being
+deeply indebted to Varro for much of his great work "the City of God."</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuits, sent by the emperor Ferdinand to proscribe Lutheranism from
+Bohemia, converted that flourishing kingdom comparatively into a desert.
+Convinced that an enlightened people could never be long subservient to
+a tyrant, they struck one fatal blow at the national literature: every
+book they condemned was destroyed, even those of antiquity;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> the annals
+of the nation were forbidden to be read, and writers were not permitted
+even to compose on subjects of Bohemian literature. The mother-tongue
+was held out as a mark of vulgar obscurity, and domiciliary visits were
+made for the purpose of inspecting the libraries of the Bohemians. With
+their books and their language they lost their national character and
+their independence.</p>
+
+<p>The destruction of libraries in the reign of Henry VIII. at the
+dissolution of the monasteries, is wept over by John Bale. Those who
+purchased the religious houses took the libraries as part of the booty,
+with which they scoured their furniture, or sold the books as waste
+paper, or sent them abroad in ship-loads to foreign bookbinders.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p>
+
+<p>The fear of destruction induced many to hide manuscripts under ground,
+and in old walls. At the Reformation popular rage exhausted itself on
+illuminated books, or MSS. that had red letters in the title page: any
+work that was decorated was sure to be thrown into the flames as a
+superstitious one. Red letters and embellished figures were sure marks
+of being papistical and diabolical. We still find such volumes mutilated
+of their gilt letters and elegant initials. Many have been found
+underground, having been forgotten; what escaped the flames were
+obliterated by the damp: such is the deplorable fate of books during a
+persecution!</p>
+
+<p>The puritans burned everything they found which bore the vestige of
+popish origin. We have on record many curious accounts of their pious
+depredations, of their maiming images and erasing pictures. The heroic
+expeditions of one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Dowsing are journalised by himself: a fanatical
+Quixote, to whose intrepid arm many of our noseless saints, sculptured
+on our Cathedrals, owe their misfortunes.</p>
+
+<p>The following are some details from the diary of this redoubtable Goth,
+during his rage for reformation. His entries are expressed with a
+laconic conciseness, and it would seem with a little dry humour. "At
+<i>Sunbury</i>, we brake down ten mighty great angels in glass. At <i>Barham</i>,
+brake down the twelve apostles in the chancel, and six superstitious
+pictures more there; and eight in the church, one a lamb with a cross
+(+) on the back; and digged down the steps and took up four
+superstitious inscriptions in brass," &amp;c. "<i>Lady Bruce's house</i>, the
+chapel, a picture of God the Father, of the Trinity, of Christ, the Holy
+Ghost, and the cloven tongues, which we gave orders to take down, and
+the lady promised to do it." At another place they "brake six hundred
+superstitious pictures, eight Holy Ghosts, and three of the Son." And in
+this manner he and his deputies scoured one hundred and fifty parishes!
+It has been humorously conjectured, that from this ruthless devastator
+originated the phrase to <i>give a Dowsing</i>. Bishop Hall saved the windows
+of his chapel at Norwich from destruction, by taking out the heads of
+the figures; and this accounts for the many faces in church windows
+which we see supplied by white glass.</p>
+
+<p>In the various civil wars in our country, numerous libraries have
+suffered both in MSS. and printed books. "I dare maintain," says Fuller,
+"that the wars betwixt York and Lancaster, which lasted sixty years,
+were not so destructive as our modern wars in six years." He alludes to
+the parliamentary feuds in the reign of Charles I. "For during the
+former their differences agreed in the <i>same religion</i>, impressing them
+with reverence to all allowed muniments! whilst our <i>civil wars</i>,
+founded in <i>faction</i> and <i>variety</i> of pretended <i>religions</i>, exposed all
+naked church records a prey to armed violence; a sad vacuum, which will
+be sensible in our <i>English historie</i>."</p>
+
+<p>When it was proposed to the great Gustavus of Sweden to destroy the
+palace of the Dukes of Bavaria, that hero nobly refused; observing, "Let
+us not copy the example of our unlettered ancestors, who, by waging war
+against every production of genius, have rendered the name of GOTH
+universally proverbial of the rudest state of barbarity."</p>
+
+<p>Even the civilisation of the eighteenth century could not preserve from
+the destructive fury of an infuriated mob, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the most polished city of
+Europe, the valuable MSS. of the great Earl of Mansfield, which were
+madly consigned to the flames during the riots of 1780; as those of Dr.
+Priestley were consumed by the mob at Birmingham.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1599, the Hall of the Stationers underwent as great a
+purgation as was carried on in Don Quixote's library. Warton gives a
+list of the best writers who were ordered for immediate conflagration by
+the prelates Whitgift and Bancroft, urged by the Puritanical and
+Calvinistic factions. Like thieves and outlaws, they were ordered <i>to be
+taken wheresoever they may be found</i>.&mdash;"It was also decreed that no
+satires or epigrams should be printed for the future. No plays were to
+be printed without the inspection and permission of the archbishop of
+Canterbury and the bishop of London; nor any <i>English historyes</i>, I
+suppose novels and romances, without the sanction of the privy council.
+Any pieces of this nature, unlicensed, or now at large and wandering
+abroad, were to be diligently sought, recalled, and delivered over to
+the ecclesiastical arm at London-house."</p>
+
+<p>At a later period, and by an opposite party, among other extravagant
+motions made in parliament, one was to destroy the Records in the Tower,
+and to settle the nation on a new foundation! The very same principle
+was attempted to be acted on in the French Revolution by the "true
+sans-culottes." With us Sir Matthew Hale showed the weakness of the
+project, and while he drew on his side "all sober persons, stopped even
+the mouths of the frantic people themselves."</p>
+
+<p>To descend to the losses incurred by individuals, whose names ought to
+have served as an amulet to charm away the demons of literary
+destruction. One of the most interesting is the fate of Aristotle's
+library; he who by a Greek term was first saluted as a collector of
+books! His works have come down to us accidentally, but not without
+irreparable injuries, and with no slight suspicion respecting their
+authenticity. The story is told by Strabo, in his thirteenth book. The
+books of Aristotle came from his scholar Theophrastus to Neleus, whose
+posterity, an illiterate race, kept them locked up without using them,
+buried in the earth! Apellion, a curious collector, purchased them, but
+finding the MSS. injured by age and moisture, conjecturally supplied
+their deficiencies. It is impossible to know how far Apellion has
+corrupted and obscured the text. But the mischief did not end here; when
+Sylla at the taking of Athens brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> them to Rome, he consigned them
+to the care of Tyrannio, a grammarian, who employed scribes to copy
+them; he suffered them to pass through his hands without correction, and
+took great freedoms with them; the words of Strabo are strong: "Ibique
+Tyrannionem grammaticum iis usum atque (ut fama est) <i>intercidisse</i>, aut
+<i>invertisse</i>." He gives it indeed as a report; but the fact seems
+confirmed by the state in which we find these works: Averroes declared
+that he read Aristotle forty times over before he succeeded in perfectly
+understanding him; he pretends he did at the one-and-fortieth time! And
+to prove this, has published five folios of commentary!</p>
+
+<p>We have lost much valuable literature by the illiberal or malignant
+descendants of learned and ingenious persons. Many of Lady Mary Wortley
+Montague's letters have been destroyed, I am informed, by her daughter,
+who imagined that the family honours were lowered by the addition of
+those of literature: some of her best letters, recently published, were
+found buried in an old trunk. It would have mortified her ladyship's
+daughter to have heard, that her mother was the S&eacute;vign&eacute; of Britain.</p>
+
+<p>At the death of the learned Peiresc, a chamber in his house filled with
+letters from the most eminent scholars of the age was discovered: the
+learned in Europe had addressed Peiresc in their difficulties, who was
+hence called "the attorney-general of the republic of letters." The
+niggardly niece, although repeatedly entreated to permit them to be
+published, preferred to use these learned epistles occasionally to light
+her fires!<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>The MSS. of Leonardo da Vinci have equally suffered from his relatives.
+When a curious collector discovered some, he generously brought them to
+a descendant of the great painter, who coldly observed, that "he had a
+great deal more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> in the garret, which had lain there for many years, if
+the rats had not destroyed them!" Nothing which this great artist wrote
+but showed an inventive genius.</p>
+
+<p>Menage observes on a friend having had his library destroyed by fire, in
+which several valuable MSS. had perished, that such a loss is one of the
+greatest misfortunes that can happen to a man of letters. This gentleman
+afterwards consoled himself by composing a little treatise <i>De
+Bibliothec&aelig; incendio</i>. It must have been sufficiently curious. Even in
+the present day men of letters are subject to similar misfortunes; for
+though the fire-offices will insure books, they will not allow <i>authors
+to value their own manuscripts</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A fire in the Cottonian library shrivelled and destroyed many
+Anglo-Saxon MSS.&mdash;a loss now irreparable. The antiquary is doomed to
+spell hard and hardly at the baked fragments that crumble in his
+hand.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>Meninsky's famous Persian dictionary met with a sad fate. Its excessive
+rarity is owing to the siege of Vienna by the Turks: a bomb fell on the
+author's house, and consumed the principal part of his indefatigable
+labours. There are few sets of this high-priced work which do not bear
+evident proofs of the bomb; while many parts are stained with the water
+sent to quench the flames.</p>
+
+<p>The sufferings of an author for the loss of his manuscripts strongly
+appear in the case of Anthony Urceus, a great scholar of the fifteenth
+century. The loss of his papers seems immediately to have been followed
+by madness. At Forli, he had an apartment in the palace, and had
+prepared an important work for publication. His room was dark, and he
+generally wrote by lamp-light. Having gone out, he left the lamp
+burning; the papers soon kindled, and his library was reduced to ashes.
+As soon as he heard the news, he ran furiously to the palace, and
+knocking his head violently against the gate, uttered this blasphemous
+language: "Jesus Christ, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> great crime have I done! who of those who
+believed in you have I ever treated so cruelly? Hear what I am saying,
+for I am in earnest, and am resolved. If by chance I should be so weak
+as to address myself to you at the point of death, don't hear me, for I
+will not be with you, but prefer hell and its eternity of torments." To
+which, by the by, he gave little credit. Those who heard these ravings,
+vainly tried to console him. He quitted the town, and lived franticly,
+wandering about the woods!</p>
+
+<p>Ben Jonson's <i>Execration on Vulcan</i> was composed on a like occasion; the
+fruits of twenty years' study were consumed in one short hour; our
+literature suffered, for among some works of imagination there were many
+philosophical collections, a commentary on the poetics, a complete
+critical grammar, a life of Henry V., his journey into Scotland, with
+all his adventures in that poetical pilgrimage, and a poem on the ladies
+of Great Britain. What a catalogue of losses!</p>
+
+<p>Castelvetro, the Italian commentator on Aristotle, having heard that his
+house was on fire, ran through the streets exclaiming to the people,
+<i>alla Poetica! alla Poetica! To the Poetic! To the Poetic</i>! He was then
+writing his commentary on the Poetics of Aristotle.</p>
+
+<p>Several men of letters have been known to have risen from their
+death-bed to destroy their MSS. So solicitous have they been not to
+venture their posthumous reputation in the hands of undiscerning
+friends. Colardeau, the elegant versifier of Pope's epistle of Eliosa to
+Abelard, had not yet destroyed what he had written of a translation of
+Tasso. At the approach of death, he recollected his unfinished labour;
+he knew that his friends would not have the courage to annihilate one of
+his works; this was reserved for him. Dying, he raised himself, and as
+if animated by an honourable action, he dragged himself along, and with
+trembling hands seized his papers, and consumed them in one
+sacrifice.&mdash;I recollect another instance of a man of letters, of our own
+country, who acted the same part. He had passed his life in constant
+study, and it was observed that he had written several folio volumes,
+which his modest fears would not permit him to expose to the eye even of
+his critical friends. He promised to leave his labours to posterity; and
+he seemed sometimes, with a glow on his countenance, to exult that they
+would not be unworthy of their acceptance. At his death his sensibility
+took the alarm; he had the folios brought to his bed; no one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> could open
+them, for they were closely locked. At the sight of his favourite and
+mysterious labours, he paused; he seemed disturbed in his mind, while he
+felt at every moment his strength decaying; suddenly he raised his
+feeble hands by an effort of firm resolve, burnt his papers, and smiled
+as the greedy Vulcan licked up every page. The task exhausted his
+remaining strength, and he soon afterwards expired. The late Mrs.
+Inchbald had written her life in several volumes; on her death-bed, from
+a motive perhaps of too much delicacy to admit of any argument, she
+requested a friend to cut them into pieces before her eyes&mdash;not having
+sufficient strength left herself to perform this funereal office. These
+are instances of what may be called the heroism of authors.</p>
+
+<p>The republic of letters has suffered irreparable losses by shipwrecks.
+Guarino Veronese, one of those learned Italians who travelled through
+Greece for the recovery of MSS., had his perseverance repaid by the
+acquisition of many valuable works. On his return to Italy he was
+shipwrecked, and lost his treasures! So poignant was his grief on this
+occasion that, according to the relation of one of his countrymen, his
+hair turned suddenly white.</p>
+
+<p>About the year 1700, Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh,
+animated solely by literary curiosity, went to China to instruct himself
+in the language, and in whatever was remarkable in this singular people.
+He acquired the skill of a mandarine in that difficult language; nor did
+the form of his Dutch face undeceive the physiognomists of China. He
+succeeded to the dignity of a mandarine; he travelled through the
+provinces under this character, and returned to Europe with a collection
+of observations, the cherished labour of thirty years, and all these
+were sunk in the bottomless sea.</p>
+
+<p>The great Pinellian library, after the death of its illustrious
+possessor, filled three vessels to be conveyed to Naples. Pursued by
+corsairs, one of the vessels was taken; but the pirates finding nothing
+on board but books, they threw them all into the sea: such was the fate
+of a great portion of this famous library.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> National libraries have
+often perished at sea, from the circumstance of conquerors transporting
+them into their own kingdoms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SOME_NOTICES_OF_LOST_WORKS" id="SOME_NOTICES_OF_LOST_WORKS"></a>SOME NOTICES OF LOST WORKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Although it is the opinion of some critics that our literary losses do
+not amount to the extent which others imagine, they are however much
+greater than they allow. Our severest losses are felt in the historical
+province, and particularly in the earliest records, which might not have
+been the least interesting to philosophical curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Ph&oelig;nicia by Sanchoniathon, supposed to be a
+contemporary with Solomon, now consists of only a few valuable fragments
+preserved by Eusebius. The same ill fortune attends Manetho's history of
+Egypt, and Berosu's history of Chaldea. The histories of these most
+ancient nations, however veiled in fables, would have presented to the
+philosopher singular objects of contemplation.</p>
+
+<p>Of the history of Polybios, which once contained forty books, we have
+now only five; of the historical library of Diodorus Siculus fifteen
+books only remain out of forty; and half of the Roman antiquities of
+Dionysius Helicarnassensis has perished. Of the eighty books of the
+history of Dion Cassius, twenty-five only remain. The present opening
+book of Ammianus Marcellinus is entitled the fourteenth. Livy's history
+consisted of one hundred and forty books, and we only possess
+thirty-five of that pleasing historian. What a treasure has been lost in
+the thirty books of Tacitus! little more than four remain. Murphy
+elegantly observes, that "the reign of Titus, the delight of human kind,
+is totally lost, and Domitian has escaped the vengeance of the
+historian's pen." Yet Tacitus in fragments is still the colossal torso
+of history. Velleius Paterculas, of whom a fragment only has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> reached
+us, we owe to a single copy: no other having ever been discovered, and
+which has occasioned the text of this historian to remain incurably
+corrupt. Taste and criticism have certainly incurred an irreparable loss
+in that <i>Treatise on the Causes of the Corruption of Eloquence</i>, by
+Quintilian; which he has himself noticed with so much satisfaction in
+his "Institutes." Petrarch declares, that in his youth he had seen the
+works of Varro, and the second Decad of Livy; but all his endeavours to
+recover them were fruitless.</p>
+
+<p>These are only some of the most known losses; but in reading
+contemporary writers we are perpetually discovering many important ones.
+We have lost two precious works in ancient biography: Varro wrote the
+lives of seven hundred illustrious Romans; and Atticus, the friend of
+Cicero, composed another, on the acts of the great men among the Romans.
+When we consider that these writers lived familiarly with the finest
+geniuses of their times, and were opulent, hospitable, and lovers of the
+fine arts, their biography and their portraits, which are said to have
+accompanied them, are felt as an irreparable loss to literature. I
+suspect likewise we have had great losses of which we are not always
+aware; for in that curious letter in which the younger Pliny describes
+in so interesting a manner the sublime industry, for it seems sublime by
+its magnitude, of his Uncle,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> it appears that his Natural History,
+that vast register of the wisdom and the credulity of the ancients, was
+not his only great labour; for among his other works was a history in
+twenty books, which has entirely perished. We discover also the works of
+writers, which, by the accounts of them, appear to have equalled in
+genius those which have descended to us. Pliny has feelingly described a
+poet of whom he tells us, "his works are never out of my hands; and
+whether I sit down to write anything myself, or to revise what I have
+already wrote, or am in a disposition to amuse myself, I constantly take
+up this agreeable author; and as often as I do so, he is still new."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>
+He had before compared this poet to Catullus; and in a critic of so fine
+a taste as Pliny, to have cherished so constant an intercourse with the
+writings of this author, indicates high powers. Instances of this kind
+frequently occur. Who does not regret the loss of the Anticato of
+C&aelig;sar?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The losses which the poetical world has sustained are sufficiently known
+by those who are conversant with the few invaluable fragments of
+Menander, who might have interested us perhaps more than Homer: for he
+was evidently the domestic poet, and the lyre he touched was formed of
+the strings of the human heart. He was the painter of passions, and the
+historian of the manners. The opinion of Quintilian is confirmed by the
+golden fragments preserved for the English reader in the elegant
+versions of Cumberland. Even of &AElig;schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who
+each wrote about one hundred dramas, seven only have been preserved of
+&AElig;schylus and of Sophocles, and nineteen of Euripides. Of the one hundred
+and thirty comedies of Plautus, we only inherit twenty imperfect ones.
+The remainder of Ovid's Fasti has never been recovered.</p>
+
+<p>I believe that a philosopher would consent to lose any poet to regain an
+historian; nor is this unjust, for some future poet may arise to supply
+the vacant place of a lost poet, but it is not so with the historian.
+Fancy may be supplied; but Truth once lost in the annals of mankind
+leaves a chasm never to be filled.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="QUODLIBETS_OR_SCHOLASTIC_DISQUISITIONS" id="QUODLIBETS_OR_SCHOLASTIC_DISQUISITIONS"></a>QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The scholastic questions were called <i>Questiones Quodlibetic&aelig;</i>; and they
+were generally so ridiculous that we have retained the word <i>Quodlibet</i>
+in our vernacular style, to express anything ridiculously subtile;
+something which comes at length to be distinguished into nothingness,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"With all the rash dexterity of wit."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The history of the scholastic philosophy furnishes an instructive theme;
+it enters into the history of the human mind, and fills a niche in our
+literary annals. The works of the scholastics, with the debates of these
+<i>Quodlibetarians</i>, at once show the greatness and the littleness of the
+human intellect; for though they often degenerate into incredible
+absurdities, those who have examined the works of Thomas Aquinas and
+Duns Scotus have confessed their admiration of the Herculean texture of
+brain which they exhausted in demolishing their a&euml;rial fabrics.</p>
+
+<p>The following is a slight sketch of the school divinity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The christian doctrines in the primitive ages of the gospel were adapted
+to the simple comprehension of the multitude; metaphysical subtilties
+were not even employed by the Fathers, of whom several are eloquent. The
+Homilies explained, by an obvious interpretation, some scriptural point,
+or inferred, by artless illustration, some moral doctrine. When the
+Arabians became the only learned people, and their empire extended over
+the greater part of the known world, they impressed their own genius on
+those nations with whom they were allied as friends, or reverenced as
+masters. The Arabian genius was fond of abstruse studies; it was highly
+metaphysical and mathematical, for the fine arts their religion did not
+permit them to cultivate; and the first knowledge which modern Europe
+obtained of Euclid and Aristotle was through the medium of Latin
+translations of Arabic versions. The Christians in the west received
+their first lessons from the Arabians in the east; and Aristotle, with
+his Arabic commentaries, was enthroned in the schools of Christendom.</p>
+
+<p>Then burst into birth, from the dark cave of metaphysics, a numerous and
+ugly spawn of monstrous sects; unnatural children of the same foul
+mother, who never met but for mutual destruction. Religion became what
+is called the study of Theology; and they all attempted to reduce the
+worship of God into a system! and the creed into a thesis! Every point
+relating to religion was debated through an endless chain of infinite
+questions, incomprehensible distinctions, with differences mediate and
+immediate, the concrete and the abstract, a perpetual civil war carried
+on against common sense in all the Aristotelian severity. There existed
+a rage for Aristotle; and Melancthon complains that in sacred assemblies
+the ethics of Aristotle were read to the people instead of the gospel.
+Aristotle was placed a-head of St. Paul; and St. Thomas Aquinas in his
+works distinguishes him by the title of "The Philosopher;" inferring,
+doubtless, that no other man could possibly be a philosopher who
+disagreed with Aristotle. Of the blind rites paid to Aristotle, the
+anecdotes of the Nominalists and Realists are noticed in the article
+"Literary Controversy" in this work.</p>
+
+<p>Had their subtile questions and perpetual wranglings only been addressed
+to the metaphysician in his closet, and had nothing but strokes of the
+pen occurred, the scholastic divinity would only have formed an episode
+in the calm narrative<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> of literary history; but it has claims to be
+registered in political annals, from the numerous persecutions and
+tragical events with which they too long perplexed their followers, and
+disturbed the repose of Europe. The Thomists, and the Scotists, the
+Occamites, and many others, soared into the regions of mysticism.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Lombard had laboriously compiled, after the celebrated Abelard's
+"Introduction to Divinity," his four books of "Sentences," from the
+writings of the Fathers; and for this he is called "The Master of
+Sentences." These Sentences, on which we have so many commentaries, are
+a collection of passages from the Fathers, the real or apparent
+contradictions of whom he endeavours to reconcile. But his successors
+were not satisfied to be mere commentators on these "sentences," which
+they now only made use of as a row of pegs to hang on their fine-spun
+metaphysical cobwebs. They at length collected all these quodlibetical
+questions into enormous volumes, under the terrifying form, for those
+who have seen them, of <i>Summaries of Divinity</i>! They contrived, by their
+chimerical speculations, to question the plainest truths; to wrest the
+simple meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and give some appearance of truth
+to the most ridiculous and monstrous opinions.</p>
+
+<p>One of the subtile questions which agitated the world in the tenth
+century, relating to dialectics, was concerning <i>universals</i> (as for
+example, man, horse, dog, &amp;c.) signifying not <i>this</i> or <i>that</i> in
+particular, but <i>all</i> in general. They distinguished <i>universals</i>, or
+what we call abstract terms, by the <i>genera</i> and <i>species rerum</i>; and
+they never could decide whether these were <i>substances</i>&mdash;or <i>names</i>!
+That is, whether the abstract idea we form of a horse was not really a
+<i>being</i> as much as the horse we ride! All this, and some congenial
+points respecting the origin of our ideas, and what ideas were, and
+whether we really had an idea of a thing before we discovered the thing
+itself&mdash;in a word, what they called universals, and the essence of
+universals; of all this nonsense, on which they at length proceeded to
+accusations of heresy, and for which many learned men were
+excommunicated, stoned, and what not, the whole was derived from the
+reveries of Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, about the nature of ideas, than
+which subject to the present day no discussion ever degenerated into
+such insanity. A modern metaphysician infers that we have no ideas at
+all!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of the scholastic divines, the most illustrious was Saint <span class="smcap">Thomas
+Aquinas</span>, styled the Angelical Doctor. Seventeen folio volumes not only
+testify his industry but even his genius. He was a great man, busied all
+his life with making the charades of metaphysics.</p>
+
+<p>My learned friend Sharon Turner has favoured me with a notice of his
+greatest work&mdash;his "Sum of all Theology," <i>Summa totius Theologi&aelig;</i>,
+Paris, 1615. It is a metaphysicological treatise, or the most abstruse
+metaphysics of theology. It occupies above 1250 folio pages, of very
+small close print in double columns. It may be worth noticing that to
+this work are appended 19 folio pages of double columns of errata, and
+about 200 of additional index!</p>
+
+<p>The whole is thrown into an Aristotelian form; the difficulties or
+questions are proposed first, and the answers are then appended. There
+are 168 articles on Love&mdash;358 on Angels&mdash;200 on the Soul&mdash;85 on
+Demons&mdash;151 on the Intellect&mdash;134 on Law&mdash;3 on the Catamenia&mdash;237 on
+Sins&mdash;17 on Virginity, and others on a variety of topics.</p>
+
+<p>The scholastic tree is covered with prodigal foliage, but is barren of
+fruit; and when the scholastics employed themselves in solving the
+deepest mysteries, their philosophy became nothing more than an
+instrument in the hands of the Roman Pontiff. Aquinas has composed 358
+articles on angels, of which a few of the heads have been culled for the
+reader.</p>
+
+<p>He treats of angels, their substance, orders, offices, natures, habits,
+&amp;c., as if he himself had been an old experienced angel!</p>
+
+<p>Angels were not before the world!</p>
+
+<p>Angels might have been before the world!</p>
+
+<p>Angels were created by God&mdash;They were created immediately by Him&mdash;They
+were created in the Empyrean sky&mdash;They were created in grace&mdash;They were
+created in imperfect beatitude. After a severe chain of reasoning, he
+shows that angels are incorporeal compared to us, but corporeal compared
+to God.</p>
+
+<p>An angel is composed of action and potentiality; the more superior he
+is, he has the less potentiality. They have not matter properly. Every
+angel differs from another angel in species. An angel is of the same
+species as a soul. Angels have not naturally a body united to them. They
+may assume bodies; but they do not want to assume bodies for themselves,
+but for us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The bodies assumed by angels are of thick air.</p>
+
+<p>The bodies they assume have not the natural virtues which they show, nor
+the operations of life, but those which are common to inanimate things.</p>
+
+<p>An angel may be the same with a body.</p>
+
+<p>In the same body there are, the soul formally giving being, and
+operating natural operations; and the angel operating supernatural
+operations.</p>
+
+<p>Angels administer and govern every corporeal creature.</p>
+
+<p>God, an angel, and the soul, are not contained in space, but contain it.</p>
+
+<p>Many angels cannot be in the same space.</p>
+
+<p>The motion of an angel in space is nothing else than different contacts
+of different successive places.</p>
+
+<p>The motion of an angel is a succession of his different operations.</p>
+
+<p>His motion may be continuous and discontinuous as he will.</p>
+
+<p>The continuous motion of an angel is necessary through every medium, but
+may be discontinuous without a medium.</p>
+
+<p>The velocity of the motion of an angel is not according to the quantity
+of his strength, but according to his will.</p>
+
+<p>The motion of the illumination of an angel is threefold, or circular,
+straight, and oblique.</p>
+
+<p>In this account of the motion of an angel we are reminded of the
+beautiful description of Milton, who marks it by a continuous motion,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Smooth-sliding without step."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The reader desirous of being <i>merry</i> with Aquinas's angels may find them
+in Martinus Scriblerus, in Ch. VII. who inquires if angels pass from one
+extreme to another without going through the <i>middle</i>? And if angels
+know things more clearly in a morning? How many angels can dance on the
+point of a very fine needle, without jostling one another?</p>
+
+<p>All the questions in Aquinas are answered with a subtlety of distinction
+more difficult to comprehend and remember than many problems in Euclid;
+and perhaps a few of the best might still be selected for youth as
+curious exercises of the understanding. However, a great part of these
+peculiar productions are loaded with the most trifling, irreverent, and
+even scandalous discussions. Even Aquinas could gravely debate, Whether
+Christ was not an hermaphrodite? Whe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>ther there are excrements in
+Paradise? Whether the pious at the resurrection will rise with their
+bowels? Others again debated&mdash;Whether the angel Gabriel appeared to the
+Virgin Mary in the shape of a serpent, of a dove, of a man, or of a
+woman? Did he seem to be young or old? In what dress was he? Was his
+garment white or of two colours? Was his linen clean or foul? Did he
+appear in the morning, noon, or evening? What was the colour of the
+Virgin Mary's hair? Was she acquainted with the mechanic and liberal
+arts? Had she a thorough knowledge of the Book of Sentences, and all it
+contains? that is, Peter Lombard's compilation from the works of the
+Fathers, written 1200 years after her death.&mdash;But these are only
+trifling matters: they also agitated, Whether when during her conception
+the Virgin was seated, Christ too was seated; and whether when she lay
+down, Christ also lay down? The following question was a favourite topic
+for discussion, and the acutest logicians never resolved it: "When a hog
+is carried to market with a rope tied about his neck, which is held at
+the other end by a man, whether is the <i>hog</i> carried to market by the
+<i>rope</i> or the <i>man</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>In the tenth century<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>, after long and ineffectual controversy about
+the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, they at length universally
+agreed to sign a peace. This mutual forbearance must not, however, be
+ascribed to the prudence and virtue of those times. It was mere
+ignorance and incapacity of reasoning which kept the peace, and deterred
+them from entering into debates to which they at length found themselves
+unequal!</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lyttleton, in his Life of Henry II., laments the unhappy effects of
+the scholastic philosophy on the progress of the human mind. The minds
+of men were turned from classical studies to the subtilties of school
+divinity, which Rome encouraged, as more profitable for the maintenance
+of her doctrines. It was a great misfortune to religion and to learning,
+that men of such acute understandings as Abelard and Lombard, who might
+have done much to reform the errors of the church, and to restore
+science in Europe, should have depraved both, by applying their
+admirable parts to weave those cobwebs of sophistry, and to confound the
+clear simplicity of evangelical truths, by a false philosophy and a
+captious logic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FAME_CONTEMNED" id="FAME_CONTEMNED"></a>FAME CONTEMNED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>All men are fond of glory, and even those philosophers who write against
+that noble passion prefix their <i>names</i> to their own works. It is worthy
+of observation that the authors of two <i>religious books</i>, universally
+received, have concealed their names from the world. The "Imitation of
+Christ" is attributed, without any authority, to Thomas A'Kempis; and
+the author of the "Whole Duty of Man" still remains undiscovered.
+Millions of their books have been dispersed in the Christian world.</p>
+
+<p>To have revealed their <i>names</i> would have given them as much worldly
+fame as any moralist has obtained&mdash;but they contemned it! Their religion
+was raised above all worldly passions! Some profane writers, indeed,
+have also concealed their names to great works, but their <i>motives</i> were
+of a very different cast.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SIX_FOLLIES_OF_SCIENCE" id="THE_SIX_FOLLIES_OF_SCIENCE"></a>THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Nothing is so capable of disordering the intellects as an intense
+application to any one of these six things: the Quadrature of the
+Circle; the Multiplication of the Cube; the Perpetual Motion; the
+Philosophical Stone; Magic; and Judicial Astrology. "It is proper,
+however," Fontenelle remarks, "to apply one's self to these inquiries;
+because we find, as we proceed, many valuable discoveries of which we
+were before ignorant." The same thought Cowley has applied, in an
+address to his mistress, thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Although I think thou never wilt be found,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Yet I'm resolved to search for thee:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The search itself rewards the pains.<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">So though the chymist his great secret miss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(For neither it in art nor nature is)<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Yet things well worth his toil he gains;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And does his charge and labour pay<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With good unsought experiments by the way."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The same thought is in Donne; perhaps Cowley did not suspect that he was
+an imitator; Fontenelle could not have read either; he struck out the
+thought by his own reflection, Glauber searched long and deeply for the
+philosopher's stone, which though he did not find, yet in his researches
+he discovered a very useful purging salt, which bears his name.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Maupertuis observes on the <i>Philosophical Stone</i>, that we cannot prove
+the impossibility of obtaining it, but we can easily see the folly of
+those who employ their time and money in seeking for it. This price is
+too great to counterbalance the little probability of succeeding in it.
+However, it is still a bantling of modern chemistry, who has nodded very
+affectionately on it!&mdash;Of the <i>Perpetual Motion</i>, he shows the
+impossibility, in the sense in which it is generally received. On the
+<i>Quadrature of the Circle</i>, he says he cannot decide if this problem be
+resolvable or not: but he observes, that it is very useless to search
+for it any more; since we have arrived by approximation to such a point
+of accuracy, that on a large circle, such as the orbit which the earth
+describes round the sun, the geometrician will not mistake by the
+thickness of a hair. The quadrature of the circle is still, however, a
+favourite game with some visionaries, and several are still imagining
+that they have discovered the perpetual motion; the Italians nickname
+them <i>matto perpetuo</i>: and Bekker tells us of the fate of one Hartmann,
+of Leipsic, who was in such despair at having passed his life so vainly,
+in studying the perpetual motion, that at length he hanged himself!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IMITATORS" id="IMITATORS"></a>IMITATORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some writers, usually pedants, imagine that they can supply, by the
+labours of industry, the deficiencies of nature. Paulus Manutius
+frequently spent a month in writing a single letter. He affected to
+imitate Cicero. But although he painfully attained to something of the
+elegance of his style, destitute of the native graces of unaffected
+composition, he was one of those whom Erasmus bantered in his
+<i>Ciceronianus</i>, as so slavishly devoted to Cicero's style, that they
+ridiculously employed the utmost precautions when they were seized by a
+Ciceronian fit. The <i>Nosoponus</i> of Erasmus tells of his devotion to
+Cicero; of his three indexes to all his words, and his never writing but
+in the dead of night, employing months upon a few lines; and his
+religious veneration for <i>words</i>, with his total indifference about the
+<i>sense</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Le Brun, a Jesuit, was a singular instance of such unhappy imitation. He
+was a Latin poet, and his themes were religious. He formed the
+extravagant project of substituting a <i>religious Virgil</i> and <i>Ovid</i>
+merely by adapting his works to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> their titles. His <i>Christian Virgil</i>
+consists, like the Pagan Virgil, of <i>Eclogues</i>, <i>Georgics</i>, and of an
+<i>Epic</i> of twelve books; with this difference, that devotional subjects
+are substituted for fabulous ones. His epic is the <i>Ignaciad</i>, or the
+pilgrimage of Saint Ignatius. His <i>Christian Ovid</i>, is in the same
+taste; everything wears a new face. His <i>Epistles</i> are pious ones; the
+<i>Fasti</i> are the six days of the Creation; the <i>Elegies</i> are the six
+Lamentations of Jeremiah; a poem on <i>the Love of God</i> is substituted for
+the <i>Art of Love</i>; and the history of some <i>Conversions</i> supplies the
+place of the <i>Metamorphoses</i>! This Jesuit would, no doubt, have approved
+of a <i>family Shakspeare</i>!</p>
+
+<p>A poet of a far different character, the elegant Sannazarius, has done
+much the same thing in his poem <i>De Partu Virginis</i>. The same servile
+imitation of ancient taste appears. It professes to celebrate the birth
+of <i>Christ</i>, yet his name is not once mentioned in it! The <i>Virgin</i>
+herself is styled <i>spes deorum</i>! "The hope of the gods!" The
+<i>Incarnation</i> is predicted by <i>Proteus</i>! The Virgin, instead of
+consulting the <i>sacred writings</i>, reads the <i>Sibylline oracles</i>! Her
+attendants are <i>dryads</i>, <i>nereids</i>, &amp;c. This monstrous mixture of
+polytheism with the mysteries of Christianity, appears in everything he
+had about him. In a chapel at one of his country seats he had two
+statues placed at his tomb, <i>Apollo</i> and <i>Minerva</i>; catholic piety found
+no difficulty in the present case, as well as in innumerable others of
+the same kind, to inscribe the statue of <i>Apollo</i> with the name of
+<i>David</i>, and that of <i>Minerva</i> with the female one of <i>Judith</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Seneca, in his 114th Epistle, gives a curious literary anecdote of the
+sort of imitation by which an inferior mind becomes the monkey of an
+original writer. At Rome, when Sallust was the fashionable writer, short
+sentences, uncommon words, and an obscure brevity, were affected as so
+many elegances. Arruntius, who wrote the history of the Punic Wars,
+painfully laboured to imitate Sallust. Expressions which are rare in
+Sallust are frequent in Arruntius, and, of course, without the motive
+that induced Sallust to adopt them. What rose naturally under the pen of
+the great historian, the minor one must have run after with ridiculous
+anxiety. Seneca adds several instances of the servile affectation of
+Arruntius, which seem much like those we once had of Johnson, by the
+undiscerning herd of his apes.</p>
+
+<p>One cannot but smile at these imitators; we have abounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> with them. In
+the days of Churchill, every month produced an effusion which tolerably
+imitated his slovenly versification, his coarse invective, and his
+careless mediocrity,&mdash;but the genius remained with the English Juvenal.
+Sterne had his countless multitude; and in Fielding's time, Tom Jones
+produced more bastards in wit than the author could ever suspect. To
+such literary echoes, the reply of Philip of Macedon to one who prided
+himself on imitating the notes of the nightingale may be applied: "I
+prefer the nightingale herself!" Even the most successful of this
+imitating tribe must be doomed to share the fate of Silius Italicus, in
+his cold imitation of Virgil, and Cawthorne in his empty harmony of
+Pope.</p>
+
+<p>To all these imitators I must apply an Arabian anecdote. Ebn Saad, one
+of Mahomet's amanuenses, when writing what the prophet dictated, cried
+out by way of admiration&mdash;"Blessed be God, the best Creator!" Mahomet
+approved of the expression, and desired him to write those words down as
+part of the inspired passage.&mdash;The consequence was, that Ebn Saad began
+to think himself as great a prophet as his master, and took upon himself
+to imitate the Koran according to his fancy; but the imitator got
+himself into trouble, and only escaped with life by falling on his
+knees, and solemnly swearing he would never again imitate the Koran, for
+which he was sensible God had never created him.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CICEROS_PUNS" id="CICEROS_PUNS"></a>CICERO'S PUNS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"I should," says Menage, "have received great pleasure to have conversed
+with Cicero, had I lived in his time. He must have been a man very
+agreeable in conversation, since even C&aelig;sar carefully collected his
+<i>bons mots</i>. Cicero has boasted of the great actions he has done for his
+country, because there is no vanity in exulting in the performance of
+our duties; but he has not boasted that he was the most eloquent orator
+of his age, though he certainly was; because nothing is more disgusting
+than to exult in our intellectual powers."</p>
+
+<p>Whatever were the <i>bons mots</i> of Cicero, of which few have come down to
+us, it is certain that Cicero was an inveterate punster; and he seems to
+have been more ready with them than with repartees. He said to a
+senator, who was the son<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> of a tailor, "<i>Rem acu tetigisti</i>." You have
+touched it sharply; <i>acu</i> means sharpness as well as the point of a
+needle. To the son of a cook, "<i>ego quoque tibi jure favebo</i>." The
+ancients pronounced <i>coce</i> and <i>quoque</i> like <i>co-ke</i>, which alludes to
+the Latin <i>cocus</i>, cook, besides the ambiguity of <i>jure</i>, which applies
+to <i>broth</i> or <i>law&mdash;jus</i>. A Sicilian suspected of being a Jew, attempted
+to get the cause of Verres into his own hands; Cicero, who knew that he
+was a creature of the great culprit, opposed him, observing "What has a
+Jew to do with swine's flesh?" The Romans called a boar pig Verres. I
+regret to afford a respectable authority for forensic puns; however, to
+have degraded his adversaries by such petty personalities, only proves
+that Cicero's taste was not exquisite.</p>
+
+<p>There is something very original in Montaigne's censure of Cicero.
+Cotton's translation is admirable.</p>
+
+<p>"Boldly to confess the truth, his way of writing, and that of all other
+long-winded authors, appears to me very tedious; for his preface,
+definitions, divisions, and etymologies, take up the greatest part of
+his work; whatever there is of life and marrow, is smothered and lost in
+the preparation. When I have spent an hour in reading him, which is a
+great deal for me, and recollect what I have thence extracted of juice
+and substance, for the most part I find nothing but wind: for he is not
+yet come to the arguments that serve to his purpose, and the reasons
+that should properly help to loose the knot I would untie. For me, who
+only desired to become more wise, not more learned or eloquent, these
+logical or Aristotelian disquisitions of poets are of no use. I look for
+good and solid reasons at the first dash. I am for discourses that give
+the first charge into the heart of the doubt; his languish about the
+subject, and delay our expectation. Those are proper for the schools,
+for the bar, and for the pulpit, where we have leisure to nod, and may
+awake a quarter of an hour after, time enough to find again the thread
+of the discourse. It is necessary to speak after this manner to judges,
+whom a man has a design, right or wrong, to incline to favour his cause;
+to children and common people, to whom a man must say all he can. I
+would not have an author make it his business to render me attentive; or
+that he should cry out fifty times <i>O yes</i>! as the clerks and heralds
+do.</p>
+
+<p>"As to Cicero, I am of the common opinion that, learning excepted, he
+had no great natural parts. He was a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> citizen, of an affable
+nature, as all fat heavy men&mdash;(<i>gras et gausseurs</i> are the words in the
+original, meaning perhaps broad jokers, for Cicero was not fat)&mdash;such as
+he was, usually are; but given to ease, and had a mighty share of vanity
+and ambition. Neither do I know how to excuse him for thinking his
+poetry fit to be published. 'Tis no great imperfection to write ill
+verses; but it is an imperfection not to be able to judge how unworthy
+bad verses were of the glory of his name. For what concerns his
+eloquence, that is totally out of comparison, and I believe will never
+be equalled."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACES" id="PREFACES"></a>PREFACES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A preface, being the entrance to a book, should invite by its beauty. An
+elegant porch announces the splendour of the interior. I have observed
+that ordinary readers skip over these little elaborate compositions. The
+ladies consider them as so many pages lost, which might better be
+employed in the addition of a picturesque scene, or a tender letter to
+their novels. For my part I always gather amusement from a preface, be
+it awkwardly or skilfully written; for dulness, or impertinence, may
+raise a laugh for a page or two. A preface is frequently a superior
+composition to the work itself: for, long before the days of Johnson, it
+had been a custom for many authors to solicit for this department of
+their work the ornamental contribution of a man of genius. Cicero tells
+his friend Atticus, that he had a volume of prefaces or introductions
+always ready by him to be used as circumstances required. These must
+have been like our periodical essays. A good preface is as essential to
+put the reader into good humour, as a good prologue is to a play, or a
+fine symphony to an opera, containing something analogous to the work
+itself; so that we may feel its want as a desire not elsewhere to be
+gratified. The Italians call the preface <i>La salsa del libra</i>, the sauce
+of the book, and if well seasoned it creates an appetite in the reader
+to devour the book itself. A preface badly composed prejudices the
+reader against the work. Authors are not equally fortunate in these
+little introductions; some can compose volumes more skilfully than
+prefaces, and others can finish a preface who could never be capable of
+finishing a book.</p>
+
+<p>On a very elegant preface prefixed to an ill-written book, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> was
+observed that they ought never to have <i>come together</i>; but a sarcastic
+wit remarked that he considered such <i>marriages</i> were allowable, for
+they were <i>not of kin</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In prefaces an affected haughtiness or an affected humility are alike
+despicable. There is a deficient dignity in Robertson's; but the
+haughtiness is now to our purpose. This is called by the French, "<i>la
+morgue litt&eacute;raire</i>," the surly pomposity of literature. It is sometimes
+used by writers who have succeeded in their first work, while the
+failure of their subsequent productions appears to have given them a
+literary hypochondriasm. Dr. Armstrong, after his classical poem, never
+shook hands cordially with the public for not relishing his barren
+labours. In the <i>preface</i> to his lively "Sketches" he tells us, "he
+could give them much bolder strokes as well as more delicate touches,
+but that he <i>dreads the danger of writing too well</i>, and feels the value
+of his own labour too sensibly to bestow it upon the <i>mobility</i>." This
+is pure milk compared to the gall in the <i>preface</i> to his poems. There
+he tells us, "that at last he has taken the <i>trouble to collect them</i>!
+What he has destroyed would, probably enough, have been better received
+by the <i>great majority of readers</i>. But he has always <i>most heartily
+despised their opinion</i>." These prefaces remind one of the <i>prologi
+galeati</i>, prefaces with a helmet! as St. Jerome entitles the one to his
+Version of the Scriptures. These <i>armed prefaces</i> were formerly very
+common in the age of literary controversy; for half the business of an
+author consisted then, either in replying, or anticipating a reply, to
+the attacks of his opponent.</p>
+
+<p>Prefaces ought to be dated; as these become, after a series of editions,
+leading and useful circumstances in literary history.</p>
+
+<p>Fuller with quaint humour observes on <span class="smcap">Indexes</span>&mdash;"An <span class="smcap">Index</span> is a necessary
+implement, and no impediment of a book, except in the same sense wherein
+the carriages of an army are termed <i>Impedimenta</i>. Without this, a large
+author is but a labyrinth without a clue to direct the reader therein. I
+confess there is a lazy kind of learning which is <i>only Indical</i>; when
+scholars (like adders which only bite the horse's heels) nibble but at
+the tables, which are <i>calces librorum</i>, neglecting the body of the
+book. But though the idle deserve no crutches (let not a staff be used
+by them, but on them), pity it is the weary should be denied the benefit
+thereof, and industrious scholars prohibited the accommodation of an
+index, most used by those who most pretend to contemn it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="EARLY_PRINTING" id="EARLY_PRINTING"></a>EARLY PRINTING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There is some probability that this art originated in China, where it
+was practised long before it was known in Europe. Some European
+traveller might have imported the hint.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> That the Romans did not
+practise the art of printing cannot but excite our astonishment, since
+they actually used it, unconscious of their rich possession. I have seen
+Roman stereotypes, or immoveable printing types, with which they stamped
+their pottery.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> How in daily practising the art, though confined to
+this object, it did not occur to so ingenious a people to print their
+literary works, is not easily to be accounted for. Did the wise and
+grave senate dread those inconveniences which attend its indiscriminate
+use? Or perhaps they did not care to deprive so large a body of scribes
+of their business. Not a hint of the art itself appears in their
+writings.</p>
+
+<p>When first the art of printing was discovered, they only made use of one
+side of a leaf; they had not yet found out the expedient of impressing
+the other. Afterwards they thought of pasting the blank sides, which
+made them appear like one leaf. Their blocks were made of soft woods,
+and their letters were carved; but frequently breaking, the expense and
+trouble of carving and gluing new letters suggested our moveable types
+which, have produced an almost miraculous celerity in this art. The
+modern stereotype, consisting of entire pages in solid blocks of metal,
+and, not being liable to break like the soft wood at first used, has
+been profitably employed for works which require to be frequently
+reprinted. Printing in carved blocks of wood must have greatly retarded
+the progress of universal knowledge: for one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> set of types could only
+have produced one work, whereas it now serves for hundreds.</p>
+
+<p>When their editions were intended to be curious, they omitted to print
+the initial letter of a chapter: they left that blank space to be
+painted or illuminated, to the fancy of the purchaser. Several ancient
+volumes of these early times have been found where these letters are
+wanting, as they neglected to have them painted.</p>
+
+<p>The initial carved letter, which is generally a fine wood-cut, among our
+printed books, is evidently a remains or imitation of these
+ornaments.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> Among the very earliest books printed, which were
+religious, the Poor Man's Bible has wooden cuts in a coarse style,
+without the least shadowing or crossing of strokes, and these they
+inelegantly daubed over with broad colours, which they termed
+illuminating, and sold at a cheap rate to those who could not afford to
+purchase costly missals elegantly written and painted on vellum.
+Specimens of these rude efforts of illuminated prints may be seen in
+Strutt's Dictionary of Engravers. The Bodleian library possesses the
+originals.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the productions of early printing may be distinguished the various
+splendid editions of <i>Primers</i>, or <i>Prayer-books</i>. These were
+embellished with cuts finished in a most elegant taste: many of them
+were grotesque or obscene. In one of them an angel is represented
+crowning the Virgin Mary, and God the Father himself assisting at the
+ceremony. Sometimes St. Michael is overcoming Satan; and sometimes St.
+Anthony is attacked by various devils of most clumsy forms&mdash;not of the
+grotesque and limber family of Callot!</p>
+
+<p>Printing was gradually practised throughout Europe from the year 1440 to
+1500. Caxton and his successor Wynkyn de Worde were our own earliest
+printers. Caxton was a wealthy merchant, who, in 1464, being sent by
+Edward IV. to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Duke of Burgundy,
+returned to his country with this invaluable art. Notwithstanding his
+mercantile habits, he possessed a literary taste, and his first work was
+a translation from a French historical miscellany.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>The tradition of the Devil and Dr. Faustus was said to have been derived
+from the odd circumstance in which the Bibles of the first printer,
+Fust, appeared to the world; but if Dr. Faustus and Faustus the printer
+are two different persons, the tradition becomes suspicious, though, in
+some respects, it has a foundation in truth. When Fust had discovered
+this new art, and printed off a considerable number of copies of the
+Bible to imitate those which were commonly sold as MSS., he undertook
+the sale of them at Paris. It was his interest to conceal this
+discovery, and to pass off his printed copies for MSS. But, enabled to
+sell his Bibles at sixty crowns, while the other scribes demanded five
+hundred, this raised universal astonishment; and still more when he
+produced copies as fast as they were wanted, and even lowered his price.
+The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder. Informations were
+given in to the magistrates against him as a magician; and in searching
+his lodgings a great number of copies were found. The red ink, and
+Fust's red ink is pecu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>liarly brilliant, which embellished his copies,
+was said to be his blood; and it was solemnly adjudged that he was in
+league with the Infernals. Fust at length was obliged, to save himself
+from a bonfire, to reveal his art to the Parliament of Paris, who
+discharged him from all prosecution in consideration of the wonderful
+invention.</p>
+
+<p>When the art of printing was established, it became the glory of the
+learned to be correctors of the press to eminent printers. Physicians,
+lawyers, and bishops themselves occupied this department. The printers
+then added frequently to their names those of the correctors of the
+press; and editions were then valued according to the abilities of the
+corrector.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>prices</i> of books in these times were considered as an object worthy
+of the animadversions of the highest powers. This anxiety in favour of
+the studious appears from a privilege of Pope Leo X. to Aldus Manutius
+for printing Varro, dated 1553, signed Cardinal Bembo. Aldus is exhorted
+to put a moderate price on the work, lest the Pope should withdraw his
+privilege, and accord it to others.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Stephens, one of the early printers, surpassed in correctness
+those who exercised the same profession.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>To render his editions immaculate, he hung up the proofs in public
+places, and generously recompensed those who were so fortunate as to
+detect any errata.</p>
+
+<p>Plantin, though a learned man, is more famous as a printer. His
+printing-office was one of the wonders of Europe. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> grand building
+was the chief ornament of the city of Antwerp. Magnificent in its
+structure, it presented to the spectator a countless number of presses,
+characters of all figures and all sizes, matrixes to cast letters, and
+all other printing materials; which Baillet assures us amounted to
+immense sums.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p>In Italy, the three Manutii were more solicitous of correctness and
+illustrations than of the beauty of their printing. They were ambitious
+of the character of the scholar, not of the printer.</p>
+
+<p>It is much to be regretted that our publishers are not literary men,
+able to form their own critical decisions. Among the learned printers
+formerly, a book was valued because it came from the presses of an Aldus
+or a Stephens; and even in our own time the names of Bowyer and Dodsley
+sanctioned a work. Pelisson, in his history of the French Academy,
+mentions that Camusat was selected as their bookseller, from his
+reputation for publishing only valuable works. "He was a man of some
+literature and good sense, and rarely printed an indifferent work; and
+when we were young I recollect that we always made it a rule to purchase
+his publications. His name was a test of the goodness of the work." A
+publisher of this character would be of the greatest utility to the
+literary world: at home he would induce a number of ingenious men to
+become authors, for it would be honourable to be inscribed in his
+catalogue; and it would be a direction for the continental reader.</p>
+
+<p>So valuable a union of learning and printing did not, unfortunately,
+last. The printers of the seventeenth century became less charmed with
+glory than with gain. Their correctors and their letters evinced as
+little delicacy of choice.</p>
+
+<p>The invention of what is now called the <i>Italic</i> letter in printing was
+made by Aldus Manutius, to whom learning owes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> much. He observed the
+many inconveniences resulting from the vast number of <i>abbreviations</i>,
+which were then so frequent among the printers, that a book was
+difficult to understand; a treatise was actually written on the art of
+reading a printed book, and this addressed to the learned! He contrived
+an expedient, by which these abbreviations might be entirely got rid of,
+and yet books suffer little increase in bulk. This he effected by
+introducing what is now called the <i>Italic</i> letter, though it formerly
+was distinguished by the name of the inventor, and called the <i>Aldine</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ERRATA" id="ERRATA"></a>ERRATA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Besides the ordinary <i>errata</i>, which happen in printing a work, others
+have been purposely committed, that the <i>errata</i> may contain what is not
+permitted to appear in the body of the work. Wherever the Inquisition
+had any power, particularly at Rome, it was not allowed to employ the
+word <i>fatum</i>, or <i>fata</i>, in any book. An author, desirous of using the
+latter word, adroitly invented this scheme; he had printed in his book
+<i>facta</i>, and, in the <i>errata</i>, he put, "For <i>facta</i>, read <i>fata</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Scarron has done the same thing on another occasion. He had composed
+some verses, at the head of which he placed this dedication&mdash;<i>A
+Guillemette, Chienne de ma S&oelig;ur</i>; but having a quarrel with his
+sister, he maliciously put into the <i>errata</i>, "Instead of <i>Chienne de ma
+S&oelig;ur</i>, read <i>ma Chienne de S&oelig;ur</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Lully, at the close of a bad prologue said, the word <i>fin du prologue</i>
+was an <i>erratum</i>, it should have been <i>fi du prologue</i>!</p>
+
+<p>In a book, there was printed, <i>le docte Morel</i>. A wag put into the
+<i>errata</i>, "For <i>le docte Morel</i>, read <i>le Docteur Morel</i>." This <i>Morel</i>
+was not the first <i>docteur</i> not <i>docte</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When a fanatic published a mystical work full of unintelligible
+raptures, and which he entitled <i>Les D&eacute;lices de l'Esprit</i>, it was
+proposed to print in his errata, "For <i>D&eacute;lices</i> read <i>D&eacute;lires</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The author of an idle and imperfect book ended with the usual phrase of
+<i>cetera desiderantur</i>, one altered it, <i>Non desiderantur sed desunt</i>;
+"The rest is <i>wanting</i>, but not <i>wanted</i>."</p>
+
+<p>At the close of a silly book, the author as usual printed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> word
+<span class="smcap">Finis</span>.&mdash;A wit put this among the errata, with this pointed couplet:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Finis</span>!&mdash;an error, or a lie, my friend!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In writing foolish books&mdash;there is <i>no End</i>!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the year 1561 was printed a work, entitled "the Anatomy of the Mass."
+It is a thin octavo, of 172 pages, and it is accompanied by an <i>Errata</i>
+of 15 pages! The editor, a pious monk, informs us that a very serious
+reason induced him to undertake this task: for it is, says he, to
+forestal the <i>artifices of Satan</i>. He supposes that the Devil, to ruin
+the fruit of this work, employed two very malicious frauds: the first
+before it was printed, by drenching the MS. in a kennel, and having
+reduced it to a most pitiable state, rendered several parts illegible:
+the second, in obliging the printers to commit such numerous blunders,
+never yet equalled in so small a work. To combat this double machination
+of Satan he was obliged carefully to re-peruse the work, and to form
+this singular list of the blunders of printers under the influence of
+Satan. All this he relates in an advertisement prefixed to the <i>Errata</i>.</p>
+
+<p>A furious controversy raged between two famous scholars from a very
+laughable but accidental <i>Erratum</i>, and threatened serious consequences
+to one of the parties. Flavigny wrote two letters, criticising rather
+freely a polyglot Bible edited by Abraham Ecchellensis. As this learned
+editor had sometimes censured the labours of a friend of Flavigny, this
+latter applied to him the third and fifth verses of the seventh chapter
+of St. Matthew, which he printed in Latin. Ver 3. <i>Quid vides festucam
+in</i> OCULO <i>fratris tui, et trabem in</i> OCULO <i>tuo non vides</i>? Ver. 5.
+<i>Ejice prim&ugrave;m trabem de</i> OCULO <i>tuo, et tunc videbis ejicere festucam
+de</i> OCULO <i>fratris tui</i>. Ecchellensis opens his reply by accusing
+Flavigny of an <i>enormous crime</i> committed in this passage; attempting to
+correct the sacred text of the Evangelist, and daring to reject a word,
+while he supplied its place by another as <i>impious</i> as <i>obscene</i>! This
+crime, exaggerated with all the virulence of an angry declaimer, closes
+with a dreadful accusation. Flavigny's morals are attacked, and his
+reputation overturned by a horrid imputation. Yet all this terrible
+reproach is only founded on an <i>Erratum</i>! The whole arose from the
+printer having negligently suffered the <i>first letter</i> of the word
+<i>Oculo</i> to have dropped from the form, when he happened to touch a line
+with his finger, which did not stand straight! He published another
+letter to do away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> the imputation of Ecchellensis; but thirty years
+afterwards his rage against the negligent printer was not extinguished;
+the wits were always reminding him of it.</p>
+
+<p>Of all literary blunders none equalled that of the edition of the
+Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His Holiness carefully superintended every sheet
+as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of the world, the
+work remained without a rival&mdash;it swarmed with errata! A multitude of
+scraps were printed to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to
+give the true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these
+patches; and the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal
+infallibility! The copies were called in, and violent attempts made to
+suppress it; a few still remain for the raptures of the biblical
+collectors; not long ago the bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty
+guineas&mdash;not too much for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly
+amused at the bull of the editorial Pope prefixed to the first volume,
+which excommunicates all printers who in reprinting the work should make
+any <i>alteration</i> in the text!</p>
+
+<p>In the version of the Epistles of St. Paul into the Ethiopic language,
+which proved to be full of errors, the editors allege a good-humoured
+reason&mdash;"They who printed the work could not read, and we could not
+print; they helped us, and we helped them, as the blind helps the
+blind."</p>
+
+<p>A printer's widow in Germany, while a new edition of the Bible was
+printing at her house, one night took an opportunity of stealing into
+the office, to alter that sentence of subjection to her husband,
+pronounced upon Eve in Genesis, chap. 3, v. 16. She took out the two
+first letters of the word <span class="smcap">Herr</span>, and substituted <span class="smcap">Na</span> in their place, thus
+altering the sentence from "and he shall be thy <span class="smcap">Lord</span>" (<i>Herr</i>), to "and
+he shall be thy <span class="smcap">Fool</span>" (<i>Narr</i>). It is said her life paid for this
+intentional erratum; and that some secreted copies of this edition have
+been bought up at enormous prices.</p>
+
+<p>We have an edition of the Bible, known by the name of <i>The Vinegar
+Bible</i>; from the erratum in the title to the 20th chap. of St. Luke, in
+which "Parable of the <i>Vineyard</i>," is printed, "Parable of the
+<i>Vinegar</i>." It was printed in 1717, at the Clarendon press.</p>
+
+<p>We have had another, where "Thou shalt commit adultery" was printed,
+omitting the negation; which occasioned the archbishop to lay one of the
+heaviest penalties on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Company of Stationers that was ever recorded
+in the annals of literary history.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>Herbert Croft used to complain of the incorrectness of our English
+classics, as reprinted by the booksellers. It is evident some stupid
+printer often changes a whole text intentionally. The fine description
+by Akenside of the Pantheon, "<span class="smcap">Severely</span> great," not being understood by
+the blockhead, was printed <i>serenely great</i>. Swift's own edition of "The
+City Shower," has "old <span class="smcap">Aches</span> throb." <i>Aches</i> is two syllables, but
+modern printers, who had lost the right pronunciation, have <i>aches</i> as
+one syllable; and then, to complete the metre, have foisted in "aches
+<i>will</i> throb." Thus what the poet and the linguist wish to preserve is
+altered, and finally lost.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>It appears by a calculation made by the printer of Steevens's edition of
+Shakspeare, that every octavo page of that work, text and notes,
+contains 2680 distinct pieces of metal; which in a sheet amount to
+42,880&mdash;the misplacing of any one of which would inevitably cause a
+blunder! With this curious fact before us, the accurate state of our
+printing, in general, is to be admired, and errata ought more freely to
+be pardoned than the fastidious minuteness of the insect eye of certain
+critics has allowed.</p>
+
+<p>Whether such a miracle as an immaculate edition of a classical author
+does exist, I have never learnt; but an attempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> has been made to obtain
+this glorious singularity&mdash;and was as nearly realised as is perhaps
+possible in the magnificent edition of <i>Os Lusiadas</i> of Camoens, by Dom
+Joze Souza, in 1817. This amateur spared no prodigality of cost and
+labour, and flattered himself, that by the assistance of Didot, not a
+single typographical error should be found in that splendid volume. But
+an error was afterwards discovered in some of the copies, occasioned by
+one of the letters in the word <i>Lusitano</i> having got misplaced during
+the working of one of the sheets. It must be confessed that this was an
+<i>accident</i> or <i>misfortune</i>&mdash;rather than an <i>Erratum!</i></p>
+
+<p>One of the most remarkable complaints on ERRATA is that of Edw. Leigh,
+appended to his curious treatise on "Religion and Learning." It consists
+of two folio pages, in a very minute character, and exhibits an
+incalculable number of printers' blunders. "We have not," he says,
+"Plantin nor Stephens amongst us; and it is no easy task to specify the
+chiefest errata; false interpunctions there are too many; here a letter
+wanting, there a letter too much; a syllable too much, one letter for
+another; words parted where they should be joined; words joined which
+should be severed; words misplaced; chronological mistakes," &amp;c. This
+unfortunate folio was printed in 1656. Are we to infer, by such frequent
+complaints of the authors of that day, that either they did not receive
+proofs from the printers, or that the printers never attended to the
+corrected proofs? Each single erratum seems to have been felt as a stab
+to the literary feelings of the poor author!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PATRONS" id="PATRONS"></a>PATRONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Authors have too frequently received ill treatment even from those to
+whom they dedicated their works.</p>
+
+<p>Some who felt hurt at the shameless treatment of such mock M&aelig;cenases
+have observed that no writer should dedicate his works but to his
+FRIENDS, as was practised by the ancients, who usually addressed those
+who had solicited their labours, or animated their progress. Theodosius
+Gaza had no other recompense for having inscribed to Sixtus IV. his
+translation of the book of Aristotle on the Nature of Animals, than the
+price of the binding, which this charitable father of the church
+munificently bestowed upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Theocritus fills his Idylliums with loud complaints of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> neglect of
+his patrons; and Tasso was as little successful in his dedications.</p>
+
+<p>Ariosto, in presenting his Orlando Furioso to the Cardinal d'Este, was
+gratified with the bitter sarcasm of&mdash;"<i>Dove diavolo avete pigliato
+tante coglionerie?</i>" Where the devil have you found all this nonsense?</p>
+
+<p>When the French historian Dupleix, whose pen was indeed fertile,
+presented his book to the Duke d'Epernon, this M&aelig;cenas, turning to the
+Pope's Nuncio, who was present, very coarsely exclaimed&mdash;"Cadedids! ce
+monsieur a un flux enrag&eacute;, il chie un livre toutes les lunes!"</p>
+
+<p>Thomson, the ardent author of the Seasons, having extravagantly praised
+a person of rank, who afterwards appeared to be undeserving of
+eulogiums, properly employed his pen in a solemn recantation of his
+error. A very different conduct from that of Dupleix, who always spoke
+highly of Queen Margaret of France for a little place he held in her
+household: but after her death, when the place became extinct, spoke of
+her with all the freedom of satire. Such is too often the character of
+some of the literati, who only dare to reveal the truth, when they have
+no interest to conceal it.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mickle, to whom we are indebted for so beautiful a version of
+Camoens' Lusiad, having dedicated this work, the continued labour of
+five years, to the Duke of Buccleugh, had the mortification to find, by
+the discovery of a friend, that he had kept it in his possession three
+weeks before he could collect sufficient intellectual desire to cut open
+the pages! The neglect of this nobleman reduced the poet to a state of
+despondency. This patron was a political economist, the pupil of Adam
+Smith! It is pleasing to add, in contrast with this frigid Scotch
+patron, that when Mickle went to Lisbon, where his translation had long
+preceded his visit, he found the Prince of Portugal waiting on the quay
+to be the first to receive the translator of his great national poem;
+and during a residence of six months, Mickle was warmly regarded by
+every Portuguese nobleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Every man believes," writes Dr. Johnson to Baretti, "that mistresses
+are unfaithful, and patrons are capricious. But he excepts his own
+mistress, and his own patron."</p>
+
+<p>A patron is sometimes oddly obtained. Benserade attached himself to
+Cardinal Mazarin; but his friendship produced nothing but civility. The
+poet every day indulged his easy and charming vein of amatory and
+panegyrical poetry, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> all the world read and admired his verses.
+One evening the cardinal, in conversation with the king, described his
+mode of life when at the papal court. He loved the sciences; but his
+chief occupation was the belles lettres, composing little pieces of
+poetry; he said that he was then in the court of Rome what Benserade was
+now in that of France. Some hours afterwards, the friends of the poet
+related to him the conversation of the cardinal. He quitted them
+abruptly, and ran to the apartment of his eminence, knocking with all
+his force, that he might be certain of being heard. The cardinal had
+just gone to bed; but he incessantly clamoured, demanding entrance; they
+were compelled to open the door. He ran to his eminence, fell upon his
+knees, almost pulled off the sheets of the bed in rapture, imploring a
+thousand pardons for thus disturbing him; but such was his joy in what
+he had just heard, which he repeated, that he could not refrain from
+immediately giving vent to his gratitude and his pride, to have been
+compared with his eminence for his poetical talents! Had the door not
+been immediately opened, he should have expired; he was not rich, it was
+true, but he should now die contented! The cardinal was pleased with his
+<i>ardour</i>, and probably never suspected his <i>flattery</i>; and the next week
+our new actor was pensioned.</p>
+
+<p>On Cardinal Richelieu, another of his patrons, he gratefully made this
+epitaph:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Cy gist, ouy gist, par la mort bleu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Le Cardinal de Richelieu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et ce qui cause mon ennuy<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ma PENSION avec lui.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Here lies, egad, 'tis very true,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The illustrious Cardinal Richelieu:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My grief is genuine&mdash;void of whim!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alas! my <i>pension</i> lies with him!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Le Brun, the great French artist, painted himself holding in his hand
+the portrait of his earliest patron. In this accompaniment the Artist
+may be said to have portrayed the features of his soul. If genius has
+too often complained of its patrons, has it not also often over-valued
+their protection?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POETS_PHILOSOPHERS_AND_ARTISTS_MADE_BY_ACCIDENT" id="POETS_PHILOSOPHERS_AND_ARTISTS_MADE_BY_ACCIDENT"></a>POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Accident has frequently occasioned the most eminent geniuses to display
+their powers. "It was at Rome," says Gibbon, "on the 15th of October,
+1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the
+bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that
+the idea of writing the Decline and Fall of the City first started to my
+mind."</p>
+
+<p>Father Malebranche having completed his studies in philosophy and
+theology without any other intention than devoting himself to some
+religious order, little expected the celebrity his works acquired for
+him. Loitering in an idle hour in the shop of a bookseller, and turning
+over a parcel of books, <i>L'Homme de Descartes</i> fell into his hands.
+Having dipt into parts, he read with such delight that the palpitations
+of his heart compelled him to lay the volume down. It was this
+circumstance that produced those profound contemplations which made him
+the Plato of his age.</p>
+
+<p>Cowley became a poet by accident. In his mother's apartment he found,
+when very young, Spenser's Fairy Queen; and, by a continual study of
+poetry, he became so enchanted by the Muse, that he grew irrecoverably a
+poet.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Joshua Reynolds had the first fondness for his art excited by the
+perusal of Richardson's Treatise.</p>
+
+<p>Vaucanson displayed an uncommon genius for mechanics. His taste was
+first determined by an accident: when young, he frequently attended his
+mother to the residence of her confessor; and while she wept with
+repentance, he wept with weariness! In this state of disagreeable
+vacation, says Helvetius, he was struck with the uniform motion of the
+pendulum of the clock in the hall. His curiosity was roused; he
+approached the clock-case, and studied its mechanism; what he could not
+discover he guessed at. He then projected a similar machine; and
+gradually his genius produced a clock. Encouraged by this first success,
+he proceeded in his various attempts; and the genius, which thus could
+form a clock, in time formed a fluting automaton.</p>
+
+<p>Accident determined the taste of Moli&egrave;re for the stage. His grandfather
+loved the theatre, and frequently carried him there. The young man lived
+in dissipation; the father observing it asked in anger, if his son was
+to be made an actor. "Would to God," replied the grandfather, "he were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+as good an actor as Monrose." The words struck young Moli&egrave;re, he took a
+disgust to his tapestry trade, and it is to this circumstance France
+owes her greatest comic writer.</p>
+
+<p>Corneille loved; he made verses for his mistress, became a poet,
+composed <i>M&eacute;lite</i> and afterwards his other celebrated works. The
+discreet Corneille had else remained a lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>We owe the great discovery of Newton to a very trivial accident. When a
+student at Cambridge, he had retired during the time of the plague into
+the country. As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit
+fell, and struck him a smart blow on the head. When he observed the
+smallness of the apple, he was surprised at the force of the stroke.
+This led him to consider the accelerating motion of falling bodies; from
+whence he deduced the principle of gravity, and laid the foundation of
+his philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>Ignatius Loyola was a Spanish gentleman, who was dangerously wounded at
+the siege of Pampeluna. Having heated his imagination by reading the
+Lives of the Saints during his illness, instead of a romance, he
+conceived a strong ambition to be the founder of a religious order;
+whence originated the celebrated society of the Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>Rousseau found his eccentric powers first awakened by the advertisement
+of the singular annual subject which the Academy of Dijon proposed for
+that year, in which he wrote his celebrated declamation against the arts
+and sciences. A circumstance which decided his future literary efforts.</p>
+
+<p>La Fontaine, at the age of twenty-two, had not taken any profession, or
+devoted himself to any pursuit. Having accidentally heard some verses of
+Malherbe, he felt a sudden impulse, which directed his future life. He
+immediately bought a Malherbe, and was so exquisitely delighted with
+this poet that, after passing the nights in treasuring his verses in his
+memory, he would run in the day-time to the woods, where, concealing
+himself, he would recite his verses to the surrounding dryads.</p>
+
+<p>Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. He was taken from school on
+account of his illness, when Sacrobosco's book De Sph&aelig;ra having been
+lent to him, he was so pleased with it that he immediately began a
+course of astronomic studies. Pennant's first propensity to natural
+history was the pleasure he received from an accidental perusal of
+Willoughby's work on birds. The same accident of finding, on the table
+of his professor, Reaumur's History of Insects, which he read more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> than
+he attended to the lecture, and, having been refused the loan, gave such
+an instant turn to the mind of Bonnet, that he hastened to obtain a
+copy; after many difficulties in procuring this costly work, its
+possession gave an unalterable direction to his future life. This
+naturalist indeed lost the use of his sight by his devotion to the
+microscope.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Franklin attributes the cast of his genius to a similar accident. "I
+found a work of De Foe's, entitled an 'Essay on Projects,' from which
+perhaps I derived impressions that have since influenced some of the
+principal events of my life."</p>
+
+<p>I shall add the incident which occasioned Roger Ascham to write his
+<i>Schoolmaster</i>, one of the few works among our elder writers, which we
+still read with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>At a dinner given by Sir William Cecil, at his apartments at Windsor, a
+number of ingenious men were invited. Secretary Cecil communicated the
+news of the morning, that several scholars at Eton had run away on
+account of their master's severity, which he condemned as a great error
+in the education of youth. Sir William Petre maintained the contrary;
+severe in his own temper, he pleaded warmly in defence of hard flogging.
+Dr. Wootton, in softer tones, sided with the secretary. Sir John Mason,
+adopting no side, bantered both. Mr. Haddon seconded the hard-hearted
+Sir William Petre, and adduced, as an evidence, that the best
+schoolmaster then in England was the hardest flogger. Then was it that
+Roger Ascham indignantly exclaimed, that if such a master had an able
+scholar it was owing to the boy's genius, and not the preceptor's rod.
+Secretary Cecil and others were pleased with Ascham's notions. Sir
+Richard Sackville was silent, but when Ascham after dinner went to the
+queen to read one of the orations of Demosthenes, he took him aside, and
+frankly told him that, though he had taken no part in the debate, he
+would not have been absent from that conversation for a great deal; that
+he knew to his cost the truth that Ascham had supported; for it was the
+perpetual flogging of such a schoolmaster that had given him an
+unconquerable aversion to study. And as he wished to remedy this defect
+in his own children, he earnestly exhorted Ascham to write his
+observations on so interesting a topic. Such was the circumstance which
+produced the admirable treatise of Roger Ascham.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INEQUALITIES_OF_GENIUS" id="INEQUALITIES_OF_GENIUS"></a>INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Singular inequalities are observable in the labours of genius; and
+particularly in those which admit great enthusiasm, as in poetry, in
+painting, and in music. Faultless mediocrity industry can preserve in
+one continued degree; but excellence, the daring and the happy, can only
+be attained, by human faculties, by starts.</p>
+
+<p>Our poets who possess the greatest genius, with perhaps the least
+industry, have at the same time the most splendid and the worst passages
+of poetry. Shakspeare and Dryden are at once the greatest and the least
+of our poets. With some, their great fault consists in having none.</p>
+
+<p>Carraccio sarcastically said of Tintoret&mdash;<i>Ho veduto il Tintoretto hora
+eguale a Titiano, hora minore del Tintoretto</i>&mdash;"I have seen Tintoret now
+equal to Titian, and now less than Tintoret."</p>
+
+<p>Trublet justly observes&mdash;The more there are <i>beauties</i> and <i>great
+beauties</i> in a work, I am the less surprised to find <i>faults</i> and <i>great
+faults</i>. When you say of a work that it has many faults, that decides
+nothing: and I do not know by this, whether it is execrable or
+excellent. You tell me of another, that it is without any faults: if
+your account be just, it is certain the work cannot be excellent.</p>
+
+<p>It was observed of one pleader, that he <i>knew</i> more than he <i>said</i>; and
+of another, that he <i>said</i> more than he <i>knew</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Lucian happily describes the works of those who abound with the most
+luxuriant language, void of ideas. He calls their unmeaning verbosity
+"anemone-words;" for anemonies are flowers, which, however brilliant,
+only please the eye, leaving no fragrance. Pratt, who was a writer of
+flowing but nugatory verses, was compared to the <i>daisy</i>; a flower
+indeed common enough, and without odour.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="GEOGRAPHICAL_STYLE" id="GEOGRAPHICAL_STYLE"></a>GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There are many sciences, says Menage, on which we cannot indeed compose
+in a florid or elegant diction, such as geography, music, algebra,
+geometry, &amp;c. When Atticus requested Cicero to write on geography, the
+latter excused himself, observing that its scenes were more adapted to
+please<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> the eye, than susceptible of the embellishments of style.
+However, in these kind of sciences, we may lend an ornament to their
+dryness by introducing occasionally some elegant allusion, or noticing
+some incident suggested by the object.</p>
+
+<p>Thus when we notice some inconsiderable place, for instance <i>Woodstock</i>,
+we may recall attention to the residence of <i>Chaucer</i>, the parent of our
+poetry, or the romantic labyrinth of Rosamond; or as in "an Autumn on
+the Rhine," at Ingelheim, at the view of an old palace built by
+Charlemagne, the traveller adds, with "a hundred columns brought from
+Rome," and further it was "the scene of the romantic amours of that
+monarch's fair daughter, Ibertha, with Eginhard, his secretary:" and
+viewing the Gothic ruins on the banks of the Rhine, he noticed them as
+having been the haunts of those illustrious <i>chevaliers voleurs</i> whose
+chivalry consisted in pillaging the merchants and towns, till, in the
+thirteenth century, a citizen of Mayence persuaded the merchants of more
+than a hundred towns to form a league against these little princes and
+counts; the origin of the famous Rhenish league, which contributed so
+much to the commerce of Europe. This kind of erudition gives an interest
+to topography, by associating in our memory great events and personages
+with the localities.</p>
+
+<p>The same principle of composition may be carried with the happiest
+effect into some dry investigations, though the profound antiquary may
+not approve of these sports of wit or fancy. Dr. Arbuthnot, in his
+Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, a topic extremely barren
+of amusement, takes every opportunity of enlivening the dulness of his
+task; even in these mathematical calculations he betrays his wit; and
+observes that "the polite Augustus, the emperor of the world, had
+neither any glass in his windows, nor a shirt to his back!" Those uses
+of glass and linen indeed were not known in his time. Our physician is
+not less curious and facetious in the account of the <i>fees</i> which the
+Roman physicians received.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LEGENDS" id="LEGENDS"></a>LEGENDS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Those ecclesiastical histories entitled Legends are said to have
+originated in the following circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>Before colleges were established in the monasteries where the schools
+were held, the professors in rhetoric frequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> gave their pupils the
+life of some saint for a trial of their talent at <i>amplification</i>. The
+students, at a loss to furnish out their pages, invented most of these
+wonderful adventures. Jortin observes, that the Christians used to
+collect out of Ovid, Livy, and other pagan poets and historians, the
+miracles and portents to be found there, and accommodated them to their
+own monks and saints. The good fathers of that age, whose simplicity was
+not inferior to their devotion, were so delighted with these flowers of
+rhetoric, that they were induced to make a collection of these
+miraculous compositions; not imagining that, at some distant period,
+they would become matters of faith. Yet, when James de Voragine, Peter
+Nadal, and Peter Ribadeneira, wrote the Lives of the Saints, they sought
+for their materials in the libraries of the monasteries; and, awakening
+from the dust these manuscripts of amplification, imagined they made an
+invaluable present to the world, by laying before them these voluminous
+absurdities. The people received these pious fictions with all
+imaginable simplicity, and as these are adorned by a number of cuts, the
+miracles were perfectly intelligible to their eyes. Tillemont, Fleury,
+Baillet, Launoi, and Bollandus, cleared away much of the rubbish; the
+enviable title of <i>Golden Legend</i>, by which James de Voragine called his
+work, has been disputed; iron or lead might more aptly describe its
+character.</p>
+
+<p>When the world began to be more critical in their reading, the monks
+gave a graver turn to their narratives; and became penurious of their
+absurdities. The faithful Catholic contends, that the line of tradition
+has been preserved unbroken; notwithstanding that the originals were
+lost in the general wreck of literature from the barbarians, or came
+down in a most imperfect state.</p>
+
+<p>Baronius has given the lives of many apocryphal saints; for instance, of
+a Saint <i>Xinoris</i>, whom he calls a martyr of Antioch; but it appears
+that Baronius having read in Chrysostom this <i>word</i>, which signifies a
+<i>couple</i> or <i>pair</i>, he mistook it for the name of a saint, and contrived
+to give the most authentic biography of a saint who never existed!<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>
+The Catholics confess this sort of blunder is not uncommon, but then it
+is only fools who laugh! As a specimen of the hap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>pier inventions, one
+is given, embellished by the diction of Gibbon&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted to
+distinguish the memorable fable of the <i>Seven Sleepers</i>; whose imaginary
+date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius, and the
+conquest of Africa by the Vandals. When the Emperor Decius persecuted
+the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed themselves in a
+spacious cavern on the side of an adjacent mountain; where they were
+doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should
+be firmly secured with a pile of stones. They immediately fell into a
+deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the
+powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty-seven years.
+At the end of that time the slaves of Adolius, to whom the inheritance
+of the mountain had descended, removed the stones to supply materials
+for some rustic edifice. The light of the sun darted into the cavern,
+and the Seven Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber as they
+thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger; and
+resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should secretly return to
+the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions. The youth, if
+we may still employ that appellation, could no longer recognise the once
+familiar aspect of his native country; and his surprise was increased by
+the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly erected over the principal
+gate of Ephesus. His singular dress and obsolete language confounded the
+baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin
+of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret treasure,
+was dragged before the judge. Their mutual inquiries produced the
+amazing discovery, that two centuries were almost elapsed since
+Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a Pagan tyrant.
+The Bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and, it
+is said, the Emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of
+the Seven Sleepers; who bestowed their benediction, related their story,
+and at the same instant peaceably expired.</p>
+
+<p>"This popular tale Mahomet learned when he drove his camels to the fairs
+of Syria; and he has introduced it, as a <i>divine revelation</i>, into the
+Koran."&mdash;The same story has been adopted and adorned by the nations,
+from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The too curious reader may perhaps require other specimens of the more
+unlucky inventions of this "Golden Legend;" as characteristic of a
+certain class of minds, the philosopher will contemn these grotesque
+fictions.</p>
+
+<p>These monks imagined that holiness was often proportioned to a saint's
+filthiness. St. Ignatius, say they, delighted to appear abroad with old
+dirty shoes; he never used a comb, but let his hair clot; and
+religiously abstained from paring his nails. One saint attained to such
+piety as to have near three hundred patches on his breeches; which,
+after his death, were hung up in public as an <i>incentive to imitation</i>.
+St. Francis discovered, by certain experience, that the devils were
+frightened away by such kinds of breeches, but were animated by clean
+clothing to tempt and seduce the wearers; and one of their heroes
+declares that the purest souls are in the dirtiest bodies. On this they
+tell a story which may not be very agreeable to fastidious delicacy.
+Brother Juniper was a gentleman perfectly pious, on this principle;
+indeed so great was his merit in this species of mortification, that a
+brother declared he could always nose Brother Juniper when within a mile
+of the monastery, provided the wind was at the due point. Once, when the
+blessed Juniper, for he was no saint, was a guest, his host, proud of
+the honour of entertaining so pious a personage, the intimate friend of
+St. Francis, provided an excellent bed, and the finest sheets. Brother
+Juniper abhorred such luxury. And this too evidently appeared after his
+sudden departure in the morning, unknown to his kind host. The great
+Juniper did this, says his biographer, having told us what he did, not
+so much from his habitual inclinations, for which he was so justly
+celebrated, as from his excessive piety, and as much as he could to
+mortify worldly pride, and to show how a true saint despised clean
+sheets.</p>
+
+<p>In the life of St. Francis we find, among other grotesque miracles, that
+he preached a sermon in a desert, but he soon collected an immense
+audience. The birds shrilly warbled to every sentence, and stretched out
+their necks, opened their beaks, and when he finished, dispersed with a
+holy rapture into four companies, to report his sermon to all the birds
+in the universe. A grasshopper remained a week with St. Francis during
+the absence of the Virgin Mary, and pittered on his head. He grew so
+companionable with a nightingale, that when a nest of swallows began to
+babble, he hushed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> them by desiring them not to tittle-tattle of their
+sister, the nightingale. Attacked by a wolf, with only the sign-manual
+of the cross, he held a long dialogue with his rabid assailant, till the
+wolf, meek as a lap-dog, stretched his paws in the hands of the saint,
+followed him through towns, and became half a Christian.</p>
+
+<p>This same St. Francis had such a detestation of the good things of this
+world, that he would never suffer his followers to touch money. A friar
+having placed in a window some money collected at the altar, he desired
+him to take it in his mouth, and throw it on the dung of an ass! St.
+Philip Nerius was such a <i>lover of poverty</i>, that he frequently prayed
+that God would bring him to that state as to stand in need of a penny,
+and find nobody that would give him one!</p>
+
+<p>But St. Macaire was so shocked at having <i>killed a louse</i>, that he
+endured seven years of penitence among the thorns and briars of a
+forest. A circumstance which seems to have reached Moli&egrave;re, who gives
+this stroke to the character of his Tartuffe:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Il s'impute &agrave; p&eacute;ch&eacute; la moindre bagatelle;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jusques-l&agrave; qu'il se vint, l'autre jour, s'accuser<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">D'avoir pris une puce en faisant sa pri&egrave;re,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et de l'avoir tu&eacute;e avec trop de col&egrave;re!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I give a miraculous incident respecting two pious maidens. The night of
+the Nativity of Christ, after the first mass, they both retired into a
+solitary spot of their nunnery till the second mass was rung. One asked
+the other, "Why do you want two cushions, when I have only one?" The
+other replied, "I would place it between us, for the child Jesus; as the
+Evangelist says, where there are two or three persons assembled I am in
+the midst of them."&mdash;This being done, they sat down, feeling a most
+lively pleasure at their fancy; and there they remained, from the
+Nativity of Christ to that of John the Baptist; but this great interval
+of time passed with these saintly maidens as two hours would appear to
+others. The abbess and nuns were alarmed at their absence, for no one
+could give any account of them. In the eve of St. John, a cowherd,
+passing by them, beheld a beautiful child seated on a cushion between
+this pair of runaway nuns. He hastened to the abbess with news of these
+stray sheep; she came and beheld this lovely child playfully seated
+between these nymphs; they, with blushing countenances, inquired if the
+second bell had already rung? Both parties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> were equally astonished to
+find our young devotees had been there from the Nativity of Jesus to
+that of St. John. The abbess inquired about the child who sat between
+them; they solemnly declared they saw no child between them! and
+persisted in their story!</p>
+
+<p>Such is one of these miracles of "the Golden Legend," which a wicked wit
+might comment on, and see nothing extraordinary in the whole story. The
+two nuns might be missing between the Nativities, and be found at last
+with a child seated between them.&mdash;They might not choose to account
+either for their absence or their child&mdash;the only touch of miracle is
+that, they asseverated, they <i>saw no child</i>&mdash;that I confess is a <i>little
+(child) too much</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The lives of the saints by Alban Butler is the most sensible history of
+these legends; Ribadeneira's lives of the saints exhibit more of the
+legendary spirit, for wanting judgment and not faith, he is more
+voluminous in his details. The antiquary may collect much curious
+philosophical information, concerning the manners of the times, from
+these singular narratives.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_PORT-ROYAL_SOCIETY" id="THE_PORT-ROYAL_SOCIETY"></a>THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Every lover of letters has heard of this learned society, which
+contributed so greatly to establish in France a taste for just
+reasoning, simplicity of style, and philosophical method. Their "Logic,
+or the Art of Thinking," for its lucid, accurate, and diversified
+matter, is still an admirable work; notwithstanding the writers had to
+emancipate themselves from the barbarism of the scholastic logic. It was
+the conjoint labour of Arnauld and Nicolle. Europe has benefited by the
+labours of these learned men: but not many have attended to the origin
+and dissolution of this literary society.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1637, Le Maitre, a celebrated advocate, resigned the bar,
+and the honour of being <i>Conseiller d'Etat</i>, which his uncommon merit
+had obtained him, though then only twenty-eight years of age. His
+brother, De Sericourt, who had followed the military profession, quitted
+it at the same time. Consecrating themselves to the service of religion,
+they retired into a small house near <i>the Port-Royal</i> of Paris, where
+they were joined by their brothers De Sacy, De St. Elme, and De Valmont.
+Arnauld, one of their most illustrious associates,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> was induced to enter
+into the Jansenist controversy, and then it was that they encountered
+the powerful persecution of the Jesuits. Constrained to remove from that
+spot, they fixed their residence at a few leagues from Paris, and called
+it <i>Port-Royal des Champs</i>.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>These illustrious recluses were joined by many distinguished persons who
+gave up their parks and houses to be appropriated to their schools; and
+this community was called the <i>Society of Port-Royal</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Here were no rules, no vows, no constitution, and no cells formed.
+Prayer and study, and manual labour, were their only occupations. They
+applied themselves to the education of youth, and raised up little
+academies in the neighbourhood, where the members of Port-Royal, the
+most illustrious names of literary France, presided. None considered his
+birth entitled him to any exemption from their public offices, relieving
+the poor and attending on the sick, and employing themselves in their
+farms and gardens; they were carpenters, ploughmen, gardeners, and
+vine-dressers, as if they had practised nothing else; they studied
+physic, and surgery, and law; in truth, it seems that, from religious
+motives, these learned men attempted to form a community of primitive
+Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>The Duchess of Longueville, once a political chief, sacrificed her
+ambition on the altar of Port-Royal, enlarged the monastic inclosure
+with spacious gardens and orchards, built a noble house, and often
+retreated to its seclusion. The learned D'Andilly, the translator of
+Josephus, after his studious hours, resorted to the cultivation of
+fruit-trees; and the fruit of Port-Royal became celebrated for its size
+and flavour. Presents were sent to the Queen-Mother of France, Anne of
+Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin, who used to call it "fruit b&eacute;ni." It
+appears that "families of rank, affluence, and piety, who did not wish
+entirely to give up their avocations in the world, built themselves
+country-houses in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> valley of Port-Royal, in order to enjoy the
+society of its religious and literary inhabitants."</p>
+
+<p>In the solitudes of Port-Royal <i>Racine</i> received his education; and, on
+his death-bed, desired to be buried in its cemetery, at the feet of his
+master Hamon. Arnauld, persecuted, and dying in a foreign country, still
+cast his lingering looks on this beloved retreat, and left the society
+his heart, which was there inurned.</p>
+
+<p>The Duchess of Longueville, a princess of the blood-royal, was, during
+her life, the powerful patroness of these solitary and religious men:
+but her death, in 1679, was the fatal stroke which dispersed them for
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>The envy and the fears of the Jesuits, and their rancour against
+Arnauld, who with such ability had exposed their designs, occasioned the
+destruction of the Port-Royal Society. <i>Exinanite, exinanite usque ad
+fundamentum in ea!</i>&mdash;"Annihilate it, annihilate it, to its very
+foundations!" Such are the terms of the Jesuitic decree. The Jesuits had
+long called the little schools of Port-Royal the hot-beds of heresy. The
+Jesuits obtained by their intrigues an order from government to dissolve
+that virtuous society. They razed the buildings, and ploughed up the
+very foundation; they exhausted their hatred even on the stones, and
+profaned even the sanctuary of the dead; the corpses were torn out of
+their graves, and dogs were suffered to contend for the rags of their
+shrouds. The memory of that asylum of innocence and learning was still
+kept alive by those who collected the engravings representing the place
+by Mademoiselle Hortemels. The police, under Jesuitic influence, at
+length seized on the plates in the cabinet of the fair artist.&mdash;Caustic
+was the retort courteous which Arnauld gave the Jesuits&mdash;"I do not fear
+your <i>pen</i>, but its <i>knife</i>."</p>
+
+<p>These were men whom the love of retirement had united to cultivate
+literature, in the midst of solitude, of peace, and of piety. Alike
+occupied on sacred, as on profane writers, their writings fixed the
+French language. The example of these solitaries shows how retirement is
+favourable to penetrate into the sanctuary of the Muses.</p>
+
+<p>An interesting anecdote is related of Arnauld on the occasion of the
+dissolution of this society. The dispersion of these great men, and
+their young scholars, was lamented by every one but their enemies. Many
+persons of the highest rank participated in their sorrows. The excellent
+Arnauld,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> in that moment, was as closely pursued as if he had been a
+felon.</p>
+
+<p>It was then the Duchess of Longueville concealed Arnauld in an obscure
+lodging, who assumed the dress of a layman, wearing a sword and
+full-bottomed wig. Arnauld was attacked by a fever, and in the course of
+conversation with his physician, he inquired after news. "They talk of a
+new book of the Port-Royal," replied the doctor, "ascribed to Arnauld or
+to Sacy; but I do not believe it comes from Sacy; he does not write so
+well."&mdash;"How, sir!" exclaimed the philosopher, forgetting his sword and
+wig; "believe me, my nephew writes better than I do."&mdash;The physician
+eyed his patient with amazement&mdash;he hastened to the duchess, and told
+her, "The malady of the gentleman you sent me to is not very serious,
+provided you do not suffer him to see any one, and insist on his holding
+his tongue." The duchess, alarmed, immediately had Arnauld conveyed to
+her palace. She concealed him in an apartment, and persisted to attend
+him herself.&mdash;"Ask," she said, "what you want of the servant, but it
+shall be myself who shall bring it to you."</p>
+
+<p>How honourable is it to the female character, that, in many similar
+occurrences, their fortitude has proved to be equal to their
+sensibility! But the Duchess of Longueville contemplated in Arnauld a
+model of human fortitude which martyrs never excelled. His remarkable
+reply to Nicolle, when they were hunted from place to place, should
+never be forgotten: Arnauld wished Nicolle to assist him in a new work,
+when the latter observed, "We are now old, is it not time to rest?"
+"Rest!" returned Arnauld, "have we not all Eternity to rest in?" The
+whole of the Arnauld family were the most extraordinary instance of that
+hereditary character, which is continued through certain families: here
+it was a sublime, and, perhaps, singular union of learning with
+religion. The Arnaulds, Sacy, Pascal, Tillemont, with other illustrious
+names, to whom literary Europe will owe perpetual obligations, combined
+the life of the monastery with that of the library.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_PROGRESS_OF_OLD_AGE_IN_NEW_STUDIES" id="THE_PROGRESS_OF_OLD_AGE_IN_NEW_STUDIES"></a>THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Of the pleasures derivable from the cultivation of the arts, sciences,
+and literature, time will not abate the growing passion; for old men
+still cherish an affection and feel a youthful enthusiasm in those
+pursuits, when all others have ceased to interest. Dr. Reid, to his last
+day, retained a most active curiosity in his various studies, and
+particularly in the revolutions of modern chemistry. In advanced life we
+may resume our former studies with a new pleasure, and in old age we may
+enjoy them with the same relish with which more youthful students
+commence. Adam Smith observed to Dugald Stewart, that "of all the
+amusements of old age, the most grateful and soothing is a renewal of
+acquaintance with the favourite studies and favourite authors of
+youth&mdash;a remark, adds Stewart, which, in his own case, seemed to be more
+particularly exemplified while he was reperusing, with the enthusiasm of
+a student, the tragic poets of ancient Greece. I have heard him repeat
+the observation more than once, while Sophocles and Euripides lay open
+on his table."</p>
+
+<p>Socrates learnt to play on musical instruments in his old age; Cato, at
+eighty, thought proper to learn Greek; and Plutarch, almost as late in
+his life, Latin.</p>
+
+<p>Theophrastus began his admirable work on the Characters of Men at the
+extreme age of ninety. He only terminated his literary labours by his
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Ronsard, one of the fathers of French poetry, applied himself late to
+study. His acute genius, and ardent application, rivalled those poetic
+models which he admired; and Boccaccio was thirty-five years of age when
+he commenced his studies in polite literature.</p>
+
+<p>The great Arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and the command of
+his pen, to the age of eighty-two, and was still the great Arnauld.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, but cultivated
+them at fifty years of age. His early years were chiefly passed in
+farming, which greatly diverted him from his studies; but a remarkable
+disappointment respecting a contested estate disgusted him with these
+rustic occupations: resolved to attach himself to regular studies, and
+literary society, he sold his farms, and became the most learned
+antiquary and lawyer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Colbert, the famous French minister, almost at sixty, returned to his
+Latin and law studies.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Johnson applied himself to the Dutch language but a few years before
+his death. The Marquis de Saint Aulaire, at the age of seventy, began to
+court the Muses, and they crowned him with their freshest flowers. The
+verses of this French Anacreon are full of fire, delicacy, and
+sweetness.</p>
+
+<p>Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were the composition of his latest years:
+they were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and finished in his
+sixty-first.</p>
+
+<p>Ludovico Monaldesco, at the extraordinary age of 115, wrote the memoirs
+of his times. A singular exertion, noticed by Voltaire; who himself is
+one of the most remarkable instances of the progress of age in new
+studies.</p>
+
+<p>The most delightful of autobiographies for artists is that of Benvenuto
+Cellini; a work of great originality, which was not begun till "the
+clock of his age had struck fifty-eight."</p>
+
+<p>Koornhert began at forty to learn the Latin and Greek languages, of
+which he became a master; several students, who afterwards distinguished
+themselves, have commenced as late in life their literary pursuits.
+Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil, knew little of Latin or
+Greek till he was past fifty; and Franklin's philosophical pursuits
+began when he had nearly reached his fiftieth year.</p>
+
+<p>Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the study of the law
+so late, answered, beginning it late, he should master it the sooner.</p>
+
+<p>Dryden's complete works form the largest body of poetry from the pen of
+a single writer in the English language; yet he gave no public testimony
+of poetic abilities till his twenty-seventh year. In his sixty-eighth
+year he proposed to translate the whole Iliad: and his most pleasing
+productions were written in his old age.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Angelo preserved his creative genius even in extreme old age:
+there is a device said to be invented by him, of an old man represented
+in a <i>go-cart</i>, with an hour-glass upon it; the inscription <i>Ancora
+imparo!</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Yet I am Learning</span>!</p>
+
+<p>We have a literary curiosity in a favourite treatise with Erasmus and
+men of letters of that period, <i>De Ratione Studii</i>, by Joachim Sterck,
+otherwise Fortius de Ringelberg. The enthusiasm of the writer often
+carries him to the verge of ridicule; but something must be conceded to
+his peculiar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> situation and feelings; for Baillet tells us that this
+method of studying had been formed entirely from his own practical
+knowledge and hard experience: at a late period of life he had commenced
+his studies, and at length he imagined that he had discovered a more
+perpendicular mode of ascending the hill of science than by its usual
+circuitous windings. His work has been compared to the sounding of a
+trumpet.</p>
+
+<p>Menage, in his Anti-Baillet, has a very curious apology for writing
+verses in his old age, by showing how many poets amused themselves
+notwithstanding their grey hairs, and wrote sonnets or epigrams at
+ninety.</p>
+
+<p>La Casa, in one of his letters, humorously said, <i>Io credo ch'io far&ograve;
+Sonnetti venti cinque anni, o trenta, pio che io sar&ograve; morto</i>.&mdash;"I think
+I may make sonnets twenty-five, or perhaps thirty years, after I shall
+be dead!" Petau tells us that he wrote verses to solace the evils of old
+age&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash; Petavius &aelig;ger<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cantabat veteris qu&aelig;rens solatia morbi.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Malherbe declares the honours of genius were his, yet young&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Je les posseday jeune, et les poss&egrave;de encore<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">A la fin de mes jours!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SPANISH_POETRY" id="SPANISH_POETRY"></a>SPANISH POETRY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Pere Bouhours observes, that the Spanish poets display an extravagant
+imagination, which is by no means destitute of <i>esprit</i>&mdash;shall we say
+<i>wit</i>? but which evinces little taste or judgment.</p>
+
+<p>Their verses are much in the style of our Cowley&mdash;trivial points,
+monstrous metaphors, and quaint conceits. It is evident that the Spanish
+poets imported this taste from the time of Marino in Italy; but the
+warmth of the Spanish climate appears to have redoubled it, and to have
+blown the kindled sparks of chimerical fancy to the heat of a Vulcanian
+forge.</p>
+
+<p>Lopez de Vega, in describing an afflicted shepherdess, in one of his
+pastorals, who is represented weeping near the sea-side, says, "That the
+sea joyfully advances to gather her tears; and that, having enclosed
+them in shells, it converts them into pearls."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">"Y el mar como imbidioso<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">A tierra por las lagrimas salia,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Y alegre de cogerlas<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Las guarda en conchas, y convierte en perlas."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Villegas addresses a stream&mdash;"Thou who runnest over sands of gold, with
+feet of silver," more elegant than our Shakspeare's&mdash;"Thy silver skin
+laced with thy golden blood," which possibly he may not have written.
+Villegas monstrously exclaims, "Touch my breast, if you doubt the power
+of Lydia's eyes&mdash;you will find it turned to ashes." Again&mdash;"Thou art so
+great that thou canst only imitate thyself with thy own greatness;" much
+like our "None but himself can be his parallel."</p>
+
+<p>Gongora, whom the Spaniards once greatly admired, and distinguished by
+the epithet of <i>The Wonderful</i>, abounds with these conceits.</p>
+
+<p>He imagines that a nightingale, who enchantingly varied her notes, and
+sang in different manners, had a hundred thousand other nightingales in
+her breast, which alternately sang through her throat&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Con diferancia tal, con gracia tanta,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A quel ruysenor llora, que sospecho<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Que tiene otros cien mil dentro del pecho,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Que alterno su dolor por su garganta."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Of a young and beautiful lady he says, that she has but a few <i>years</i> of
+life, but many <i>ages</i> of beauty.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Muchos siglos de hermosura<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">En pocos anos de edad."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Many ages of beauty is a false thought, for beauty becomes not more
+beautiful from its age; it would be only a superannuated beauty. A face
+of two or three ages old could have but few charms.</p>
+
+<p>In one of his odes he addresses the River of Madrid by the title of the
+<i>Duke of Streams</i>, and the <i>Viscount of Rivers</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Man&ccedil;anares, Man&ccedil;anares,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Os que en todo el aguatismo,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Estois <i>Duque</i> de Arroyos,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Y <i>Visconde</i> de los Rios."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He did not venture to call it a <i>Spanish Grandee</i>, for, in fact, it is
+but a shallow and dirty stream; and as Quevedo wittily informs us,
+"<i>Man&ccedil;anares</i> is reduced, during the summer season, to the melancholy
+condition of the wicked rich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> man, who asks for water in the depths of
+hell." Though so small, this stream in the time of a flood spreads
+itself over the neighbouring fields; for this reason Philip the Second
+built a bridge eleven hundred feet long!&mdash;A Spaniard passing it one day,
+when it was perfectly dry, observing this superb bridge, archly
+remarked, "That it would be proper that the bridge should be sold to
+purchase water."&mdash;<i>Es menester, vender la puente, par comprar agua.</i></p>
+
+<p>The following elegant translation of a Spanish madrigal of the kind here
+criticised I found in a newspaper, but it is evidently by a master-hand.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">On the green margin of the land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where Guadalhorce winds his way,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">My lady lay:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With golden key Sleep's gentle hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Had closed her eyes so bright&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her eyes, two suns of light&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bade his balmy dews<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her rosy cheeks suffuse.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The River God in slumber saw her laid:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He raised his dripping head,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With weeds o'erspread,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Clad in his wat'ry robes approach'd the maid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And with cold kiss, like death,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Drank the rich perfume of the maiden's breath.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The maiden felt that icy kiss:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>Her suns unclosed, their flame</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Full and unclouded on th' intruder came.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Amazed th' intruder felt<br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>His frothy body melt</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And heard the radiance on his bosom hiss</i>;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, forced in blind confusion to retire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>Leapt in the water to escape the fire</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SAINT_EVREMOND" id="SAINT_EVREMOND"></a>SAINT EVREMOND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The portrait of St. Evremond is delineated by his own hand.</p>
+
+<p>In his day it was a literary fashion for writers to give their own
+portraits; a fashion that seems to have passed over into our country,
+for Farquhar has drawn his own character in a letter to a lady. Others
+of our writers have given these self-miniatures. Such painters are, no
+doubt, great flatterers, and it is rather their ingenuity, than their
+truth, which we admire in these cabinet-pictures.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a philosopher, as far removed from superstition as from impiety; a
+voluptuary, who has not less abhorrence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> debauchery than inclination
+for pleasure; a man who has never known want nor abundance. I occupy
+that station of life which is contemned by those who possess everything;
+envied by those who have nothing; and only relished by those who make
+their felicity consist in the exercise of their reason. Young, I hated
+dissipation; convinced that man must possess wealth to provide for the
+comforts of a long life. Old, I disliked economy; as I believe that we
+need not greatly dread want, when we have but a short time to be
+miserable. I am satisfied with what nature has done for me, nor do I
+repine at fortune. I do not seek in men what they have of evil, that I
+may censure; I only discover what they have ridiculous, that I may be
+amused. I feel a pleasure in detecting their follies; I should feel a
+greater in communicating my discoveries, did not my prudence restrain
+me. Life is too short, according to my ideas, to read all kinds of
+books, and to load our memories with an endless number of things at the
+cost of our judgment. I do not attach myself to the observations of
+scientific men to acquire science; but to the most rational, that I may
+strengthen my reason. Sometimes I seek for more delicate minds, that my
+taste may imbibe their delicacy; sometimes for the gayer, that I may
+enrich my genius with their gaiety; and, although I constantly read, I
+make it less my occupation than my pleasure. In religion, and in
+friendship, I have only to paint myself such as I am&mdash;in friendship more
+tender than a philosopher; and in religion, as constant and as sincere
+as a youth who has more simplicity than experience. My piety is composed
+more of justice and charity than of penitence. I rest my confidence on
+God, and hope everything from His benevolence. In the bosom of
+Providence I find my repose, and my felicity."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MEN_OF_GENIUS_DEFICIENT_IN_CONVERSATION" id="MEN_OF_GENIUS_DEFICIENT_IN_CONVERSATION"></a>MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The student or the artist who may shine a luminary of learning and of
+genius, in his works, is found, not rarely, to lie obscured beneath a
+heavy cloud in colloquial discourse.</p>
+
+<p>If you love the man of letters, seek him in the privacies of his study.
+It is in the hour of confidence and tranquillity that his genius shall
+elicit a ray of intelligence more fervid than the labours of polished
+composition.</p>
+
+<p>The great Peter Corneille, whose genius resembled that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> our
+Shakspeare, and who has so forcibly expressed the sublime sentiments of
+the hero, had nothing in his exterior that indicated his genius; his
+conversation was so insipid that it never failed of wearying. Nature,
+who had lavished on him the gifts of genius, had forgotten to blend with
+them her more ordinary ones. He did not even <i>speak</i> correctly that
+language of which he was such a master. When his friends represented to
+him how much more he might please by not disdaining to correct these
+trivial errors, he would smile, and say&mdash;"<i>I am not the less Peter
+Corneille!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Descartes, whose habits were formed in solitude and meditation, was
+silent in mixed company; it was said that he had received his
+intellectual wealth from nature in solid bars, but not in current coin;
+or as Addison expressed the same idea, by comparing himself to a banker
+who possessed the wealth of his friends at home, though he carried none
+of it in his pocket; or as that judicious moralist Nicolle, of the
+Port-Royal Society, said of a scintillant wit&mdash;"He conquers me in the
+drawing-room, but he surrenders to me at discretion on the staircase."
+Such may say with Themistocles, when asked to play on a lute&mdash;"I cannot
+fiddle, but I can make a little village a great city."</p>
+
+<p>The deficiencies of Addison in conversation are well known. He preserved
+a rigid silence amongst strangers; but if he was silent, it was the
+silence of meditation. How often, at that moment, he laboured at some
+future Spectator!</p>
+
+<p>Mediocrity can <i>talk</i>; but it is for genius to <i>observe</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The cynical Mandeville compared Addison, after having passed an evening
+in his company, to "a silent parson in a tie-wig."</p>
+
+<p>Virgil was heavy in conversation, and resembled more an ordinary man
+than an enchanting poet.</p>
+
+<p>La Fontaine, says La Bruy&egrave;re, appeared coarse, heavy, and stupid; he
+could not speak or describe what he had just seen; but when he wrote he
+was a model of poetry.</p>
+
+<p>It is very easy, said a humorous observer on La Fontaine, to be a man of
+wit, or a fool; but to be both, and that too in the extreme degree, is
+indeed admirable, and only to be found in him. This observation applies
+to that fine natural genius Goldsmith. Chaucer was more facetious in his
+tales than in his conversation, and the Countess of Pembroke used to
+rally him by saying, that his silence was more agreeable to her than his
+conversation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Isocrates, celebrated for his beautiful oratorical compositions, was of
+so timid a disposition, that he never ventured to speak in public. He
+compared himself to the whetstone which will not cut, but enables other
+things to do so; for his productions served as models to other orators.
+Vaucanson was said to be as much a machine as any he had made.</p>
+
+<p>Dryden says of himself&mdash;"My conversation is slow and dull, my humour
+saturnine and reserved. In short, I am none of those who endeavour to
+break jests in company, or make repartees."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIDA" id="VIDA"></a>VIDA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>What a consolation for an aged parent to see his child, by the efforts
+of his own merits, attain from the humblest obscurity to distinguished
+eminence! What a transport for the man of sensibility to return to the
+obscure dwelling of his parent, and to embrace him, adorned with public
+honours! Poor <i>Vida</i> was deprived of this satisfaction; but he is placed
+higher in our esteem by the present anecdote, than even by that classic
+composition, which rivals the Art of Poetry of his great master.</p>
+
+<p><i>Jerome Vida</i>, after having long served two Popes, at length attained to
+the episcopacy. Arrayed in the robes of his new dignity, he prepared to
+visit his aged parents, and felicitated himself with the raptures which
+the old couple would feel in embracing their son as their bishop. When
+he arrived at their village, he learnt that it was but a few days since
+they were no more. His sensibilities were exquisitely pained. The muse
+dictated some elegiac verse, and in the solemn pathos deplored the death
+and the disappointment of his parents.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SCUDERIES" id="THE_SCUDERIES"></a>THE SCUDERIES.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Bien heureux <span class="smcap">Scudery</span>, dont la fertile plume<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Peut tous les mois sans peine enfanter un volume.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Boileau has written this couplet on the Scuderies, the brother and
+sister, both famous in their day for composing romances, which they
+sometimes extended to ten or twelve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> volumes. It was the favourite
+literature of that period, as novels are now. Our nobility not
+unfrequently condescended to translate these voluminous compositions.</p>
+
+<p>The diminutive size of our modern novels is undoubtedly an improvement:
+but, in resembling the size of primers, it were to be wished that their
+contents had also resembled their inoffensive pages. Our
+great-grandmothers were incommoded with overgrown folios; and, instead
+of finishing the eventful history of two lovers at one or two sittings,
+it was sometimes six months, <i>including Sundays</i>, before they could get
+quit of their Clelias, their Cyrus's, and Parthenissas.</p>
+
+<p>Mademoiselle Scudery had composed <i>ninety volumes</i>! She had even
+finished another romance, which she would not give the public, whose
+taste, she perceived, no more relished this kind of works. She was one
+of those unfortunate authors who, living to more than ninety years of
+age, survive their own celebrity.</p>
+
+<p>She had her panegyrists in her day: Menage observes&mdash;"What a pleasing
+description has Mademoiselle Scudery made, in her Cyrus, of the little
+court at Rambouillet! A thousand things in the romances of this learned
+lady render them inestimable. She has drawn from the ancients their
+happiest passages, and has even improved upon them; like the prince in
+the fable, whatever she touches becomes gold. We may read her works with
+great profit, if we possess a correct taste, and love instruction. Those
+who censure their <i>length</i> only show the littleness of their judgment;
+as if Homer and Virgil were to be despised, because many of their books
+were filled with episodes and incidents that necessarily retard the
+conclusion. It does not require much penetration to observe that <i>Cyrus</i>
+and <i>Clelia</i> are a species of the <i>epic</i> poem. The epic must embrace a
+number of events to suspend the course of the narrative; which, only
+taking in a part of the life of the hero, would terminate too soon to
+display the skill of the poet. Without this artifice, the charm of
+uniting the greater part of the episodes to the principal subject of the
+romance would be lost. Mademoiselle de Scudery has so well treated them,
+and so aptly introduced a variety of beautiful passages, that nothing in
+this kind is comparable to her productions. Some expressions, and
+certain turns, have become somewhat obsolete; all the rest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> will last
+for ever, and outlive the criticisms they have undergone."</p>
+
+<p>Menage has here certainly uttered a false prophecy. The curious only
+look over her romances. They contain doubtless many beautiful
+inventions; the misfortune is, that <i>time</i> and <i>patience</i> are rare
+requisites for the enjoyment of these Iliads in prose.</p>
+
+<p>"The misfortune of her having written too abundantly has occasioned an
+unjust contempt," says a French critic. "We confess there are many heavy
+and tedious passages in her voluminous romances; but if we consider that
+in the Clelia and the Artamene are to be found inimitable delicate
+touches, and many splendid parts, which would do honour to some of our
+living writers, we must acknowledge that the great defects of all her
+works arise from her not writing in an age when taste had reached the
+<i>acm&eacute;</i> of cultivation. Such is her erudition, that the French place her
+next to the celebrated Madame Dacier. Her works, containing many secret
+intrigues of the court and city, her readers must have keenly relished
+on their early publication."</p>
+
+<p>Her Artamene, or the Great Cyrus, and principally her Clelia, are
+representations of what then passed at the court of France. The <i>Map</i> of
+the <i>Kingdom of Tenderness</i>, in Clelia, appeared, at the time, as one of
+the happiest inventions. This once celebrated <i>map</i> is an allegory which
+distinguishes the different kinds of <span class="smcap">Tenderness</span>, which are reduced to
+<i>Esteem</i>, <i>Gratitude</i>, and <i>Inclination</i>. The map represents three
+rivers, which have these three names, and on which are situated three
+towns called Tenderness: Tenderness on <i>Inclination</i>; Tenderness on
+<i>Esteem</i>; and Tenderness on <i>Gratitude</i>. <i>Pleasing Attentions</i>, or,
+<i>Petits Soins</i>, is a <i>village</i> very beautifully situated. Mademoiselle
+de Scudery was extremely proud of this little allegorical map; and had a
+terrible controversy with another writer about its originality.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">George Scudery</span>, her brother, and inferior in genius, had a striking
+singularity of character:&mdash;he was one of the most complete votaries to
+the universal divinity, Vanity. With a heated imagination, entirely
+destitute of judgment, his military character was continually exhibiting
+itself by that peaceful instrument the pen, so that he exhibits a most
+amusing contrast of ardent feelings in a cool situation; not liberally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+endowed with genius, but abounding with its semblance in the fire of
+eccentric gasconade; no man has portrayed his own character with a
+bolder colouring than himself, in his numerous prefaces and addresses;
+surrounded by a thousand self-illusions of the most sublime class,
+everything that related to himself had an Homeric grandeur of
+conception.</p>
+
+<p>In an epistle to the Duke of Montmorency, Scudery says, "I will learn to
+write with my left hand, that my right hand may more nobly be devoted to
+your service;" and alluding to his pen (<i>plume</i>), declares "he comes
+from a family who never used one, but to stick in their hats." When he
+solicits small favours from the great, he assures them "that princes
+must not think him importunate, and that his writings are merely
+inspired by his own individual interest; no! (he exclaims) I am studious
+only of your glory, while I am careless of my own fortune." And indeed,
+to do him justice, he acted up to these romantic feelings. After he had
+published his epic of Alaric, Christina of Sweden proposed to honour him
+with a chain of gold of the value of five hundred pounds, provided he
+would expunge from his epic the eulogiums he bestowed on the Count of
+Gardie, whom she had disgraced. The epical soul of Scudery magnanimously
+scorned the bribe, and replied, that "If the chain of gold should be as
+weighty as that chain mentioned in the history of the Incas, I will
+never destroy any altar on which I have sacrificed!"</p>
+
+<p>Proud of his boasted nobility and erratic life, he thus addresses the
+reader: "You will lightly pass over any faults in my work, if you
+reflect that I have employed the greater part of my life in seeing the
+finest parts of Europe, and that I have passed more days in the camp
+than in the library. I have used more matches to light my musket than to
+light my candles; I know better to arrange columns in the field than
+those on paper; and to square battalions better than to round periods."
+In his first publication, he began his literary career perfectly in
+character, by a challenge to his critics!</p>
+
+<p>He is the author of sixteen plays, chiefly heroic tragedies; children
+who all bear the features of their father. He first introduced, in his
+"L'Amour Tyrannique," a strict observance of the Aristotelian unities of
+time and place; and the necessity and advantages of this regulation are
+insisted on, which only shows that Aristotle's art goes but little to
+the composition of a pathetic tragedy. In his last drama, "Arminius,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+he extravagantly scatters his panegyrics on its fifteen predecessors;
+but of the present one he has the most exalted notion: it is the
+quintessence of Scudery! An ingenious critic calls it "The downfall of
+mediocrity!" It is amusing to listen to this blazing preface:&mdash;"At
+length, reader, nothing remains for me but to mention the great Arminius
+which I now present to you, and by which I have resolved to close my
+long and laborious course. It is indeed my masterpiece! and the most
+finished work that ever came from my pen; for whether we examine the
+fable, the manners, the sentiments, or the versification, it is certain
+that I never performed anything so just, so great, nor more beautiful;
+and if my labours could ever deserve a crown, I would claim it for this
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>The actions of this singular personage were in unison with his writings:
+he gives a pompous description of a most unimportant government which he
+obtained near Marseilles, but all the grandeur existed only in our
+author's heated imagination. Bachaumont and De la Chapelle describe it,
+in their playful "Voyage:"</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mais il faut vous parler du fort,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qui sans doute est une merveille;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">C'est notre dame de la garde!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gouvernement commode et beau,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A qui suffit pour tout garde,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Un Suisse avec sa hallebarde<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Peint sur la porte du ch&acirc;teau!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A fort very commodiously guarded; only requiring one sentinel with his
+halbert&mdash;painted on the door!</p>
+
+<p>In a poem on his disgust with the world, he tells us how intimate he has
+been with princes: Europe has known him through all her provinces; he
+ventured everything in a thousand combats:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">L'on me vit obe&iuml;r, l'on me vit commander,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et mon poil tout poudreux a blanchi sons les armes;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il est peu de beaux arts o&ugrave; je ne sois instruit;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">En prose et en vers, mon nom fit quelque bruit;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et par plus d'un chemin je parvins &agrave; la gloire.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">IMITATED.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Princes were proud my friendship to proclaim,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And Europe gazed, where'er her hero came!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I grasp'd the laurels of heroic strife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The thousand perils of a soldier's life;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Obedient in the ranks each toilful day!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though heroes soon command, they first obey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Twas not for me, too long a time to yield!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Born for a chieftain in the tented field!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Around my plumed helm, my silvery hair<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hung like an honour'd wreath of age and care!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The finer arts have charm'd my studious hours,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Versed in their mysteries, skilful in their powers;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In verse and prose my equal genius glow'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pursuing glory by no single road!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Such was the vain George Scudery! whose heart, however, was warm:
+poverty could never degrade him; adversity never broke down his
+magnanimous spirit!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DE_LA_ROCHEFOUCAULT" id="DE_LA_ROCHEFOUCAULT"></a>DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The maxims of this noble author are in the hands of every one. To those
+who choose to derive every motive and every action from the solitary
+principle of <i>self-love</i>, they are inestimable. They form one continued
+satire on human nature; but they are not reconcilable to the feelings of
+the man of better sympathies, or to him who passes through life with the
+firm integrity of virtue. Even at court we find a Sully, a Malesherbes,
+and a Clarendon, as well as a Rouchefoucault and a Chesterfield.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke de la Rochefoucault, says Segrais, had not studied; but he was
+endowed with a wonderful degree of discernment, and knew the world
+perfectly well. This afforded him opportunities of making reflections,
+and reducing into maxims those discoveries which he had made in the
+heart of man, of which he displayed an admirable knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>It is perhaps worthy of observation, that this celebrated French duke
+could never summon resolution, at his election, to address the Academy.
+Although chosen a member, he never entered, for such was his timidity,
+that he could not face an audience and deliver the usual compliment on
+his introduction; he whose courage, whose birth, and whose genius were
+alike distinguished. The fact is, as appears by Mad. de S&eacute;vign&eacute;, that
+Rochefoucault lived a close domestic life; there must be at least as
+much <i>theoretical</i> as <i>practical</i> knowledge in the opinions of such a
+retired philosopher.</p>
+
+<p>Chesterfield, our English Rochefoucault, we are also informed, possessed
+an admirable knowledge of the heart of man; and he, too, has drawn a
+similar picture of human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> nature. These are two <i>noble authors</i> whose
+chief studies seem to have been made in <i>courts</i>. May it not be
+possible, allowing these authors not to have written a sentence of
+apocrypha, that the fault lies not so much in <i>human nature</i> as in the
+satellites of Power breathing their corrupt atmosphere?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PRIORS_HANS_CARVEL" id="PRIORS_HANS_CARVEL"></a>PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Were we to investigate the genealogy of our best modern stories, we
+should often discover the illegitimacy of our favourites; and retrace
+them frequently to the East. My well-read friend Douce had collected
+materials for such a work. The genealogies of tales would have gratified
+the curious in literature.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the ring of Hans Carvel is of very ancient standing, as are
+most of the tales of this kind.</p>
+
+<p>Menage says that Poggius, who died in 1459, has the merit of its
+invention; but I suspect he only related a very popular story.</p>
+
+<p>Rabelais, who has given it in his peculiar manner, changed its original
+name of Philelphus to that of Hans Carvel.</p>
+
+<p>This title is likewise in the eleventh of <i>Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles</i>
+collected in 1461, for the amusement of Louis XI. when Dauphin, and
+living in solitude.</p>
+
+<p>Ariosto has borrowed it, at the end of his fifth Satire; but has fairly
+appropriated it by his pleasant manner.</p>
+
+<p>In a collection of novels at Lyons, in 1555, it is introduced into the
+eleventh novel.</p>
+
+<p>Celio Malespini has it again in page 288 of the second part of his Two
+Hundred Novels, printed at Venice in 1609.</p>
+
+<p>Fontaine has prettily set it off, and an anonymous writer has composed
+it in Latin Anacreontic verses; and at length our Prior has given it
+with equal gaiety and freedom. After Ariosto, La Fontaine, and Prior,
+let us hear of it no more; yet this has been done, in a manner, however,
+which here cannot be told.</p>
+
+<p>Voltaire has a curious essay to show that most of our best modern
+stories and plots originally belonged to the eastern nations, a fact
+which has been made more evident by recent researches. The Amphitryon of
+Moli&egrave;re was an imitation of Plautus, who borrowed it from the Greeks,
+and they took it from the Indians! It is given by Dow in his History of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+Hindostan. In Captain Scott's Tales and Anecdotes from Arabian writers,
+we are surprised at finding so many of our favourites very ancient
+orientalists.&mdash;The Ephesian Matron, versified by La Fontaine, was
+borrowed from the Italians; it is to be found in Petronius, and
+Petronius had it from the Greeks. But where did the Greeks find it? In
+the Arabian Tales! And from whence did the Arabian fabulists borrow it?
+From the Chinese! It is found in Du Halde, who collected it from the
+Versions of the Jesuits.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_STUDENT_IN_THE_METROPOLIS" id="THE_STUDENT_IN_THE_METROPOLIS"></a>THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A man of letters, more intent on the acquisitions of literature than on
+the intrigues of politics, or the speculations of commerce, may find a
+deeper solitude in a populous metropolis than in the seclusion of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>The student, who is no flatterer of the little passions of men, will not
+be much incommoded by their presence. Gibbon paints his own situation in
+the heart of the fashionable world:&mdash;"I had not been endowed by art or
+nature with those happy gifts of confidence and address which unlock
+every door and every bosom. While coaches were rattling through
+Bond-street, I have passed many a solitary evening in my lodging with my
+books. I withdrew without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene
+of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure." And even
+after he had published the first volume of his History, he observes that
+in London his confinement was solitary and sad; "the many forgot my
+existence when they saw me no longer at Brookes's, and the few who
+sometimes had a thought on their friend were detained by business or
+pleasure, and I was proud and happy if I could prevail on my bookseller,
+Elmsly, to enliven the dulness of the evening."</p>
+
+<p>A situation, very elegantly described in the beautifully polished verses
+of Mr. Rogers, in his "Epistle to a Friend:"</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">When from his classic dreams the student steals<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Amid the buzz of crowds, the whirl of wheels,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To muse unnoticed, while around him press<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The meteor-forms of equipage and dress;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alone in wonder lost, he seems to stand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A very stranger in his native land.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He compares the student to one of the seven sleepers in the ancient
+legend.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Descartes residing in the commercial city of Amsterdam, writing to
+Balzac, illustrates these descriptions with great force and vivacity.</p>
+
+<p>"You wish to retire; and your intention is to seek the solitude of the
+Chartreux, or, possibly, some of the most beautiful provinces of France
+and Italy. I would rather advise you, if you wish to observe mankind,
+and at the same time to lose yourself in the deepest solitude, to join
+me in Amsterdam. I prefer this situation to that even of your delicious
+villa, where I spent so great a part of the last year; for, however
+agreeable a country-house may be, a thousand little conveniences are
+wanted, which can only be found in a city. One is not alone so
+frequently in the country as one could wish: a number of impertinent
+visitors are continually besieging you. Here, as all the world, except
+myself, is occupied in commerce, it depends merely on myself to live
+unknown to the world. I walk every day amongst immense ranks of people,
+with as much tranquillity as you do in your green alleys. The men I meet
+with make the same impression on my mind as would the trees of your
+forests, or the flocks of sheep grazing on your common. The busy hum too
+of these merchants does not disturb one more than the purling of your
+brooks. If sometimes I amuse myself in contemplating their anxious
+motions, I receive the same pleasure which you do in observing those men
+who cultivate your land; for I reflect that the end of all their labours
+is to embellish the city which I inhabit, and to anticipate all my
+wants. If you contemplate with delight the fruits of your orchards, with
+all the rich promises of abundance, do you think I feel less in
+observing so many fleets that convey to me the productions of either
+India? What spot on earth could you find, which, like this, can so
+interest your vanity and gratify your taste?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_TALMUD" id="THE_TALMUD"></a>THE TALMUD.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Jews</span> have their <span class="smcap">Talmud</span>; the <span class="smcap">Catholics</span> their <span class="smcap">Legends</span> of Saints; and
+the <span class="smcap">Turks</span> their <span class="smcap">Sonnah</span>. The <span class="smcap">Protestant</span> has nothing but his <span class="smcap">Bible</span>. The
+former are three kindred works. Men have imagined that the more there is
+to be believed, the more are the merits of the believer. Hence all
+<i>traditionists</i> formed the orthodox and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> strongest party. The word
+of God is lost amidst those heaps of human inventions, sanctioned by an
+order of men connected with religious duties; they ought now, however,
+to be regarded rather as <span class="smcap">Curiosities of Literature</span>. I give a
+sufficiently ample account of the <span class="smcap">Talmud</span> and the <span class="smcap">Legends</span>; but of the
+<span class="smcap">Sonnah</span> I only know that it is a collection of the traditional opinions
+of the Turkish prophets, directing the observance of petty superstitions
+not mentioned in the Koran.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Talmud</span> is a collection of Jewish traditions which have been <i>orally</i>
+preserved. It comprises the <span class="smcap">Mishna</span>, which is the text; and the <span class="smcap">Gemara</span>,
+its commentary. The whole forms a complete system of the learning,
+ceremonies, civil and canon laws of the Jews; treating indeed on all
+subjects; even gardening, manual arts, &amp;c. The rigid Jews persuaded
+themselves that these traditional explications are of divine origin. The
+Pentateuch, say they, was written out by their legislator before his
+death in thirteen copies, distributed among the twelve tribes, and the
+remaining one deposited in the ark. The oral law Moses continually
+taught in the Sanhedrim, to the elders and the rest of the people. The
+law was repeated four times; but the interpretation was delivered only
+by <i>word of mouth</i> from generation to generation. In the fortieth year
+of the flight from Egypt, the memory of the people became treacherous,
+and Moses was constrained to repeat this oral law, which had been
+conveyed by successive traditionists. Such is the account of honest
+David Levi; it is the creed of every rabbin.&mdash;David believed in
+everything but in Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>This history of the Talmud some inclined to suppose apocryphal, even
+among a few of the Jews themselves. When these traditions first
+appeared, the keenest controversy has never been able to determine. It
+cannot be denied that there existed traditions among the Jews in the
+time of Jesus Christ. About the second century, they were industriously
+collected by Rabbi Juda the Holy, the prince of the rabbins, who enjoyed
+the favour of Antoninus Pius. He has the merit of giving some order to
+this multifarious collection.</p>
+
+<p>It appears that the Talmud was compiled by certain Jewish doctors, who
+were solicited for this purpose by their nation, that they might have
+something to oppose to their Christian adversaries.</p>
+
+<p>The learned W. Wotton, in his curious "Discourses" on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> the traditions of
+the Scribes and Pharisees, supplies an analysis of this vast collection;
+he has translated entire two divisions of this code of traditional laws,
+with the original text and the notes.</p>
+
+<p>There are two Talmuds: the Jerusalem and the Babylonian. The last is the
+most esteemed, because it is the most bulky.</p>
+
+<p>R. Juda, the prince of the rabbins, committed to writing all these
+traditions, and arranged them under six general heads, called orders or
+classes. The subjects are indeed curious for philosophical inquirers,
+and multifarious as the events of civil life. Every <i>order</i> is formed of
+<i>treatises</i>; every <i>treatise</i> is divided into chapters, every <i>chapter</i>
+into <i>mishnas</i>, which word means mixtures or miscellanies, in the form
+of <i>aphorisms</i>. In the first part is discussed what relates to <i>seeds</i>,
+<i>fruits</i>, and <i>trees</i>; in the second, <i>feasts</i>; in the third, <i>women</i>,
+their duties, their <i>disorders</i>, <i>marriages</i>, <i>divorces</i>, <i>contracts</i>,
+and <i>nuptials</i>; in the fourth, are treated the damages or losses
+sustained by beasts or men; of <i>things found</i>; <i>deposits</i>; <i>usuries</i>;
+<i>rents</i>; <i>farms</i>; <i>partnerships</i> in commerce; <i>inheritance</i>; <i>sales</i> and
+<i>purchases</i>; <i>oaths</i>; <i>witnesses</i>; <i>arrests</i>; <i>idolatry</i>; and here are
+named those by whom the oral law was received and preserved. In the
+fifth part are noticed <i>sacrifices</i> and <i>holy things</i>; and the sixth
+treats of <i>purifications</i>; <i>vessels</i>; <i>furniture</i>; <i>clothes</i>; <i>houses</i>;
+<i>leprosy</i>; <i>baths</i>; and numerous other articles. All this forms the
+<span class="smcap">Mishna</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Gemara</span>, that is, the <i>complement</i> or <i>perfection</i>, contains the
+<span class="smcap">Disputes</span> and the <span class="smcap">Opinions</span> of the <span class="smcap">Rabbins</span> on the oral traditions. Their
+last decisions. It must be confessed that absurdities are sometimes
+elucidated by other absurdities; but there are many admirable things in
+this vast repository. The Jews have such veneration for this
+compilation, that they compare the holy writings to <i>water</i>, and the
+Talmud to <i>wine</i>; the text of Moses to <i>pepper</i>, but the Talmud to
+<i>aromatics</i>. Of the twelve hours of which the day is composed, they tell
+us that <i>God</i> employs nine to study the Talmud, and only three to read
+the written law!</p>
+
+<p>St. Jerome appears evidently to allude to this work, and notices its
+"Old Wives' Tales," and the filthiness of some of its matters. The truth
+is, that the rabbins resembled the Jesuits and Casuists; and Sanchez's
+work on "<i>Matrimonio</i>" is well known to agitate matters with such
+<i>scrupulous niceties</i> as to become the most offensive thing possible.
+But as among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> the schoolmen and casuists there have been great men, the
+same happened to these Gemaraists. Maimonides was a pillar of light
+among their darkness. The antiquity of this work is of itself sufficient
+to make it very curious.</p>
+
+<p>A specimen of the topics may be shown from the table and contents of
+"Mishnic Titles." In the order of seeds, we find the following heads,
+which present no uninteresting picture of the pastoral and pious
+ceremonies of the ancient Jews.</p>
+
+<p>The Mishna, entitled the <i>Corner</i>, i.e. of the field. The laws of
+gleaning are commanded according to Leviticus; xix. 9, 10. Of the corner
+to be left in a corn-field. When the corner is due and when not. Of the
+forgotten sheaf. Of the ears of corn left in gathering. Of grapes left
+upon the vine. Of olives left upon the trees. When and where the poor
+may lawfully glean. What sheaf, or olives, or grapes, may be looked upon
+to be forgotten, and what not. Who are the proper witnesses concerning
+the poor's due, to exempt it from tithing, &amp;c. They distinguished
+uncircumcised fruit:&mdash;it is unlawful to eat of the fruit of any tree
+till the fifth year of its growth: the first three years of its bearing,
+it is called uncircumcised; the fourth is offered to God; and the fifth
+may be eaten.</p>
+
+<p>The Mishna, entitled <i>Heterogeneous Mixtures</i>, contains several curious
+horticultural particulars. Of divisions between garden-beds and fields,
+that the produce of the several sorts of grains or seeds may appear
+distinct. Of the distance between every species. Distances between vines
+planted in corn-fields from one another and from the corn; between vines
+planted against hedges, walls, or espaliers, and anything sowed near
+them. Various cases relating to vineyards planted near any forbidden
+seeds.</p>
+
+<p>In their seventh, or sabbatical year, in which the produce of all
+estates was given up to the poor, one of these regulations is on the
+different work which must not be omitted in the sixth year, lest
+(because the seventh being devoted to the poor) the produce should be
+unfairly diminished, and the public benefit arising from this law be
+frustrated. Of whatever is not perennial, and produced that year by the
+earth, no money may be made; but what is perennial may be sold.</p>
+
+<p>On priests' tithes, we have a regulation concerning eating the fruits
+carried to the place where they are to be separated.</p>
+
+<p>The order <i>women</i> is very copious. A husband is obliged to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> forbid his
+wife to keep a particular man's company before two witnesses. Of the
+waters of jealousy by which a suspected woman is to be tried by
+drinking, we find ample particulars. The ceremonies of clothing the
+accused woman at her trial. Pregnant women, or who suckle, are not
+obliged to drink for the rabbins seem to be well convinced of the
+effects of the imagination. Of their divorces many are the laws; and
+care is taken to particularise bills of divorces written by men in
+delirium or dangerously ill. One party of the rabbins will not allow of
+any divorce, unless something light was found in the woman's character,
+while another (the Pharisees) allow divorces even when a woman has only
+been so unfortunate as to suffer her husband's soup to be burnt!</p>
+
+<p>In the order of <i>damages</i>, containing rules how to tax the damages done
+by man or beast, or other casualties, their distinctions are as nice as
+their cases are numerous. What beasts are innocent and what convict. By
+the one they mean creatures not naturally used to do mischief in any
+particular way; and by the other, those that naturally, or by a vicious
+habit, are mischievous that way. The tooth of a beast is convict, when
+it is proved to eat its usual food, the property of another man, and
+full restitution must be made; but if a beast that is used to eat fruits
+and herbs gnaws clothes or damages tools, which are not its usual food,
+the owner of the beast shall pay but half the damage when committed on
+the property of the injured person; but if the injury is committed on
+the property of the person who does the damage, he is free, because the
+beast gnawed what was not its usual food. As thus; if the beast of A.
+gnaws or tears the clothes of B. in B.'s house or grounds, A. shall pay
+half the damages; but if B.'s clothes are injured in A.'s grounds by
+A.'s beast, A. is free, for what had B. to do to put his clothes in A.'s
+grounds? They made such subtile distinctions, as when an ox gores a man
+or beast, the law inquired into the habits of the beast; whether it was
+an ox that used to gore, or an ox that was not used to gore. However
+acute these niceties sometimes were, they were often ridiculous. No
+beast could be <i>convicted</i> of being vicious till evidence was given that
+he had done mischief three successive days; but if he leaves off those
+vicious tricks for three days more, he is innocent again. An ox may be
+convict of goring an ox and not a man, or of goring a man and not an ox:
+nay; of goring on the sabbath, and not on a working day. Their aim was
+to make the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> punishment depend on the proofs of the <i>design</i> of the
+beast that did the injury; but this attempt evidently led them to
+distinctions much too subtile and obscure. Thus some rabbins say that
+the morning prayer of the <i>Shem&aacute;h</i> must be read at the time they can
+distinguish <i>blue</i> from <i>white</i>; but another, more indulgent, insists it
+may be when we can distinguish <i>blue</i> from <i>green</i>! which latter colours
+are so near akin as to require a stronger light. With the same
+remarkable acuteness in distinguishing things, is their law respecting
+not touching fire on the Sabbath. Among those which are specified in
+this constitution, the rabbins allow the minister to look over young
+children by lamp-light, but he shall not read himself. The minister is
+forbidden to <i>read</i> by lamp-light, lest he should trim his lamp; but he
+may direct the children where they should read, because that is quickly
+done, and there would be no danger of his trimming his lamp in their
+presence, or suffering any of them to do it in his. All these
+regulations, which some may conceive as minute and frivolous, show a
+great intimacy with the human heart, and a spirit of profound
+observation which had been capable of achieving great purposes.</p>
+
+<p>The owner of an innocent beast only pays half the costs for the mischief
+incurred. Man is always convict, and for all mischief he does he must
+pay full costs. However there are casual damages,&mdash;as when a man pours
+water accidentally on another man; or makes a thorn-hedge which annoys
+his neighbour; or falling down, and another by stumbling on him incurs
+harm: how such compensations are to be made. He that has a vessel of
+another's in keeping, and removes it, but in the removal breaks it, must
+swear to his own integrity; i.e., that he had no design to break it. All
+offensive or noisy trades were to be carried on at a certain distance
+from a town. Where there is an estate, the sons inherit, and the
+daughters are maintained; but if there is not enough for all, the
+daughters are maintained, and the sons must get their living as they
+can, or even beg. The contrary to this excellent ordination has been
+observed in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>These few titles may enable the reader to form a general notion of the
+several subjects on which the Mishna treats. The Gemara or Commentary is
+often overloaded with ineptitudes and ridiculous subtilties. For
+instance, in the article of "Negative Oaths." If a man swears he will
+eat no bread, and does eat all sorts of bread, in that case the perjury
+is but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> one; but if he swears that he will eat neither barley, nor
+wheaten, nor rye-bread, the perjury is multiplied as he multiplies his
+eating of the several sorts.&mdash;Again, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had
+strong differences about touching the holy writings with their hands.
+The doctors ordained that whoever touched the book of the law must not
+eat of the truma (first fruits of the wrought produce of the ground),
+till they had washed their hands. The reason they gave was this. In
+times of persecution, they used to hide those sacred books in secret
+places, and good men would lay them out of the way when they had done
+reading them. It was possible, then, that these rolls of the law might
+be gnawed by <i>mice</i>. The hands then that touched these books when they
+took them out of the places where they had laid them up, were supposed
+to be unclean, so far as to disable them from eating the truma till they
+were washed. On that account they made this a general rule, that if any
+part of the <i>Bible</i> (except <i>Ecclesiastes</i>, because that excellent book
+their sagacity accounted less holy than the rest) or their phylacteries,
+or the strings of their phylacteries, were touched by one who had a
+right to eat the truma, he might not eat it till he had washed his
+hands. An evidence of that superstitious trifling, for which the
+Pharisees and the later Rabbins have been so justly reprobated.</p>
+
+<p>They were absurdly minute in the literal observance of their vows, and
+as shamefully subtile in their artful evasion of them. The Pharisees
+could be easy enough to themselves when convenient, and always as hard
+and unrelenting as possible to all others. They quibbled, and dissolved
+their vows, with experienced casuistry. Jesus reproaches the Pharisees
+in Matthew xv. and Mark vii. for flagrantly violating the fifth
+commandment, by allowing the vow of a son, perhaps made in hasty anger,
+its full force, when he had sworn that his father should never be the
+better for him, or anything he had, and by which an indigent father
+might be suffered to starve. There is an express case to this purpose in
+the Mishna, in the title of <i>Vows</i>. The reader may be amused by the
+story:&mdash;A man made a vow that his <i>father should not profit by him</i>.
+This man afterwards made a wedding-feast for his son, and wishes his
+father should be present; but he cannot invite him, because he is tied
+up by his vow. He invented this expedient:&mdash;He makes a gift of the court
+in which the feast was to be kept, and of the feast itself, to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> third
+person in trust, that his father should be invited by that third person,
+with the other company whom he at first designed. This third person then
+says&mdash;If these things you thus have given me are mine, I will dedicate
+them to God, and then none of you can be the better for them. The son
+replied&mdash;I did not give them to you that you should consecrate them.
+Then the third man said&mdash;Yours was no donation, only you were willing to
+eat and drink with your father. Thus, says R. Juda, they dissolved each
+other's intentions; and when the case came before the rabbins, they
+decreed that a gift which may not be consecrated by the person to whom
+it is given is not a gift.</p>
+
+<p>The following extract from the Talmud exhibits a subtile mode of
+reasoning, which the Jews adopted when the learned of Rome sought to
+persuade them to conform to their idolatry. It forms an entire Mishna,
+entitled <i>Sedir Nezikin</i>, Avoda Zara, iv. 7. on idolatrous worship,
+translated by Wotton.</p>
+
+<p>"Some Roman senators examined the Jews in this manner:&mdash;If God hath no
+delight in the worship of idols, why did he not destroy them? The Jews
+made answer&mdash;If men had worshipped only things of which the world had
+had no need, he would have destroyed the object of their worship; but
+they also worship the sun and moon, stars and planets; and then he must
+have destroyed his world for the sake of these deluded men. But still,
+said the Romans, why does not God destroy the things which the world
+does not want, and leave those things which the world cannot be without?
+Because, replied the Jews, this would strengthen the hands of such as
+worship these necessary things, who would then say&mdash;Ye allow now that
+these are gods, since they are not destroyed."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="RABBINICAL_STORIES" id="RABBINICAL_STORIES"></a>RABBINICAL STORIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The preceding article furnishes some of the more serious investigations
+to be found in the Talmud. Its levities may amuse. I leave untouched the
+gross obscenities and immoral decisions. The Talmud contains a vast
+collection of stories, apologues, and jests; many display a vein of
+pleasantry, and at times have a wildness of invention, which
+sufficiently mark the features of an eastern parent. Many extravagantly
+puerile were designed merely to recreate their young students. When a
+rabbin was asked the reason of so much nonsense, he replied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> that the
+ancients had a custom of introducing music in their lectures, which
+accompaniment made them more agreeable; but that not having musical
+instruments in the schools, the rabbins invented these strange stories
+to arouse attention. This was ingeniously said; but they make miserable
+work when they pretend to give mystical interpretations to pure
+nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>In 1711, a German professor of the Oriental languages, Dr. Eisenmenger,
+published in two large volumes quarto, his "Judaism Discovered," a
+ponderous labour, of which the scope was to ridicule the Jewish
+traditions.</p>
+
+<p>I shall give a dangerous adventure into which King David was drawn by
+the devil. The king one day hunting, Satan appeared before him in the
+likeness of a roe. David discharged an arrow at him, but missed his aim.
+He pursued the feigned roe into the land of the Philistines. Ishbi, the
+brother of Goliath, instantly recognised the king as him who had slain
+that giant. He bound him, and bending him neck and heels, laid him under
+a wine-press in order to press him to death. A miracle saves David. The
+earth beneath him became soft, and Ishbi could not press wine out of
+him. That evening in the Jewish congregation a dove, whose wings were
+covered with silver, appeared in great perplexity; and evidently
+signified the king of Israel was in trouble. Abishai, one of the king's
+counsellors, inquiring for the king, and finding him absent, is at a
+loss to proceed, for according to the Mishna, no one may ride on the
+king's horse, nor sit upon his throne, nor use his sceptre. The school
+of the rabbins, however, allowed these things in time of danger. On this
+Abishai vaults on David's horse, and (with an Oriental metaphor) the
+land of the Philistines leaped to him instantly! Arrived at Ishbi's
+house, he beholds his mother Orpa spinning. Perceiving the Israelite,
+she snatched up her spinning-wheel and threw it at him, to kill him; but
+not hitting him, she desired him to bring the spinning-wheel to her. He
+did not do this exactly, but returned it to her in such a way that she
+never asked any more for her spinning-wheel. When Ishbi saw this, and
+recollecting that David, though tied up neck and heels, was still under
+the wine-press, he cried out. "There are now two who will destroy me!"
+So he threw David high up into the air, and stuck his spear into the
+ground, imagining that David would fall upon it and perish. But Abishai
+pronounced the magical name, which the Talmudists frequently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> make use
+of, and it caused David to hover between earth and heaven, so that he
+fell not down! Both at length unite against Ishbi, and observing that
+two young lions should kill one lion, find no difficulty in getting rid
+of the brother of Goliath.</p>
+
+<p>Of Solomon, another favourite hero of the Talmudists, a fine Arabian
+story is told. This king was an adept in necromancy, and a male and a
+female devil were always in waiting for an emergency. It is observable,
+that the Arabians, who have many stories concerning Solomon, always
+describe him as a magician. His adventures with Aschmedai, the prince of
+devils, are numerous; and they both (the king and the devil) served one
+another many a slippery trick. One of the most remarkable is when
+Aschmedai, who was prisoner to Solomon, the king having contrived to
+possess himself of the devil's seal-ring, and chained him, one day
+offered to answer an unholy question put to him by Solomon, provided he
+returned him his seal-ring and loosened his chain. The impertinent
+curiosity of Solomon induced him to commit this folly. Instantly
+Aschmedai swallowed the monarch; and stretching out his wings up to the
+firmament of heaven, one of his feet remaining on the earth, he spit out
+Solomon four hundred leagues from him. This was done so privately, that
+no one knew anything of the matter. Aschmedai then assumed the likeness
+of Solomon, and sat on his throne. From that hour did Solomon say,
+"<i>This</i> then is the reward of all my labour," according to
+Ecclesiasticus i. 3; which <i>this</i> means, one rabbin says, his
+walking-staff; and another insists was his ragged coat. For Solomon went
+a begging from door to door; and wherever he came he uttered these
+words; "I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem." At length
+coming before the council, and still repeating these remarkable words,
+without addition or variation, the rabbins said, "This means something:
+for a fool is not constant in his tale!" They asked the chamberlain, if
+the king frequently saw him? and he replied to them, No! Then they sent
+to the queens, to ask if the king came into their apartments? and they
+answered, Yes! The rabbins then sent them a message to take notice of
+his feet; for the feet of devils are like the feet of cocks. The queens
+acquainted them that his majesty always came in slippers, but forced
+them to embrace at times forbidden by the law. He had attempted to lie
+with his mother Bathsheba, whom he had almost torn to pieces. At this
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> rabbins assembled in great haste, and taking the beggar with them,
+they gave him the ring and the chain in which the great magical name was
+engraven, and led him to the palace. Asehmedai was sitting on the throne
+as the real Solomon entered; but instantly he shrieked and flew away.
+Yet to his last day was Solomon afraid of the prince of devils, and had
+his bed guarded by the valiant men of Israel, as is written in Cant.
+iii. 7, 8.</p>
+
+<p>They frequently display much humour in their inventions, as in the
+following account of the manners and morals of an infamous town, which
+mocked at all justice. There were in Sodom four judges, who were liars,
+and deriders of justice. When any one had struck his neighbour's wife,
+and caused her to miscarry, these judges thus counselled the
+husband:&mdash;"Give her to the offender, that he may get her with child for
+thee." When any one had cut off an ear of his neighbour's ass, they said
+to the owner&mdash;"Let him have the ass till the ear is grown again, that it
+may be returned to thee as thou wishest." When any one had wounded his
+neighbour, they told the wounded man to "give him a fee for letting him
+blood." A toll was exacted in passing a certain bridge; but if any one
+chose to wade through the water, or walk round about to save it, he was
+condemned to a double toll. Eleasar, Abraham's servant, came thither,
+and they wounded him. When, before the judge, he was ordered to pay his
+fee for having his blood let, Eleasar flung a stone at the judge, and
+wounded him; on which the judge said to him&mdash;"What meaneth this?"
+Eleasar replied&mdash;"Give him who wounded me the fee that is due to myself
+for wounding thee." The people of this town had a bedstead on which they
+laid travellers who asked for rest. If any one was too long for it, they
+cut off his legs; and if he was shorter than the bedstead, they strained
+him to its head and foot. When a beggar came to this town, every one
+gave him a penny, on which was inscribed the donor's name; but they
+would sell him no bread, nor let him escape. When the beggar died from
+hunger, then they came about him, and each man took back his penny.
+These stories are curious inventions of keen mockery and malice,
+seasoned with humour. It is said some of the famous decisions of Sancho
+Panza are to be found in the Talmud.</p>
+
+<p>Abraham is said to have been jealous of his wives, and built an
+enchanted city for them. He built an iron city and put<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> them in. The
+walls were so high and dark, the sun could not be seen in it. He gave
+them a bowl full of pearls and jewels, which sent forth a light in this
+dark city equal to the sun. Noah, it seems, when in the ark, had no
+other light than jewels and pearls. Abraham, in travelling to Egypt,
+brought with him a chest. At the custom-house the officers exacted the
+duties. Abraham would have readily paid, but desired they would not open
+the chest. They first insisted on the duty for clothes, which Abraham
+consented to pay; but then they thought, by his ready acquiescence, that
+it might be gold. Abraham consents to pay for gold. They now suspected
+it might be silk. Abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly
+pearls; and Abraham generously consented to pay as if the chest
+contained the most valuable of things. It was then they resolved to open
+and examine the chest; and, behold, as soon as that chest was opened,
+that great lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in
+the land of Egypt; it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abraham, to conceal
+her beauty, had locked her up in this chest.</p>
+
+<p>The whole creation in these rabbinical fancies is strangely gigantic and
+vast. The works of eastern nations are full of these descriptions; and
+Hesiod's Theogony, and Milton's battles of angels, are puny in
+comparison with these rabbinical heroes, or rabbinical things. Mountains
+are hurled, with all their woods, with great ease, and creatures start
+into existence too terrible for our conceptions. The winged monster in
+the "Arabian Nights," called the Roc, is evidently one of the creatures
+of rabbinical fancy; it would sometimes, when very hungry, seize and fly
+away with an elephant. Captain Cook found a bird's nest in an island
+near New Holland, built with sticks on the ground, six-and-twenty feet
+in circumference, and near three feet in height. But of the rabbinical
+birds, fish, and animals, it is not probable any circumnavigator will
+ever trace even the slightest vestige or resemblance.</p>
+
+<p>One of their birds, when it spreads its wings, blots out the sun. An egg
+from another fell out of its nest, and the white thereof broke and glued
+about three hundred cedar-trees, and overflowed a village. One of them
+stands up to the lower joint of the leg in a river, and some mariners,
+imagining the water was not deep, were hastening to bathe, when a voice
+from heaven said&mdash;"Step not in there, for seven years ago there a
+carpenter dropped his axe, and it hath not yet reached the bottom."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The following passage, concerning fat geese, is perfectly in the style
+of these rabbins:&mdash;"A rabbin once saw in a desert a flock of geese so
+fat that their feathers fell off, and the rivers flowed in fat. Then
+said I to them, shall we have part of you in the other world when the
+Messiah shall come? And one of them lifted up a wing, and another a leg,
+to signify these parts we should have. We should otherwise have had all
+parts of these geese; but we Israelites shall be called to an account
+touching these fat geese, because their sufferings are owing to us. It
+is our iniquities that have delayed the coming of the Messiah; and these
+geese suffer greatly by reason of their excessive fat, which daily and
+daily increases, and will increase till the Messiah comes!"</p>
+
+<p>What the manna was which fell in the wilderness, has often been
+disputed, and still is disputable; it was sufficient for the rabbins to
+have found in the Bible that the taste of it was "as a wafer made with
+honey," to have raised their fancy to its pitch. They declare it was
+"like oil to children, honey to old men, and cakes to middle age." It
+had every kind of taste except that of cucumbers, melons, garlic, and
+onions, and leeks, for these were those Egyptian roots which the
+Israelites so much regretted to have lost. This manna had, however, the
+quality to accommodate itself to the palate of those who did not murmur
+in the wilderness; and to these it became fish, flesh, or fowl.</p>
+
+<p>The rabbins never advance an absurdity without quoting a text in
+Scripture; and to substantiate this fact they quote Deut. ii. 7, where
+it is said, "Through this great wilderness these forty years the Lord
+thy God hath been with thee, and <i>thou hast lacked nothing</i>!" St. Austin
+repeats this explanation of the Rabbins, that the faithful found in this
+manna the taste of their favourite food! However, the Israelites could
+not have found all these benefits, as the rabbins tell us; for in
+Numbers xi. 6, they exclaim, "There is <i>nothing at all besides this
+manna</i> before our eyes!" They had just said that they remembered the
+melons, cucumbers, &amp;c., which they had eaten of so freely in Egypt. One
+of the hyperboles of the rabbins is, that the manna fell in such
+mountains, that the kings of the east and the west beheld them; which
+they found on a passage in the 23rd Psalm; "Thou preparest a table
+before me in the presence of mine enemies!" These may serve as specimens
+of the forced interpretations on which their grotesque fables are
+founded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Their detestation of Titus, their great conqueror, appears by the
+following wild invention. After having narrated certain things too
+shameful to read, of a prince whom Josephus describes in far different
+colours, they tell us that on sea Titus tauntingly observed, in a great
+storm, that the God of the Jews was only powerful on the water, and
+that, therefore, he had succeeded in drowning Pharaoh and Sisera. "Had
+he been strong, he would have waged war with me in Jerusalem." On
+uttering this blasphemy, a voice from heaven said, "Wicked man! I have a
+little creature in the world which shall wage war with thee!" When Titus
+landed, a gnat entered his nostrils, and for seven years together made
+holes in his brains. When his skull was opened, the gnat was found to be
+as large as a pigeon: the mouth of the gnat was of copper, and the claws
+of iron. A collection which has recently appeared of these Talmudical
+stories has not been executed with any felicity of selection. That there
+are, however, some beautiful inventions in the Talmud, I refer to the
+story of Solomon and Sheba, in the present volume.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ON_THE_CUSTOM_OF_SALUTING_AFTER_SNEEZING" id="ON_THE_CUSTOM_OF_SALUTING_AFTER_SNEEZING"></a>ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is probable that this custom, so universally prevalent, originated in
+some ancient superstition; it seems to have excited inquiry among all
+nations.</p>
+
+<p>"Some Catholics," says Father Feyjoo, "have attributed the origin of
+this custom to the ordinance of a pope, Saint Gregory, who is said to
+have instituted a short benediction to be used on such occasions, at a
+time when, during a pestilence, the crisis was attended by <i>sneezing</i>,
+and in most cases followed by <i>death</i>."</p>
+
+<p>But the rabbins, who have a story for everything, say, that before Jacob
+men never sneezed but <i>once</i>, and then immediately <i>died</i>: they assure
+us that that patriarch was the first who died by natural disease; before
+him all men died by sneezing; the memory of which was ordered to be
+preserved in <i>all nations</i>, by a command of every prince to his subjects
+to employ some salutary exclamation after the act of sneezing. But these
+are Talmudical dreams, and only serve to prove that so familiar a custom
+has always excited inquiry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Even Aristotle has delivered some considerable nonsense on this custom;
+he says it is an honourable acknowledgment of the seat of good sense and
+genius&mdash;the head&mdash;to distinguish it from two other offensive eruptions
+of air, which are never accompanied by any benediction from the
+by-standers. The custom, at all events, existed long prior to Pope
+Gregory. The lover in Apuleius, Gyton in Petronius, and allusions to it
+in Pliny, prove its antiquity; and a memoir of the French Academy
+notices the practice in the New World, on the first discovery of
+America. Everywhere man is saluted for sneezing.</p>
+
+<p>An amusing account of the ceremonies which attend the <i>sneezing</i> of a
+king of Monomotapa, shows what a national concern may be the sneeze of
+despotism.&mdash;Those who are near his person, when this happens, salute him
+in so loud a tone, that persons in the ante-chamber hear it, and join in
+the acclamation; in the adjoining apartments they do the same, till the
+noise reaches the street, and becomes propagated throughout the city; so
+that, at each sneeze of his majesty, results a most horrid cry from the
+salutations of many thousands of his vassals.</p>
+
+<p>When the king of Sennaar sneezes, his courtiers immediately turn their
+backs on him, and give a loud slap on their right thigh.</p>
+
+<p>With the ancients sneezing was ominous;<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> from the <i>right</i> it was
+considered auspicious; and Plutarch, in his Life of Themistocles, says,
+that before a naval battle it was a sign of conquest! Catullus, in his
+pleasing poem of Acm&egrave; and Septimus, makes this action from the deity of
+Love, from the <i>left</i>, the source of his fiction. The passage has been
+elegantly versified by a poetical friend, who finds authority that the
+gods sneezing on the <i>right</i> in <i>heaven</i>, is supposed to come to us on
+<i>earth</i> on the <i>left</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Cupid <i>sneezing</i> in his flight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Once was heard upon the <i>right</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Boding woe to lovers true;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But now upon the <i>left</i> he flew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And with sporting <i>sneeze</i> divine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gave to joy the sacred sign.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Acm&egrave; bent her lovely face,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Flush'd with rapture's rosy grace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And those eyes that swam in bliss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Prest with many a breathing kiss;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Breathing, murmuring, soft, and low,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thus might life for ever flow!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"Love of my life, and life of love!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cupid rules our fates above,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ever let us vow to join<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In homage at his happy shrine."<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cupid heard the lovers true,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Again upon the <i>left</i> he flew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And with sporting <i>sneeze</i> divine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Renew'd of joy the <i>sacred sign</i>!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BONAVENTURE_DE_PERIERS" id="BONAVENTURE_DE_PERIERS"></a>BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A happy art in the relation of a story is, doubtless, a very agreeable
+talent; it has obtained La Fontaine all the applause which his charming
+<i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> deserves.</p>
+
+<p>Of "<i>Bonaventure de Periers, Valet de Chambre de la Royne de Navarre</i>,"
+there are three little volumes of tales in prose, in the quaint or the
+coarse pleasantry of that day. The following is not given as the best,
+but as it introduces a novel etymology of a word in great use:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A student at law, who studied at Poitiers, had tolerably improved
+himself in cases of equity; not that he was over-burthened with
+learning; but his chief deficiency was a want of assurance and
+confidence to display his knowledge. His father, passing by Poitiers,
+recommended him to read aloud, and to render his memory more prompt by
+continued exercise. To obey the injunctions of his father, he determined
+to read at the <i>Ministery</i>. In order to obtain a certain quantity of
+assurance, he went every day into a garden, which was a very retired
+spot, being at a distance from any house, and where there grew a great
+number of fine large cabbages. Thus for a long time he pursued his
+studies, and repeated his lectures to these cabbages, addressing them by
+the title of <i>gentlemen</i>, and balancing his periods to them as if they
+had composed an audience of scholars. After a fort-night or three weeks'
+preparation, he thought it was high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> time to take the <i>chair</i>; imagining
+that he should be able to lecture his scholars as well as he had before
+done his cabbages. He comes forward, he begins his oration&mdash;but before a
+dozen words his tongue freezes between his teeth! Confused, and hardly
+knowing where he was, all he could bring out was&mdash;<i>Domini, Ego bene
+video quod non eslis caules</i>; that is to say&mdash;for there are some who
+will have everything in plain English&mdash;<i>Gentlemen, I now clearly see you
+are not cabbages!</i> In the <i>garden</i> he could conceive the <i>cabbages</i> to
+be <i>scholars</i>; but in the <i>chair</i>, he could not conceive the <i>scholars</i>
+to be <i>cabbages</i>."</p>
+
+<p>On this story La Monnoye has a note, which gives a new origin to a
+familiar term.</p>
+
+<p>"The hall of the School of Equity at Poitiers, where the institutes were
+read, was called <i>La Ministerie</i>. On which head Florimond de Remond
+(book vii. ch. 11), speaking of Albert Babinot, one of the first
+disciples of Calvin, after having said he was called 'The <i>good man</i>,'
+adds, that because he had been a student of the institutes at this
+<i>Ministerie</i> of Poitiers, Calvin and others styled him <i>Mr. Minister</i>;
+from whence, afterwards <i>Calvin</i> took occasion to give the name of
+<span class="smcap">Ministers</span> to the pastors of his church."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="GROTIUS" id="GROTIUS"></a>GROTIUS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Life of Grotius shows the singular felicity of a man of letters and
+a statesman, and how a student can pass his hours in the closest
+imprisonment. The gate of the prison has sometimes been the porch of
+fame.</p>
+
+<p>Grotius, studious from his infancy, had also received from Nature the
+faculty of genius, and was so fortunate as to find in his father a tutor
+who formed his early taste and his moral feelings. The younger Grotius,
+in imitation of Horace, has celebrated his gratitude in verse.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting circumstances in the life of this great man,
+which strongly marks his genius and fortitude, is displayed in the
+manner in which he employed his time during his imprisonment. Other men,
+condemned to exile and captivity, if they survive, despair; the man of
+letters may reckon those days as the sweetest of his life.</p>
+
+<p>When a prisoner at the Hague, he laboured on a Latin essay on the means
+of terminating religious disputes, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> occasion so many infelicities
+in the state, in the church, and in families; when he was carried to
+Louvenstein, he resumed his law studies, which other employments had
+interrupted. He gave a portion of his time to moral philosophy, which
+engaged him to translate the maxims of the ancient poets, collected by
+Stob&aelig;us, and the fragments of Menander and Philemon.</p>
+
+<p>Every Sunday was devoted to the Scriptures, and to his Commentaries on
+the New Testament. In the course of the work he fell ill; but as soon as
+he recovered his health, he composed his treatise, in Dutch verse, on
+the Truth of the Christian Religion. Sacred and profane authors occupied
+him alternately. His only mode of refreshing his mind was to pass from
+one work to another. He sent to Vossius his observations on the
+Tragedies of Seneca. He wrote several other works&mdash;particularly a little
+Catechism, in verse, for his daughter Cornelia&mdash;and collected materials
+to form his Apology. Although he produced thus abundantly, his
+confinement was not more than two years. We may well exclaim here, that
+the mind of Grotius had never been imprisoned.</p>
+
+<p>To these various labours we may add an extensive correspondence he held
+with the learned; his letters were often so many treatises, and there is
+a printed collection amounting to two thousand. Grotius had notes ready
+for every classical author of antiquity, whenever a new edition was
+prepared; an account of his plans and his performances might furnish a
+volume of themselves; yet he never published in haste, and was fond of
+revising them. We must recollect, notwithstanding such uninterrupted
+literary avocations, his hours were frequently devoted to the public
+functions of an ambassador:&mdash;"I only reserve for my studies the time
+which other ministers give to their pleasures, to conversations often
+useless, and to visits sometimes unnecessary." Such is the language of
+this great man!</p>
+
+<p>I have seen this great student censured for neglecting his official
+duties; but, to decide on this accusation, it would be necessary to know
+the character of his accuser.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NOBLEMEN_TURNED_CRITICS" id="NOBLEMEN_TURNED_CRITICS"></a>NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I offer to the contemplation of those unfortunate mortals who are
+necessitated to undergo the criticisms of <i>lords</i>, this pair of
+anecdotes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Soderini, the Gonfaloni&egrave;re of Florence, having had a statue made by the
+great <i>Michael Angelo</i>, when it was finished, came to inspect it; and
+having for some time sagaciously considered it, poring now on the face,
+then on the arms, the knees, the form of the leg, and at length on the
+foot itself; the statue being of such perfect beauty, he found himself
+at a loss to display his powers of criticism, only by lavishing his
+praise. But only to praise might appear as if there had been an
+obtuseness in the keenness of his criticism. He trembled to find a
+fault, but a fault must be found. At length he ventured to mutter
+something concerning the nose&mdash;it might, he thought, be something more
+Grecian. <i>Angelo</i> differed from his Grace, but he said he would attempt
+to gratify his taste. He took up his chisel, and concealed some marble
+dust in his hand; feigning to re-touch the part, he adroitly let fall
+some of the dust he held concealed. The Cardinal observing it as it
+fell, transported at the idea of his critical acumen, exclaimed&mdash;"Ah,
+<i>Angelo</i>, you have now given an inimitable grace!"</p>
+
+<p>When Pope was first introduced to read his Iliad to Lord Halifax, the
+noble critic did not venture to be dissatisfied with so perfect a
+composition; but, like the cardinal, this passage, and that word, this
+turn, and that expression, formed the broken cant of his criticisms. The
+honest poet was stung with vexation; for, in general, the parts at which
+his lordship hesitated were those with which he was most satisfied. As
+he returned home with Sir Samuel Garth, he revealed to him the anxiety
+of his mind. "Oh," replied Garth, laughing, "you are not so well
+acquainted with his lordship as myself; he must criticize. At your next
+visit, read to him those very passages as they now stand; tell him that
+you have recollected his criticisms; and I'll warrant you of his
+approbation of them. This is what I have done a hundred times myself."
+<i>Pope</i> made use of this stratagem; it took, like the marble dust of
+<i>Angelo</i>; and my lord, like the cardinal, exclaimed&mdash;"Dear <i>Pope</i>, they
+are now inimitable!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_IMPOSTURES" id="LITERARY_IMPOSTURES"></a>LITERARY IMPOSTURES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some authors have practised singular impositions on the public.
+Varillas, the French historian, enjoyed for some time a great reputation
+in his own country for his historical compositions; but when they became
+more known, the scholars of other countries destroyed the reputation
+which he had unjustly acquired. His continual professions of sincerity
+prejudiced many in his favour, and made him pass for a writer who had
+penetrated into the inmost recesses of the cabinet; but the public were
+at length undeceived, and were convinced that the historical anecdotes
+which Varillas put off for authentic facts had no foundation, being
+wholly his own inventions&mdash;though he endeavoured to make them pass for
+realities by affected citations of titles, instructions, letters,
+memoirs, and relations, all of them imaginary! He had read almost
+everything historical, printed and manuscript; but his fertile political
+imagination gave his conjectures as facts, while he quoted at random his
+pretended authorities. Burnet's book against Varillas is a curious
+little volume.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>Gemelli Carreri, a Neapolitan gentleman, for many years never quitted
+his chamber; confined by a tedious indisposition, he amused himself with
+writing a <i>Voyage round the World</i>; giving characters of men, and
+descriptions of countries, as if he had really visited them: and his
+volumes are still very interesting. I preserve this anecdote as it has
+long come down to us; but Carreri, it has been recently ascertained, met
+the fate of Bruce&mdash;for he had visited the places he has described;
+Humboldt and Clavigero have con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>firmed his local knowledge of Mexico and
+of China, and found his book useful and veracious. Du Halde, who has
+written so voluminous an account of China, compiled it from the Memoirs
+of the Missionaries, and never travelled ten leagues from Paris in his
+life,&mdash;though he appears, by his writings, to be familiar with Chinese
+scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Damberger's Travels some years ago made a great sensation&mdash;and the
+public were duped; they proved to be the ideal voyages of a member of
+the German Grub-street, about his own garret. Too many of our "Travels"
+have been manufactured to fill a certain size; and some which bear names
+of great authority were not written by the professed authors.</p>
+
+<p>There is an excellent observation of an anonymous author:&mdash;"<i>Writers</i>
+who never visited foreign countries, and <i>travellers</i> who have run
+through immense regions with fleeting pace, have given us long accounts
+of various countries and people; evidently collected from the idle
+reports and absurd traditions of the ignorant vulgar, from whom only
+they could have received those relations which we see accumulated with
+such undiscerning credulity."</p>
+
+<p>Some authors have practised the singular imposition of announcing a
+variety of titles of works preparing for the press, but of which nothing
+but the titles were ever written.</p>
+
+<p>Paschal, historiographer of France, had a reason for these ingenious
+inventions; he continually announced such titles, that his pension for
+writing on the history of France might not be stopped. When he died, his
+historical labours did not exceed six pages!</p>
+
+<p>Gregorio Leti is an historian of much the same stamp as Varillas. He
+wrote with great facility, and hunger generally quickened his pen. He
+took everything too lightly; yet his works are sometimes looked into for
+many anecdotes of English history not to be found elsewhere; and perhaps
+ought not to have been there if truth had been consulted. His great aim
+was always to make a book: he swells his volumes with digressions,
+intersperses many ridiculous stories, and applies all the repartees he
+collected from old novel-writers to modern characters.</p>
+
+<p>Such forgeries abound; the numerous "Testaments Politiques" of Colbert,
+Mazarin, and other great ministers, were forgeries usually from the
+Dutch press, as are many pretended political "Memoirs."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of our old translations from the Greek and Latin authors, many were
+taken from French versions.</p>
+
+<p>The Travels, written in Hebrew, of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, of which we
+have a curious translation, are, I believe, apocryphal. He describes a
+journey, which, if ever he took, it must have been with his night-cap
+on; being a perfect dream! It is said that to inspirit and give
+importance to his nation, he pretended that he had travelled to all the
+synagogues in the East; he mentions places which he does not appear ever
+to have seen, and the different people he describes no one has known. He
+calculates that he has found near eight hundred thousand Jews, of which
+about half are independent, and not subjects of any Christian or Gentile
+sovereign. These fictitious travels have been a source of much trouble
+to the learned; particularly to those who in their zeal to authenticate
+them followed the a&euml;rial footsteps of the Hyppogriffe of Rabbi Benjamin.
+He affirms that the tomb of Ezekiel, with the library of the first and
+second temples, were to be seen in his time at a place on the banks of
+the river Euphrates; Wesselius of Groningen, and many other literati,
+travelled on purpose to Mesopotamia, to reach the tomb and examine the
+library; but the fairy treasures were never to be seen, nor even heard
+of!</p>
+
+<p>The first on the list of impudent impostors is Annius of Viterbo, a
+Dominican, and master of the sacred palace under Alexander VI. He
+pretended he had discovered the entire works of Sanchoniatho, Manetho,
+Berosus, and others, of which only fragments are remaining. He published
+seventeen books of antiquities! But not having any MSS. to produce,
+though he declared he had found them buried in the earth, these literary
+fabrications occasioned great controversies; for the author died before
+he made up his mind to a confession. At their first publication
+universal joy was diffused among the learned. Suspicion soon rose, and
+detection followed. However, as the forger never would acknowledge
+himself as such, it has been ingeniously conjectured that he himself was
+imposed on, rather than that he was the impostor; or, as in the case of
+Chatterton, possibly all may not be fictitious. It has been said that a
+great volume in MS., anterior by two hundred years to the seventeen
+books of Annius, exists in the Biblioth&egrave;que Colbertine, in which these
+pretended histories were to be read; but as Annius would never point out
+the sources of his, the whole may be consi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>dered as a very wonderful
+imposture. I refer the reader to Tyrwhitt's Vindication of his Appendix
+to Rowley's or Chatterton's Poems, p. 140, for some curious
+observations, and some facts of literary imposture.</p>
+
+<p>An extraordinary literary imposture was that of one Joseph Vella, who,
+in 1794, was an adventurer in Sicily, and pretended that he possessed
+seventeen of the lost books of Livy in Arabic: he had received this
+literary treasure, he said, from a Frenchman, who had purloined it from
+a shelf in St. Sophia's church at Constantinople. As many of the Greek
+and Roman classics have been translated by the Arabians, and many were
+first known in Europe in their Arabic dress, there was nothing
+improbable in one part of his story. He was urged to publish these
+long-desired books; and Lady Spencer, then in Italy, offered to defray
+the expenses. He had the effrontery, by way of specimen, to edit an
+Italian translation of the sixtieth book, but that book took up no more
+than one octavo page! A professor of Oriental literature in Prussia
+introduced it in his work, never suspecting the fraud; it proved to be
+nothing more than the epitome of Florus. He also gave out that he
+possessed a code which he had picked up in the abbey of St. Martin,
+containing the ancient history of Sicily in the Arabic period,
+comprehending above two hundred years; and of which ages their own
+historians were entirely deficient in knowledge. Vella declared he had a
+genuine official correspondence between the Arabian governors of Sicily
+and their superiors in Africa, from the first landing of the Arabians in
+that island. Vella was now loaded with honours and pensions! It is true
+he showed Arabic MSS., which, however, did not contain a syllable of
+what he said. He pretended he was in continual correspondence with
+friends at Morocco and elsewhere. The King of Naples furnished him with
+money to assist his researches. Four volumes in quarto were at length
+published! Vella had the adroitness to change the Arabic MSS. he
+possessed, which entirely related to Mahomet, to matters relative to
+Sicily; he bestowed several weeks' labour to disfigure the whole,
+altering page for page, line for line, and word for word, but
+interspersed numberless dots, strokes, and flourishes; so that when he
+published a fac-simile, every one admired the learning of Vella, who
+could translate what no one else could read. He complained he had lost
+an eye in this minute labour; and every one thought his pension ought to
+have been increased. Every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>thing prospered about him, except his eye,
+which some thought was not so bad neither. It was at length discovered
+by his blunders, &amp;c., that the whole was a forgery: though it had now
+been patronised, translated, and extracted through Europe. When this MS.
+was examined by an Orientalist, it was discovered to be nothing but a
+history of <i>Mahomet and his family</i>. Vella was condemned to
+imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish antiquary, Medina Conde, in order to favour the pretensions
+of the church in a great lawsuit, forged deeds and inscriptions, which
+he buried in the ground, where he knew they would shortly be dug up.
+Upon their being found, he published engravings of them, and gave
+explanations of their unknown characters, making them out to be so many
+authentic proofs and evidences of the contested assumptions of the
+clergy.</p>
+
+<p>The Morocco ambassador purchased of him a copper bracelet of Fatima,
+which Medina proved by the Arabic inscription and many certificates to
+be genuine, and found among the ruins of the Alhambra, with other
+treasures of its last king, who had hid them there in hope of better
+days. This famous bracelet turned out afterwards to be the work of
+Medina's own hand, made out of an old brass candlestick!</p>
+
+<p>George Psalmanazar, to whose labours we owe much of the great Universal
+History, exceeded in powers of deception any of the great impostors of
+learning. His Island of Formosa was an illusion eminently bold,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and
+maintained with as much felicity as erudition; and great must have been
+that erudition which could form a pretended language and its grammar,
+and fertile the genius which could invent the history of an unknown
+people: it is said that the deception was only satisfactorily
+ascertained by his own penitential confes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>sion; he had defied and
+baffled the most learned.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> The literary impostor Lauder had much more
+audacity than ingenuity, and he died contemned by all the world.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>
+Ireland's "Shakspeare" served to show that commentators are not blessed,
+necessarily, with an interior and unerring tact.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Genius and learning
+are ill directed in forming literary impositions, but at least they must
+be distinguished from the fabrications of ordinary impostors.</p>
+
+<p>A singular forgery was practised on Captain Wilford by a learned Hindu,
+who, to ingratiate himself and his studies with the too zealous and
+pious European, contrived, among other attempts, to give the history of
+Noah and his three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> sons, in his "Purana," under the designation of
+Satyavrata. Captain Wilford having <i>read</i> the passage, transcribed it
+for Sir William Jones, who translated it as a curious extract; the whole
+was an interpolation by the dexterous introduction of a forged sheet,
+discoloured and prepared for the purpose of deception, and which, having
+served his purpose for the moment, was afterwards withdrawn. As books in
+India are not bound, it is not difficult to introduce loose leaves. To
+confirm his various impositions, this learned forger had the patience to
+write two voluminous sections, in which he connected all the legends
+together in the style of the <i>Puranas</i>, consisting of 12,000 lines. When
+Captain Wilford resolved to collate the manuscript with others, the
+learned Hindu began to disfigure his own manuscript, the captain's, and
+those of the college, by erasing the name of the country and
+substituting that of Egypt. With as much pains, and with a more
+honourable direction, our Hindu Lauder might have immortalized his
+invention.</p>
+
+<p>We have authors who sold their names to be prefixed to works they never
+read; or, on the contrary, have prefixed the names of others to their
+own writings. Sir John Hill, once when he fell sick, owned to a friend
+that he had over-fatigued himself with writing seven works at once! one
+of which was on architecture, and another on cookery! This hero once
+contracted to translate Swammerdam's work on insects for fifty guineas.
+After the agreement with the bookseller, he recollected that he did not
+understand a word of the Dutch language! Nor did there exist a French
+translation! The work, however, was not the less done for this small
+obstacle. Sir John bargained with another translator for twenty-five
+guineas. The second translator was precisely in the same situation as
+the first&mdash;as ignorant, though not so well paid as the knight. He
+rebargained with a third, who perfectly understood his original, for
+twelve guineas! So that the translators who could not translate feasted
+on venison and turtle, while the modest drudge, whose name never
+appeared to the world, broke in patience his daily bread! The craft of
+authorship has many mysteries.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> One of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> great patriarchs and
+primeval dealers in English literature was Robert Green, one of the most
+facetious, profligate, and indefatigable of the Scribleri family. He
+laid the foundation of a new dynasty of literary emperors. The first act
+by which he proved his claim to the throne of Grub-street has served as
+a model to his numerous successors&mdash;it was an ambidextrous trick! Green
+sold his "Orlando Furioso" to two different theatres, and is among the
+first authors in English literary history who wrote as a <i>trader</i>;<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a>
+or as crabbed Anthony Wood phrases it, in the language of celibacy and
+cynicism, "he wrote to maintain his <i>wife</i>, and that high and loose
+course of living which <i>poets generally follow</i>." With a drop still
+sweeter, old Anthony describes Gayton, another worthy; "he came up to
+London to live in a <i>shirking condition</i>, and wrote <i>trite things</i>
+merely to get bread to sustain him and his <i>wife</i>."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The hermit
+Anthony seems to have had a mortal antipathy against the Eves of
+literary men.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CARDINAL_RICHELIEU" id="CARDINAL_RICHELIEU"></a>CARDINAL RICHELIEU.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The present anecdote concerning Cardinal Richelieu may serve to teach
+the man of letters how he deals out criticisms to the <i>great</i>, when they
+ask his opinion of manuscripts, be they in verse or prose.</p>
+
+<p>The cardinal placed in a gallery of his palace the portraits of several
+illustrious men, and was desirous of composing the inscriptions under
+the portraits. The one which he intended for Montluc, the marechal of
+France, was conceived in these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> terms: <i>Multa fecit, plura scripsit, vir
+tamen magnus fuit</i>. He showed it without mentioning the author to
+Bourbon, the royal Greek professor, and asked his opinion concerning it.
+The critic considered that the Latin was much in the style of the
+breviary; and, had it concluded with an <i>allelujah</i>, it would serve for
+an <i>anthem</i> to the <i>magnificat</i>. The cardinal agreed with the severity
+of his strictures, and even acknowledged the discernment of the
+professor; "for," he said, "it is really written by a priest." But
+however he might approve of Bourbon's critical powers, he punished
+without mercy his ingenuity. The pension his majesty had bestowed on him
+was withheld the next year.</p>
+
+<p>The cardinal was one of those ambitious men who foolishly attempt to
+rival every kind of genius; and seeing himself constantly disappointed,
+he envied, with all the venom of rancour, those talents which are so
+frequently the <i>all</i> that men of genius possess.</p>
+
+<p>He was jealous of Balzac's splendid reputation; and offered the elder
+Heinsius ten thousand crowns to write a criticism which should ridicule
+his elaborate compositions. This Heinsius refused, because Salmasius
+threatened to revenge Balzac on his <i>Herodes Infanticida</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He attempted to rival the reputation of Corneille's "Cid," by opposing
+to it one of the most ridiculous dramatic productions; it was the
+allegorical tragedy called "Europe," in which the <i>minister</i> had
+congregated the four quarters of the world! Much political matter was
+thrown together, divided into scenes and acts. There are appended to it
+keys of the dramatis person&aelig; and of the allegories. In this tragedy
+Francion represents France; Ibere, Spain; Parthenope, Naples, &amp;c.; and
+these have their attendants:&mdash;Lilian (alluding to the French lilies) is
+the servant of Francion, while Hispale is the confidant of Ibere. But
+the key to the allegories is much more copious:&mdash;Albione signifies
+England; <i>three knots of the hair of Austrasie</i> mean the towns of
+Clermont, Stenay, and Jamet, these places once belonging to Lorraine. <i>A
+box of diamonds</i> of Austrasie is the town of Nancy, belonging once to
+the dukes of Lorraine. The <i>key</i> of Ibere's great porch is Perpignan,
+which France took from Spain; and in this manner is this sublime tragedy
+composed! When he first sent it anonymously to the French Academy it was
+reprobated. He then tore it in a rage, and scattered it about his study.
+Towards evening,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> like another Medea lamenting over the members of her
+own children, he and his secretary passed the night in uniting the
+scattered limbs. He then ventured to avow himself; and having pretended
+to correct this incorrigible tragedy, the submissive Academy retracted
+their censures, but the public pronounced its melancholy fate on its
+first representation. This lamentable tragedy was intended to thwart
+Corneille's "Cid." Enraged at its success, Richelieu even commanded the
+Academy to publish a severe <i>critique</i> of it, well known in French
+literature. Boileau on this occasion has these two well-turned verses:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"En vain contre le Cid, un ministre se ligue;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tout Paris, pour <i>Chimene</i>, a les yeux de <i>Rodrigue</i>."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"To oppose the Cid, in vain the statesman tries;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All Paris, for <i>Chimene</i>, has <i>Roderick's</i> eyes."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It is said that, in consequence of the fall of this tragedy, the French
+custom is derived of securing a number of friends to applaud their
+pieces at their first representations. I find the following droll
+anecdote concerning this droll tragedy in Beauchamp's <i>Recherches sur le
+Th&eacute;&acirc;tre</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The minister, after the ill success of his tragedy, retired
+unaccompanied the same evening to his country-house at Ruel. He then
+sent for his favourite Desmaret, who was at supper with his friend
+Petit. Desmaret, conjecturing that the interview would be stormy, begged
+his friend to accompany him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said the Cardinal, as soon as he saw them, "the French will
+never possess a taste for what is lofty; they seem not to have relished
+my tragedy."&mdash;"My lord," answered Petit, "it is not the fault of the
+piece, which is so admirable, but that of the <i>players</i>. Did not your
+eminence perceive that not only they knew not their parts, but that they
+were all <i>drunk</i>?"&mdash;"Really," replied the Cardinal, something pleased,
+"I observed they acted it dreadfully ill."</p>
+
+<p>Desmaret and Petit returned to Paris, flew directly to the players to
+plan a <i>new mode</i> of performance, which was to <i>secure</i> a number of
+spectators; so that at the second representation bursts of applause were
+frequently heard!</p>
+
+<p>Richelieu had another singular vanity, of closely imitating Cardinal
+Ximenes. Pliny was not a more servile imitator of Cicero. Marville tells
+us that, like Ximenes, he placed himself at the head of an army; like
+him, he degraded princes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> and nobles; and like him, rendered himself
+formidable to all Europe. And because Ximenes had established schools of
+theology, Richelieu undertook likewise to raise into notice the schools
+of the Sorbonne. And, to conclude, as Ximenes had written several
+theological treatises, our cardinal was also desirous of leaving
+posterity various polemical works. But his gallantries rendered him more
+ridiculous. Always in ill health, this miserable lover and grave
+cardinal would, in a freak of love, dress himself with a red feather in
+his cap and sword by his side. He was more hurt by an offensive nickname
+given him by the queen of Louis XIII., than even by the hiss of theatres
+and the critical condemnation of academies.</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Richelieu was assuredly a great political genius. Sir William
+Temple observes, that he instituted the French Academy to give
+employment to the <i>wits</i>, and to hinder them from inspecting too
+narrowly his politics and his administration. It is believed that the
+Marshal de Grammont lost an important battle by the orders of the
+cardinal; that in this critical conjuncture of affairs his majesty, who
+was inclined to dismiss him, could not then absolutely do without him.</p>
+
+<p>Vanity in this cardinal levelled a great genius. He who would attempt to
+display universal excellence will be impelled to practise meanness, and
+to act follies which, if he has the least sensibility, must occasion him
+many a pang and many a blush.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ARISTOTLE_AND_PLATO" id="ARISTOTLE_AND_PLATO"></a>ARISTOTLE AND PLATO.</h2>
+
+
+<p>No philosopher has been so much praised and censured as Aristotle: but
+he had this advantage, of which some of the most eminent scholars have
+been deprived, that he enjoyed during his life a splendid reputation.
+Philip of Macedon must have felt a strong conviction of his merit, when
+he wrote to him, on the birth of Alexander:&mdash;"I receive from the gods
+this day a son; but I thank them not so much for the favour of his
+birth, as his having come into the world at a time when you can have the
+care of his education; and that through you he will be rendered worthy
+of being my son."</p>
+
+<p>Diogenes Laertius describes the person of the Stagyrite.&mdash;His eyes were
+small, his voice hoarse, and his legs lank. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> stammered, was fond of a
+magnificent dress, and wore costly rings. He had a mistress whom he
+loved passionately, and for whom he frequently acted inconsistently with
+the philosophic character; a thing as common with philosophers as with
+other men. Aristotle had nothing of the austerity of the philosopher,
+though his works are so austere: he was open, pleasant, and even
+charming in his conversation; fiery and volatile in his pleasures;
+magnificent in his dress. He is described as fierce, disdainful, and
+sarcastic. He joined to a taste for profound erudition, that of an
+elegant dissipation. His passion for luxury occasioned him such expenses
+when he was young, that he consumed all his property. Laertius has
+preserved the will of Aristotle, which is curious. The chief part turns
+on the future welfare and marriage of his daughter. "If, after my death,
+she chooses to marry, the executors will be careful she marries no
+person of an inferior rank. If she resides at Chalcis, she shall occupy
+the apartment contiguous to the garden; if she chooses Stagyra, she
+shall reside in the house of my father, and my executors shall furnish
+either of those places she fixes on."</p>
+
+<p>Aristotle had studied under the divine Plato; but the disciple and the
+master could not possibly agree in their doctrines: they were of
+opposite tastes and talents. Plato was the chief of the academic sect,
+and Aristotle of the peripatetic. Plato was simple, modest, frugal, and
+of austere manners; a good friend and a zealous citizen, but a
+theoretical politician: a lover indeed of benevolence, and desirous of
+diffusing it amongst men, but knowing little of them as we find them;
+his "Republic" is as chimerical as Rousseau's ideas, or Sir Thomas
+More's Utopia.</p>
+
+<p>Rapin, the critic, has sketched an ingenious parallel of these two
+celebrated philosophers:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The genius of Plato is more polished, and that of Aristotle more vast
+and profound. Plato has a lively and teeming imagination; fertile in
+invention, in ideas, in expressions, and in figures; displaying a
+thousand turns, a thousand new colours, all agreeable to their subject;
+but after all it is nothing more than imagination. Aristotle is hard and
+dry in all he says, but what he says is all reason, though it is
+expressed drily: his diction, pure as it is, has something uncommonly
+austere; and his obscurities, natural or affected, disgust and fatigue
+his readers. Plato is equally delicate in his thoughts and in his
+expressions. Aristotle, though he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> may be more natural, has not any
+delicacy: his style is simple and equal, but close and nervous; that of
+Plato is grand and elevated, but loose and diffuse. Plato always says
+more than he should say: Aristotle never says enough, and leaves the
+reader always to think more than he says. The one surprises the mind,
+and charms it by a flowery and sparkling character: the other
+illuminates and instructs it by a just and solid method. Plato
+communicates something of genius, by the fecundity of his own; and
+Aristotle something of judgment and reason, by that impression of good
+sense which appears in all he says. In a word, Plato frequently only
+thinks to express himself well: and Aristotle only thinks to think
+justly."</p>
+
+<p>An interesting anecdote is related of these philosophers&mdash;Aristotle
+became the rival of Plato. Literary disputes long subsisted betwixt
+them. The disciple ridiculed his master, and the master treated
+contemptuously his disciple. To make his superiority manifest, Aristotle
+wished for a regular disputation before an audience, where erudition and
+reason might prevail; but this satisfaction was denied.</p>
+
+<p>Plato was always surrounded by his scholars, who took a lively interest
+in his glory. Three of these he taught to rival Aristotle, and it became
+their mutual interest to depreciate his merits. Unfortunately one day
+Plato found himself in his school without these three favourite
+scholars. Aristotle flies to him&mdash;a crowd gathers and enters with him.
+The idol whose oracles they wished to overturn was presented to them. He
+was then a respectable old man, the weight of whose years had enfeebled
+his memory. The combat was not long. Some rapid sophisms embarrassed
+Plato. He saw himself surrounded by the inevitable traps of the subtlest
+logician. Vanquished, he reproached his ancient scholar by a beautiful
+figure:&mdash;"He has kicked against us as a colt against its mother."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this humiliating adventure he ceased to give public lectures.
+Aristotle remained master in the field of battle. He raised a school,
+and devoted himself to render it the most famous in Greece. But the
+three favourite scholars of Plato, zealous to avenge the cause of their
+master, and to make amends for their imprudence in having quitted him,
+armed themselves against the usurper.&mdash;Xenocrates, the most ardent of
+the three, attacked Aristotle, confounded the logician, and
+re-established Plato in all his rights. Since that time the academic and
+peripatetic sects, animated by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> spirits of their several chiefs,
+avowed an eternal hostility. In what manner his works have descended to
+us has been told in a preceding article, on <i>Destruction of Books</i>.
+Aristotle having declaimed irreverently of the gods, and dreading the
+fate of Socrates, wished to retire from Athens. In a beautiful manner he
+pointed out his successor. There were two rivals in his schools:
+Menedemus the Rhodian, and Theophrastus the Lesbian. Alluding delicately
+to his own critical situation, he told his assembled scholars that the
+wine he was accustomed to drink was injurious to him, and he desired
+them to bring the wines of Rhodes and Lesbos. He tasted both, and
+declared they both did honour to their soil, each being excellent,
+though differing in their quality;&mdash;the Rhodian wine is the strongest,
+but the Lesbian is the sweetest, and that he himself preferred it. Thus
+his ingenuity designated his favourite Theophrastus, the author of the
+"Characters," for his successor.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ABELARD_AND_ELOISA" id="ABELARD_AND_ELOISA"></a>ABELARD AND ELOISA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Abelard, so famous for his writings and his amours with Eloisa, ranks
+amongst the Heretics for opinions concerning the Trinity! His superior
+genius probably made him appear so culpable in the eyes of his enemies.
+The cabal formed against him disturbed the earlier part of his life with
+a thousand persecutions, till at length they persuaded Bernard, his old
+<i>friend</i>, but who had now turned <i>saint</i>, that poor Abelard was what
+their malice described him to be. Bernard, inflamed against him,
+condemned unheard the unfortunate scholar. But it is remarkable that the
+book which was burnt as unorthodox, and as the composition of Abelard,
+was in fact written by Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris; a work which has
+since been <i>canonised</i> in the Sarbonne, and on which the scholastic
+theology is founded. The objectionable passage is an illustration of the
+<i>Trinity</i> by the nature of a <i>syllogism</i>!&mdash;"As (says he) the three
+propositions of a syllogism form but one truth, so the <i>Father and Son</i>
+constitute but <i>one essence</i>. The <i>major</i> represents the <i>Father</i>, the
+<i>minor</i> the <i>Son</i>, and the <i>conclusion</i> the <i>Holy Ghost</i>!" It is curious
+to add, that Bernard himself has explained this mystical union precisely
+in the same manner, and equally clear. "The understanding," says this
+saint, "is the image of God. We find it consists of three parts: memory,
+intelligence, and will. To <i>memory</i>, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> attribute all which we know,
+without cogitation; to <i>intelligence</i>, all truths we discover which have
+not been deposited by memory. By <i>memory</i>, we resemble the <i>Father</i>; by
+<i>intelligence</i>, the <i>Son</i>; and by <i>will</i>, the <i>Holy Ghost</i>." Bernard's
+Lib. de Anim&acirc;, cap. i. num. 6, quoted in the "Mem. Secr&egrave;tes de la
+R&eacute;publique des Lettres." We may add also, that because Abelard, in the
+warmth of honest indignation, had reproved the monks of St. Denis, in
+France, and St. Gildas de Ruys, in Bretagne, for the horrid incontinence
+of their lives, they joined his enemies, and assisted to embitter the
+life of this ingenious scholar, who perhaps was guilty of no other crime
+than that of feeling too sensibly an attachment to one who not only
+possessed the enchanting attractions of the softer sex, but, what indeed
+is very unusual, a congeniality of disposition, and an enthusiasm of
+imagination.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It appears by a letter of Peter de Cluny to Eloisa, that she had
+solicited for Abelard's absolution. The abbot gave it to her. It runs
+thus:&mdash;"Ego Petrus Cluniacensis Abbas, qui Petrum Ab&aelig;lardum in monachum
+Cluniacensem recepi, et corpus ejus furtim delatum Heloiss&aelig; abbatiss&aelig; et
+moniali Paracleti concessi, auctoritate omnipotentis Dei et omnium
+sanctorum absolvo eum pro officio ab omnibus peccatis suis."</p>
+
+<p>An ancient chronicle of Tours records, that when they deposited the body
+of the Abbess Eloisa in the tomb of her lover, Peter Abelard, who had
+been there interred twenty years, this faithful husband raised his arms,
+stretched them, and closely embraced his beloved Eloisa. This poetic
+fiction was invented to sanctify, by a miracle, the frailties of their
+youthful days. This is not wonderful;&mdash;but it is strange that Du Chesne,
+the father of French history, not only relates this legendary tale of
+the ancient chroniclers, but gives it as an incident well authenticated,
+and maintains its possibility by various other examples. Such fanciful
+incidents once not only embellished poetry, but enlivened history.</p>
+
+<p>Bayle tells us that <i>billets doux</i> and <i>amorous verses</i> are two powerful
+machines to employ in the assaults of love, particularly when the
+passionate songs the poetical lover composes are sung by himself. This
+secret was well known to the elegant Abelard. Abelard so touched the
+sensible heart of Eloisa, and infused such fire into her frame, by
+employing his <i>fine pen</i>, and his <i>fine voice</i>, that the poor woman
+never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> recovered from the attack. She herself informs us that he
+displayed two qualities which are rarely found in philosophers, and by
+which he could instantly win the affections of the female;&mdash;he <i>wrote</i>
+and <i>sung</i> finely. He composed <i>love-verses</i> so beautiful, and <i>songs</i>
+so agreeable, as well for the <i>words</i> as the <i>airs</i>, that all the world
+got them by heart, and the name of his mistress was spread from province
+to province.</p>
+
+<p>What a gratification to the enthusiastic, the amorous, the vain Eloisa!
+of whom Lord Lyttleton, in his curious Life of Henry II., observes, that
+had she not been compelled to read the fathers and the legends in a
+nunnery, and had been suffered to improve her genius by a continued
+application to polite literature, from what appears in her letters, she
+would have excelled any man of that age.</p>
+
+<p>Eloisa, I suspect, however, would have proved but a very indifferent
+polemic; she seems to have had a certain delicacy in her manners which
+rather belongs to the <i>fine lady</i>. We cannot but smile at an observation
+of hers on the <i>Apostles</i> which we find in her letters:&mdash;"We read that
+the <i>apostles</i>, even in the company of their Master, were so <i>rustic</i>
+and <i>ill-bred,</i> that, regardless of common decorum, as they passed
+through the corn-fields they plucked the ears, and ate them like
+children. Nor did they wash their hands before they sat down to table.
+To eat with unwashed hands, said our Saviour to those who were offended,
+doth not defile a man."</p>
+
+<p>It is on the misconception of the mild apologetical reply of Jesus,
+indeed, that religious fanatics have really considered, that, to be
+careless of their dress, and not to free themselves from filth and
+slovenliness, is an act of piety; just as the late political fanatics,
+who thought that republicanism consisted in the most offensive
+filthiness. On this principle, that it is saint-like to go dirty, ragged
+and slovenly, says Bishop Lavington, in his "Enthusiasm of the
+Methodists and Papists," how <i>piously</i> did Whitfield take care of the
+outward man, who in his journals writes, "My apparel was mean&mdash;thought
+it unbecoming a penitent to have <i>powdered hair</i>.&mdash;I wore <i>woollen
+gloves</i>, a <i>patched gown</i>, and <i>dirty shoes!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>After an injury, not less cruel than humiliating, Abelard raises the
+school of the Paraclete; with what enthusiasm is he followed to that
+desert! His scholars in crowds hasten to their adored master; they cover
+their mud sheds with the branches of trees; they care not to sleep under
+better roofs, provided they remain by the side of their unfortunate
+master.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> How lively must have been their taste for study!&mdash;it formed
+their solitary passion, and the love of glory was gratified even in that
+desert.</p>
+
+<p>The two reprehensible lines in Pope's Eloisa, too celebrated among
+certain of its readers&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Not Cesar's empress would I deign to prove;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No,&mdash;make me mistress to the man I love!"&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>are, however, found in her original letters. The author of that ancient
+work, "The Romaunt of the Rose," has given it thus <i>na&iuml;vely</i>; a specimen
+of the <i>natural</i> style in those days:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Si l'empereur, qui est a Rome,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Souhz qui doyvent etre tout homme,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Me daignoit prendre pour sa femme,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et me faire du monde dame!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Si vouldroye-je mieux, dist-elle<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et Die&ugrave; en tesmoing en appelle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Etre sa Putaine appell&eacute;e<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qu'etre emperiere couronn&eacute;e.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PHYSIOGNOMY" id="PHYSIOGNOMY"></a>PHYSIOGNOMY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A very extraordinary physiognomical anecdote has been given by De la
+Place, in his "<i>Pi&egrave;ces Int&eacute;ressantes et peu Connues</i>," vol. iv. p. 8.</p>
+
+<p>A friend assured him that he had seen a voluminous and secret
+correspondence which had been carried on between Louis XIV. and his
+favourite physician, De la Chambre, on this science. The faith of the
+monarch seems to have been great, and the purpose to which this
+correspondence tended was extraordinary indeed, and perhaps scarcely
+credible. Who will believe that Louis XIV. was so convinced of that
+talent which De la Chambre attributed to himself, of deciding merely by
+the physiognomy of persons, not only on the real bent of their
+character, but to what employment they were adapted, that the king
+entered into a <i>secret correspondence</i> to obtain the critical notices of
+his <i>physiognomist?</i> That Louis XIV. should have pursued this system,
+undetected by his own courtiers, is also singular; but it appears, by
+this correspondence, that this art positively swayed him in his choice
+of officers and favourites. On one of the backs of these letters De la
+Chambre had written, "If I die before his majesty, he will incur great
+risk of making many an unfortunate choice!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This collection of physiognomical correspondence, if it does really
+exist, would form a curious publication; we have heard nothing of it! De
+la Chambre was an enthusiastic physiognomist, as appears by his works;
+"The Characters of the Passions," four volumes in quarto; "The Art of
+Knowing Mankind;" and "The Knowledge of Animals." Lavater quotes his
+"Vote and Interest," in favour of his favourite science. It is, however,
+curious to add, that Philip Earl of Pembroke, under James I., had formed
+a particular collection of portraits, with a view to physiognomical
+studies. According to Evelyn on Medals, p. 302, such was his sagacity in
+discovering the characters and dispositions of men by their
+countenances, that James I. made no little use of his extraordinary
+talent on <i>the first arrival of ambassadors at court</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The following physiological definition of <span class="smcap">Physiognomy</span> is extracted from
+a publication by Dr. Gwither, of the year 1604, which, dropping his
+history of "The Animal Spirits," is curious:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Soft wax cannot receive more various and numerous impressions than are
+imprinted on a man's face by <i>objects</i> moving his affections: and not
+only the <i>objects</i> themselves have this power, but also the very
+<i>images</i> or <i>ideas</i>; that is to say, anything that puts the animal
+spirits into the same motion that the <i>object</i> present did, will have
+the same effect with the object. To prove the first, let one observe a
+man's face looking on a pitiful object, then a ridiculous, then a
+strange, then on a terrible or dangerous object, and so forth. For the
+second, that <i>ideas</i> have the same effect with the <i>object</i>, dreams
+confirm too often.</p>
+
+<p>"The manner I conceive to be thus:&mdash;the animal spirits, moved in the
+sensory by an object, continue their motion to the brain; whence the
+motion is propagated to this or that particular part of the body, as is
+most suitable to the design of its creation; having first made an
+alteration in the <i>face</i> by its nerves, especially by the <i>pathetic</i> and
+<i>oculorum motorii</i> actuating its many muscles, as the dial-plate to that
+stupendous piece of clock-work which shows what is to be expected next
+from the striking part; not that I think the motion of the spirits in
+the sensory continued by the impression of the object all the way, as
+from a finger to the foot; I know it too weak, though the tenseness of
+the nerves favours it. But I conceive it done in the medulla of the
+brain, where is the common stock of spirits; as in an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> organ, whose
+pipes being uncovered, the air rushes into them; but the keys let go,
+are stopped again. Now, if by repeated acts of frequent entertaining of
+a favourite idea of a passion or vice, which natural temperament has
+hurried one to, or custom dragged, the <i>face</i> is so often put into that
+posture which attends such acts, that the animal spirits find such
+latent passages into its nerves, that it is sometimes unalterably set:
+as the <i>Indian</i> religious are by long continuing in strange postures in
+their <i>pagods</i>. But most commonly such a habit is contracted, that it
+falls insensibly into that posture when some present object does not
+obliterate that more natural impression by a new, or dissimulation hide
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Hence it is that we see great <i>drinkers</i> with <i>eyes</i> generally set
+towards the nose, the adducent muscles being often employed to let them
+see their loved liquor in the glass at the time of drinking; which were,
+therefore, called <i>bibitory Lascivious persons</i> are remarkable for the
+<i>oculorum nobilis petulantia</i>, as Petronius calls it. From this also we
+may solve the <i>Quaker's</i> expecting face, waiting for the pretended
+spirit; and the melancholy face of the <i>sectaries</i>; the <i>studious</i> face
+of men of great application of mind; revengeful and <i>bloody</i> men, like
+executioners in the act: and though silence in a sort may awhile pass
+for wisdom, yet, sooner or later, Saint Martin peeps through the
+disguise to undo all. A <i>changeable face</i> I have observed to show a
+<i>changeable mind</i>. But I would by no means have what has been said
+understood as without exception; for I doubt not but sometimes there are
+found men with great and virtuous souls under very unpromising
+outsides."</p>
+
+<p>The great Prince of Cond&eacute; was very expert in a sort of physiognomy which
+showed the peculiar habits, motions, and postures of familiar life and
+mechanical employments. He would sometimes lay wagers with his friends,
+that he would guess, upon the Pont Neuf, what trade persons were of that
+passed by, from their walk and air.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHARACTERS_DESCRIBED_BY_MUSICAL_NOTES" id="CHARACTERS_DESCRIBED_BY_MUSICAL_NOTES"></a>CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The idea of describing characters under the names of Musical Instruments
+has been already displayed in two most pleasing papers which embellish
+the <i>Tatler</i>, written by Addison. He dwells on this idea with uncommon
+success. It has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> applauded for its <i>originality</i>; and in the
+general preface to that work, those papers are distinguished for their
+felicity of imagination. The following paper was published in the year
+1700, in a volume of "Philosophical Transactions and Collections," and
+the two numbers of Addison in the year 1710. It is probable that this
+inimitable writer borrowed the seminal hint from this work:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A conjecture at dispositions from the modulations of the voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Sitting in some company, and having been but a little before musical, I
+chanced to take notice that, in ordinary discourse, <i>words</i> were spoken
+in perfect <i>notes</i>; and that some of the company used <i>eighths</i>, some
+<i>fifths</i>, some <i>thirds</i>; and that his discourse which was the most
+pleasing, his <i>words</i>, as to their tone, consisted most of <i>concords</i>,
+and were of <i>discords</i> of such as made up harmony. The same person was
+the most affable, pleasant, and best-natured in the company. This
+suggests a reason why many discourses which one <i>hears</i> with much
+pleasure, when they come to be <i>read</i> scarcely seem the same things.</p>
+
+<p>"From this difference of <span class="smcap">Music</span> in <span class="smcap">Speech</span>, we may conjecture that of
+<span class="smcap">Tempers</span>. We know the Doric mood sounds gravity and sobriety; the Lydian,
+buxomness and freedom; the &AElig;olic, sweet stillness and quiet composure;
+the Phrygian, jollity and youthful levity; the Ionic is a stiller of
+storms and disturbances arising from passion; and why may we not
+reasonably suppose, that those whose speech naturally runs into the
+notes peculiar to any of these moods, are likewise in nature hereunto
+congenerous? <i>C Fa ut</i> may show me to be of an ordinary capacity, though
+good disposition. <i>G Sol re ut</i>, to be peevish and effeminate. <i>Flats</i>,
+a manly or melancholic sadness. He who hath a voice which will in some
+measure agree with all <i>cliffs</i>, to be of good parts, and fit for
+variety of employments, yet somewhat of an inconstant nature. Likewise
+from the <span class="smcap">Times</span>: so <i>semi-briefs</i> may speak a temper dull and phlegmatic;
+<i>minims</i>, grave and serious; <i>crotchets</i>, a prompt wit; <i>quavers</i>,
+vehemency of passion, and scolds use them. <i>Semi-brief-rest</i> may denote
+one either stupid or fuller of thoughts than he can utter; <i>minimrest,</i>
+one that deliberates; <i>crotchet-rest</i>, one in a passion. So that from
+the natural use of <span class="smcap">Mood</span>, <span class="smcap">Note</span>, and <span class="smcap">Time</span>, we may collect <span class="smcap">Dispositions</span>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MILTON" id="MILTON"></a>MILTON.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is painful to observe the acrimony which the most eminent scholars
+have infused frequently in their controversial writings. The politeness
+of the present times has in some degree softened the malignity of the
+man, in the dignity of the author; but this is by no means an
+irrevocable law.</p>
+
+<p>It is said not to be honourable to literature to revive such
+controversies; and a work entitled "Querelles Litt&eacute;raires," when it
+first appeared, excited loud murmurs; but it has its moral: like showing
+the drunkard to a youth, that he may turn aside disgusted with ebriety.
+Must we suppose that men of letters are exempt from the human passions?
+Their sensibility, on the contrary, is more irritable than that of
+others. To observe the ridiculous attitudes in which great men appear,
+when they employ the style of the fish-market, may be one great means of
+restraining that ferocious pride often breaking out in the republic of
+letters. Johnson at least appears to have entertained the same opinion;
+for he thought proper to republish the low invective of <i>Dryden</i> against
+<i>Settle</i>; and since I have published my "Quarrels of Authors," it
+becomes me to say no more.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated controversy of <i>Salmasius</i>, continued by Morus with
+<i>Milton</i>&mdash;the first the pleader of King Charles, the latter the advocate
+of the people&mdash;was of that magnitude, that all Europe took a part in the
+paper-war of these two great men. The answer of Milton, who perfectly
+massacred Salmasius, is now read but by the few. Whatever is addressed
+to the times, however great may be its merits, is doomed to perish with
+the times; yet on these pages the philosopher will not contemplate in
+vain.</p>
+
+<p>It will form no uninteresting article to gather a few of the rhetorical
+<i>weeds</i>, for <i>flowers</i> we cannot well call them, with which they
+mutually presented each other. Their rancour was at least equal to their
+erudition,&mdash;the two most learned antagonists of a learned age!</p>
+
+<p>Salmasius was a man of vast erudition, but no taste. His writings are
+learned, but sometimes ridiculous. He called his work <i>Defensio Regia</i>,
+Defence of Kings. The opening of this work provokes a
+laugh:&mdash;"Englishmen! who toss the heads of kings as so many
+tennis-balls; who play with crowns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> as if they were bowls; who look upon
+sceptres as so many crooks."</p>
+
+<p>That the deformity of the body is an idea we attach to the deformity of
+the mind, the vulgar must acknowledge; but surely it is unpardonable in
+the enlightened philosopher thus to compare the crookedness of corporeal
+matter with the rectitude of the intellect; yet Milbourne and Dennis,
+the last a formidable critic, have frequently considered, that comparing
+Dryden and Pope to whatever the eye turned from with displeasure, was
+very good argument to lower their literary abilities. Salmasius seems
+also to have entertained this idea, though his spies in England gave him
+wrong information; or, possibly, he only drew the figure of his own
+distempered imagination.</p>
+
+<p>Salmasius sometimes reproaches Milton as being but a puny piece of man;
+an homunculus, a dwarf deprived of the human figure, a bloodless being,
+composed of nothing but skin and bone; a contemptible pedagogue, fit
+only to flog his boys: and, rising into a poetic frenzy, applies to him
+the words of Virgil, "<i>Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen
+ademptum</i>." Our great poet thought this senseless declamation merited a
+serious refutation; perhaps he did not wish to appear despicable in the
+eyes of the ladies; and he would not be silent on the subject, he says,
+lest any one should consider him as the credulous Spaniards are made to
+believe by their priests, that a heretic is a kind of rhinoceros or a
+dog-headed monster. Milton says, that he does not think any one ever
+considered him as unbeautiful; that his size rather approaches
+mediocrity than, the diminutive; that he still felt the same courage and
+the same strength which he possessed when young, when, with his sword,
+he felt no difficulty to combat with men more robust than himself; that
+his face, far from being pale, emaciated, and wrinkled, was sufficiently
+creditable to him: for though he had passed his fortieth year, he was in
+all other respects ten years younger. And very pathetically he adds,
+"that even his eyes, blind as they are, are unblemished in their
+appearance; in this instance alone, and much against my inclination, I
+am a deceiver!"</p>
+
+<p>Morus, in his Epistle dedicatory of his <i>Regii Sanguinis Clamor</i>,
+compares Milton to a hangman; his disordered vision to the blindness of
+his soul, and so vomits forth his venom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When Salmasius found that his strictures on the person of Milton were
+false, and that, on the contrary, it was uncommonly beautiful, he then
+turned his battery against those graces with which Nature had so
+liberally adorned his adversary: and it is now that he seems to have
+laid no restrictions on his pen; but, raging with the irritation of
+Milton's success, he throws out the blackest calumnies, and the most
+infamous aspersions.</p>
+
+<p>It must be observed, when Milton first proposed to answer Salmasius, he
+had lost the use of one of his eyes; and his physicians declared that,
+if he applied himself to the controversy, the other would likewise close
+for ever! His patriotism was not to be baffled, but with life itself.
+Unhappily, the prediction of his physicians took place! Thus a learned
+man in the occupations of study falls blind&mdash;a circumstance even now not
+read without sympathy. Salmasius considers it as one from which he may
+draw caustic ridicule and satiric severity.</p>
+
+<p>Salmasius glories that Milton lost his health and his eyes in answering
+his apology for King Charles! He does not now reproach him with natural
+deformities; but he malignantly sympathises with him, that he now no
+more is in possession of that beauty which rendered him so amiable
+during his residence in <i>Italy</i>. He speaks more plainly in a following
+page; and, in a word, would blacken the austere virtue of Milton with a
+crime infamous to name.</p>
+
+<p>Impartiality of criticism obliges us to confess that Milton was not
+destitute of rancour. When he was told that his adversary boasted he had
+occasioned the loss of his eyes, he answered, with ferocity&mdash;"<i>And I
+shall cost him his life!</i>" A prediction which was soon after verified;
+for Christina, Queen of Sweden, withdrew her patronage from Salmasius,
+and sided with Milton. The universal neglect the proud scholar felt
+hastened his death in the course of a twelve-month.</p>
+
+<p>The greatness of Milton's mind was degraded! He actually condescended to
+enter into a correspondence in Holland, to obtain little scandalous
+anecdotes of his miserable adversary, Morus; and deigned to adulate the
+unworthy Christina of Sweden, because she had expressed herself
+favourably on his "Defence." Of late years, we have had too many
+instances of this worst of passions, the antipathies of politics!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ORIGIN_OF_NEWSPAPERS" id="ORIGIN_OF_NEWSPAPERS"></a>ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We are indebted to the Italians for the idea of newspapers. The title of
+their <i>gazettas</i> was, perhaps, derived from <i>gazzera</i>, a magpie or
+chatterer; or, more probably, from a farthing coin, peculiar to the city
+of Venice, called <i>gazetta</i>, which was the common price of the
+newspapers. Another etymologist is for deriving it from the Latin
+<i>gaza</i>, which would colloquially lengthen into <i>gazetta</i>, and signify a
+little treasury of news. The Spanish derive it from the Latin <i>gaza</i>,
+and likewise their <i>gazatero</i>, and our <i>gazetteer</i>, for a writer of the
+<i>gazette</i> and, what is peculiar to themselves, <i>gazetista</i>, for a lover
+of the gazette.</p>
+
+<p>Newspapers, then, took their birth in that principal land of modern
+politicians, Italy, and under the government of that aristocratical
+republic, Venice. The first paper was a Venetian one, and only monthly;
+but it was merely the newspaper of the government. Other governments
+afterwards adopted the Venetian plan of a newspaper, with the Venetian
+name:&mdash;from a solitary government gazette, an inundation of newspapers
+has burst upon us.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. George Chalmers, in his Life of Ruddiman, gives a curious particular
+of these Venetian gazettes:&mdash;"A jealous government did not allow a
+<i>printed</i> newspaper; and the Venetian <i>gazetta</i> continued long after the
+invention of printing, to the close of the sixteenth century, and even
+to our own days, to be distributed in <i>manuscript</i>." In the
+Magliabechian library at Florence are thirty volumes of Venetian
+gazettas, all in manuscript.</p>
+
+<p>Those who first wrote newspapers were called by the Italians <i>menanti</i>;
+because, says Vossius, they intended commonly by these loose papers to
+spread about defamatory reflections, and were therefore prohibited in
+Italy by Gregory XIII. by a particular bull, under the name of
+<i>menantes</i>, from the Latin <i>minantes</i>, threatening. Menage, however,
+derives it from the Italian <i>menare</i>, which signifies to lead at large,
+or spread afar.</p>
+
+<p>We are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh
+for the first newspaper. The epoch of the Spanish Armada is also the
+epoch of a genuine newspaper. In the British Museum are several
+newspapers which were printed while the Spanish fleet was in the English
+Channel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to prevent, during a
+moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing
+real information. The earliest newspaper is entitled "The English
+Mercurie," which by <i>authority</i> was "imprinted at London by her
+highness's printer, 1588." These were, however, but extraordinary
+gazettes, not regularly published. In this obscure origin they were
+skilfully directed by the policy of that great statesman Burleigh, who,
+to inflame the national feeling, gives an extract of a letter from
+Madrid which speaks of putting the queen to death, and the instruments
+of torture on board the Spanish fleet.</p>
+
+<p>George Chalmers first exultingly took down these patriarchal newspapers,
+covered with the dust of two centuries.</p>
+
+<p>The first newspaper in the collection of the British Museum is marked
+No. 50, and is in Roman, not in black letter. It contains the usual
+articles of news, like the London Gazette of the present day. In that
+curious paper, there are news dated from Whitehall, on the 23rd July,
+1588. Under the date of July 26, there is the following
+notice:&mdash;"Yesterday the Scots ambassador, being introduced to Sir
+Francis Walsingham, had a private audience of her majesty, to whom he
+delivered a letter from the king his master; containing the most cordial
+assurances of his resolution to adhere to her majesty's interests, and
+to those of the Protestant religion. And it may not here be improper to
+take notice of a wise and spiritual saying of this young prince (he was
+twenty-two) to the queen's minister at his court, viz.&mdash;That all the
+favour he did expect from the Spaniards was the courtesy of Polypheme to
+Ulysses, <i>to be the last devoured</i>." The gazetteer of the present day
+would hardly give a more decorous account of the introduction of a
+foreign minister. The aptness of King James's classical saying carried
+it from the newspaper into history. I must add, that in respect to his
+<i>wit</i> no man has been more injured than this monarch. More pointed
+sentences are recorded of James I. than perhaps of any prince; and yet,
+such is the delusion of that medium by which the popular eye sees things
+in this world, that he is usually considered as a mere royal pedant. I
+have entered more largely on this subject, in an "Inquiry of the
+Literary and Political Character of James I."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Periodical papers seem first to have been more generally used by the
+English, during the civil wars of the usurper Cromwell, to disseminate
+amongst the people the sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, according as
+their authors were disposed. <i>Peter Heylin</i>, in the preface to his
+<i>Cosmography</i>, mentions, that "the affairs of each town, of war, were
+better presented to the reader in the <i>Weekly News-books</i>." Hence we
+find some papers, entitled "News from Hull," "Truths from York,"
+"Warranted Tidings from Ireland," &amp;c. We find also, "The Scots' Dove"
+opposed to "The Parliament Kite," or "The Secret Owl."&mdash;Keener
+animosities produced keener titles: "Heraclitus ridens" found an
+antagonist in "Democritus ridens," and "The Weekly Discoverer" was
+shortly met by "The Discoverer stript naked." "Mercuriua Britannicus"
+was grappled by "Mercurius Mastix, faithfully lashing all Scouts,
+Mercuries, Posts, Spies, and others." Under all these names papers had
+appeared, but a "Mercury" was the prevailing title of these
+"News-books," and the principles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> of the writer were generally shown by
+the additional epithet. We find an alarming number of these Mercuries,
+which, were the story not too long to tell, might excite laughter; they
+present us with a very curious picture of those singular times.</p>
+
+<p>Devoted to political purposes, they soon became a public nuisance by
+serving as receptacles of party malice, and echoing to the farthest ends
+of the kingdom the insolent voice of all factions. They set the minds of
+men more at variance, inflamed their tempers to a greater fierceness,
+and gave a keener edge to the sharpness of civil discord.</p>
+
+<p>Such works will always find adventurers adapted to their scurrilous
+purposes, who neither want at times either talents, or boldness, or wit,
+or argument. A vast crowd issued from the press, and are now to be found
+in private collections. They form a race of authors unknown to most
+readers of these times: the names of some of their chiefs, however, have
+reached us, and in the minor chronicle of domestic literature I rank
+three notable heroes; Marchmont Needham, Sir John Birkenhead, and Sir
+Roger L'Estrange.</p>
+
+<p><i>Marchmont Needham</i>, the great patriarch of newspaper writers, was a man
+of versatile talents and more versatile politics; a bold adventurer, and
+most successful, because the most profligate of his tribe. From college
+he came to London; was an usher in Merchant Tailors' school; then an
+under clerk in Gray's Inn; at length studied physic, and practised
+chemistry; and finally, he was a captain, and in the words of our great
+literary antiquary, "siding with the rout and scum of the people, he
+made them weekly sport by railing at all that was noble, in his
+Intelligence, called Mercurius Britannicus, wherein his endeavours were
+to sacrifice the fame of some lord, or any person of quality, and of the
+king himself, to the beast with many heads." He soon became popular, and
+was known under the name of Captain Needham, of Gray's Inn; and whatever
+he now wrote was deemed oracular. But whether from a slight imprisonment
+for aspersing Charles I. or some pique with his own party, he requested
+an audience on his knees with the king, reconciled himself to his
+majesty, and showed himself a violent royalist in his "Mercurius
+Pragmaticus," and galled the Presbyterians with his wit and quips. Some
+time after, when the popular party prevailed, he was still further
+enlightened, and was got over by President Bradshaw, as easily as by
+Charles I. Our Mercurial writer became once more a virulent
+Pres<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>byterian, and lashed the royalists outrageously in his "Mercurius
+Politicus;" at length on the return of Charles II. being now conscious,
+says our cynical friend Anthony, that he might be in danger of the
+halter, once more he is said to have fled into Holland, waiting for an
+act of oblivion. For money given to a hungry courtier, Needham obtained
+his pardon under the great seal. He latterly practised as a physician
+among his party, but lived detested by the royalists; and now only
+committed harmless treasons with the College of Physicians, on whom he
+poured all that gall and vinegar which the government had suppressed
+from flowing through its natural channel.</p>
+
+<p>The royalists were not without their Needham in the prompt activity of
+<i>Sir John Birkenhead</i>. In buffoonery, keenness, and boldness, having
+been frequently imprisoned, he was not inferior, nor was he at times
+less an adventurer. His "Mercurius Aulicus" was devoted to the court,
+then at Oxford. But he was the fertile parent of numerous political
+pamphlets, which appear to abound in banter, wit, and satire. Prompt to
+seize on every temporary circumstance, he had equal facility in
+execution. His "Paul's Church-yard" is a bantering pamphlet, containing
+fictitious titles of books and acts of parliament, reflecting on the mad
+reformers of those times. One of his poems is entitled "<i>The Jolt</i>,"
+being written on the Protector having fallen off his own coach-box:
+Cromwell had received a present from the German Count Oldenburgh, of six
+German horses, and attempted to drive them himself in Hyde Park, when
+this great political Phaeton met the accident, of which Sir John
+Birkenhead was not slow to comprehend the benefit, and hints how
+unfortunately for the country it turned out! Sir John was during the
+dominion of Cromwell an author by profession. After various
+imprisonments for his majesty's cause, says the venerable historian of
+English literature already quoted, "he lived by his wits, in helping
+young gentlemen out at dead lifts in making poems, songs, and epistles
+on and to their mistresses; as also in translating, and other petite
+employments." He lived however after the Restoration to become one of
+the masters of requests, with a salary of 3000<i>l.</i> a year. But he showed
+the baseness of his spirit, says Anthony, by slighting those who had
+been his benefactors in his necessities.</p>
+
+<p>Sir <i>Roger L'Estrange</i> among his rivals was esteemed as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> the most
+perfect model of political writing. He was a strong party-writer on the
+government side, for Charles the Second, and the compositions of the
+author seem to us coarse, yet they contain much idiomatic expression.
+His &AElig;sop's Fables are a curious specimen of familiar style. Queen Mary
+showed a due contempt of him, after the Revolution, by this anagram:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Roger L'Estrange</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Lye strange Roger</i>!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Such were the three patriarchs of newspapers. De Saint Foix gives the
+origin of newspapers to France. Renaudot, a physician at Paris, to amuse
+his patients was a great collector of news; and he found by these means
+that he was more sought after than his learned brethren. But as the
+seasons were not always sickly, and he had many hours not occupied by
+his patients, he reflected, after several years of assiduity given up to
+this singular employment, that he might turn it to a better account, by
+giving every week to his patients, who in this case were the public at
+large, some fugitive sheets which should contain the news of various
+countries. He obtained a privilege for this purpose in 1632.</p>
+
+<p>At the Restoration the proceedings of parliament were interdicted to be
+published, unless by authority; and the first daily paper after the
+Revolution took the popular title of "The Orange Intelligencer."</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of Queen <i>Anne</i>, there was but one daily paper; the others
+were weekly. Some attempted to introduce literary subjects, and others
+topics of a more general speculation. <i>Sir Richard Steele</i> formed the
+plan of his <i>Tatler</i>. He designed it to embrace the three provinces, of
+manners and morals, of literature, and of politics. The public were to
+be conducted insensibly into so different a track from that to which
+they had been hitherto accustomed. Hence politics were admitted into his
+paper. But it remained for the chaster genius of <i>Addison</i> to banish
+this painful topic from his elegant pages. The writer in polite letters
+felt himself degraded by sinking into the diurnal narrator of political
+events, which so frequently originate in rumours and party fictions.
+From this time, newspapers and periodical literature became distinct
+works&mdash;at present, there seems to be an attempt to revive this union; it
+is a retrograde step for the independent dignity of literature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TRIALS_AND_PROOFS_OF_GUILT_IN_SUPERSTITIOUS_AGES" id="TRIALS_AND_PROOFS_OF_GUILT_IN_SUPERSTITIOUS_AGES"></a>TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The strange trials to which those suspected of guilt were put in the
+middle ages, conducted with many devout ceremonies by the ministers of
+religion, were pronounced to be the <i>judgments of God</i>! The ordeal
+consisted of various kinds: walking blindfold amidst burning
+ploughshares; passing through fires; holding in the hand a red-hot bar;
+and plunging the arm into boiling water: the popular affirmation&mdash;"I
+will put my hand in the fire to confirm this," was derived from this
+custom of our rude ancestors. Challenging the accuser to single combat,
+when frequently the stoutest champion was allowed to supply their place;
+swallowing a morsel of consecrated bread; sinking or swimming in a river
+for witchcraft; or weighing a witch; stretching out the arms before the
+cross, till the champion soonest wearied dropped his arms, and lost his
+estate, which was decided by this very short chancery suit, called the
+<i>judicium crucis</i>. The bishop of Paris and the abbot of St. Denis
+disputed about the patronage of a monastery: Pepin the Short, not being
+able to decide on their confused claims, decreed one of these judgments
+of God, that of the Cross. The bishop and abbot each chose a man, and
+both the men appeared in the chapel, where they stretched out their arms
+in the form of a cross. The spectators, more devout than the mob of the
+present day, but still the mob, were piously attentive, but <i>betted</i>
+however now for one man, now for the other, and critically watched the
+slightest motion of the arms. The bishop's man was first tired:&mdash;he let
+his arms fall, and ruined his patron's cause for ever. Though sometimes
+these trials might be eluded by the artifice of the priest, numerous
+were the innocent victims who unquestionably suffered in these
+superstitious practices.</p>
+
+<p>From the tenth to the twelfth century they were common. Hildebert,
+bishop of Mans, being accused of high treason by our William Rufus, was
+prepared to undergo one of these trials, when Ives, bishop of Chartres,
+convinced him that they were against the canons of the constitutions of
+the church, and adds, that in this manner <i>Innocentiam defendere, set
+innocentiam perdere</i>.</p>
+
+<p>An abbot of St. Aubin, of Angers, in 1066, having refused to present a
+horse to the Viscount of Tours, which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> viscount claimed in right of
+his lordship, whenever an abbot first took possession of that abbey, the
+ecclesiastic offered to justify himself by the trial of the ordeal, or
+by duel, for which he proposed to furnish a man. The viscount at first
+agreed to the duel; but, reflecting that these combats, though
+sanctioned by the church, depended wholly on the skill or vigour of the
+adversary, and could therefore afford no substantial proof of the equity
+of his claim, he proposed to compromise the matter in a manner which
+strongly characterises the times: he waived his claim, on condition that
+the abbot should not forget to mention in his prayers himself, his wife,
+and his brothers! As the <i>orisons</i> appeared to the abbot, in comparison
+with the <i>horse</i>, of little or no value, he accepted the proposal.</p>
+
+<p>In the tenth century the right of representation was not fixed: it was a
+question whether the sons of a son ought to be reckoned among the
+children of the family, and succeed equally with their uncles, if their
+fathers happened to die while their grandfathers survived. This point
+was decided by one of these combats. The champion in behalf of the right
+of children to represent their deceased father proved victorious. It was
+then established by a perpetual decree that they should thenceforward
+share in the inheritance, together with their uncles. In the eleventh
+century the same mode was practised to decide respecting two rival
+<i>Liturgies</i>! A pair of knights, clad in complete armour, were the
+critics to decide which was the authentic.</p>
+
+<p>"If two neighbours," say the capitularies of Dagobert, "dispute
+respecting the boundaries of their possessions, let a piece of turf of
+the contested land be dug up by the judge, and brought by him into the
+court; the two parties shall touch it with the points of their swords,
+calling on God as a witness of their claims;&mdash;after this let them
+<i>combat</i>, and let victory decide on their rights!"</p>
+
+<p>In Germany, a solemn circumstance was practised in these judicial
+combats. In the midst of the lists they placed a <i>bier</i>.&mdash;By its side
+stood the accuser and the accused; one at the head and the other at the
+foot of the bier, and leaned there for some time in profound silence,
+before they began the combat.</p>
+
+<p>The manners of the age are faithfully painted in the ancient Fabliaux.
+The judicial combat is introduced by a writer of the fourteenth century,
+in a scene where Pilate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> challenges Jesus Christ to <i>single combat</i>.
+Another describes the person who pierced the side of Christ as <i>a knight
+who jousted with Jesus</i>.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>Judicial combat appears to have been practised by the Jews. Whenever the
+rabbins had to decide on a dispute about property between two parties,
+neither of which could produce evidence to substantiate his claim, they
+terminated it by single combat. The rabbins were impressed by a notion,
+that consciousness of right would give additional confidence and
+strength to the rightful possessor. It may, however, be more
+philosophical to observe, that such judicial combats were more
+frequently favourable to the criminal than to the innocent, because the
+bold wicked man is usually more ferocious and hardy than he whom he
+singles out as his victim, and who only wishes to preserve his own quiet
+enjoyment:&mdash;in this case the assailant is the more terrible combatant.</p>
+
+<p>Those accused of robbery were put to trial by a piece of barley-bread,
+on which the mass had been said; which if they could not swallow, they
+were declared guilty. This mode of trial was improved by adding to the
+<i>bread</i> a slice of <i>cheese</i>; and such was their credulity, that they
+were very particular in this holy <i>bread</i> and <i>cheese</i>, called the
+<i>corsned</i>. The bread was to be of unleavened barley, and the cheese made
+of ewe's milk in the month of May.</p>
+
+<p>Du Cange observed, that the expression&mdash;"<i>May this piece of bread choke
+me!</i>" comes from this custom. The anecdote<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> of Earl Godwin's death by
+swallowing a piece of bread, in making this asseveration, is recorded in
+our history. Doubtless superstition would often terrify the innocent
+person, in the attempt of swallowing a consecrated morsel.</p>
+
+<p>Among the proofs of guilt in superstitious ages was that of the
+<i>bleeding of a corpse</i>. It was believed, that at the touch or approach
+of the murderer the blood gushed out of the murdered. By the side of the
+bier, if the slightest change was observable in the eyes, the mouth,
+feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured to be
+present, and many innocent spectators must have suffered death. "When a
+body is full of blood, warmed by a sudden external heat, and a
+putrefaction coming on, some of the blood-vessels will burst, as they
+will all in time." This practice was once allowed in England, and is
+still looked on in some of the uncivilized parts of these kingdoms as a
+detection of the criminal. It forms a solemn picture in the histories
+and ballads of our old writers.</p>
+
+<p>Robertson observes, that all these absurd institutions were cherished
+from the superstitious of the age believing the legendary histories of
+those saints who crowd and disgrace the Roman calendar. These fabulous
+miracles had been declared authentic by the bulls of the popes and the
+decrees of councils; they were greedily swallowed by the populace; and
+whoever believed that the Supreme Being had interposed miraculously on
+those trivial occasions mentioned in legends, could not but expect the
+intervention of Heaven in these most solemn appeals. These customs were
+a substitute for written laws, which that barbarous period had not; and
+as no society can exist without <i>laws</i>, the ignorance of the people had
+recourse to these <i>customs</i>, which, evil and absurd as they were, closed
+endless controversies. Ordeals are in truth the rude laws of a barbarous
+people who have not yet obtained a written code, and are not
+sufficiently advanced in civilization to enter into the refined
+inquiries, the subtile distinctions, and elaborate investigations, which
+a court of law demands.</p>
+
+<p>These ordeals probably originate in that one of Moses called the "Waters
+of Jealousy." The Greeks likewise had ordeals, for in the Antigonus of
+Sophocles the soldiers offer to prove their innocence by handling
+red-hot iron, and walking between fires. One cannot but smile at the
+whimsical ordeals of the Siamese. Among other practices to discover<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> the
+justice of a cause, civil or criminal, they are particularly attached to
+using certain consecrated purgative pills, which they make the
+contending parties swallow. He who <i>retains</i> them longest gains his
+cause! The practice of giving Indians a consecrated grain of rice to
+swallow is known to discover the thief, in any company, by the
+contortions and dismay evident on the countenance of the real thief.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle ages, they were acquainted with <i>secrets</i> to pass unhurt
+these singular trials. Voltaire mentions one for undergoing the ordeal
+of boiling water. Our late travellers in the East have confirmed this
+statement. The Mevleheh dervises can hold red-hot iron between their
+teeth. Such artifices have been often publicly exhibited at Paris and
+London. Mr. Sharon Turner observes, on the ordeal of the Anglo-Saxons,
+that the hand was not to be immediately inspected, and was left to the
+chance of a good constitution to be so far healed during three days (the
+time they required to be bound up and sealed, before it was examined) as
+to discover those appearances when inspected, which were allowed to be
+satisfactory. There was likewise much preparatory training, suggested by
+the more experienced; besides, the accused had an opportunity of <i>going
+alone into the church</i>, and making <i>terms</i> with the <i>priest</i>. The few
+<i>spectators</i> were always <i>distant</i>; and cold iron might be substituted,
+and the fire diminished, at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>They possessed secrets and medicaments, to pass through these trials in
+perfect security. An anecdote of these times may serve to show their
+readiness. A rivalship existed between the Austin-friars and the
+Jesuits. The father-general of the Austin-friars was dining with the
+Jesuits; and when the table was removed, he entered into a formal
+discourse of the superiority of the monastic order, and charged the
+Jesuits, in unqualified terms, with assuming the title of "fratres,"
+while they held not the three vows, which other monks were obliged to
+consider as sacred and binding. The general of the Austin-friars was
+very eloquent and very authoritative:&mdash;and the superior of the Jesuits
+was very unlearned, but not half a fool.</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit avoided entering the list of controversy with the
+Austin-friar, but arrested his triumph by asking him if he would see one
+of his friars, who pretended to be nothing more than a Jesuit, and one
+of the Austin-friars who religiously performed the aforesaid three vows,
+show instantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> which of them would be the readier to obey his
+superiors? The Austin-friar consented. The Jesuit then turning to one of
+his brothers, the holy friar Mark, who was waiting on them, said,
+"Brother Mark, our companions are cold. I command you, in virtue of the
+holy obedience you have sworn to me, to bring here instantly out of the
+kitchen-fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they may warm
+themselves over your hands." Father Mark instantly obeys, and, to the
+astonishment of the Austin-friar, brought in his hands a supply of red
+burning coals, and held them to whoever chose to warm himself; and at
+the command of his superior returned them to the kitchen-hearth. The
+general of the Austin-friars, with the rest of his brotherhood, stood
+amazed; he looked wistfully on one of his monks, as if he wished to
+command him to do the like. But the Austin monk, who perfectly
+understood him, and saw this was not a time to hesitate,
+observed,&mdash;"Reverend father, forbear, and do not command me to tempt
+God! I am ready to fetch you fire in a chafing-dish, but not in my bare
+hands." The triumph of the Jesuits was complete; and it is not necessary
+to add, that the <i>miracle</i> was noised about, and that the Austin-friars
+could never account for it, notwithstanding their strict performance of
+the three vows!</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_INQUISITION" id="THE_INQUISITION"></a>THE INQUISITION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Innocent the Third, a pope as enterprising as he was successful in his
+enterprises, having sent Dominic with some missionaries into Languedoc,
+these men so irritated the heretics they were sent to convert, that most
+of them were assassinated at Toulouse in the year 1200. He called in the
+aid of temporal arms, and published against them a crusade, granting, as
+was usual with the popes on similar occasions, all kinds of indulgences
+and pardons to those who should arm against these <i>Mahometans</i>, so he
+termed these unfortunate Languedocians. Once all were Turks when they
+were not Romanists. Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was constrained to
+submit. The inhabitants were passed on the edge of the sword, without
+distinction of age or sex. It was then he established that scourge of
+Europe, <span class="smcap">The Inquisition</span>. This pope considered that, though men might be
+compelled to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> submit by arms, numbers might remain professing particular
+dogmas; and he established this sanguinary tribunal solely to inspect
+into all families, and <span class="smcap">Inquire</span> concerning all persons who they imagined
+were unfriendly to the interests of Rome. Dominic did so much by his
+persecuting inquiries, that he firmly established the Inquisition at
+Toulouse.</p>
+
+<p>Not before the year 1484 it became known in Spain. To another Dominican,
+John de Torquemada, the court of Rome owed this obligation. As he was
+the confessor of Queen Isabella, he had extorted from her a promise,
+that if ever she ascended the throne, she would use every means to
+extirpate heresy and heretics. Ferdinand had conquered Granada, and had
+expelled from the Spanish realms multitudes of unfortunate Moors. A few
+remained, whom, with the Jews, he compelled to become Christians: they
+at least assumed the name; but it was well known that both these nations
+naturally respected their own faith, rather than that of the Christians.
+This race was afterwards distinguished as <i>Christianos Novos</i>; and in
+forming marriages, the blood of the Hidalgo was considered to lose its
+purity by mingling with such a suspicious source.</p>
+
+<p>Torquemada pretended that this dissimulation would greatly hurt the
+interests of the holy religion. The queen listened with respectful
+diffidence to her confessor; and at length gained over the king to
+consent to the establishment of this unrelenting tribunal. Torquemada,
+indefatigable in his zeal for the holy chair, in the space of fourteen
+years that he exercised the office of chief inquisitor, is said to have
+prosecuted near eighty thousand persons, of whom six thousand were
+condemned to the flames.</p>
+
+<p>Voltaire attributes the taciturnity of the Spaniards to the universal
+horror such proceedings spread. "A general jealousy and suspicion took
+possession of all ranks of people: friendship and sociability were at an
+end! Brothers were afraid of brothers, fathers of their children."</p>
+
+<p>The situation and the feelings of one imprisoned in the cells of the
+Inquisition are forcibly painted by Orobio, a mild, and meek, and
+learned man, whose controversy with Limborch is well known. When he
+escaped from Spain he took refuge in Holland, was circumcised, and died
+a philosophical Jew. He has left this admirable description of himself
+in the cell of the Inquisition. "Inclosed in this dungeon I could not
+even find space enough to turn myself about; I suf<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>fered so much that I
+felt my brain disordered. I frequently asked myself, am I really Don
+Balthazar Orobio, who used to walk about Seville at my pleasure, who so
+greatly enjoyed myself with my wife and children? I often imagined that
+all my life had only been a dream, and that I really had been born in
+this dungeon! The only amusement I could invent was metaphysical
+disputations. I was at once opponent, respondent, and pr&aelig;ses!"</p>
+
+<p>In the cathedral at Saragossa is the tomb of a famous inquisitor; six
+pillars surround this tomb; to each is chained a Moor, as preparatory to
+his being burnt. On this St. Foix ingeniously observes, "If ever the
+Jack Ketch of any country should be rich enough to have a splendid tomb,
+this might serve as an excellent model."</p>
+
+<p>The Inquisition punished heretics by <i>fire</i>, to elude the maxim,
+"<i>Ecclesia non novit sanguinem</i>;" for burning a man, say they, does not
+<i>shed his blood</i>. Otho, the bishop at the Norman invasion, in the
+tapestry worked by Matilda the queen of William the Conqueror, is
+represented with a <i>mace</i> in his hand, for the purpose that when he
+<i>despatched</i> his antagonist he might not <i>spill blood</i>, but only break
+his bones! Religion has had her quibbles as well as law.</p>
+
+<p>The establishment of this despotic order was resisted in France; but it
+may perhaps surprise the reader that a recorder of London, in a speech,
+urged the necessity of setting up an Inquisition in England! It was on
+the trial of Penn the Quaker, in 1670, who was acquitted by the jury,
+which highly provoked the said recorder. "<i>Magna Charta</i>," writes the
+prefacer to the trial, "with the recorder of London, is nothing more
+than <i>Magna F&mdash;&mdash;!</i>" It appears that the jury, after being kept two days
+and two nights to alter their verdict, were in the end both fined and
+imprisoned. Sir John Howell, the recorder, said, "Till now I never
+understood the reason of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in
+suffering the Inquisition among them; and certainly it will not be well
+with us, till something <i>like unto the Spanish Inquisition be in
+England</i>." Thus it will ever be, while both parties struggling for the
+pre-eminence rush to the sharp extremity of things, and annihilate the
+trembling balance of the constitution. But the adopted motto of Lord
+Erskine must ever be that of every Briton, "<i>Trial by Jury</i>."</p>
+
+<p>So late as the year 1761, Gabriel Malagrida, an old man of seventy, was
+burnt by these evangelical executioners. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> trial was printed at
+Amsterdam, 1762, from the Lisbon copy. And for what was this unhappy
+Jesuit condemned? Not, as some have imagined, for his having been
+concerned in a conspiracy against the king of Portugal. No other charge
+is laid to him in this trial but that of having indulged certain
+heretical notions, which any other tribunal but that of the Inquisition
+would have looked upon as the delirious fancies of a fanatical old man.
+Will posterity believe, that in the eighteenth century an aged visionary
+was led to the stake for having said, amongst other extravagances, that
+"The holy Virgin having commanded him to write the life of Anti-Christ,
+told him that he, Malagrida, was a second John, but more clear than John
+the Evangelist; that there were to be three Anti-Christs, and that the
+last should be born at Milan, of a monk and a nun, in the year 1920; and
+that he would marry Proserpine, one of the infernal furies."</p>
+
+<p>For such ravings as these the unhappy old man was burnt in recent times.
+Granger assures us, that in his remembrance a <i>horse</i> that had been
+taught to tell the spots upon cards, the hour of the day, &amp;c., by
+significant tokens, was, together with his <i>owner</i>, put into the
+Inquisition for <i>both</i> of them dealing with the devil! A man of letters
+declared that, having fallen into their hands, nothing perplexed him so
+much as the ignorance of the inquisitor and his council; and it seemed
+very doubtful whether they had read even the Scriptures.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting anecdotes relating to the terrible
+Inquisition, exemplifying how the use of the diabolical engines of
+torture forces men to confess crimes they have not been guilty of, was
+related to me by a Portuguese gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>A nobleman in Lisbon having heard that his physician and friend was
+imprisoned by the Inquisition, under the stale pretext of Judaism,
+addressed a letter to one of them to request his freedom, assuring the
+inquisitor that his friend was as orthodox a Christian as himself. The
+physician, notwithstanding this high recommendation, was put to the
+torture; and, as was usually the case, at the height of his sufferings
+confessed everything they wished! This enraged the nobleman, and
+feigning a dangerous illness he begged the inquisitor would come to give
+him his last spiritual aid.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Dominican arrived, the lord, who had prepared his
+confidential servants, commanded the inquisitor in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> their presence to
+acknowledge himself a Jew, to write his confession, and to sign it. On
+the refusal of the inquisitor, the nobleman ordered his people to put on
+the inquisitor's head a red-hot helmet, which to his astonishment, in
+drawing aside a screen, he beheld glowing in a small furnace. At the
+sight of this new instrument of torture, "Luke's iron crown," the monk
+wrote and subscribed the abhorred confession. The nobleman then
+observed, "See now the enormity of your manner of proceeding with
+unhappy men! My poor physician, like you, has confessed Judaism; but
+with this difference, only torments have forced that from him which fear
+alone has drawn from you!"</p>
+
+<p>The Inquisition has not failed of receiving its due praises. Macedo, a
+Portuguese Jesuit, has discovered the "Origin of the <i>Inquisition</i>" in
+the terrestrial Paradise, and presumes to allege that God was the first
+who began the functions of an <i>inquisitor</i> over Cain and the workmen of
+Babel! Macedo, however, is not so dreaming a personage as he appears;
+for he obtained a Professor's chair at Padua for the arguments he
+delivered at Venice against the pope, which were published by the title
+of "The literary Roarings of the Lion at St. Mark;" besides he is the
+author of 109 different works; but it is curious to observe how far our
+interest is apt to prevail over our conscience,&mdash;Macedo praised the
+Inquisition up to the skies, while he sank the pope to nothing!</p>
+
+<p>Among the great revolutions of this age, and since the last edition of
+this work, the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal is abolished&mdash;but its
+history enters into that of the human mind; and the history of the
+Inquisition by Limborch, translated by Chandler, with a very curious
+"Introduction," loses none of its value with the philosophical mind.
+This monstrous tribunal of human opinions aimed at the sovereignty of
+the intellectual world, without intellect.</p>
+
+<p>In these changeful times, the history of the Inquisition is not the
+least mutable. The Inquisition, which was abolished, was again
+restored&mdash;and at the present moment, I know not whether it is to be
+restored or abolished.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SINGULARITIES_OBSERVED_BY_VARIOUS_NATIONS_IN_THEIR_REPASTS" id="SINGULARITIES_OBSERVED_BY_VARIOUS_NATIONS_IN_THEIR_REPASTS"></a>SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Maldivian islanders eat alone. They retire into the most hidden
+parts of their houses; and they draw down the cloths that serve as
+blinds to their windows, that they may eat unobserved. This custom
+probably arises from the savage, in early periods of society, concealing
+himself to eat: he fears that another, with as sharp an appetite, but
+more strong than himself, should come and ravish his meal from him. The
+ideas of witchcraft are also widely spread among barbarians; and they
+are not a little fearful that some incantation may be thrown among their
+victuals.</p>
+
+<p>In noticing the solitary meal of the Maldivian islander, another reason
+may be alleged for this misanthropical repast. They never will eat with
+any one who is inferior to them in birth, in riches, or dignity; and as
+it is a difficult matter to settle this equality, they are condemned to
+lead this unsocial life.</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, the islanders of the Philippines are remarkably social.
+Whenever one of them finds himself without a companion to partake of his
+meal, he runs till he meets with one; and we are assured that, however
+keen his appetite may be, he ventures not to satisfy it without a
+guest.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>Savages, says Montaigne, when they eat, "<i>S'essuyent les doigts aux
+cuisses, &agrave; la bourse des g&eacute;nitoires, et &agrave; la plante des pieds</i>." We
+cannot forbear exulting in the polished convenience of napkins!</p>
+
+<p>The tables of the rich Chinese shine with a beautiful varnish, and are
+covered with silk carpets very elegantly worked. They do not make use of
+plates, knives, and forks: every guest has two little ivory or ebony
+sticks, which he handles very adroitly.</p>
+
+<p>The Otaheiteans, who are naturally social, and very gentle in their
+manners, feed separately from each other. At the hour of repast, the
+members of each family divide; two brothers, two sisters, and even
+husband and wife, father and mother, have each their respective basket.
+They place themselves at the distance of two or three yards from each
+other;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> they turn their backs, and take their meal in profound silence.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of drinking at different hours from those assigned for eating
+exists among many savage nations. Originally begun from necessity, it
+became a habit, which subsisted even when the fountain was near to them.
+A people transplanted, observes an ingenious philosopher, preserve in
+another climate modes of living which relate to those from whence they
+originally came. It is thus the Indians of Brazil scrupulously abstain
+from eating when they drink, and from drinking when they eat.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p>
+
+<p>When neither decency nor politeness is known, the man who invites his
+friends to a repast is greatly embarrassed to testify his esteem for his
+guests, and to offer them some amusement; for the savage guest imposes
+on himself this obligation. Amongst the greater part of the American
+Indians, the host is continually on the watch to solicit them to eat,
+but touches nothing himself. In New France, he wearies himself with
+singing, to divert the company while they eat.</p>
+
+<p>When civilization advances, men wish to show their confidence to their
+friends: they treat their guests as relations; and it is said that in
+China the master of a house, to give a mark of his politeness, absents
+himself while his guests regale themselves at his table with undisturbed
+revelry.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<p>The demonstrations of friendship in a rude state have a savage and gross
+character, which it is not a little curious to observe. The Tartars pull
+a man by the ear to press him to drink, and they continue tormenting him
+till he opens his mouth; then they clap their hands and dance before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>No customs seem more ridiculous than those practised by a Kamschatkan,
+when he wishes to make another his friend. He first invites him to eat.
+The host and his guest strip themselves in a cabin which is heated to an
+uncommon degree. While the guest devours the food with which they serve
+him, the other continually stirs the fire. The stranger must bear the
+excess of the heat as well as of the repast. He vomits ten times before
+he will yield; but, at length obliged to acknowledge himself overcome,
+he begins to compound matters. He purchases a moment's respite by a
+present of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> clothes or dogs; for his host threatens to heat the cabin,
+and oblige him to eat till he dies. The stranger has the right of
+retaliation allowed to him: he treats in the same manner, and exacts the
+same presents. Should his host not accept the invitation of him whom he
+had so handsomely regaled, in that case the guest would take possession
+of his cabin, till he had the presents returned to him which the other
+had in so singular a manner obtained.</p>
+
+<p>For this extravagant custom a curious reason has been alleged. It is
+meant to put the person to a trial, whose friendship is sought. The
+Kamschatkan who is at the expense of the fires, and the repast, is
+desirous to know if the stranger has the strength to support pain with
+him, and if he is generous enough to share with him some part of his
+property. While the guest is employed on his meal, he continues heating
+the cabin to an insupportable degree; and for a last proof of the
+stranger's constancy and attachment, he exacts more clothes and more
+dogs. The host passes through the same ceremonies in the cabin of the
+stranger; and he shows, in his turn, with what degree of fortitude he
+can defend his friend. The most singular customs would appear simple, if
+it were possible for the philosopher to understand them on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>As a distinguishing mark of their esteem, the negroes of Ardra drink out
+of one cup at the same time. The king of Loango eats in one house, and
+drinks in another. A Kamschatkan kneels before his guests; he cuts an
+enormous slice from a sea-calf; he crams it entire into the mouth of his
+friend, furiously crying out "<i>Tana!</i>"&mdash;There! and cutting away what
+hangs about his lips, snatches and swallows it with avidity.</p>
+
+<p>A barbarous magnificence attended the feasts of the ancient monarchs of
+France. After their coronation or consecration, when they sat at table,
+the nobility served them on horseback.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MONARCHS" id="MONARCHS"></a>MONARCHS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Saint Chrysostom has this very acute observation on <i>kings</i>: Many
+monarchs are infected with a strange wish that their successors may turn
+out bad princes. Good kings desire it, as they imagine, continues this
+pious politician, that their glory will appear the more splendid by the
+contrast; and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> bad desire it, as they consider such kings will serve
+to countenance their own misdemeanours.</p>
+
+<p>Princes, says Gracian, are willing to be <i>aided</i>, but not <i>surpassed</i>:
+which maxim is thus illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>A Spanish lord having frequently played at chess with Philip II., and
+won all the games, perceived, when his Majesty rose from play, that he
+was much ruffled with chagrin. The lord, when he returned home, said to
+his family&mdash;"My children, we have nothing more to do at court: there we
+must expect no favour; for the king is offended at my having won of him
+every game of chess." As chess entirely depends on the genius of the
+players, and not on fortune, King Philip the chess-player conceived he
+ought to suffer no rival.</p>
+
+<p>This appears still clearer by the anecdote told of the Earl of
+Sunderland, minister to George I., who was partial to the game of chess.
+He once played with the Laird of Cluny, and the learned Cunningham, the
+editor of Horace. Cunningham, with too much skill and too much
+sincerity, beat his lordship. "The earl was so fretted at his
+superiority and surliness, that he dismissed him without any reward.
+Cluny allowed himself sometimes to be beaten; and by that means got his
+pardon, with something handsome besides."</p>
+
+<p>In the Criticon of Gracian, there is a singular anecdote relative to
+kings.</p>
+
+<p>A Polish monarch having quitted his companions when he was hunting, his
+courtiers found him, a few days after, in a market-place, disguised as a
+porter, and lending out the use of his shoulders for a few pence. At
+this they were as much surprised as they were doubtful at first whether
+the <i>porter</i> could be his <i>majesty</i>. At length they ventured to express
+their complaints that so great a personage should debase himself by so
+vile an employment. His majesty having heard them, replied&mdash;"Upon my
+honour, gentlemen, the load which I quitted is by far heavier than the
+one you see me carry here: the weightiest is but a straw, when compared
+to that world under which I laboured. I have slept more in four nights
+than I have during all my reign. I begin to live, and to be king of
+myself. Elect whom you choose. For me, who am so well, it were madness
+to return to <i>court</i>." Another Polish king, who succeeded this
+philosophic <i>monarchical porter</i>, when they placed the sceptre in his
+hand, exclaimed&mdash;"I had rather tug at an <i>oar</i>!" The vacillating
+fortunes of the Polish monarchy present several of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> anecdotes;
+their monarchs appear to have frequently been philosophers; and, as the
+world is made, an excellent philosopher proves but an indifferent king.</p>
+
+<p>Two observations on kings were offered to a courtier with great
+<i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> by that experienced politician, the Duke of Alva:&mdash;"Kings who
+affect to be familiar with their companions make use of <i>men</i> as they do
+of <i>oranges</i>; they take oranges to extract their juice, and when they
+are well sucked they throw them away. Take care the king does not do the
+same to you; be careful that he does not read all your thoughts;
+otherwise he will throw you aside to the back of his chest, as a book of
+which he has read enough." "The squeezed orange," the King of Prussia
+applied in his dispute with Voltaire.</p>
+
+<p>When it was suggested to Dr. Johnson that kings must be unhappy because
+they are deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and
+unreserved society, he observed that this was an ill-founded notion.
+"Being a king does not exclude a man from such society. Great kings have
+always been social. The King of Prussia, the only great king at present
+(this was THE GREAT Frederic) is very social. Charles the Second, the
+last king of England who was a man of parts, was social; our Henries and
+Edwards were all social."</p>
+
+<p>The Marquis of Halifax, in his character of Charles II., has exhibited a
+<i>trait</i> in the royal character of a good-natured monarch; that <i>trait</i>,
+is <i>sauntering</i>. I transcribe this curious observation, which introduces
+us into a levee.</p>
+
+<p>"There was as much of laziness as of love in all those hours which he
+passed amongst his mistresses, who served only to fill up his seraglio,
+while a bewitching kind of pleasure, called SAUNTERING, was the sultana
+queen he delighted in.</p>
+
+<p>"The thing called SAUNTERING is a stronger temptation to princes than it
+is to others.&mdash;The being galled with importunities, pursued from one
+room to another with asking faces; the dismal sound of unreasonable
+complaints and ill-grounded pretences; the deformity of fraud
+ill-disguised:&mdash;all these would make any man run away from them, and I
+used to think it was the motive for making him walk so fast."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="OF_THE_TITLES_OF_ILLUSTRIOUS_HIGHNESS_AND_EXCELLENCE" id="OF_THE_TITLES_OF_ILLUSTRIOUS_HIGHNESS_AND_EXCELLENCE"></a>OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The title of <i>illustrious</i> was never given, till the reign of
+Constantine, but to those whose reputation was splendid in arms or in
+letters. Adulation had not yet adopted this noble word into her
+vocabulary. Suetonius composed a book to record those who had possessed
+this title; and, as it was <i>then</i> bestowed, a moderate volume was
+sufficient to contain their names.</p>
+
+<p>In the time of Constantine, the title of <i>illustrious</i> was given more
+particularly to those princes who had distinguished themselves in war;
+but it was not continued to their descendants. At length, it became very
+common; and every son of a prince was <i>illustrious</i>. It is now a
+convenient epithet for the poet.</p>
+
+<p>In the rage for TITLES the ancient lawyers in Italy were not satisfied
+by calling kings ILLUSTRES; they went a step higher, and would have
+emperors to be <i>super-illustres</i>, a barbarous coinage of their own.</p>
+
+<p>In Spain, they published a book of <i>titles</i> for their kings, as well as
+for the Portuguese; but Selden tells us, that "their <i>Cortesias</i> and
+giving of titles grew at length, through the affectation of heaping
+great attributes on their princes to such an insufferable forme, that a
+remedie was provided against it." This remedy was an act published by
+Philip III. which ordained that all the <i>Cortesias</i>, as they termed
+these strange phrases they had so servilely and ridiculously invented,
+should be reduced to a simple superscription, "To the king our lord,"
+leaving out those fantastical attributes of which every secretary had
+vied with his predecessors in increasing the number.</p>
+
+<p>It would fill three or four of these pages to transcribe the titles and
+attributes of the Grand Signior, which he assumes in a letter to Henry
+IV. Selden, in his "Titles of Honour," first part, p. 140, has preserved
+them. This "emperor of victorious emperors," as he styles himself, at
+length condescended to agree with the emperor of Germany, in 1606, that
+in all their letters and instruments they should be only styled <i>father</i>
+and <i>son</i>: the emperor calling the sultan his son; and the sultan the
+emperor, in regard of his years, his <i>father</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Formerly, says Houssaie, the title of <i>highness</i> was only given to
+kings; but now it has become so common that all the great houses assume
+it. All the great, says a modern, are desirous of being confounded with
+princes, and are ready to seize on the privileges of royal dignity. We
+have already come to <i>highness</i>. The pride of our descendants, I
+suspect, will usurp that of <i>majesty</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his queen Isabella of Castile, were only
+treated with the title of <i>highness</i>. Charles was the first who took
+that of <i>majesty</i>: not in his quality of king of Spain, but as emperor.
+St. Foix informs us, that kings were usually addressed by the titles of
+<i>most illustrious</i>, or <i>your serenity</i>, or <i>your grace</i>; but that the
+custom of giving them that of <i>majesty</i> was only established by Louis
+XI., a prince the least majestic in all his actions, his manners, and
+his exterior&mdash;a severe monarch, but no ordinary man, the Tiberius of
+France. The manners of this monarch were most sordid; in public
+audiences he dressed like the meanest of the people, and affected to sit
+on an old broken chair, with a filthy dog on his knees. In an account
+found of his household, this <i>majestic</i> prince has a charge made him for
+two new sleeves sewed on one of his old doublets.</p>
+
+<p>Formerly kings were apostrophised by the title of <i>your grace</i>. Henry
+VIII. was the first, says Houssaie, who assumed the title of <i>highness</i>;
+and at length <i>majesty</i>. It was Francis I. who saluted him with this
+last title, in their interview in the year 1520, though he called
+himself only the first gentleman in his kingdom!</p>
+
+<p>So distinct were once the titles of <i>highness</i> and <i>excellence</i>, that
+when Don Juan, the brother of Philip II., was permitted to take up the
+latter title, and the city of Granada saluted him by the title of
+<i>highness</i>, it occasioned such serious jealousy at court, that had he
+persisted in it, he would have been condemned for treason.</p>
+
+<p>The usual title of <i>cardinals</i>, about 1600, was <i>seignoria
+illustrissima</i>; the Duke of Lerma, the Spanish minister and cardinal, in
+his old age, assumed the title of <i>eccellencia reverendissima</i>. The
+church of Rome was in its glory, and to be called <i>reverend</i> was then
+accounted a higher honour than to be styled <i>illustrious</i>. But by use
+<i>illustrious</i> grew familiar, and <i>reverend</i> vulgar, and at last the
+cardinals were distinguished by the title of <i>eminent</i>.</p>
+
+<p>After all these historical notices respecting these titles, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> reader
+will smile when he is acquainted with the reason of an honest curate of
+Montferrat, who refused to bestow the title of <i>highness</i> on the duke of
+Mantua, because he found in his breviary these words, <i>Tu solus Dominus,
+tu solus Altissimus</i>; from all which he concluded, that none but the
+Lord was to be honoured with the title of <i>highness</i>! The "Titles of
+Honour" of Selden is a very curious volume, and, as the learned Usher
+told Evelyn, the most valuable work of this great scholar. The best
+edition is a folio of about one thousand pages. Selden vindicates the
+right of a king of England to the title of <i>emperor</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And never yet was TITLE did not move;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And never eke a mind, <i>that</i> TITLE did not love."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TITLES_OF_SOVEREIGNS" id="TITLES_OF_SOVEREIGNS"></a>TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In countries where despotism exists in all its force, and is gratified
+in all its caprices, either the intoxication of power has occasioned
+sovereigns to assume the most solemn and the most fantastic titles; or
+the royal duties and functions were considered of so high and extensive
+a nature, that the people expressed their notion of the pure monarchical
+state by the most energetic descriptions of oriental fancy.</p>
+
+<p>The chiefs of the Natchez are regarded by their people as the children
+of the sun, and they bear the name of their father.</p>
+
+<p>The titles which some chiefs assume are not always honourable in
+themselves; it is sufficient if the people respect them. The king of
+Quiterva calls himself the <i>great lion</i>; and for this reason lions are
+there so much respected, that they are not allowed to kill them, but at
+certain royal huntings.</p>
+
+<p>The king of Monomotapa is surrounded by musicians and poets, who adulate
+him by such refined flatteries as <i>lord of the sun and moon</i>; <i>great
+magician</i>; and <i>great thief!</i>&mdash;where probably thievery is merely a term
+for dexterity.</p>
+
+<p>The Asiatics have bestowed what to us appear as ridiculous titles of
+honour on their <i>princes</i>. The king of Arracan assumes the following
+ones: "Emperor of Arracan, possessor of the white elephant, and the two
+ear-rings, and in virtue of this possession legitimate heir of Pegu and
+Brama; lord of the twelve provinces of Bengal, and the twelve kings who
+place their heads under his feet."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His majesty of Ava is called <i>God</i>: when he writes to a foreign
+sovereign he calls himself the king of kings, whom all others should
+obey, as he is the cause of the preservation of all animals; the
+regulator of the seasons, the absolute master of the ebb and flow of the
+sea, brother to the sun, and king of the four-and-twenty umbrellas!
+These umbrellas are always carried before him as a mark of his dignity.</p>
+
+<p>The titles of the kings of Achem are singular, though voluminous. The
+most striking ones are sovereign of the universe, whose body is luminous
+as the sun; whom God created to be as accomplished as the moon at her
+plenitude; whose eye glitters like the northern star; a king as
+spiritual as a ball is round; who when he rises shades all his people;
+from under whose feet a sweet odour is wafted, &amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The Kandyan sovereign is called <i>Dewo</i> (God). In a deed of gift he
+proclaims his extraordinary attributes. "The protector of religion,
+whose fame is infinite, and of surpassing excellence, exceeding the
+moon, the unexpanded jessamine buds, the stars, &amp;c.; whose feet are as
+fragrant to the noses of other kings as flowers to bees; our most noble
+patron and god by custom," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>After a long enumeration of the countries possessed by the king of
+Persia, they give him some poetical distinctions: <i>the branch of
+honour</i>; <i>the mirror of virtue</i>; and <i>the rose of delight</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ROYAL_DIVINITIES" id="ROYAL_DIVINITIES"></a>ROYAL DIVINITIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There is a curious dissertation in the "M&eacute;moires de l'Acad&eacute;mie des
+Inscriptions et Belles Lettres," by the Abb&eacute; Mongault, "on the divine
+honours which were paid to the governors of provinces during the Roman
+republic;" in their lifetime these originally began in gratitude, and at
+length degenerated into flattery. These facts curiously show how far the
+human mind can advance, when led on by customs that operate
+unperceivably on it, and blind us in our absurdities. One of these
+ceremonies was exquisitely ludicrous. When they voted a statue to a
+proconsul, they placed it among the statues of the gods in the festival
+called <i>Lectisternium</i>, from the ridiculous circumstances of this solemn
+festival. On that day the gods were invited to a repast, which was
+however spread in various quarters of the city, to satiate mouths more
+mortal. The gods were however taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> down from their pedestals, laid on
+beds ornamented in their temples; pillows were placed under their marble
+heads; and while they reposed in this easy posture they were served with
+a magnificent repast. When C&aelig;sar had conquered Rome, the servile senate
+put him to dine with the gods! Fatigued by and ashamed of these honours,
+he desired the senate to erase from his statue in the capitol the title
+they had given him of a <i>demi-god</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The adulations lavished on the first Roman emperors were extravagant;
+but perhaps few know that they were less offensive than the flatterers
+of the third century under the Pagan, and of the fourth under the
+Christian emperors. Those who are acquainted with the character of the
+age of Augustulus have only to look at the one, and the other <i>code</i>, to
+find an infinite number of passages which had not been tolerable even in
+that age. For instance, here is a law of Arcadius and Honorius,
+published in 404:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Let the officers of the palace be warned to abstain from frequenting
+tumultuous meetings; and that those who, instigated by a <i>sacrilegious</i>
+temerity, dare to oppose the authority of <i>our divinity</i>, shall be
+deprived of their employments, and their estates confiscated." The
+letters they write are <i>holy</i>. When the sons speak of their fathers, it
+is, "Their father of <i>divine</i> memory;" or "Their <i>divine</i> father." They
+call their own laws <i>oracles</i>, and <i>celestial</i> oracles. So also their
+subjects address them by the titles of "<i>Your Perpetuity</i>, <i>your
+Eternity.</i>" And it appears by a law of Theodoric the Great, that the
+emperors at length added this to their titles. It begins, "If any
+magistrate, after having concluded a public work, put his name rather
+than that of <i>Our Perpetuity</i>, let him be judged guilty of
+high-treason." All this reminds one of "the celestial empire" of the
+Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the Great Mogul made an observation, Bernier tells us that some
+of the first Omrahs lifted up their hands, crying, "Wonder! wonder!
+wonder!" And a proverb current in his dominion was, "If the king saith
+at noonday it is night, you are to say, Behold the moon and the stars!"
+Such adulation, however, could not alter the general condition and
+fortune of this unhappy being, who became a sovereign without knowing
+what it is to be one. He was brought out of the seraglio to be placed on
+the throne, and it was he, rather than the spectators, who might have
+truly used the interjection of astonishment!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DETHRONED_MONARCHS" id="DETHRONED_MONARCHS"></a>DETHRONED MONARCHS</h2>
+
+
+<p>Fortune never appears in a more extravagant humour than when she reduces
+monarchs to become mendicants. Half a century ago it was not imagined
+that our own times should have to record many such instances. After
+having contemplated <i>kings</i> raised into <i>divinities</i>, we see them now
+depressed as <i>beggars</i>. Our own times, in two opposite senses, may
+emphatically be distinguished as the <i>age of kings</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In Candide, or the Optimist, there is an admirable stroke of Voltaire's.
+Eight travellers meet in an obscure inn, and some of them with not
+sufficient money to pay for a scurvy dinner. In the course of
+conversation, they are discovered to be <i>eight monarchs</i> in Europe, who
+had been deprived of their crowns!</p>
+
+<p>What added to this exquisite satire was, that there were eight living
+monarchs at that moment wanderers on the earth;&mdash;a circumstance which
+has since occurred!</p>
+
+<p>Adelaide, the widow of Lothario, king of Italy, one of the most
+beautiful women in her age, was besieged in Pavia by Berenger, who
+resolved to constrain her to marry his son after Pavia was taken; she
+escaped from her prison with her almoner. The archbishop of Reggio had
+offered her an asylum: to reach it, she and her almoner travelled on
+foot through the country by night, concealing herself in the day-time
+among the corn, while the almoner begged for alms and food through the
+villages.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor Henry IV. after having been deposed and imprisoned by his
+son, Henry V., escaped from prison; poor, vagrant, and without aid, he
+entreated the bishop of Spires to grant him a lay prebend in his church.
+"I have studied," said he, "and have learned to sing, and may therefore
+be of some service to you." The request was denied, and he died
+miserably and obscurely at Liege, after having drawn the attention of
+Europe to his victories and his grandeur!</p>
+
+<p>Mary of Medicis, the widow of Henry the Great, mother of Louis XIII.,
+mother-in-law of three sovereigns, and regent of France, frequently
+wanted the necessaries of life, and died at Cologne in the utmost
+misery. The intrigues of Richelieu compelled her to exile herself, and
+live an unhappy fugitive. Her petition exists, with this supplicatory
+open<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>ing: "Supplie Marie, Reine de France et de Navarre, disant, que
+depuis le 23 F&eacute;vrier elle aurait &eacute;t&eacute; arr&ecirc;t&eacute;e prisonni&egrave;re au ch&acirc;teau de
+Compi&egrave;gne, sans &ecirc;tre ni accus&eacute;e ni soup&ccedil;onn&eacute;," &amp;c. Lilly, the
+astrologer, in his Life and Death of King Charles the First, presents us
+with a melancholy picture of this unfortunate monarch. He has also
+described the person of the old queen-mother of France:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In the month of August, 1641, I beheld the old queen-mother of France
+departing from London, in company of Thomas, Earl of Arundel. A sad
+spectacle of mortality it was, and produced tears from mine eyes and
+many other beholders, to see an aged, lean, decrepit, poor queen, ready
+for her grave, necessitated to depart hence, having no place of
+residence in this world left her, but where the courtesy of her hard
+fortune assigned it. She had been the only stately and magnificent woman
+of Europe: wife to the greatest king that ever lived in France; mother
+unto one king and unto two queens."</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1595, died at Paris, Antonio, king of Portugal. His body is
+interred at the Cordeliers, and his heart deposited at the Ave-Maria.
+Nothing on earth could compel this prince to renounce his crown. He
+passed over to England, and Elizabeth assisted him with troops; but at
+length he died in France in great poverty. This dethroned monarch was
+happy in one thing, which is indeed rare: in all his miseries he had a
+servant, who proved a tender and faithful friend, and who only desired
+to participate in his misfortunes, and to soften his miseries; and for
+the recompense of his services he only wished to be buried at the feet
+of his dear master. This hero in loyalty, to whom the ancient Romans
+would have raised altars, was Don Diego Bothei, one of the greatest
+lords of the court of Portugal, and who drew his origin from the kings
+of Bohemia.</p>
+
+<p>Hume supplies an anecdote of singular royal distress. The queen of
+England, with her son Charles, "had a moderate pension assigned her; but
+it was so ill paid, and her credit ran so low, that one morning when the
+Cardinal de Retz waited on her, she informed him that her daughter, the
+Princess Henrietta, was obliged to lie a-bed for want of a fire to warm
+her. To such a condition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of
+England, and a daughter of Henry IV. of France!" We find another proof
+of her extreme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> poverty. Salmasius, after publishing his celebrated
+political book, in favour of Charles I., the <i>Defensio Regia</i>, was much
+blamed by a friend for not having sent a copy to the widowed queen of
+Charles, who, he writes, "though poor, would yet have paid the bearer."</p>
+
+<p>The daughter of James the First, who married the Elector Palatine, in
+her attempts to get her husband crowned, was reduced to the utmost
+distress, and wandered frequently in disguise.</p>
+
+<p>A strange anecdote is related of Charles VII. of France. Our Henry V.
+had shrunk his kingdom into the town of Bourges. It is said that having
+told a shoemaker, after he had just tried a pair of his boots, that he
+had no money to pay for them, Crispin had such callous feelings that he
+refused his majesty the boots. "It is for this reason," says Comines, "I
+praise those princes who are on good terms with the lowest of their
+people; for they know not at what hour they may want them."</p>
+
+<p>Many monarchs of this day have experienced more than once the truth of
+the reflection of Comines.</p>
+
+<p>We may add here, that in all conquered countries the descendants of
+royal families have been found among the dregs of the populace. An Irish
+prince has been discovered in the person of a miserable peasant; and in
+Mexico, its faithful historian Clavigero notices, that he has known a
+locksmith, who was a descendant of its ancient kings, and a tailor, the
+representative of one of its noblest families.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FEUDAL_CUSTOMS" id="FEUDAL_CUSTOMS"></a>FEUDAL CUSTOMS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Barbarous as the feudal customs were, they were the first attempts at
+organising European society. The northern nations, in their irruptions
+and settlements in Europe, were barbarians independent of each other,
+till a sense of public safety induced these hordes to confederate. But
+the private individual reaped no benefit from the public union; on the
+contrary, he seems to have lost his wild liberty in the subjugation; he
+in a short time was compelled to suffer from his chieftain; and the
+curiosity of the philosopher is excited by contemplating in the feudal
+customs a barbarous people carrying into their first social institutions
+their original ferocity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> The institution of forming cities into
+communities at length gradually diminished this military and
+aristocratic tyranny; and the freedom of cities, originating in the
+pursuits of commerce, shook off the yoke of insolent lordships. A famous
+ecclesiastical writer of that day, who had imbibed the feudal
+prejudices, calls these communities, which were distinguished by the
+name of <i>libertates</i> (hence probably our municipal term the
+<i>liberties</i>), as "execrable inventions, by which, contrary to law and
+justice, slaves withdrew themselves from that obedience which they owed
+to their masters." Such was the expiring voice of aristocratic tyranny!
+This subject has been ingeniously discussed by Robertson in his
+preliminary volume to Charles V.; but the following facts constitute the
+picture which the historian leaves to be gleaned by the minuter
+inquirer.</p>
+
+<p>The feudal government introduced a species of servitude which till that
+time was unknown, and which was called the servitude of the land. The
+bondmen or serfs, and the villains or country servants, did not reside
+in the house of the lord: but they entirely depended on his caprice; and
+he sold them, as he did the animals, with the field where they lived,
+and which they cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to conceive with what insolence the petty lords of those
+times tyrannized over their villains: they not only oppressed their
+slaves with unremitted labour, instigated by a vile cupidity, but their
+whim and caprice led them to inflict miseries without even any motive of
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>In Scotland they had a shameful institution of maiden-rights; and
+Malcolm the Third only abolished it, by ordering that they might be
+redeemed by a quit-rent. The truth of this circumstance Dalrymple has
+attempted, with excusable patriotism, to render doubtful. There seems,
+however, to be no doubt of the existence of this custom; since it also
+spread through Germany, and various parts of Europe; and the French
+barons extended their domestic tyranny to three nights of involuntary
+prostitution. Montesquieu is infinitely French, when he could turn this
+shameful species of tyranny into a <i>bon mot</i>; for he boldly observes on
+this, "<i>C'&eacute;toit bien ces trois nuits-l&agrave;, qu'il falloit choisir; car pour
+les autres on n'auroit pas donn&eacute; beaucoup d'argent</i>." The legislator in
+the wit forgot the feelings of his heart.</p>
+
+<p>Others, to preserve this privilege when they could not enjoy it in all
+its extent, thrust their leg booted into the bed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> of the new-married
+couple. This was called the <i>droit de cuisse</i>. When the bride was in
+bed, the esquire or lord performed this ceremony, and stood there, his
+thigh in the bed, with a lance in his hand: in this ridiculous attitude
+he remained till he was tired; and the bridegroom was not suffered to
+enter the chamber till his lordship had retired. Such indecent
+privileges must have originated in the worst of intentions; and when
+afterwards they advanced a step in more humane manners, the ceremonial
+was preserved from avaricious motives. Others have compelled their
+subjects to pass the first night at the top of a tree, and there to
+consummate their marriage; to pass the bridal hours in a river; or to be
+bound naked to a cart, and to trace some furrows as they were dragged;
+or to leap with their feet tied over the horns of stags.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes their caprice commanded the bridegroom to appear in drawers at
+their castle, and plunge into a ditch of mud; and sometimes they were
+compelled to beat the waters of the ponds to hinder the frogs from
+disturbing the lord!</p>
+
+<p>Wardship, or the privilege of guardianship enjoyed by some lords, was
+one of the barbarous inventions of the feudal ages; the guardian had
+both the care of the person, and for his own use the revenue of the
+estates. This feudal custom was so far abused in England, that the king
+sold these lordships to strangers; and when the guardian had fixed on a
+marriage for the infant, if the youth or maiden did not agree to this,
+they forfeited the value of the marriage; that is, the sum the guardian
+would have obtained by the other party had it taken place. This cruel
+custom was a source of domestic unhappiness, particularly in
+love-affairs, and has served as the ground-work of many a pathetic play
+by our elder dramatists.</p>
+
+<p>There was a time when the German lords reckoned amongst their privileges
+that of robbing on the highways of their territory; which ended in
+raising up the famous Hanseatic Union, to protect their commerce against
+rapine and avaricious exactions of toll.</p>
+
+<p>Geoffrey, lord of Coventry, compelled his wife to ride naked on a white
+pad through the streets of the town; that by this mode he might restore
+to the inhabitants those privileges of which his wantonness had deprived
+them. This anecdote some have suspected to be fictitious, from its
+extreme bar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>barity; but the character of the middle ages will admit of
+any kind of wanton barbarism.</p>
+
+<p>When the abbot of Figeac made his entry into that town, the lord of
+Montbron, dressed in a harlequin's coat, and one of his legs naked, was
+compelled by an ancient custom to conduct him to the door of his abbey,
+leading his horse by the bridle. Blount's "Jocular Tenures" is a curious
+collection of such capricious clauses in the grants of their lands.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
+
+<p>The feudal barons frequently combined to share among themselves those
+children of their villains who appeared to be the most healthy and
+serviceable, or remarkable for their talent; and not unfrequently sold
+them in their markets.</p>
+
+<p>The feudal servitude is not, even in the present enlightened times,
+abolished in Poland, in Germany, and in Russia. In those countries, the
+bondmen are still entirely dependent on the caprice of their masters.
+The peasants of Hungary or Bohemia frequently revolt, and attempt to
+shake off the pressure of feudal tyranny.</p>
+
+<p>An anecdote of comparatively recent date displays their unfeeling
+caprice. A lord or prince of the northern countries passing through one
+of his villages, observed a small assembly of peasants and their
+families amusing themselves with dancing. He commands his domestics to
+part the men from the women, and confine them in the houses. He orders
+the coats of the women to be drawn up above their heads, and tied with
+their garters. The men were then liberated, and those who did not
+recognise their wives in that state received a severe castigation.</p>
+
+<p>Absolute dominion hardens the human heart; and nobles accustomed to
+command their bondmen will treat their domestics as slaves, as
+capricious or inhuman West Indians treated their domestic slaves. Those
+of Siberia punish theirs by a free use of the cudgel or rod. The Abb&eacute;
+Chappe saw two Russian slaves undress a chambermaid, who had by some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+trifling negligence given offence to her mistress; after having
+uncovered as far as her waist, one placed her head betwixt his knees;
+the other held her by the feet; while both, armed with two sharp rods,
+violently lashed her back till it pleased the domestic tyrant to decree
+<i>it was enough</i>!</p>
+
+<p>After a perusal of these anecdotes of feudal tyranny, we may exclaim
+with Goldsmith&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I fly from  PETTY TYRANTS&mdash;to the THRONE."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Hallam's "State of Europe during the Middle Ages" renders this short
+article superfluous in a philosophical view.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="GAMING" id="GAMING"></a>GAMING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Gaming appears to be an universal passion. Some have attempted to deny
+its universality; they have imagined that it is chiefly prevalent in
+cold climates, where such a passion becomes most capable of agitating
+and gratifying the torpid minds of their inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>The fatal propensity of gaming is to be discovered, as well amongst the
+inhabitants of the frigid and torrid zones, as amongst those of the
+milder climates. The savage and the civilized, the illiterate and the
+learned, are alike captivated by the hope of accumulating wealth without
+the labours of industry.</p>
+
+<p>Barbeyrac has written an elaborate treatise on gaming, and we have two
+quarto volumes, by C. Moore, on suicide, gaming, and duelling, which may
+be placed by the side of Barbeyrac. All these works are excellent
+sermons; but a sermon to a gambler, a duellist, or a suicide! A
+dice-box, a sword, and pistol, are the only things that seem to have any
+power over these unhappy men, for ever lost in a labyrinth of their own
+construction.</p>
+
+<p>I am much pleased with the following thought. "The ancients," says the
+author of <i>Amusemens S&eacute;rieux et Comiques</i>, "assembled to see their
+gladiators kill one another; they classed this among their <i>games</i>! What
+barbarity! But are we less barbarous, we who call a <i>game</i> an
+assembly&mdash;who meet at the faro table, where the actors themselves
+confess they only meet to destroy one another?" In both these cases the
+philosopher may perhaps discover their origin in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> listless state of
+<i>ennui</i> requiring an immediate impulse of the passions, and very
+inconsiderate as to the fatal means which procure the desired agitation.</p>
+
+<p>The most ancient treatise by a modern on this subject, is said to be by
+a French physician, one Eckeloo, who published in 1569, <i>De Ale&acirc;, sive
+de curand&acirc; Ludendi in Pecuniam cupiditate</i>, that is, "On games of
+chance, or a cure for gaming." The treatise itself is only worth notice
+from the circumstance of the author being himself one of the most
+inveterate gamblers; he wrote this work to convince himself of this
+folly. But in spite of all his solemn vows, the prayers of his friends,
+and his own book perpetually quoted before his face, he was a great
+gamester to his last hour! The same circumstance happened to Sir John
+Denham, who also published a tract against gaming, and to the last
+remained a gamester. They had not the good sense of old Montaigne, who
+gives the reason why he gave over gaming. "I used to like formerly games
+of chance with cards and dice; but of that folly I have long been cured;
+merely because I found that whatever good countenance I put on when I
+lost, I did not feel my vexation the less." Goldsmith fell a victim to
+this madness. To play any game well requires serious study, time, and
+experience. If a literary man plays deeply, he will be duped even by
+shallow fellows, as well as by professed gamblers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dice</i>, and that little pugnacious animal the <i>cock</i>, are the chief
+instruments employed by the numerous nations of the East, to agitate
+their minds and ruin their fortunes; to which the Chinese, who are
+desperate gamesters, add the use of <i>cards</i>. When all other property is
+played away, the Asiatic gambler scruples not to stake his <i>wife</i> or his
+<i>child</i>, on the cast of a die, or the courage and strength of a martial
+bird. If still unsuccessful, the last venture he stakes is <i>himself</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the Island of Ceylon, <i>cock-fighting</i> is carried to a great height.
+The Sumatrans are addicted to the use of dice. A strong spirit of play
+characterises a Malayan. After having resigned everything to the good
+fortune of the winner, he is reduced to a horrid state of desperation;
+he then loosens a certain lock of hair, which indicates war and
+destruction to all whom the raving gamester meets. He intoxicates
+himself with opium; and working himself into a fit of frenzy, he bites
+or kills every one who comes in his way. But as soon as this lock is
+seen flowing, it is <i>lawful</i> to fire at the person<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> and to destroy him
+as fast as possible. This custom is what is called "To run a muck." Thus
+Dryden writes&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Frontless and satire-proof, he scours the streets,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>runs</i> an Indian <i>muck</i> at all he meets."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Thus also Pope&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Satire's my weapon, but <b>I'm</b> too discreet<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To <i>run a muck</i>, and tilt at all I meet."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Johnson could not discover the derivation of the word <i>muck</i>. To "run a
+muck" is an old phrase for attacking madly and indiscriminately; and has
+since been ascertained to be a Malay word.</p>
+
+<p>To discharge their gambling debts, the Siamese sell their possessions,
+their families, and at length themselves. The Chinese play <i>night</i> and
+<i>day</i>, till they have lost all they are worth; and then they usually go
+and hang themselves. Such is the propensity of the Javanese for high
+play, that they were compelled to make a law, that "Whoever ventures his
+money at play shall be put to death." In the newly-discovered islands of
+the Pacific Ocean, they venture even their hatchets, which they hold as
+invaluable acquisitions, on running-matches.&mdash;"We saw a man," says Cook,
+"beating his breast and tearing his hair in the violence of rage, for
+having lost three hatchets at one of these races, and which he had
+purchased with nearly half his property."</p>
+
+<p>The ancient nations were not less addicted to gaming: Persians,
+Grecians, and Romans; the Goths, and Germans. To notice the modern ones
+were a melancholy task: there is hardly a family in Europe which cannot
+record, from their own domestic annals, the dreadful prevalence of this
+passion.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gamester</i> and <i>cheater</i> were synonymous terms in the time of Shakspeare
+and Jonson: they have hardly lost much of their double signification in
+the present day.</p>
+
+<p>The following is a curious picture of a gambling-house, from a
+contemporary account, and appears to be an establishment more systematic
+even than the "Hells" of the present day.</p>
+
+<p>"A list of the officers established in the most notorious
+gaming-houses," from the <span class="smcap">Daily Journal</span>, Jan. 9th, 1731.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>1st. A <span class="smcap">Commissioner</span>, always a proprietor, who looks in of a night; and
+the week's account is audited by him and two other proprietors.</p>
+
+<p>2nd. A <span class="smcap">Director</span>, who superintends the room.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>3rd. An <span class="smcap">Operator</span>, who deals the cards at a cheating game, called Faro.</p>
+
+<p>4th. Two <span class="smcap">Crowpees</span>, who watch the cards, and gather the money for the
+hank.</p>
+
+<p>5th. Two <span class="smcap">Puffs</span>, who have money given them to decoy others to play.</p>
+
+<p>6th. A <span class="smcap">Clerk</span>, who is a check upon the PUFFS, to see that they sink none
+of the money given them to play with.</p>
+
+<p>7th. A <span class="smcap">Squib</span> is a puff of lower rank, who serves at half-pay salary
+while he is learning to deal.</p>
+
+<p>8th. A <span class="smcap">Flasher</span>, to swear how often the bank has been stript.</p>
+
+<p>9th. A <span class="smcap">Dunner</span>, who goes about to recover money lost at play.</p>
+
+<p>10th. A <span class="smcap">Waiter</span>, to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the
+gaming-room.</p>
+
+<p>11th. An <span class="smcap">Attorney</span>, a Newgate solicitor.</p>
+
+<p>12th. A <span class="smcap">Captain</span>, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing
+his money.</p>
+
+<p>13th. An <span class="smcap">Usher</span>, who lights gentlemen up and down stairs, and gives the
+word to the porter.</p>
+
+<p>14th. A <span class="smcap">Porter</span>, who is generally a soldier of the Foot Guards.</p>
+
+<p>15th. An <span class="smcap">Orderly Man</span>, who walks up and down the outside of the door, to
+give notice to the porter, and alarm the house at the approach of the
+constable.</p>
+
+<p>16th. A <span class="smcap">Runner</span>, who is to get intelligence of the justices' meeting.</p>
+
+<p>17th. <span class="smcap">Link-boys, Coachmen, Chairmen</span>, or others who bring intelligence of
+the justices' meetings, or of the constables being out, at half-a-guinea
+reward.</p>
+
+<p>18th. <span class="smcap">Common-bail, Affidavit-men, Ruffians, Bravoes, Assassins</span>, <i>cum
+multis aliis</i>.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The "Memoirs of the most famous Gamesters from the reign of Charles II.
+to Queen Anne, by T. Lucas, Esq., 1714," appears to be a bookseller's
+job; but probably a few traditional stories are preserved.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_ARABIC_CHRONICLE" id="THE_ARABIC_CHRONICLE"></a>THE ARABIC CHRONICLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>An Arabic chronicle is only valuable from the time of Mahomet. For such
+is the stupid superstition of the Arabs, that they pride themselves on
+being ignorant of whatever has passed before the mission of their
+Prophet. The Arabic chronicle of Jerusalem contains the most curious
+information concerning the crusades: Longuerue translated several
+portions of this chronicle, which appears to be written with
+impartiality. It renders justice to the Christian heroes, and
+particularly dwells on the gallant actions of the Count de St. Gilles.</p>
+
+<p>Our historians chiefly write concerning <i>Godfrey de Bouillon</i>; only the
+learned know that the Count <i>de St. Gilles</i> acted there so important a
+character. The stories of the <i>Saracens</i> are just the reverse; they
+speak little concerning Godfrey, and eminently distinguish Saint Gilles.</p>
+
+<p>Tasso has given in to the more vulgar accounts, by making the former so
+eminent, at the cost of the other heroes, in his Jerusalem Delivered.
+Thus Virgil transformed by his magical power the chaste Dido into a
+distracted lover; and Homer the meretricious Penelope into a moaning
+matron. It is not requisite for poets to be historians, but historians
+should not be so frequently poets. The same charge, I have been told,
+must be made against the Grecian historians. The Persians are viewed to
+great disadvantage in Grecian history. It would form a curious inquiry,
+and the result might be unexpected to some, were the Oriental student to
+comment on the Grecian historians. The Grecians were not the demi-gods
+they paint themselves to have been, nor those they attacked the
+contemptible multitudes they describe. These boasted victories might be
+diminished. The same observation attaches to C&aelig;sar's account of his
+British expedition. He never records the defeats he frequently
+experienced. The national prejudices of the Roman historians have
+undoubtedly occasioned us to have a very erroneous conception of the
+Carthaginians, whose discoveries in navigation and commercial
+enterprises were the most considerable among the ancients. We must
+indeed think highly of that people, whose works on agriculture, which
+they had raised into a science, the senate of Rome ordered to be
+translated into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> Latin. They must indeed have been a wise and grave
+people.&mdash;Yet they are stigmatised by the Romans for faction, cruelty,
+and cowardice; and the "Punic" faith has come down to us in a proverb:
+but Livy was a Roman! and there is such a thing as a patriotic
+malignity!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="METEMPSYCHOSIS" id="METEMPSYCHOSIS"></a>METEMPSYCHOSIS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>If we except the belief of a future remuneration beyond this life for
+suffering virtue, and retribution for successful crimes, there is no
+system so simple, and so little repugnant to our understanding, as that
+of the metempsychosis. The pains and the pleasures of this life are by
+this system considered as the recompense or the punishment of our
+actions in an anterior state: so that, says St. Foix, we cease to wonder
+that, among men and animals, some enjoy an easy and agreeable life,
+while others seem born only to suffer all kinds of miseries.
+Preposterous as this system may appear, it has not wanted for advocates
+in the present age, which indeed has revived every kind of fanciful
+theory. Mercier, in <i>L'an deux mille quatre cents quarante</i>, seriously
+maintains the present one.</p>
+
+<p>If we seek for the origin of the opinion of the metempsychosis, or the
+transmigration of souls into other bodies, we must plunge into the
+remotest antiquity; and even then we shall find it impossible to fix the
+epoch of its first author. The notion was long extant in Greece before
+the time of Pythagoras. Herodotus assures us that the Egyptian priests
+taught it; but he does not inform us of the time it began to spread. It
+probably followed the opinion of the immortality of the soul. As soon as
+the first philosophers had established this dogma, they thought they
+could not maintain this immortality without a transmigration of souls.
+The opinion of the metempsychosis spread in almost every region of the
+earth; and it continues, even to the present time, in all its force
+amongst those nations who have not yet embraced Christianity. The people
+of Arracan, Peru, Siam, Camboya, Tonquin, Cochin-China, Japan, Java, and
+Ceylon still entertain that fancy, which also forms the chief article of
+the Chinese religion. The Druids believed in transmigration. The bardic
+triads of the Welsh are full of this belief; and a Welsh antiquary
+insists, that by an emigration which for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>merly took place, it was
+conveyed to the Bramins of India from Wales! The Welsh bards tell us
+that the souls of men transmigrate into the bodies of those animals
+whose habits and characters they most resemble, till after a circuit of
+such penitential miseries, they are purified for the celestial presence;
+for man may be converted into a pig or a wolf, till at length he assumes
+the inoffensiveness of the dove.</p>
+
+<p>My learned friend Sharon Turner has explained, in his "Vindication of
+the ancient British Poems," p. 231, the Welsh system of the
+metempsychosis. Their bards mention three circles of existence. The
+circle of the all-enclosing circle holds nothing alive or dead, but God.
+The second circle, that of felicity, is that which men are to pervade
+after they have passed through their terrestrial changes. The circle of
+evil is that in which human nature passes through those varying stages
+of existence which it must undergo before it is qualified to inhabit the
+circle of felicity.</p>
+
+<p>The progression of man through the circle of evil is marked by three
+infelicities: Necessity, oblivion, and deaths. The deaths which follow
+our changes are so many escapes from their power. Man is a free agent,
+and has the liberty of choosing; his sufferings and changes cannot be
+foreseen. By his misconduct he may happen to fall retrograde into the
+lowest state from which he had emerged. If his conduct in any one state,
+instead of improving his being, had made it worse, he fell back into a
+worse condition, to commence again his purifying revolutions. Humanity
+was the limit of the degraded transmigrations. All the changes above
+humanity produced felicity. Humanity is the scene of the contest; and
+after man has traversed every state of animated existence, and can
+remember all that he has passed through, that consummation follows which
+he attains in the circle of felicity. It is on this system of
+transmigration that Taliessin, the Welsh bard, who wrote in the sixth
+century, gives a recital of his pretended transmigrations. He tells how
+he had been a serpent, a wild ass, a buck, or a crane, &amp;c.; and this
+kind of reminiscence of his former state, this recovery of memory, was a
+proof of the mortal's advances to the happier circle. For to forget what
+we have been was one of the curses of the circle of evil. Taliessin,
+therefore, adds Mr. Turner, as profusely boasts of his recovered
+reminiscence as any modern sectary can do of his state of grace and
+election.</p>
+
+<p>In all these wild reveries there seems to be a moral fable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> in the
+notion, that the clearer a man recollects what a <i>brute</i> he has been, it
+is a certain proof that he is in an improved state!</p>
+
+<p>According to the authentic Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, we find
+the Pythagorean transmigration carried on in the West, and not less
+fancifully than in the countries of the East. The people of Tlascala
+believe that the souls of persons of rank went after their death to
+inhabit the bodies of <i>beautiful and sweet singing birds</i>, and those of
+the <i>nobler quadrupeds</i>; while the souls of inferior persons were
+supposed to pass into <i>weasels</i>, <i>beetles</i>, and such other <i>meaner
+animals</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There is something not a little ludicrous in the description Plutarch
+gives at the close of his treatise on "the delay of heavenly justice."
+Thespesius saw at length the souls of those who were condemned to return
+to life, and whom they violently forced to take the forms of all kinds
+of animals. The labourers charged with this transformation forged with
+their instruments certain parts; others, a new form; and made some
+totally disappear; that these souls might be rendered proper for another
+kind of life and other habits. Among these he perceived the soul of
+Nero, which had already suffered long torments, and which stuck to the
+body by nails red from the fire. The workmen seized on him to make a
+viper of, under which form he was now to live, after having devoured the
+breast that had carried him.&mdash;But in this Plutarch only copies the fine
+reveries of Plato.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SPANISH_ETIQUETTE" id="SPANISH_ETIQUETTE"></a>SPANISH ETIQUETTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The etiquette, or rules to be observed in royal palaces, is necessary
+for keeping order at court. In Spain it was carried to such lengths as
+to make martyrs of their kings. Here is an instance, at which, in spite
+of the fatal consequences it produced, one cannot refrain from smiling.</p>
+
+<p>Philip the Third was gravely seated by the fire-side: the fire-maker of
+the court had kindled so great a quantity of wood, that the monarch was
+nearly suffocated with heat, and his <i>grandeur</i> would not suffer him to
+rise from the chair; the domestics could not <i>presume</i> to enter the
+apartment, because it was against the <i>etiquette</i>. At length the Marquis
+de Potat appeared, and the king ordered him to damp the fire;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> but <i>he</i>
+excused himself; alleging that he was forbidden by the <i>etiquette</i> to
+perform such a function, for which the Duke d'Ussada ought to be called
+upon, as it was his business. The duke was gone out: the <i>fire</i> burnt
+fiercer; and the <i>king</i> endured it, rather than derogate from his
+<i>dignity</i>. But his blood was heated to such a degree, that an erysipelas
+of the head appeared the next day, which, succeeded by a violent fever,
+carried him off in 1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign.</p>
+
+<p>The palace was once on fire; a soldier, who knew the king's sister was
+in her apartment, and must inevitably have been consumed in a few
+moments by the flames, at the risk of his life rushed in, and brought
+her highness safe out in his arms: but the Spanish <i>etiquette</i> was here
+wofully broken into! The loyal soldier was brought to trial; and as it
+was impossible to deny that he had entered her apartment, the judges
+condemned him to die! The Spanish Princess however condescended, in
+consideration of the circumstance, to <i>pardon</i> the soldier, and very
+benevolently saved his life.</p>
+
+<p>When Isabella, mother of Philip II., was ready to be delivered of him,
+she commanded that all the lights should be extinguished: that if the
+violence of her pain should occasion her face to change colour, no one
+might perceive it. And when the midwife said, "Madam, cry out, that will
+give you ease," she answered in <i>good Spanish</i>, "How dare you give me
+such advice? I would rather die than cry out."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Spain gives us <i>pride</i>&mdash;which Spain to all the earth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May largely give, nor fear herself a dearth!"&mdash;<i>Churchill.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Philip the Third was a weak bigot, who suffered himself to be governed
+by his ministers. A patriot wished to open his eyes, but he could not
+pierce through the crowds of his flatterers; besides that the voice of
+patriotism heard in a corrupted court would have become a crime never
+pardoned. He found, however, an ingenious manner of conveying to him his
+censure. He caused to be laid on his table, one day, a letter sealed,
+which bore this address&mdash;"To the King of Spain, Philip the Third, at
+present in the service of the Duke of Lerma."</p>
+
+<p>In a similar manner, Don Carlos, son to Philip the Second, made a book
+with empty pages, to contain the voyages of his father, which bore this
+title&mdash;"The great and admirable Voyages of the King Mr. Philip." All
+these voyages con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>sisted in going to the Escurial from Madrid, and
+returning to Madrid from the Escurial. Jests of this kind at length cost
+him his life.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_GOTHS_AND_HUNS" id="THE_GOTHS_AND_HUNS"></a>THE GOTHS AND HUNS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The terrific honours which these ferocious nations paid to their
+deceased monarchs are recorded in history, by the interment of Attila,
+king of the Huns, and Alaric, king of the Goths.</p>
+
+<p>Attila died in 453, and was buried in the midst of a vast champaign in a
+coffin which was inclosed in one of gold, another of silver, and a third
+of iron. With the body were interred all the spoils of the enemy,
+harnesses embroidered with gold and studded with jewels, rich silks, and
+whatever they had taken most precious in the palaces of the kings they
+had pillaged; and that the place of his interment might for ever remain
+concealed, the Huns deprived of life all who assisted at his burial!</p>
+
+<p>The Goths had done nearly the same for Alaric in 410, at Cosen&ccedil;a, a town
+in Calabria. They turned aside the river Vasento; and having formed a
+grave in the midst of its bed where its course was most rapid, they
+interred this king with prodigious accumulations of riches. After having
+caused the river to reassume its usual course, they murdered, without
+exception, all those who had been concerned in digging this singular
+grave.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VICARS_OF_BRAY" id="VICARS_OF_BRAY"></a>VICARS OF BRAY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, was a papist under the reign of Henry
+the Eighth, and a Protestant under Edward the Sixth; he was a papist
+again under Mary, and once more became a Protestant in the reign of
+Elizabeth.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> When this scandal to the gown was reproached for his
+versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turncoat and an
+inconstant changeling, as Fuller expresses it, he replied, "Not so
+neither; for if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my
+principle; which is, to live and die the vicar of Bray!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a proverb peculiar
+to this county, "The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still." But how
+has it happened that this <i>vicar</i> should be so notorious, and one in
+much higher rank, acting the same part, should have escaped notice? Dr.
+<i>Kitchen</i>, bishop of Llandaff, from an idle abbot under Henry VIII. was
+made a busy bishop; Protestant under Edward, he returned to his old
+master under Mary; and at last took the oath of supremacy under
+Elizabeth, and finished as a parliament Protestant. A pun spread the
+odium of his name; for they said that he had always loved the <i>Kitchen</i>
+better than the <i>Church</i>!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DOUGLAS" id="DOUGLAS"></a>DOUGLAS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It may be recorded as a species of Puritanic barbarism, that no later
+than the year 1757, a man of genius was persecuted because he had
+written a tragedy which tended by no means to hurt the morals; but, on
+the contrary, by awakening the piety of domestic affections with the
+nobler passions, would rather elevate and purify the mind.</p>
+
+<p>When Home, the author of the tragedy of Douglas, had it performed at
+Edinburgh, some of the divines, his acquaintance, attending the
+representation, the clergy, with the monastic spirit of the darkest
+ages, published a paper, which I abridge for the contemplation of the
+reader, who may wonder to see such a composition written in the
+eighteenth century."</p>
+
+<p>"On Wednesday, February the 2nd, 1757, the Presbytery of Glasgow came to
+the following resolution. They having seen a printed paper, intituled,
+'An admonition and exhortation of the reverend Presbytery of Edinburgh;'
+which, among other <i>evils</i> prevailing, observing the following
+<i>melancholy</i> but <i>notorious</i> facts: that one who is a minister of the
+church of Scotland did <i>himself</i> write and compose <i>a stage-play</i>,
+intituled, 'The tragedy of Douglas,' and got it to be acted at the
+theatre of Edinburgh; and that he with several other ministers of the
+church were present; and <i>some</i> of them <i>oftener than once</i>, at the
+acting of the said play before a numerous audience. The presbytery being
+<i>deeply affected</i> with this new and strange appearance, do publish these
+sentiments," &amp;c. Sentiments with which I will not disgust the reader;
+but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> which they appear not yet to have purified and corrected, as they
+have shown in the case of Logan and other Scotchmen, who have committed
+the crying sin of composing dramas!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CRITICAL_HISTORY_OF_POVERTY" id="CRITICAL_HISTORY_OF_POVERTY"></a>CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>M. Morin, in the Memoirs of the French Academy, has formed a little
+history of Poverty, which I abridge.</p>
+
+<p>The writers on the genealogies of the gods have not noticed the deity of
+Poverty, though admitted as such in the pagan heaven, while she has had
+temples and altars on earth. The allegorical Plato has pleasingly
+narrated, that at the feast which Jupiter gave on the birth of Venus,
+Poverty modestly stood at the gate of the palace to gather the fragments
+of the celestial banquet; when she observed the god of riches,
+inebriated with nectar, roll out of the heavenly residence, and passing
+into the Olympian Gardens, throw himself on a vernal bank. She seized
+this opportunity to become familiar with the god. The frolicsome deity
+honoured her with his caresses; and from this amour sprung the god of
+Love, who resembles his father in jollity and mirth, and his mother in
+his nudity. The allegory is ingenious. The union of poverty with riches
+must inevitably produce the most delightful of pleasures.</p>
+
+<p>The golden age, however, had but the duration of a flower; when it
+finished, Poverty began to appear. The ancestors of the human race, if
+they did not meet her face to face, knew her in a partial degree; the
+vagrant Cain encountered her. She was firmly established in the
+patriarchal age. We hear of merchants who publicly practised the
+commerce of vending slaves, which indicates the utmost degree of
+poverty. She is distinctly marked by Job: this holy man protests, that
+he had nothing to reproach himself with respecting the poor, for he had
+assisted them in their necessities.</p>
+
+<p>In the scriptures, legislators paid great attention to their relief.
+Moses, by his wise precautions, endeavoured to soften the rigours of
+this unhappy state. The division of lands, by tribes and families; the
+septennial jubilees; the regulation to bestow at the harvest-time a
+certain portion of all the fruits of the earth for those families who
+were in want; and the obligation of his moral law to love one's
+neighbour as one's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> self; were so many mounds erected against the
+inundations of poverty. The Jews under their Theocracy had few or no
+mendicants. Their kings were unjust; and rapaciously seizing on
+inheritances which were not their right, increased the numbers of the
+poor. From the reign of David there were oppressive governors, who
+devoured the people as their bread. It was still worse under the foreign
+powers of Babylon, of Persia, and the Roman emperors. Such were the
+extortions of their publicans, and the avarice of their governors, that
+the number of mendicants dreadfully augmented; and it was probably for
+that reason that the opulent families consecrated a tenth part of their
+property for their succour, as appears in the time of the evangelists.
+In the preceding ages no more was given, as their casuists assure us,
+than the fortieth or thirtieth part; a custom which this singular nation
+still practise. If there are no poor of their nation where they reside,
+they send it to the most distant parts. The Jewish merchants make this
+charity a regular charge in their transactions with each other; and at
+the close of the year render an account to the poor of their nation.</p>
+
+<p>By the example of Moses, the ancient legislators were taught to pay a
+similar attention to the poor. Like him, they published laws respecting
+the division of lands; and many ordinances were made for the benefit of
+those whom fires, inundations, wars, or bad harvests had reduced to
+want. Convinced that <i>idleness</i> more inevitably introduced poverty than
+any other cause, it was rigorously punished; the Egyptians made it
+criminal, and no vagabonds or mendicants were suffered under any
+pretence whatever. Those who were convicted of slothfulness, and still
+refused to labour for the public when labour was offered to them, were
+punished with death. The famous Pyramids are the works of men who
+otherwise had remained vagabonds and mendicants.</p>
+
+<p>The same spirit inspired Greece. Lycurgus would not have in his republic
+either <i>poor</i> or <i>rich</i>: they lived and laboured in common. As in the
+present times, every family has its stores and cellars, so they had
+public ones, and distributed the provisions according to the ages and
+constitutions of the people. If the same regulation was not precisely
+observed by the Athenians, the Corinthians, and the other people of
+Greece, the same maxim existed in full force against idleness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>According to the laws of Draco, Solon, &amp;c., a conviction of wilful
+poverty was punished with the loss of life. Plato, more gentle in his
+manners, would have them only banished. He calls them enemies of the
+state; and pronounces as a maxim, that where there are great numbers of
+mendicants, fatal revolutions will happen; for as these people have
+nothing to lose, they plan opportunities to disturb the public repose.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient Romans, whose universal object was the public prosperity,
+were not indebted to Greece on this head. One of the principal
+occupations of their censors was to keep a watch on the vagabonds. Those
+who were condemned as incorrigible sluggards were sent to the mines, or
+made to labour on the public edifices. The Romans of those times, unlike
+the present race, did not consider the <i>far niente</i> as an occupation;
+they were convinced that their liberalities were ill-placed in bestowing
+them on such men. The little republics of the <i>bees</i> and the <i>ants</i> were
+often held out as an example; and the last particularly, where Virgil
+says, that they have elected overseers who correct the sluggards:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"&mdash;&mdash; Pars agmina cogunt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Castigantque moras."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And if we may trust the narratives of our travellers, the <i>beavers</i>
+pursue this regulation more rigorously and exactly than even these
+industrious societies. But their rigour, although but animals, is not so
+barbarous as that of the ancient Germans; who, Tacitus informs us,
+plunged the idlers and vagabonds in the thickest mire of their marshes,
+and left them to perish by a kind of death which resembled their
+inactive dispositions.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, after all, it was not inhumanity that prompted the ancients thus
+severely to chastise idleness; they were induced to it by a strict
+equity, and it would be doing them injustice to suppose, that it was
+thus they treated those <i>unfortunate poor</i>, whose indigence was
+occasioned by infirmities, by age, or unforeseen calamities. Every
+family constantly assisted its branches to save them from being reduced
+to beggary; which to them appeared worse than death. The magistrates
+protected those who were destitute of friends, or incapable of labour.
+When Ulysses was disguised as a mendicant, and presented himself to
+Eurymachus, this prince observing him, to be robust and healthy, offered
+to give him employment, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> otherwise to leave him to his ill fortune.
+When the Roman Emperors, even in the reigns of Nero and Tiberius,
+bestowed their largesses, the distributors were ordered to exempt those
+from receiving a share whose bad conduct kept them in misery; for that
+it was better the lazy should die with hunger than be fed in idleness.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the police of the ancients was more exact, or whether they were
+more attentive to practise the duties of humanity, or that slavery
+served as an efficacious corrective of idleness; it clearly appears how
+small was the misery, and how few the numbers of their poor. This they
+did, too, without having recourse to hospitals.</p>
+
+<p>At the establishment of Christianity, when the apostles commanded a
+community of wealth among their disciples, the miseries of the poor
+became alleviated in a greater degree. If they did not absolutely live
+together, as we have seen religious orders, yet the wealthy continually
+supplied their distressed brethren: but matters greatly changed under
+Constantine. This prince published edicts in favour of those Christians
+who had been condemned in the preceding reigns to slavery, to the mines,
+to the galleys, or prisons. The church felt an inundation of prodigious
+crowds of these miserable men, who brought with them urgent wants and
+corporeal infirmities. The Christian families were then not numerous;
+they could not satisfy these claimants. The magistrates protected them:
+they built spacious hospitals, under different titles, for the sick, the
+aged, the invalids, the widows, and orphans. The emperors, and the most
+eminent personages, were seen in these hospitals, examining the
+patients; they assisted the helpless; they dressed the wounded. This did
+so much honour to the new religion, that Julian the Apostate introduced
+this custom among the pagans. But the best things are continually
+perverted.</p>
+
+<p>These retreats were found insufficient. Many slaves, proud of the
+liberty they had just recovered, looked on them as prisons; and, under
+various pretexts, wandered about the country. They displayed with art
+the scars of their former wounds, and exposed the imprinted marks of
+their chains. They found thus a lucrative profession in begging, which
+had been interdicted by the laws. The profession did not finish with
+them: men of an untoward, turbulent, and licentious disposition, gladly
+embraced it. It spread so wide that the succeeding emperors were obliged
+to institute new laws; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> individuals were allowed to seize on these
+mendicants for their slaves and perpetual vassals: a powerful
+preservative against this disorder. It is observed in almost every part
+of the world but ours; and prevents that populace of beggary which
+disgraces Europe. China presents us with a noble example. No beggars are
+seen loitering in that country. All the world are occupied, even to the
+blind and the lame; and only those who are incapable of labour live at
+the public expense. What is done <i>there</i> may also be performed <i>here</i>.
+Instead of that hideous, importunate, idle, licentious poverty, as
+pernicious to the police as to morality, we should see the poverty of
+the earlier ages, humble, modest, frugal, robust, industrious, and
+laborious. Then, indeed, the fable of Plato might be realised: Poverty
+might be embraced by the god of Riches; and if she did not produce the
+voluptuous offspring of Love, she would become the fertile mother of
+Agriculture, and the ingenious parent of the Arts and Manufactures.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SOLOMON_AND_SHEBA" id="SOLOMON_AND_SHEBA"></a>SOLOMON AND SHEBA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A Rabbin once told me an ingenious invention, which in the Talmud is
+attributed to Solomon.</p>
+
+<p>The power of the monarch had spread his wisdom to the remotest parts of
+the known world. Queen Sheba, attracted by the splendour of his
+reputation, visited this poetical king at his own court; there, one day
+to exercise the sagacity of the monarch, Sheba presented herself at the
+foot of the throne: in each hand she held a wreath; the one was composed
+of natural, and the other of artificial, flowers. Art, in the labour of
+the mimetic wreath, had exquisitely emulated the lively hues of nature;
+so that, at the distance it was held by the queen for the inspection of
+the king, it was deemed impossible for him to decide, as her question
+imported, which wreath was the production of nature, and which the work
+of art. The sagacious Solomon seemed perplexed; yet to be vanquished,
+though in a trifle, by a trifling woman, irritated his pride. The son of
+David, he who had written treatises on the vegetable productions "from
+the cedar to the hyssop," to acknowledge himself outwitted by a woman,
+with shreds of paper and glazed paintings! The honour of the monarch's
+reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> whole Jewish
+court looked solemn and melancholy. At length an expedient presented
+itself to the king; and one it must be confessed worthy of the
+naturalist. Observing a cluster of bees hovering about a window, he
+commanded that it should be opened: it was opened; the bees rushed into
+the court, and alighted immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a
+single one fixed on the other. The baffled Sheba had one more reason to
+be astonished at the wisdom of Solomon.</p>
+
+<p>This would make a pretty poetical tale. It would yield an elegant
+description, and a pleasing moral; that <i>the bee</i> only <i>rests</i> on the
+natural beauties, and never <i>fixes</i> on the <i>painted flowers</i>, however
+inimitably the colours may be laid on. Applied to the <i>ladies</i>, this
+would give it pungency. In the "Practical Education" of the Edgeworths,
+the reader will find a very ingenious conversation founded on this
+story.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HELL" id="HELL"></a>HELL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Oldham, in his "Satires upon the Jesuits," a work which would admit of a
+curious commentary, alludes to their "lying legends," and the
+innumerable impositions they practised on the credulous. I quote a few
+lines in which he has collected some of those legendary miracles, which
+I have noticed in the article <span class="smcap">Legends</span>, and the amours of the Virgin Mary
+are detailed in that on <span class="smcap">Religious Nouvellettes</span>.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Tell, how <i>blessed Virgin</i> to come down was seen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like play-house punk descending in machine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How she writ <i>billet-doux</i> and <i>love-discourse</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Made <i>assignations</i>, <i>visits</i>, and <i>amours</i>;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How hosts distrest, her <i>smock</i> for <i>banner</i> wore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which vanquished foes!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash; how <i>fish</i> in conventicles met,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>mackerel</i> were with <i>bait of doctrine</i> caught:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How cattle have judicious hearers been!&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How <i>consecrated hives</i> with bells were hung,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>bees</i> kept mass, and holy <i>anthems sung</i>!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How <i>pigs</i> to th' <i>rosary</i> kneel'd, and <i>sheep</i> were taught<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To bleat <i>Te Deum</i> and <i>Magnificat</i>;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How <i>fly-flap</i>, of church-censure houses rid<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of insects, which at <i>curse of fryar</i> died.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How <i>ferrying cowls</i> religious pilgrims bore<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O'er waves, without the help of sail or oar;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How <i>zealous crab</i> the <i>sacred image</i> bore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And swam a catholic to the distant shore.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With shams like these the giddy rout mislead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Their folly and their superstition feed.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>All these are allusions to the extravagant fictions in the "Golden
+Legend." Among other gross impositions to deceive the mob, Oldham
+likewise attacks them for certain publications on topics not less
+singular. The tales he has recounted, Oldham says, are only baits for
+children, like toys at a fair; but they have their profounder and higher
+matters for the learned and inquisitive. He goes on:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">One undertakes by scales of miles to tell<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The bounds, dimensions, and extent of HELL;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How many German leagues that realm contains!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">How many chaldrons Hell each year expends<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In coals for roasting Hugonots and friends!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Another frights the rout with useful stories<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of wild chimeras, limbos&mdash;PURGATORIES&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where bloated souls in smoky durance hung,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Like a Westphalia gammon or neat's tongue,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To be redeem'd with masses and a song.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Satire</span> IV.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The readers of Oldham, for Oldham must ever have readers among the
+curious in our poetry, have been greatly disappointed in the pompous
+edition of a Captain Thompson, which illustrates none of his allusions.
+In the above lines Oldham alludes to some singular works.</p>
+
+<p>Treatises and topographical descriptions of HELL, PURGATORY, and even
+HEAVEN, were once the favourite researches among certain zealous
+defenders of the Romish Church, who exhausted their ink-horns in
+building up a Hell to their own taste, or for their particular
+purpose.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> We have a treatise of Cardinal Bellarmin, a Jesuit, on
+<i>Purgatory</i>; he seems to have the science of a surveyor among all the
+secret tracks and the formidable divisions of "the bottomless pit."</p>
+
+<p>Bellarmin informs us that there are beneath the earth four different
+places, or a profound place divided into four parts. The deepest of
+these places is <i>Hell</i>; it contains all the souls of the damned, where
+will be also their bodies after the resurrection, and likewise all the
+demons. The place nearest <i>Hell</i> is <i>Purgatory</i>, where souls are purged,
+or rather where they appease the anger of God by their sufferings. He
+says that the same fires and the same torments are alike in both these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+places, the only difference between <i>Hell</i> and <i>Purgatory</i> consisting in
+their duration. Next to <i>Purgatory</i> is the <i>limbo</i> of those <i>infants</i>
+who die without having received the sacrament; and the fourth place is
+the <i>limbo</i> of the <i>Fathers</i>; that is to say, of those <i>just men</i> who
+died before the death of Christ. But since the days of the Redeemer,
+this last division is empty, like an apartment to be let. A later
+catholic theologist, the famous Tillemont, condemns <i>all the illustrious
+pagans</i> to the <i>eternal torments of Hell</i>? because they lived before the
+time of Jesus, and therefore could not be benefited by the redemption!
+Speaking of young Tiberius, who was compelled to fall on his own sword,
+Tillemont adds, "Thus by his own hand he ended his miserable life, <i>to
+begin another, the misery of which will never end</i>!" Yet history records
+nothing bad of this prince. Jortin observes that he added this
+<i>reflection</i> in his later edition, so that the good man as he grew older
+grew more uncharitable in his religious notions. It is in this manner
+too that the Benedictine editor of Justin Martyr speaks of the
+illustrious pagans. This father, after highly applauding Socrates, and a
+few more who resembled him, inclines to think that they are not fixed in
+<i>Hell</i>. But the Benedictine editor takes great pains to clear the good
+father from the shameful imputation of supposing that a <i>virtuous pagan
+might be saved</i> as well as a Benedictine monk! For a curious specimen of
+this <i>odium theologicum</i>, see the "Censure" of the Sorbonne on
+Marmontel's Belisarius.</p>
+
+<p>The adverse party, who were either philosophers or reformers, received
+all such information with great suspicion. Anthony Cornelius, a lawyer
+in the sixteenth century, wrote a small tract, which was so effectually
+suppressed, as a monster of atheism, that a copy is now only to be found
+in the hands of the curious. This author ridiculed the absurd and horrid
+doctrine of <i>infant damnation</i>, and was instantly decried as an atheist,
+and the printer prosecuted to his ruin! C&aelig;lius Secundus Curio, a noble
+Italian, published a treatise <i>De Amplitudine beati Regni Dei</i>, to prove
+that <i>Heaven</i> has more inhabitants than <i>Hell</i>,&mdash;or, in his own phrase,
+that the <i>elect</i> are more numerous than the <i>reprobate</i>. However we may
+incline to smile at these works, their design was benevolent. They were
+the first streaks of the morning light of the Reformation. Even such
+works assisted mankind to examine more closely, and hold in greater
+contempt, the extravagant and pernicious doctrines of the domineering
+papistical church.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_ABSENT_MAN" id="THE_ABSENT_MAN"></a>THE ABSENT MAN.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The character of Bruy&egrave;re's "Absent Man" has been translated in the
+Spectator, and exhibited on the theatre. It is supposed to be a
+fictitious character, or one highly coloured. It was well known,
+however, to his contemporaries, to be the Count de Brancas. The present
+anecdotes concerning the same person were unknown to, or forgotten by,
+Bruy&egrave;re; and are to the full as extraordinary as those which
+characterise <i>Menalcas</i>, or the Absent Man.</p>
+
+<p>The count was reading by the fireside, but Heaven knows with what degree
+of attention, when the nurse brought him his infant child. He throws
+down the book; he takes the child in his arms. He was playing with her,
+when an important visitor was announced. Having forgot he had quitted
+his book, and that it was his child he held in his hands, he hastily
+flung the squalling innocent on the table.</p>
+
+<p>The count was walking in the street, and the Duke de la Rochefoucault
+crossed the way to speak to him.&mdash;"God bless thee, poor man!" exclaimed
+the count. Rochefoucault smiled, and was beginning to address him:&mdash;"Is
+it not enough," cried the count, interrupting him, and somewhat in a
+passion; "is it not enough that I have said, at first, I have nothing
+for you? Such lazy vagrants as you hinder a gentleman from walking the
+streets." Rochefoucault burst into a loud laugh, and awakening the
+absent man from his lethargy, he was not a little surprised, himself,
+that he should have taken his friend for an importunate mendicant! La
+Fontaine is recorded to have been one of the most absent men; and
+Fureti&egrave;re relates a most singular instance of this absence of mind. La
+Fontaine attended the burial of one of his friends, and some time
+afterwards he called to visit him. At first he was shocked at the
+information of his death; but recovering from his surprise,
+observed&mdash;"True! true! I recollect I went to his funeral."</p>
+
+
+
+<h4>WAX-WORK.</h4>
+
+
+<p>We have heard of many curious deceptions occasioned by the imitative
+powers of wax-work. A series of anatomical sculptures in coloured wax
+was projected by the Grand Duke of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> Tuscany, under the direction of
+Fontana. Twenty apartments have been filled with those curious
+imitations. They represent in every possible detail, and in each
+successive stage of denudation, the organs of sense and reproduction;
+the muscular, the vascular, the nervous, and the bony system. They
+imitate equally well the form, and more exactly the colouring, of nature
+than injected preparations; and they have been employed to perpetuate
+many transient phenomena of disease, of which no other art could have
+made so lively a record.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p>
+
+<p>There is a species of wax-work, which, though it can hardly claim the
+honours of the fine arts, is adapted to afford much pleasure&mdash;I mean
+figures of wax, which may be modelled with great truth of character.</p>
+
+<p>Menage has noticed a work of this kind. In the year 1675, the Duke de
+Maine received a gilt cabinet, about the size of a moderate table. On
+the door was inscribed, "<i>The Apartment of Wit</i>." The inside exhibited
+an alcove and a long gallery. In an arm-chair was seated the figure of
+the duke himself, composed of wax, the resemblance the most perfect
+imaginable. On one side stood the Duke de la Rochefoucault, to whom he
+presented a paper of verses for his examination. M. de Marsillac, and
+Bossuet bishop of Meaux, were standing near the arm-chair. In the
+alcove, Madame de Thianges and Madame de la Fayette sat retired, reading
+a book. Boileau, the satirist, stood at the door of the gallery,
+hindering seven or eight bad poets from entering. Near Boileau stood
+Racine, who seemed to beckon to La Fontaine to come forwards. All these
+figures were formed of wax; and this philosophical baby-house,
+interesting for the personages it imitated, might induce a wish in some
+philosophers to play once more with one.</p>
+
+<p>There was lately an old canon at Cologne who made a collection of small
+wax models of characteristic figures, such as personifications of
+Misery, in a haggard old man with a scanty crust and a brown jug before
+him; or of Avarice, in a keen-looking Jew miser counting his gold: which
+were done with such a spirit and reality that a Flemish painter, a
+Hogarth or Wilkie, could hardly have worked up the <i>feeling</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> of the
+figure more impressively. "All these were done with truth and expression
+which I could not have imagined the wax capable of exhibiting," says the
+lively writer of "An Autumn near the Rhine." There is something very
+infantine in this taste; but I lament that it is very rarely gratified
+by such close copiers of nature as was this old canon of Cologne.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PASQUIN_AND_MARFORIO" id="PASQUIN_AND_MARFORIO"></a>PASQUIN AND MARFORIO.</h2>
+
+
+<p>All the world have heard of these <i>statues</i>: they have served as
+vehicles for the keenest satire in a land of the most uncontrolled
+despotism. The <i>statue of Pasquin</i> (from whence the word <i>pasquinade</i>)
+and that of <i>Marforio</i> are placed in Rome in two different quarters.
+<i>Marforio</i> is an ancient <i>statue</i> of <i>Mars</i>, found in the <i>Forum</i>, which
+the people have corrupted into <i>Marforio</i>. <i>Pasquin</i> is a marble
+<i>statue</i>, greatly mutilated, supposed to be the figure of a
+gladiator.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> To one or other of these <i>statues</i>, during the
+concealment of the night, are affixed those satires or lampoons which
+the authors wish should be dispersed about Rome without any danger to
+themselves. When <i>Marforio</i> is attacked, <i>Pasquin</i> comes to his succour;
+and when <i>Pasquin</i> is the sufferer, he finds in <i>Marforio</i> a constant
+defender. Thus, by a thrust and a parry, the most serious matters are
+disclosed: and the most illustrious personages are attacked by their
+enemies, and defended by their friends.</p>
+
+<p>Misson, in his Travels in Italy, gives the following account of the
+origin of the name of the statue of <i>Pasquin</i>:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>A satirical tailor, who lived at Rome, and whose name was <i>Pasquin</i>,
+amused himself by severe raillery, liberally bestowed on those who
+passed by his shop; which in time became the lounge of the newsmongers.
+The tailor had precisely the talents to head a regiment of satirical
+wits; and had he had time to <i>publish</i>, he would have been the Peter
+Pindar of his day; but his genius seems to have been satisfied to rest
+cross-legged on his shopboard. When any lampoons or amusing bon-mots
+were current at Rome, they were usually called, from his shop,
+<i>pasquinades</i>. After his death, this statue of an ancient gladiator was
+found under the pavement of his shop. It was soon set up, and by
+universal consent was inscribed with his name; and they still attempt to
+raise him from the dead, and keep the caustic tailor alive, in the
+marble gladiator of wit.</p>
+
+<p>There is a very rare work, with this title:&mdash;"Pasquillorum Tomi Duo;"
+the first containing the verse, and the second the prose pasquinades,
+published at Basle, 1544. The rarity of this collection of satirical
+pieces is entirely owing to the arts of suppression practised by the
+papal government. Sallengre, in his literary Memoirs, has given an
+account of this work; his own copy had formerly belonged to Daniel
+Heinsius, who, in verses written in his hand, describes its rarity and
+the price it too cost:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Roma meos fratres igni dedit, unica Ph&oelig;nix<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vivo, aureisque venio centum Heinsio.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Rome gave my brothers to the flames, but I survive a solitary
+Ph&oelig;nix. Heinsius bought me for a hundred golden ducats." </p></div>
+
+<p>This collection contains a great number of pieces composed at different
+times, against the popes, cardinals, &amp;c. They are not, indeed, materials
+for the historian, and they must be taken with grains of allowance. We
+find sarcastic epigrams on Leo X., and the infamous Lucretia, daughter
+of Alexander VI.: even the corrupt Romans of the day were capable of
+expressing themselves with the utmost freedom. Of Alexander VI. we have
+an apology for his conduct:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Alexander <i>sells</i> the keys, the altars, and Christ;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As he <i>bought</i> them first, he had a right to <i>sell them</i>!"<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>On Lucretia:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Hoc tumulo dormit Lucretia nomine, sed re<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thais; Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Beneath this stone sleeps Lucretia by name, but by nature Thais;
+the daughter, the wife, and the daughter-in-law of Alexander!" </p></div>
+
+<p>Leo X. was a frequent butt for the arrows of Pasquin:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sacra sub extrem&acirc;, si forte requiritis, hor&acirc;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Cur Leo non potuit sumere; vendiderat.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Do you ask why Leo did not take the sacrament on his
+death-bed?&mdash;How could he? He had sold it!" </p></div>
+
+<p>Many of these satirical touches depend on puns. Urban VII., one of the
+<i>Barberini</i> family, pillaged the Pantheon of brass to make cannon,<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a>
+on which occasion Pasquin was made to say:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Quod non fecerunt <i>Barbari</i> Rom&aelig;, fecit <i>Barberini</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>On Clement VII., whose death was said to be occasioned by the
+prescriptions of his physician:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Curtius occidit Clementem; Curtius auro<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Donandus, per quem publica parta salus.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dr. Curtius has killed the pope by his remedies; he ought to be
+remunerated as a man who has cured the state." </p></div>
+
+<p>The following, on Paul III., are singular conceptions:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Papa Medus&aelig;um caput est, coma turba Nepotum;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Perseu c&aelig;de caput, C&aelig;saries periit.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The pope is the head of Medusa; the horrid tresses are his
+nephews; Perseus, cut off the head, and then we shall be rid of
+these serpent-locks." </p></div>
+
+<p>Another is sarcastic&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ut canerent data multa olim sunt Vatibus &aelig;ra:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Heretofore money was given to poets that they might sing: how much
+will you give me, Paul, to be silent?" </p></div>
+
+<p>This collection contains, among other classes, passages from the
+Scriptures which have been applied to the court of Rome; to different
+nations and persons; and one of "<i>Sortes Virgilian&aelig; per Pasquillum
+collect&aelig;</i>,"&mdash;passages from Virgil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> frequently happily applied; and those
+who are curious in the history of those times will find this portion
+interesting. The work itself is not quite so rare as Daniel Heinsius
+imagined; the price might now reach from five to ten guineas.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>These satirical statues are placed at opposite ends of the town, so that
+there is always sufficient time to make Marforio reply to the gibes and
+jeers of Pasquin in walking from one to the other. They are an ingenious
+substitute for publishing to the world, what no Roman newspaper would
+dare to print.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="FEMALE_BEAUTY_AND_ORNAMENTS" id="FEMALE_BEAUTY_AND_ORNAMENTS"></a>FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The ladies in Japan gild their teeth; and those of the Indies paint them
+red. The pearl of teeth must be dyed black to be beautiful in Guzerat.
+In Greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow. However
+fresh the complexion of a Muscovite may be, she would think herself very
+ugly if she was not plastered over with paint. The Chinese must have
+their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goat; and to render them
+thus, their youth is passed in tortures. In ancient Persia an aquiline
+nose was often thought worthy of the crown; and if there was any
+competition between two princes, the people generally went by this
+criterion of majesty. In some countries, the mothers break the noses of
+their children; and in others press the head between two boards, that it
+may become square. The modern Persians have a strong aversion to red
+hair: the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. The female
+Hottentot receives from the hand of her lover, not silks nor wreaths of
+flowers, but warm guts and reeking tripe, to dress herself with enviable
+ornaments.</p>
+
+<p>In China, small round eyes are liked; and the girls are continually
+plucking their eye-brows, that they may be thin and long. The Turkish
+women dip a gold brush in the tincture of a black drug, which they pass
+over their eye-brows. It is too visible by day, but looks shining by
+night. They tinge their nails with a rose-colour. An African beauty must
+have small eyes, thick lips, a large flat nose, and a skin beautifully
+black. The Emperor of Monomotapa would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> not change his amiable negress
+for the most brilliant European beauty.</p>
+
+<p>An ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unnecessary. The
+Peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they hang on it a weighty ring,
+the thickness of which is proportioned by the rank of their husbands.
+The custom of boring it, as our ladies do their ears, is very common in
+several nations. Through the perforation are hung various materials;
+such as green crystal, gold, stones, a single and sometimes a great
+number of gold rings.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> This is rather troublesome to them in blowing
+their noses; and the fact is, as some have informed us, that the Indian
+ladies never perform this very useful operation.</p>
+
+<p>The female head-dress is carried in some countries to singular
+extravagance. The Chinese fair carries on her head the figure of a
+certain bird. This bird is composed of copper or of gold, according to
+the quality of the person; the wings spread out, fall over the front of
+the head-dress, and conceal the temples. The tail, long and open, forms
+a beautiful tuft of feathers. The beak covers the top of the nose; the
+neck is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, that
+it may the more freely play, and tremble at the slightest motion.</p>
+
+<p>The extravagance of the Myantses is far more ridiculous than the above.
+They carry on their heads a slight board, rather longer than a foot, and
+about six inches broad; with this they cover their hair, and seal it
+with wax. They cannot lie down, or lean, without keeping the neck
+straight; and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to find
+them with their head-dress entangled in the trees. Whenever they comb
+their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in melting the wax; but this
+combing is only performed once or twice a year.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of the land of Natal wear caps or bonnets, from six to
+ten inches high, composed of the fat of oxen. They then gradually anoint
+the head with a purer grease, which mixing with the hair, fastens these
+<i>bonnets</i> for their lives.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MODERN_PLATONISM" id="MODERN_PLATONISM"></a>MODERN PLATONISM.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Erasmus, in his Age of Religious Revolution, expressed an alarm, which
+in some shape has been since realized. He strangely, yet acutely
+observes, that "<i>literature</i> began to make a great and happy progress;
+but," he adds, "I fear two things&mdash;that the study of <i>Hebrew</i> will
+promote <i>Judaism</i>, and the study of <i>philology</i> will revive PAGANISM."
+He speaks to the same purpose in the Adages, c. 189, as Jortin observes.
+Blackwell, in his curious Life of Homer, after showing that the ancient
+oracles were the fountains of knowledge, and that the votaries of the
+<i>god</i> of <i>Delphi</i> had their faith confirmed by the oracle's perfect
+acquaintance with the country, parentage, and fortunes of the suppliant,
+and many predictions verified; that besides all this, the oracles that
+have reached us discover a wide knowledge of everything relating to
+Greece;&mdash;this learned writer is at a loss to account for a knowledge
+that he thinks has something divine in it: it was a knowledge to be
+found nowhere in Greece but among the <i>Oracles</i>. He would account for
+this phenomenon by supposing there existed a succession of learned men
+devoted to this purpose. He says, "Either we must admit the knowledge of
+the priests, or turn <i>converts to the ancients</i>, and believe in the
+<i>omniscience of Apollo, which in this age I know nobody in hazard of</i>."
+Yet, to the astonishment of this writer, were he now living, he would
+have witnessed this incredible fact! Even Erasmus himself might have
+wondered.</p>
+
+<p>We discover the origin of MODERN PLATONISM, as it may be distinguished,
+among the Italians. About the middle of the fifteenth century, some time
+before the Turks had become masters of Constantinople, a great number of
+philosophers flourished. <i>Gemisthus Pletho</i> was one distinguished by his
+genius, his erudition, and his fervent passion for <i>platonism</i>. Mr.
+Roscoe notices Pletho: "His discourses had so powerful an effect upon
+Cosmo de' Medici, who was his constant auditor, that he established an
+academy at Florence, for the sole purpose of cultivating this new and
+more elevated species of philosophy." The learned Marsilio Ficino
+translated Plotinus, that great archimage of <i>platonic mysticism</i>. Such
+were Pletho's eminent abilities, that in his old age those whom his
+novel system had greatly irritated either feared or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> respected him. He
+had scarcely breathed his last when they began to abuse Plato and our
+Pletho. The following account is written by George of Trebizond.</p>
+
+<p>"Lately has risen amongst us a second Mahomet: and this second, if we do
+not take care, will exceed in greatness the first, by the dreadful
+consequences of his wicked doctrine, as the first has exceeded Plato. A
+disciple and rival of this philosopher in philosophy, in eloquence, and
+in science, he had fixed his residence in the Peloponnese. His common
+name was <i>Gemisthus</i>, but he assumed that of <i>Pletho</i>. Perhaps
+Gemisthus, to make us believe more easily that he was descended from
+heaven, and to engage us to receive more readily his doctrine and his
+new law, wished to change his name, according to the manner of the
+ancient patriarchs, of whom it is said, that at the time the name was
+changed they were called to the greatest things. He has written with no
+vulgar art, and with no common elegance. He has given new rules for the
+conduct of life, and for the regulation of human affairs; and at the
+same time has vomited forth a great number of blasphemies against the
+Catholic religion. He was so zealous a platonist that he entertained no
+other sentiments than those of Plato, concerning the nature of the gods,
+souls, sacrifices, &amp;c. I have heard him myself, when we were together at
+Florence, say, that in a few years all men on the face of the earth
+would embrace with one common consent, and with one mind, a single and
+simple religion, at the first instructions which should be given by a
+single preaching. And when I asked him if it would be the religion of
+Jesus Christ, or that of Mahomet? he answered, 'Neither one nor the
+other; but a <i>third</i>, which will not greatly differ from <i>paganism</i>.'
+These words I heard with so much indignation, that since that time I
+have always hated him: I look upon him as a dangerous viper; and I
+cannot think of him without abhorrence."</p>
+
+<p>The pious writer might have been satisfied to have bestowed a smile of
+pity or contempt.</p>
+
+<p>When Pletho died, full of years and honours, the malice of his enemies
+collected all its venom. This circumstance seems to prove that his
+abilities must have been great indeed, to have kept such crowds silent.
+Several Catholic writers lament that his book was burnt, and regret the
+loss of Pletho's work; which, they say, was not designed to subvert the
+Christian religion, but only to unfold the system of Plato,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> and to
+collect what he and other philosophers had written on religion and
+politics.</p>
+
+<p>Of his religious scheme, the reader may judge by this summary account.
+The general title of the volume ran thus:&mdash;"This book treats of the laws
+of the best form of government, and what all men must observe in their
+public and private stations, to live together in the most perfect, the
+most innocent, and the most happy manner." The whole was divided into
+three books. The titles of the chapters where paganism was openly
+inculcated are reported by Gennadius, who condemned it to the flames,
+but who has not thought proper to enter into the manner of his
+arguments. The extravagance of this new legislator appeared, above all,
+in the articles which concerned religion. He acknowledges a plurality of
+gods: some superior, whom he placed above the heavens; and the others
+inferior, on this side the heavens. The first existing from the remotest
+antiquity; the others younger, and of different ages. He gave a king to
+all these gods, and he called him &#918;&#917;&#933;&#931;, or <i>Jupiter</i>; as the
+pagans named this power formerly. According to him, the stars had a
+soul; the demons were not malignant spirits; and the world was eternal.
+He established polygamy, and was even inclined to a community of women.
+All his work was filled with such reveries, and, with not a few
+impieties, which my pious author has not ventured to give.</p>
+
+<p>What were the intentions of Pletho? If the work was only an arranged
+system of paganism, or the platonic philosophy, it might have been an
+innocent, if not a curious volume. He was learned and humane, and had
+not passed his life entirely in the solitary recesses of his study.</p>
+
+<p>To strain human curiosity to the utmost limits of human credibility, a
+<i>modern Pletho</i> has risen in Mr. <i>Thomas Taylor</i>, who, consonant to the
+platonic philosophy in the present day, religiously professes
+<i>polytheism</i>! At the close of the eighteenth century, be it recorded,
+were published many volumes, in which the author affects to avow himself
+a zealous Platonist, and asserts that he can prove that the Christian
+religion is "a bastardized and barbarous Platonism." The divinities of
+Plato are the divinities to be adored, and we are to be taught to call
+God, Jupiter; the Virgin, Venus; and Christ, Cupid! The Iliad of Homer
+allegorised, is converted into a Greek bible of the arcana of nature!
+Extraordinary as this literary lunacy may appear, we must observe, that
+it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> stands not singular in the annals of the history of the human mind.
+The Florentine Academy, which Cosmo founded, had, no doubt, some
+classical enthusiasts; but who, perhaps, according to the political
+character of their country, were prudent and reserved. The platonic
+furor, however, appears to have reached other countries. In the reign of
+Louis XII., a scholar named Hemon de la Fosse, a native of Abbeville, by
+continually reading the Greek and Latin writers, became mad enough to
+persuade himself that it was impossible that the religion of such great
+geniuses as Homer, Cicero, and Virgil was a false one. On the 25th of
+August, 1503, being at church, he suddenly snatched the host from the
+hands of the priest, at the moment it was raised, exclaiming&mdash;"What!
+always this folly!" He was immediately seized. In the hope that he would
+abjure his extravagant errors, they delayed his punishment; but no
+exhortation or entreaties availed. He persisted in maintaining that
+Jupiter was the sovereign God of the universe, and that there was no
+other paradise than the Elysian fields. He was burnt alive, after having
+first had his tongue pierced, and his hand cut off. Thus perished an
+ardent and learned youth, who ought only to have been condemned as a
+Bedlamite.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. More, the most rational of our modern Platonists, abounds, however,
+with the most extravagant reveries, and was inflated with egotism and
+enthusiasm, as much as any of his mystic predecessors. He conceived that
+he communed with the Divinity itself! that he had been shot as a fiery
+dart into the world, and he hoped he had hit the mark. He carried his
+self-conceit to such extravagance, that he thought his urine smelt like
+violets, and his body in the spring season had a sweet odour; a
+perfection peculiar to himself. These visionaries indulge the most
+fanciful vanity.</p>
+
+<p>The "sweet odours," and that of "the violets," might, however, have been
+real&mdash;for they mark a certain stage of the disease of diabetes, as
+appears in a medical tract by the elder Dr. Latham.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ANECDOTES_OF_FASHION" id="ANECDOTES_OF_FASHION"></a>ANECDOTES OF FASHION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A volume on this subject might be made very curious and entertaining,
+for our ancestors were not less vacillating, and perhaps more
+capriciously grotesque, though with infinitely less taste, than the
+present generation. Were a philosopher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> and an artist, as well as an
+antiquary, to compose such a work, much diversified entertainment, and
+some curious investigation of the progress of the arts and taste, would
+doubtless be the result; the subject otherwise appears of trifling
+value; the very farthing pieces of history.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of many fashions was in the endeavour to conceal some
+deformity of the inventor: hence the cushions, ruffs, hoops, and other
+monstrous devices. If a reigning beauty chanced to have an unequal hip,
+those who had very handsome hips would load them with that false rump
+which the other was compelled by the unkindness of nature to substitute.
+Patches were invented in England in the reign of Edward VI. by a foreign
+lady, who in this manner ingeniously covered a wen on her neck.
+Full-bottomed wigs were invented by a French barber, one Duviller, whose
+name they perpetuated, for the purpose of concealing an elevation in the
+shoulder of the Dauphin. Charles VII. of France introduced long coats to
+hide his ill-made legs. Shoes with very long points, full two feet in
+length, were invented by Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Anjou, to conceal a
+large excrescence on one of his feet. When Francis I. was obliged to
+wear his hair short, owing to a wound he received in the head, it became
+a prevailing fashion at court. Others, on the contrary, adapted fashions
+to set off their peculiar beauties: as Isabella of Bavaria, remarkable
+for her gallantry, and the fairness of her complexion, introduced the
+fashion of leaving the shoulders and part of the neck uncovered.</p>
+
+<p>Fashions have frequently originated from circumstances as silly as the
+following one. Isabella, daughter of Philip II. and wife of the Archduke
+Albert, vowed not to change her linen till Ostend was taken; this siege,
+unluckily for her comfort, lasted three years; and the supposed colour
+of the archduchess's linen gave rise to a fashionable colour, hence
+called <i>l'Isabeau</i>, or the Isabella; a kind of whitish-yellow-dingy.
+Sometimes they originate in some temporary event; as after the battle of
+Steenkirk, where the allies wore large cravats, by which the French
+frequently seized hold of them, a circumstance perpetuated on the medals
+of Louis XIV., cravats were called Steenkirks; and after the battle of
+Ramilies, wigs received that denomination.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>court</i>, in all ages and in every country, are the modellers of
+fashions; so that all the ridicule, of which these are so susceptible,
+must fall on them, and not upon their ser<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>vile imitators the <i>citizens</i>.
+This complaint is made even so far back as in 1586, by Jean des Caures,
+an old French moralist, who, in declaiming against the fashions of his
+day, notices one, of the ladies carrying <i>mirrors fixed to their
+waists</i>, which seemed to employ their eyes in perpetual activity. From
+this mode will result, according to honest Des Caures, their eternal
+damnation. "Alas! (he exclaims) in what an age do we live: to see such
+depravity which we see, that induces them even to bring into church
+these <i>scandalous mirrors hanging about their waists</i>! Let all
+histories, divine, human, and profane, be consulted; never will it be
+found that these objects of vanity were ever thus brought into public by
+the most meretricious of the sex. It is true, at present none but the
+ladies of the court venture to wear them; but long it will not be before
+<i>every citizen's daughter</i> and every <i>female servant</i>, will have them!"
+Such in all times has been the rise and decline of fashion; and the
+absurd mimicry of the <i>citizens</i>, even of the lowest classes, to their
+very ruin, in straining to rival the <i>newest fashion</i>, has mortified and
+galled the courtier.</p>
+
+<p>On this subject old Camden, in his Remains, relates a story of a trick
+played off on a citizen, which I give in the plainness of his own
+venerable style. Sir Philip Calthrop purged John Drakes, the <i>shoemaker
+of Norwich</i>, in the time of King Henry VIII. of the <i>proud humour</i> which
+our <i>people have to be of the gentlemen's cut</i>. This knight bought on a
+time as much fine French tawny cloth as should make him a gown, and sent
+it to the taylor's to be made. John Drakes, a shoemaker of that town,
+coming to this said taylor's, and seeing the knight's gown cloth lying
+there, liking it well, caused the taylor to buy him as much of the same
+cloth and price to the same intent, and further bade him to <i>make it of
+the same fashion that the knight would have his made of</i>. Not long
+after, the knight coming to the taylor's to take measure of his gown,
+perceiving the like cloth lying there, asked of the taylor whose it was?
+Quoth the taylor, it is John Drakes' the <i>shoemaker</i>, who will have it
+<i>made of the self-same fashion that yours is made of</i>! 'Well!' said the
+knight, 'in good time be it! I will have mine made <i>as full of cuts as
+thy shears can make it</i>.' 'It shall be done!' said the taylor;
+whereupon, because the time drew near, he made haste to finish both
+their garments. John Drakes had no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> time to go to the taylor's till
+Christmas-day, for serving his customers, when he hoped to have worn his
+gown; perceiving the same to be <i>full of cuts</i> began to swear at the
+taylor, for the making his gown after that sort. 'I have done nothing,'
+quoth the taylor, 'but that you bid me; for as Sir Philip Calthrop's
+garment is, even so I have made yours!' 'By my latchet!' quoth John
+Drakes, '<i>I will never wear gentlemen's fashions again</i>!'</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes fashions are quite reversed in their use in one age from
+another. Bags, when first in fashion in France, were only worn <i>en
+d&eacute;shabill&eacute;</i>; in visits of ceremony, the hair was tied by a riband and
+floated over the shoulders, which is exactly reversed in the present
+fashion. In the year 1735 the men had no hats but a little chapeau de
+bras; in 1745 they wore a very small hat; in 1755 they wore an enormous
+one, as may be seen in Jeffrey's curious "Collection of Habits in all
+Nations." Old Puttenham, in "The Art of Poesie," p. 239, on the present
+topic gives some curious information. "Henry VIII. caused his own head,
+and all his courtiers, to be <i>polled</i> and his <i>beard</i> to be <i>cut short</i>;
+<i>before that time</i> it was thought <i>more decent</i>, both for old men and
+young, to be <i>all shaven</i>, and weare <i>long haire</i>, either rounded or
+square. Now <i>again at this time</i> (Elizabeth's reign), the young
+gentlemen of the court have <i>taken up the long haire</i> trayling on their
+shoulders, and think this more decent; for what respect I would be glad
+to know."</p>
+
+<p>When the fair sex were accustomed to behold their lovers with beards,
+the sight of a shaved chin excited feelings of horror and aversion; as
+much indeed as, in this less heroic age, would a gallant whose luxuriant
+beard should</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Stream like a meteor to the troubled air."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>When Louis VII., to obey the injunctions of his bishops, cropped his
+hair, and shaved his beard, Eleanor, his consort, found him, with this
+unusual appearance, very ridiculous, and soon very contemptible. She
+revenged herself as she thought proper, and the poor shaved king
+obtained a divorce. She then married the Count of Anjou, afterwards our
+Henry II. She had for her marriage dower the rich provinces of Poitou
+and Guienne; and this was the origin of those wars which for three
+hundred years ravaged France, and cost the French three millions of men.
+All which, probably, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> never occurred had Louis VII. not been so rash
+as to crop his head and shave his beard, by which he became so
+disgustful in the eyes of our Queen Eleanor.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot perhaps sympathise with the feelings of her majesty, though at
+Constantinople she might not have been considered unreasonable. There
+must be something more powerful in <i>beards</i> and <i>mustachios</i> than we are
+quite aware of; for when these were in fashion&mdash;and long after this was
+written&mdash;the fashion has returned on us&mdash;with what enthusiasm were they
+not contemplated! When <i>mustachios</i> were in general use, an author, in
+his Elements of Education, published in 1640, thinks that "hairy
+excrement," as Armado in "Love's Labour Lost" calls it, contributed to
+make men valorous. He says, "I have a favourable opinion of that young
+gentleman who is <i>curious in fine mustachios</i>. The time he employs in
+adjusting, dressing, and curling them, is no lost time; for the more he
+contemplates his mustachios, the more his mind will cherish and be
+animated by masculine and courageous notions." The best reason that
+could be given for wearing the <i>longest and largest beard</i> of any
+Englishman was that of a worthy clergyman in Elizabeth's reign, "that no
+act of his life might be unworthy of the gravity of his appearance."</p>
+
+<p>The grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Cromwell, the literary
+friend of Pope, by her account, "was very nice in the mode of that age,
+his valet being some hours every morning in <i>starching his beard</i> and
+<i>curling his whiskers</i>; during which time he was always read to."
+Taylor, the water poet, humorously describes the great variety of beards
+in his time, which extract may be found in Grey's Hudibras, Vol. I. p.
+300. The <i>beard</i> dwindled gradually under the two Charleses, till it was
+reduced into <i>whiskers</i>, and became extinct in the reign of James II.,
+as if its fatality had been connected with that of the house of Stuart.</p>
+
+<p>The hair has in all ages been an endless topic for the declamation of
+the moralist, and the favourite object of fashion. If the <i>beau monde</i>
+wore their hair luxuriant, or their wig enormous, the preachers, in
+Charles the Second's reign, instantly were seen in the pulpit with their
+hair cut shorter, and their sermon longer, in consequence; respect was,
+however, paid by the world to the size of the <i>wig</i>, in spite of the
+<i>hair-cutter</i> in the pulpit. Our judges, and till lately our physicians,
+well knew its magical effect. In the reign of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> Charles II. the
+hair-dress of the ladies was very elaborate; it was not only curled and
+frizzled with the nicest art, but set off with certain artificial curls,
+then too emphatically known by the pathetic terms of <i>heart-breakers</i>
+and <i>love-locks</i>. So late as William and Mary, lads, and even children,
+wore wigs; and if they had not wigs, they curled their hair to resemble
+this fashionable ornament. Women then were the hair-dressers.</p>
+
+<p>There are flagrant follies in fashion which must be endured while they
+reign, and which never appear ridiculous till they are out of fashion.
+In the reign of Henry III. of France, they could not exist without an
+abundant use of comfits. All the world, the grave and the gay, carried
+in their pockets a <i>comfit-box</i>, as we do snuff-boxes. They used them
+even on the most solemn occasions; when the Duke of Guise was shot at
+Blois, he was found with his comfit-box in his hand.&mdash;Fashions indeed
+have been carried to so extravagant a length, as to have become a public
+offence, and to have required the interference of government. Short and
+tight breeches were so much the rage in France, that Charles V. was
+compelled to banish this disgusting mode by edicts, which may be found
+in Mezerai. An Italian author of the fifteenth century supposes an
+Italian traveller of nice modesty would not pass through France, that he
+might not be offended by seeing men whose clothes rather exposed their
+nakedness than hid it. The very same fashion was the complaint in the
+remoter period of our Chaucer, in his Parson's Tale.</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of our Elizabeth the reverse of all this took place; then
+the mode of enormous breeches was pushed to a most laughable excess. The
+beaux of that day stuffed out their breeches with rags, feathers, and
+other light matters, till they brought them out to an enormous size.
+They resembled woolsacks, and in a public spectacle they were obliged to
+raise scaffolds for the seats of these ponderous beaux. To accord with
+this fantastical taste, the ladies invented large hoop farthingales; two
+lovers aside could surely never have taken one another by the hand. In a
+preceding reign the fashion ran on square toes; insomuch that a
+proclamation was issued that no person should wear shoes above six
+inches square at the toes! Then succeeded picked-pointed shoes! The
+nation was again, in the reign of Elizabeth, put under the royal
+authority. "In that time," says honest John Stowe, "he was held the
+greatest gallant that had the <i>deepest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> ruff</i> and <i>longest rapier</i>: the
+offence to the eye of the one, and hurt unto the life of the subject
+that came by the other&mdash;this caused her Majestie to <i>make proclamation
+against them both</i>, and to <i>place selected grave citizens at every gate,
+to cut the ruffes, and breake the rapiers' points</i> of all passengers
+that exceeded a yeard in length of their rapiers, and a nayle of a yeard
+in depth of their ruffes." These "grave citizens," at every gate cutting
+the ruffs and breaking the rapiers, must doubtless have encountered in
+their ludicrous employment some stubborn opposition; but this regulation
+was, in the spirit of that age, despotic and effectual. Paul, the
+Emperor of Russia, one day ordered the soldiers to stop every passenger
+who wore pantaloons, and with their hangers to cut off, upon the leg,
+the offending part of these superfluous breeches; so that a man's legs
+depended greatly on the adroitness and humanity of a Russ or a Cossack;
+however this war against <i>pantaloons</i> was very successful, and obtained
+a complete triumph in favour of the <i>breeches</i> in the course of the
+week.</p>
+
+<p>A shameful extravagance in dress has been a most venerable folly. In the
+reign of Richard II. their dress was sumptuous beyond belief. Sir John
+Arundel had a change of no less than fifty-two new suits of cloth of
+gold tissue. The prelates indulged in all the ostentatious luxury of
+dress. Chaucer says, they had "chaunge of clothing everie daie."
+Brantome records of Elizabeth, Queen of Philip II. of Spain, that she
+never wore a gown twice; this was told him by her majesty's own
+<i>tailleur</i>, who from a poor man soon became as rich as any one he knew.
+Our own Elizabeth left no less than three thousand different habits in
+her wardrobe when she died. She was possessed of the dresses of all
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>The catholic religion has ever considered the pomp of the clerical habit
+as not the slightest part of its religious ceremonies; their devotion is
+addressed to the eye of the people. In the reign of our catholic Queen
+Mary, the dress of a priest was costly indeed; and the sarcastic and
+good-humoured Fuller gives, in his Worthies, the will of a priest, to
+show the wardrobe of men of his order, and desires that the priest may
+not be jeered for the gallantry of his splendid apparel. He bequeaths to
+various parish churches and persons, "My vestment of crimson satin&mdash;my
+vestment of crimson velvet&mdash;my stole and fanon set with pearl&mdash;my black
+gown faced with taffeta," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Chaucer has minutely detailed in "The Persone's Tale"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> the grotesque and
+the costly fashions of his day; and the simplicity of the venerable
+satirist will interest the antiquary and the philosopher. Much, and
+curiously, has his caustic severity or lenient humour descanted on the
+"moche superfluitee," and "wast of cloth in vanitee," as well as "the
+disordinate scantnesse." In the spirit of the good old times, he
+calculates "the coste of the embrouding or embroidering; endenting or
+barring; ounding or wavy; paling or imitating pales; and winding or
+bending; the costlewe furring in the gounes; so much pounsoning of
+chesel to maken holes (that is, punched with a bodkin); so moche dagging
+of sheres (cutting into slips); with the superfluitee in length of the
+gounes trailing in the dong and in the myre, on horse and eke on foot,
+as wel of man as of woman&mdash;that all thilke trailing," he verily
+believes, which wastes, consumes, wears threadbare, and is rotten with
+dung, are all to the damage of "the poor folk," who might be clothed
+only out of the flounces and draggle-tails of these children of vanity.
+But then his Parson is not less bitter against "the horrible disordinat
+scantnesse of clothing," and very copiously he describes, though perhaps
+in terms and with a humour too coarse for me to transcribe, the
+consequences of these very tight dresses. Of these persons, among other
+offensive matters, he sees "the buttokkes behind, as if they were the
+hinder part of a sheap, in the ful of the mone." He notices one of the
+most grotesque modes, the wearing a parti-coloured dress; one stocking
+part white and part red, so that they looked as if they had been flayed.
+Or white and blue, or white and black, or black and red; this variety of
+colours gave an appearance to their members of St. Anthony's fire, or
+cancer, or other mischance!</p>
+
+<p>The modes of dress during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were
+so various and ridiculous, that they afforded perpetual food for the
+eager satirist.</p>
+
+<p>The conquests of Edward III. introduced the French fashions into
+England; and the Scotch adopted them by their alliance with the French
+court, and close intercourse with that nation.</p>
+
+<p>Walsingham dates the introduction of French fashions among us from the
+taking of Calais in 1347; but we appear to have possessed such a rage
+for imitation in dress, that an English beau was actually a fantastical
+compound of all the fashions in Europe, and even Asia, in the reign of
+Elizabeth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> In Chaucer's time, the prevalence of French fashions was a
+common topic with our satirist; and he notices the affectation of our
+female citizens in speaking the French language, a stroke of satire
+which, after four centuries, is not obsolete, if applied to their faulty
+pronunciation. In the prologue to the Prioresse, Chaucer has these
+humorous lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Entewned in her voice full seemly,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And French she spake full feteously,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>After the Scole of Stratford at Bowe</i>:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The <i>French of Paris</i> was to her unknowe.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A beau of the reign of Henry IV. has been made out, by the laborious
+Henry. They wore then long-pointed shoes to such an immoderate length,
+that they could not walk till they were fastened to their knees with
+chains. Luxury improving on this ridiculous mode, these chains the
+English beau of the fourteenth century had made of gold and silver; but
+the grotesque fashion did not finish here, for the tops of their shoes
+were carved in the manner of a church window. The ladies of that period
+were not less fantastical.</p>
+
+<p>The wild variety of dresses worn in the reign of Henry VIII. is alluded
+to in a print of a naked Englishman holding a piece of cloth hanging on
+his right arm, and a pair of shears in his left hand. It was invented by
+Andrew Borde, a learned wit of those days. The print bears the following
+inscription:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Musing in my mind, what rayment I shall were;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For now I will were this, and now I will were that,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And now I will were what I cannot tell what.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At a lower period, about the reign of Elizabeth, we are presented with a
+curious picture of a man of fashion by Puttenham, in his "Arte of
+Poetry," p. 250. This author was a travelled courtier, and has
+interspersed his curious work with many lively anecdotes of the times.
+This is his fantastical beau in the reign of Elizabeth. "May it not
+seeme enough for a courtier to know how to <i>weare a feather</i> and <i>set
+his cappe</i> aflaunt; his <i>chain en echarpe</i>; a straight <i>buskin, al
+Inglese</i>; a loose <i>&agrave; la Turquesque</i>; the cape <i>alla Spaniola</i>; the
+breech <i>&agrave; la Fran&ccedil;oise</i>, and, by twentie maner of new-fashioned
+garments, to disguise his body and his face with as many countenances,
+whereof it seems there be many that make a very arte and studie, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+can shewe himselfe most fine, I will not say most foolish or
+ridiculous." So that a beau of those times wore in the same dress a
+grotesque mixture of all the fashions in the world. About the same
+period the <i>ton</i> ran in a different course in France. There, fashion
+consisted in an affected negligence of dress; for Montaigne honestly
+laments, in Book i. Cap. 25&mdash;"I have never yet been apt to imitate the
+<i>negligent garb</i> which is yet observable among the <i>young men</i> of our
+time; to wear my <i>cloak on one shoulder</i>, my <i>bonnet on one side</i>, and
+<i>one stocking</i> in something <i>more disorder than the other</i>, meant to
+express a manly disdain of such exotic ornaments, and a contempt of
+art."</p>
+
+<p>The fashions of the Elizabethan age have been chronicled by honest John
+Stowe. Stowe was originally a <i>tailor</i>, and when he laid down the
+shears, and took up the pen, the taste and curiosity for <i>dress</i> was
+still retained. He is the grave chronicler of matters not grave. The
+chronology of ruffs, and tufted taffetas; the revolution of steel
+poking-sticks, instead of bone or wood, used by the laundresses; the
+invasion of shoe-buckles, and the total rout of shoe-roses; that grand
+adventure of a certain Flemish lady, who introduced the art of starching
+the ruffs with a yellow tinge into Britain: while Mrs. Montague emulated
+her in the royal favour, by presenting her highness the queen with a
+pair of black silk stockings, instead of her cloth hose, which her
+majesty now for ever rejected; the heroic achievements of the Right
+Honourable Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who first brought from Italy
+the whole mystery and craft of perfumery, and costly washes; and among
+other pleasant things besides, a perfumed jerkin, a pair of perfumed
+gloves trimmed with roses, in which the queen took such delight, that
+she was actually pictured with those gloves on her royal hands, and for
+many years after the scent was called the Earl of Oxford's Perfume.
+These, and occurrences as memorable, receive a pleasant kind of
+historical pomp in the important, and not incurious, narrative of the
+antiquary and the tailor. The toilet of Elizabeth was indeed an altar of
+devotion, of which she was the idol, and all her ministers were her
+votaries: it was the reign of coquetry, and the golden age of millinery!
+But for grace and elegance they had not the slightest feeling! There is
+a print by Vertue, of Queen Elizabeth going in a procession to Lord
+Hunsdon. This procession is led by Lady Hunsdon, who no doubt was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+leader likewise of the fashion; but it is impossible, with our ideas of
+grace and comfort, not to commiserate this unfortunate lady; whose
+standing-up wire ruff, rising above her head; whose stays, or bodice, so
+long-waisted as to reach to her knees; and the circumference of her
+large hoop farthingale, which seems to enclose her in a capacious tub;
+mark her out as one of the most pitiable martyrs of ancient modes. The
+amorous Sir Walter Raleigh must have found some of the maids of honour
+the most impregnable fortification his gallant spirit ever assailed: a
+<i>coup de main</i> was impossible.</p>
+
+<p>I shall transcribe from old Stowe a few extracts, which may amuse the
+reader:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"In the second yeere of Queen Elizabeth, 1560, her <i>silke woman</i>,
+Mistris Montague, presented her majestie for a new yeere's gift, a
+<i>paire of black knit silk stockings</i>, the which, after a few days'
+wearing, pleased her highness so well, that she sent for Mistris
+Montague, and asked her where she had them, and if she could help her to
+any more; who answered, saying, 'I made them very carefully of purpose
+only for your majestie, and seeing these please you so well, I will
+presently set more in hand.' 'Do so (quoth the queene), for <i>indeed I
+like silk stockings so well, because they are pleasant, fine, and
+delicate, that henceforth I will wear no more</i> CLOTH STOCKINGS'&mdash;and
+from that time unto her death the queene never wore any more <i>cloth
+hose</i>, but only silke stockings; for you shall understand that King
+Henry the Eight did weare onely cloath hose, or hose cut out of
+ell-broade taffety, or that by great chance there came a pair of
+<i>Spanish silk stockings</i> from Spain. King Edward the Sixt had a <i>payre
+of long Spanish silk stockings</i> sent him for a <i>great present</i>.&mdash;Dukes'
+daughters then wore gownes of satten of Bridges (Bruges) upon solemn
+dayes. Cushens, and window pillows of velvet and damaske, formerly only
+princely furniture, now be very plenteous in most citizens' houses."</p>
+
+<p>"Milloners or haberdashers had not then any <i>gloves imbroydered</i>, or
+trimmed with gold, or silke; neither gold nor imbroydered girdles and
+hangers, neither could they <i>make any costly wash</i> or <i>perfume</i>, until
+about the fifteenth yeere of the queene, the Right Honourable Edward de
+Vere, Earl of Oxford, came from <i>Italy</i>, and brought with him gloves,
+sweete bagges, a perfumed leather jerkin, and other <i>pleasant things</i>;
+and that yeere the queene had a <i>pair of perfumed gloves</i> trimmed only
+with four tuffes, or <i>roses of coloured silk</i>. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> queene took such
+pleasure in those gloves, that she was pictured with those gloves upon
+her handes, and for many years after it was called '<i>The Earl of
+Oxford's perfume</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>In such a chronology of fashions, an event not less important surely was
+the origin of <i>starching</i>; and here we find it treated with the utmost
+historical dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"In the year 1564, Mistris Dinghen Van den Plasse, borne at T&aelig;nen in
+Flaunders, daughter to a worshipfull knight of that province, with her
+husband, came to London for their better safeties and there professed
+herself a <i>starcher</i>, wherein she excelled, unto whom her owne nation
+presently repaired, and payed her very liberally for her worke. Some
+very few of the best and most curious wives of that time, observing the
+<i>neatness and delicacy of the Dutch for whitenesse and fine wearing of
+linen</i>, made them <i>cambricke ruffs</i>, and sent them to Mistris Dinghen to
+<i>starch</i>, and after awhile they made them <i>ruffes of lawn</i>, which was at
+that time a stuff most strange, and wonderfull, and thereupon rose a
+<i>general scoffe</i> or <i>by-word</i>, that shortly they would make <i>ruffs of a
+spider's web</i>; and then they began to send their daughters and nearest
+kinswomen to Mistris Dinghen to <i>learn how to starche</i>; her usuall price
+was at that time, foure or five pound, to teach them how <i>to starch</i>,
+and twenty shillings how to <i>seeth starch</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Thus Italy, Holland, and France supplied us with fashions and
+refinements. But in those days there were, as I have shown from
+Puttenham, as <i>extravagant dressers</i> as any of their present supposed
+degenerate descendants. Stowe affords us another curious extract.
+"Divers noble personages made them <i>ruffes, a full quarter of a yeard
+deepe</i>, and two lengthe in one ruffe. This <i>fashion</i> in <i>London</i> was
+called the <i>French fashion</i>; but when Englishmen came to <i>Paris</i>, the
+<i>French</i> knew it not, and in derision called it <i>the English monster</i>."
+An exact parallel this of many of our own Parisian modes in the present
+day.</p>
+
+<p>This was the golden period of cosmetics. The beaux of that day, it is
+evident, used the abominable art of painting their faces as well as the
+women. Our old comedies abound with perpetual allusions to oils,
+tinctures, quintessences, pomatums, perfumes, paint white and red, &amp;c.
+One of their prime cosmetics was a frequent use of the <i>bath</i>, and the
+application of <i>wine</i>. Strutt quotes from an old MS. a recipe to make
+the face of a beautiful red colour. The person was to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> in a bath that
+he might perspire, and afterwards wash his face with wine, and "so
+should be both faire and roddy." In Mr. Lodge's "Illustrations of
+British History," the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had the keeping of the
+unfortunate Queen of Scots, complains of the expenses of the queen for
+<i>bathing in wine</i>, and requires a further allowance. A learned Scotch
+professor informed me that <i>white wine</i> was used for these purposes.
+They also made a bath of <i>milk</i>. Elder beauties <i>bathed in wine</i>, to get
+rid of their wrinkles; and perhaps not without reason, wine being a
+great astringent. Unwrinkled beauties <i>bathed in milk</i>, to preserve the
+softness and sleekness of the skin. Our venerable beauties of the
+Elizabethan age were initiated coquettes; and the mysteries of their
+toilet might be worth unveiling.</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Charles II. was the dominion of French fashions. In some
+respects the taste was a little lighter, but the moral effect of dress,
+and which no doubt it has, was much worse. The dress was very
+inflammatory; and the nudity of the beauties of the portrait-painter,
+Sir Peter Lely, has been observed. The queen of Charles II. exposed her
+breast and shoulders without even the gloss of the lightest gauze; and
+the tucker, instead of standing up on her bosom, is with licentious
+boldness turned down, and lies upon her stays. This custom of baring the
+bosom was much exclaimed against by the authors of that age. That honest
+divine, Richard Baxter, wrote a preface to a book, entitled, "A just and
+seasonable reprehension of <i>naked breasts and shoulders</i>." In 1672 a
+book was published, entitled, "New instructions unto youth for their
+behaviour, and also a discourse upon some innovations of habits and
+dressing; <i>against powdering of hair</i>, <i>naked breasts</i>, <i>black spots</i>
+(or patches), and other unseemly customs."A whimsical fashion now
+prevailed among the ladies, of strangely ornamenting their faces with
+abundance of black patches cut into grotesque forms, such as a coach and
+horses, owls, rings, suns, moons, crowns, cross and crosslets. The
+author has prefixed <i>two ladies' heads</i>; the one representing <i>Virtue</i>,
+and the other <i>Vice</i>. <i>Virtue</i> is a lady modestly habited, with a black
+velvet hood, and a plain white kerchief on her neck, with a border.
+<i>Vice</i> wears no handkerchief; her stays cut low, so that they display
+great part of the breasts; and a variety of fantastical patches on her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>The innovations of fashions in the reign of Charles II. were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> watched
+with a jealous eye by the remains of those strict puritans, who now
+could only pour out their bile in such solemn admonitions. They affected
+all possible plainness and sanctity. When courtiers wore monstrous wigs,
+they cut their hair short; when they adopted hats with broad plumes,
+they clapped on round black caps, and screwed up their pale religious
+faces; and when shoe-buckles were revived, they wore strings. The
+sublime Milton, perhaps, exulted in his intrepidity of still wearing
+latchets! The Tatler ridicules Sir William Whitelocke for his
+singularity in still affecting them. "Thou dear <i>Will Shoestring</i>, how
+shall I draw thee? Thou dear outside, will you be <i>combing your wig</i>,
+playing with your <i>box</i>, or picking your teeth?" &amp;c. <i>Wigs</i> and
+<i>snuff-boxes</i> were then the rage. Steele's own wig, it is recorded, made
+at one time a considerable part of his annual expenditure. His large
+black periwig cost him, even at that day, no less than forty
+guineas!&mdash;We wear nothing at present in this degree of extravagance. But
+such a wig was the idol of fashion, and they were performing perpetually
+their worship with infinite self-complacency; combing their wigs in
+public was then the very spirit of gallantry and rank. The hero of
+Richardson, youthful and elegant as he wished him to be, is represented
+waiting at an assignation, and describing his sufferings in bad weather
+by lamenting that "his <i>wig</i> and his linen were dripping with the hoar
+frost dissolving on them." Even Betty, Clarissa's lady's-maid, is
+described as "tapping on her <i>snuff-box</i>," and frequently taking
+<i>snuff</i>. At this time nothing was so monstrous as the head-dresses of
+the ladies in Queen Anne's reign: they formed a kind of edifice of three
+stories high; and a fashionable lady of that day much resembles the
+mythological figure of Cybele, the mother of the gods, with three towers
+on her head.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is not worth noticing the changes in fashion, unless to ridicule
+them. However, there are some who find amusement in these records of
+luxurious idleness; these thousand and one follies! Modern fashions,
+till, very lately, a purer taste has obtained among our females, were
+generally mere copies of obsolete ones, and rarely originally
+fantastical. The dress of <i>some</i> of our <i>beaux</i> will only be known in a
+few years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> hence by their <i>caricatures</i>. In 1751 the dress of a <i>dandy</i>
+is described in the Inspector. A <i>black</i> velvet coat, a <i>green</i> and
+silver waistcoat, <i>yellow</i> velvet breeches, and <i>blue</i> stockings. This
+too was the &aelig;ra of <i>black silk breeches</i>; an extraordinary novelty
+against which "some frowsy people attempted to raise up <i>worsted</i> in
+emulation." A satirical writer has described a buck about forty years
+ago;<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> one could hardly have suspected such a gentleman to have been
+one of our contemporaries. "A coat of light green, with sleeves too
+small for the arms, and buttons too big for the sleeves; a pair of
+Manchester fine stuff breeches, without money in the pockets; clouded
+silk stockings, but no legs; a club of hair behind larger than the head
+that carries it; a hat of the size of sixpence on a block not worth a
+farthing."</p>
+
+<p>As this article may probably arrest the volatile eyes of my fair
+readers, let me be permitted to felicitate them on their improvement in
+elegance in the forms of their dress; and the taste and knowledge of art
+which they frequently exhibit. But let me remind them that there are
+universal principles of beauty in dress independent of all fashions.
+Tacitus remarks of Poppea, the consort of Nero, that she concealed <i>a
+part of her face</i>; to the end that, the imagination having fuller play
+by irritating curiosity, they might think higher of her beauty than if
+the whole of her face had been exposed. The sentiment is beautifully
+expressed by Tasso, and it will not be difficult to remember it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Non copre sue bellezze, e non l'espose."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I conclude by a poem, written in my youth, not only because the late Sir
+Walter Scott once repeated some of the lines, from memory, to remind me
+of it, and has preserved it in "The English Minstrelsy," but also as a
+memorial of some fashions which have become extinct in my own days.</p>
+
+
+<h4>STANZAS</h4>
+
+<blockquote><h4>ADDRESSED TO LAURA, ENTREATING HER NOT TO PAINT, TO POWDER, OR TO GAME,
+BUT TO RETREAT INTO THE COUNTRY.</h4></blockquote>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Ah, Laura</span>! quit the noisy town,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And <span class="smcap">Fashion's</span> persecuting reign:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Health wanders on the breezy down,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And Science on the silent plain.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">How long from Art's reflected hues<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Shalt thou a mimic charm receive?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Believe, my fair! the faithful muse,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They spoil the blush they cannot give.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Must ruthless art, with tortuous steel,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy artless locks of gold deface,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In serpent folds their charms conceal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And spoil, at every touch, a grace.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Too sweet thy youth's enchanting bloom<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To waste on midnight's sordid crews:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Let wrinkled age the night consume,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For age has but its hoards to lose.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sacred to love and sweet repose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Behold that trellis'd bower is nigh!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That bower the verdant walls enclose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Safe from pursuing Scandal's eye.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">There, as in every lock of gold<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Some flower of pleasing hue I weave,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A goddess shall the muse behold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And many a votive sigh shall heave.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">So the rude Tartar's holy rite<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A feeble MORTAL once array'd;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then trembled in that mortal's sight,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And own'd DIVINE the power he MADE.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_SENATE_OF_JESUITS" id="A_SENATE_OF_JESUITS"></a>A SENATE OF JESUITS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In a book entitled "Int&eacute;r&ecirc;ts et Maximes des Princes et des Etats
+Souverains, par M. le duc de Rohan; Cologne, 1666," an anecdote is
+recorded concerning the Jesuits, which neither Puffendorf nor Vertot has
+noticed in his history.</p>
+
+<p>When Sigismond, king of Sweden, was elected king of Poland, he made a
+treaty with the states of Sweden, by which he obliged himself to pass
+every fifth year in that kingdom. By his wars with the Ottoman court,
+with Muscovy, and Tartary, compelled to remain in Poland to encounter
+these powerful enemies, during fifteen years he failed in accomplishing
+his promise. To remedy this in some shape, by the advice of the Jesuits,
+who had gained an ascendancy over him, he created a senate to reside at
+Stockholm, composed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> of forty chosen Jesuits. He presented them with
+letters-patent, and invested them with the royal authority.</p>
+
+<p>While this senate of Jesuits was at Dantzic, waiting for a fair wind to
+set sail for Stockholm, he published an edict, that the Swedes should
+receive them as his own royal person. A public council was immediately
+held. Charles, the uncle of Sigismond, the prelates, and the lords,
+resolved to prepare for them a splendid and magnificent entry.</p>
+
+<p>But in a private council, they came to very contrary resolutions: for
+the prince said, he could not bear that a senate of priests should
+command, in preference to all the princes and lords, natives of the
+country. All the others agreed with him in rejecting this holy senate.
+The archbishop rose, and said, "Since Sigismond has disdained to be our
+king, we also must not acknowledge him as such; and from this moment we
+should no longer consider ourselves as his subjects. His authority is
+<i>in suspenso</i>, because he has bestowed it on the Jesuits who form this
+senate. The people have not yet acknowledged them. In this interval of
+resignation on the one side, and assumption on the other, I absolve you
+all of the fidelity the king may claim from you as his Swedish
+subjects." The prince of Bithynia addressing himself to Prince Charles,
+uncle of the king, said, "I own no other king than you; and I believe
+you are now obliged to receive us as your affectionate subjects, and to
+assist us to hunt these vermin from the state." All the others joined
+him, and acknowledged Charles as their lawful monarch.</p>
+
+<p>Having resolved to keep their declaration for some time secret, they
+deliberated in what manner they were to receive and to precede this
+senate in their entry into the harbour, who were now on board a great
+galleon, which had anchored two leagues from Stockholm, that they might
+enter more magnificently in the night, when the fireworks they had
+prepared would appear to the greatest advantage. About the time of their
+reception, Prince Charles, accompanied by twenty-five or thirty vessels,
+appeared before this senate. Wheeling about, and forming a caracol of
+ships, they discharged a volley, and emptied all their cannon on the
+galleon bearing this senate, which had its sides pierced through with
+the balls. The galleon immediately filled with water and sunk, without
+one of the unfortunate Jesuits being assisted: on the contrary, their
+assailants cried to them that this was the time to perform some miracle,
+such as they were accus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>tomed to do in India and Japan; and if they
+chose, they could walk on the waters!</p>
+
+<p>The report of the cannon, and the smoke which the powder occasioned,
+prevented either the cries or the submersion of the holy fathers from
+being observed: and as if they were conducting the senate to the town,
+Charles entered triumphantly; went into the church, where they sung <i>Te
+Deum</i>; and to conclude the night, he partook of the entertainment which
+had been prepared for this ill-fated senate.</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuits of the city of Stockholm having come, about midnight, to pay
+their respects to the Fathers, perceived their loss. They directly
+posted up <i>placards</i> of excommunication against Charles and his
+adherents, who had caused the senate of Jesuits to perish. They urged
+the people to rebel; but they were soon expelled the city, and Charles
+made a public profession of Lutheranism.</p>
+
+<p>Sigismond, King of Poland, began a war with Charles in 1604, which
+lasted two years. Disturbed by the invasions of the Tartars, the
+Muscovites, and the Cossacs, a truce was concluded; but Sigismond lost
+both his crowns, by his bigoted attachment to Roman Catholicism.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_LOVERS_HEART" id="THE_LOVERS_HEART"></a>THE LOVER'S HEART.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following tale, recorded in the Historical Memoirs of Champagne, by
+Bougier, has been a favourite narrative with the old romance writers;
+and the principal incident, however objectionable, has been displayed in
+several modern poems.</p>
+
+<p>Howell, in his "Familiar Letters," in one addressed to Ben Jonson,
+recommends it to him as a subject "which peradventure you may make use
+of in your way;" and concludes by saying, "in my opinion, which vails to
+yours, this is choice and rich stuff for you to put upon your loom, and
+make a curious web of."</p>
+
+<p>The Lord de Coucy, vassal to the Count de Champagne, was one of the most
+accomplished youths of his time. He loved, with an excess of passion,
+the lady of the Lord du Fayel, who felt a reciprocal affection. With the
+most poignant grief this lady heard from her lover, that he had resolved
+to accompany the king and the Count de Champagne to the wars of the Holy
+Land; but she would not oppose his wishes, because she hoped that his
+absence might dissipate the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> jealousy of her husband. The time of
+departure having come, these two lovers parted with sorrows of the most
+lively tenderness. The lady, in quitting her lover, presented him with
+some rings, some diamonds, and with a string that she had woven herself
+of his own hair, intermixed with silk and buttons of large pearls, to
+serve him, according to the fashion of those days, to tie a magnificent
+hood which covered his helmet. This he gratefully accepted.</p>
+
+<p>In Palestine, at the siege of Acre, in 1191, in gloriously ascending the
+ramparts, he received a wound, which was declared mortal. He employed
+the few moments he had to live in writing to the Lady du Fayel; and he
+poured forth the fervour of his soul. He ordered his squire to embalm
+his heart after his death, and to convey it to his beloved mistress,
+with the presents he had received from her hands in quitting her.</p>
+
+<p>The squire, faithful to the dying injunction of his master, returned to
+France, to present the heart and the gifts to the lady of Du Fayel. But
+when he approached the castle of this lady, he concealed himself in the
+neighbouring wood, watching some favourable moment to complete his
+promise. He had the misfortune to be observed by the husband of this
+lady, who recognised him, and who immediately suspected he came in
+search of his wife with some message from his master. He threatened to
+deprive him of his life if he did not divulge the occasion of his
+return. The squire assured him that his master was dead; but Du Fayel
+not believing it, drew his sword on him. This man, frightened at the
+peril in which he found himself, confessed everything; and put into his
+hands the heart and letter of his master. Du Fayel was maddened by the
+fellest passions, and he took a wild and horrid revenge. He ordered his
+cook to mince the heart; and having mixed it with meat, he caused a
+favourite ragout, which he knew pleased the taste of his wife, to be
+made, and had it served to her. The lady ate heartily of the dish. After
+the repast, Du Fayel inquired of his wife if she had found the ragout
+according to her taste: she answered him that she had found it
+excellent. "It is for this reason that I caused it to be served to you,
+for it is a kind of meat which you very much liked. You have, Madame,"
+the savage Du Fayel continued, "eaten the heart of the Lord de Coucy."
+But this the lady would not believe, till he showed her the letter of
+her lover, with the string of his hair, and the dia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>monds she had given
+him. Shuddering in the anguish of her sensations, and urged by the
+utmost despair, she told him&mdash;"It is true that I loved that heart,
+because it merited to be loved: for never could it find its superior;
+and since I have eaten of so noble a meat, and that my stomach is the
+tomb of so precious a heart, I will take care that nothing of inferior
+worth shall ever be mixed with it." Grief and passion choked her
+utterance. She retired to her chamber: she closed the door for ever; and
+refusing to accept of consolation or food, the amiable victim expired on
+the fourth day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_HISTORY_OF_GLOVES" id="THE_HISTORY_OF_GLOVES"></a>THE HISTORY OF GLOVES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The present learned and curious dissertation is compiled from the papers
+of an ingenious antiquary, from the "Present State of the Republic of
+Letters," vol. x. p. 289.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p>The antiquity of this part of dress will form our first inquiry; and we
+shall then show its various uses in the several ages of the world.</p>
+
+<p>It has been imagined that gloves are noticed in the 108th Psalm, where
+the royal prophet declares, he will cast his <i>shoe</i> over Edom; and still
+farther back, supposing them to be used in the times of the Judges, Ruth
+iv. 7, where the custom is noticed of a man taking off his <i>shoe</i> and
+giving it to his neighbour, as a pledge for redeeming or exchanging
+anything. The word in these two texts, usually translated <i>shoe</i> by the
+Chaldee paraphrast, in the latter is rendered <i>glove</i>. Casaubon is of
+opinion that <i>gloves</i> were worn by the Chaldeans, from the word here
+mentioned being explained in the Talmud Lexicon, <i>the clothing of the
+hand</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Xenophon</i> gives a clear and distinct account of <i>gloves</i>. Speaking of
+the manners of the Persians, as a proof of their effeminacy, he
+observes, that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet,
+they also guarded their hands against the cold with <i>thick gloves</i>.
+<i>Homer</i>, describing Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with
+<i>gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns</i>. <i>Varro</i>, an
+ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the
+Romans. In lib. ii. cap. 55, <i>De Re Rustic&acirc;</i>, he says, that olives
+gathered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with
+<i>gloves</i>. <i>Athen&aelig;us</i> speaks of a celebrated glutton who always came to
+table with <i>gloves</i> on his hands, that he might be able to handle and
+eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company.</p>
+
+<p>These authorities show that the ancients were not strangers to the use
+of <i>gloves</i>, though their use was not common. In a hot climate to wear
+gloves implies a considerable degree of effeminacy. We can more clearly
+trace the early use of gloves in northern than in southern nations. When
+the ancient severity of manners declined, the use of <i>gloves</i> prevailed
+among the Romans; but not without some opposition from the philosophers.
+<i>Musonius</i>, a philosopher, who lived at the close of the first century
+of Christianity, among other invectives against the corruption of the
+age, says, <i>It is shameful that persons in perfect health should clothe
+their hands and feet with soft and hairy coverings</i>. Their convenience,
+however, soon made the use general. <i>Pliny</i> the younger informs us, in
+his account of his uncle's journey to Vesuvius, that his secretary sat
+by him ready to write down whatever occurred remarkable; and that he had
+<i>gloves</i> on his hands, that the coldness of the weather might not impede
+his business.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning of the ninth century, the use of <i>gloves</i> was become so
+universal, that even the church thought a regulation in that part of
+dress necessary. In the reign of <i>Louis le Debonair</i>, the council of Aix
+ordered that the monks should only wear <i>gloves</i> made of sheep-skin.</p>
+
+<p>That time has made alterations in the form of this, as in all other
+apparel, appears from the old pictures and monuments.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gloves</i>, beside their original design for a covering of the hand, have
+been employed on several great and solemn occasions; as in the ceremony
+of <i>investitures</i>, in bestowing lands, or in conferring <i>dignities</i>.
+Giving possession by the delivery of a <i>glove</i>, prevailed in several
+parts of Christendom in later ages. In the year 1002, the bishops of
+Paderborn and Moncerco were put into possession of their sees by
+receiving a <i>glove</i>. It was thought so essential a part of the episcopal
+habit, that some abbots in France presuming to wear <i>gloves</i>, the
+council of Poitiers interposed in the affair, and forbad them the use,
+on the same principle as the ring and sandals; these being peculiar to
+bishops, who frequently wore them richly adorned with jewels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Favin observes, that the custom of blessing <i>gloves</i> at the coronation
+of the kings of France, which still subsists, is a remain of the eastern
+practice of investiture by <i>a glove</i>. A remarkable instance of this
+ceremony is recorded. The unfortunate <i>Conradin</i> was deprived of his
+crown and his life by the usurper <i>Mainfroy</i>. When having ascended the
+scaffold, the injured prince lamenting his hard fate, asserted his right
+to the crown, and, as a token of investiture, threw his <i>glove</i> among
+the crowd, intreating it might be conveyed to some of his relations, who
+would revenge his death,&mdash;it was taken up by a knight, and brought to
+Peter, king of Aragon, who in virtue of this glove was afterwards
+crowned at Palermo.</p>
+
+<p>As the delivery of <i>gloves</i> was once a part of the ceremony used in
+giving possession, so the depriving a person of them was a mark of
+divesting him of his office, and of degradation. The Earl of Carlisle,
+in the reign of Edward the Second, impeached of holding a correspondence
+with the Scots, was condemned to die as a traitor. Walsingham, relating
+other circumstances of his degradation, says, "His spurs were cut off
+with a hatchet; and his <i>gloves</i> and shoes were taken off," &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Another use of <i>gloves</i> was in a duel; he who threw one down was by this
+act understood to give defiance, and he who took it up to accept the
+challenge.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p>
+
+<p>The use of single combat, at first designed only for a trial of
+innocence, like the ordeals of fire and water, was in succeeding ages
+practised for deciding rights and property. Challenging by the <i>glove</i>
+was continued down to the reign of Elizabeth, as appears by an account
+given by Spelman of a duel appointed to be fought in Tothill Fields, in
+the year 1571. The dispute was concerning some lands in the county of
+Kent. The plaintiffs appeared in court, and demanded single combat. One
+of them threw down his <i>glove</i>, which the other immediately taking up,
+carried off on the point of his sword, and the day of fighting was
+appointed; this affair was, however, adjusted by the queen's judicious
+interference.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony is still practised of challenging by a <i>glove</i> at the
+coronations of the kings of England, by his majesty's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> champion entering
+Westminster Hall completely armed and mounted.</p>
+
+<p>Challenging by the <i>glove</i> is still in use in some parts of the world.
+In Germany, on receiving an affront, to send a <i>glove</i> to the offending
+party is a challenge to a duel.</p>
+
+<p>The last use of <i>gloves</i> was for carrying the <i>hawk</i>. In former times,
+princes and other great men took so much pleasure in carrying the hawk
+on their hand, that some of them have chosen to be represented in this
+attitude. There is a monument of Philip the First of France, on which he
+is represented at length, on his tomb, holding a <i>glove</i> in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Chambers says that, formerly, judges were forbid to wear <i>gloves</i> on the
+bench. No reason is assigned for this prohibition. Our judges lie under
+no such restraint; for both they and the rest of the court make no
+difficulty of receiving <i>gloves</i> from the sheriffs, whenever the session
+or assize concludes without any one receiving sentence of death, which
+is called a <i>maiden assize</i>; a custom of great antiquity.</p>
+
+<p>Our curious antiquary has preserved a singular anecdote concerning
+<i>gloves</i>. Chambers informs us, that it is not safe at present to enter
+the stables of princes without pulling off our <i>gloves</i>. He does not
+tell us in what the danger consists; but it is an ancient established
+custom in Germany, that whoever enters the stables of a prince, or great
+man, with his <i>gloves</i> on his hands, is obliged to forfeit them, or
+redeem them by a fee to the servants. The same custom is observed in
+some places at the death of the stag; in which case, if the <i>gloves</i> are
+not taken off, they are redeemed by money given to the huntsmen and
+keepers. The French king never failed of pulling off one of his <i>gloves</i>
+on that occasion. The reason of this ceremony seems to be lost.</p>
+
+<p>We meet with the term <i>glove-money</i> in our old records; by which is
+meant, money given to servants to buy <i>gloves</i>. This, probably, is the
+origin of the phrase <i>giving a pair of gloves</i>, to signify making a
+present for some favour or service.</p>
+
+<p>Gough, in his "Sepulchral Monuments," informs us that gloves formed no
+part of the female dress till after the Reformation.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> I have seen
+some as late as the time of Anne richly worked and embroidered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There must exist in the Denny family some of the oldest gloves extant,
+as appears by the following glove anecdote.</p>
+
+<p>At the sale of the Earl of Arran's goods, April 6th, 1759, the gloves
+given by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny were sold for 38<i>l.</i> 17<i>s.</i>;
+those given by James I. to his son Edward Denny for 22<i>l.</i> 4<i>s.</i>; the
+mittens given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Denny's lady, 25<i>l.</i>
+4<i>s.</i>; all which were bought for Sir Thomas Denny, of Ireland, who was
+descended in a direct line from the great Sir Anthony Denny, one of the
+executors of the will of Henry VIII.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="RELICS_OF_SAINTS" id="RELICS_OF_SAINTS"></a>RELICS OF SAINTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When relics of saints were first introduced, the relique-mania was
+universal; they bought and they sold, and, like other collectors, made
+no scruple to <i>steal</i> them. It is entertaining to observe the singular
+ardour and grasping avidity of some, to enrich themselves with these
+religious morsels; their little discernment, the curious impositions of
+the vendor, and the good faith and sincerity of the purchaser. The
+prelate of the place sometimes ordained a fast to implore God that they
+might not be cheated with the relics of saints, which he sometimes
+purchased for the holy benefit of the village or town.</p>
+
+<p>Guibert de Nogent wrote a treatise on the relics of saints;
+acknowledging that there were many false ones, as well as false legends,
+he reprobates the inventors of these lying miracles. He wrote his
+treatise on the occasion of <i>a tooth</i> of our Lord's, by which the monks
+of St. Medard de Soissons pretended to operate miracles. He asserts that
+this pretension is as chimerical as that of several persons, who
+believed they possessed the navel, and other parts less decent, of&mdash;the
+body of Christ!</p>
+
+<p>A monk of Bergsvinck has given a history of the translation of St.
+Lewin, a virgin and a martyr: her relics were brought from England to
+Bergs. He collected with religious care the facts from his brethren,
+especially from the conductor of these relics from England. After the
+history of the translation, and a panegyric of the saint, he relates the
+miracles performed in Flanders since the arrival of her relics. The
+prevailing passion of the times to possess fragments of saints is well
+marked, when the author particularises with a certain complacency all
+the knavish modes they used to carry off<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> those in question. None then
+objected to this sort of robbery; because the gratification of the
+reigning passion had made it worth while to supply the demand.</p>
+
+<p>A monk of Cluny has given a history of the translation of the body of
+St. Indalece, one of the earliest Spanish bishops, written by order of
+the abbot of St. Juan de la Penna. He protests he advances nothing but
+facts: having himself seen, or learnt from other witnesses, all he
+relates. It was not difficult for him to be well informed, since it was
+to the monastery of St. Juan de la Penna that the holy relics were
+transported, and those who brought them were two monks of that house. He
+has authenticated his minute detail of circumstances by giving the names
+of persons and places. His account was written for the great festival
+immediately instituted in honour of this translation. He informs us of
+the miraculous manner by which they were so fortunate as to discover the
+body of this bishop, and the different plans they concerted to carry it
+off. He gives the itinerary of the two monks who accompanied the holy
+remains. They were not a little cheered in their long journey by visions
+and miracles.</p>
+
+<p>Another has written a history of what he calls the translation of the
+relics of St. Majean to the monastery of Villemagne. <i>Translation</i> is,
+in fact, only a softened expression for the robbery of the relics of the
+saint committed by two monks, who carried them off secretly to enrich
+their monastery; and they did not hesitate at any artifice or lie to
+complete their design. They thought everything was permitted to acquire
+these fragments of mortality, which had now become a branch of commerce.
+They even regarded their possessors with an hostile eye. Such was the
+religious opinion from the ninth to the twelfth century. Our Canute
+commissioned his agent at Rome to purchase <i>St. Augustin's arm</i> for one
+hundred talents of silver and one of gold; a much greater sum, observes
+Granger, than the finest statue of antiquity would have then sold for.</p>
+
+<p>Another monk describes a strange act of devotion, attested by several
+contemporary writers. When the saints did not readily comply with the
+prayers of their votaries, they flogged their relics with rods, in a
+spirit of impatience which they conceived was necessary to make them
+bend into compliance.</p>
+
+<p>Theofroy, abbot of Epternac, to raise our admiration, relates the daily
+miracles performed by the relics of saints, their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> ashes, their clothes,
+or other mortal spoils, and even by the instruments of their martyrdom.
+He inveighs against that luxury of ornaments which was indulged under
+religious pretext: "It is not to be supposed that the saints are
+desirous of such a profusion of gold and silver. They care not that we
+should raise to them such magnificent churches, to exhibit that
+ingenious order of pillars which shine with gold, nor those rich
+ceilings, nor those altars sparkling with jewels. They desire not the
+purple parchment of price for their writings, the liquid gold to
+embellish the letters, nor the precious stones to decorate their covers,
+while you have such little care for the ministers of the altar." The
+pious writer has not forgotten <i>himself</i> in this copartnership with <i>the
+saints</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Roman church not being able to deny, says Bayle, that there have
+been false relics, which have operated miracles, they reply that the
+good intentions of those believers who have recourse to them obtained
+from God this reward for their good faith! In the same spirit, when it
+was shown that two or three bodies of the same saint was said to exist
+in different places, and that therefore they all could not be authentic,
+it was answered that they were all genuine; for God had multiplied and
+miraculously reproduced them for the comfort of the faithful! A curious
+specimen of the intolerance of good sense.</p>
+
+<p>When the Reformation was spread in Lithuania, Prince Radzivil was so
+affected by it, that he went in person to pay the pope all possible
+honours. His holiness on this occasion presented him with a precious box
+of relics. The prince having returned home, some monks entreated
+permission to try the effects of these relics on a demoniac, who had
+hitherto resisted every kind of exorcism. They were brought into the
+church with solemn pomp, and deposited on the altar, accompanied by an
+innumerable crowd. After the usual conjurations, which were
+unsuccessful, they applied the relics. The demoniac instantly recovered.
+The people called out "<i>a miracle!</i>" and the prince, lifting his hands
+and eyes to heaven, felt his faith confirmed. In this transport of pious
+joy, he observed that a young gentleman, who was keeper of this treasure
+of relics, smiled, and by his motions ridiculed the miracle. The prince
+indignantly took our young keeper of the relics to task; who, on promise
+of pardon, gave the following <i>secret intelligence</i> concerning them. In
+travelling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> from Rome he had lost the box of relics; and not daring to
+mention it, he had procured a similar one, which he had filled with the
+small bones of dogs and cats, and other trifles similar to what were
+lost. He hoped he might be forgiven for smiling, when he found that such
+a collection of rubbish was idolized with such pomp, and had even the
+virtue of expelling demons. It was by the assistance of this box that
+the prince discovered the gross impositions of the monks and the
+demoniacs, and Radzivil afterwards became a zealous Lutheran.</p>
+
+<p>The elector Frederic, surnamed <i>the Wise</i>, was an indefatigable
+collector of relics. After his death, one of the monks employed by him
+solicited payment for several parcels he had purchased for our <i>wise</i>
+elector; but the times had changed! He was advised to give over this
+business; the relics for which he desired payment they were willing <i>to
+return</i>; that the price had fallen considerably since the reformation of
+Luther; and that they would find a <i>better market</i> in Italy than in
+Germany!</p>
+
+<p>Our Henry III., who was deeply tainted with the superstition of the age,
+summoned all the great in the kingdom to meet in London. This summons
+excited the most general curiosity, and multitudes appeared. The king
+then acquainted them that the great master of the Knights Templars had
+sent him a phial containing <i>a small portion of the precious blood of
+Christ</i> which he had shed upon the <i>cross</i>; and <i>attested to be genuine</i>
+by the seals of the patriarch of Jerusalem and others! He commanded a
+procession the following day; and the historian adds, that though the
+road between St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey was very deep and miry,
+the king kept his eyes constantly fixed on the phial. Two monks received
+it, and deposited the phial in the abbey, "which made all England shine
+with glory, dedicating it to God and St. Edward."</p>
+
+<p>Lord Herbert, in his Life of Henry VIII., notices the <i>great fall of the
+price of relics</i> at the dissolution of the monasteries. "The respect
+given to relics, and some pretended miracles, fell; insomuch, as I find
+by our records, that <i>a piece of St. Andrew's finger</i> (covered only with
+an ounce of silver), being laid to pledge by a monastery for forty
+pounds, was left unredeemed at the dissolution of the house; the king's
+commissioners, who upon surrender of any foundation undertook to pay the
+debts, refusing to return<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> the price again." That is, they did not
+choose to repay the <i>forty pounds</i>, to receive <i>apiece of the finger of
+St. Andrew</i>.</p>
+
+<p>About this time the property of relics suddenly sunk to a South-sea
+bubble; for shortly after the artifice of the Rood of Grace, at Boxley,
+in Kent, was fully opened to the eye of the populace; and a far-famed
+relic at Hales, in Gloucestershire, of the blood of Christ, was at the
+same time exhibited. It was shown in a phial, and it was believed that
+none could see it who were in mortal sin; and after many trials usually
+repeated to the same person, the deluded pilgrims at length went away
+fully satisfied. This relic was the <i>blood of a duck</i>, renewed every
+week, and put in a phial; one side was <i>opaque</i>, and the other
+<i>transparent</i>; the monk turned either side to the pilgrim, as he thought
+proper. The success of the pilgrim depended on the oblations he made;
+those who were scanty in their offerings were the longest to get a sight
+of the blood: when a man was in despair, he usually became generous!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PERPETUAL_LAMPS_OF_THE_ANCIENTS" id="PERPETUAL_LAMPS_OF_THE_ANCIENTS"></a>PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>No. 379 of the Spectator relates an anecdote of a person who had opened
+the sepulchre of the famous Rosicrucius. He discovered a lamp burning,
+which a statue of clock-work struck into pieces. Hence, the disciples of
+this visionary said that he made use of this method to show "that he had
+re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients."</p>
+
+<p>Many writers have made mention of these wonderful lamps.</p>
+
+<p>It has happened frequently that inquisitive men examining with a
+flambeau ancient sepulchres which had been just opened, the fat and
+gross vapours kindled as the flambeau approached them, to the great
+astonishment of the spectators, who frequently cried out "<i>a miracle!</i>"
+This sudden inflammation, although very natural, has given room to
+believe that these flames proceeded from <i>perpetual lamps</i>, which some
+have thought were placed in the tombs of the ancients, and which, they
+said, were extinguished at the moment that these tombs opened, and were
+penetrated by the exterior air.</p>
+
+<p>The accounts of the perpetual lamps which ancient writers give have
+occasioned several ingenious men to search after their composition.
+Licetus, who possessed more erudition<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> than love of truth, has given two
+receipts for making this eternal fire by a preparation of certain
+minerals. More credible writers maintain that it is possible to make
+lamps perpetually burning, and an oil at once inflammable and
+inconsumable; but Boyle, assisted by several experiments made on the
+air-pump, found that these lights, which have been viewed in opening
+tombs, proceeded from the collision of fresh air. This reasonable
+observation conciliates all, and does not compel us to deny the
+accounts.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the lamp of Rosicrucius, even if it ever had the slightest
+foundation, only owes its origin to the spirit of party, which at the
+time would have persuaded the world that Rosicrucius had at least
+discovered something.</p>
+
+<p>It was reserved for modern discoveries in chemistry to prove that air
+was not only necessary for a medium to the existence of the flame, which
+indeed the air-pump had already shown; but also as a constituent part of
+the inflammation, and without which a body, otherwise very inflammable
+in all its parts, cannot, however, burn but in its superficies, which
+alone is in contact with the ambient air.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NATURAL_PRODUCTIONS_RESEMBLING_ARTIFICIAL_COMPOSITIONS" id="NATURAL_PRODUCTIONS_RESEMBLING_ARTIFICIAL_COMPOSITIONS"></a>NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some stones are preserved by the curious, for representing distinctly
+figures traced by nature alone, and without the aid of art.</p>
+
+<p>Pliny mentions an agate, in which appeared, formed by the hand of
+nature, Apollo amidst the Nine Muses holding a harp. At Venice another
+may be seen, in which is naturally formed the perfect figure of a man.
+At Pisa, in the church of St. John, there is a similar natural
+production, which represents an old hermit in a desert, seated by the
+side of a stream, and who holds in his hands a small bell, as St.
+Anthony is commonly painted. In the temple of St. Sophia, at
+Constantinople, there was formerly on a white marble the image of St.
+John the Baptist covered with the skin of a camel; with this only
+imperfection, that nature had given but one leg. At Ravenna, in the
+church of St. Vital, a cordelier is seen on a dusky stone. They found in
+Italy a marble, in which a crucifix was so elaborately finished, that
+there appeared the nails, the drops of blood, and the wounds,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> as
+perfectly as the most excellent painter could have performed. At
+Sneilberg, in Germany, they found in a mine a certain rough metal, on
+which was seen the figure of a man, who carried a child on his back. In
+Provence they found in a mine a quantity of natural figures of birds,
+trees, rats, and serpents; and in some places of the western parts of
+Tartary, are seen on divers rocks the figures of camels, horses, and
+sheep. Pancirollus, in his Lost Antiquities, attests, that in a church
+at Rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest celebrating mass, and
+raising the host. Paul III. conceiving that art had been used, scraped
+the marble to discover whether any painting had been employed: but
+nothing of the kind was discovered. "I have seen," writes a friend,
+"many of these curiosities. They are <i>always helped out</i> by art. In my
+father's house was a gray marble chimney-piece, which abounded in
+portraits, landscapes, &amp;c., the greatest part of which was made by
+myself." I have myself seen a large collection, many certainly untouched
+by art. One stone appears like a perfect cameo of a Minerva's head;
+another shows an old man's head, beautiful as if the hand of Raffaelle
+had designed it. Both these stones are transparent. Some exhibit
+portraits.</p>
+
+<p>There is preserved in the British Museum a black stone, on which nature
+has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Stones of
+this kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; but
+art appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort of
+resemblance. There is a species of the orchis, where Nature has formed a
+bee, apparently feeding in the breast of the flower, with so much
+exactness, that it is impossible at a very small distance to distinguish
+the imposition. Hence the plant derives its name, and is called the
+<span class="smcap">Bee-Flower</span>. Langhorne elegantly notices its appearance:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">See on that flow'ret's velvet breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">How close the busy vagrant lies!<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span><span class="i0">His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">The ambrosial gold that swells his thighs.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Perhaps his fragrant load may bind<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">His limbs;&mdash;we'll set the captive free&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I sought the LIVING BEE to find,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And found the PICTURE of a BEE.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The late Mr. Jackson, of Exeter, wrote to me on this subject: "This
+orchis is common near our sea-coasts; but instead of being exactly like
+a BEE, <i>it is not like it at all</i>. It has a general resemblance to a
+<i>fly</i>, and by the help of imagination may be supposed to be a fly
+pitched upon the flower. The mandrake very frequently has a forked root,
+which may be fancied to resemble thighs and legs. I have seen it helped
+out with nails on the toes."</p>
+
+<p>An ingenious botanist, after reading this article, was so kind as to
+send me specimens of the <i>fly</i> orchis, <i>ophrys muscifera</i>, and of the
+<i>bee</i> orchis, <i>ophrys apifera</i>. Their resemblance to these insects when
+in full flower is the most perfect conceivable: they are distinct
+plants. The poetical eye of Langhorne was equally correct and fanciful;
+and that too of Jackson, who differed so positively. Many controversies
+have been carried on, from a want of a little more knowledge; like that
+of the BEE <i>orchis</i> and the FLY <i>orchis</i>, both parties prove to be
+right.</p>
+
+<p>Another curious specimen of the playful operations of nature is the
+mandrake; a plant, indeed, when it is bare of leaves, perfectly
+resembling that of the human form. The ginseng tree is noticed for the
+same appearance. This object the same poet has noticed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mark how that rooted mandrake wears<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">His human feet, his human hands;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oft, as his shapely form he rears,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Aghast the frighted ploughman stands.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He closes this beautiful fable with the following stanza not inapposite
+to the curious subject of this article:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Helvetia's rocks, Sabrina's waves,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Still many a shining pebble bear:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where nature's studious hand engraves<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">The PERFECT FORM, and leaves it there.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></div></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_POETICAL_GARLAND_OF_JULIA" id="THE_POETICAL_GARLAND_OF_JULIA"></a>THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Huet has given a charming description of a present made by a lover to
+his mistress; a gift which romance has seldom equalled for its
+gallantry, ingenuity, and novelty. It was called the garland of Julia.
+To understand the nature of this gift, it will be necessary to give the
+history of the parties.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful Julia d'Angennes was in the flower of her youth and fame,
+when the celebrated Gustavus, king of Sweden, was making war in Germany
+with the most splendid success. Julia expressed her warm admiration of
+this hero. She had his portrait placed on her toilet, and took pleasure
+in declaring that she would have no other lover than Gustavus. The Duke
+de Montausier was, however, her avowed and ardent admirer. A short time
+after the death of Gustavus, he sent her, as a new-year's gift, the
+POETICAL GARLAND of which the following is a description.</p>
+
+<p>The most beautiful flowers were painted in miniature by an eminent
+artist, one Robert, on pieces of vellum, all of equal dimensions. Under
+every flower a space was left open for a madrigal on the subject of the
+flower there painted. The duke solicited the wits of the time to assist
+in the composition of these little poems, reserving a considerable
+number for the effusions of his own amorous muse. Under every flower he
+had its madrigal written by N. Du Jarry, celebrated for his beautiful
+caligraphy. A decorated frontispiece offered a splendid garland composed
+of all these twenty-nine flowers; and on turning the page a cupid is
+painted to the life. These were magnificently bound, and enclosed in a
+bag of rich Spanish leather. When Julia awoke on new-year's day, she
+found this lover's gift lying on her toilet; it was one quite to her
+taste, and successful to the donor's hopes.</p>
+
+<p>Of this Poetical Garland, thus formed by the hands of Wit and Love, Huet
+says, "As I had long heard of it, I frequently expressed a wish to see
+it: at length the Duchess of Usez gratified me with the sight. She
+locked me in her cabinet one afternoon with this garland: she then went
+to the queen, and at the close of the evening liberated me. I never
+passed a more agreeable afternoon."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One of the prettiest inscriptions of these flowers is the following,
+composed for</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><b>THE VIOLET.</b><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Modeste en ma couleur, modeste en mon s&eacute;jour,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Franche d'ambition, je me cache sous l'herbe;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mais, si sur votre front je puis me voir un jour,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La plus humble des fleurs sera la plus superbe.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Modest my colour, modest is my place,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pleased in the grass my lowly form to hide;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But mid your tresses might I wind with grace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The humblest flower would feel the loftiest pride.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The following is some additional information respecting "the Poetical
+Garland of Julia."</p>
+
+<p>At the sale of the library of the Duke de la Valli&egrave;re, in 1784, among
+its numerous literary curiosities this garland appeared. It was actually
+sold for the extravagant sum of 14,510 livres! though in 1770, at
+Gaignat's sale, it only cost 780 livres. It is described to be "a
+manuscript on vellum, composed of twenty-nine flowers painted by one
+Robert, under which are inserted madrigals by various authors." But the
+Abb&eacute; Rive, the superintendent of the Valli&egrave;re library, published in 1779
+an inflammatory notice of this garland; and as he and the duke had the
+art of appreciating, and it has been said <i>making</i> spurious literary
+curiosities, this notice was no doubt the occasion of the maniacal
+price.</p>
+
+<p>In the great French Revolution, this literary curiosity found its
+passage into this country. A bookseller offered it for sale at the
+enormous price of 500<i>l.</i> sterling! No curious collector has been
+discovered to have purchased this unique; which is most remarkable for
+the extreme folly of the purchaser who gave the 14,510 livres for poetry
+and painting not always exquisite. The history of the Garland of Julia
+is a child's lesson for certain rash and inexperienced collectors, who
+may here</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Learn to do well by others harm.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TRAGIC_ACTORS" id="TRAGIC_ACTORS"></a>TRAGIC ACTORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Montfleury, a French player, was one of the greatest actors of his time
+for characters highly tragic. He died of the violent efforts he made in
+representing Orestes in the Andromache of Racine. The author of the
+"Parnasse Reform&eacute;" makes him thus express himself in the shades. There
+is something extremely droll in his lamentations, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> a severe
+raillery on the inconveniences to which tragic actors are liable.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! how sincerely do I wish that tragedies had never been invented! I
+might then have been yet in a state capable of appearing on the stage;
+and if I should not have attained the glory of sustaining sublime
+characters, I should at least have trifled agreeably, and have worked
+off my spleen in laughing! I have wasted my lungs in the violent
+emotions of jealousy, love, and ambition. A thousand times have I been
+obliged to force myself to represent more passions than Le Brun ever
+painted or conceived. I saw myself frequently obliged to dart terrible
+glances; to roll my eyes furiously in my head, like a man insane; to
+frighten others by extravagant grimaces; to imprint on my countenance
+the redness of indignation and hatred; to make the paleness of fear and
+surprise succeed each other by turns; to express the transports of rage
+and despair; to cry out like a demoniac: and consequently to strain all
+the parts of my body to render my gestures fitter to accompany these
+different impressions. The man then who would know of what I died, let
+him not ask if it were of the fever, the dropsy, or the gout; but let
+him know that it was of <i>the Andromache</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>The Jesuit Rapin informs us, that when Mondory acted Herod in the
+Mariamne of Tristan, the spectators quitted the theatre mournful and
+thoughtful; so tenderly were they penetrated with the sorrows of the
+unfortunate heroine. In this melancholy pleasure, he says, we have a
+rude picture of the strong impressions which were made by the Grecian
+tragedians. Mondory indeed felt so powerfully the character he assumed,
+that it cost him his life.</p>
+
+<p>Some readers may recollect the death of Bond, who felt so exquisitely
+the character of Lusignan in Zara, which he personated when an old man,
+that Zara, when she addressed him, found him <i>dead</i> in his chair.</p>
+
+<p>The assumption of a variety of characters by a person of irritable and
+delicate nerves, has often a tragical effect on the mental faculties. We
+might draw up a list of ACTORS, who have fallen martyrs to their tragic
+characters. Several have died on the stage, and, like Palmer, usually in
+the midst of some agitated appeal to the feelings.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Baron, who was the French Garrick, had a most elevated notion of his
+profession: he used to say, that tragic actors should be nursed on the
+lap of queens! Nor was his vanity inferior to his enthusiasm for his
+profession; for, according to him, the world might see once in a century
+a <i>C&aelig;sar</i>, but that it required a thousand years to produce a <i>Baron</i>! A
+variety of anecdotes testify the admirable talents he displayed.
+Whenever he meant to compliment the talents or merits of distinguished
+characters, he always delivered in a pointed manner the striking
+passages of the play, fixing his eye on them. An observation of his
+respecting actors, is not less applicable to poets and to painters.
+"<span class="smcap">Rules</span>," said this sublime actor, "may teach us not to raise the arms
+above the head; but if PASSION carries them, it will be well done;
+PASSION KNOWS MORE THAN ART."</p>
+
+<p>Betterton, although his countenance was ruddy and sanguine, when he
+performed Hamlet, through the violent and sudden emotion of amazement
+and horror at the presence of his father's spectre, instantly turned as
+white as his neckcloth, while his whole body seemed to be affected with
+a strong tremor: had his father's apparition actually risen before him,
+he could not have been seized with more real agonies. This struck the
+spectators so forcibly, that they felt a shuddering in their veins, and
+participated in the astonishment and the horror so apparent in the
+actor. Davies in his Dramatic Miscellanies records this fact; and in the
+Richardsoniana, we find that the first time Booth attempted the ghost
+when Betterton acted Hamlet, that actor's look at him struck him with
+such horror that he became disconcerted to such a degree, that he could
+not speak his part. Here seems no want of evidence of the force<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> of the
+ideal presence in this marvellous acting: these facts might deserve a
+philosophical investigation.</p>
+
+<p>Le Kain, the French actor, who retired from the Parisian stage, like our
+Garrick, covered with glory and gold, was one day congratulated by a
+company on the retirement which he was preparing to enjoy. "As to
+glory," modestly replied this actor, "I do not flatter myself to have
+acquired much. This kind of reward is always disputed by many, and you
+yourselves would not allow it, were I to assume it. As to the money, I
+have not so much reason to be satisfied; at the Italian Theatre, their
+share is far more considerable than mine; an actor there may get twenty
+to twenty-five thousand livres, and my share amounts at the most to ten
+or twelve thousand." "How! the devil!" exclaimed a rude chevalier of the
+order of St. Louis, who was present, "How! the devil! a vile stroller is
+not content with twelve thousand livres annually, and I, who am in the
+king's service, who sleep upon a cannon and lavish my blood for my
+country, I must consider myself as fortunate in having obtained a
+pension of one thousand livres." "And do you account as nothing, sir,
+the liberty of addressing me thus?" replied Le Kain, with all the
+sublimity and conciseness of an irritated Orosmane.</p>
+
+<p>The memoirs of Mademoiselle Clairon display her exalted feeling of the
+character of a sublime actress; she was of opinion, that in common life
+the truly sublime actor should be a hero, or heroine off the stage. "If
+I am only a vulgar and ordinary woman during twenty hours of the day,
+whatever effort I may make, I shall only be an ordinary and vulgar woman
+in Agrippina or Semiramis, during the remaining four." In society she
+was nicknamed the Queen of Carthage, from her admirable personification
+of Dido in a tragedy of that name.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="JOCULAR_PREACHERS" id="JOCULAR_PREACHERS"></a>JOCULAR PREACHERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>These preachers, whose works are excessively rare, form a race unknown
+to the general reader. I shall sketch the characters of these pious
+buffoons, before I introduce them to his acquaintance. They, as it has
+been said of Sterne, seemed to have wished, every now and then, to have
+thrown their wigs into the faces of their auditors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These preachers flourished in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
+centuries; we are therefore to ascribe their extravagant mixture of
+grave admonition with facetious illustration, comic tales which have
+been occasionally adopted by the most licentious writers, and minute and
+lively descriptions, to the great simplicity of the times, when the
+grossest indecency was never concealed under a gentle periphrasis, but
+everything was called by its name. All this was enforced by the most
+daring personalities, and seasoned by those temporary allusions which
+neither spared, nor feared even the throne. These ancient sermons
+therefore are singularly precious, to those whose inquisitive pleasures
+are gratified by tracing the <i>manners</i> of former ages. When Henry
+Stephens, in his apology for Herodotus, describes the irregularities of
+the age, and the minuti&aelig; of national manners, he effects this chiefly by
+extracts from these sermons. Their wit is not always the brightest, nor
+their satire the most poignant; but there is always that prevailing
+<i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> of the age running through their rude eloquence, which
+interests the reflecting mind. In a word, these sermons were addressed
+to the multitude; and therefore they show good sense and absurdity;
+fancy and puerility; satire and insipidity; extravagance and truth.</p>
+
+<p>Oliver Maillard, a famous cordelier, died in 1502. This preacher having
+pointed some keen traits in his sermons at Louis XI., the irritated
+monarch had our cordelier informed that he would throw him into the
+river. He replied undaunted, and not forgetting his satire: "The king
+may do as he chooses; but tell him that I shall sooner get to paradise
+by water, than he will arrive by all his post-horses." He alluded to
+travelling by post, which this monarch had lately introduced into
+France. This bold answer, it is said, intimidated Louis: it is certain
+that Maillard continued as courageous and satirical as ever in his
+pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>The following extracts are descriptive of the manners of the times.</p>
+
+<p>In attacking rapine and robbery, under the first head he describes a
+kind of usury, which was practised in the days of Ben Jonson, and I am
+told in the present, as well as in the times of Maillard. "This," says
+he, "is called a palliated usury. It is thus. When a person is in want
+of money, he goes to a treasurer (a kind of banker or merchant), on whom
+he has an order for 1000 crowns; the treasurer tells him that he will
+pay him in a fortnight's time, when he is to receive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> the money. The
+poor man cannot wait. Our good treasurer tells him, I will give you half
+in money and half in goods. So he passes his goods that are worth 100
+crowns for 200." He then touches on the bribes which these treasurers
+and clerks in office took, excusing themselves by alleging the little
+pay they otherwise received. "All these practices be sent to the
+devils!" cries Maillard, in thus addressing himself to the <i>ladies</i>: "it
+is for <i>you</i> all this damnation ensues. Yes! yes! you must have rich
+satins, and girdles of gold out of this accursed money. When any one has
+anything to receive from the husband, he must make a present to the wife
+of some fine gown, or girdle, or ring. If you ladies and gentlemen who
+are battening on your pleasures, and wear scarlet clothes, I believe if
+you were closely put in a good press, we should see the blood of the
+poor gush out, with which your scarlet is dyed."</p>
+
+<p>Maillard notices the following curious particulars of the mode of
+<i>cheating in trade</i> in his times.</p>
+
+<p>He is violent against the apothecaries for their cheats. "They mix
+ginger with cinnamon, which they sell for real spices: they put their
+bags of ginger, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, and other drugs in damp
+cellars, that they may weigh heavier; they mix oil with saffron, to give
+it a colour, and to make it weightier." He does not forget those
+tradesmen who put water in their wool, and moisten their cloth that it
+may stretch; tavern-keepers, who sophisticate and mingle wines; the
+butchers, who blow up their meat, and who mix hog's lard with the fat of
+their meat. He terribly declaims against those who buy with a great
+allowance of measure and weight, and then sell with a small measure and
+weight; and curses those who, when they weigh, press the scales down
+with their finger. But it is time to conclude with Master Oliver! His
+catalogue is, however, by no means exhausted; and it may not be amiss to
+observe, that the present age has retained every one of the sins.</p>
+
+<p>The following extracts are from Menot's sermons, which are written, like
+Maillard's, in a barbarous Latin, mixed with old French.</p>
+
+<p>Michael Menot died in 1518. I think he has more wit than Maillard, and
+occasionally displays a brilliant imagination; with the same singular
+mixture of grave declamation and farcical absurdities. He is called in
+the title-page the <i>golden-tongued</i>. It runs thus, <i>Predicatoris qui
+lingua aurea,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> sua tempestate nuncupatus est, Sermones quadragesimales,
+ab ipso olim Turonis declamati</i>. <i>Paris, 1525</i>, 8vo.</p>
+
+<p>When he compares the church with a vine, he says, "There were once some
+Britons and Englishmen who would have carried away all France into their
+country, because they found our wine better than their beer; but as they
+well knew that they could not always remain in France, nor carry away
+France into their country, they would at least carry with them several
+stocks of vines; they planted some in England; but these stocks soon
+degenerated, because the soil was not adapted to them." Notwithstanding
+what Menot said in 1500, and that we have tried so often, we have often
+flattered ourselves that if we plant vineyards, we may have English
+wine.</p>
+
+<p>The following beautiful figure describes those who live neglectful of
+their aged parents, who had cherished them into prosperity. "See the
+trees flourish and recover their leaves; it is their root that has
+produced all; but when the branches are loaded with flowers and with
+fruits, they yield nothing to the root. This is an image of those
+children who prefer their own amusements, and to game away their
+fortunes, than to give to their old parents that which they want."</p>
+
+<p>He acquaints us with the following circumstances of the immorality of
+that age: "Who has not got a mistress besides his wife? The poor wife
+eats the fruits of bitterness, and even makes the bed for the mistress."
+Oaths were not unfashionable in his day. "Since the world has been
+world, this crime was never greater. There were once pillories for these
+swearers; but now this crime is so common, that the child of five years
+can swear; and even the old dotard of eighty, who has only two teeth
+remaining, can fling out an oath."</p>
+
+<p>On the power of the fair sex of his day, he observes&mdash;"A father says, my
+son studies; he must have a bishopric, or an abbey of 500 livres. Then
+he will have dogs, horses, and mistresses, like others. Another says, I
+will have my son placed at court, and have many honourable dignities. To
+succeed well, both employ the mediation of women; unhappily the church
+and the law are entirely at their disposal. We have artful Dalilahs who
+shear us close. For twelve crowns and an ell of velvet given to a woman,
+you gain the worst lawsuit, and the best living."</p>
+
+<p>In his last sermon, Menot recapitulates the various topics he had
+touched on during Lent. This extract presents a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> curious picture, and a
+just notion of the versatile talents of these preachers.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told <i>ecclesiastics</i> how they should conduct themselves; not
+that they are ignorant of their duties; but I must ever repeat to girls,
+not to suffer themselves to be duped by them. I have told these
+ecclesiastics that they should imitate the lark; if she has a grain she
+does not remain idle, but feels her pleasure in singing, and in singing
+always is ascending towards heaven. So they should not amass; but
+elevate the hearts of all to God; and not do as the frogs who are crying
+out day and night, and think they have a fine throat, but always remain
+fixed in the mud.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told the <i>men of the law</i> that they should have the qualities of
+the eagle. The first is, that this bird when it flies fixes its eye on
+the sun; so all judges, counsellors, and attorneys, in judging, writing,
+and signing, should always have God before their eyes. And secondly,
+this bird is never greedy; it willingly shares its prey with others; so
+all lawyers, who are rich in crowns after having had their bills paid,
+should distribute some to the poor, particularly when they are conscious
+that their money arises from their prey.</p>
+
+<p>"I have spoken of the <i>marriage state</i>, but all that I have said has
+been disregarded. See those wretches who break the hymeneal chains, and
+abandon their wives! they pass their holidays out of their parishes,
+because if they remained at home they must have joined their wives at
+church; they liked their prostitutes better; and it will be so every day
+in the year! I would as well dine with a Jew or a heretic, as with them.
+What an infected place is this! Mistress Lubricity has taken possession
+of the whole city; look in every corner, and you'll be convinced.</p>
+
+<p>"For you <i>married women</i>! If you have heard the nightingale's song, you
+must know that she sings during three months, and that she is silent
+when she has young ones. So there is a time in which you may sing and
+take your pleasures in the marriage state, and another to watch your
+children. Don't damn yourselves for them; and remember it would be
+better to see them drowned than damned.</p>
+
+<p>"As to <i>widows</i>, I observe, that the turtle withdraws and sighs in the
+woods, whenever she has lost her companion; so must they retire into the
+wood of the cross, and having lost their temporal husband, take no other
+but Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>"And, to close all I have told <i>girls</i> that they must fly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> from the
+company of men, and not permit them to embrace, nor even touch them.
+Look on the rose; it has a delightful odour; it embalms the place in
+which it is placed; but if you grasp it underneath, it will prick you
+till the blood issues. The beauty of the rose is the beauty of the girl.
+The beauty and perfume of the first invite to smell and to handle it,
+but when it is touched underneath it pricks sharply; the beauty of a
+girl likewise invites the hand; but you, my young ladies, you must never
+suffer this, for I tell you that every man who does this designs to make
+you harlots."</p>
+
+<p>These ample extracts may convey the same pleasure to the reader which I
+have received by collecting them from their scarce originals, little
+known even to the curious. Menot, it cannot be denied, displays a poetic
+imagination, and a fertility of conception which distinguishes him among
+his rivals. The same taste and popular manner came into our country, and
+were suited to the simplicity of the age. In 1527, our Bishop Latimer
+preached a sermon,<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> in which he expresses himself thus:&mdash;"Now, ye
+have heard what is meant by this <i>first card</i>, and how ye ought to
+<i>play</i>. I purpose again to <i>deal</i> unto you another <i>card of the same
+suit</i>; for they be so nigh affinity, that one cannot be well played
+without the other."<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> It is curious to observe about a century
+afterwards, as Fuller informs us, that when a country clergyman imitated
+these familiar allusions, the taste of the congregation had so changed
+that he was interrupted by peals of laughter!</p>
+
+<p>Even in more modern times have Menot and Maillard found an imitator in
+little Father Andr&eacute;, as well as others. His character has been variously
+drawn. He is by some represented as a kind of buffoon in the pulpit; but
+others more judiciously observe, that he only indulged his natural
+genius, and uttered humorous and lively things, as the good Father
+observes himself, to keep the attention of his audience awake.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> He was
+not always laughing. "He told many a bold truth," says the author of
+<i>Guerre des Auteurs anciens et modernes</i>, "that sent bishops to their
+dioceses, and made many a coquette blush. He possessed the art of biting
+when he smiled; and more ably combated vice by his ingenious satire than
+by those vague apostrophes which no one takes to himself. While others
+were straining their minds to catch at sublime thoughts which no one
+understood, he lowered his talents to the most humble situations, and to
+the minutest things. From them he drew his examples and his comparisons;
+and the one and the other never failed of success." Marville says, that
+"his expressions were full of shrewd simplicity. He made very free use
+of the most popular proverbs. His comparisons and figures were always
+borrowed from the most familiar and lowest things." To ridicule
+effectually the reigning vices, he would prefer quirks or puns to
+sublime thoughts; and he was little solicitous of his choice of
+expression, so the things came home. Gozzi, in Italy, had the same power
+in drawing unexpected inferences from vulgar and familiar occurrences.
+It was by this art Whitfield obtained so many followers. In Piozzi's
+British Synonymes, vol. ii. p. 205, we have an instance of Gozzi's
+manner. In the time of Charles II. it became fashionable to introduce
+humour into sermons. Sterne seems to have revived it in his: South's
+sparkle perpetually with wit and pun.</p>
+
+<p>Far different, however, are the characters of the sublime preachers, of
+whom the French have preserved the following descriptions.</p>
+
+<p>We have not any more Bourdaloue, La Rue, and Massillon; but the idea
+which still exists of their manner of addressing their auditors may
+serve instead of lessons. Each had his own peculiar mode, always adapted
+to place, time, circumstance; to their auditors, their style, and their
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>Bourdaloue, with a collected air, had little action; with eyes generally
+half closed he penetrated the hearts of the people by the sound of a
+voice uniform and solemn. The tone with which a sacred orator pronounced
+the words, <i>Tu est ille vir!</i> "Thou art the man!" in suddenly addressing
+them to one of the kings of France, struck more forcibly than their
+application. Madame de S&eacute;vign&eacute; describes our preacher, by saying,
+"Father Bourdaloue thunders at Notre Dame."</p>
+
+<p>La Rue appeared with the air of a prophet. His manner was irresistible,
+full of fire, intelligence, and force. He had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> strokes perfectly
+original. Several old men, his contemporaries, still shuddered at the
+recollection of the expression which he employed in an apostrophe to the
+God of vengeance, <i>Evaginare gladium tuum!</i></p>
+
+<p>The person of Massillon affected his admirers. He was seen in the pulpit
+with that air of simplicity, that modest demeanour, those eyes humbly
+declining, those unstudied gestures, that passionate tone, that mild
+countenance of a man penetrated with his subject, conveying to the mind
+the most luminous ideas, and to the heart the most tender emotions.
+Baron, the tragedian, coming out from one of his sermons, truth forced
+from his lips a confession humiliating to his profession; "My friend,"
+said he to one of his companions, "this is an <i>orator!</i> and we are <i>only
+actors!</i>"</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MASTERLY_IMITATORS" id="MASTERLY_IMITATORS"></a>MASTERLY IMITATORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There have been found occasionally some artists who could so perfectly
+imitate the spirit, the taste, the character, and the peculiarities of
+great masters, that they have not unfrequently deceived the most skilful
+connoisseurs. Michael Angelo sculptured a sleeping Cupid, of which
+having broken off an arm, he buried the statue in a place where he knew
+it would soon be found. The critics were never tired of admiring it, as
+one of the most precious relics of antiquity. It was sold to the
+Cardinal of St. George, to whom Michael Angelo discovered the whole
+mystery, by joining to the Cupid the arm which he had reserved.</p>
+
+<p>An anecdote of Peter Mignard is more singular. This great artist painted
+a Magdalen on a canvas fabricated at Rome. A broker, in concert with
+Mignard, went to the Chevalier de Clairville, and told him as a secret
+that he was to receive from Italy a Magdalen of Guido, and his
+masterpiece. The chevalier caught the bait, begged the preference, and
+purchased the picture at a very high price.</p>
+
+<p>He was informed that he had been imposed upon, and that the Magdalen was
+painted by Mignard. Mignard himself caused the alarm to be given, but
+the amateur would not believe it; all the connoisseurs agreed it was a
+Guido, and the famous Le Brun corroborated this opinion.</p>
+
+<p>The chevalier came to Mignard:&mdash;"Some persons assure me that my Magdalen
+is your work!"&mdash;"Mine! they do me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> great honour. I am sure that Le Brun
+is not of this opinion." "Le Brun swears it can be no other than a
+Guido. You shall dine with me, and meet several of the first
+connoisseurs."</p>
+
+<p>On the day of meeting, the picture was again more closely inspected.
+Mignard hinted his doubts whether the piece was the work of that great
+master; he insinuated that it was possible to be deceived; and added,
+that if it was Guido's, he did not think it in his best manner. "It is a
+Guido, sir, and in his very best manner," replied Le Brun, with warmth;
+and all the critics were unanimous. Mignard then spoke in a firm tone of
+voice: "And I, gentlemen, will wager three hundred louis that it is not
+a Guido." The dispute now became violent: Le Brun was desirous of
+accepting the wager. In a word, the affair became such that it could add
+nothing more to the glory of Mignard. "No, sir," replied the latter, "I
+am too honest to bet when I am certain to win. Monsieur le Chevalier,
+this piece cost you two thousand crowns: the money must be
+returned,&mdash;the painting is <i>mine</i>." Le Brun would not believe it. "The
+proof," Mignard continued, "is easy. On this canvas, which is a Roman
+one, was the portrait of a cardinal; I will show you his cap."&mdash;The
+chevalier did not know which of the rival artists to credit. The
+proposition alarmed him. "He who painted the picture shall repair it,"
+said Mignard. He took a pencil dipped in oil, and rubbing the hair of
+the Magdalen, discovered the cap of the cardinal. The honour of the
+ingenious painter could no longer be disputed; Le Brun, vexed,
+sarcastically exclaimed, "Always paint Guido, but never Mignard."</p>
+
+<p>There is a collection of engravings by that ingenious artist Bernard
+Picart, which has been published under the title of <i>The Innocent
+Impostors</i>. Picart had long been vexed at the taste of his day, which
+ran wholly in favour of antiquity, and no one would look at, much less
+admire, a modern master. He published a pretended collection, or a set
+of prints, from the designs of the great painters; in which he imitated
+the etchings and engravings of the various masters, and much were these
+prints admired as the works of Guido, Rembrandt, and others. Having had
+his joke, they were published under the title of <i>Imposteurs
+Innocentes</i>. The connoisseurs, however, are strangely divided in their
+opinion of the merit of this collection. Gilpin classes these "Innocent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+Impostors" among the most entertaining of his works, and is delighted by
+the happiness with which he has outdone in their own excellences the
+artists whom he copied; but Strutt, too grave to admit of jokes that
+twitch the connoisseurs, declares that they could never have deceived an
+experienced judge, and reprobates such kinds of ingenuity, played off at
+the cost of the venerable brotherhood of the cognoscenti.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing was, however, done by Goltzius, who being disgusted at
+the preference given to the works of Albert Durer, Lucas of Leyden, and
+others of that school, and having attempted to introduce a better taste,
+which was not immediately relished, he published what were afterwards
+called his <i>masterpieces</i>. These are six prints in the style of these
+masters, merely to prove that Goltzius could imitate their works, if he
+thought proper. One of these, the Circumcision, he had printed on soiled
+paper; and to give it the brown tint of antiquity had carefully smoked
+it, by which means it was sold as a curious performance, and deceived
+some of the most capital connoisseurs of the day, one of whom bought it
+as one of the finest engravings of Albert Durer: even Strutt
+acknowledges the merit of Goltzius's <i>masterpieces</i>!</p>
+
+<p>To these instances of artists I will add others of celebrated authors.
+Muretus rendered Joseph Scaliger, a great stickler for the ancients,
+highly ridiculous by an artifice which he practised. He sent some verses
+which he pretended were copied from an old manuscript. The verses were
+excellent, and Scaliger was credulous. After having read them, he
+exclaimed they were admirable, and affirmed that they were written by an
+old comic poet, Trabeus. He quoted them, in his commentary on Varro <i>De
+Re Rustic&acirc;</i>, as one of the most precious fragments of antiquity. It was
+then, when he had fixed his foot firmly in the trap, that Muretus
+informed the world of the little dependence to be placed on the critical
+sagacity of one so prejudiced in favour of the ancients, and who
+considered his judgment as infallible.</p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Regnier Desmarais, having written an ode or, as the Italians
+call it, canzone, sent it to the Abb&eacute; Strozzi at Florence, who used it
+to impose on three or four academicians of Della Crusca. He gave out
+that Leo Allatius, librarian of the Vatican, in examining carefully the
+MSS. of Petrarch preserved there, had found two pages slightly glued,
+which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> having separated, he had discovered this ode. The fact was not at
+first easily credited; but afterwards the similarity of style and manner
+rendered it highly probable. When Strozzi undeceived the public, it
+procured the Abb&eacute; Regnier a place in the academy, as an honourable
+testimony of his ingenuity.</p>
+
+<p>P&egrave;re Commire, when Louis XIV. resolved on the conquest of Holland,
+composed a Latin fable, entitled "The Sun and the Frogs," in which he
+assumed with such felicity the style and character of Ph&aelig;drus, that the
+learned Wolfius was deceived, and innocently inserted it in his edition
+of that fabulist.</p>
+
+<p>Flaminius Strada would have deceived most of the critics of his age, if
+he had given as the remains of antiquity the different pieces of history
+and poetry which he composed on the model of the ancients, in his
+<i>Prolusiones Academic&aelig;</i>. To preserve probability he might have given out
+that he had drawn them, from some old and neglected library; he had then
+only to have added a good commentary, tending to display the conformity
+of the style and manner of these fragments with the works of those
+authors to whom he ascribed them.</p>
+
+<p>Sigonius was a great master of the style of Cicero, and ventured to
+publish a treatise <i>De Consolatione</i>, as a composition of Cicero
+recently discovered; many were deceived by the counterfeit, which was
+performed with great dexterity, and was long received as genuine; but he
+could not deceive Lipsius, who, after reading only ten lines, threw it
+away, exclaiming, "<i>Vah! non est Ciceronis</i>." The late Mr. Burke
+succeeded more skilfully in his "Vindication of Natural Society," which
+for a long time passed as the composition of Lord Bolingbroke; so
+perfect is this ingenious imposture of the spirit, manner, and course of
+thinking of the noble author. I believe it was written for a wager, and
+fairly won.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="EDWARD_THE_FOURTH" id="EDWARD_THE_FOURTH"></a>EDWARD THE FOURTH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Our Edward the Fourth was dissipated and voluptuous; and probably owed
+his crown to his handsomeness, his enormous debts, and passion for the
+fair sex. He had many Jane Shores. Honest Philip de Comines, his
+contemporary, says, "That what greatly contributed to his entering
+London as soon as he appeared at its gates was the great debts this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>
+prince had contracted, which made his creditors gladly assist him; and
+the high favour in which he was held by the <i>bourgeoises</i>, into whose
+good graces he had frequently glided, and who gained over to him their
+husbands, who, for the tranquillity of their lives, were glad to depose
+or to raise monarchs. Many ladies and rich citizens' wives, of whom
+formerly he had great privacies and familiar acquaintance, gained over
+to him their husbands and relations."</p>
+
+<p>This is the description of his voluptuous life; we must recollect that
+the writer had been an eye-witness, and was an honest man.</p>
+
+<p>"He had been during the last twelve years more accustomed to his ease
+and pleasure than any other prince who lived in his time. He had nothing
+in his thoughts but <i>les dames</i>, and of them more than was <i>reasonable</i>;
+and hunting-matches, good eating, and great care of his person. When he
+went in their seasons to these hunting-matches, he always had carried
+with him great pavilions for <i>les dames</i>, and at the same time gave
+splendid entertainments; so that it is not surprising that his person
+was as jolly as any one I ever saw. He was then young, and as handsome
+as any man of his age; but he has since become enormously fat."</p>
+
+<p>Since I have got old Philip in my hand, the reader will not, perhaps, be
+displeased, if he attends to a little more of his <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i>, which will
+appear in the form of a <i>conversazione</i> of the times. He relates what
+passed between the English and the French Monarch.</p>
+
+<p>"When the ceremony of the oath was concluded, our king, who was desirous
+of being friendly, began to say to the king of England, in a laughing
+way, that he must come to Paris, and be jovial amongst our ladies; and
+that he would give him the Cardinal de Bourbon for his confessor, who
+would very willingly absolve him of any <i>sin</i> which perchance he might
+commit. The king of England seemed well pleased at the invitation, and
+laughed heartily; for he knew that the said cardinal was <i>un fort bon
+compagnon</i>. When the king was returning, he spoke on the road to me; and
+said that he did not like to find the king of England so much inclined
+to come to Paris. 'He is,' said he, 'a very <i>handsome</i> king; he likes
+the women too much. He may probably find one at Paris that may make him
+like to come too often, or stay too long. His predecessors have already
+been too much at Paris and in Normandy;' and that 'his company was not
+agreeable <i>this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> side of the sea</i>; but that, beyond the sea, he wished
+to be <i>bon fr&egrave;re et amy</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>I have called Philip de Comines <i>honest</i>. The old writers, from the
+simplicity of their style, usually receive this honourable epithet; but
+sometimes they deserve it as little as most modern memoir writers. No
+enemy is indeed so terrible as a man of genius. Comines's violent enmity
+to the Duke of Burgundy, which appears in these memoirs, has been traced
+by the minute researchers of anecdotes; and the cause is not honourable
+to the memoir-writer, whose resentment was implacable. De Comines was
+born a subject of the Duke of Burgundy, and for seven years had been a
+favourite; but one day returning from hunting with the Duke, then Count
+de Charolois, in familiar jocularity he sat himself down before the
+prince, ordering the prince to pull off his boots. The count laughed,
+and did this; but in return for Comines's princely amusement, dashed the
+boot in his face, and gave Comines a bloody nose, From that time he was
+mortified in the court of Burgundy by the nickname of the <i>booted head</i>.
+Comines long felt a rankling wound in his mind; and after this domestic
+quarrel, for it was nothing more, he went over to the king of France,
+and wrote off his bile against the Duke of Burgundy in these "Memoirs,"
+which give posterity a caricature likeness of that prince, whom he is
+ever censuring for presumption, obstinacy, pride, and cruelty. This Duke
+of Burgundy, however, it is said, with many virtues, had but one great
+vice, the vice of sovereigns, that of ambition!</p>
+
+<p>The impertinence of Comines had not been chastised with great severity;
+but the nickname was never forgiven: unfortunately for the duke, Comines
+was a man of genius. When we are versed in the history of the times, we
+often discover that memoir-writers have some secret poison in their
+hearts. Many, like Comines, have had the boot dashed on their nose.
+Personal rancour wonderfully enlivens the style of Lord Orford and
+Cardinal de Retz. Memoirs are often dictated by its fiercest spirit; and
+then histories are composed from memoirs. Where is TRUTH? Not always in
+histories and memoirs!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ELIZABETH" id="ELIZABETH"></a>ELIZABETH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This great queen passionately admired handsome persons, and he was
+already far advanced in her favour who approached her with beauty and
+grace. She had so unconquerable an aversion for men who had been treated
+unfortunately by nature, that she could not endure their presence.</p>
+
+<p>When she issued from her palace, her guards were careful to disperse
+from before her eyes hideous and deformed people, the lame, the
+hunchbacked, &amp;c.; in a word, all those whose appearance might shock her
+fastidious sensations.</p>
+
+<p>"There is this singular and admirable in the conduct of Elizabeth that
+she made her pleasures subservient to her policy, and she maintained her
+affairs by what in general occasions the ruin of princes. So secret were
+her amours, that even to the present day their mysteries cannot be
+penetrated; but the utility she drew from them is public, and always
+operated for the good of her people. Her lovers were her ministers, and
+her ministers were her lovers. Love commanded, love was obeyed; and the
+reign of this princess was happy, because it was the reign of <i>Love</i>, in
+which its chains and its slavery are liked!"</p>
+
+<p>The origin of Raleigh's advancement in the queen's graces was by an act
+of gallantry. Raleigh spoiled a new plush cloak, while the queen,
+stepping cautiously on this prodigal's footcloth, shot forth a smile, in
+which he read promotion. Captain Raleigh soon became Sir Walter, and
+rapidly advanced in the queen's favour.</p>
+
+<p>Hume has furnished us with ample proofs of the <i>passion</i> which her
+courtiers feigned for her, and it remains a question whether it ever
+went further than boisterous or romantic gallantry. The secrecy of her
+amours is not so wonderful as it seems, if there were impediments to any
+but exterior gallantries. Hume has preserved in his notes a letter
+written by Raleigh. It is a perfect amorous composition. After having
+exerted his poetic talents to exalt <i>her charms</i> and <i>his affection</i>, he
+concludes, by comparing her majesty, who was then <i>sixty</i>, to Venus and
+Diana. Sir Walter was not her only courtier who wrote in this style.
+Even in her old age she affected a strange fondness for music and
+dancing, with a kind of childish simplicity; her court seemed a court of
+love,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> and she the sovereign. Secretary Cecil, the youngest son of Lord
+Burleigh, seems to have perfectly entered into her character. Lady Derby
+wore about her neck and in her bosom a portrait; the queen inquired
+about it, but her ladyship was anxious to conceal it. The queen insisted
+on having it; and discovering it to be the portrait of young Cecil, she
+snatched it away, tying it upon her shoe, and walked with it; afterwards
+she pinned it on her elbow, and wore it some time there. Secretary Cecil
+hearing of this, composed some verses and got them set to music; this
+music the queen insisted on hearing. In his verses Cecil said that he
+repined not, though her majesty was pleased to grace others; he
+contented himself with the favour she had given him by wearing his
+portrait on her feet and on her arms! The writer of the letter who
+relates this anecdote, adds, "All these things are very secret." In this
+manner she contrived to lay the fastest hold on her able servants, and
+her servants on her.</p>
+
+<p>Those who are intimately acquainted with the private anecdotes of those
+times, know what encouragement this royal coquette gave to most who were
+near her person. Dodd, in his Church History, says, that the Earls of
+Arran and Arundel, and Sir William Pickering, "were not out of hopes of
+gaining Queen Elizabeth's affections in a matrimonial way."</p>
+
+<p>She encouraged every person of eminence: she even went so far, on the
+anniversary of her coronation, as publicly to take a ring from her
+finger, and put it on the Duke of Ale&ccedil;non's hand. She also ranked
+amongst her suitors Henry the Third of France, and Henry the Great.</p>
+
+<p>She never forgave Buzenval for ridiculing her bad pronunciation of the
+French language; and when Henry IV. sent him over on an embassy, she
+would not receive him. So nice was the irritable pride of this great
+queen, that she made her private injuries matters of state.</p>
+
+<p>"This queen," writes Du Maurier, in his <i>Memoires pour servir &agrave;
+l'Histoire de la Hollande</i>, "who displayed so many heroic
+accomplishments, had this foible, of wishing to be thought beautiful by
+all the world. I heard from my father, that at every audience he had
+with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hundred times to
+display her hands, which indeed were very beautiful and very white."</p>
+
+<p>A not less curious anecdote relates to the affair of the Duke of Anjou
+and our Elizabeth; it is one more proof of her par<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>tiality for handsome
+men. The writer was Lewis Guyon, a contemporary.</p>
+
+<p>"Francis Duke of Anjou, being desirous of marrying a crowned head,
+caused proposals of marriage to be made to Elizabeth, queen of England.
+Letters passed betwixt them, and their portraits were exchanged. At
+length her majesty informed him, that she would never contract a
+marriage with any one who sought her, if she did not first <i>see his
+person</i>. If he would not come, nothing more should be said on the
+subject. This prince, over-pressed by his young friends (who were as
+little able of judging as himself), paid no attention to the counsels of
+men of maturer judgment. He passed over to England without a splendid
+train. The said lady contemplated his <i>person</i>: she found him <i>ugly</i>,
+disfigured by deep sears of the <i>small-pox</i>, and that he also had an
+<i>ill-shaped nose</i>, with <i>swellings in the neck</i>! All these were so many
+reasons with her, that he could never be admitted into her good graces."</p>
+
+<p>Puttenham, in his very rare book of the "Art of Poesie," p. 248, notices
+the grace and majesty of Elizabeth's demeanour: "Her stately manner of
+walk, with a certaine granditie rather than gravietie, marching with
+leysure, which our sovereign ladye and mistresse is accustomed to doe
+generally, unless it be when she walketh apace for her pleasure, or to
+catch her a heate in the cold mornings."</p>
+
+<p>By the following extract from a letter from one of her gentlemen, we
+discover that her usual habits, though studious, were not of the
+gentlest kind, and that the service she exacted from her attendants was
+not borne without concealed murmurs. The writer groans in secrecy to his
+friend. Sir John Stanhope writes to Sir Robert Cecil in 1598: "I was all
+the afternowne with her majestie, <i>at my booke</i>; and then thinking to
+rest me, went in agayne with your letter. She was pleased with the
+Filosofer's stone, and hath ben <i>all this daye reasonably quyett</i>. Mr.
+Grevell is absent, and I am tyed so as I cannot styrr, but shall be <i>at
+the wourse</i> for yt, these two dayes!"<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>Puttenham, p. 249, has also recorded an honourable anecdote of
+Elizabeth, and characteristic of that high majesty which was in her
+thoughts, as well as in her actions. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> she came to the crown, a
+knight of the realm, who had insolently behaved to her when Lady
+Elizabeth, fell upon his knees and besought her pardon, expecting to be
+sent to the Tower: she replied mildly, "Do you not know that we are
+descended of the <i>lion</i>, whose nature is not to harme or prey upon the
+mouse, or any other such small vermin?"</p>
+
+<p>Queen Elizabeth was taught to write by the celebrated <i>Roger Ascham</i>.
+Her writing is extremely beautiful and correct, as may be seen by
+examining a little manuscript book of prayers, preserved in the British
+Museum. I have seen her first writing book, preserved at Oxford in the
+Bodleian Library: the gradual improvement in her majesty's handwriting
+is very honourable to her diligence; but the most curious thing is the
+paper on which she tried her pens; this she usually did by writing the
+name of her beloved brother Edward; a proof of the early and ardent
+attachment she formed to that amiable prince.</p>
+
+<p>The education of Elizabeth had been severely classical; she thought and
+she wrote in all the spirit of the characters of antiquity; and her
+speeches and her letters are studded with apophthegms, and a terseness
+of ideas and language, that give an exalted idea of her mind. In her
+evasive answers to the Commons, in reply to their petitions to her
+majesty to marry, she has employed an energetic word: "Were I to tell
+you that I do not mean to marry, I might say less than I did intend; and
+were I to tell you that I do mean to marry, I might say more than it is
+proper for you to know; therefore I give you an <i>answer</i>, <span class="smcap">Answerless</span>!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_CHINESE_LANGUAGE" id="THE_CHINESE_LANGUAGE"></a>THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Chinese language is like no other on the globe; it is said to
+contain not more than about three hundred and thirty words, but it is by
+no means monotonous, for it has four accents; the even, the raised, the
+lessened, and the returning, which multiply every word into four; as
+difficult, says Mr. Astle, for an European to understand, as it is for a
+Chinese to comprehend the six pronunciations of the French E. In fact,
+they can so diversify their monosyllabic words by the different <i>tones</i>
+which they give them, that the same character differently accented
+signifies sometimes ten or more different things.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>P. Bourgeois, one of the missionaries, attempted, after ten months'
+residence at Pekin, to preach in the Chinese language. These are the
+words of the good father: "God knows how much this first Chinese sermon
+cost me! I can assure you this language resembles no other. The same
+word has never but one termination; and then adieu to all that in our
+declensions distinguishes the gender, and the number of things we would
+speak: adieu, in the verbs, to all which might explain the active
+person, how and in what time it acts, if it acts alone or with others:
+in a word, with the Chinese, the same word is substantive, adjective,
+verb, singular, plural, masculine, feminine, &amp;c. It is the person who
+hears who must arrange the circumstances, and guess them. Add to all
+this, that all the words of this language are reduced to three hundred
+and a few more; that they are pronounced in so many different ways, that
+they signify eighty thousand different things, which are expressed by as
+many different characters. This is not all: the arrangement of all these
+monosyllables appears to be under no general rule; so that to know the
+language after having learnt the words, we must learn every particular
+phrase: the least inversion would make you unintelligible to three parts
+of the Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>"I will give you an example of their words. They told me <i>chou</i>
+signifies a <i>book</i>: so that I thought whenever the word <i>chou</i> was
+pronounced, a <i>book</i> was the subject. Not at all! <i>Chou</i>, the next time
+I heard it, I found signified a <i>tree</i>. Now I was to recollect; <i>chou</i>
+was a <i>book</i> or a <i>tree</i>. But this amounted to nothing; <i>chou</i>, I found,
+expressed also <i>great heats</i>; <i>chou</i> is to <i>relate</i>; <i>chou</i> is the
+<i>Aurora</i>; <i>chou</i> means to be <i>accustomed</i>; <i>chou</i> expresses the <i>loss of
+a wager</i>, &amp;c. I should not finish, were I to attempt to give you all its
+significations.</p>
+
+<p>"Notwithstanding these singular difficulties, could one but find a help
+in the perusal of their books, I should not complain. But this is
+impossible! Their language is quite different from that of simple
+conversation. What will ever be an insurmountable difficulty to every
+European is the pronunciation; every word may be pronounced in five
+different tones, yet every tone is not so distinct that an unpractised
+ear can easily distinguish it. These monosyllables fly with amazing
+rapidity; then they are continually disguised by elisions, which
+sometimes hardly leave anything of two mono<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>syllables. From an aspirated
+tone you must pass immediately to an even one; from a whistling note to
+an inward one: sometimes your voice must proceed from the palate;
+sometimes it must be guttural, and almost always nasal. I recited my
+sermon at least fifty times to my servant before I spoke it in public;
+and yet I am told, though he continually corrected me, that of the ten
+parts of the sermon (as the Chinese express themselves), they hardly
+understood three. Fortunately the Chinese are wonderfully patient; and
+they are astonished that any ignorant stranger should be able to learn
+two words of their language."</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that "Satires are often composed in China, which, if
+you attend to the <i>characters</i>, their import is pure and sublime; but if
+you regard the <i>tone</i> only, they contain a meaning ludicrous or obscene.
+In the Chinese <i>one word</i> sometimes corresponds to three or four
+thousand characters; a property quite opposite to that of our language,
+in which <i>myriads</i> of different <i>words</i> are expressed by the <i>same
+letters</i>."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MEDICAL_MUSIC" id="MEDICAL_MUSIC"></a>MEDICAL MUSIC.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the Philosophical Magazine for May, 1806, we find that "several of
+the medical literati on the continent are at present engaged in making
+inquiries and experiments upon the <i>influence of music in the cure of
+diseases</i>." The learned Dusaux is said to lead the band of this new
+tribe of <i>amateurs</i> and <i>cognoscenti</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The subject excited my curiosity, though I since have found that it is
+no new discovery.</p>
+
+<p>There is a curious article in Dr. Burney's History of Music, "On the
+Medicinal Powers attributed to Music by the Ancients," which he derived
+from the learned labours of a modern physician, M. Burette, who
+doubtless could play a tune to, as well as prescribe one to, his
+patient. He conceives that music can relieve the pains of the sciatica;
+and that, independent of the greater or less skill of the musician, by
+flattering the ear, and diverting the attention, and occasioning certain
+vibrations of the nerves, it can remove those obstructions which
+occasion this disorder. M. Burette, and many modern physicians and
+philosophers, have believed that music has the power of affecting the
+mind, and the whole nervous system, so as to give a temporary relief in
+certain diseases,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> and even a radical cure. De Mairan, Bianchini, and
+other respectable names, have pursued the same career. But the ancients
+recorded miracles!</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Mitchell, of Brighthelmstone, wrote a dissertation, "<i>De
+Arte Medendi apud Priscos, Musices ope atque Carminum</i>," printed for J.
+Nichols, 1783. He writes under the assumed name of Michael Gaspar; but
+whether this learned dissertator be grave or jocular, more than one
+critic has not been able to resolve me. I suspect it to be a satire on
+the parade of Germanic erudition, by which they often prove a point by
+the weakest analogies and most fanciful conceits.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst half-civilized nations, diseases have been generally attributed
+to the influence of evil spirits. The depression of mind which is
+generally attendant on sickness, and the delirium accompanying certain
+stages of disease, seem to have been considered as especially denoting
+the immediate influence of a demon. The effect of music in raising the
+energies of the mind, or what we commonly call animal spirits, was
+obvious to early observation. Its power of attracting strong attention
+may in some cases have appeared to affect even those who laboured under
+a considerable degree of mental disorder. The accompanying depression of
+mind was considered as a part of the disease, perhaps rightly enough,
+and music was prescribed as a remedy to remove the symptom, when
+experience had not ascertained the probable cause. Homer, whose heroes
+exhibit high passions, but not refined manners, represents the Grecian
+army as employing music to stay the raging of the plague. The Jewish
+nation, in the time of King David, appear not to have been much further
+advanced in civilization; accordingly we find David employed in his
+youth to remove the mental derangement of Saul by his harp. The method
+of cure was suggested as a common one in those days, by Saul's servants;
+and the success is not mentioned as a miracle. Pindar, with poetic
+licence, speaks of &AElig;sculapius healing acute disorders with soothing
+songs; but &AElig;sculapius, whether man or deity, or between both, is a
+physician of the days of barbarism and fable. Pliny scouts the idea that
+music could affect real bodily injury, but quotes Homer on the subject;
+mentions Theophrastus as suggesting a tune for the cure of the hip gout,
+and Cato as entertaining a fancy that it had a good effect when limbs
+were out of joint, and likewise that Varro thought it good for the gout.
+Aulus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> Gellius cites a work of Theophrastus, which recommends music as a
+specific for the bite of a viper. Boyle and Shakspeare mention the
+effects of music <i>super vesicam</i>. Kircher's "Musurgia," and Swinburne's
+Travels, relate the effects of music on those who are bitten by the
+tarantula. Sir W. Temple seems to have given credit to the stories of
+the power of music over diseases.</p>
+
+<p>The ancients, indeed, record miracles in the tales they relate of the
+medicinal powers of music. A fever is removed by a song, and deafness is
+cured by a trumpet, and the pestilence is chased away by the sweetness
+of an harmonious lyre. That deaf people can hear best in a great noise,
+is a fact alleged by some moderns, in favour of the ancient story of
+curing deafness by a trumpet. Dr. Willis tells us, says Dr. Burney, of a
+lady who could <i>hear</i> only while <i>a drum was beating</i>, insomuch, that
+her husband, the account says, hired a drummer as her servant, in order
+to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation.</p>
+
+<p>Music and the sounds of instruments, says the lively Vigneul de
+Marville, contribute to the health of the body and the mind; they
+quicken the circulation of the blood, they dissipate vapours, and open
+the vessels, so that the action of perspiration is freer. He tells a
+story of a person of distinction, who assured him, that once being
+suddenly seized by violent illness, instead of a consultation of
+physicians, he immediately called a band of musicians; and their
+violins-played so well in his inside, that his bowels became perfectly
+in tune, and in a few hours were harmoniously becalmed. I once heard a
+story of Farinelli, the famous singer, who was sent for to Madrid, to
+try the effect of his magical voice on the king of Spain. His majesty
+was buried in the profoundest melancholy; nothing could raise an emotion
+in him; he lived in a total oblivion of life; he sate in a darkened
+chamber, entirely given up to the most distressing kind of madness. The
+physicians ordered Farinelli at first to sing in an outer room; and for
+the first day or two this was done, without any effect, on the royal
+patient. At length, it was observed, that the king, awakening from his
+stupor, seemed to listen; on the next day tears were seen starting in
+his eyes; the day after he ordered the door of his chamber to be left
+open&mdash;and at length the perturbed spirit entirely left our modern Saul,
+and the <i>medicinal voice</i> of Farinelli effected what no other medicine
+could.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I now prepare to give the reader some <i>facts</i>, which he may consider as
+a trial of credulity.&mdash;Their authorities are, however, not
+contemptible.&mdash;Naturalists assert that animals and birds, as well as
+"knotted oaks," as Congreve informs us, are sensible to the charms of
+music. This may serve as an instance:&mdash;An officer was confined in the
+Bastile; he begged the governor to permit him the use of his lute, to
+soften, by the harmonies of his instrument, the rigours of his prison.
+At the end of a few days, this modern Orpheus, playing on his lute, was
+greatly astonished to see frisking out of their holes great numbers of
+mice, and descending from their woven habitations crowds of spiders, who
+formed a circle about him, while he continued breathing his
+soul-subduing instrument. He was petrified with astonishment. Having
+ceased to play, the assembly, who did not come to see his person, but to
+hear his instrument, immediately broke up. As he had a great dislike to
+spiders, it was two days before he ventured again to touch his
+instrument. At length, having overcome, for the novelty of his company,
+his dislike of them, he recommenced his concert, when the assembly was
+by far more numerous than at first; and in the course of farther time,
+he found himself surrounded by a hundred <i>musical amateurs</i>. Having thus
+succeeded in attracting this company, he treacherously contrived to get
+rid of them at his will. For this purpose he begged the keeper to give
+him a cat, which he put in a cage, and let loose at the very instant
+when the little hairy people were most entranced by the Orphean skill he
+displayed.</p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Olivet has described an amusement of Pelisson during his
+confinement in the Bastile, which consisted in feeding a spider, which
+he had discovered forming its web in the corner of a small window. For
+some time he placed his flies at the edge, while his valet, who was with
+him, played on a bagpipe: little by little, the spider used itself to
+distinguish the sound of the instrument, and issued from its hole to run
+and catch its prey. Thus calling it always by the same sound, and
+placing the flies at a still greater distance, he succeeded, after
+several months, to drill the spider by regular exercise, so that at
+length it never failed appearing at the first sound to seize on the fly
+provided for it, even on the knees of the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>Marville has given us the following curious anecdote on this subject. He
+says, that doubting the truth of those who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> say that the love of music
+is a natural taste, especially the sound of instruments, and that beasts
+themselves are touched by it, being one day in the country I tried an
+experiment. While a man was playing on the trump marine, I made my
+observations on a cat, a dog, a horse, an ass, a hind, cows, small
+birds, and a cock and hens, who were in a yard, under a window on which
+I was leaning. I did not perceive that the cat was the least affected,
+and I even judged, by her air, that she would have given all the
+instruments in the world for a mouse, sleeping in the sun all the time;
+the horse stopped short from time to time before the window, raising his
+head up now and then, as he was feeding on the grass; the dog continued
+for above an hour seated on his hind legs, looking steadfastly at the
+player; the ass did not discover the least indication of his being
+touched, eating his thistles peaceably; the hind lifted up her large
+wide ears, and seemed very attentive; the cows slept a little, and after
+gazing, as though they had been acquainted with us, went forward; some
+little birds who were in an aviary, and others on the trees and bushes,
+almost tore their little throats with singing; but the cock, who minded
+only his hens, and the hens, who were solely employed in scraping a
+neighbouring dunghill, did not show in any manner that they took the
+least pleasure in hearing the trump marine.</p>
+
+<p>A modern traveller assures us, that he has repeatedly observed in the
+island of Madeira, that the lizards are attracted by the notes of music,
+and that he has assembled a number of them by the powers of his
+instrument. When the negroes catch them for food, they accompany the
+chase by whistling some tune, which has always the effect of drawing
+great numbers towards them. Stedman, in his Expedition to Surinam,
+describes certain sibyls among the negroes, who, among several singular
+practices, can charm or conjure down from the tree certain serpents, who
+will wreath about the arms, neck, and breast of the pretended sorceress,
+listening to her voice. The sacred writers speak of the charming of
+adders and serpents; and nothing, says he, is more notorious than that
+the eastern Indians will rid the houses of the most venomous snakes, by
+charming them with the sound of a flute, which calls them out of their
+holes. These anecdotes seem fully confirmed by Sir William Jones, in his
+dissertation on the musical modes of the Hindus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"After food, when the operations of digestion and absorption give so
+much employment to the vessels, that a temporary state of mental repose
+must be found, especially in hot climates, essential to health, it seems
+reasonable to believe that a few agreeable airs, either heard or played
+without effort, must have all the good effects of sleep, and none of its
+disadvantages; <i>putting the soul in tune</i>, as Milton says, for any
+subsequent exertion; an experiment often successfully made by myself. I
+have been assured by a credible eye-witness, that two wild antelopes
+used often to come from their woods to the place where a more savage
+beast, Sir&aacute;juddaulah, entertained himself with concerts, and that they
+listened to the strains with an appearance of pleasure, till the
+monster, in whose soul there was no music, shot one of them to display
+his archery. A learned native told me that he had frequently seen the
+most venomous and malignant snakes leave their holes upon hearing tunes
+on a flute, which, as he supposed, gave them peculiar delight. An
+intelligent Persian declared he had more than once been present, when a
+celebrated lutenist, surnamed Bulbul (i.e., the nightingale), was
+playing to a large company, in a grove near Shiraz, where he distinctly
+saw the nightingales trying to vie with the musician, sometimes warbling
+on the trees, sometimes fluttering from branch to branch, as if they
+wished to approach the instrument, and at length dropping on the ground
+in a kind of ecstacy, from which they were soon raised, he assured me,
+by a change in the mode."</p>
+
+<p>Jackson of Exeter, in reply to a question of Dryden, "What passion
+cannot music raise or quell?" sarcastically returns, "What passion <i>can</i>
+music raise or quell?" Would not a savage, who had never listened to a
+musical instrument, feel certain emotions at listening to one for the
+first time? But civilized man is, no doubt, particularly affected by
+<i>association of ideas</i>, as all pieces of national music evidently prove.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Ranz Des Vaches</span>, mentioned by Rousseau in his Dictionary of Music,
+though without anything striking in the composition, has such a powerful
+influence over the Swiss, and impresses them with so violent a desire to
+return to their own country, that it is forbidden to be played in the
+Swiss regiments, in the French service, on pain of death. There is also
+a Scotch tune, which has the same effect on some of our North Britons.
+In one of our battles in Calabria, a bagpiper of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> 78th Highland
+regiment, when the light infantry charged the French, posted himself on
+the right, and remained in his solitary situation during the whole of
+the battle, encouraging the men with a famous Highland charging tune;
+and actually upon the retreat and complete rout of the French changed it
+to another, equally celebrated in Scotland, upon the retreat of and
+victory over an enemy. His next-hand neighbour guarded him so well that
+he escaped unhurt. This was the spirit of the "Last Minstrel," who
+infused courage among his countrymen, by possessing it in so animated a
+degree, and in so venerable a character.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MINUTE_WRITING" id="MINUTE_WRITING"></a>MINUTE WRITING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Iliad of Homer in a nutshell, which Pliny says that Cicero once saw,
+it is pretended might have been a fact, however to some it may appear
+impossible. &AElig;lian notices an artist who wrote a distich in letters of
+gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn.</p>
+
+<p>Antiquity and modern times record many such penmen, whose glory
+consisted in writing in so small a hand that the writing could not be
+legible to the naked eye. Menage mentions, he saw whole sentences which
+were not perceptible to the eye without the microscope; pictures and
+portraits which appeared at first to be lines and scratches thrown down
+at random; one formed the face of the Dauphiness with the most correct
+resemblance. He read an Italian poem, in praise of this princess,
+containing some thousand verses, written by an officer, in a space of a
+foot and a half. This species of curious idleness has not been lost in
+our own country, where this minute writing has equalled any on record.
+Peter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher in the reign of Elizabeth,
+astonished the eyes of beholders by showing them what they could not
+see; for in the Harleian MSS. 530, we have a narrative of "a rare piece
+of work brought to pass by Peter Bales, an Englishman, and a clerk of
+the chancery;" it seems by the description to have been the whole Bible
+"in an English walnut no bigger than a hen's egg. The nut holdeth the
+book: there are as many leaves in his little book as the great Bible,
+and he hath written as much in one of his little leaves as a great leaf
+of the Bible." We are told that this wonderfully unreadable copy of the
+Bible was "seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> by many thousands." There is a drawing of the head of
+Charles I. in the library of St. John's College, at Oxford, wholly
+composed of minute written characters, which, at a small distance,
+resemble the lines of an engraving. The lines of the head, and the ruff,
+are said to contain the book of Psalms, the Creed, and the Lord's
+Prayer. In the British Museum we find a drawing representing the
+portrait of Queen Anne, not much above the size of the hand. On this
+drawing appears a number of lines and scratches, which the librarian
+assures the marvelling spectator includes the entire contents of a thin
+<i>folio</i>, which on this occasion is carried in the hand.</p>
+
+<p>The learned Huet asserts that, like the rest of the world, he considered
+as a fiction the story of that indefatigable trifler who is said to have
+enclosed the Iliad in a nutshell. Examining the matter more closely, he
+thought it possible. One day this learned man trifled half an hour in
+demonstrating it. A piece of vellum, about ten inches in length and
+eight in width, pliant and firm, can be folded up, and enclosed in the
+shell of a large walnut. It can hold in its breadth one line, which can
+contain 30 verses, and in its length 250 lines. With a crow-quill the
+writing can be perfect. A page of this piece of vellum will then contain
+7500 verses, and the reverse as much; the whole 15,000 verses of the
+Iliad. And this he proved by using a piece of paper, and with a common
+pen. The thing is possible to be effected; and if on any occasion paper
+should be most excessively rare, it may be useful to know that a volume
+of matter may be contained in a single leaf.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NUMERICAL_FIGURES" id="NUMERICAL_FIGURES"></a>NUMERICAL FIGURES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The learned, after many contests, have at length agreed that the
+numerical figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, usually called <i>Arabic</i>,
+are of <i>Indian</i> origin. The Arabians do not pretend to have been the
+inventors of them, but borrowed them from the Indian nations. The
+numeral characters of the Bramins, the Persians, the Arabians, and other
+eastern nations, are similar. They appear afterwards to have been
+introduced into several European nations by their respective travellers,
+who returned from the East. They were admitted into calendars and
+chronicles, but they were not introduced into charters, says Mr. Astle,
+before the sixteenth century. The Spaniards, no doubt, derived their use
+from the Moors who invaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> them. In 1210, the Alphonsean astronomical
+tables were made by the order of Alphonsus X. by a Jew, and an Arabian;
+they used these numerals, from whence the Spaniards contend that they
+were first introduced by them.</p>
+
+<p>They were not generally used in Germany until the beginning of the
+fourteenth century; but in general the forms of the ciphers were not
+permanently fixed there till after the year 1531. The Russians were
+strangers to them, before Peter the Great had finished his travels in
+the beginning of the last century.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of these useful characters with the Indians and Arabians is
+attributed to their great skill in the arts of astronomy and of
+arithmetic, which required more convenient characters than alphabetic
+letters for the expressing of numbers.</p>
+
+<p>Before the introduction into Europe of these Arabic numerals, they used
+alphabetical characters, or <i>Roman numerals</i>. The learned authors of the
+Nouveau Trait&eacute; Diplomatique, the most valuable work on everything
+concerning the arts and progress of writing, have given some curious
+notices on the origin of the Roman numerals. Originally men counted by
+their fingers; thus, to mark the first four numbers they used an I,
+which naturally represents them. To mark the fifth, they chose a V,
+which is made out by bending inwards the three middle fingers, and
+stretching out only the thumb and the little finger; and for the tenth
+they used an X, which is a double V, one placed topsy-turvy under the
+other. From this the progression of these numbers is always from one to
+five, and from five to ten. The hundred was signified by the capital
+letter of that word in Latin, C&mdash;centum. The other letters, D for 500,
+and M for a 1000, were afterwards added. They subsequently abbreviated
+their characters, by placing one of these figures before another; and
+the figure of less value before a higher number, denotes that so much
+may be deducted from a greater number; for instance, IV signifies five
+less one, that is four; IX ten less one, that is nine; but these
+abbreviations are not found amongst the ancient monuments.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> These
+numerical letters are still continued by us in the accounts of our
+Exchequer.</p>
+
+<p>That men counted originally by their fingers, is no impro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>bable
+supposition; it is still naturally practised by the people. In
+semi-civilized states small stones have been used, and the etymologists
+derive the words <i>calculate</i> and <i>calculations</i> from <i>calculus</i>, the
+Latin term for a pebble-stone, and by which they denominated their
+counters used for arithmetical computations.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Ward, in a learned dissertation on this subject in the
+Philosophical Transactions, concludes that it is easier to falsify the
+Arabic ciphers than the Roman alphabetical numerals; when 1375 is dated
+in Arabic ciphers, if the 3 is only changed into an 0, three centuries
+are taken away; if the 3 is made into a 9 and take away the 1, four
+hundred years are lost. Such accidents have assuredly produced much
+confusion among our ancient manuscripts, and still do in our printed
+books; which is the reason that Dr. Robertson in his histories has also
+preferred writing his dates in <i>words</i>, rather than confide them to the
+care of a negligent printer. Gibbon observes, that some remarkable
+mistakes have happened by the word <i>mil.</i> in MSS., which is an
+abbreviation for <i>soldiers</i>, or for <i>thousands</i>; and to this blunder he
+attributes the incredible numbers of martyrdoms, which cannot otherwise
+be accounted for by historical records.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ENGLISH_ASTROLOGERS" id="ENGLISH_ASTROLOGERS"></a>ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A belief in judicial astrology can now only exist in the people, who may
+be said to have no belief at all; for mere traditional sentiments can
+hardly be said to amount to a <i>belief</i>. But a faith in this ridiculous
+system in our country is of late existence; and was a favourite
+superstition with the learned.</p>
+
+<p>When Charles the First was confined, Lilly the astrologer was consulted
+for the hour which would favour his escape.</p>
+
+<p>A story, which strongly proves how greatly Charles the Second was
+bigoted to judicial astrology, is recorded is Burnet's History of his
+Own Times.</p>
+
+<p>The most respectable characters of the age, Sir William Dugdale, Ellas
+Ashmole, Dr. Grew, and others, were members of an astrological club.
+Congreve's character of Foresight, in Love for Love, was then no
+uncommon person, though the humour now is scarcely intelligible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Dryden cast the nativities of his sons; and, what is remarkable, his
+prediction relating to his son Charles took place. This incident is of
+so late a date, one might hope it would have been cleared up.</p>
+
+<p>In 1670, the passion for horoscopes and expounding the stars prevailed
+in France among the first rank. The new-born child was usually presented
+naked to the astrologer, who read the first lineaments in his forehead,
+and the transverse lines in its hand, and thence wrote down its future
+destiny. Catherine de Medicis brought Henry IV., then a child, to old
+Nostradamus, whom antiquaries esteem more for his chronicle of Provence
+than his vaticinating powers. The sight of the reverend seer, with a
+beard which "streamed like a meteor in the air," terrified the future
+hero, who dreaded a whipping from so grave a personage. One of these
+magicians having assured Charles IX. that he would live as many days as
+he should turn about on his heels in an hour, standing on one leg, his
+majesty every morning performed that solemn gyration; the principal
+officers of the court, the judges, the chancellors, and generals,
+likewise, in compliment, standing on one leg and turning round!</p>
+
+<p>It has been reported of several famous for their astrologic skill, that
+they have suffered a voluntary death merely to verify their own
+predictions; this has been reported of <i>Cardan</i>, and <i>Burton</i>, the
+author of the Anatomy of Melancholy.</p>
+
+<p>It is curious to observe the shifts to which astrologers are put when
+their predictions are not verified. Great <i>winds</i> were predicted, by a
+famous adept, about the year 1586. No unusual storms, however, happened.
+Bodin, to save the reputation of the art, applied it as <i>figure</i> to some
+<i>revolutions</i> in the <i>state</i>, and of which there were instances enough
+at that moment. Among their lucky and unlucky days, they pretend to give
+those of various illustrious persons and of families. One is very
+striking.&mdash;Thursday was the unlucky day of our Henry VIII. He, his son
+Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, all died on a Thursday!
+This fact had, no doubt, great weight in this controversy of the
+astrologers with their adversaries.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Lilly, the astrologer, is the Sidrophel of Butler. His Life, written by
+himself, contains so much artless narrative, and so much palpable
+imposture, that it is difficult to know when he is speaking what he
+really believes to be the truth. In a sketch of the state of astrology
+in his day, those adepts, whose characters he has drawn, were the lowest
+miscreants of the town. They all speak of each other as rogues and
+impostors. Such were Booker, Backhouse, Gadbury; men who gained a
+livelihood by practising on the credulity of even men of learning so
+late as in 1650, nor were they much out of date in the eighteenth
+century. In Ashmole's Life an account of these artful impostors may be
+found. Most of them had taken the air in the pillory, and others had
+conjured themselves up to the gallows. This seems a true statement of
+facts. But Lilly informs us, that in his various conferences with
+<i>angels</i>, their voices resembled that of the <i>Irish</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The work contains anecdotes of the times. The amours of Lilly with his
+mistress are characteristic. He was a very artful man, and admirably
+managed matters which required deception and invention.</p>
+
+<p>Astrology greatly flourished in the time of the civil wars. The
+royalists and the rebels had their <i>astrologers</i>, as well as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> their
+<i>soldiers!</i> and the predictions of the former had a great influence over
+the latter.</p>
+
+<p>On this subject, it may gratify curiosity to notice three or four works,
+which hear an excessive price. The price cannot entirely be occasioned
+by their rarity, and I am induced to suppose that we have still adepts,
+whose faith must be strong, or whose scepticism but weak.</p>
+
+<p>The Chaldean sages were nearly put to the rout by a quarto park of
+artillery, fired on them by Mr. John Chamber, in 1601. Apollo did not
+use Marsyas more inhumanly than his scourging pen this mystical race,
+and his personalities made them feel more sore. However, a Norwich
+knight, the very Quixote of astrology, arrayed in the enchanted armour
+of his occult authors, encountered this pagan in a most stately
+carousal. He came forth with "A Defence of Judiciall Astrologye, in
+answer to a treatise lately published by Mr. John Chamber. By Sir
+Christopher Heydon, Knight; printed at Cambridge, 1603." This is a
+handsome quarto of about 500 pages. Sir Christopher is a learned writer,
+and a knight worthy to defend a better cause. But his Dulcinea had
+wrought most wonderfully on his imagination. This defence of this
+fanciful science, if science it may be called, demonstrates nothing,
+while it defends everything. It confutes, according to the knight's own
+ideas: it alleges a few scattered facts in favour of astrological
+predictions, which may be picked up in that immensity of fabling which
+disgraces history. He strenuously denies, or ridicules, what the
+greatest writers have said against this fanciful art, while he lays
+great stress on some passages from authors of no authority. The most
+pleasant part is at the close, where he defends the art from the
+objections of Mr. Chamber by recrimination. Chamber had enriched himself
+by medical practice; and when he charges the astrologers with merely
+aiming to gain a few beggarly pence, Sir Christopher catches fire, and
+shows by his quotations, that if we are to despise an art, by its
+professors attempting to subsist on it, or for the objections which may
+be raised against its vital principles, we ought by this argument most
+heartily to despise the medical science and medical men! He gives here
+all he can collect against physic and physicians; and from the
+confessions of Hippocrates and Galen, Avicenna and Agrippa, medicine
+appears to be a vainer science than even astrology! Sir Christopher is a
+shrewd and ingenious adversary; but when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> says he means only to give
+Mr. Chamber oil for his vinegar, he has totally mistaken its quality.</p>
+
+<p>The defence was answered by Thomas Vicars, in his "Madnesse of
+Astrologers."</p>
+
+<p>But the great work is by Lilly; and entirely devoted to the adepts. He
+defends nothing; for this oracle delivers his dictum, and details every
+event as matters not questionable. He sits on the tripod; and every page
+is embellished by a horoscope, which he explains with the utmost
+facility. This voluminous monument of the folly of the age is a quarto
+valued at some guineas! It is entitled, "Christian Astrology, modestly
+treated of in three books, by William Lilly, student in Astrology, 2nd
+edition, 1659." The most curious part of this work is "a Catalogue of
+most astrological authors." There is also a portrait of this arch rogue,
+and astrologer: an admirable illustration for Lavater!<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p>Lilly's opinions, and his pretended science, were such favourites with
+the age, that the learned Gataker wrote professedly against this popular
+delusion. Lilly, at the head of his star-expounding friends, not only
+formally replied to, but persecuted Gataker annually in his predictions,
+and even struck at his ghost, when beyond the grave. Gataker died in
+July, 1654; and Lilly having written in his almanac of that year for the
+month of August this barbarous Latin verse:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Hoc in tumbo jacet presbyter et nebulo!</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Here in this tomb lies a presbyter and a knave!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>he had the impudence to assert that he had predicted Gataker's death!
+But the truth is, it was an epitaph like lodgings to let; it stood empty
+ready for the first passenger to inhabit. Had any other of that party of
+any eminence died in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> that month, it would have been as appositely
+applied to him. But Lilly was an exquisite rogue, and never at fault.
+Having prophesied in his almanac for 1650, that the parliament stood
+upon a tottering foundation, when taken up by a messenger, during the
+night he was confined, he contrived to cancel the page, printed off
+another, and showed his copies before the committee, assuring them that
+the others were none of his own, but forged by his enemies.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ALCHYMY" id="ALCHYMY"></a>ALCHYMY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Dryden, in her Life, has recorded one of the
+delusions of alchymy.</p>
+
+<p>An infatuated lover of this delusive art met with one who pretended to
+have the power of transmuting lead to gold; that is, in their language,
+the <i>imperfect</i> metals to the <i>perfect one</i>. The hermetic philosopher
+required only the materials, and time, to perform his golden operations.
+He was taken, to the country residence of his patroness. A long
+laboratory was built, and that his labours might not be impeded by any
+disturbance, no one was permitted to enter into it. His door was
+contrived to turn on a pivot; so that, unseen and unseeing, his meals
+were conveyed to him without distracting the sublime meditations of the
+sage.</p>
+
+<p>During a residence of two years, he never condescended to speak but two
+or three times in a year to his infatuated patroness. When she was
+admitted into the laboratory, she saw, with pleasing astonishment,
+stills, cauldrons, long flues, and three or four Vulcanian fires blazing
+at different corners of this magical mine; nor did she behold with less
+reverence the venerable figure of the dusty philosopher. Pale and
+emaciated with daily operations and nightly vigils, he revealed to her,
+in unintelligible jargon, his progresses; and having sometimes
+condescended to explain the mysteries of the arcana, she beheld, or
+seemed to behold, streams of fluid and heaps of solid ore scattered
+around the laboratory. Sometimes he required a new still, and sometimes
+vast quantities of lead. Already this unfortunate lady had expended the
+half of her fortune in supplying the demands of the philosopher. She
+began now to lower her imagination to the standard of reason. Two years
+had now elapsed, vast quantities of lead had gone in, and nothing but
+lead had come out. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> disclosed her sentiments to the philosopher. He
+candidly confessed he was himself surprised at his tardy processes; but
+that now he would exert himself to the utmost, and that he would venture
+to perform a laborious operation, which hitherto he had hoped not to
+have been necessitated to employ. His patroness retired, and the golden
+visions resumed all their lustre.</p>
+
+<p>One day, as they sat at dinner, a terrible shriek, and one crack
+followed by another, loud as the report of cannon, assailed their ears.
+They hastened to the laboratory; two of the greatest stills had burst,
+and one part of the laboratory and the house were in flames. We are told
+that, after another adventure of this kind, this victim to alchymy,
+after ruining another patron, in despair swallowed poison.</p>
+
+<p>Even more recently we have a history of an alchymist in the life of
+Romney, the painter. This alchymist, after bestowing much time and money
+on preparations for the grand projection, and being near the decisive
+hour, was induced, by the too earnest request of his wife, to quit his
+furnace one evening, to attend some of her company at the tea-table.
+While the projector was attending the ladies, his furnace blew up! In
+consequence of this event, he conceived such an antipathy against his
+wife, that he could not endure the idea of living with her again.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<p>Henry VI., Evelyn observes in his Numismata, endeavoured to recruit his
+empty coffers by <i>alchymy</i>. The <i>record</i> of this singular proposition
+contains "the most solemn and serious account of the feasibility and
+virtues of the <i>philosopher's stone</i>, encouraging the search after it,
+and dispensing with all statutes and prohibitions to the contrary." This
+record was probably communicated by Mr. Selden to his beloved friend Ben
+Jonson, when the poet was writing his comedy of the Alchymist.</p>
+
+<p>After this patent was published, many promised to answer the king's
+expectations so effectually, that the next year he published <i>another
+patent</i>; wherein he tells his subjects, that the <i>happy hour</i> was
+drawing nigh, and by means of THE<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> STONE, which he should soon be master
+of, he would pay all the debts of the nation in real <i>gold and silver</i>.
+The persons picked out for his new operators were as remarkable as the
+patent itself, being a most "miscellaneous rabble" of friars, grocers,
+mercers, and fishmongers!</p>
+
+<p>This patent was likewise granted <i>authoritate Parliamenti</i>; and is given
+by Prynne in his <i>Aurum Regin&aelig;</i>, p. 135.</p>
+
+<p>Alchymists were formerly called <i>multipliers</i>, although they never could
+<i>multiply</i>; as appears from a statute of Henry IV. repealed in the
+preceding record.</p>
+
+<p>"None from henceforth shall use to <i>multiply</i> gold or silver, or use the
+<i>craft of multiplication</i>; and if any the same do, he shall incur the
+pain of felony." Among the articles charged on the Protector Somerset is
+this extraordinary one:&mdash;"You commanded <i>multiplication</i> and
+<i>alcumestry</i> to be practised, thereby <i>to abate the king's coin</i>."
+Stowe, p. 601. What are we to understand? Did they believe that alchymy
+would be so productive of the precious metals as to <i>abate</i> the value of
+the coin; or does <i>multiplication</i> refer to an arbitrary rise in the
+currency by order of the government?</p>
+
+<p>Every philosophical mind must be convinced that alchymy is not an art,
+which some have fancifully traced to the <i>remotest times</i>; it may be
+rather regarded, when opposed to such a distance of time, as a modern
+imposture. C&aelig;sar commanded the treatises of alchymy to be burnt
+throughout the Roman dominions: C&aelig;sar, who is not less to be admired as
+a philosopher than as a monarch.</p>
+
+<p>Gibbon has this succinct passage relative to alchymy:&mdash;"The ancient
+books of alchymy, so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon, or to
+Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were
+inattentive either to the use or the abuse of chemistry. In that immense
+register where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the
+errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutations
+of metals; and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic
+event in the history of alchymy. The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs
+diffused that vain science over the globe. Congenial to the avarice of
+the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal
+eagerness and equal success. The darkness of the middle ages ensured a
+favourable reception to every tale of wonder; and the revival of
+learning gave new vigour to hope, and suggested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> more specious arts to
+deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length
+banished the study of alchymy; and the present age, however desirous of
+riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and
+industry."</p>
+
+<p>Elias Ashmole writes in his diary&mdash;"May 13, 1653. My father Backhouse
+(an astrologer who had adopted him for his son, a common practice with
+these men) lying sick in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstan's
+church, and not knowing whether he should live or die, about eleven of
+the clock, told me in <i>syllables</i> the true matter of the <i>philosopher's
+stone</i>, which he bequeathed to me as a <i>legacy</i>." By this we learn that
+a miserable wretch knew the art of <i>making gold</i>, yet always lived a
+beggar; and that Ashmole really imagined he was in possession of the
+<i>syllables of a secret</i>! He has, however, built a curious monument of
+the learned follies of the last age, in his "Theatrum Chemicum
+Britannicum." Though Ashmole is rather the historian of this vain
+science than an adept, it may amuse literary leisure to turn over this
+quarto volume, in which he has collected the works of several English
+alchymists, subjoining his commentary. It affords a curious specimen of
+Rosicrucian mysteries; and Ashmole relates several miraculous stories.
+Of the philosopher's stone, he says he knows enough to hold his tongue,
+but not enough to speak. This stone has not only the power of
+transmuting any imperfect earthy matter into its utmost degree of
+perfection, and can convert the basest metals into gold, flints into
+stone, &amp;c.; but it has still more occult virtues, when the arcana have
+been entered into by the choice fathers of hermetic mysteries. The
+vegetable stone has power over the natures of man, beast, fowls, fishes,
+and all kinds of trees and plants, to make them flourish and bear fruit
+at any time. The magical stone discovers any person wherever he is
+concealed; while the angelical stone gives the apparitions of angels,
+and a power of conversing with them. These great mysteries are supported
+by occasional facts, and illustrated by prints of the most divine and
+incomprehensible designs, which we would hope were intelligible to the
+initiated. It may be worth showing, however, how liable even the latter
+were to blunder on these mysterious hieroglyphics. Ashmole, in one of
+his chemical works, prefixed a frontispiece, which, in several
+compartments, exhibited Ph&oelig;bus on a lion, and opposite to him a lady,
+who represented Diana, with the moon in one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> hand and an arrow in the
+other, sitting on a crab; Mercury on a tripod, with the scheme of the
+heavens in one hand, and his caduccus in the other. These were intended
+to express the materials of the stone, and the season for the process.
+Upon the altar is the bust of a man, his head covered by an astrological
+scheme dropped from the clouds; and on the altar are these words,
+"Mercuriophilus Anglicus," <i>i.e.</i>, the English lover of hermetic
+philosophy. There is a tree, and a little creature gnawing the root, a
+pillar adorned with musical and mathematical instruments, and another
+with military ensigns. This strange composition created great inquiry
+among the chemical sages. Deep mysteries were conjectured to be veiled
+by it. Verses were written in the highest strain of the Rosicrucian
+language. <i>Ashmole</i> confessed he meant nothing more than a kind of <i>pun</i>
+on his own name, for the tree was the <i>ash</i>, and the creature was a
+<i>mole</i>. One pillar tells his love of music and freemasonry, and the
+other his military preferment and astrological studies! He afterwards
+regretted that no one added a second volume to his work, from which he
+himself had been hindered, for the honour of the family of Hermes, and
+"to show the world what excellent men we had once of our nation, famous
+for this kind of philosophy, and masters of so transcendant a secret."</p>
+
+<p>Modern chemistry is not without a <i>hope</i>, not to say a <i>certainty</i>, of
+verifying the golden visions of the alchymists. Dr. Girtanner, of
+Gottingen, not long ago adventured the following prophecy: "In the
+<i>nineteenth century</i> the transmutation of metals will be generally known
+and practised. Every chemist and every artist will <i>make gold</i>; kitchen
+utensils will be of silver, and even gold, which will contribute more
+than anything else to <i>prolong life</i>, poisoned at present by the oxides
+of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily swallow with our food." Phil.
+Mag. vol. vi., p. 383. This sublime chemist, though he does not venture
+to predict that universal <i>elixir</i>, which is to prolong life at
+pleasure, yet approximates to it. A chemical friend writes to me, that
+"The <i>metals</i> seem to be <i>composite bodies</i>, which nature is perpetually
+preparing; and it may be reserved for the future researches of science
+to trace, and perhaps to imitate, some of these curious operations." Sir
+Humphry Davy told me that he did not consider this undiscovered art an
+impossible thing, but which, should it ever be discovered, would
+certainly be useless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TITLES_OF_BOOKS" id="TITLES_OF_BOOKS"></a>TITLES OF BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Were it inquired of an ingenious writer what page of his work had
+occasioned him most perplexity, he would often point to the
+<i>title-page</i>. The curiosity which we there would excite, is, however,
+most fastidious to gratify.</p>
+
+<p>Among those who appear to have felt this irksome situation, are most of
+our periodical writers. The "Tatler" and the "Spectator," enjoying
+priority of conception, have adopted titles with characteristic
+felicity; but perhaps the invention of the authors begins to fail in the
+"Reader," the "Lover," and the "Theatre!" Succeeding writers were as
+unfortunate in their titles, as their works; such are the "Universal
+Spectator," and the "Lay Monastery." The copious mind of Johnson could
+not discover an appropriate title, and indeed in the first "Idler"
+acknowledged his despair. The "Rambler" was so little understood, at the
+time of its appearance, that a French journalist has translated it as
+"<i>Le Chevalier Errant</i>;" and when it was corrected to <i>L'Errant</i>, a
+foreigner drank Johnson's health one day, by innocently addressing him
+by the appellation of Mr. "Vagabond!" The "Adventurer" cannot be
+considered as a fortunate title; it is not appropriate to those pleasing
+miscellanies, for any writer is an adventurer. The "Lounger," the
+"Mirror," and even the "Connoisseur," if examined accurately, present
+nothing in the titles descriptive of the works. As for the "World," it
+could only have been given by the fashionable egotism of its authors,
+who considered the world as merely a circuit round St. James's Street.
+When the celebrated father of reviews, <i>Le Journal des S&ccedil;avans</i>, was
+first published, the very title repulsed the public. The author was
+obliged in his succeeding volumes to soften it down, by explaining its
+general tendency. He there assures the curious, that not only men of
+learning and taste, but the humblest mechanic, may find a profitable
+amusement. An English novel, published with the title of "The Champion
+of Virtue," could find no readers; but afterwards passed through several
+editions under the happier invitation of "The Old English Baron." "The
+Concubine," a poem by Mickle, could never find purchasers, till it
+assumed the more delicate title of "Sir Martyn."</p>
+
+<p>As a subject of literary curiosity, some amusement may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> gathered from
+a glance at what has been doing in the world, concerning this important
+portion of every book.</p>
+
+<p>The Jewish and many oriental authors were fond of allegorical titles,
+which always indicate the most puerile age of taste. The titles were
+usually adapted to their obscure works. It might exercise an able
+enigmatist to explain their allusions; for we must understand by "The
+Heart of Aaron," that it is a commentary on several of the prophets.
+"The Bones of Joseph" is an introduction to the Talmud. "The Garden of
+Nuts," and "The Golden Apples," are theological questions; and "The
+Pomegranate with its Flower," is a treatise of ceremonies, not any more
+practised. Jortin gives a title, which he says of all the fantastical
+titles he can recollect is one of the prettiest. A rabbin published a
+catalogue of rabbinical writers, and called it <i>Labia Dormientium</i>, from
+Cantic. vii. 9. "Like the best wine of my beloved that goeth down
+sweetly, causing <i>the lips of those that are asleep to speak</i>." It hath
+a double meaning, of which he was not aware, for most of his rabbinical
+brethren talk very much like <i>men in their sleep</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Almost all their works bear such titles as
+bread&mdash;gold&mdash;silver&mdash;roses&mdash;eyes, &amp;c.; in a word, anything that
+signifies nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Affected title-pages were not peculiar to the orientals: the Greeks and
+the Romans have shown a finer taste. They had their Cornucopias, or
+horns of abundance&mdash;Limones, or meadows&mdash;Pinakidions, or
+tablets&mdash;Pancarpes, or all sorts of fruits; titles not unhappily adapted
+for the miscellanists. The nine books of Herodotus, and the nine
+epistles of &AElig;schines, were respectively honoured by the name of a Muse;
+and three orations of the latter, by those of the Graces.</p>
+
+<p>The modern fanatics have had a most barbarous taste for titles. We could
+produce numbers from abroad, and at home. Some works have been called,
+"Matches lighted at the Divine Fire,"&mdash;and one "The Gun of Penitence:" a
+collection of passages from the fathers is called "The Shop of the
+Spiritual Apothecary:" we have "The Bank of Faith," and "The
+Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit:" one of these works bears the following
+elaborate title: "Some fine Biscuits baked in the Oven of Charity,
+carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the
+Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation." Sometimes their quaintness
+has some humour. Sir Humphrey Lind, a zealous puritan,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> published a work
+which a Jesuit answered by another, entitled "A Pair of Spectacles for
+Sir Humphrey Lind." The doughty knight retorted, by "A Case for Sir
+Humphrey Lind's Spectacles."</p>
+
+<p>Some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity; as "The
+Three Daughters of Job," which is a treatise on the three virtues of
+patience, fortitude, and pain. "The Innocent Love, or the Holy Knight,"
+is a description of the ardours of a saint for the Virgin. "The Sound of
+the Trumpet," is a work on the day of judgment; and "A Fan to drive away
+Flies," is a theological treatise on purgatory.</p>
+
+<p>We must not write to the utter neglect of our title; and a fair author
+should have the literary piety of ever having "the fear of his
+title-page before his eyes." The following are improper titles. Don
+Matthews, chief huntsman to Philip IV. of Spain, entitled his book "The
+Origin and Dignity of the Royal House," but the entire work relates only
+to hunting. De Chantereine composed several moral essays, which being at
+a loss how to entitle, he called "The Education of a Prince." He would
+persuade the reader in his preface, that though they were not composed
+with a view to this subject, they should not, however, be censured for
+the title, as they partly related to the education of a prince. The
+world was too sagacious to be duped, and the author in his second
+edition acknowledges the absurdity, drops "the magnificent title," and
+calls his work "Moral Essays." Montaigne's immortal history of his own
+mind, for such are his "Essays," has assumed perhaps too modest a title,
+and not sufficiently discriminative. Sorlin equivocally entitled a
+collection of essays, "The Walks of Richelieu," because they were
+composed at that place; "The Attic Nights" of Aulus Gellius were so
+called, because they were written in Attica. Mr. Tooke, in his
+grammatical "Diversions of Purley," must have deceived many.</p>
+
+<p>A rhodomontade title-page was once a great favourite. There was a time
+when the republic of letters was over-built with "Palaces of Pleasure,"
+"Palaces of Honour," and "Palaces of Eloquence;" with "Temples of
+Memory," and "Theatres of Human Life," and "Amphitheatres of
+Providence;" "Pharoses, Gardens, Pictures, Treasures." The epistles of
+Guevara dazzled the public eye with their splendid title, for they were
+called "Golden Epistles;" and the "Golden Legend" of Voragine had been
+more appropriately entitled leaden.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were once so fond of novelty, that every book recommended itself by
+such titles as "A new Method; new Elements of Geometry; the new Letter
+Writer, and the new Art of Cookery."</p>
+
+<p>To excite the curiosity of the pious, some writers employed artifices of
+a very ludicrous nature. Some made their titles rhyming echoes; as this
+one of a father, who has given his works under the title of <i>Scal&aelig; Al&aelig;
+animi</i>; and <i>Jesus esus novus Orbis</i>. Some have distributed them
+according to the measure of time, as one Father Nadasi, the greater part
+of whose works are <i>years</i>, <i>months</i>, <i>weeks</i>, <i>days</i>, and <i>hours</i>. Some
+have borrowed their titles from the parts of the body; and others have
+used quaint expressions, such as&mdash;<i>Think before you leap</i>&mdash;<i>We must all
+die</i>&mdash;<i>Compel them to enter</i>. Some of our pious authors appear not to
+have been aware that they were burlesquing religion. One Massieu having
+written a moral explanation of the solemn anthems sung in Advent, which
+begin with the letter O, published this work under the punning title of
+<i>La douce Moelle, et la Sauce friande des os Savoureux de l'Avent</i>.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Marquis of Carraccioli assumed the ambiguous title of <i>La Jouissance
+de soi-m&ecirc;me</i>. Seduced by the epicurean title of self-enjoyment, the sale
+of the work was continual with the libertines, who, however, found
+nothing but very tedious essays on religion and morality. In the sixth
+edition the mar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>quis greatly exults in his successful contrivance; by
+which means he had punished the vicious curiosity of certain persons,
+and perhaps had persuaded some, whom otherwise his book might never have
+reached.</p>
+
+<p>If a title be obscure, it raises a prejudice against the author; we are
+apt to suppose that an ambiguous title is the effect of an intricate or
+confused mind. Baillet censures the Ocean Macromicrocosmic of one Sachs.
+To understand this title, a grammarian would send an inquirer to a
+geographer, and he to a natural philosopher; neither would probably
+think of recurring to a physician, to inform one that this ambiguous
+title signifies the connexion which exists between the motion of the
+waters with that of the blood. He censures Leo Allatius for a title
+which appears to me not inelegantly conceived. This writer has entitled
+one of his books the <i>Urban Bees</i>; it is an account of those illustrious
+writers who flourished during the pontificate of one of the Barberinis.
+The allusion refers to the <i>bees</i> which were the arms of this family,
+and Urban VIII. is the Pope designed.</p>
+
+<p>The false idea which a title conveys is alike prejudicial to the author
+and the reader. Titles are generally too prodigal of their promises, and
+their authors are contemned; but the works of modest authors, though
+they present more than they promise, may fail of attracting notice by
+their extreme simplicity. In either case, a collector of books is
+prejudiced; he is induced to collect what merits no attention, or he
+passes over those valuable works whose titles may not happen to be
+interesting. It is related of Pinelli, the celebrated collector of
+books, that the booksellers permitted him to remain hours, and sometimes
+days, in their shops to examine books before he purchased. He was
+desirous of not injuring his precious collection by useless
+acquisitions; but he confessed that he sometimes could not help being
+dazzled by magnificent titles, nor being mistaken by the simplicity of
+others, which had been chosen by the modesty of their authors. After
+all, many authors are really neither so vain, nor so honest, as they
+appear; for magnificent, or simple titles, have often been given from
+the difficulty of forming any others.</p>
+
+<p>It is too often with the Titles of Books, as with those painted
+representations exhibited by the keepers of wild beasts; where, in
+general, the picture itself is made more striking and inviting to the
+eye, than the inclosed animal is always found to be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_FOLLIES" id="LITERARY_FOLLIES"></a>LITERARY FOLLIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Greeks composed lipogrammatic works; works in which one letter of
+the alphabet is omitted. A lipogrammatist is a letter-dropper. In this
+manner Tryphiodorus wrote his Odyssey; he had not &#945; in his
+first book, nor &#946; in his second; and so on with the
+subsequent letters one after another. This Odyssey was an imitation of
+the lipogrammatic Iliad of Nestor. Among other works of this kind,
+Athen&aelig;us mentions an ode by Pindar, in which he had purposely omitted
+the letter S; so that this inept ingenuity appears to have been one of
+those literary fashions which are sometimes encouraged even by those who
+should first oppose such progresses into the realms of nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>There is in Latin a little prose work of Fulgentius, which the author
+divides into twenty-three chapters, according to the order of the
+twenty-three letters of the Latin alphabet. From A to O are still
+remaining. The first chapter is with out A; the second without B; the
+third without C; and so with the rest. There are five novels in prose of
+Lopes de Vega; the first without A, the second without E, the third
+without I, &amp;c. Who will attempt to verify them?</p>
+
+<p>The Orientalists are not without this literary folly. A Persian poet
+read to the celebrated Jami a gazel of his own composition, which Jami
+did not like: but the writer replied, it was notwithstanding a very
+curious sonnet, for the <i>letter Aliff</i> was not to be found in any one of
+the words! Jami sarcastically replied, "You can do a better thing yet;
+take away <i>all the letters</i> from every word you have written."</p>
+
+<p>To these works may be added the <i>Ecloga de Calvis</i>, by Hugbald the monk.
+All the words of this silly work begin with a C. It is printed in
+Dornavius. <i>Pugna Porcorum</i>; all the words beginning with a P, in the
+Nug&aelig; Venales. <i>Canum cum cattis certamen</i>; the words beginning with a C:
+a performance of the same kind in the same work. Gregorio Leti presented
+a discourse to the Academy of the Humorists at Rome, throughout which he
+had purposely omitted the letter R, and he entitled it the exiled R. A
+friend having requested a copy, as a literary curiosity, for so he
+considered this idle performance, Leti, to show that this affair was not
+so difficult, replied by a copious answer of seven pages, in which he
+had observed the same severe ostracism against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> letter R! Lord
+North, in the court of James, I., has written a set of Sonnets, each of
+which begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. The Earl of
+Rivers, in the reign of Edward IV., translated the Moral Proverbs of
+Christiana of Pisa, a poem of about two hundred lines, the greatest part
+of which he contrived to conclude with the letter E; an instance of his
+lordship's hard application, and the bad taste of an age which, Lord
+Orford observes, had witticisms and whims to struggle with, as well as
+ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>It has been well observed of these minute triflers, that extreme
+exactness is the sublime of fools, whose labours may be well called, in
+the language of Dryden,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Pangs without birth, and fruitless industry.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And Martial says,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Turpe est difficiles habere nugas,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Which we may translate,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Tis a folly to sweat o'er a difficult trifle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And for silly devices invention to rifle.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I shall not dwell on the wits who composed verses in the forms of
+hearts, wings, altars, and true-love knots; or as Ben Jonson describes
+their grotesque shapes,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A pair of scissors and a comb in verse.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Tom Nash, who loved to push the ludicrous to its extreme, in his amusing
+invective against the classical Gabriel Harvey, tells us that "he had
+writ verses in all kinds; in form of a pair of gloves, a pair of
+spectacles, and a pair of pot-hooks," &amp;c. They are not less absurd, who
+expose to public ridicule the name of their mistress by employing it to
+form their acrostics. I have seen some of the latter where, <i>both sides</i>
+and <i>crossways</i>, the name of the mistress or the patron has been sent
+down to posterity with eternal torture. When <i>one name</i> is made out
+<i>four times</i> in the same acrostic, the great difficulty must have been
+to have found words by which the letters forming the name should be
+forced to stand in their particular places. It might be incredible that
+so great a genius as Boccaccio could have lent himself to these literary
+fashions; yet one of the most gigantic of acrostics may be seen in his
+works; it is a poem of fifty cantos! Ginguen&eacute; has preserved a specimen
+in his Literary History of Italy, vol. iii. p.54. Puttenham, in "The Art
+of Poesie,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> p. 75, gives several odd specimens of poems in the forms of
+lozenges, rhomboids, pillars, &amp;c. Puttenham has contrived to form a
+defence for describing and making such trifling devices. He has done
+more: he has erected two pillars himself to the honour of Queen
+Elizabeth; every pillar consists of a base of eight syllables, the shaft
+or middle of four, and the capital is equal with the base. The only
+difference between the two pillars consists in this; in the one "ye must
+read upwards," and in the other the reverse. These pillars,
+notwithstanding this fortunate device and variation, may be fixed as two
+columns in the porch of the vast temple of literary folly.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this period, when <i>words</i> or <i>verse</i> were tortured into such
+fantastic forms, that the trees in gardens were twisted and sheared into
+obelisks and giants, peacocks, or flower-pots. In a copy of verses, "To
+a hair of my mistress's eye-lash," the merit, next to the choice of the
+subject, must have been the arrangement, or the disarrangement, of the
+whole poem into the form of a heart. With a pair of wings many a sonnet
+fluttered, and a sacred hymn was expressed by the mystical triangle.
+<i>Acrostics</i> are formed from the initial letters of every verse; but a
+different conceit regulated <i>chronograms</i>, which were used to describe
+<i>dates</i>&mdash;the <i>numeral letters</i>, in whatever part of the word they stood,
+were distinguished from other letters by being written in capitals. In
+the following chronogram from Horace,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;<i>feriam sidera vertice</i>,<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>by a strange elevation of CAPITALS the <i>chronogrammatist</i> compels even
+Horace to give the year of our Lord thus,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;feriaM siDera VertIce. MDVI.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Acrostic and the Chronogram are both ingeniously described in the
+mock epic of the Scribleriad.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> The <i>initial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> letters</i> of the
+acrostics are thus alluded to in the literary wars:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Firm and compact, in three fair columns wove,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O'er the smooth plain, the bold <i>acrostics</i> move;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>High</i> o'er the rest, the TOWERING LEADERS rise<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With <i>limbs gigantic</i>, and <i>superior size</i>.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the looser character of the <i>chronograms</i>, and the disorder in which
+they are found, are ingeniously sung thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Not thus the <i>looser chronograms</i> prepare<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Careless their troops, undisciplined to war;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With <i>rank irregular, confused</i> they stand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The CHIEFTAINS MINGLING with the vulgar band.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He afterwards adds others of the illegitimate race of wit:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">To join these squadrons, o'er the champaign came<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A numerous race of no ignoble name;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Riddle</i> and <i>Rebus</i>, Riddle's dearest son,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>false Conundrum</i> and <i>insidious Pun</i>.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Fustian</i>, who scarcely deigns to tread the ground,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And <i>Rondeau</i>, wheeling in repeated round.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On their fair standards, by the wind display'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Eggs</i>, <i>altars</i>, <i>wings</i>, <i>pipes</i>, <i>axes</i>, were pourtray'd.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I find the origin of <i>Bouts-rim&eacute;s</i>, or "Rhyming Ends," in Goujet's Bib.
+Fr. xvi. p. 181. One Dulot, a foolish poet, when sonnets were in demand,
+had a singular custom of preparing the rhymes of these poems to be
+filled up at his leisure. Having been robbed of his papers, he was
+regretting most the loss of three hundred sonnets: his friends were
+astonished that he had written so many which they had never heard. "They
+were <i>blank sonnets</i>," he replied; and explained the mystery by
+describing his <i>Bouts-rim&eacute;s</i>. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> idea appeared ridiculously amusing;
+and it soon became fashionable to collect the most difficult rhymes, and
+fill up the lines.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Charade</i> is of recent birth, and I cannot discover the origin of
+this species of logogriphes. It was not known in France so late as in
+1771; in the great Dictionnaire de Tr&eacute;voux, the term appears only as the
+name of an Indian sect of a military character. Its mystical conceits
+have occasionally displayed singular felicity.</p>
+
+<p><i>Anagrams</i> were another whimsical invention; with the <i>letters</i> of any
+<i>name</i> they contrived to make out some entire word, descriptive of the
+character of the person who bore the name. These anagrams, therefore,
+were either satirical or complimentary. When in fashion, lovers made use
+of them continually: I have read of one, whose mistress's name was
+Magdalen, for whom he composed, not only an epic under that name, but as
+a proof of his passion, one day he sent her three dozen of anagrams all
+on her lovely name. Scioppius imagined himself fortunate that his
+adversary <i>Scaliger</i> was perfectly <i>Sacrilege</i> in all the oblique cases
+of the Latin language; on this principle Sir John <i>Wiat</i> was made out,
+to his own satisfaction&mdash;<i>a wit</i>. They were not always correct when a
+great compliment was required; the poet <i>John Cleveland</i> was strained
+hard to make <i>Heliconian dew</i>. This literary trifle has, however, in our
+own times produced several, equally ingenious and caustic.</p>
+
+<p>Verses of grotesque shapes have sometimes been contrived to convey
+ingenious thoughts. Pannard, a modern French poet, has tortured his
+agreeable vein of poetry into such forms. He has made some of his
+Bacchanalian songs to take the figures of <i>bottles</i>, and others of
+<i>glasses</i>. These objects are perfectly drawn by the various measures of
+the verses which form the songs. He has also introduced an <i>echo</i> in his
+verses which he contrives so as not to injure their sense. This was
+practised by the old French bards in the age of Marot, and this poetical
+whim is ridiculed by Butler in his Hudibras, Part I. Canto 3, Verse 190.
+I give an example of these poetical echoes. The following ones are
+ingenious, lively, and satirical:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Pour nous plaire, un pl<i>umet</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><i>Met</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Tout en usage:<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mais on trouve sou<i>vent</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><i>Vent</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dans son langage.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">On y voit des Com<i>mis</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><i>Mis</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Comme des Princes,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Apr&egrave;s &ecirc;tre ve<i>nus</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><i>Nuds</i><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">De leurs Provinces.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The poetical whim of Cretin, a French poet, brought into fashion punning
+or equivocal rhymes. Maret thus addressed him in his own way:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">L'homme, sotart, et <i>non s&ccedil;avant</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Comme un rotisseur, <i>qui lave oye</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La faute d'autrui, <i>nonce avant</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qu'il la cognoisse, ou <i>qu'il la voye</i>, &amp;c.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In these lines of Du Bartas, this poet imagined that he imitated the
+harmonious notes of the lark: "the sound" is here, however, <i>not</i> "an
+echo to the sense."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">La gentille alo&uuml;ette, avec son tirelire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tirelire, &agrave; lire, et tireliran, tire<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vire et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The French have an ingenious kind of Nonsense Verses called
+<i>Amphigouries</i>. This word is composed of a Greek adverb signifying
+<i>about</i>, and of a substantive signifying <i>a circle</i>. The following is a
+specimen, elegant in the selection of words, and what the French called
+richly rhymed, but in fact they are fine verses without any meaning
+whatever. Pope's Stanzas, said to be written by a <i>person of quality</i>,
+to ridicule the tuneful nonsense of certain bards, and which Gilbert
+Wakefield mistook for a serious composition, and wrote two pages of
+Commentary to prove this song was disjointed, obscure, and absurd, is an
+excellent specimen of these <i>Amphigouries</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><b>AMPHIGOURIE.</b><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Qu'il est heureux de se defendre<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Quand le c&oelig;ur ne s'est pas rendu!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mais qu'il est facheux de se rendre<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Quand le bonheur est suspendu!<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Par un discours sans suite et tendre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Egarez un c&oelig;ur &eacute;perdu;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Souvent par un mal-entendu<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L'amant adroit se fait entendre.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><b>IMITATED.</b><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">How happy to defend our heart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When Love has never thrown a dart!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But ah! unhappy when it bends,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If pleasure her soft bliss suspends!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sweet in a wild disordered strain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A lost and wandering heart to gain!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oft in mistaken language wooed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The skilful lover's understood.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>These verses have such a resemblance to meaning, that Fontenelle, having
+listened to the song, imagined that he had a glimpse of sense, and
+requested to have it repeated. "Don't you perceive," said Madame Tencin,
+"that they are <i>nonsense verses</i>?" The malicious wit retorted, "They are
+so much like the fine verses I have heard here, that it is not
+surprising I should be for once mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>In the "Scribleriad" we find a good account of <i>the Cento</i>. A Cento
+primarily signifies a cloak made of patches. In poetry it denotes a work
+wholly composed of verses, or passages promiscuously taken from other
+authors, only disposed in a new form or order, so as to compose a new
+work and a new meaning. Ausonius has laid down the rules to be observed
+in composing <i>Cento's</i>. The pieces may be taken either from the same
+poet, or from several; and the verses may be either taken entire, or
+divided into two; one half to be connected with another half taken
+elsewhere; but two verses are never to be taken together. Agreeable to
+these rules, he has made a pleasant nuptial <i>Cento</i> from Virgil.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Empress Eudoxia wrote the life of Jesus Christ, in centos taken from
+Homer; Proba Falconia from Virgil. Among these grave triflers may be
+mentioned Alexander<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> Ross, who published "Virgilius Evangelizans, sive
+Historia Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi Virgilianis verbis et
+versibus descripta." It was republished in 1769.</p>
+
+<p>A more difficult whim is that of "<i>Reciprocal Verses</i>," which give the
+same words whether read backwards or forwards. The following lines by
+Sidonius Apollinaris were once infinitely admired:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Signa te signa temere me tangis et angis.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The reader has only to take the pains of reading the lines backwards,
+and he will find himself just where he was after all his fatigue.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p>
+
+<p>Capitaine Lasphrise, a French self-taught poet, boasts of his
+inventions; among other singularities, one has at least the merit of <i>la
+difficult&eacute; vaincue</i>. He asserts this novelty to be entirely his own; the
+last word of every verse forms the first word of the following verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Falloit-il que le ciel me rendit amoureux<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Amoureux, jouissant d'une beaut&eacute; craintive,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Craintive &agrave; recevoir la douceur excessive,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Excessive au plaisir qui rend l'amant heureux;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heureux si nous avions quelques paisibles lieux,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lieux o&ugrave; plus surement l'ami fid&egrave;le arrive,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Arrive sans soup&ccedil;on de quelque ami attentive,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Attentive &agrave; vouloir nous surprendre tous deux.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Francis Colonna, an Italian Monk, is the author of a singular book
+entitled "The Dream of Poliphilus," in which he relates his amours with
+a lady of the name of Polia. It was considered improper to prefix his
+name to the work; but being desirous of marking it by some peculiarity,
+that he might claim it at any distant day, he contrived that the initial
+letters of every chapter should be formed of those of his name, and of
+the subject he treats. This strange invention was not discovered till
+many years afterwards: when the wits employed themselves in deciphering
+it, unfortunately it became a source of literary altercation, being
+susceptible of various readings. The correct appears thus:&mdash;<span class="smcap">Poliam
+Frater Franciscus Columna Peramavit</span>. "Brother Francis Colonna
+passionately loved Polia." This gallant monk, like another Petrarch,
+made the name of his mistress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the subject of his amatorial meditations;
+and as the first called his Laura, his Laurel, this called his Polia,
+his Polita.</p>
+
+<p>A few years afterwards, Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus employed a
+similar artifice in his <span class="smcap">Zodiacus Vit&aelig;</span>, "The Zodiac of Life:" the initial
+letters of the first twenty-nine verses of the first book of this poem
+forming his name, which curious particular was probably unknown to
+Warton in his account of this work.&mdash;The performance is divided into
+twelve books, but has no reference to astronomy, which we might
+naturally expect. He distinguished his twelve books by the twelve names
+of the celestial signs, and probably extended or confined them purposely
+to that number, to humour his fancy. Warton, however, observes, "This
+strange pedantic title is not totally without a <i>conceit</i>, as the author
+was born at <i>Stellada</i> or <i>Stellata</i>, a province of Ferrara, and from
+whence he called himself Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus." The work
+itself is a curious satire on the Pope and the Church of Rome. It
+occasioned Bayle to commit a remarkable <i>literary blunder</i>, which I
+shall record in its place. Of Italian conceit in those times, of which
+Petrarch was the father, with his perpetual play on words and on his
+<i>Laurel</i>, or his mistress <i>Laura</i>, he has himself afforded a remarkable
+example. Our poet lost his mother, who died in her thirty-eighth year:
+he has commemorated her death by a sonnet composed of thirty-eight
+lines. He seems to have conceived that the exactness of the number was
+equally natural and tender.</p>
+
+<p>Are we not to class among <i>literary follies</i> the strange researches
+which writers, even of the present day, have made in <i>Antediluvian</i>
+times? Forgeries of the grossest nature have been alluded to, or quoted
+as authorities. A <i>Book of Enoch</i> once attracted considerable attention;
+this curious forgery has been recently translated. The Sabeans pretend
+they possess a work written by <i>Adam</i>! and this work has been <i>recently</i>
+appealed to in favour of a visionary theory!<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Astle gravely observes,
+that "with respect to <i>Writings</i> attributed to the <i>Antediluvians</i>, it
+seems not only decent but rational to say that we know nothing
+concerning them." Without alluding to living writers, Dr. Parsons, in
+his erudite "Remains of Japhet," tracing the origin of the alphabetical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+character, supposes that <i>letters</i> were known to <i>Adam</i>! Some, too, have
+noticed astronomical libraries in the Ark of Noah! Such historical
+memorials are the deliriums of learning, or are founded on forgeries.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Broughton, a writer of controversy in the reign of James the First,
+shows us, in a tedious discussion on Scripture chronology, that Rahab
+was a harlot at <i>ten</i> years of age; and enters into many grave
+discussions concerning the <i>colour</i> of Aaron's <i>ephod</i>, and the language
+which <i>Eve</i> first spoke. This writer is ridiculed in Ben Jonson's
+Comedies:&mdash;he is not without rivals even in the present day!
+Covarruvias, after others of his school, discovers that when male
+children are born they cry out with an A, being the first vowel of the
+word <i>Adam</i>, while the female infants prefer the letter E, in allusion
+to <i>Eve</i>; and we may add that, by the pinch of a negligent nurse, they
+may probably learn all their vowels. Of the pedantic triflings of
+commentators, a controversy among the Portuguese on the works of Camoens
+is not the least. Some of these profound critics, who affected great
+delicacy in the laws of epic poetry, pretended to be doubtful whether
+the poet had fixed on the right time for a <i>king's dream</i>; whether, said
+they, a king should have a propitious dream on his <i>first going to bed</i>
+or at the <i>dawn of the following morning</i>? No one seemed to be quite
+certain; they puzzled each other till the controversy closed in this
+felicitous manner, and satisfied both the night and the dawn critics.
+Barreto discovered that an <i>accent</i> on one of the words alluded to in
+the controversy would answer the purpose, and by making king Manuel's
+dream to take place at the dawn would restore Camoens to their good
+opinion, and preserve the dignity of the poet.</p>
+
+<p>Chevreau begins his History of the World in these words:&mdash;"Several
+learned men have examined in <i>what season</i> God created the world, though
+there could hardly be any season then, since there was no sun, no moon,
+nor stars. But as the world must have been created in one of the four
+seasons, this question has exercised the talents of the most curious,
+and opinions are various. Some say it was in the month of <i>Nisan</i>, that
+is, in the spring: others maintain that it was in the month of <i>Tisri</i>,
+which begins the civil year of the Jews, and that it was on the <i>sixth
+day</i> of this month, which answers to our <i>September</i>, that <i>Adam</i> and
+<i>Eve</i> were created, and that it was on a <i>Friday</i>, a little after four
+o'clock in the afternoon!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> This is according to the Rabbinical notion
+of the eve of the Sabbath.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish antiquaries mention <i>public libraries</i> that were before the
+flood; and Paul Christian Ilsker, with profounder erudition, has given
+an exact catalogue of <i>Adam's</i>. Messieurs O'Flaherty, O'Connor, and
+O'Halloran, have most gravely recorded as authentic narrations the
+wildest legendary traditions; and more recently, to make confusion
+doubly confounded, others have built up what they call theoretical
+histories on these nursery tales. By which species of black art they
+contrive to prove that an Irishman is an Indian, and a Peruvian may be a
+Welshman, from certain emigrations which took place many centuries
+before Christ, and some about two centuries after the flood! Keating, in
+his "History of Ireland," starts a favourite hero in the giant
+Partholanus, who was descended from Japhet, and landed on the coast of
+Munster 14th May, in the year of the world 1987. This giant succeeded in
+his enterprise, but a domestic misfortune attended him among his Irish
+friends:&mdash;his wife exposed him to their laughter by her loose behaviour,
+and provoked him to such a degree that he killed two favourite
+greyhounds; and this the learned historian assures us was the <i>first</i>
+instance of female infidelity ever known in Ireland!</p>
+
+<p>The learned, not contented with Homer's poetical pre-eminence, make him
+the most authentic historian and most accurate geographer of antiquity,
+besides endowing him with all the arts and sciences to be found in our
+Encyclop&aelig;dia. Even in surgery, a treatise has been written to show, by
+the variety of the <i>wounds</i> of his heroes, that he was a most scientific
+anatomist; and a military scholar has lately told us, that from him is
+derived all the science of the modern adjutant and quarter-master
+general; all the knowledge of <i>tactics</i> which we now possess; and that
+Xenophon, Epaminondas, Philip, and Alexander, owed all their warlike
+reputation to Homer!</p>
+
+<p>To return to pleasanter follies. Des Fontaines, the journalist, who had
+wit and malice, inserted the fragment of a letter which the poet
+Rousseau wrote to the younger Racine whilst he was at the Hague. These
+were the words: "I enjoy the conversation within these few days of my
+associates in Parnassus. Mr. Piron is an excellent antidote against
+melancholy; <i>but</i>"&mdash;&amp;c. Des Fontaines maliciously stopped at this <i>but</i>.
+In the letter of Rousseau it was, "but unfortunately he departs soon."
+Piron was very sensibly affected at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> this equivocal <i>but</i>, and resolved
+to revenge himself by composing one hundred epigrams against the
+malignant critic. He had written sixty before Des Fontaines died: but of
+these only two attracted any notice.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, Antonio Cornezano wrote
+a hundred different sonnets on one subject, "the eyes of his mistress!"
+to which possibly Shakspeare may allude, when Jaques describes a lover,
+with his</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">Woeful ballad,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Made to his mistress' eyebrow.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Not inferior to this ingenious trifler is Nicholas Franco, well known in
+Italian literature, who employed himself in writing two hundred and
+eighteen satiric sonnets, chiefly on the famous Peter Aretin. This
+lampooner had the honour of being hanged at Rome for his defamatory
+publications. In the same class are to be placed two other writers.
+Brebeuf, who wrote one hundred and fifty epigrams against a painted
+lady. Another wit, desirous of emulating him, and for a literary
+bravado, <i>continued</i> the same subject, and pointed at this unfortunate
+fair three hundred more, without once repeating the thoughts of Brebeuf!
+There is a collection of poems called "<i>La</i> PUCE <i>des grands jours de
+Poitiers</i>." "The FLEA of the carnival of Poietiers." These poems were
+begun by the learned Pasquier, who edited the collection, upon a FLEA
+which was found one morning in the bosom of the famous Catherine des
+Roches!</p>
+
+<p>Not long ago, a Mr. and Mrs. Bilderdyk, in Flanders, published poems
+under the whimsical title of "White and Red."&mdash;His own poems were called
+white, from the colour of his hair; and those of his lady red, in
+allusion to the colour of the rose. The idea must be Flemish!</p>
+
+<p>Gildon, in his "Laws of Poetry," commenting on this line of the Duke of
+Buckingham's "Essay on Poetry,"</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nature's chief masterpiece is <i>writing well</i>:<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>very profoundly informs his readers "That what is here said has not the
+least regard to the <i>penmanship</i>, that is, to the fairness or badness of
+the handwriting," and proceeds throughout a whole page, with a panegyric
+on a <i>fine handwriting</i>! The stupidity of dulness seems to have at times
+great claims to originality!</p>
+
+<p>Littleton, the author of the Latin and English Dictionary,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> seems to
+have indulged his favourite propensity to punning so far as even to
+introduce a pun in the grave and elaborate work of a Lexicon. A story
+has been raised to account for it, and it has been ascribed to the
+impatient interjection of the lexicographer to his scribe, who, taking
+no offence at the peevishness of his master, put it down in the
+Dictionary. The article alluded to is, "<span class="smcap">Concurro</span>, to run with others; to
+run together; to come together; to fall foul of one another; to
+<span class="smcap">Con</span>-<i>cur,</i> to <span class="smcap">Con</span>-<i>dog</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Todd, in his Dictionary, has laboured to show the "inaccuracy of
+this pretended narrative." Yet a similar blunder appears to have
+happened to Ash. Johnson, while composing his Dictionary, sent a note to
+the Gentleman's Magazine to inquire the etymology of the word
+<i>curmudgeon</i>. Having obtained the information, he records in his work
+the obligation to an anonymous letter-writer. "Curmudgeon, a vicious way
+of pronouncing <i>c&oelig;ur m&eacute;chant</i>. An unknown correspondent." Ash copied
+the word into his dictionary in this manner: "Curmudgeon: from the
+French <i>c&oelig;ur</i> unknown; and <i>m&eacute;chant</i>, a correspondent." This singular
+negligence ought to be placed in the class of our <i>literary blunders</i>;
+these form a pair of lexicographical anecdotes.</p>
+
+<p>Two singular literary follies have been practised on Milton. There is a
+<i>prose version</i> of his "Paradise Lost," which was innocently
+<i>translated</i> from the French version of his epic! One Green published a
+specimen of a <i>new version</i> of the "Paradise Lost" into <i>blank verse</i>!
+For this purpose he has utterly ruined the harmony of Milton's cadences,
+by what he conceived to be "bringing that amazing work somewhat <i>nearer
+the summit of perfection</i>."</p>
+
+<p>A French author, when his book had been received by the French Academy,
+had the portrait of Cardinal Richelieu engraved on his title-page,
+encircled by a crown of <i>forty rays</i>, in each of which was written the
+name of the celebrated <i>forty academicians</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The self-exaltation frequently employed by injudicious writers,
+sometimes places them in ridiculous attitudes. A writer of a bad
+dictionary, which he intended for a Cyclopaedia, formed such an opinion
+of its extensive sale, that he put on the title-page the words "<i>first
+edition</i>," a hint to the gentle reader that it would not be the last.
+Desmarest was so delighted with his "Clovis," an epic poem, that he
+solemnly concludes his preface with a thanksgiving to God,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> to whom he
+attributes all its glory! This is like that conceited member of a French
+Parliament, who was overheard, after his tedious harangue, muttering
+most devoutly to himself, "<i>Non nobis Domine</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Several works have been produced from some odd coincidence with the
+<i>name of their authors</i>. Thus, De Saussay has written a folio volume,
+consisting of panegyrics of persons of eminence whose Christian names
+were <i>Andrew</i>; because <i>Andrew</i> was his own name. Two Jesuits made a
+similar collection of illustrious men whose Christian names were
+<i>Theophilus</i> and <i>Philip</i>, being their own. <i>Anthony Saunderus</i> has also
+composed a treatise of illustrious <i>Anthonies</i>! And we have one
+<i>Buchanan</i>, who has written the lives of those persons who were so
+fortunate as to have been his namesakes.</p>
+
+<p>Several forgotten writers have frequently been intruded on the public
+eye, merely through such trifling coincidences as being members of some
+particular society, or natives of some particular country. Cordeliers
+have stood forward to revive the writings of Duns Scotus, because he had
+been a cordelier; and a Jesuit compiled a folio on the antiquities of a
+province, merely from the circumstance that the founder of his order,
+Ignatius Loyola, had been born there. Several of the classics are
+violently extolled above others, merely from the accidental circumstance
+of their editors having collected a vast number of notes, which they
+resolved to discharge on the public. County histories have been
+frequently compiled, and provincial writers have received a temporary
+existence, from the accident of some obscure individual being an
+inhabitant of some obscure town.</p>
+
+<p>On such literary follies Malebranche has made this refined observation.
+The <i>critics</i>, standing in some way connected with <i>the author</i>, their
+<i>self-love</i> inspires them, and abundantly furnishes eulogiums which the
+author never merited, that they may thus obliquely reflect some praise
+on themselves. This is made so adroitly, so delicately, and so
+concealed, that it is not perceived.</p>
+
+<p>The following are strange inventions, originating in the wilful bad
+taste of the authors. <span class="smcap">Otto Venius</span>, the master of Rubens, is the designer
+of <i>Le Th&eacute;&acirc;tre moral de la Vie humaine</i>. In this emblematical history of
+human life, he has taken his subjects from Horace; but certainly his
+conceptions are not Horatian. He takes every image in a <i>literal</i>
+sense.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> If Horace says, "<i>Misce stultitiam</i> CONSILIIS BREVEM," behold,
+Venius takes <i>brevis</i> personally, and represents Folly as a <i>little
+short child</i>! of not above three or four years old! In the emblem which
+answers Horace's "<i>Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit</i> PEDE P&OElig;NA
+CLAUDO," we find Punishment with <i>a wooden leg</i>.&mdash;And for "PULVIS ET
+UMBRA SUMUS," we have a dark burying vault, with <i>dust</i> sprinkled about
+the floor, and a <i>shadow</i> walking upright between two ranges of urns.
+For "<i>Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima stultiti&acirc; caruisse</i>,"
+most flatly he gives seven or eight Vices pursuing Virtue, and Folly
+just at the heels of Wisdom. I saw in an English Bible printed in
+Holland an instance of the same taste: the artist, to illustrate "Thou
+seest the <i>mote</i> in thy neighbour's eye, but not the <i>beam</i> in thine
+own," has actually placed an immense beam which projects from the eye of
+the cavalier to the ground!<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p>
+
+<p>As a contrast to the too obvious taste of <span class="smcap">Venius</span>, may be placed <span class="smcap">Cesare
+di Ripa</span>, who is the author of an Italian work, translated into most
+European languages, the <i>Iconologia</i>; the favourite book of the age, and
+the fertile parent of the most absurd offspring which Taste has known.
+Ripa is as darkly subtle as Venius is obvious; and as far-fetched in his
+conceits as the other is literal. Ripa represents Beauty by a naked
+lady, with her head in a cloud; because the true idea of beauty is hard
+to be conceived! Flattery, by a lady with a flute in her hand, and a
+stag at her feet; because stags are said to love music so much, that
+they suffer themselves to be taken, if you play to them on a flute.
+Fraud, with two hearts in one hand, and a mask in the other;&mdash;his
+collection is too numerous to point out more instances. Ripa also
+describes how the allegorical figures are to be coloured; Hope is to
+have a sky-blue robe, because she always looks towards heaven. Enough of
+these <i>capriccios</i>!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_CONTROVERSY" id="LITERARY_CONTROVERSY"></a>LITERARY CONTROVERSY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the article <span class="smcap">Milton</span>, I had occasion to give some strictures on the
+asperity of literary controversy, drawn from his own and Salmasius's
+writings. If to some the subject has appeared exceptionable, to me, I
+confess, it seems useful, and I shall therefore add some other
+particulars; for this topic has many branches. Of the following
+specimens the grossness and malignity are extreme; yet they were
+employed by the first scholars in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Martin Luther was not destitute of genius, of learning, or of eloquence;
+but his violence disfigured his works with singularities of abuse. The
+great reformer of superstition had himself all the vulgar ones of his
+day; he believed that flies were devils; and that he had had a buffeting
+with Satan, when his left ear felt the prodigious beating. Hear him
+express himself on the Catholic divines: "The Papists are all asses, and
+will always remain asses. Put them in whatever sauce you choose, boiled,
+roasted, baked, fried, skinned, beat, hashed, they are always the same
+asses."</p>
+
+<p>Gentle and moderate, compared with a salute to his holiness:&mdash;"The Pope
+was born out of the Devil's posteriors. He is full of devils, lies,
+blasphemies, and idolatries; he is anti-Christ; the robber of churches;
+the ravisher of virgins; the greatest of pimps; the governor of Sodom,
+&amp;c. If the Turks lay hold of us, then we shall be in the hands of the
+Devil; but if we remain with the Pope, we shall be in hell.&mdash;What a
+pleasing sight would it be to see the Pope and the Cardinals hanging on
+one gallows in exact order, like the seals which dangle from the bulls
+of the Pope! What an excellent council would they hold under the
+gallows!"<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, desirous of catching the attention of the vulgar, Luther
+attempts to enliven his style by the grossest buffooneries: "Take care,
+my little Popa! my little ass! Go on slowly: the times are slippery:
+this year is dangerous: if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> them fallest, they will exclaim, See! how
+our little Pope is spoilt!" It was fortunate for the cause of the
+Reformation that the violence of Luther was softened in a considerable
+degree by the meek Melancthon, who often poured honey on the sting
+inflicted by the angry wasp. Luther was no respecter of kings; he was so
+fortunate, indeed, as to find among his antagonists a crowned head; a
+great good fortune for an obscure controversialist, and the very
+<i>punctum saliens</i> of controversy. Our Henry VIII. wrote his book against
+the new doctrine: then warm from scholastic studies, Henry presented Leo
+X. with a work highly creditable to his abilities, according to the
+genius of the age. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History, has analysed
+the book, and does not ill describe its spirit: "Henry seems superior to
+his adversary in the vigour and propriety of his style, in the force of
+his reasoning, and the learning of his citations. It is true he leans
+<i>too much</i> upon his character, argues in his <i>garter-robes</i>, and writes
+as 'twere with his <i>sceptre</i>." But Luther in reply abandons his pen to
+all kinds of railing and abuse. He addresses Henry VIII. in the
+following style: "It is hard to say if folly can be more foolish, or
+stupidity more stupid, than is the head of Henry. He has not attacked me
+with the heart of a king, but with the impudence of a knave. This rotten
+worm of the earth having blasphemed the majesty of my king, I have a
+just right to bespatter his English majesty with his own dirt and
+ordure. This Henry has lied." Some of his original expressions to our
+Henry VIII. are these: "Stulta, ridicula, et verissim&egrave; <i>Henricicana</i> et
+<i>Thomastica</i> sunt h&aelig;c&mdash;Regem Angli&aelig; Henricum istum plan&egrave; mentiri,
+&amp;c.&mdash;Hoc agit inquietus Satan, ut nos a Scripturis avocet per
+<i>sceleratos Henricos</i>," &amp;c.&mdash;He was repaid with capital and interest by
+an anonymous reply, said to have been written by Sir Thomas More, who
+concludes his arguments by leaving Luther in language not necessary to
+translate: "cum suis furiis et furoribus, cum suis merdis et stercoribus
+cacantem cacatumque." Such were the vigorous elegancies of a controversy
+on the Seven Sacraments! Long after, the court of Rome had not lost the
+taste of these "bitter herbs:" for in the bull of the canonization of
+Ignatius Loyola in August, 1623, Luther is called <i>monstrum teterrimum
+et detestabilis pestis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Calvin was less tolerant, for he had no Melancthon! His adversaries are
+never others than knaves, lunatics, drunkards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> and assassins! Sometimes
+they are characterised by the familiar appellatives of bulls, asses,
+cats, and hogs! By him Catholic and Lutheran are alike hated. Yet, after
+having given vent to this virulent humour, he frequently boasts of his
+mildness. When he reads over his writings, he tells us, that he is
+astonished at his forbearance; but this, he adds, is the duty of every
+Christian! at the same time, he generally finishes a period with&mdash;"Do
+you hear, you dog?" "Do you hear, madman?"</p>
+
+<p>Beza, the disciple of Calvin, sometimes imitates the luxuriant abuse of
+his master. When he writes against Tillemont, a Lutheran minister, he
+bestows on him the following titles of honour:&mdash;"Polyphemus; an ape; a
+great ass, who is distinguished from other asses by wearing a hat; an
+ass on two feet; a monster composed of part of an ape and wild ass; a
+villain who merits hanging on the first tree we find." And Beza was, no
+doubt, desirous of the office of executioner!</p>
+
+<p>The Catholic party is by no means inferior in the felicities of their
+style. The Jesuit Raynaud calls Erasmus the "Batavian buffoon," and
+accuses him of nourishing the egg which Luther hatched. These men were
+alike supposed by their friends to be the inspired regulators of
+religion!<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bishop Bedell, a great and good man, respected even by his adversaries,
+in an address to his clergy, observes, "Our calling is to deal with
+errors, not to disgrace the man with scolding words. It is said of
+Alexander, I think, when he overheard one of his soldiers railing
+lustily against Darius his enemy, that he reproved him, and added,
+"Friend, I entertain thee to fight against Darius, not to revile him;"
+and my sentiments<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> of treating the Catholics," concludes Bedell, "are
+not conformable to the practice of Luther and Calvin; but they were but
+men, and perhaps we must confess they suffered themselves to yield to
+the violence of passion."</p>
+
+<p>The Fathers of the Church were proficients in the art of abuse, and very
+ingeniously defended it. St. Austin affirms that the most caustic
+personality may produce a wonderful effect, in opening a man's eyes to
+his own follies. He illustrates his position with a story, given with
+great simplicity, of his mother Saint Monica with her maid. Saint Monica
+certainly would have been a confirmed drunkard, had not her maid
+timelily and outrageously abused her. The story will amuse.&mdash;"My mother
+had by little and little accustomed herself to relish wine. They used to
+send her to the cellar, as being one of the soberest in the family: she
+first sipped from the jug and tasted a few drops, for she abhorred wine,
+and did not care to drink. However, she gradually accustomed herself,
+and from sipping it on her lips she swallowed a draught. As people from
+the smallest faults insensibly increase, she at length liked wine, and
+drank bumpers. But one day being alone with the maid who usually
+attended her to the cellar, they quarrelled, and the maid bitterly
+reproached her with being a <i>drunkard</i>! That <i>single word</i> struck her so
+poignantly that it opened her understanding; and reflecting on the
+deformity of the vice, she desisted for ever from its use."</p>
+
+<p>To jeer and play the droll, or, in his own words, <i>de bouffonner</i>, was a
+mode of controversy the great Arnauld defended, as permitted by the
+writings of the holy fathers. It is still more singular, when he not
+only brings forward as an example of this ribaldry, Elijah <i>mocking</i> at
+the false divinities, but <i>God</i> himself <i>bantering</i> the first man after
+his fall. He justifies the injurious epithets which he has so liberally
+bestowed on his adversaries by the example of Jesus Christ and the
+apostles! It was on these grounds also that the celebrated Pascal
+apologised for the invectives with which he has occasionally disfigured
+his Provincial Letters. A Jesuit has collected "An Alphabetical
+Catalogue of the Names of <i>Beasts</i> by which the Fathers characterised
+the Heretics!" It may be found in <i>Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris</i>,
+p. 93, 4to. 1653, of Father Kaynaud. This list of brutes and insects,
+among which are a vast variety of serpents, is accompanied by the names
+of the heretics designated!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Henry Fitzsermon, an Irish Jesuit, was imprisoned for his papistical
+designs and seditious preaching. During his confinement he proved
+himself to be a great amateur of controversy. He said, "he felt like a
+<i>bear</i> tied to a stake, and wanted somebody to <i>bait</i> him." A kind
+office, zealously undertaken by the learned <i>Usher</i>, then a young man.
+He <i>engaged to dispute</i> with him <i>once a week</i> on the subject of
+<i>antichrist</i>! They met several times. It appears that <i>our bear</i> was
+out-worried, and declined any further <i>dog-baiting</i>. This spread an
+universal joy through the Protestants in Dublin. At the early period of
+the Reformation, Dr. Smith of Oxford abjured papistry, with the hope of
+retaining his professorship, but it was given to Peter Martyr. On this
+our Doctor recants, and writes several controversial works against Peter
+Martyr; the most curious part of which is the singular mode adopted of
+attacking others, as well as Peter Martyr. In his margin he frequently
+breaks out thus: "Let Hooper read this!"&mdash;"Here, Ponet, open your eyes
+and see your errors!"&mdash;"Ergo, Cox, thou art damned!" In this manner,
+without expressly writing against these persons, the stirring polemic
+contrived to keep up a sharp bush-fighting in his margins. Such was the
+spirit of those times, very different from our own. When a modern bishop
+was just advanced to a mitre, his bookseller begged to re-publish a
+popular theological tract of his against another bishop, because he
+might now meet him on equal terms. My lord answered&mdash;"Mr.&mdash;&mdash;, no more
+controversy now!" Our good bishop resembled Baldwin, who from a simple
+monk, arrived to the honour of the see of Canterbury. The successive
+honours successively changed his manners. Urban the Second inscribed his
+brief to him in this concise description&mdash;<i>Balduino Monastico
+ferventissimo, Abbati calido, Episcopo tepido, Archiepiscopo remisso</i>!</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of literary controversies, we cannot pass over the
+various sects of the scholastics: a volume might be compiled of their
+ferocious wars, which in more than one instance were accompanied by
+stones and daggers. The most memorable, on account of the extent, the
+violence, and duration of their contests, are those of the <span class="smcap">Nominalists</span>
+and the <span class="smcap">Realists</span>.</p>
+
+<p>It was a most subtle question assuredly, and the world thought for a
+long while that their happiness depended on deciding, whether
+universals, that is <i>genera</i>, have a real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> essence, and exist
+independent of particulars, that is <i>species</i>:&mdash;whether, for instance,
+we could form an idea of asses, prior to individual asses? Roscelinus,
+in the eleventh century, adopted the opinion that universals have no
+real existence, either before or in individuals, but are mere names and
+words by which the kind of individuals is expressed; a tenet propagated
+by Abelard, which produced the sect of <i>Nominalists</i>. But the <i>Realists</i>
+asserted that universals existed independent of individuals,&mdash;though
+they were somewhat divided between the various opinions of Plato and
+Aristotle. Of the Realists the most famous were Thomas Aquinas and Duns
+Scotus. The cause of the Nominalists was almost desperate, till Occam in
+the fourteenth century revived the dying embers. Louis XI. adopted the
+Nominalists, and the Nominalists flourished at large in France and
+Germany; but unfortunately Pope John XXIII. patronised the Realists, and
+throughout Italy it was dangerous for a Nominalist to open his lips. The
+French King wavered, and the Pope triumphed; his majesty published an
+edict in 1474, in which he silenced for ever the Nominalists, and
+ordered their books to be fastened up in their libraries with iron
+chains, that they might not be read by young students! The leaders of
+that sect fled into England and Germany, where they united their forces
+with Luther and the first Reformers.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could exceed the violence with which these disputes were
+conducted. Vives himself, who witnessed the contests, says that, "when
+the contending parties had exhausted their stock of verbal abuse, they
+often came to blows; and it was not uncommon in these quarrels about
+<i>universals</i>, to see the combatants engaging not only with their fists,
+but with clubs and swords, so that many have been wounded and some
+killed."</p>
+
+<p>On this war of words, and all this terrifying nonsense John of Salisbury
+observes, "that there had been more time consumed than the C&aelig;sars had
+employed in making themselves masters of the world; that the riches of
+Cr&oelig;sus were inferior to the treasures that had been exhausted in this
+controversy; and that the contending parties, after having spent their
+whole lives in this single point, had neither been so happy as to
+determine it to their satisfaction, nor to find in the labyrinths of
+science where they had been groping any discovery that was worth the
+pains they had taken." It may be added that Ramus having attacked
+Aristotle, for "teach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>ing us chimeras," all his scholars revolted; the
+parliament put a stop to his lectures, and at length having brought the
+matter into a law court, he was declared "to be insolent and
+daring"&mdash;the king proscribed his works, he was ridiculed on the stage,
+and hissed at by his scholars. When at length, during the plague, he
+opened again his schools, he drew on himself a fresh storm by reforming
+the pronunciation of the letter Q, which they then pronounced like
+K&mdash;Kiskis for Quisquis, and Kamkam for Quamquam. This innovation Was
+once more laid to his charge: a new rebellion! and a new ejection of the
+Anti-Aristotelian! The brother of that Gabriel Harvey who was the friend
+of Spenser, and with Gabriel had been the whetstone of the town-wits of
+his time, distinguished himself by his wrath against the Stagyrite.
+After having with Gabriel predicted an earthquake, and alarmed the
+kingdom, which never took place (that is the earthquake, not the alarm),
+the wits buffeted him. Nash says of him, that "Tarlton at the theatre
+made jests of him, and Elderton consumed his ale-crammed nose to
+nothing, in bear-baiting him with whole bundles of ballads." Marlow
+declared him to be "an ass fit only to preach of the iron age." Stung to
+madness by this lively nest of hornets, he avenged himself in a very
+cowardly manner&mdash;he attacked Aristotle himself! for he set <i>Aristotle</i>
+with his <i>heels upwards</i> on the school gates at Cambridge, and with
+<i>asses' ears</i> on his head!</p>
+
+<p>But this controversy concerning Aristotle and the school divinity was
+even prolonged. A professor in the College at Naples published in 1688
+four volumes of peripatetic philosophy, to establish the principles of
+Aristotle. The work was exploded, and he wrote an abusive treatise under
+the <i>nom de guerre</i> of Benedetto Aletino. A man of letters, Constantino
+Grimaldi, replied. Aletino rejoined; he wrote letters, an apology for
+the letters, and would have written more for Aristotle than Aristotle
+himself perhaps would have done. However, Grimaldi was no ordinary
+antagonist, and not to be outwearied. He had not only the best of the
+argument, but he was resolved to tell the world so, as long as the world
+would listen. Whether he killed off Father Benedictus, the first author,
+is not affirmed; but the latter died during the controversy. Grimaldi,
+however, afterwards pursued his ghost, and buffeted the father in his
+grave. This enraged the University of Naples; and the Jesuits, to a man,
+de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>nounced Grimaldi to Pope Benedict XIII. and to the Viceroy of Naples.
+On this the Pope issued a bull prohibiting the reading of Grimaldi's
+works, or keeping them, under pain of excommunication; and the viceroy,
+more active than the bull, caused all the copies which were found in the
+author's house to be thrown <i>into the sea</i>! The author with tears in his
+eyes beheld his expatriated volumes, hopeless that their voyage would
+have been successful. However, all the little family of the Grimaldis
+were not drowned&mdash;for a storm arose, and happily drove ashore many of
+the floating copies, and these falling into charitable hands, the
+heretical opinions of poor Grimaldi against Aristotle and school
+divinity were still read by those who were not out-terrified by the
+Pope's bulls. The <i>salted</i> passages were still at hand, and quoted with
+a double zest against the Jesuits!</p>
+
+<p>We now turn to writers whose controversy was kindled only by subjects of
+polite literature. The particulars form a curious picture of the taste
+of the age.</p>
+
+<p>"There is," says Joseph Scaliger, that great critic and reviler, "an art
+of abuse or slandering, of which those that are ignorant may be said to
+defame others much less than they show a willingness to defame."</p>
+
+<p>"Literary wars," says Bayle, "are sometimes as lasting as they are
+terrible." A disputation between two great scholars was so interminably
+violent, that it lasted thirty years! He humorously compares its
+duration to the German war which lasted as long.</p>
+
+<p>Baillet, when he refuted the sentiments of a certain author always did
+it without naming him; but when he found any observation which, he
+deemed commendable, he quoted his name. Bayle observes, that "this is an
+excess of politeness, prejudicial to that freedom which should ever
+exist in the republic of letters; that it should be allowed always to
+name those whom we refute; and that it is sufficient for this purpose
+that we banish asperity, malice, and indecency."</p>
+
+<p>After these preliminary observations, I shall bring forward various
+examples where this excellent advice is by no means regarded.</p>
+
+<p>Erasmus produced a dialogue, in which he ridiculed those scholars who
+were servile imitators of Cicero; so servile, that they would employ no
+expression but what was found in the works of that writer; everything
+with them was Ciceronian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>ised. This dialogue is written with great
+humour. Julius C&aelig;sar Scaliger, the father, who was then unknown to the
+world, had been long looking for some occasion to distinguish himself;
+he now wrote a defence of Cicero, but which in fact was one continued
+invective against Erasmus: he there treats the latter as illiterate, a
+drunkard, an impostor, an apostate, a hangman, a demon hot from hell!
+The same Scaliger, acting on the same principle of distinguishing
+himself at the cost of others, attacked Cardan's best work <i>De
+Subtilitate</i>: his criticism did not appear till seven years after the
+first edition of the work, and then he obstinately stuck to that
+edition, though Cardan had corrected it in subsequent ones; but this
+Scaliger chose, that he might have a wider field for his attack. After
+this, a rumour spread that Cardan had died of vexation from Julius
+C&aelig;sar's invincible pen; then Scaliger pretended to feel all the regret
+possible for a man he had killed, and whom he now praised: however, his
+regret had as little foundation as his triumph; for Cardan outlived
+Scaliger many years, and valued his criticisms too cheaply to have
+suffered them to have disturbed his quiet. All this does not exceed the
+<i>Invectives</i> of Poggius, who has thus entitled several literary libels
+composed against some of his adversaries, Laurentius Valla, Philelphus,
+&amp;c., who returned the poisoned chalice to his own lips; declamations of
+scurrility, obscenity, and calumny!</p>
+
+<p>Scioppius was a worthy successor of the Scaligers: his favourite
+expression was, that he had trodden down his adversary.</p>
+
+<p>Scioppius was a critic, as skilful as Salmasius or Scaliger, but still
+more learned in the language of abuse. This cynic was the Attila of
+authors. He boasted that he had occasioned the deaths of Casaubon and
+Scaliger. Detested and dreaded as the public scourge, Scioppius, at the
+close of his life, was fearful he should find no retreat in which he
+might be secure.</p>
+
+<p>The great Casaubon employs the dialect of St. Giles's in his furious
+attacks on the learned Dalechamps, the Latin translator of Athen&aelig;us. To
+this great physician he stood more deeply indebted than he chose to
+confess; and to conceal the claims of this literary creditor, he called
+out <i>Vesanum!</i> <i>Insanum!</i> <i>Tiresiam!</i> &amp;c. It was the fashion of that day
+with the ferocious heroes of the literary republic, to overwhelm each
+other with invectives, and to consider that their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> own grandeur
+consisted in the magnitude of their volumes; and their triumphs in
+reducing their brother giants into puny dwarfs. In science, Linn&aelig;us had
+a dread of controversy&mdash;conqueror or conquered we cannot escape without
+disgrace! Mathiolus would have been the great man of his day, had he not
+meddled with such matters. Who is gratified by "the mad Cornarus," or
+"the flayed Fox?" titles which Fuchsius and Cornarus, two eminent
+botanists, have bestowed on each other. Some who were too fond of
+controversy, as they grew wiser, have refused to take up the gauntlet.</p>
+
+<p>The heat and acrimony of verbal critics have exceeded description. Their
+stigmas and anathemas have been long known to bear no proportion to the
+offences against which they have been directed. "God confound you,"
+cried one grammarian to another, "for your theory of impersonal verbs!"
+There was a long and terrible controversy formerly, whether the
+Florentine dialect was to prevail over the others. The academy was put
+to great trouble, and the Anti-Cruscans were often on the point of
+annulling this supremacy; <i>una mordace scritura</i> was applied to one of
+these literary canons; and in a letter of those times the following
+paragraph appears:&mdash;"Pescetti is preparing to give a second answer to
+Beni, which will not please him; I now believe the prophecy of Cavalier
+Tedeschi will be verified, and that this controversy, begun with pens,
+will end with poniards!"</p>
+
+<p>Fabretti, an Italian, wrote furiously against Gronovius, whom he calls
+<i>Grunnovius</i>: he compared him to all those animals whose voice was
+expressed by the word <i>Grunnire, to grunt</i>. Gronovius was so malevolent
+a critic, that he was distinguished by the title of the "Grammatical
+Cur."</p>
+
+<p>When critics venture to attack the person as well as the performance of
+an author, I recommend the salutary proceedings of Huberus, the writer
+of an esteemed Universal History. He had been so roughly handled by
+Perizonius, that he obliged him to make the <i>amende honorable</i> in a
+court of justice; where, however, I fear an English jury would give the
+smallest damages.</p>
+
+<p>Certain authors may be distinguished by the title of <span class="smcap">Literary Bobadils</span>,
+or fighting authors. One of our own celebrated writers drew his sword on
+a reviewer; and another, when his farce was condemned, offered to fight
+any one of the audience who hissed. Scudery, brother of the celebrated
+Mademoiselle Scudery, was a true Parnassian bully. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> first
+publication which brought him into notice was his edition of the works
+of his friend Theophile. He concludes the preface with these singular
+expressions&mdash;"I do not hesitate to declare, that, amongst all the dead,
+and all the living, there is no person who has anything to show that
+approaches the force of this vigorous genius; but if amongst the latter,
+any one were so extravagant as to consider that I detract from his
+imaginary glory, to show him that I fear as little as I esteem him, this
+is to inform him that my name is</p>
+
+
+<p class="author">"<span class="smcap">De Scudery</span>."</p>
+
+
+<p>A similar rhodomontade is that of Claude Trellon, a poetical soldier,
+who begins his poems by challenging the critics, assuring them that if
+any one attempts to censure him, he will only condescend to answer sword
+in hand. Father Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, having written against
+Cardinal Noris, on the monkery of St. Austin, it was deemed necessary to
+silence both parties. Macedo, compelled to relinquish the pen, sent his
+adversary a challenge, and according to the laws of chivalry, appointed
+a place for meeting in the wood of Boulogne. Another edict forbad the
+duel! Macedo then murmured at his hard fate, which would not suffer him,
+for the sake of St. Austin, for whom he had a particular regard, to
+spill either his <i>ink</i> or his <i>blood</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Anti</span>, prefixed to the name of the person attacked, was once a favourite
+title to books of literary controversy. With a critical review of such
+books Baillet has filled a quarto volume; yet such was the abundant
+harvest, that he left considerable gleanings for posterior industry.</p>
+
+<p>Anti-Gronovius was a book published against Gronovius, by Kuster.
+Perizonius, another pugilist of literature, entered into this dispute on
+the subject of the &AElig;s grave of the ancients, to which Kuster had just
+adverted at the close of his volume. What was the consequence?
+Dreadful!&mdash;Answers and rejoinders from both, in which they bespattered
+each other with the foulest abuse. A journalist pleasantly blames this
+acrimonious controversy. He says, "To read the pamphlets of a Perizonius
+and a Kuster on the &AElig;s grave of the ancients, who would not renounce all
+commerce with antiquity? It seems as if an Agamemnon and an Achilles
+were railing at each other. Who can refrain from laughter, when one of
+these commentators even points his attacks at the very name of his
+adversary? According to Kuster, the name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> of Perizonius signifies a
+<i>certain part</i> of the human body. How is it possible, that with such a
+name he could be right concerning the &AElig;s grave? But does that of Kuster
+promise a better thing, since it signifies a beadle; a man who drives
+dogs out of churches?&mdash;What madness is this!"</p>
+
+<p>Corneille, like our Dryden, felt the acrimony of literary irritation. To
+the critical strictures of D'Aubignac it is acknowledged he paid the
+greatest attention, for, after this critic's <i>Pratique du Th&eacute;&acirc;tre</i>
+appeared, his tragedies were more artfully conducted. But instead of
+mentioning the critic with due praise, he preserved an ungrateful
+silence. This occasioned a quarrel between the poet and the critic, in
+which the former exhaled his bile in several abusive epigrams, which
+have, fortunately for his credit, not been preserved in his works.</p>
+
+<p>The lively Voltaire could not resist the charm of abusing his
+adversaries. We may smile when he calls a blockhead, a blockhead; a
+dotard, a dotard; but when he attacks, for a difference of opinion, the
+<i>morals</i> of another man, our sensibility is alarmed. A higher tribunal
+than that of criticism is to decide on the <i>actions</i> of men.</p>
+
+<p>There is a certain disguised malice, which some writers have most
+unfairly employed in characterising a contemporary. Burnet called Prior,
+<i>one Prior</i>. In Bishop Parker's History of his Own Times, an innocent
+reader may start at seeing the celebrated Marvell described as an
+outcast of society; an infamous libeller; and one whose talents were
+even more despicable than his person. To such lengths did the hatred of
+party, united with personal rancour, carry this bishop, who was himself
+the worst of time-servers. He was, however, amply paid by the keen wit
+of Marvell in "The Rehearsal Transposed," which may still be read with
+delight, as an admirable effusion of banter, wit, and satire. Le Clerc,
+a cool ponderous Greek critic, quarrelled with Boileau about a passage
+in Longinus, and several years afterwards, in revising Moreri's
+Dictionary, gave a short sarcastic notice of the poet's brother; in
+which he calls him the elder brother of <i>him who has written the book
+entitled, "Satires of Mr. Boileau Despr&eacute;aux</i>!"&mdash;the works of the modern
+Horace, which were then delighting Europe, he calls, with simple
+impudence, "a book entitled Satires!"</p>
+
+<p>The works of Homer produced a controversy, both long and virulent,
+amongst the wits of France. This literary quarrel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> is of some note in
+the annals of literature, since it has produced two valuable books; La
+Motte's "R&eacute;flexions sur la Critique," and Madame Dacier's "Des Causes de
+la Corruption du Go&ucirc;t." La Motte wrote with feminine delicacy, and
+Madame Dacier like a University pedant. "At length, by the efforts of
+Valincour, the friend of art, of artists, and of peace, the contest was
+terminated." Both parties were formidable in number, and to each he made
+remonstrances, and applied reproaches. La Motte and Madame Dacier, the
+opposite leaders, were convinced by his arguments, made reciprocal
+concessions, and concluded a peace. The treaty was formally ratified at
+a dinner, given on the occasion by a Madame De Sta&euml;l, who represented
+"Neutrality." Libations were poured to the memory of old Homer, and the
+parties were reconciled.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_BLUNDERS" id="LITERARY_BLUNDERS"></a>LITERARY BLUNDERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Dante published his "Inferno," the simplicity of the age accepted
+it as a true narrative of his descent into hell.</p>
+
+<p>When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned a
+pleasant mistake. This political romance represents a perfect, but
+visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered
+in America. "As this was the age of discovery," says Granger, "the
+learned Bud&aelig;us, and others, took it for a genuine history; and
+considered it as highly expedient, that missionaries should be sent
+thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity."</p>
+
+<p>It was a long while after publication that many readers were convinced
+that Gulliver's Travels were fictitious.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the most singular blunder was produced by the ingenious "Hermippus
+Redivivus" of Dr. Campbell, a curious banter on the hermetic philosophy,
+and the universal medicine; but the grave irony is so closely kept up,
+that it deceived for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> length of time the most learned. His notion of
+the art of prolonging life, by inhaling the breath of young women, was
+eagerly credited. A physician, who himself had composed a treatise on
+health, was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings at a
+female boarding-school, that he might never be without a constant supply
+of the breath of young ladies. Mr. Thicknesse seriously adopted the
+project. Dr. Kippis acknowledged that after he had read the work in his
+youth, the reasonings and the facts left him several days in a kind of
+fairy land. I have a copy with manuscript notes by a learned physician,
+who seems to have had no doubts of its veracity. After all, the
+intention of the work was long doubtful; till Dr. Campbell assured a
+friend it was a mere jeu-d'esprit; that Bayle was considered as standing
+without a rival in the art of treating at large a difficult subject,
+without discovering to which side his own sentiments leaned: Campbell
+had read more uncommon books than most men, and wished to rival Bayle,
+and at the same time to give many curious matters little known.</p>
+
+<p>Palavicini, in his History of the Council of Trent, to confer an honour
+on M. Lansac, ambassador of Charles IX. to that council, bestows on him
+a collar of the order of Saint Esprit; but which order was not
+instituted till several years afterwards by Henry III. A similar
+voluntary blunder is that of Surita, in his <i>Annales de la Corona de
+Aragon</i>. This writer represents, in the battles he describes, many
+persons who were not present; and this, merely to confer honour on some
+particular families.</p>
+
+<p>Fabiana, quoting a French narrative of travels in Italy, took for the
+name of the author the words, found at the end of the title-page,
+<i>Enrichi de deux Listes</i>; that is, "Enriched with two lists:" on this he
+observes, "that Mr. Enriched with two lists has not failed to do that
+justice to Ciampini which he merited."<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> The abridgers of Gesner's
+Bibliotheca ascribe the romance of Amadis to one <i>Acuerdo Olvido</i>;
+Remem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>brance, Oblivion; mistaking the French translator's Spanish motto
+on the title-page for the name of the author.</p>
+
+<p>D'Aquin, the French king's physician, in his Memoir on the Preparation
+of Bark, takes <i>Mantissa</i>, which is the title of the Appendix to the
+History of Plants, by Johnstone, for the name of an author, and who, he
+says, is so extremely rare, that he only knows him by name.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Bolingbroke imagined, that in those famous verses, beginning with
+<i>Excudent alii</i>, &amp;c., Virgil attributed to the Romans the glory of
+having surpassed the Greeks in historical composition: according to his
+idea, those Roman historians whom Virgil preferred to the Grecians were
+Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. But Virgil died before Livy had written his
+history, or Tacitus was born.</p>
+
+<p>An honest friar, who compiled a church history, has placed in the class
+of ecclesiastical writers Guarini, the Italian poet, on the faith of the
+title of his celebrated amorous pastoral, <i>Il Pastor Fido</i>, "The
+Faithful Shepherd;" our good father imagined that the character of a
+curate, vicar, or bishop, was represented in this work.</p>
+
+<p>A blunder has been recorded of the monks in the dark ages, which was
+likely enough to happen when their ignorance was so dense. A rector of a
+parish going to law with his parishioners about paving the church,
+quoted this authority from St. Peter&mdash;<i>Paveant illi, non paveam ego</i>;
+which he construed, <i>They are to pave the church, not I</i>. This was
+allowed to be good law by a judge, himself an ecclesiastic too.</p>
+
+<p>One of the grossest literary blunders of modern times is that of the
+late Gilbert Wakefield, in his edition of Pope. He there takes the
+well-known "Song by a Person of Quality," which is a piece of ridicule
+on the glittering tuneful nonsense of certain poets, as a serious
+composition. In a most copious commentary, he proves that every line
+seems unconnected with its brothers, and that the whole reflects
+disgrace on its author! A circumstance which too evidently shows how
+necessary the knowledge of modern literary history is to a modern
+commentator, and that those who are profound in verbal Greek are not the
+best critics on English writers.</p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Bizot, the author of the medallic history of Holland, fell into
+a droll mistake. There is a medal, struck when Philip II. set forth his
+<i>invincible Armada</i>, on which are represented the King of Spain, the
+Emperor, the Pope,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> Electors, Cardinals, &amp;c., with their eyes covered
+with a bandage, and bearing for inscription this fine verse of
+Lucretius:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">O c&aelig;cas hominum menteis! O pectora c&aelig;ca!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute;, prepossessed with the prejudice that a nation persecuted by
+the Pope and his adherents could not represent them without some insult,
+did not examine with sufficient care the ends of the bandages which
+covered the eyes and waved about the heads of the personages represented
+on this medal: he rashly took them for <i>asses' ears</i>, and as such they
+are engraved!</p>
+
+<p>Mabillon has preserved a curious literary blunder of some pious
+Spaniards, who applied to the Pope for consecrating a day in honour of
+<i>Saint Viar</i>. His holiness, in the voluminous catalogue of his saints,
+was ignorant of this one. The only proof brought forward for his
+existence was this inscription:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="center">S. VIAR.</p>
+
+<p>An antiquary, however, hindered one more festival in the Catholic
+calendar, by convincing them that these letters were only the remains of
+an inscription erected for an ancient surveyor of the roads; and he read
+their saintship thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="center"><span class="smcap">PR&AElig;FECTUS VIARum.</span></p>
+
+<p>Maffei, in his comparison between Medals and Inscriptions, detects a
+literary blunder in Spon, who, meeting with this inscription,</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">Maximo VI Consule</p>
+
+<p>takes the letters VI for numerals, which occasions a strange
+anachronism. They are only contractions of <i>Viro Illustri</i>&mdash;V I.</p>
+
+<p>As absurd a blunder was this of Dr. Stukeley on the coins of Carausius;
+finding a battered one with a defaced inscription of</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">FORTVNA AVG.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">he read it</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">ORIVNA AVG.</span></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>And sagaciously interpreting this to be the <i>wife</i> of Carau<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>sius, makes
+a new personage start up in history; he contrives even to give some
+<i>theoretical Memoirs</i> of the <i>August Oriuna</i>.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p>
+
+<p>Father Sirmond was of opinion that St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
+Virgins were all created out of a blunder. In some ancient MS. they
+found <i>St. Ursula et Undecimilla V. M.</i> meaning St. Ursula and
+<i>Undecimilla</i>, Virgin Martyrs; imagining that <i>Undecimilla</i> with the
+<i>V.</i> and <i>M.</i> which followed, was an abbreviation for <i>Undecem Millia
+Martyrum Virginum</i>, they made out of <i>Two Virgins</i> the whole <i>Eleven
+Thousand</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Pope, in a note on Measure for Measure, informs us, that its story was
+taken from Cinthio's Novels, <i>Dec</i>. 8. <i>Nov</i>. 5. That is, <i>Decade 8,
+Novel 5</i>. The critical Warburton, in his edition of Shakspeare, puts the
+words in full length thus, <i>December</i> 8, <i>November 5</i>.</p>
+
+<p>When the fragments of Petronius made a great noise in the literary
+world, Meibomius, an erudit of Lubeck, read in a letter from another
+learned scholar from Bologna, "We have here <i>an entire Petronius</i>; I saw
+it with mine own eyes, and with admiration." Meibomius in post-haste is
+on the road, arrives at Bologna, and immediately inquires for the
+librarian Capponi. He inquires if it were true that they had at Bologna
+<i>an entire Petronius</i>? Capponi assures him that it was a thing which had
+long been public. "Can I see this Petronius? Let me examine
+it!"&mdash;"Certainly," replies Capponi, and leads our erudit of Lubeck to
+the church where reposes <i>the body of St. Petronius</i>. Meibomius bites
+his lips, calls for his chaise, and takes his flight.</p>
+
+<p>A French translator, when he came to a passage of Swift, in which it is
+said that the Duke of Marlborough <i>broke</i> an officer; not being
+acquainted with this Anglicism, he translated it <i>rou&eacute;</i>, broke on a
+wheel!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Cibber's play of "<i>Love's Last Shift</i>" was entitled "<i>La Derni&egrave;re
+Chemise de l'Amour</i>." A French writer of Congreve's life has taken his
+<i>Mourning</i> for a <i>Morning</i> Bride, and translated it <i>L'Espouse du
+Matin</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Sir John Pringle mentions his having cured a soldier by the use of two
+quarts of <i>Dog and Duck water</i> daily: a French translator specifies it
+as an excellent <i>broth</i> made of a duck and a dog! In a recent catalogue
+compiled by a French writer of <i>Works on Natural History</i>, he has
+inserted the well-known "Essay on <i>Irish Bulls</i>" by the Edgeworths. The
+proof, if it required any, that a Frenchman cannot understand the
+idiomatic style of Shakspeare appears in a French translator, who prided
+himself on giving a verbal translation of our great poet, not approving
+of Le Tourneur's paraphrastical version. He found in the celebrated
+speech of Northumberland in Henry IV.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So dull, so dead in look, so <i>woe-begone</i>&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>which he renders "<i>Ainsi douleur! va-t'en!"</i></p>
+
+<p>The Abb&eacute; Gregoire affords another striking proof of the errors to which
+foreigners are liable when they decide on the <i>language</i> and <i>customs</i>
+of another country. The Abb&eacute;, in the excess of his philanthropy, to show
+to what dishonourable offices human nature is degraded, acquaints us
+that at London he observed a sign-board, proclaiming the master as
+<i>tueur des punaises de sa majest&eacute;</i>! Bug-destroyer to his majesty! This
+is, no doubt, the honest Mr. Tiffin, in the Strand; and the idea which
+must have occurred to the good Abb&eacute; was, that his majesty's bugs were
+hunted by the said destroyer, and taken by hand&mdash;and thus human nature
+was degraded!</p>
+
+<p>A French writer translates the Latin title of a treatise of Philo-Jud&aelig;us
+<i>Omnis bonus liber est</i>, Every good man is a free man, by <i>Tout livre
+est bon</i>. It was well for him, observes Jortin, that he did not live
+within the reach of the Inquisition, which might have taken this as a
+reflection on the <i>Index Expurgatorius</i>.</p>
+
+<p>An English translator turned "Dieu <i>d&eacute;fend</i> l'adult&egrave;re" into "God
+<i>defends</i> adultery."&mdash;Guthrie, in his translation of Du Halde, has "the
+twenty-sixth day of the <i>new</i> moon." The whole age of the moon is but
+twenty-eight days. The blunder arose from his mistaking the word
+<i>neuvi&egrave;me</i> (ninth) for <i>nouvelle</i> or <i>neuve</i> (new).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The facetious Tom Brown committed a strange blunder in his translation
+of Gelli's Circe. The word <i>Starne</i>, not aware of its signification, he
+boldly rendered <i>stares</i>, probably from the similitude of sound; the
+succeeding translator more correctly discovered <i>Starne</i> to be
+red-legged partridges!</p>
+
+<p>In Charles II.'s reign a new collect was drawn, in which a new epithet
+was added to the king's title, that gave great offence, and occasioned
+great raillery. He was styled <i>our most religious king</i>. Whatever the
+signification of <i>religious</i> might be in the <i>Latin</i> word, as importing
+the sacredness of the king's person, yet in the <i>English language</i> it
+bore a signification that was no way applicable to the king. And he was
+asked by his familiar courtiers, what must the nation think when they
+heard him prayed for as their <i>most religious king</i>?&mdash;Literary blunders
+of this nature are frequently discovered in the versions of good
+classical scholars, who would make the <i>English</i> servilely bend to the
+Latin and Greek. Even Milton has been justly censured for his free use
+of Latinisms and Grecisms.</p>
+
+<p>The blunders of modern antiquaries on sepulchral monuments are numerous.
+One mistakes <i>a lion</i> at a knight's feet for a <i>curled water dog</i>;
+another could not distinguish <i>censers</i> in the hands of angels from
+<i>fishing-nets</i>; <i>two angels</i> at a lady's feet were counted as her two
+cherub-like <i>babes</i>; and another has mistaken a <i>leopard</i> and a
+<i>hedgehog</i> for a <i>cat</i> and a <i>rat!</i> In some of these cases, are the
+antiquaries or the sculptors most to be blamed?<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p>
+
+<p>A literary blunder of Thomas Warton is a specimen of the manner in which
+a man of genius may continue to blunder with infinite ingenuity. In an
+old romance he finds these lines, describing the duel of Saladin with
+Richard C&oelig;ur de Lion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A <i>Faucon brode</i> in hande he bare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For he thought he wolde thare<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Have slayne Richard.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He imagines this <i>Faucon brode</i> means a <i>falcon bird</i>, or a hawk, and
+that Saladin is represented with this bird on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> fist to express his
+contempt of his adversary. He supports his conjecture by noticing a
+Gothic picture, supposed to be the subject of this duel, and also some
+old tapestry of heroes on horseback with hawks on their fists; he
+plunges into feudal times, when no gentleman appeared on horseback
+without his hawk. After all this curious erudition, the rough but
+skilful Ritson inhumanly triumphed by dissolving the magical fancies of
+the more elegant Warton, by explaining a <i>Faucon brode</i> to be nothing
+more than a <i>broad faulchion</i>, which, in a duel, was certainly more
+useful than a <i>bird</i>. The editor of the private reprint of Hentzner, on
+that writer's tradition respecting "the Kings of Denmark who reigned in
+England" buried in the Temple Church, metamorphosed the two Inns of
+Court, <i>Gray's Inn</i> and <i>Lincoln's Inn</i>, into the names of the Danish
+kings, <i>Gresin</i> and <i>Lyconin</i>.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p>
+
+<p>Bayle supposes that Marcellus Palingenius, who wrote the poem entitled
+the <i>Zodiac</i>, the twelve books bearing the names of the signs, from this
+circumstance assumed the title of <i>Poeta Stellatus</i>. But it appears that
+this writer was an Italian and a native of <i>Stellada</i>, a town in the
+Ferrarese. It is probable that his birthplace originally produced the
+conceit of the title of his poem: it is a curious instance how critical
+conjecture may be led astray by its own ingenuity, when ignorant of the
+real fact.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_LITERARY_WIFE" id="A_LITERARY_WIFE"></a>A LITERARY WIFE.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Marriage is such a rabble rout;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That those that are out, would fain get in;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And those that are in, would fain get out.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8"><span class="smcap">Chaucer.<br /></span></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Having examined some <i>literary blunders</i>, we will now proceed to the
+subject of a <i>literary wife</i>, which may happen to prove one. A learned
+lady is to the taste of few. It is however matter of surprise, that
+several literary men should have felt such a want of taste in respect to
+"their soul's far dearer part," as Hector calls his Andromache. The
+wives of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> many men of letters have been dissolute, ill-humoured,
+slatternly, and have run into all the frivolities of the age. The wife
+of the learned Bud&aelig;us was of a different character.</p>
+
+<p>How delightful is it when the mind of the female is so happily disposed,
+and so richly cultivated, as to participate in the literary avocations
+of her husband! It is then truly that the intercourse of the sexes
+becomes the most refined pleasure. What delight, for instance, must the
+great Bud&aelig;us have tasted, even in those works which must have been for
+others a most dreadful labour! His wife left him nothing to desire. The
+frequent companion of his studies, she brought him the books he required
+to his desk; she collated passages, and transcribed quotations; the same
+genius, the same inclination, and the same ardour for literature,
+eminently appeared in those two fortunate persons. Far from withdrawing
+her husband from his studies, she was sedulous to animate him when he
+languished. Ever at his side, and ever assiduous; ever with some useful
+book in her hand, she acknowledged herself to be a most happy woman. Yet
+she did not neglect the education of eleven children. She and Bud&aelig;us
+shared in the mutual cares they owed their progeny. Bud&aelig;us was not
+insensible of his singular felicity. In one of his letters, he
+represents himself as married to two <i>ladies</i>; one of whom gave him boys
+and girls, the other was Philosophy, who produced books. He says that in
+his twelve first years, Philosophy had been less fruitful than marriage;
+he had produced less books than children; he had laboured more
+corporally than intellectually; but he hoped to make more books than
+men. "The soul (says he) will be productive in its turn; it will rise on
+the ruins of the body; a prolific virtue is not given at the same time
+to the bodily organs and the pen."</p>
+
+<p>The lady of Evelyn designed herself the frontispiece to his translation
+of Lucretius. She felt the same passion in her own breast which animated
+her husband's, who has written, with such various ingenuity. Of Baron
+Haller it is recorded that he inspired his wife and family with a taste
+for his different pursuits. They were usually employed in assisting his
+literary occupations; they transcribed manuscripts, consulted authors,
+gathered plants, and designed and coloured under his eye. What a
+delightful family picture has the younger Pliny given posterity in his
+letters! Of Calphurnia, his wife, he says, "Her affection to me has
+given her a turn to books;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> and my compositions, which she takes a
+pleasure in reading, and even getting by heart, are continually in her
+hands. How full of tender solicitude is she when I am entering upon any
+cause! How kindly does she rejoice with me when it is over! While I am
+pleading, she places persons to inform her from time to time how I am
+heard, what applauses I receive, and what success attends the cause.
+When at any time I recite my works, she conceals herself behind some
+curtain, and with secret rapture enjoys my praises. She sings my verses
+to her lyre, with no other master but love, the best instructor, for her
+guide. Her passion will increase with our days, for it is not my youth
+nor my person, which time gradually impairs, but my reputation and my
+glory, of which, she is enamoured."</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of a literary wife, I must introduce to the acquaintance
+of the reader Margaret Duchess of Newcastle. She is known, at least by
+her name, as a voluminous writer; for she extended her literary
+productions to the number of twelve folio volumes.</p>
+
+<p>Her labours have been ridiculed by some wits; but had her studies been
+regulated, she would have displayed no ordinary genius. The
+<i>Connoisseur</i> has quoted her poems, and her verses have been imitated by
+Milton.</p>
+
+<p>The duke, her husband, was also an author; his book on horsemanship
+still preserves his name. He has likewise written comedies, and his
+contemporaries have not been, penurious in their eulogiums. It is true
+he was a duke. Shadwell says of him, "That he was the greatest master of
+wit, the most exact observer of mankind, and the most accurate judge of
+humour that ever he knew." The life of the duke is written "by the hand
+of his incomparable duchess." It was published in his lifetime. This
+curious piece of biography is a folio of 197 pages, and is entitled "The
+Life of the Thrice Noble, High, and Puissant Prince, William Cavendish."
+His titles then follow:&mdash;"Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and
+Excellent Princess, Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, his wife. London,
+1667." This Life is dedicated to Charles the Second; and there is also
+prefixed a copious epistle to her husband the duke.</p>
+
+<p>In this epistle the character of our Literary Wife is described with all
+its peculiarities.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, my lord, you have had as many enemies and as many friends as
+ever any one particular person had; nor do I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> so much wonder at it,
+since I, a woman, cannot be exempt from the malice and aspersions of
+spiteful tongues, which they cast upon my poor writings, some denying me
+to be the true authoress of them; for your grace remembers well, that
+those books I put out first to the judgment of this censorious age were
+accounted not to be written by a woman, but that somebody else had writ
+and published them in my name; by which your lordship was moved to
+prefix an epistle before one of them in my vindication, wherein you
+assure the world, upon your honour, that what was written and printed in
+my name was my own; and I have also made known that your lordship was my
+only tutor, in declaring to me what you had found and observed by your
+own experience; for I being young when your lordship married me, could
+not have much knowledge of the world; but it pleased God to command his
+servant Nature to endue me with a poetical and philosophical genius,
+even from my birth; for I did write some books in that kind before I was
+twelve years of age, which for want of good method and order I would
+never divulge. But though the world would not believe that those
+conceptions and fancies which I writ were my own, but transcended my
+capacity, yet they found fault, that they were defective for want of
+learning, and on the other side, they said I had pluckt feathers out of
+the universities; which was a very preposterous judgment. Truly, my
+lord, I confess that for want of scholarship, I could not express myself
+so well as otherwise I might have done in those philosophical writings I
+published first; but after I was returned with your lordship into my
+native country, and led a retired country life, I applied myself to the
+reading of philosophical authors, on purpose to learn those names and
+words of art that are used in schools; which at first were so hard to
+me, that I could not understand them, but was fain to guess at the sense
+of them by the whole context, and so writ them down, as I found them in
+those authors; at which my readers did wonder, and thought it impossible
+that a woman could have so much learning and understanding in terms of
+art and scholastical expressions; so that I and my books are like the
+old apologue mentioned in &AElig;sop, of a father and his son who rid on an
+ass." Here follows a long narrative of this fable, which she applies to
+herself in these words&mdash;"The old man seeing he could not please mankind
+in any manner, and having received so many blemishes and aspersions for
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> sake of his ass, was at last resolved to drown him when he came to
+the next bridge. But I am not so passionate to burn my writings for the
+various humours of mankind, and for their finding fault; since there is
+nothing in this world, be it the noblest and most commendable action
+whatsoever, that shall escape blameless. As for my being the true and
+only authoress of them, your lordship knows best; and my attending
+servants are witness that I have had none but my own thoughts, fancies,
+and speculations, to assist me; and as soon as I set them down I send
+them to those that are to transcribe them, and fit them for the press;
+whereof, since there have been several, and amongst them such as only
+could write a good hand, but neither understood orthography, nor had any
+learning, (I being then in banishment, with your lordship, and not able
+to maintain learned secretaries,) which hath been a great disadvantage
+to my poor works, and the cause that they have been printed so false and
+so full of errors; for besides that I want also skill in scholarship and
+true writing, I did many times not peruse the copies that were
+transcribed, lest they should disturb my following conceptions; by which
+neglect, as I said, many errors are slipt into my works, which, yet I
+hope, learned and impartial men will soon rectify, and look more upon
+the sense than carp at words. I have been a student even from childhood;
+and since I have been your lordship's wife I have lived for the most
+part a strict and retired life, as is best known to your lordship; and
+therefore my censurers cannot know much of me, since they have little or
+no acquaintance with me. 'Tis true I have been a traveller both before
+and after I was married to your lordship, and some times shown myself at
+your lordship's command in public places or assemblies, but yet I
+converse with few. Indeed, my lord, I matter not the censures of this
+age, but am rather proud of them; for it shows that my actions are more
+than ordinary, and according to the old proverb, it is better to be
+envied than pitied; for I know well that it is merely out of spite and
+malice, whereof this present age is so full that none can escape them,
+and they'll make no doubt to stain even your lordship's loyal, noble,
+and heroic actions, as well as they do mine; though yours have been of
+war and fighting, mine of contemplating and writing: yours were
+performed publicly in the field, mine privately in my closet; yours had
+many thousand eye-witnesses; mine none but my waiting-maids. But the
+great God, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> hitherto bless'd both your grace and me, will, I
+question not, preserve both our fames to after-ages.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">"Your grace's honest wife,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"and humble servant,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"M. Newcastle."</span></p>
+
+
+<p>The last portion of this life, which consists of the observations and
+good things which she had gathered from the conversations of her
+husband, forms an excellent Ana; and shows that when Lord Orford, in his
+"Catalogue of Noble Authors," says, that "this stately poetic couple was
+a picture of foolish nobility," he writes, as he does too often, with
+extreme levity. But we must now attend to the reverse of our medal.</p>
+
+<p>Many chagrins may corrode the nuptial state of literary men. Females
+who, prompted by vanity, but not by taste, unite themselves to scholars,
+must ever complain of neglect. The inexhaustible occupations of a
+library will only present to such a most dreary solitude. Such a lady
+declared of her learned husband, that she was more jealous of his books
+than his mistresses. It was probably while Glover was composing his
+"Leonidas," that his lady avenged herself for this <i>Homeric</i> inattention
+to her, and took her flight with a lover. It was peculiar to the learned
+Dacier to be united to woman, his equal in erudition and his superior in
+taste. When she wrote in the album of a German traveller a verse from
+Sophocles as an apology for her unwillingness to place herself among his
+learned friends, that "Silence is the female's ornament," it was a trait
+of her modesty. The learned Pasquier was coupled to a female of a
+different character, since he tells us in one of his Epigrams that to
+manage the vociferations of his lady, he was compelled himself to become
+a vociferator.&mdash;"Unfortunate wretch that I am, I who am a lover of
+universal peace! But to have peace I am obliged ever to be at war."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas More was united to a woman of the harshest temper and the
+most sordid manners. To soften the moroseness of her disposition, "he
+persuaded her to play on the lute, viol, and other instruments, every
+day." Whether it was that she had no ear for music, she herself never
+became harmonious as the instrument she touched. All these ladies may be
+considered as rather too alert in thought, and too spirited in action;
+but a tame cuckoo bird who is always re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>peating the same note must be
+very fatiguing. The lady of Samuel Clarke, the great compiler of books
+in 1680, whose name was anagrammatised to "<i>suck all cream</i>," alluding
+to his indefatigable labours in sucking all the cream of every other
+author, without having any cream himself, is described by her husband as
+entertaining the most sublime conceptions of his illustrious
+compilations. This appears by her behaviour. He says, "that she never
+rose from table without making him a curtsey, nor drank to him without
+bowing, and that his word was a law to her."</p>
+
+<p>I was much surprised in looking over a correspondence of the times, that
+in 1590 the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, writing to the Earl of
+Shrewsbury on the subject of his living separate from his countess, uses
+as one of his arguments for their union the following curious one, which
+surely shows the gross and cynical feeling which the fair sex excited
+even among the higher classes of society. The language of this good
+bishop is neither that of truth, we hope, nor certainly that of
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>"But some will saye in your Lordship's behalfe that the Countesse is a
+sharpe and bitter shrewe, and therefore licke enough to shorten your
+lief, if shee should kepe yow company, Indeede, my good Lord, I have
+heard some say so; but if shrewdnesse or sharpnesse may be a juste cause
+of separation between a man and wiefe, I thinck fewe men in Englande
+would keepe their wives longe; for it is a common jeste, yet trewe in
+some sense, that there is but one shrewe in all the worlde, and everee
+man hath her: and so everee man must be ridd of his wiefe that wolde be
+ridd of a shrewe." It is wonderful this good bishop did not use another
+argument as cogent, and which would in those times be allowed as
+something; the name of his lordship, <i>Shrewsbury</i>, would have afforded a
+consolatory <i>pun</i>!</p>
+
+<p>The entertaining Marville says that the generality of ladies married to
+literary men are so vain of the abilities and merit of their husbands,
+that they are frequently insufferable.</p>
+
+<p>The wife of Barclay, author of "The Argenis," considered herself as the
+wife of a demigod. This appeared glaringly after his death; for Cardinal
+Barberini having erected a monument to the memory of his tutor, next to
+the tomb of Barclay, Mrs. Barclay was so irritated at this that she
+demolished his monument, brought home his bust, and declared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> that the
+ashes of so great a genius as her husband should never be placed beside
+a pedagogue.</p>
+
+<p>Salmasius's wife was a termagant; Christina said she admired his
+patience more than his erudition. Mrs. Salmasius indeed considered
+herself as the queen of science, because her husband was acknowledged as
+sovereign among the critics. She boasted that she had for her husband
+the most learned of all the nobles, and the most noble of all the
+learned. Our good lady always joined the learned conferences which he
+held in his study. She spoke loud, and decided with a tone of majesty.
+Salmasius was mild in conversation, but the reverse in his writings, for
+our proud Xantippe considered him as acting beneath himself if he did
+not magisterially call every one names!</p>
+
+<p>The wife of Rohault, when her husband gave lectures on the philosophy of
+Descartes, used to seat herself on these days at the door, and refused
+admittance to every one shabbily dressed, or who did not discover a
+genteel air. So convinced was she that, to be worthy of hearing the
+lectures of her husband, it was proper to appear fashionable. In vain
+our good lecturer exhausted himself in telling her, that fortune does
+not always give fine clothes to philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies of Albert Durer and Berghem were both shrews. The wife of
+Durer compelled that great genius to the hourly drudgery of his
+profession, merely to gratify her own sordid passion: in despair, Albert
+ran away from his Tisiphone; she wheedled him back, and not long
+afterwards this great artist fell a victim to her furious
+disposition.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Berghem's wife would never allow that excellent artist
+to quit his occupations; and she contrived an odd expedient to detect
+his indolence. The artist worked in a room above her; ever and anon she
+roused him by thumping a long stick against the ceiling, while the
+obedient Berghem answered by stamping his foot, to satisfy Mrs. Berghem
+that he was not napping.</p>
+
+<p>&AElig;lian had an aversion to the married state. Sigonius, a learned and
+well-known scholar, would never marry, and alleged no inelegant reason;
+"Minerva and Venus could not live together."</p>
+
+<p>Matrimony has been considered by some writers as a condition not so well
+suited to the circumstances of philosophers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> and men of learning. There
+is a little tract which professes to investigate the subject. It has for
+title, <i>De Matrimonio Literati, an c&oelig;libem esse, an ver&ograve; nubere
+conveniat</i>, i.e., of the Marriage of a Man of Letters, with an inquiry
+whether it is most proper for him to continue a bachelor, or to marry?</p>
+
+<p>The author alleges the great merit of some women; particularly that of
+Gonzaga the consort of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino; a lady of such
+distinguished accomplishments, that Peter Bembus said, none but a stupid
+man would not prefer one of her conversations to all the formal meetings
+and disputations of the philosophers.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies perhaps will be surprised to find that it is a question among
+the learned, <i>Whether they ought to marry?</i> and will think it an
+unaccountable property of learning that it should lay the professors of
+it under an obligation to disregard the sex. But it is very questionable
+whether, in return for this want of complaisance in them, the generality
+of ladies would not prefer the beau, and the man of fashion. However,
+let there be Gonzagas, they will find converts enough to their charms.</p>
+
+<p>The sentiments of Sir Thomas Browne on the consequences of marriage are
+very curious, in the second part of his Religio Medici, sect, 9. When he
+wrote that work, he said, "I was never yet once, and commend their
+resolutions, who never marry twice." He calls woman "the rib and crooked
+piece of man." He adds, "I could be content that we might procreate like
+trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to procreate the
+world without this trivial and vulgar way." He means the union of sexes,
+which he declares, "is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his
+life; nor is there anything that will more deject his cooled
+imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of
+folly he hath committed." He afterwards declares he is not averse to
+that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful: "I could
+look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but
+of a horse." He afterwards disserts very profoundly on the music there
+is in beauty, "and the silent note which Cupid strikes is far sweeter
+than the sound of an instrument." Such were his sentiments when
+youthful, and residing at Leyden; Dutch philosophy had at first chilled
+his passion; it is probable that passion afterwards inflamed his
+philosophy&mdash;for he married, and had sons and daughters!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Dr. Cocchi, a modern Italian writer, but apparently a cynic as old as
+Diogenes, has taken the pains of composing a treatise on the present
+subject enough to terrify the boldest <i>Bachelor</i> of Arts! He has
+conjured up every chimera against the marriage of a literary man. He
+seems, however, to have drawn his disgusting portrait from his own
+country; and the chaste beauty of Britain only looks the more lovely
+beside this Florentine wife.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not retain the cynicism which has coloured such revolting
+features. When at length the doctor finds a woman as all women ought to
+be, he opens a new string of misfortunes which must attend her husband.
+He dreads one of the probable consequences of matrimony&mdash;progeny, in
+which we must maintain the children we beget! He thinks the father gains
+nothing in his old age from the tender offices administered by his own
+children: he asserts these are much better performed by menials and
+strangers! The more children he has, the less he can afford to have
+servants! The maintenance of his children will greatly diminish his
+property! Another alarming object in marriage is that, by affinity, you
+become connected with the relations of the wife. The envious and
+ill-bred insinuations of the mother, the family quarrels, their poverty
+or their pride, all disturb the unhappy sage who falls into the trap of
+connubial felicity! But if a sage has resolved to marry, he impresses on
+him the prudential principle of increasing his fortune by it, and to
+remember his "additional expenses!" Dr. Cocchi seems to have thought
+that a human being is only to live for himself; he had neither heart to
+feel, a head to conceive, nor a pen that could have written one
+harmonious period, or one beautiful image! Bayle, in his article
+<i>Raphelengius</i>, note B, gives a singular specimen of logical subtlety,
+in "a reflection on the consequence of marriage." This learned man was
+imagined to have died of grief, for having lost his wife, and passed
+three years in protracted despair. What therefore must we think of an
+unhappy marriage, since a happy one is exposed to such evils? He then
+shows that an unhappy marriage is attended by beneficial consequences to
+the survivor. In this dilemma, in the one case, the husband lives afraid
+his wife will die, in the other that she will not! If you love her, you
+will always be afraid of losing her; if you do not love her, you will
+always be afraid of not losing her. Our satirical <i>celibataire</i> is gored
+by the horns of the dilemma he has conjured up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>James Petiver, a famous botanist, then a bachelor, the friend of Sir
+Hans Sloane, in an album signs his name with this designation:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">"From the Goat tavern in the Strand, London,<br />
+Nov. 27. In the 34th year of my <i>freedom</i>,<br />
+A.D. 1697."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="DEDICATIONS" id="DEDICATIONS"></a>DEDICATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some authors excelled in this species of literary artifice. The Italian
+Doni dedicated each of his letters in a book called <i>La Libraria</i>, to
+persons whose name began with the first letter of the epistle, and
+dedicated the whole collection in another epistle; so that the book,
+which only consisted of forty-five pages, was dedicated to above twenty
+persons. This is carrying literary mendicity pretty high. Politi, the
+editor of the <i>Martyrologium Romanum</i>, published at Rome in 1751, has
+improved on the idea of Doni; for to the 365 days of the year of this
+Martyrology he has prefixed to each an epistle dedicatory. It is
+fortunate to have a large circle of acquaintance, though they should not
+be worthy of being saints. Galland, the translator of the Arabian
+Nights, prefixed a dedication to each tale which he gave; had he
+finished the "one thousand and one," he would have surpassed even the
+Martyrologist.</p>
+
+<p>Mademoiselle Scudery tells a remarkable expedient of an ingenious trader
+in this line&mdash;One Rangouze made a collection of letters which he printed
+without numbering them. By this means the bookbinder put that letter
+which the author ordered him first; so that all the persons to whom he
+presented this book, seeing their names at the head, considered they had
+received a particular compliment. An Italian physician, having written
+on Hippocrates's Aphorisms, dedicated each book of his Commentaries to
+one of his friends, and the index to another!</p>
+
+<p>More than one of our own authors have dedications in the same spirit. It
+was an expedient to procure dedicatory fees: for publishing books by
+subscription was then an art undiscovered. One prefixed a different
+dedication to a certain number of printed copies, and addressed them to
+every great man he knew, who he thought relished a morsel of flattery,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
+and would pay handsomely for a coarse luxury. Sir Balthazar Gerbier, in
+his "Counsel to Builders," has made up half the work with forty-two
+dedications, which he excuses by the example of Antonio Perez; but in
+these dedications Perez scatters a heap of curious things, for he was a
+very universal genius. Perez, once secretary of state to Philip II. of
+Spain, dedicates his "Obras," first to "Nuestro sanctissimo Padre," and
+"Al Sacro Collegio," then follows one to "Henry IV.," and then one still
+more embracing, "A Todos." Fuller, in his "Church History," has with
+admirable contrivance introduced twelve title-pages, besides the general
+one, and as many particular dedications, and no less than fifty or sixty
+of those by inscriptions which are addressed to his benefactors; a
+circumstance which Heylin in his severity did not overlook; for "making
+his work bigger by forty sheets at the least; and he was so ambitious of
+the number of his patrons, that having but four leaves at the end of his
+History, he discovers a particular benefactress to inscribe them to!"
+This unlucky lady, the patroness of four leaves, Heylin compares to
+Roscius Regulus, who accepted the consular dignity for that part of the
+day on which Cecina by a decree of the senate was degraded from it,
+which occasioned Regulus to be ridiculed by the people all his life
+after, as the consul of half a day.</p>
+
+<p>The price for the dedication of a play was at length fixed, from five to
+ten guineas from the Revolution to the time of George I., when it rose
+to twenty; but sometimes a bargain was to be struck when the author and
+the play were alike indifferent. Sometimes the party haggled about the
+price, or the statue while stepping into his niche would turn round on
+the author to assist his invention. A patron of Peter Motteux,
+dissatisfied with Peter's colder temperament, actually composed the
+superlative dedication to himself, and completed the misery of the
+apparent author by subscribing it with his name. This circumstance was
+so notorious at the time, that it occasioned a satirical dialogue
+between Motteux and his patron Heveningham. The patron, in his zeal to
+omit no possible distinction that might attach to him, had given one
+circumstance which no one but himself could have known.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>Patron</b></span>.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I must confess I was to blame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That one particular to name;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The rest could never have been known<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>I made the style so like thy own</i>.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>Poet</b></span>.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I beg your pardon, Sir, for that.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>Patron</b></span>.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Why d&mdash;&mdash;e what would you be at?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I <i>writ below myself</i>, you sot!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Avoiding figures, tropes, what not;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For fear I should my fancy raise<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Above the level of thy plays</i>!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Warton notices the common practice, about the reign of Elizabeth, of an
+author's dedicating a work at once to a number of the nobility.
+Chapman's Translation of Homer has sixteen sonnets addressed to lords
+and ladies. Henry Lock, in a collection of two hundred religious
+sonnets, mingles with such heavenly works the terrestrial composition of
+a number of sonnets to his noble patrons; and not to multiply more
+instances, our great poet Spenser, in compliance with this disgraceful
+custom, or rather in obedience to the established tyranny of patronage,
+has prefixed to the Faery Queen fifteen of these adulatory pieces, which
+in every respect are the meanest of his compositions. At this period all
+men, as well as writers, looked up to the peers as if they were beings
+on whose smiles or frowns all sublunary good and evil depended. At a
+much later period, Elkanah Settle sent copies round to the chief party,
+for he wrote for both parties, accompanied by addresses to extort
+pecuniary presents in return. He had latterly one standard <i>Elegy</i>, and
+one <i>Epithalamium</i>, printed off with blanks, which by ingeniously
+filling up with the printed names of any great person who died or was
+married; no one who was going out of life, or was entering into it,
+could pass scot-free.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most singular anecdotes respecting <span class="smcap">Dedications</span> in English
+bibliography is that of the Polyglot Bible of Dr. Castell. Cromwell,
+much to his honour, patronized that great labour, and allowed the paper
+to be imported free of all duties, both of excise and custom. It was
+published under the protectorate, but many copies had not been disposed
+of ere Charles II. ascended the throne. Dr. Castell had dedicated the
+work gratefully to Oliver, by mentioning him with peculiar respect in
+the preface, but he wavered with Richard Cromwell. At the Restoration,
+he cancelled the two last leaves, and supplied their places with three
+others, which softened down the republican strains, and blotted
+Oliver's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> name out of the book of life! The differences in what are now
+called the <i>republican</i> and the <i>loyal</i> copies have amused the curious
+collectors; and the former being very scarce, are most sought after. I
+have seen the republican. In the <i>loyal</i> copies the patrons of the work
+are mentioned, but their <i>titles</i> are essentially changed;
+<i>Serenissimus</i>, <i>Illustrissimus</i>, and <i>Honoratissimus</i>, were epithets
+that dared not shew themselves under the <i>levelling</i> influence of the
+great fanatic republican.</p>
+
+<p>It is a curious literary folly, not of an individual but of the Spanish
+nation, who, when the laws of Castile were reduced into a code under the
+reign of Alfonso X. surnamed the Wise, divided the work into <i>seven
+volumes</i>; that they might be dedicated to the <i>seven letters</i> which
+formed the name of his majesty!</p>
+
+<p>Never was a gigantic baby of adulation so crammed with the soft pap of
+<i>Dedications</i> as Cardinal Richelieu. French flattery even exceeded
+itself.&mdash;Among the vast number of very extraordinary dedications to this
+man, in which the Divinity itself is disrobed of its attributes to
+bestow them on this miserable creature of vanity, I suspect that even
+the following one is not the most blasphemous he received. "Who has seen
+your face without being seized by those softened terrors which made the
+prophets shudder when God showed the beams of his glory! But as He whom
+they dared not to approach in the burning bush, and in the noise of
+thunders, appeared to them sometimes in the freshness of the zephyrs, so
+the softness of your august countenance dissipates at the same time, and
+changes into dew, the small vapours which cover its majesty." One of
+these herd of dedicators, after the death of Richelieu, suppressed in a
+second edition his hyperbolical panegyric, and as a punishment to
+himself, dedicated the work to Jesus Christ!</p>
+
+<p>The same taste characterises our own dedications in the reigns of
+Charles II. and James II. The great Dryden has carried it to an
+excessive height; and nothing is more usual than to compare the <i>patron</i>
+with the <i>Divinity</i>&mdash;and at times a fair inference may be drawn that the
+former was more in the author's mind than God himself! A Welsh bishop
+made an <i>apology</i> to James I. for <i>preferring</i> the Deity&mdash;to his
+Majesty! Dryden's extravagant dedications were the vices of the time
+more than of the man; they were loaded with flattery, and no disgrace
+was annexed to such an exercise of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> men's talents; the contest being who
+should go farthest in the most graceful way, and with the best turns of
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>An ingenious dedication was contrived by Sir Simon Degge, who dedicated
+"the Parson's Counsellor" to Woods, Bishop of Lichfield. Degge highly
+complimented the bishop on having most nobly restored the church, which
+had been demolished in the civil wars, and was rebuilt but left
+unfinished by Bishop Hacket. At the time he wrote the dedication, Woods
+had not turned a single stone, and it is said, that much against his
+will he did something, from having been so publicly reminded of it by
+this ironical dedication.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PHILOSOPHICAL_DESCRIPTIVE_POEMS" id="PHILOSOPHICAL_DESCRIPTIVE_POEMS"></a>PHILOSOPHICAL DESCRIPTIVE POEMS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The "<span class="smcap">Botanic Garden</span>" once appeared to open a new route through the
+trodden groves of Parnassus. The poet, to a prodigality of <span class="smcap">Imagination</span>,
+united all the minute accuracy of <span class="smcap">Science</span>. It is a highly-repolished
+labour, and was in the mind and in the hand of its author for twenty
+years before its first publication. The excessive polish of the verse
+has appeared too high to be endured throughout a long composition; it is
+certain that, in poems of length, a versification, which is not too
+florid for lyrical composition, will weary by its brilliance. Darwin,
+inasmuch as a rich philosophical fancy constitutes a poet, possesses the
+entire art of poetry; no one has carried the curious mechanism of verse
+and the artificial magic of poetical diction to a higher perfection. His
+volcanic head flamed with imagination, but his torpid heart slept
+unawakened by passion. His standard of poetry is by much too limited; he
+supposes that the essence of poetry is something of which a painter can
+make a picture. A picturesque verse was with him a verse completely
+poetical. But the language of the passions has no connexion with this
+principle; in truth, what he delineates as poetry itself, is but one of
+its provinces. Deceived by his illusive standard, he has composed a poem
+which is perpetually fancy, and never passion. Hence his processional
+splendour fatigues, and his descriptive ingenuity comes at length to be
+deficient in novelty, and all the miracles of art cannot supply us with
+one touch of nature.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Descriptive poetry should be relieved by a skilful intermixture of
+passages addressed to the heart as well as to the imagination: uniform
+description satiates; and has been considered as one of the inferior
+branches of poetry. Of this both Thomson and Goldsmith were sensible. In
+their beautiful descriptive poems they knew the art of animating the
+pictures of <span class="smcap">Fancy</span> with the glow of <span class="smcap">Sentiment</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever may be thought of the originality of Darwin's poem, it had been
+preceded by others of a congenial disposition. Brookes's poem on
+"Universal Beauty," published about 1735, presents us with the very
+model of Darwin's versification: and the Latin poem of De la Croix, in
+1727, entitled "<i>Connubia Florum</i>," with his subject. There also exists
+a race of poems which have hitherto been confined to <i>one subject</i>,
+which the poet selected from the works of nature, to embellish with all
+the splendour of poetic imagination. I have collected some titles.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it is Homer, in his battle of the <i>Frogs and Mice</i>, and Virgil
+in the poem on a <i>Gnat</i>, attributed to him, who have given birth to
+these lusory poems. The Jesuits, particularly when they composed in
+Latin verse, were partial to such subjects. There is a little poem on
+<i>Gold</i>, by P. Le Fevre, distinguished for its elegance; and Brumoy has
+given the <i>Art of making Glass</i>; in which he has described its various
+productions with equal felicity and knowledge. P. Vani&egrave;re has written on
+<i>Pigeons</i>, Du Cerceau on <i>Butterflies</i>. The success which attended these
+productions produced numerous imitations, of which several were
+favourably received. Vani&egrave;re composed three on the <i>Grape</i>, the
+<i>Vintage</i>, and the <i>Kitchen Garden</i>. Another poet selected <i>Oranges</i> for
+his theme; others have chosen for their subjects, <i>Paper, Birds</i>, and
+fresh-water <i>Fish</i>. Tarillon has inflamed his imagination with
+<i>gunpowder</i>; a milder genius, delighted with the oaten pipe, sang of
+<i>Sheep</i>; one who was more pleased with another kind of pipe, has written
+on <i>Tobacco</i>; and a droll genius wrote a poem on <i>Asses</i>. Two writers
+have formed didactic poems on the <i>Art of Enigmas</i>, and on <i>Ships</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Others have written on moral subjects. Brumoy has painted the
+<i>Passions</i>, with a variety of imagery and vivacity of description; P.
+Meyer has disserted on <i>Anger</i>; Tarillon, like our Stillingfleet, on the
+<i>Art of Conversation</i>; and a lively writer has discussed the subjects of
+<i>Humour and Wit</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Giannetazzi, an Italian Jesuit, celebrated for his Latin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> poetry, has
+composed two volumes of poems on <i>Fishing</i> and <i>Navigation</i>. Fracastor
+has written delicately on an indelicate subject, his <i>Syphilis</i>. Le Brun
+wrote a delectable poem on <i>Sweetmeats</i>; another writer on <i>Mineral
+Waters</i>, and a third on <i>Printing</i>. Vida pleases with his <i>Silk-worms</i>,
+and his <i>Chess</i>; Buchanan is ingenious with the <i>Sphere</i>. Malapert has
+aspired to catch the <i>Winds</i>; the philosophic Huet amused himself with
+<i>Salt</i> and again with <i>Tea</i>. The <i>Gardens</i> of Rapin is a finer poem than
+critics generally can write; Quillet's <i>Callipedia</i>, or Art of getting
+handsome Children, has been translated by Rowe; and Du Fresnoy at length
+gratifies the connoisseur with his poem on <i>Painting</i>, by the
+embellishments which his verses have received from the poetic diction of
+Mason, and the commentary of Reynolds.</p>
+
+<p>This list might be augmented with a few of our own poets, and there
+still remain some virgin themes which only require to be touched by the
+hand of a true poet. In the "Memoirs of Trevoux," they observe, in their
+review of the poem on <i>Gold</i>, "That poems of this kind have the
+advantage of instructing us very agreeably. All that has been most
+remarkably said on the subject is united, compressed in a luminous
+order, and dressed in all the agreeable graces of poetry. Such writers
+have no little difficulties to encounter: the style and expression cost
+dear; and still more to give to an arid topic an agreeable form, and to
+elevate the subject without falling into another extreme.&mdash;In the other
+kinds of poetry the matter assists and prompts genius; here we must
+possess an abundance to display it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PAMPHLETS" id="PAMPHLETS"></a>PAMPHLETS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Myles Davis's "<span class="smcap">Icon Libellorum</span>, or a Critical History Pamphlets,"
+affords some curious information; and as this is a <i>pamphlet</i>-reading
+age, I shall give a sketch of its contents.</p>
+
+<p>The author observes: "From <span class="smcap">Pamphlets</span> may be learned the genius of the
+age, the debates of the learned, the follies of the ignorant, the
+<i>b&eacute;vues</i> of government, and the mistakes of the courtiers. Pamphlets
+furnish beaus with their airs, coquettes with their charms. Pamphlets
+are as modish ornaments to gentlewomen's toilets as to gentlemen's
+pockets; they carry reputation of wit and learning to all that make them
+their companions; the poor find their account in stall-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>keeping and in
+hawking them; the rich find in them their shortest way to the secrets of
+church and state. There is scarce any class of people but may think
+themselves interested enough to be concerned with what is published in
+pamphlets, either as to their private instruction, curiosity, and
+reputation, or to the public advantage and credit; with all which both
+ancient and modern pamphlets are too often over familiar and free.&mdash;In
+short, with pamphlets the booksellers and stationers adorn the gaiety of
+shop-gazing. Hence accrues to grocers, apothecaries, and chandlers, good
+furniture, and supplies to necessary retreats and natural occasions. In
+pamphlets lawyers will meet with their chicanery, physicians with their
+cant, divines with their Shibboleth. Pamphlets become more and more
+daily amusements to the curious, idle, and inquisitive; pastime to
+gallants and coquettes; chat to the talkative; catch-words to informers;
+fuel to the envious; poison to the unfortunate; balsam to the wounded;
+employ to the lazy; and fabulous materials to romancers and novelists."</p>
+
+<p>This author sketches the origin and rise of pamphlets. He deduces them
+from the short writings published by the Jewish Rabbins; various little
+pieces at the time of the first propagation of Christianity; and notices
+a certain pamphlet which was pretended to have been the composition of
+Jesus Christ, thrown from heaven, and picked up by the archangel Michael
+at the entrance of Jerusalem. It was copied by the priest Leora, and
+sent about from priest to priest, till Pope Zachary ventured to
+pronounce it a <i>forgery</i>. He notices several such extraordinary
+publications, many of which produced as extraordinary effects.</p>
+
+<p>He proceeds in noticing the first Arian and Popish pamphlets, or rather
+<i>libels</i>, i. e. little books, as he distinguishes them. He relates a
+curious anecdote respecting the forgeries of the monks. Archbishop Usher
+detected in a manuscript of St. Patrick's life, pretended to have been
+found at Louvain, as an original of a very remote date, several passages
+taken, with little alteration, from his own writings.</p>
+
+<p>The following notice of our immortal Pope I cannot pass over: "Another
+class of pamphlets writ by Roman Catholics is that of <i>Poems</i>, written
+chiefly by a Pope himself, a gentleman of that name. He passed always
+amongst most of his acquaintance for what is commonly called a Whig; for
+it seems the Roman politics are divided as well as popish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> missionaries.
+However, one <i>Esdras</i>, an apothecary, as he qualifies himself, has
+published a piping-hot pamphlet against Mr. Pope's '<i>Rape of the Lock</i>,'
+which he entitles '<i>A Key to the Lock</i>,' wherewith he pretends to unlock
+nothing less than a <i>plot</i> carried on by Mr. Pope in that poem against
+the last and this present ministry and government."</p>
+
+<p>He observes on <i>Sermons</i>,&mdash;"'Tis not much to be questioned, but of all
+modern pamphlets what or wheresoever, the <i>English stitched Sermons</i> be
+the most edifying, useful, and instructive, yet they could not escape
+the critical Mr. Bayle's sarcasm. He says, 'R&eacute;publique des Lettres,'
+March, 1710, in this article <i>London</i>, 'We see here sermons swarm daily
+from the press. Our eyes only behold manna: are you desirous of knowing
+the reason? It is, that the ministers being allowed to <i>read</i> their
+sermons in the pulpit, <i>buy all they meet with</i>, and take no other
+trouble than to read them, and thus pass for very able scholars at a
+very cheap rate!'"</p>
+
+<p>He now begins more directly the history of pamphlets, which he branches
+out from four different etymologies. He says, "However foreign the word
+<i>Pamphlet</i> may appear, it is a genuine English word, rarely known or
+adopted in any other language: its pedigree cannot well be traced higher
+than the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. In its first state
+wretched must have been its appearance, since the great linguist John
+Minshew, in his '<i>Guide into Tongues</i>,' printed in 1617, gives it the
+most miserable character of which any libel can be capable. Mr. Minshew
+says (and his words were quoted by Lord Chief Justice Holt), 'A
+<span class="smcap">Pamphlet</span>, that is <i>Opusculum Stolidorum</i>, the diminutive performance of
+fools; from &#960;&#7937;&#957;, <i>all</i>, and &#960;&#955;&#7969;&#952;&#969;, I <i>fill</i>, to wit,
+<i>all</i> places. According to the vulgar saying, all things are full of
+fools, or foolish things; for such multitudes of pamphlets, unworthy of
+the very names of libels, being more vile than common shores and the
+filth of beggars, and being flying papers daubed over and besmeared with
+the foams of drunkards, are tossed far and near into the mouths and
+hands of scoundrels; neither will the sham oracles of Apollo be esteemed
+so mercenary as a Pamphlet.'"</p>
+
+<p>Those who will have the word to be derived from <span class="smcap">Pam</span>, the famous knave of
+<span class="smcap">Loo</span>, do not differ much from Minshew; for the derivation of the word
+<i>Pam</i> is in all probability from &#960;&#7937;&#957;, <i>all</i>; or the <i>whole</i> or
+the <i>chief</i> of the game.</p>
+
+<p>Under this <i>first</i> etymological notion of Pamphlets may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> comprehended
+the <i>vulgar stories</i> of the Nine Worthies of the World, of the Seven
+Champions of Christendom, Tom Thumb, Valentine and Orson, &amp;c., as also
+most of apocryphal lucubrations. The greatest collection of this first
+sort of Pamphlets are the Rabbinic traditions in the Talmud, consisting
+of fourteen volumes in folio, and the Popish legends of the Lives of the
+Saints, which, though not finished, form fifty folio volumes, all which
+tracts were originally in pamphlet forms.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>second</i> idea of the <i>radix</i> of the word <i>Pamphlet</i> is, that it
+takes its derivations from &#960;&#7937;&#957;, <i>all</i>, and &#966;&#953;&#955;&#7953;&#969;, <i>I
+love</i>, signifying a thing beloved by all; for a pamphlet being of a
+small portable bulk, and of no great price, is adapted to every one's
+understanding and reading. In this class may be placed all stitched
+books on serious subjects, the best of which fugitive pieces have been
+generally preserved, and even reprinted in collections of some tracts,
+miscellanies, sermons, poems, &amp;c.; and, on the contrary, bulky volumes
+have been reduced, for the convenience of the public, into the familiar
+shapes of stitched pamphlets. Both these methods have been thus censured
+by the majority of the lower house of convocation 1711. These abuses are
+thus represented: "They have republished, and collected into volumes,
+pieces written long ago on the side of infidelity. They have reprinted
+together in the most contracted manner, many loose and licentious
+pieces, in order to their being purchased more cheaply, and dispersed
+more easily."</p>
+
+<p>The <i>third</i> original interpretation of the word Pamphlet may be that of
+the learned Dr. Skinner, in his <i>Etymologicon Lingu&aelig; Anglican&aelig;</i>, that it
+is derived from the Belgic word <i>Pampier</i>, signifying a little paper, or
+libel. To this third set of Pamphlets may be reduced all sorts of
+printed single sheets, or half sheets, or any other quantity of single
+paper prints, such as Declarations, Remonstrances, Proclamations,
+Edicts, Orders, Injunctions, Memorials, Addresses, Newspapers, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>fourth</i> radical signification of the word Pamphlet is that
+homogeneal acceptation of it, viz., as it imports any little book, or
+small volume whatever, whether stitched or bound, whether good or bad,
+whether serious or ludicrous. The only proper Latin term for a Pamphlet
+is <i>Libellus</i>, or little book. This word indeed signifies in English an
+<i>abusive</i> paper or little book, and is generally taken in the worst
+sense.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After all this display of curious literature, the reader may smile at
+the guesses of Etymologists; particularly when he is reminded that the
+derivation of <i>Pamphlet</i> is drawn from quite another meaning to any of
+the present, by Johnson, which I shall give for his immediate
+gratification.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pamphlet</span> [<i>par un filet</i>, Fr. Whence this word is written anciently, and
+by Caxton, <i>paunflet</i>] a small book; properly a book sold unbound, and
+only stitched.</p>
+
+<p>The French have borrowed the word <i>Pamphlet</i> from us, and have the
+goodness of not disfiguring its orthography. <i>Roast Beef</i> is also in the
+same predicament. I conclude that <i>Pamphlets</i> and <i>Roast Beef</i> have
+therefore their origin in our country.</p>
+
+<p>Pinkerton favoured me with the following curious notice concerning
+pamphlets:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Of the etymon of <i>pamphlet</i> I know nothing; but that the word is far
+more ancient than is commonly believed, take the following proof from
+the celebrated <i>Philobiblon</i>, ascribed to Richard de Buri, bishop of
+Durham, but written by Robert Holkot, at his desire, as Fabricius says,
+about the year 1344, (Fabr. Bibl. Medii &AElig;vi, vol. i.); it is in the
+eighth chapter.</p>
+
+<p>"Sed, revera, libros non libras maluimus; codicesque plus dileximus quam
+florenos: ac PANFLETOS exiguos phaleratis pr&aelig;tulimus palescedis."</p>
+
+<p>"But, indeed, we prefer books to pounds; and we love manuscripts better
+than florins; and we prefer small <i>pamphlets</i> to war horses."</p>
+
+<p>This word is as old as Lydgate's time: among his works, quoted by
+Warton, is a poem "translated from a <i>pamflete</i> in Frenshe."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITTLE_BOOKS" id="LITTLE_BOOKS"></a>LITTLE BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Myles Davies has given an opinion of the advantages of Little Books,
+with some humour.</p>
+
+<p>"The smallness of the size of a book was always its own commendation;
+as, on the contrary, the largeness of a book is its own disadvantage, as
+well as the terror of learning. In short, a big book is a scare-crow to
+the head and pocket of the author, student, buyer, and seller, as well
+as a harbour of ignorance; hence the inaccessible masteries of the
+inexpugnable ignorance and superstition of the ancient heathens,
+degenerate Jews, and of the popish scholasters and canonists,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+entrenched under the frightful bulk of huge, vast, and innumerable
+volumes; such as the great folio that the Jewish rabbins fancied in a
+dream was given by the angel Raziel to his pupil Adam, containing all
+the celestial sciences. And the volumes writ by Zoroaster, entitled The
+Similitude, which is said to have taken up no more space than 1260 hides
+of cattle: as also the 25,000, or, as some say, 36,000 volumes, besides
+525 lesser MSS. of his. The grossness and multitude of Aristotle and
+Varro's books were both a prejudice to the authors, and an hindrance to
+learning, and an occasion of the greatest part of them being lost. The
+largeness of Plutarch's treatises is a great cause of his being
+neglected, while Longinus and Epictetus, in their pamphlet Remains, are
+every one's companions. Origen's 6000 volumes (as Epiphanius will have
+it) were not only the occasion of his venting more numerous errors, but
+also for the most part of their perdition.&mdash;Were it not for Euclid's
+Elements, Hippocrates' Aphorisms, Justinian's Institutes, and
+Littleton's Tenures, in small pamphlet volumes, young mathematicians,
+fresh-water physicians, civilian novices, and <i>les apprentices en la ley
+d'Angleterre</i>, would be at a loss and stand, and total disencouragement.
+One of the greatest advantages the <i>Dispensary</i> has over <i>King Arthur</i>
+is its pamphlet size. So Boileau's Lutrin, and his other pamphlet poems,
+in respect of Perrault's and Chapelain's St. Paulin and la Pucelle.
+<i>These</i> seem to pay a deference to the reader's quick and great
+understanding; <i>those</i> to mistrust his capacity, and to confine his time
+as well as his intellect."</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding so much may be alleged in favour of books of a small
+size, yet the scholars of a former age regarded them with contempt.
+Scaliger, says Baillet, cavils with Drusius for the smallness of his
+books; and one of the great printers of the time (Moret, the successor
+of Plantin) complaining to the learned Puteanus, who was considered as
+the rival of Lipsius, that his books were too small for sale, and that
+purchasers turned away, frightened at their diminutive size; Puteanus
+referred him to Plutarch, whose works consist of small treatises; but
+the printer took fire at the comparison, and turned him out of his shop,
+for his vanity at pretending that he wrote in any manner like Plutarch!
+a specimen this of the politeness and reverence of the early printers
+for their learned authors; Jurieu reproaches Calomi&egrave;s that he is <i>a
+great author of little books</i>!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At least, if a man is the author only of little books, he will escape
+the sarcastic observation of Cicero on a voluminous writer&mdash;that "his
+body might be burned with his writings," of which we have had several,
+eminent for the worthlessness and magnitude of their labours.</p>
+
+<p>It was the literary humour of a certain M&aelig;cenas, who cheered the lustre
+of his patronage with the steams of a good dinner, to place his guests
+according to the size and thickness of the books they had printed. At
+the head of the table sat those who had published in <i>folio,
+foliissimo</i>; next the authors in <i>quarto</i>; then those in <i>octavo</i>. At
+that table Blackmore would have had the precedence of Gray. Addison, who
+found this anecdote in one of the Anas, has seized this idea, and
+applied it with his felicity of humour in No. 529 of the Spectator.</p>
+
+<p>Montaigne's Works have been called by a Cardinal, "The Breviary of
+Idlers." It is therefore the book for many men. Francis Osborne has a
+ludicrous image in favour of such opuscula. "Huge volumes, like the ox
+roasted whole at Bartholomew fair, may proclaim plenty of labour, but
+afford less of what is <i>delicate</i>, <i>savoury</i>, and <i>well-concocted</i>, than
+SMALLER PIECES."</p>
+
+<p>In the list of titles of minor works, which Aulus Gellius has preserved,
+the lightness and beauty of such compositions are charmingly expressed.
+Among these we find&mdash;a Basket of Flowers; an Embroidered Mantle; and a
+Variegated Meadow.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_CATHOLICS_REFUTATION" id="A_CATHOLICS_REFUTATION"></a>A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In a religious book published by a fellow of the Society of Jesus,
+entitled, "The Faith of a Catholic," the author examines what concerns
+the incredulous Jews and other infidels. He would show that Jesus
+Christ, author of the religion which bears his name, did not impose on
+or deceive the Apostles whom he taught; that the Apostles who preached
+it did not deceive those who were converted; and that those who were
+converted did not deceive us. In proving these three not difficult
+propositions, he says, he confounds "the <i>Atheist</i>, who does not believe
+in God; the <i>Pagan</i>, who adores several; the <i>Deist</i>, who believes in
+one God, but who rejects a particular Providence; the <i>Freethinker</i>, who
+presumes to serve God according to his fancy, without being attached to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+any religion; the <i>Philosopher</i>, who takes reason and not revelation for
+the rule of his belief; the <i>Gentile</i>, who, never having regarded the
+Jewish people as a chosen nation, does not believe God promised them a
+Messiah; and finally, the <i>Jew</i>, who refuses to adore the Messiah in the
+person of Christ."</p>
+
+<p>I have given this sketch, as it serves for a singular Catalogue of
+<i>Heretics</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is rather singular that so late as in the year 1765, a work should
+have appeared in Paris, which bears the title I translate, "The
+Christian Religion <i>proved</i> by a <i>single fact</i>; or a dissertation in
+which is shown that those <i>Catholics</i> of whom Huneric, King of the
+Vandals, cut the tongues, <i>spoke miraculously</i> all the remainder of
+their days; from whence is deduced the <i>consequences of this miracle</i>
+against the Arians, the Socinians, and the Deists, and particularly
+against the author of Emilius, by solving their difficulties." It bears
+this Epigraph, "<i>Ecce Ego admirationem faciam populo huic, miraculo
+grandi et stupendo</i>." There needs no further account of this book than
+the title.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_GOOD_ADVICE_OF_AN_OLD_LITERARY_SINNER" id="THE_GOOD_ADVICE_OF_AN_OLD_LITERARY_SINNER"></a>THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Authors of moderate capacity have unceasingly harassed the public; and
+have at length been remembered only by the number of wretched volumes
+their unhappy industry has produced. Such an author was the Abb&eacute; de
+Marolles, otherwise a most estimable and ingenious man, and the
+patriarch of print-collectors.</p>
+
+<p>This Abb&eacute; was a most egregious scribbler; and so tormented with violent
+fits of printing, that he even printed lists and catalogues of his
+friends. I have even seen at the end of one of his works a list of names
+of those persons who had given him books. He printed his works at his
+own expense, as the booksellers had unanimously decreed this. Menage
+used to say of his works, "The reason why I esteem the productions of
+the Abb&eacute; is, for the singular neatness of their bindings; he embellishes
+them so beautifully, that the eye finds pleasure in them." On a book of
+his versions of the Epigrams of Martial, this critic wrote, <i>Epigrams
+against Martial.</i> Latterly, for want of employment, our Abb&eacute; began a
+translation of the Bible; but having inserted the notes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> the
+visionary Isaac de la Peyrere, the work was burnt by order of the
+ecclesiastical court. He was also an abundant writer in verse, and
+exultingly told a poet, that his verses cost him little: "They cost you
+what they are worth," replied the sarcastic critic. De Marolles in his
+<i>Memoirs</i> bitterly complains of the injustice done to him by his
+contemporaries; and says, that in spite of the little favour shown to
+him by the public, he has nevertheless published, by an accurate
+calculation, one hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and
+twenty-four verses! Yet this was not the heaviest of his literary sins.
+He is a proof that a translator may perfectly understand the language of
+his original, and yet produce an unreadable translation.</p>
+
+<p>In the early part of his life this unlucky author had not been without
+ambition; it was only when disappointed in his political projects that
+he resolved to devote himself to literature. As he was incapable of
+attempting original composition, he became known by his detestable
+versions. He wrote above eighty volumes, which have never found favour
+in the eyes of the critics; yet his translations are not without their
+use, though they never retain by any chance a single passage of the
+spirit of their originals.</p>
+
+<p>The most remarkable anecdote respecting these translations is, that
+whenever this honest translator came to a difficult passage, he wrote in
+the margin, "I have not translated this passage, because it is very
+difficult, and in truth I could never understand it." He persisted to
+the last in his uninterrupted amusement of printing books; and his
+readers having long ceased, he was compelled to present them to his
+friends, who, probably, were not his readers. After a literary existence
+of forty years, he gave the public a work not destitute of entertainment
+in his own Memoirs, which he dedicated to his relations and all his
+illustrious friends. The singular postscript to his Epistle Dedicatory
+contains excellent advice for authors.</p>
+
+<p>"I have omitted to tell you, that I do not advise any one of my
+relatives or friends to apply himself as I have done to study, and
+particularly to the composition of books, if he thinks that will add to
+his fame or fortune. I am persuaded that of all persons in the kingdom,
+none are more neglected than those who devote themselves entirely to
+literature. The small, number of successful persons in that class (at
+present I do not recollect more than two or three) should not impose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> on
+one's understanding, nor any consequences from them be drawn in favour
+of others. I know how it is by my own experience, and by that of several
+amongst you, as well as by many who are now no more, and with whom I was
+acquainted. Believe me, gentlemen! to pretend to the favours of fortune
+it is only necessary to render one's self useful, and to be supple and
+obsequious to those who are in possession of credit and authority; to be
+handsome in one's person; to adulate the powerful; to smile, while you
+suffer from them every kind of ridicule and contempt whenever they shall
+do you the honour to amuse themselves with you; never to be frightened
+at a thousand obstacles which may be opposed to one; have a face of
+brass and a heart of stone; insult worthy men who are persecuted; rarely
+venture to speak the truth; appear devout, with every nice scruple of
+religion, while at the same time every duty must be abandoned when it
+clashes with your interest. After these any other accomplishment is
+indeed superfluous."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MYSTERIES_MORALITIES_FARCES_AND_SOTTIES" id="MYSTERIES_MORALITIES_FARCES_AND_SOTTIES"></a>MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The origin of the theatrical representations of the ancients has been
+traced back to a Grecian stroller singing in a cart to the honour of
+Bacchus. Our European exhibitions, perhaps as rude in their
+commencement, were likewise for a long time devoted to pious purposes,
+under the titles of Mysteries and Moralities. Of these primeval
+compositions of the drama of modern Europe, I have collected some
+anecdotes and some specimens.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It appears that pilgrims introduced these devout spectacles. Those who
+returned from the Holy Land or other consecrated places composed
+canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by
+interweaving scenes of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of
+devotion, served as the themes. Menestrier informs us that these
+pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where
+they recited their poems, with their staff in hand; while their chaplets
+and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours formed a
+picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the
+citizens to erect occasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground.
+These spectacles served as the amusements and instruction of the people.
+So attractive were these gross exhibitions in the middle ages, that they
+formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception of princes on
+their public entrances.</p>
+
+<p>When the Mysteries were performed at a more improved period, the actors
+were distinguished characters, and frequently consisted of the
+ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages, who incorporated themselves
+under the title of <i>Confr&egrave;res de la Passion</i>. Their productions were
+divided, not into acts, but into different days of performance, and they
+were performed in the open plain. This was at least conformable to the
+critical precept of that mad knight whose opinion is noticed by Pope. It
+appears by a MS. in the Harleian library, that they were thought to
+contribute so much to the information and instruction of the people,
+that one of the Popes granted a pardon of one thousand days to every
+person who resorted peaceably to the plays performed in the Whitsun week
+at Chester, beginning with "The Creation," and ending with the "General
+Judgment." These were performed at the expense of the different
+corporations of that city, and the reader may smile at the ludicrous
+combinations. "The Creation" was performed by the Drapers; the "Deluge"
+by the Dyers; "Abraham, Melchisedech, and Lot," by the Barbers; "The
+Purification" by the Blacksmiths; "The Last Supper" by the Bakers; the
+"Resurrection" by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> Skinners; and the "Ascension" by the Tailors. In
+these pieces the actors represented the person of the Almighty without
+being sensible of the gross impiety. So unskilful were they in this
+infancy of the theatrical art, that very serious consequences were
+produced by their ridiculous blunders and ill-managed machinery. The
+following singular anecdotes are preserved, concerning a Mystery which
+took up several days in the performance.</p>
+
+<p>"In the year 1437, when Conrad Bayer, Bishop of Metz, caused the Mystery
+of 'The Passion' to be represented on the plain of Veximel near that
+city, <i>God</i> was <i>an old gentleman</i>, named Mr. Nicholas Neufchatel, of
+Touraine, curate of Saint Victory, of Metz, and who was very near
+expiring on the cross had he not been timely assisted. He was so
+enfeebled, that it was agreed another priest should be placed on the
+cross the next day, to finish the representation of the person
+crucified, and which was done; at the same time Mr. Nicholas undertook
+to perform 'The Resurrection,' which being a less difficult task, he did
+it admirably well."&mdash;Another priest, whose name was Mr. John de Nicey,
+curate of Metrange, personated Judas, and he had like to have been
+stifled while he hung on the tree, for his neck slipped; this being at
+length luckily perceived, he was quickly cut down and recovered.</p>
+
+<p>John Bouchet, in his "Annales d'Aquitaine," a work which contains many
+curious circumstances of the times, written with that agreeable
+simplicity which characterises the old writers, informs us, that in 1486
+he saw played and exhibited in Mysteries by persons of Poitiers, "The
+Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ," in great triumph and
+splendour; there were assembled on this occasion most of the ladies and
+gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.</p>
+
+<p>We will now examine the Mysteries themselves. I prefer for this purpose
+to give a specimen from the French, which are livelier than our own. It
+is necessary to premise to the reader, that my versions being in prose
+will probably lose much of that quaint expression and vulgar <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i>
+which prevail through the originals, written in octo-syllabic verses.</p>
+
+<p>One of these Mysteries has for its subject the election of an apostle to
+supply the place of the traitor Judas. A dignity so awful is conferred
+in the meanest manner; it is done by drawing straws, of which he who
+gets the longest becomes the apostle. Louis Chocquet was a favourite
+com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>poser of these religious performances: when he attempts the
+pathetic, he has constantly recourse to devils; but, as these characters
+are sustained with little propriety, his pathos succeeds in raising a
+laugh. In the following dialogue Annas and Caiaphas are introduced
+conversing about St. Peter and St. John:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>annas.</b></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I remember them once very honest people. They have often brought<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">their fish to my house to sell.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>caiaphas.</b></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is this true?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span class="smcap"><b>annas.</b></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By God, it is true; my servants remember them very well. To live<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">more at their ease they have left off business; or perhaps they were in<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">want of customers. Since that time they have followed Jesus, that wicked<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">heretic, who has taught them magic; the fellow understands necromancy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">and is the greatest magician alive, as far as Rome itself.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>St. John, attacked by the satellites of Domitian, amongst whom the
+author has placed Longinus and Patroclus, gives regular answers to their
+insulting interrogatories. Some of these I shall transcribe; but leave
+to the reader's conjectures the replies of the Saint, which are not
+difficult to anticipate.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>parthemia.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>You tell us strange things, to say there is but one God in three persons.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>longinus.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>Is it any where said that we must believe your old prophets (with whom
+your memory seems overburdened) to be more perfect than our gods?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">pathoclus.</span>
+You must be very cunning to maintain impossibilities. Now listen to
+me: Is it possible that a virgin can bring forth a child without ceasing to
+be a virgin?</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>domitian.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>Will you not change these foolish sentiments? Would you pervert us?
+Will you not convert yourself? Lords! you perceive now very clearly what
+an obstinate fellow this is! Therefore let him be stripped and put into a
+great caldron of boiling oil. Let him die at the Latin Gate.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>pesart.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>The great devil of hell fetch me if I don't Latinise him well. Never
+shall they hear at the Latin Gate any one sing so well as he shall sing.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>torneau.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>I dare venture to say he won't complain of being frozen.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>patroclus.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>Frita, run quick; bring wood and coals, and make the caldron ready.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><b>frita.</b></span></p>
+
+<p>I promise him, if he has the gout or the itch, he will soon get rid of
+them.</p></div>
+
+<p>St. John dies a perfect martyr, resigned to the boiling oil and gross
+jests of Patroclus and Longinus. One is astonished in the present times
+at the excessive absurdity, and indeed blasphemy, which the writers of
+these Moralities permitted themselves, and, what is more extraordinary,
+were permitted by an audience consisting of a whole town. An extract
+from the "Mystery of St. Dennis" is in the Duke de la Valli&egrave;re's
+"Biblioth&egrave;que du Th&eacute;&acirc;tre Fran&ccedil;ois depuis son Origine: Dresde, 1768."</p>
+
+<p>The emperor Domitian, irritated against the Christians, persecutes them,
+and thus addresses one of his courtiers:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Seigneurs Romains, j'ai entendu<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Que d'un crucifix d'un pendu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On fait un Dieu par notre empire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sans ce qu'on le nous daigne dire.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Roman lords, I understand<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That of a crucified hanged man<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They make a God in our kingdom,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Without even deigning to ask our permission.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He then orders an officer to seize on Dennis in France. When this
+officer arrives at Paris, the inhabitants acquaint him of the rapid and
+grotesque progress of this future saint:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sire, il preche un Dieu &agrave; Paris<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qui fait tout les mouls et les vauls.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il va &agrave; cheval sans chevauls.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il fait et defait tout ensemble.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il vit, il meurt, il sue, il tremble.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il pleure, il rit, il veille, et dort.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il est jeune et vieux, foible et fort.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il fait d'un coq une poulette.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il joue des arts de roulette,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ou je ne S&ccedil;ais que ce peut &ecirc;tre.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sir, he preaches a God at Paris<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who has made mountain and valley.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He goes a horseback without horses.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He does and undoes at once.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He lives, he dies, he sweats, he trembles.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He weeps, he laughs, he wakes, and sleeps.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span><span class="i0">He is young and old, weak and strong.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He turns a cock into a hen.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He knows how to conjure with cup and ball,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or I do not know who this can be.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Another of these admirers says, evidently alluding to the rite of
+baptism,&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Il prend de l'yaue en une escuele,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et dit que partants sont sauv&eacute;s!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sir, hear what this mad priest does:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He takes water out of a ladle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And, throwing it at people's heads,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He says that when they depart they are saved!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This piece then proceeds to entertain the spectators with the tortures
+of St. Dennis, and at length, when more than dead, they mercifully
+behead him: the Saint, after his decapitation, rises very quietly, takes
+his head under his arm, and walks off the stage in all the dignity of
+martyrdom.</p>
+
+<p>It is justly observed by Bayle on these wretched representations, that
+while they prohibited the people from meditating on the sacred history
+in the book which contains it in all its purity and truth, they
+permitted them to see it on the theatre sullied with a thousand gross
+inventions, which were expressed in the most vulgar manner and in a
+farcical style. Warton, with his usual elegance, observes, "To those who
+are accustomed to contemplate the great picture of human follies which
+the unpolished ages of Europe hold up to our view, it will not appear
+surprising that the people who were forbidden to read the events of the
+sacred history in the Bible, in which they are faithfully and
+beautifully related, should at the same time be permitted to see them
+represented on the stage disgraced with the grossest improprieties,
+corrupted with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous kind,
+sullied with impurities, and expressed in the language and
+gesticulations of the lowest farce." Elsewhere he philosophically
+observes that, however, they had their use, "not only teaching the great
+truths of scripture to men who could not read the Bible, but in
+abolishing the barbarous attachment to military games and the bloody
+contentions of the tournament, which had so long prevailed as the sole
+species of popular amusement. Rude, and even ridiculous as they were,
+they softened the manners of the people, by diverting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> the public
+attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by creating
+a regard for other arts than those of bodily strength and savage
+valour."</p>
+
+<p><i>Mysteries</i> are to be distinguished from <i>Moralities</i>, and <i>Farces</i>, and
+<i>Sotties</i>. <i>Moralities</i> are dialogues where the interlocutors
+represented feigned or allegorical personages. <i>Farces</i> were more
+exactly what their title indicates&mdash;obscene, gross, and dissolute
+representations, where both the actions and words are alike
+reprehensible.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Sotties</i> were more farcical than farce, and frequently had the
+licentiousness of pasquinades. I shall give an ingenious specimen of one
+of the <span class="smcap">Moralities</span>. This Morality is entitled, "The Condemnation of
+Feasts, to the Praise of Diet and Sobriety for the Benefit of the Human
+Body."</p>
+
+<p>The perils of gormandising form the present subject. Towards the close
+is a trial between <i>Feasting</i> and <i>Supper</i>. They are summoned before
+<i>Experience</i>, the Lord Chief Justice! <i>Feasting</i> and <i>Supper</i> are
+accused of having murdered four persons by force of gorging them.
+<i>Experience</i> condemns <i>Feasting</i> to the gallows; and his executioner is
+<i>Diet</i>. <i>Feasting</i> asks for a father-confessor, and makes a public
+confession of so many crimes, such numerous convulsions, apoplexies,
+head-aches, and stomach-qualms, &amp;c., which he has occasioned, that his
+executioner <i>Diet</i> in a rage stops his mouth, puts the cord about his
+neck, and strangles him. <i>Supper</i> is only condemned to load his hands
+with a certain quantity of lead, to hinder him from putting too many
+dishes on table: he is also bound over to remain at the distance of six
+hours' walking from <i>Dinner</i> upon pain of death. <i>Supper</i> felicitates
+himself on his escape, and swears to observe the mitigated sentence.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p>
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Moralities</span> were allegorical dramas, whose tediousness seems to have
+delighted a barbarous people not yet accustomed to perceive that what
+was obvious might be omitted to great advantage: like children,
+everything must be told in such an age; their own unexercised
+imagination cannot supply anything.</p>
+
+<p>Of the <span class="smcap">Farces</span> the licentiousness is extreme, but their pleasantry and
+their humour are not contemptible. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> "Village Lawyer," which is never
+exhibited on our stage without producing the broadest mirth, originates
+among these ancient drolleries. The humorous incident of the shepherd,
+who having stolen his master's sheep, is advised by his lawyer only to
+reply to his judge by mimicking the bleating of a sheep, and when the
+lawyer in return claims his fee, pays him by no other coin, is
+discovered in these ancient farces. Bru&egrave;ys got up the ancient farce of
+the "<i>Patelin</i>" in 1702, and we borrowed it from him.</p>
+
+<p>They had another species of drama still broader than Farce, and more
+strongly featured by the grossness, the severity, and personality of
+satire:&mdash;these were called <i>Sotties</i>, of which the following one I find
+in the Duke de la Valli&egrave;re's "Biblioth&egrave;que du Th&eacute;&acirc;tre Fran&ccedil;ois."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p>
+
+<p>The actors come on the stage with their fools'-caps each wanting the
+right ear, and begin with stringing satirical proverbs, till, after
+drinking freely, they discover that their fools'-caps want the right
+ear. They call on their old grandmother <i>Sottie</i> (or Folly), who advises
+them to take up some trade. She introduces this progeny of her fools to
+the <i>World</i>, who takes them into his service. The <i>World</i> tries their
+skill, and is much displeased with their work. The <i>Cobbler</i>-fool
+pinches his feet by making the shoes too small; the <i>Tailor</i>-fool hangs
+his coat too loose or too tight about him; the <i>Priest</i>-fool says his
+masses either too short or too tedious. They all agree that the <i>World</i>
+does not know what he wants, and must be sick, and prevail upon him to
+consult a physician. The <i>World</i> obligingly sends what is required to a
+Urine-doctor, who instantly pronounces that "the <i>World</i> is as mad as a
+March hare!" He comes to visit his patient, and puts a great many
+questions on his unhappy state. The <i>World</i> replies, "that what most
+troubles his head is the idea of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> new deluge by fire, which must one
+day consume him to a powder;" on which the physician gives this
+answer:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Et te troubles-tu pour cela?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Monde, tu ne te troubles pas<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">De voir ce larrons attrapars<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vendre et acheter benefices;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Les enfans en bras des Nourices<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Estre Abb&eacute;s, Eveques, Prieurs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Chevaucher tres bien les deux soeurs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jouer le leur, l'autrui saisir,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Donner aux flatteurs audience,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Faire la guerre &agrave; toute outrance<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pour un rien entre les chrestiens!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And you really trouble yourself about this?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, <i>World!</i> you do not trouble yourself about<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Seeing those impudent rascals<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Selling and buying livings;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Children in the arms of their nurses<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Made Abbots, Bishops, and Priors,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Intriguing with girls,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Killing people for their pleasures,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs to another,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lending their ears to flatterers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Making war, exterminating war,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For a bubble, among Christians!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The <i>World</i> takes leave of his physician, but retains his advice; and to
+cure his fits of melancholy gives himself up entirely to the direction
+of his fools. In a word, the <i>World</i> dresses himself in the coat and cap
+of <i>Folly</i>, and he becomes as gay and ridiculous as the rest of the
+fools.</p>
+
+<p>This <i>Sottie</i> was represented in the year 1524.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the rage for Mysteries, that Ren&eacute; d'Anjou, king of Naples and
+Sicily, and Count of Provence, had them magnificently represented and
+made them a serious concern. Being in Provence, and having received
+letters from his son the Prince of Calabria, who asked him for an
+immediate aid of men, he replied, that "he had a very different matter
+in hand, for he was fully employed in settling the order of a
+Mystery&mdash;<i>in honour of God</i>."<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Strutt, in his "Manners and Customs of the English," has given a
+description of the stage in England when Mysteries were the only
+theatrical performances. Vol. iii, p. 130.</p>
+
+<p>"In the early dawn of literature, and when the sacred Mysteries were the
+only theatrical performances, what is now called the stage did then
+consist of three several platforms, or stages raised one above another.
+On the uppermost sat the <i>Pater C&oelig;lestis</i>, surrounded with his
+Angels; on the second appeared the Holy Saints, and glorified men; and
+the last and lowest was occupied by mere men who had not yet passed from
+this transitory life to the regions of eternity. On one side of this
+lowest platform was the resemblance of a dark pitchy cavern, from whence
+issued appearance of fire and flames; and, when it was necessary, the
+audience were treated with hideous yellings and noises as imitative of
+the howlings and cries of the wretched souls tormented by the relentless
+demons. From this yawning cave the devils themselves constantly ascended
+to delight and to instruct the spectators:&mdash;to delight, because they
+were usually the greatest jesters and buffoons that then appeared; and
+to instruct, for that they treated the wretched mortals who were
+delivered to them with the utmost cruelty, warning thereby all men
+carefully to avoid the falling into the clutches of such hardened and
+remorseless spirits." An anecdote relating to an English Mystery
+presents a curious specimen of the manners of our country, which then
+could admit of such a representation; the simplicity, if not the
+libertinism, of the age was great. A play was acted in one of the
+principal cities of England, under the direction of the trading
+companies of that city, before a numerous assembly of both sexes,
+wherein <i>Adam</i> and <i>Eve</i> appeared on the stage entirely naked, performed
+their whole part in the representation of Eden, to the serpent's
+temptation, to the eating of the forbidden fruit, the perceiving of, and
+conversing about, their nakedness, and to the supplying of fig-leaves to
+cover it. Warton observes they had the authority of scripture for such a
+representation, and they gave matters just as they found them in the
+third chapter of Genesis. The following article will afford the reader a
+specimen of an <i>Elegant Morality</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LOVE_AND_FOLLY_AN_ANCIENT_MORALITY" id="LOVE_AND_FOLLY_AN_ANCIENT_MORALITY"></a>LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>One of the most elegant Moralities was composed by Louise L'Ab&eacute;; the
+Aspasia of Lyons in 1550, adored by her contemporaries. With no
+extraordinary beauty, she however displayed the fascination of classical
+learning, and a vein of vernacular poetry refined and fanciful. To
+accomplishments so various she added the singular one of distinguishing
+herself by a military spirit, and was nicknamed Captain Louise. She was
+a fine rider and a fine lutanist. She presided in the assemblies of
+persons of literature and distinction. Married to a rope-manufacturer,
+she was called <i>La belle Cordi&egrave;re</i>, and her name is still perpetuated by
+that of the street she lived in. Her anagram was <i>Belle &agrave; Soy</i>.&mdash;But she
+was <i>belle</i> also for others. Her <i>Morals</i> in one point were not correct,
+but her taste was never gross: the ashes of her perishable graces may
+preserve themselves sacred from our severity; but the productions of her
+genius may still delight.</p>
+
+<p>Her Morality, entitled "D&eacute;bat de Folie et d'Amour&mdash;the Contest of <i>Love</i>
+and <i>Folly</i>," is divided into five parts, and contains six mythological
+or allegorical personages. This division resembles our five acts, which,
+soon after the publication of this Morality, became generally practised.</p>
+
+<p>In the first part, <i>Love</i> and <i>Folly</i> arrive at the same moment at the
+gate of Jupiter's palace, to join a festival to which he had invited the
+gods. <i>Folly</i> observing <i>Love</i> just going to step in at the hall, pushes
+him aside and enters first. <i>Love</i> is enraged, but <i>Folly</i> insists on
+her precedency. <i>Love</i>, perceiving there was no reasoning with <i>Folly</i>,
+bends his bow and shoots an arrow; but she baffled his attempt by
+rendering herself invisible. She in her turn becomes furious, falls on
+the boy, tearing out his eyes, and then covers them with a bandage which
+could not be taken off.</p>
+
+<p>In the second part, <i>Love</i>, in despair for having lost his sight,
+implores the assistance of his mother; she tries in vain to undo the
+magic fillet; the knots are never to be unloosed.</p>
+
+<p>In the third part, Venus presents herself at the foot of the throne of
+Jupiter to complain of the outrage committed by <i>Folly</i> on her son.
+Jupiter commands <i>Folly</i> to appear.&mdash;She replies, that though she has
+reason to justify herself, she will not venture to plead her cause, as
+she is apt to speak too much, or to omit what should be said. <i>Folly</i>
+asks for a counsellor,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> and chooses Mercury; Apollo is selected by
+Venus. The fourth part consists of a long dissertation between Jupiter
+and <i>Love</i>, on the manner of loving. <i>Love</i> advises Jupiter, if he
+wishes to taste of truest happiness, to descend on earth, to lay down
+all his majesty, and, in the figure of a mere mortal, to please some
+beautiful maiden: "Then wilt thou feel quite another contentment than
+that thou hast hitherto enjoyed: instead of a single pleasure it will be
+doubled; for there is as much pleasure to be loved as to love." Jupiter
+agrees that this may be true, but he thinks that to attain this it
+requires too much time, too much trouble, too many attentions,&mdash;and
+that, after all, it is not worth them.</p>
+
+<p>In the fifth part, Apollo, the advocate for Venus, in a long pleading
+demands justice against <i>Folly</i>. The Gods, seduced by his eloquence,
+show by their indignation that they would condemn <i>Folly</i> without
+hearing her advocate Mercury. But Jupiter commands silence, and Mercury
+replies. His pleading is as long as the adverse party's, and his
+arguments in favour of <i>Folly</i> are so plausible, that, when he concludes
+his address, the gods are divided in opinion; some espouse the cause of
+<i>Love</i>, and some, that of <i>Folly</i>. Jupiter, after trying in vain to make
+them agree together, pronounces this award:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"On account of the difficulty and importance of your disputes and the
+diversity of your opinions, we have suspended your contest from this day
+to three times seven times nine centuries. In the mean time we command
+you to live amicably together without injuring one another. <i>Folly</i>
+shall lead <i>Love,</i> and take him whithersoever he pleases, and when
+restored to his sight, the Fates may pronounce sentence."</p>
+
+<p>Many beautiful conceptions are scattered in this elegant Morality. It
+has given birth to subsequent imitations; it was too original and
+playful an idea not to be appropriated by the poets. To this Morality we
+perhaps owe the panegyric of <i>Folly</i> by Erasmus, and the <i>Love and
+Folly</i> of La Fontaine.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="RELIGIOUS_NOUVELLETTES" id="RELIGIOUS_NOUVELLETTES"></a>RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I shall notice a class of very singular works, in which the spirit of
+romance has been called in to render religion more attractive to certain
+heated imaginations.</p>
+
+<p>In the fifteenth century was published a little book of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> <i>prayers</i>,
+accompanied by <i>figures</i>, both of a very uncommon nature for a religious
+publication. It is entitled <i>Hortulus Anim&aelig;, cum Oratiunculis aliquibus
+superadditis qu&aelig; in prioribus Libris non habentur</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is a small octavo <i>en lettres gothiques</i>, printed by John Grunninger,
+1500. "A garden," says the author, "which abounds with flowers for the
+pleasure of the soul;" but they are full of poison. In spite of his fine
+promises, the chief part of these meditations are as puerile as they are
+superstitious. This we might excuse, because the ignorance and
+superstition of the times allowed such things: but the <i>figures</i> which
+accompany this work are to be condemned in all ages; one represents
+Saint Ursula and some of her eleven thousand virgins, with all the
+licentious inventions of an Aretine. What strikes the ear does not so
+much irritate the senses, observes the sage Horace, as what is presented
+in all its nudity to the eye. One of these designs is only ridiculous:
+David is represented as examining Bathsheba bathing, while Cupid
+hovering throws his dart, and with a malicious smile triumphs in his
+success. We have had many gross anachronisms in similar designs. There
+is a laughable picture in a village in Holland, in which Abraham appears
+ready to sacrifice his son Isaac by a loaded blunderbuss; but his pious
+intention is entirely frustrated by an angel urining in the pan. In
+another painting, the Virgin receives the annunciation of the angel
+Gabriel with a huge chaplet of beads tied round her waist, reading her
+own offices, and kneeling before a crucifix; another happy invention, to
+be seen on an altar-piece at Worms, is that in which the Virgin throws
+Jesus into the hopper of a mill, while from the other side he issues
+changed into little morsels of bread, with which the priests feast the
+people. Matthison, a modern traveller, describes a picture in a church
+at Constance, called the Conception of the Holy Virgin. An old man lies
+on a cloud, whence he darts out a vast beam, which passes through a dove
+hovering just below; at the end of a beam appears a large transparent
+egg, in which egg is seen a child in swaddling clothes with a glory
+round it. Mary sits leaning in an arm chair, and opens her mouth to
+receive the egg.</p>
+
+<p>I must not pass unnoticed in this article a production as extravagant in
+its design, in which the author prided himself in discussing three
+thousand questions concerning the Virgin Mary.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The publication now adverted to was not presented to the world in a
+barbarous age and in a barbarous country, but printed at Paris in 1668.
+It bears for title, <i>D&eacute;vote Salutation des Membres sacres du Corps de la
+Glorieuse Vi&egrave;rge, M&egrave;re de Dieu</i>. That is, "A Devout Salutation of the
+Holy Members of the Body of the glorious Virgin, Mother of God." It was
+printed and published with an approbation and privilege, which is more
+strange than the work itself. Valois reprobates it in these just terms:
+"What would Innocent XI. have done, after having abolished the shameful
+<i>Office of the Conception, Indulgences, &amp;c.</i> if he had seen a volume in
+which the impertinent devotion of that visionary monk caused to be
+printed, with permission of his superiors, Meditations on all the Parts
+of the Body of the Holy Virgin? Religion, decency, and good sense, are
+equally struck at by such an extravagance." I give a specimen of the
+most decent of these <i>salutations</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Salutation to the Hair.</i></p>
+
+<p>"I salute you, charming hair of Maria! Rays of the mystical sun! Lines
+of the centre and circumference of all created perfection! Veins of gold
+of the mine of love! Chains of the prison of God! Roots of the tree of
+life! Rivulets of the fountain of Paradise! Strings of the bow of
+charity! Nets that caught Jesus, and shall be used in the hunting-day of
+souls!"</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Salutation to the Ears.</i></p>
+
+<p>"I salute ye, intelligent ears of Maria! ye presidents of the princes of
+the poor! Tribunal for their petitions; salvation at the audience of the
+miserable! University of all divine wisdom! Receivers general of all
+wards! Ye are pierced with the rings of our chains; ye are impearled
+with our necessities!"</p>
+
+<p>The images, prints, and miniatures, with which the catholic religion has
+occasion to decorate its splendid ceremonies, have frequently been
+consecrated to the purposes of love: they have been so many votive
+offerings worthy to have been suspended in the temple of Idalia. Pope
+Alexander VI. had the images of the Virgin made to represent some of his
+mistresses; the famous Vanozza, his favourite, was placed on the altar
+of Santa, Maria del Popolo; and Julia Farnese furnished a subject for
+another Virgin. The same genius of pious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> gallantry also visited our
+country. The statuaries made the queen of Henry III. a model for the
+face of the Virgin Mary. Hearne elsewhere affirms, that the Virgin Mary
+was generally made to bear a resemblance to the queens of the age,
+which, no doubt, produced some real devotion among the courtiers.</p>
+
+<p>The prayer-books of certain pious libertines were decorated with the
+portraits of their favourite minions and ladies in the characters of
+saints, and even of the Virgin and Jesus. This scandalous practice was
+particularly prevalent in that reign of debauchery in France, when Henry
+III. held the reins of government with a loose hand. In a missal once
+appertaining to the queen of Louis XII. may be seen a mitred ape, giving
+its benediction to a man prostrate before it; a keen reproach to the
+clergy of that day. Charles V., however pious that emperor affected to
+be, had a missal painted for his mistress by the great Albert Durer, the
+borders of which are crowded with extravagant grotesques, consisting of
+apes, who were sometimes elegantly sportive, giving clysters to one
+another, and in more offensive attitudes, not adapted to heighten the
+piety of the Royal Mistress. This missal has two French verses written
+by the Emperor himself, who does not seem to have been ashamed of his
+present. The Italians carried this taste to excess. The manners of our
+country were more rarely tainted with this deplorable licentiousness,
+although I have observed an innocent tendency towards it, by examining
+the illuminated manuscripts of our ancient metrical romances: while we
+admire the vivid colouring of these splendid manuscripts, the curious
+observer will perceive that almost every heroine is represented in a
+state which appears incompatible with her reputation. Most of these
+works are, I believe, by French artists.</p>
+
+<p>A supplement might be formed to religious indecencies from the Golden
+Legend, which abounds in them. Henry Stephens's Apology for Herodotus
+might be likewise consulted with effect for the same purpose. There is a
+story of St. Mary the Egyptian, who was perhaps a looser liver than Mary
+Magdalen; for not being able to pay for her passage to Jerusalem,
+whither she was going to adore the holy cross and sepulchre, in despair
+she thought of an expedient in lieu of payment to the ferryman, which
+required at least going twice, instead of once, to Jerusalem as a
+penitential pilgri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>mage. This anecdote presents the genuine character of
+certain <i>devotees</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Melchior Inchoffer, a Jesuit, published a book to vindicate the miracle
+of a <i>Letter</i> which the Virgin Mary had addressed to the citizens of
+Messina: when Naud&eacute; brought him positive proofs of its evident forgery,
+Inchoffer ingenuously confessed the imposture, but pleaded that it was
+done by the <i>orders</i> of his <i>superiors</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This same <i>letter</i> of the Virgin Mary was like a <i>donation</i> made to her
+by Louis the Eleventh of the <i>whole county</i> of Boulogne, retaining,
+however, for <i>his own use the revenues</i>! This solemn act bears the date
+of the year 1478, and is entitled, "Conveyance of Louis the Eleventh to
+the Virgin of Boulogne, of the right and title of the fief and homage of
+the county of Boulogne, which is held by the Count of Saint Pol, to
+render a faithful account before the image of the said lady."</p>
+
+<p>Maria Agreda, a religious visionary, wrote <i>The Life of the Virgin</i>. She
+informs us that she resisted the commands of God and the holy Mary till
+the year 1637, when she began to compose this curious rhapsody. When she
+had finished this <i>original</i> production, her confessor advised her to
+<i>burn</i> it; she obeyed. Her friends, however, who did not think her less
+inspired than she informed them she was, advised her to re-write the
+work. When printed it spread rapidly from country to country: new
+editions appeared at Lisbon, Madrid, Perpignan, and Antwerp. It was the
+rose of Sharon for those climates. There are so many pious absurdities
+in this book, which were found to give such pleasure to the devout, that
+it was solemnly honoured with the censure of the Sorbonne; and it spread
+the more.</p>
+
+<p>The head of this lady was quite turned by her religion. In the first six
+chapters she relates the visions of the Virgin, which induced her to
+write her life. She begins the history <i>ab ovo</i>, as it may be expressed;
+for she has formed a narrative of what passed during the nine months in
+which the Virgin was confined in the womb of her mother St. Anne. After
+the birth of Mary, she received an augmentation of angelic guards; we
+have several conversations which God held with the Virgin during the
+first eighteen months after her birth. And it is in this manner she
+formed a <i>circulating novel</i>, which delighted the female devotees of the
+seventeenth century.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The worship paid to the Virgin Mary in Spain and Italy exceeds that
+which is given to the Son or the Father. When they pray to Mary, their
+imagination pictures a beautiful woman, they really feel a <i>passion</i>;
+while Jesus is only regarded as a <i>Bambino</i>, or infant at the breast,
+and the <i>Father</i> is hardly ever recollected: but the <i>Madonna la
+Senhora, la Maria Santa</i>, while she inspires their religious
+inclinations, is a mistress to those who have none.</p>
+
+<p>Of similar works there exists an entire race, and the libraries of the
+curious may yet preserve a shelf of these religious <i>nouvellettes</i>. The
+Jesuits were the usual authors of these rhapsodies. I find an account of
+a book which pretends to describe what passes in Paradise. A Spanish
+Jesuit published at Salamanca a volume in folio, 1652, entitled
+<i>Empyreologia</i>. He dwells with great complacency on the joys of the
+celestial abode; there always will be music in heaven with material
+instruments as our ears are already accustomed to; otherwise he thinks
+the celestial music would not be music for us! But another Jesuit is
+more particular in his accounts. He positively assures us that we shall
+experience a supreme pleasure in kissing and embracing the bodies of the
+blessed; they will bathe in the presence of each other, and for this
+purpose there are most agreeable baths in which we shall swim like fish;
+that we shall all warble as sweetly as larks and nightingales; that the
+angels will dress themselves in female habits, their hair curled;
+wearing petticoats and fardingales, and with the finest linen; that men
+and women will amuse themselves in masquerades, feasts, and
+balls.&mdash;Women will sing more agreeably than men to heighten these
+entertainments, and at the resurrection will have more luxuriant
+tresses, ornamented with ribands and head-dresses as in this life!</p>
+
+<p>Such were the books once so devoutly studied, and which doubtless were
+often literally understood. How very bold must the minds of the Jesuits
+have been, and how very humble those of their readers, that such
+extravagances should ever be published! And yet, even to the time in
+which I am now writing,&mdash;even at this day,&mdash;the same picturesque and
+impassioned pencil is employed by the modern Apostles of Mysticism&mdash;the
+Swedenborgians, the Moravians, the Methodists!</p>
+
+<p>I find an account of another book of this class, ridiculous enough to be
+noticed. It has for title, "The Spiritual Kalendar, composed of as many
+Madrigals or Sonnets and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> Epigrams as there are days in the year;
+written for the consolation of the pious and the curious. By Father G.
+Cortade, Austin Preacher at Bayonne, 1665." To give a notion of this
+singular collection take an Epigram addressed to a Jesuit, who, young as
+he was, used to <i>put spurs under his shirt</i> to mortify the outer man!
+The Kalendar-poet thus gives a point to these spurs:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Il ne pourra done plus ni ruer ni hennir<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sous le rude Eperon dont tu fais son supplice;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qui vit jamais tel artifice,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">De piquer un cheval pour le mieux retenir!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><b>HUMBLY INTIMATED.</b><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Your body no more will neigh and will kick,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The point of the spur must eternally prick;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whoever contrived a thing with such skill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To keep spurring a horse to make him stand still!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>One of the most extravagant works projected on the subject of the Virgin
+Mary was the following:&mdash;The prior of a convent in Paris had
+reiteratedly entreated Varillas the historian to examine a work composed
+by one of the monks; and of which&mdash;not being himself addicted to
+letters&mdash;he wished to be governed by his opinion. Varillas at length
+yielded to the entreaties of the prior; and to regale the critic, they
+laid on two tables for his inspection seven enormous volumes in folio.</p>
+
+<p>This rather disheartened our reviewer: but greater was his astonishment,
+when, having opened the first volume, he found its title to be <i>Summa
+Dei-par&aelig;</i>; and as Saint Thomas had made a <i>Sum</i>, or System of Theology,
+so our monk had formed a <i>System</i> of the <i>Virgin</i>! He immediately
+comprehended the design of our good father, who had laboured on this
+work full thirty years, and who boasted he had treated <i>Three Thousand</i>
+Questions concerning the Virgin! of which he flattered himself not a
+single one had ever yet been imagined by any one but himself!</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps a more extraordinary design was never known. Varillas, pressed
+to give his judgment on this work, advised the prior with great prudence
+and good-nature to amuse the honest old monk with the hope of printing
+these seven folios, but always to start some new difficulties; for it
+would be inhuman to occasion so deep a chagrin to a man who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> reached
+his seventy-fourth year, as to inform him of the nature of his favourite
+occupations; and that after his death he should throw the seven folios
+into the fire.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CRITICAL_SAGACITY_AND_HAPPY_CONJECTURE_OR_BENTLEYS_MILTON" id="CRITICAL_SAGACITY_AND_HAPPY_CONJECTURE_OR_BENTLEYS_MILTON"></a>"CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S MILTON.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bentley</span>, long to wrangling schools confined,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And but by books acquainted with mankind&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To <span class="smcap">Milton</span> lending sense, to <span class="smcap">Horace</span> wit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He makes them write, what never poet writ.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dr. Bentley's</span> edition of our English Homer is sufficiently known by
+name. As it stands a terrifying beacon to conjectural criticism, I shall
+just notice some of those violations which the learned critic ventured
+to commit, with all the arrogance of a Scaliger. This man, so deeply
+versed in ancient learning, it will appear, was destitute of taste and
+genius in his native language.</p>
+
+<p>Our critic, to persuade the world of the necessity of his edition,
+imagined a fictitious editor of Milton's Poems: and it was this
+ingenuity which produced all his absurdities. As it is certain that the
+blind bard employed an amanuensis, it was not improbable that many words
+of similar sound, but very different signification, might have
+disfigured the poem; but our Doctor was bold enough to conjecture that
+this amanuensis <i>interpolated</i> whole verses of his own composition in
+the "Paradise Lost!" Having laid down this fatal position, all the
+consequences of his folly naturally followed it. Yet if there needs any
+conjecture, the more probable one will be, that Milton, who was never
+careless of his future fame, had his poem <i>read</i> to him after it had
+been published. The first edition appeared in 1667, and the second in
+1674, in which all the faults of the former edition are continued. By
+these <i>faults</i>, the Doctor means what <i>he</i> considers to be such: for we
+shall soon see that his "Canons of Criticism" are apocryphal.</p>
+
+<p>Bentley says that he will <i>supply</i> the want of manuscripts to collate
+(to use his own words) by his own "<span class="smcap">Sagacity</span>," and "<span class="smcap">Happy Conjecture</span>."</p>
+
+<p>Milton, after the conclusion of Satan's speech to the fallen angels,
+proceeds thus:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">1. He spake: and to confirm his words out flew<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">2. Millions of flaming <i>swords</i>, drawn from the thighs<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">3. Of mighty cherubim: the sudden blaze<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">4. Far round illumin'd hell; highly they rag'd<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">5. Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped <i>arms</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">6. Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">7. Hurling defiance tow'rd the <i>Vault</i> of heaven.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In this passage, which is as perfect as human wit can make, the Doctor
+alters three words. In the second line he puts <i>blades</i> instead of
+<i>swords</i>; in the fifth he puts <i>swords</i> instead of <i>arms</i>; and in the
+last line he prefers <i>walls</i> to <i>vault</i>. All these changes are so many
+def&oelig;dations of the poem. The word <i>swords</i> is far more poetical than
+<i>blades</i>, which may as well be understood of <i>knives</i> as <i>swords</i>. The
+word <i>arms</i>, the generic for the specific term, is still stronger and
+nobler than <i>swords</i>; and the beautiful conception of <i>vault</i>, which is
+always indefinite to the eye, while the solidity of <i>walls</i> would but
+meanly describe the highest Heaven, gives an idea of grandeur and
+modesty.</p>
+
+<p>Milton writes, book i. v. 63&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">No light, but rather <span class="smcap">DARKNESS VISIBLE</span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Served only to discover sights of woe.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Perhaps borrowed from Spenser:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A little glooming light, much like a shade.<br /></span>
+<span class="i8"><i>Faery Queene</i>, b. i. c. 2. st. 14.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This fine expression of "<span class="smcap">DARKNESS VISIBLE</span>" the Doctor's critical
+sagacity has thus rendered clearer:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">No light, but rather <span class="smcap">A TRANSPICIUOUS GLOOM</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Again, our learned critic distinguishes the 74th line of the first
+book&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole,<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>as "a vicious verse," and therefore with "happy conjecture," and no
+taste, thrusts in an entire verse of his own composition&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">DISTANCE WHICH TO EXPRESS ALL MEASURE FAILS.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Milton <i>writes</i>,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Our torments, also, may in length of time<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Become our elements.    B. ii. ver. 274.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Bentley <i>corrects</i>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Then, <span class="smcap">AS WAS WELL OBSERV'D</span></i> our torments may<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Become our elements.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>A curious instance how the insertion of a single prosaic expression
+turns a fine verse into something worse than the vilest prose.</p>
+
+<p>To conclude with one more instance of critical emendation: Milton says,
+with an agreeable turn of expression&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">So parted they; the angel up to heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From the thick shade; and Adam to his bower.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Bentley "conjectures" these two verses to be inaccurate, and in lieu of
+the last writes&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Adam, to ruminate on past discourse</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And then our erudite critic reasons! as thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>After the conversation between the Angel and Adam in the bower, it may
+be well presumed that our first parent waited on his heavenly guest at
+his departure to some little distance from it, till he began to take his
+flight towards heaven; and therefore "sagaciously" thinks that the poet
+could not with propriety say that the angel parted from the <i>thick
+shade</i>, that is, the <i>bower</i>, to go to heaven. But if Adam attended the
+Angel no farther than the door or entrance of the bower, then he
+shrewdly asks, "How Adam could return to his bower if he was never out
+of it?"</p>
+
+<p>Our editor has made a thousand similar corrections in his edition of
+Milton! Some have suspected that the same kind intention which prompted
+Dryden to persuade Creech to undertake a translation of Horace
+influenced those who encouraged our Doctor, in thus exercising his
+"sagacity" and "happy conjecture" on the epic of Milton. He is one of
+those learned critics who have happily "elucidated their author into
+obscurity," and comes nearest to that "true conjectural critic" whose
+practice a Portuguese satirist so greatly admired: by which means, if he
+be only followed up by future editors, we might have that immaculate
+edition, in which little or nothing should be found of the original!</p>
+
+<p>I have collected these few instances as not uninteresting to men of
+taste; they may convince us that a scholar may be familiarized to Greek
+and Latin, though a stranger to his vernacular literature; and that a
+verbal critic may sometimes be successful in his attempts on a <i>single
+word</i>, though he may be incapable of tasting an <i>entire sentence</i>. Let
+it also remain as a gibbet on the high roads of literature; that
+"conjectural critics" as they pass may not forget the unhappy fate of
+Bentley.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The following epigram appeared on this occasion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><b>ON MILTON'S EXECUTIONER.</b><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Did <span class="smcap">Milton's prose, O Charles</span>! thy death defend?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A furious foe, unconscious, proves a friend;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On <span class="smcap">Milton's verse</span> does <span class="smcap">Bentley</span> comment? know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A weak officious friend becomes a foe.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While he would seem his author's fame to farther,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The <span class="smcap">MURTHEROUS</span> critic has avenged thy <span class="smcap">MURTHER</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The classical learning of Bentley was singular and acute; but the
+erudition of words is frequently found not to be allied to the
+sensibility of taste.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_JANSENIST_DICTIONARY" id="A_JANSENIST_DICTIONARY"></a>A JANSENIST DICTIONARY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When L'Advocat published his concise Biographical Dictionary, the
+Jansenists, the methodists of France, considered it as having been
+written with a view to depreciate the merit of <i>their</i> friends. The
+spirit of party is too soon alarmed. The Abb&eacute; Barral undertook a
+dictionary devoted to their cause. In this labour, assisted by his good
+friends the Jansenists, he indulged all the impetuosity and acerbity of
+a splenetic adversary. The Abb&eacute; was, however, an able writer; his
+anecdotes are numerous and well chosen; and his style is rapid and
+glowing. The work bears for title, "Dictionnaire Historique, Litt&eacute;raire,
+et Critique, des Hommes C&eacute;l&egrave;bres," 6 vols. 8vo. 1719. It is no unuseful
+speculation to observe in what manner a faction represents those who
+have not been its favourites: for this purpose I select the characters
+of Fenelon, Cranmer, and Luther.</p>
+
+<p>Of Fenelon they write, "He composed for the instruction of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri, several works; amongst others, the
+Telemachus&mdash;a singular book, which partakes at once of the character of
+a romance and of a poem, and which substitutes a prosaic cadence for
+versification.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>"</p>
+
+<p>But several luscious pictures would not lead us to suspect that this
+book issued from the pen of a sacred minister for the education of a
+prince; and what we are told by a famous poet is not improbable, that
+Fenelon did not compose it at court, but that it is the fruits of his
+retreat in his diocese. And indeed the amours of Calypso and Eucharis
+should not be the first lessons that a minister ought to give his
+scholars; and, besides, the fine moral maxims which the author
+attributes to the Pagan divinities are not well placed in their mouth.
+Is not this rendering homage to the demons of the great truths which we
+receive from the Gospel, and to despoil J. C. to render respectable the
+annihilated gods of paganism? This prelate was a wretched divine, more
+familiar with the light of profane authors than with that of the fathers
+of the church. Phelipeaux has given us, in his narrative of Quietism,
+the portrait of the friend of Madame Guyon. This archbishop has a lively
+genius, artful and supple, which can flatter and dissimulate, if ever
+any could. Seduced by a woman, he was solicitous to spread his
+seduction. He joined to the politeness and elegance of conversation a
+modest air, which rendered him amiable. He spoke of spirituality with
+the expression and the enthusiasm of a prophet; with such talents he
+flattered himself that everything would yield to him.</p>
+
+<p>In this work the Protestants, particularly the first Reformers, find no
+quarter; and thus virulently their rabid catholicism exults over the
+hapless end of Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas Cranmer married the sister of Osiander. As Henry VIII. detested
+married priests, Cranmer kept this second marriage in profound secrecy.
+This action serves to show the character of this great reformer, who is
+the hero of Burnet, whose history is so much esteemed in England. What
+blindness to suppose him an Athanasius, who was at once a Lutheran
+secretly married, a consecrated archbishop under the Roman pontiff whose
+power he detested, saying the mass in which he did not believe, and
+granting a power to say it! The divine vengeance burst on this
+sycophantic courtier, who had always prostituted his conscience to his
+fortune."</p>
+
+<p>Their character of Luther is quite Lutheran in one sense, for Luther was
+himself a stranger to moderate strictures:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The furious Luther, perceiving himself assisted by the credit of
+several princes, broke loose against the church with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> the most
+inveterate rage, and rung the most terrible alarum against the pope.
+According to him we should have set fire to everything, and reduced to
+one heap of ashes the pope and the princes who supported him. Nothing
+equals the rage of this phrenetic man, who was not satisfied with
+exhaling his fury in horrid declamations, but who was for putting all in
+practice. He raised his excesses to the height by inveighing against the
+vow of chastity, and in marrying publicly Catherine de Bore, a nun, whom
+he enticed, with eight others, from their convents. He had prepared the
+minds of the people for this infamous proceeding by a treatise which he
+entitled 'Examples of the Papistical Doctrine and Theology,' in which he
+condemns the praises which all the saints had given to continence. He
+died at length quietly enough, in 1546, at Eisleben, his country
+place&mdash;God reserving the terrible effects of his vengeance to another
+life."</p>
+
+<p>Cranmer, who perished at the stake, these fanatic religionists proclaim
+as an example of "divine vengeance;" but Luther, the true parent of the
+Reformation, "died quietly at Eisleben:" this must have puzzled their
+mode of reasoning; but they extricate themselves out of the dilemma by
+the usual way. Their curses are never what the lawyers call "lapsed
+legacies."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MANUSCRIPTS_AND_BOOKS" id="MANUSCRIPTS_AND_BOOKS"></a>MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It would be no uninteresting literary speculation to describe the
+difficulties which some of our most favourite works encountered in their
+manuscript state, and even after they had passed through the press.
+Sterne, when he had finished his first and second volumes of Tristram
+Shandy, offered them to a bookseller at York for fifty pounds; but was
+refused: he came to town with his MSS.; and he and Robert Dodsley agreed
+in a manner of which neither repented.</p>
+
+<p>The Rosciad, with all its merit, lay for a considerable time in a
+dormant state, till Churchill and his publisher became impatient, and
+almost hopeless of success.&mdash;Burn's Justice was disposed of by its
+author, who was weary of soliciting booksellers to purchase the MS., for
+a trifle, and it now yields an annual income. Collins burnt his odes
+after indemnifying his publisher. The publication of Dr. Blair's Sermons
+was refused by Strahan, and the "Essay on the Immutability of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> Truth,"
+by Dr. Beattie, could find no publisher, and was printed by two friends
+of the author, at their joint expense.</p>
+
+<p>"The sermon in Tristram Shandy" (says Sterne, in his preface to his
+Sermons) "was printed by itself some years ago, but could find neither
+purchasers nor readers." When it was inserted in his eccentric work, it
+met with a most favourable reception, and occasioned the others to be
+collected.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph Warton writes, "When Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton
+College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it." The
+Polyeucte of Corneille, which is now accounted to be his masterpiece,
+when he read it to the literary assembly held at the Hotel de
+Rambouillet, was not approved. Voiture came the next day, and in gentle
+terms acquainted him with the unfavourable opinion of the critics. Such
+ill judges were then the most fashionable wits of France!</p>
+
+<p>It was with great difficulty that Mrs. Centlivre could get her "Busy
+Body" performed. Wilks threw down his part with an oath of
+detestation&mdash;our comic authoress fell on her knees and wept.&mdash;Her tears,
+and not her wit, prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>A pamphlet published in the year 1738, entitled "A Letter to the Society
+of Booksellers, on the Method of forming a true Judgment of the
+Manuscripts of Authors," contains some curious literary intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>"We have known books, that in the MS. have been damned, as well as
+others which seem to be so, since, after their appearance in the world,
+they have often lain by neglected. Witness the 'Paradise Lost' of the
+famous Milton, and the Optics of Sir Isaac Newton, which last, 'tis
+said, had no character or credit here till noticed in France. 'The
+Historical Connection of the Old and New Testament,' by Shuckford, is
+also reported to have been seldom inquired after for about a
+twelvemonth's time; however, it made a shift, though not without some
+difficulty, to creep up to a second edition, and afterwards even to a
+third. And which is another remarkable instance, the manuscript of Dr.
+Prideaux's 'Connection' is well known to have been bandied about from
+hand to hand among several, at least five or six, of the most eminent
+booksellers, during the space of at least two years, to no purpose, none
+of them undertaking to print that excellent work. It lay in obscurity,
+till Archdeacon Echard, the author's friend, strongly recommended it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> to
+Tonson. It was purchased, and the publication was very successful.
+Robinson Crusoe in manuscript also ran through the whole trade, nor
+would any one print it, though the writer, De Foe, was in good repute as
+an author. One bookseller at last, not remarkable for his discernment,
+but for his speculative turn, engaged in this publication. <i>This</i>
+bookseller got above a thousand guineas by it; and the booksellers are
+accumulating money every hour by editions of this work in all shapes.
+The undertaker of the translation of Rapin, after a very considerable
+part of the work had been published, was not a little dubious of its
+success, and was strongly inclined to drop the design. It proved at last
+to be a most profitable literary adventure." It is, perhaps, useful to
+record, that while the fine compositions of genius and the elaborate
+labours of erudition are doomed to encounter these obstacles to fame,
+and never are but slightly remunerated, works of another description are
+rewarded in the most princely manner; at the recent sale of a
+bookseller, the copyright of "Vyse's Spelling-book" was sold at the
+enormous price of &pound;2200, with an annuity of 50 guineas to the author!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_TURKISH_SPY" id="THE_TURKISH_SPY"></a>THE TURKISH SPY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Whatever may be the defects of the "Turkish Spy," the author has shown
+one uncommon merit, by having opened a new species of composition, which
+has been pursued by other writers with inferior success, if we except
+the charming "Persian Letters" of Montesquieu. The "Turkish Spy" is a
+book which has delighted our childhood, and to which we can still recur
+with pleasure. But its ingenious author is unknown to three parts of his
+admirers.</p>
+
+<p>In Boswell's "Life of Johnson" is this dialogue concerning the writer of
+the "Turkish Spy." "B.&mdash;Pray, Sir, is the 'Turkish Spy' a genuine book?
+J.&mdash;No, Sir. Mrs. Mauley, in her 'Life' says, that <i>her father wrote the
+two first volumes</i>; and in another book&mdash;'Dunton's Life and Errours,' we
+find that the rest was <i>written</i> by <i>one Sault</i>, at two guineas a sheet,
+under the direction of Dr. Midgeley."</p>
+
+<p>I do not know on what authority Mrs. Manley advances that her father was
+the author; but this lady was never nice in detailing facts. Dunton,
+indeed, gives some information in a very loose manner. He tells us, p.
+242, that it is probable,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> by reasons which he insinuates, that <i>one
+Bradshaw</i>, a hackney author, was the writer of the "Turkish Spy." This
+man probably was engaged by Dr. Midgeley to translate the volumes as
+they appeared, at the rate of 40s. per sheet. On the whole, all this
+proves, at least, how little the author was known while the volumes were
+publishing, and that he is as little known at present by the extract
+from Boswell.</p>
+
+<p>The ingenious writer of the Turkish Spy is John Paul Marana, an Italian;
+so that the Turkish Spy is just as real a personage as Cid Hamet, from
+whom Cervantes says he had his "History of Don Quixote." Marana had been
+imprisoned for a political conspiracy; after his release he retired to
+Monaco, where he wrote the "History of the Plot," which is said to be
+valuable for many curious particulars. Marana was at once a man of
+letters and of the world. He had long wished to reside at Paris; in that
+emporium of taste and luxury his talents procured him patrons. It was
+during his residence there that he produced his "Turkish Spy." By this
+ingenious contrivance he gave the history of the last age. He displays a
+rich memory, and a lively imagination; but critics have said that he
+touches everything, and penetrates nothing. His first three volumes
+greatly pleased: the rest are inferior. Plutarch, Seneca, and Pliny,
+were his favourite authors. He lived in philosophical mediocrity; and in
+the last years of his life retired to his native country, where he died
+in 1693.</p>
+
+<p>Charpentier gave the first particulars of this ingenious man. Even in
+his time the volumes were read as they came out, while its author
+remained unknown. Charpentier's proof of the author is indisputable; for
+he preserved the following curious certificate, written in Marana's own
+handwriting.</p>
+
+<p>"I, the under-written John Paul Marana, author of a manuscript Italian
+volume, entitled '<i>L'Esploratore Turco, tomo terzo</i>,' acknowledge that
+Mr. Charpentier, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to revise the said
+manuscript, has not granted me his certificate for printing the said
+manuscript, but on condition to rescind four passages. The first
+beginning, &amp;c. By this I promise to suppress from the said manuscript
+the places above marked, so that there shall remain no vestige; since,
+without agreeing to this, the said certificate would not have been
+granted to me by the said Mr. Charpentier; and for surety of the above,
+which I ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>knowledge to be true, and which I promise punctually to
+execute, I have signed the present writing. Paris, 28th September, 1686.</p>
+
+
+<p class="author">"JOHN PAUL MARANA."</p>
+
+
+<p>This paper serves as a curious instance in what manner the censors of
+books clipped the wings of genius when it was found too daring or
+excursive.</p>
+
+<p>These rescindings of the Censor appear to be marked by Marana in the
+printed work. We find more than once chasms, with these words: "the
+beginning of <i>this</i> letter is wanting in the Italian translation; the
+<i>original</i> paper <i>being torn</i>."</p>
+
+<p>No one has yet taken the pains to observe the date of the first editions
+of the French and the English Turkish Spies, which would settle the
+disputed origin. It appears by the document before us, to have been
+originally <i>written</i> in Italian, but probably was first <i>published</i> in
+French. Does the English Turkish Spy differ from the French one?<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SPENSER_JONSON_AND_SHAKSPEARE" id="SPENSER_JONSON_AND_SHAKSPEARE"></a>SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The characters of these three great masters of English poetry are
+sketched by Fuller, in his "Worthies of England." It is a literary
+morsel that must not be passed by. The criticisms of those who lived in
+or near the times when authors flourished merit our observation. They
+sometimes elicit a ray of intelligence, which later opinions do not
+always give.</p>
+
+<p>He observes on <span class="smcap">Spenser</span>&mdash;"The many <i>Chaucerisms</i> used (for I will not say
+affected by him) are thought by the ignorant to be <i>blemishes</i>, known by
+the learned to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span><i>beauties</i>, to his book; which, notwithstanding, had
+been more SALEABLE, if more conformed to our modern language."</p>
+
+<p>On <span class="smcap">Jonson</span>.&mdash;"His parts were not so ready <i>to run of themselves</i>, as able
+to answer the spur; so that it may be truly said of him, that he had an
+<i>elaborate wit</i>, wrought out by his own industry.&mdash;He would <i>sit silent</i>
+in learned company, and suck in (<i>besides wine</i>) their several humours
+into his observation. What was <i>ore</i> in <i>others</i>, he was able to
+<i>refine</i> himself.</p>
+
+<p>"He was paramount in the dramatic part of poetry, and taught the stage
+an exact conformity to the laws of comedians. His comedies were above
+the <i>Volge</i> (which are only tickled with downright obscenity), and took
+not so well at the <i>first stroke</i> as at the <i>rebound</i>, when beheld the
+second time; yea, they will endure reading so long as either ingenuity
+or learning are fashionable in our nation. If his latter be not so
+spriteful and vigorous as his first pieces, all that are old will, and
+all who desire to be old should, excuse him therein."</p>
+
+<p>On <span class="smcap">Shakspeare</span>.&mdash;"He was an eminent instance of the truth of that rule,
+<i>po&euml;ta non fit, sed nascitur</i>; one is not made, but born a poet. Indeed
+his <i>learning</i> was but very little; so that as <i>Cornish diamonds</i> are
+not polished by any lapidary, but are pointed and smooth, even as they
+are taken out of the earth, so <i>Nature</i> itself was all the <i>art</i> which
+was used upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"Many were the <i>wit-combats</i> betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I
+beheld like a <i>Spanish great galleon</i> and an <i>English man of war</i>.
+Master <i>Jonson</i> (like the former) was built far higher in learning;
+<i>solid</i>, but <i>slow</i> in his performances. <i>Shakspeare</i>, with an English
+man of war, lesser in <i>bulk</i>, but lighter in <i>sailing</i>, could <i>turn with
+all tides</i>, and take advantage of <i>all winds</i>, by the quickness of his
+wit and invention."</p>
+
+<p>Had these "Wit-combats," between Shakspeare and Jonson, which Fuller
+notices, been chronicled by some faithful <i>Boswell</i> of the age, our
+literary history would have received an interesting accession. A letter
+has been published by Dr. Berkenhout relating to an evening's
+conversation between our great rival bards, and Alleyn the actor. Peele,
+a dramatic poet, writes to his friend Marlow, another poet. The Doctor
+unfortunately in giving this copy did not recollect his authority.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 2em;">"Friend Marlow</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"I never longed for thy companye more than last night: we were all very
+merrye at the Globe, where Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affirme
+pleasantly to thy friend <span class="smcap">Will</span>, that he had stolen his speech about the
+qualityes of an actor's excellencye in Hamlet his Tragedye, from
+conversations manyfold which had passed between them, and opinyons given
+by Alleyn touchinge this subject. <span class="smcap">Shakspeare</span> did not take this talk in
+good sorte; but <span class="smcap">Jonson</span> put an end to the strife, by wittylie
+remarking,&mdash;this affaire needeth no contention: you stole it from <span class="smcap">Ned</span>,
+no doubt, do not marvel; have you not seen him act times out of number?"</p>
+
+<p>This letter is one of those ingenious forgeries which the late George
+Steevens practised on the literary antiquary; they were not always of
+this innocent cast. The present has been frequently quoted as an
+original document. I have preserved it as an example of <i>Literary
+Forgeries</i>, and the danger which literary historians incur by such
+nefarious practices.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BEN_JONSON_FELTHAM_AND_RANDOLPH" id="BEN_JONSON_FELTHAM_AND_RANDOLPH"></a>BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Ben Jonson, like most celebrated wits, was very unfortunate in
+conciliating the affections of his brother writers. He certainly
+possessed a great share of arrogance, and was desirous of ruling the
+realms of Parnassus with a despotic sceptre. That he was not always
+successful in his theatrical compositions is evident from his abusing,
+in their title-page, the actors and the public. In this he has been
+imitated by Fielding. I have collected the following three satiric odes,
+written when the reception of his "<i>New Inn</i>, or <i>The Light Heart</i>,"
+warmly exasperated the irritable disposition of our poet.</p>
+
+<p>He printed the title in the following manner:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The New Inn</i>, or <i>The Light Heart</i>; a Comedy never acted, but most
+negligently played by some, the King's servants; and more squeamishly
+beheld and censured by others, the King's subjects, 1629. Now at last
+set at liberty to the readers, his Majesty's servants and subjects, to
+be judged, 1631."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of this play he published the following Ode, in which he
+threatens to quit the stage for ever; and turn at once a Horace, an
+Anacreon, and a Pindar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of his play,
+begat this following Ode to himself:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Come, leave the loathed stage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And the more loathsome age;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where pride and impudence (in faction knit,)<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Usurp the chair of wit;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Inditing and arraigning every day<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Something they call a play.<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Let their fastidious, vaine<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Commission of braine<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Run on, and rage, sweat, censure, and condemn;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They were not made for thee,&mdash;less thou for them.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Say that thou pour'st them wheat,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And they will acorns eat;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Twere simple fury, still, thyself to waste<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">On such as have no taste!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To offer them a surfeit of pure bread,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Whose appetites are dead!<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">No, give them graines their fill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Husks, draff, to drink and swill.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If they love lees, and leave the lusty wine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Envy them not their palate with the swine.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">No doubt some mouldy tale<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Like <span class="smcap">Pericles</span>,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> and stale<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As the shrieve's crusts, and nasty as his fish&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Scraps, out of every dish<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thrown forth, and rak't into the common-tub,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">May keep up the play-club:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">There sweepings do as well<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">As the best order'd meale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For who the relish of these guests will fit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Needs set them but the almes-basket of wit.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">And much good do't you then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Brave plush and velvet men<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Can feed on orts, and safe in your stage clothes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Dare quit, upon your oathes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The stagers, and the stage-wrights too (your peers),<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Of larding your large ears<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">With their foul comic socks,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Wrought upon twenty blocks:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which if they're torn, and turn'd, and patch'd enough<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The gamesters share your gilt and you their stuff.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Leave things so prostitute,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And take the Alc&aelig;ick lute,<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span><span class="i2">Or thine own Horace, or Anacreon's lyre;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Warm thee by Pindar's fire;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, tho' thy nerves be shrunk, and blood be cold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Ere years have made thee old,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Strike that disdainful heat<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Throughout, to their defeat;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As curious fools, and envious of thy strain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May, blushing, swear no palsy's in thy brain.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">But when they hear thee sing<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The glories of thy King,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">His zeal to God, and his just awe o'er men,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">They may blood-shaken then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Feel such a flesh-quake to possess their powers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As they shall cry 'like ours,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">In sound of peace, or wars,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">No harp ere hit the stars,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In tuning forth the acts of his sweet raign,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And raising Charles his chariot 'bove his wain.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This Magisterial Ode, as Langbaine calls it, was answered by <i>Owen
+Feltham</i>, author of the admirable "Resolves," who has written with great
+satiric acerbity the retort courteous. His character of this poet should
+be attended to:&mdash;</p>
+
+<h4>AN ANSWER TO THE ODE, COME LEAVE THE LOATHED STAGE, &amp;C.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Come leave this sawcy way<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Of baiting those that pay<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Dear for the sight of your declining wit:<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">'Tis known it is not fit<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That a sale poet, just contempt once thrown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Should cry up thus his own.<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">I wonder by what dower,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Or patent, you had power<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From all to rape a judgment. Let't suffice,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Had you been modest, y'ad been granted wise.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">'Tis known you can do well,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And that you do excell<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As a translator; but when things require<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">A genius, and fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not kindled heretofore by other pains,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As oft y'ave wanted brains<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And art to strike the white,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">As you have levell'd right:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yet if men vouch not things apocryphal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You bellow, rave, and spatter round your gall.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Jug, Pierce, Peek, Fly,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> and all<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Your jests so nominal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Are things so far beneath an able brain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As they do throw a stain<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thro' all th' unlikely plot, and do displease<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As deep as <span class="smcap">Pericles</span>.<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Where yet there is not laid<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Before a chamber-maid<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Discourse so weigh'd,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> as might have serv'd of old<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For schools, when they of love and valour told.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Why rage, then? when the show<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Should judgment be, and know-<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">ledge, there are plush who scorn to drudge<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">For stages, yet can judge<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not only poet's looser lines, but wits,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And all their perquisits;<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">A gift as rich as high<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Is noble poesie:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yet, tho' in sport it be for Kings to play,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis next mechanicks' when it works for pay.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Alc&aelig;us lute had none,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Nor loose Anacreon<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">E'er taught so bold assuming of the bays<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">When they deserv'd no praise.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To rail men into approbation<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Is new to your's alone:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And prospers not: for known,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Fame is as coy, as you<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Can be disdainful; and who dares to prove<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A rape on her shall gather scorn&mdash;not love.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Leave then this humour vain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">And this more humourous strain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where self-conceit, and choler of the blood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Eclipse what else is good:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Then, if you please those raptures high to touch,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Whereof you boast so much:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And but forbear your crown<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Till the world puts it on:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">No doubt, from all you may amazement draw,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Since braver theme no Ph&oelig;bus ever saw.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>To console dejected Ben for this just reprimand, Randolph, of the
+adopted poetical sons of Jonson, addressed him with all that warmth of
+grateful affection which a man of genius should have felt on the
+occasion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p>
+
+<h4>AN ANSWER TO MR. BEN JONSON'S ODE, TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO LEAVE THE
+STAGE.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">I.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Ben, do not leave the stage<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Cause 'tis a loathsome age;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For pride and impudence will grow too bold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">When they shall hear it told<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">They frighted thee; Stand high, as is thy cause;<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Their hiss is thy applause:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">More just were thy disdain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Had they approved thy vein:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">So thou for them, and they for thee were born;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They to incense, and thou as much to scorn.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">II.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Wilt thou engross thy store<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Of wheat, and pour no more,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Because their bacon-brains had such a taste<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As more delight in mast:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No! set them forth a board of dainties, full<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">As thy best muse can cull<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Whilst they the while do pine<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And thirst, midst all their wine.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What greater plague can hell itself devise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Than to be willing thus to tantalise?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">III.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Thou canst not find them stuff,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">That will be bad enough<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To please their palates: let 'em them refuse,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">For some Pye-corner muse;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">She is too fair an hostess, 'twere a sin<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">For them to like thine Inn:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">'Twas made to entertain<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Guests of a nobler strain;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yet, if they will have any of the store,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Give them some scraps, and send them from thy dore.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">IV.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">And let those things in plush<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Till they be taught to blush,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Like what they will, and more contented be<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">With what Broome<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> swept from thee.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I know thy worth, and that thy lofty strains<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Write not to cloaths, but brains:<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span><span class="i3">But thy great spleen doth rise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">'Cause moles will have no eyes;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This only in my Ben I faulty find,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He's angry they'll not see him that are blind.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">V.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">Why shou'd the scene be mute<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">'Cause thou canst touch the lute<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And string thy Horace! Let each Muse of nine<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Claim thee, and say, th'art mine.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Twere fond, to let all other flames expire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">To sit by Pindar's fire:<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">For by so strange neglect<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">I should myself suspect<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy palsie were as well thy brain's disease,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">If they could shake thy muse which way they please.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">VI.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">And tho' thou well canst sing<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The glories of thy King,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And on the wings of verse his chariot bear<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">To heaven, and fix it there;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Yet let thy muse as well some raptures raise<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">To please him, as to praise.<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">I would not have thee chuse<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Only a treble muse;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But have this envious, ignorant age to know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thou that canst sing so high, canst reach as low.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ARIOSTO_AND_TASSO" id="ARIOSTO_AND_TASSO"></a>ARIOSTO AND TASSO.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It surprises one to find among the literary Italians the merits of
+Ariosto most keenly disputed: slaves to classical authority, they bend
+down to the majestic regularity of Tasso. Yet the father of Tasso,
+before his son had rivalled the romantic Ariosto, describes in a letter
+the effect of the "Orlando" on the people:&mdash;"There is no man of
+learning, no mechanic, no lad, no girl, no old man, who is satisfied to
+read the 'Orlando Furioso' once. This poem serves as the solace of the
+traveller, who fatigued on his journey deceives his lassitude by
+chanting some octaves of this poem. You may hear them sing these stanzas
+in the streets and in the fields every day." One would have expected
+that Ariosto would have been the favourite of the people, and Tasso of
+the critics. But in Venice the gondoliers, and others, sing passages
+which are generally taken from Tasso, and rarely from Ariosto. A
+different fate, I imagined, would have attended the poet who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> has been
+distinguished by the epithet of "<i>The Divine</i>." I have been told by an
+Italian man of letters, that this circumstance arose from the relation
+which Tasso's poem bears to Turkish affairs; as many of the common
+people have passed into Turkey either by chance or by war. Besides, the
+long antipathy existing between the Venetians and the Turks gave
+additional force to the patriotic poetry of Tasso. We cannot boast of
+any similar poems. Thus it was that the people of Greece and Ionia sang
+the poems of Homer.</p>
+
+<p>The Accademia della Crusca gave a public preference to Ariosto. This
+irritated certain critics, and none more than Chapelain, who could
+<i>taste</i> the regularity of Tasso, but not <i>feel</i> the "brave disorder" of
+Ariosto. He could not approve of those writers,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Who snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"I thank you," he writes, "for the sonnet which your indignation
+dictated, at the Academy's preference of Ariosto to Tasso. This judgment
+is overthrown by the confessions of many of the <i>Cruscanti</i>, my
+associates. It would be tedious to enter into its discussion; but it was
+passion and not equity that prompted that decision. We confess, that, as
+to what concerns invention and purity of language, Ariosto has eminently
+the advantage over Tasso; but majesty, pomp, numbers, and a style truly
+sublime, united to regularity of design, raise the latter so much above
+the other that no comparison can fairly exist."</p>
+
+<p>The decision of Chapelain is not unjust; though I did not know that
+Ariosto's language was purer than Tasso's.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Cocchi, the great Italian critic, compared "Ariosto's poem to the
+richer kind of harlequin's habit, made up of pieces of the very best
+silk, and of the liveliest colours. The parts of it are, many of them,
+<i>more beautiful</i> than in Tasso's poem, but the whole in Tasso is without
+comparison more of a piece and better made." The critic was extricating
+himself as safely as he could out of this critical dilemma; for the
+disputes were then so violent, that I think one of the disputants took
+to his bed, and was said to have died of Ariosto and Tasso.</p>
+
+<p>It is the conceit of an Italian to give the name of <i>April</i> to
+<i>Ariosto</i>, because it is the season of <i>flowers</i>; and that of
+<i>September</i> to <i>Tasso</i>, which is that of <i>fruits</i>. Tiraboschi
+judiciously observes that no comparison ought to be made be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>tween these
+great rivals. It is comparing "Ovid's Metamorphoses" with "Virgil's
+&AElig;neid;" they are quite different things. In his characters of the two
+poets, he distinguishes between a romantic poem and a regular epic.
+Their designs required distinct perfections. But an English reader is
+not enabled by the wretched versions of Hoole to echo the verse of La
+Fontaine, "<span class="smcap">Je cheris</span> L'Arioste et <span class="smcap">J'estime</span> le Tasse."</p>
+
+<p>Boileau, some time before his death, was asked by a critic if he had
+repented of his celebrated decision concerning the merits of Tasso,
+which some Italians had compared with those of Virgil? Boileau had
+hurled his bolts at these violators of classical majesty. It is supposed
+that he was ignorant of the Italian language, but some expressions in
+his answer may induce us to think that he was not.</p>
+
+<p>"I have so little changed my opinion, that, on a <i>re-perusal</i> lately of
+Tasso, I was sorry that I had not more amply explained myself on this
+subject in some of my reflections on 'Longinus.' I should have begun by
+acknowledging that Tasso had a sublime genius, of great compass, with
+happy dispositions for the higher poetry. But when I came to the use he
+made of his talents, I should have shown that judicious discernment
+rarely prevailed in his works. That in the greater portion of his
+narrations he attached himself to the agreeable, oftener than to the
+just. That his descriptions are almost always overcharged with
+superfluous ornaments. That in painting the strongest passions, and in
+the midst of the agitations they excite, frequently he degenerates into
+witticisms, which abruptly destroy the pathetic. That he abounds with
+images of too florid a kind; affected turns; conceits and frivolous
+thoughts; which, far from being adapted to his Jerusalem, could hardly
+be supportable in his 'Aminta.' So that all this, opposed to the
+gravity, the sobriety, the majesty of Virgil, what is it but tinsel
+compared with gold?"</p>
+
+<p>The merits of Tasso seem here precisely discriminated; and this
+criticism must be valuable to the lovers of poetry. The errors of Tasso
+were national.</p>
+
+<p>In Venice the gondoliers know by heart long passages from Ariosto and
+Tasso, and often chant them with a peculiar melody. Goldoni, in his
+life, notices the gondolier returning with him to the city: "He turned
+the prow of the gondola towards the city, singing all the way the
+twenty-sixth stanza<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> of the sixteenth canto of the Jerusalem Delivered."
+The late Mr. Barry once chanted to me a passage of Tasso in the manner
+of the gondoliers; and I have listened to such from one who in his youth
+had himself been a gondolier. An anonymous gentleman has greatly obliged
+me with his account of the recitation of these poets by the gondoliers
+of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>There are always two concerned, who alternately sing the strophes. We
+know the melody eventually by Rousseau, to whose songs it is printed; it
+has properly no melodious movement, and is a sort of medium between the
+canto fermo and the canto figurato; it approaches to the former by
+recitativical declamation, and to the latter by passages and course, by
+which one syllable is detained and embellished.</p>
+
+<p>I entered a gondola by moonlight: one singer placed himself forwards,
+and the other aft, and thus proceeded to Saint Giorgio. One began the
+song: when he had ended his strophe the other took up the lay, and so
+continued the song alternately. Throughout the whole of it, the same
+notes invariably returned; but, according to the subject matter of the
+strophe, they laid a greater or a smaller stress, sometimes on one, and
+sometimes on another note, and indeed changed the enunciation of the
+whole strophe, as the object of the poem altered.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, however, their sounds were hoarse and screaming: they
+seemed, in the manner of all rude uncivilised men, to make the
+excellency of their singing consist in the force of their voice: one
+seemed desirous of conquering the other by the strength of his lungs,
+and so far from receiving delight from this scene (shut up as I was in
+the box of the gondola), I found myself in a very unpleasant situation.</p>
+
+<p>My companion, to whom I communicated this circumstance, being very
+desirous to keep up the credit of his countrymen, assured me that this
+singing was very delightful when heard at a distance. Accordingly we got
+out upon the shore, leaving one of the singers in the gondola, while the
+other went to the distance of some hundred paces. They now began to sing
+against one another; and I kept walking up and down between them both,
+so as always to leave him who was to begin his part. I frequently stood
+still, and hearkened to the one and to the other.</p>
+
+<p>Here the scene was properly introduced. The strong declamatory, and, as
+it were, shrieking sound, met the ear from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> far, and called forth the
+attention; the quickly succeeding transitions, which necessarily
+required to be sung in a lower tone, seemed like plaintive strains
+succeeding the vociferations of emotion or of pain. The other, who
+listened attentively, immediately began where the former left off,
+answering him in milder or more vehement notes, according as the purport
+of the strophe required. The sleepy canals, the lofty buildings, the
+splendour of the moon, the deep shadows of the few gondolas that moved
+like spirits hither and thither, increased the striking peculiarity of
+the scene, and amidst all these circumstances it was easy to confess the
+character of this wonderful harmony.</p>
+
+<p>It suits perfectly well with an idle solitary mariner, lying at length
+in his vessel at rest on one of these canals, waiting for his company or
+for a fare; the tiresomeness of which situation is somewhat alleviated
+by the songs and poetical stories he has in memory. He often raises his
+voice as loud as he can, which extends itself to a vast distance over
+the tranquil mirror; and, as all is still around, he is as it were in a
+solitude in the midst of a large and populous town. Here is no rattling
+of carriages, no noise of foot passengers; a silent gondola glides now
+and then by him, of which the splashing of the oars is scarcely to be
+heard.</p>
+
+<p>At a distance he hears another, perhaps utterly unknown to him. Melody
+and verse immediately attach the two strangers; he becomes the
+responsive echo to the former, and exerts himself to be heard as he had
+heard the other. By a tacit convention they alternate verse for verse;
+though the song should last the whole night through, they entertain,
+themselves without fatigue; the hearers, who are passing between the
+two, take part in the amusement.</p>
+
+<p>This vocal performance sounds best at a great distance, and is then
+inexpressibly charming, as it only fulfils its design in the sentiment
+of remoteness. It is plaintive, but not dismal in its sound; and at
+times it is scarcely possible to refrain from tears. My companion, who
+otherwise was not a very delicately organised person, said quite
+unexpectedly, "E singolare come quel canto intenerisce, e molto pi&ugrave;
+quando la cantano meglio."</p>
+
+<p>I was told that the women of Lido, the long row of islands that divides
+the Adriatic from the Lagouns, particularly the women of the extreme
+districts of Malamocca and Palestrina, sing in like manner the works of
+Tasso to these and similar tunes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They have the custom, when their husbands are fishing out at sea, to sit
+along the shore in the evenings and vociferate these songs, and continue
+to do so with great violence, till each of them can distinguish the
+responses of her own husband at a distance.</p>
+
+<p>How much more delightful and more appropriate does this song show itself
+here, than the call of a solitary person uttered far and wide, till
+another equally disposed shall hear and answer him! It is the expression
+of a vehement and hearty longing, which yet is every moment nearer to
+the happiness of satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Byron has told us that with the independence of Venice the song of
+the gondolier has died away&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>If this be not more poetical than true, it must have occurred at a
+moment when their last political change may have occasioned this silence
+on the waters. My servant <i>Tita</i>, who was formerly the servant of his
+lordship, and whose name has been immortalised in the "Italy" of Mr.
+Rogers, was himself a gondolier. He assures me that every night on the
+river the chant may be heard. Many who cannot even read have acquired
+the whole of Tasso, and some chant the stanzas of Ariosto. It is a sort
+of poetical challenge, and he who cannot take up the subject by
+continuing it is held as vanquished, and which occasions him no slight
+vexation. In a note in Lord Byron's works, this article is quoted by
+mistake as written by me, though I had mentioned it as the contribution
+of a stranger. We find by that note that there are two kinds of Tasso;
+the original, and another called the "<i>Canta alla Barcarola</i>," a
+spurious Tasso in the Venetian dialect: this latter, however, is rarely
+used. In the same note, a printer's error has been perpetuated through
+all the editions of Byron; the name of <i>Barry</i>, the painter, has been
+printed <i>Berry</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="BAYLE" id="BAYLE"></a>BAYLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Few philosophers were more deserving of the title than, Bayle. His last
+hour exhibits the Socratic intrepidity with which he encountered the
+formidable approach of death. I have seen the original letter of the
+bookseller Leers, where he describes the death of our philosopher. "On
+the evening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> preceding his decease, having studied all day, he gave my
+corrector some copy of his 'Answer to Jacquelot,' and told him that he
+was very ill. At nine in the morning his laundress entered his chamber;
+he asked her, with a dying voice, if his fire was kindled? and a few
+moments after he died." His disease was an hereditary consumption, and
+his decline must have been gradual; speaking had become with him a great
+pain, but he laboured with the same tranquillity of mind to his last
+hour; and, with Bayle, it was death alone which, could interrupt the
+printer.</p>
+
+<p>The irritability of genius is forcibly characterised by this
+circumstance in his literary life. When a close friendship had united
+him to Jurieu, he lavished on him the most flattering eulogiums: he is
+the hero of his "Republic of Letters." Enmity succeeded to friendship;
+Jurieu is then continually quoted in his "Critical Dictionary," whenever
+an occasion offers to give instances of gross blunders, palpable
+contradictions, and inconclusive arguments. These inconsistent opinions
+may be sanctioned by the similar conduct of a <i>Saint</i>! St. Jerome
+praised Rufinus as the most learned man of his age, while his friend;
+but when the same Rufinus joined his adversary Origen, he called him one
+of the most ignorant!</p>
+
+<p>As a logician Bayle had no superior; the best logician will, however,
+frequently deceive himself. Bayle made long and close arguments to show
+that La Motte le Vayer never could have been a preceptor to the king;
+but all his reasonings are overturned by the fact being given in the
+"History of the Academy," by Pelisson.</p>
+
+<p>Basnage said of Bayle, that <i>he read much by his fingers</i>. He meant that
+he ran over a book more than he read it; and that he had the art of
+always falling upon that which was most essential and curious in the
+book he examined.</p>
+
+<p>There are heavy hours in which the mind of a man of letters is unhinged;
+when the intellectual faculties lose all their elasticity, and when
+nothing but the simplest actions are adapted to their enfeebled state.
+At such hours it is recorded of the Jewish Socrates, Moses Mendelssohn,
+that he would stand at his window, and count the tiles of his
+neighbour's house. An anonymous writer has told of Bayle, that he would
+frequently wrap himself in his cloak, and hasten to places where
+mountebanks resorted; and that this was one of his chief amusements. He
+is surprised that so great a philosopher should delight in so trifling
+an object. This objection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> is not injurious to the character of Bayle;
+it only proves that the writer himself was no philosopher.</p>
+
+<p>The "Monthly Reviewer," in noticing this article, has continued the
+speculation by giving two interesting anecdotes. "The observation
+concerning 'heavy hours,' and the want of elasticity in the intellectual
+faculties of men of letters, when the mind is fatigued and the attention
+blunted by incessant labour, reminds us of what is related by persons
+who were acquainted with the late sagacious magistrate Sir John
+Fielding; who, when fatigued with attending to complicated cases, and
+perplexed with discordant depositions, used to retire to a little closet
+in a remote and tranquil part of the house, to rest his mental powers
+and sharpen perception. He told a great physician, now living, who
+complained of the distance of places, as caused by the great extension
+of London, that 'he (the physician) would not have been able to visit
+many patients to any purpose, if they had resided nearer to each other;
+as he could have had no time either to think or to rest his mind.'"</p>
+
+<p>Our excellent logician was little accustomed to a mixed society: his
+life was passed in study. He had such an infantine simplicity in his
+nature, that he would speak on anatomical subjects before the ladies
+with as much freedom as before surgeons. When they inclined their eyes
+to the ground, and while some even blushed, he would then inquire if
+what he spoke was indecent; and, when told so, he smiled, and stopped.
+His habits of life were, however, extremely pure; he probably left
+himself little leisure "<i>to fall into temptation</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Bayle knew nothing of geometry; and, as Le Clerc informs us,
+acknowledged that he could never comprehend the demonstration of the
+first problem in Euclid. Le Clerc, however, was a rival to Bayle; with
+greater industry and more accurate learning, but with very inferior
+powers of reasoning and philosophy. Both of these great scholars, like
+our Locke, were destitute of fine taste and poetical discernment.</p>
+
+<p>When Fagon, an eminent physician, was consulted on the illness of our
+student, he only prescribed a particular regimen, without the use of
+medicine. He closed his consultation by a compliment remarkable for its
+felicity. "I ardently wish one could spare this great man all this
+constraint, and that it were possible to find a remedy as singular as
+the merit of him for whom it is asked."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Voltaire has said that Bayle confessed he would not have made his
+Dictionary exceed a folio volume, had he written only for himself, and
+not for the booksellers. This Dictionary, with all its human faults, is
+a stupendous work, which must last with literature itself. I take an
+enlarged view of <span class="smcap">Bayle</span> and his <span class="smcap">Dictionary</span>, in a subsequent article.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CERVANTES" id="CERVANTES"></a>CERVANTES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>M. Du Boulay accompanied the French ambassador to Spain, when Cervantes
+was yet living. He told Segrais that the ambassador one day complimented
+Cervantes on the great reputation he had acquired by his Don Quixote;
+and that Cervantes whispered in his ear, "Had it not been for the
+Inquisition, I should have made my book much more entertaining."</p>
+
+<p>Cervantes, at the battle of Lepanto, was wounded, and enslaved. He has
+given his own history in Don Quixote, as indeed every great writer of
+fictitious narratives has usually done. Cervantes was known at the court
+of Spain, but he did not receive those favours which might have been
+expected; he was neglected. His first volume is the finest; and his
+design was to have finished there: but he could not resist the
+importunities of his friends, who engaged him to make a second, which
+has not the same force, although it has many splendid passages.</p>
+
+<p>We have lost many good things of Cervantes, and other writers, through
+the tribunal of religion and dulness. One Aonius Palearius was sensible
+of this; and said, "that the Inquisition was a poniard aimed at the
+throat of literature." The image is striking, and the observation just;
+but this victim of genius was soon led to the stake!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="MAGLIABECHI" id="MAGLIABECHI"></a>MAGLIABECHI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Anthony Magliabechi, who died at the age of eighty, was celebrated for
+his great knowledge of books. He has been called the <i>Helluo</i>, or the
+Glutton of Literature, as Peter <i>Comestor</i> received his nickname from
+his amazing voracity for food he could never digest; which appeared when
+having fallen sick of so much false learning, he threw it all up in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>
+"<i>Sea of Histories</i>," which proved to be the history of all things, and
+a bad history of everything. Magliabechi's character is singular; for
+though his life was wholly passed in libraries, being librarian to the
+Duke of Tuscany, he never <i>wrote</i> himself. There is a medal which
+represents him sitting, with a book in one hand, and a great number of
+books scattered on the ground. The candid inscription signifies, that
+"it is not sufficient to become learned to have read much, if we read
+without reflection." This is the only remains we have of his own
+composition that can be of service to posterity. A simple truth, which
+may, however, be inscribed in the study of every man of letters.</p>
+
+<p>His habits of life were uniform. Ever among his books, he troubled
+himself with no other concern whatever; and the only interest he
+appeared to take for any living thing was his spiders. While sitting
+among his literary piles, he affected great sympathy for these weavers
+of webs, and perhaps in contempt of those whose curiosity appeared
+impertinent, he frequently cried out, "to take care not to hurt his
+spiders!" Although he lost no time in writing himself, he gave
+considerable assistance to authors who consulted him. He was himself an
+universal index to all authors; the late literary antiquary, Isaac Reed,
+resembled him.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> He had one book, among many others, dedicated to
+him, and this dedication consisted of a collection of titles of works
+which he had had at different times dedicated to him, with all the
+eulogiums addressed to him in prose and verse. When he died, he left his
+vast collection for the public use; they now compose the public library
+of Florence.</p>
+
+<p>Heyman, a celebrated Dutch professor, visited this erudite librarian,
+who was considered as the ornament of Florence. He found him amongst his
+books, of which the number was prodigious. Two or three rooms in the
+first story were crowded with them, not only along their sides, but
+piled in heaps on the floor; so that it was difficult to sit, and more
+so to walk. A narrow space was contrived, indeed, so that by walking
+sideways you might extricate yourself from one room to another. This was
+not all; the passage below stairs was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> full of books, and the staircase
+from the top to the bottom was lined with them. When you reached the
+second story, you saw with astonishment three rooms, similar to those
+below, equally so crowded, that two good beds in these chambers were
+also crammed with books.</p>
+
+<p>This apparent confusion did not, however, hinder Magliabechi from
+immediately finding the books he wanted. He knew them all so well, that
+even to the least of them it was sufficient to see its outside, to say
+what it was; he knew his flock, as shepherds are said, by their faces;
+and indeed he read them day and night, and never lost sight of any.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a>
+He ate on his books, he slept on his books, and quitted them as rarely
+as possible. During his whole life he only went twice from Florence;
+once to see Fiesoli, which is not above two leagues distant, and once
+ten miles further by order of the Grand Duke. Nothing could be more
+simple than his mode of life; a few eggs, a little bread, and some
+water, were his ordinary food. A drawer of his desk being open, Mr.
+Heyman saw there several eggs, and some money which Magliabechi had
+placed there for his daily use. But as this drawer was generally open,
+it frequently happened that the servants of his friends, or strangers
+who came to see him, pilfered some of these things; the money or the
+eggs.</p>
+
+<p>His dress was as cynical as his repasts. A black doublet, which
+descended to his knees; large and long breeches; an old patched black
+cloak; an amorphous hat, very much worn, and the edges ragged; a large
+neckcloth of coarse cloth, begrimed with snuff; a dirty shirt, which he
+always wore as long as it lasted, and which the broken elbows of his
+doublet did not conceal; and, to finish this inventory, a pair of
+ruffles which did not belong to the shirt. Such was the brilliant dress
+of our learned Florentine; and in such did he appear in the public
+streets, as well as in his own house. Let me not forget another
+circumstance; to warm his hands, he generally had a stove with fire
+fastened to his arms, so that his clothes were generally singed and
+burnt, and his hands scorched. He had nothing otherwise remarkable about
+him. To literary men he was extremely affable, and a cynic only to the
+eye; anecdotes almost incredible are related of his memory. It is
+somewhat uncommon that as he was so fond of literary <i>food</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> he did not
+occasionally dress some dishes of his own invention, or at least some
+sandwiches to his own relish. He indeed should have written <span class="smcap">Curiosities
+of Literature</span>. He was a living Cyclopaedia, though a dark lantern.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p>
+
+<p>Of such reading men, Hobbes entertained a very contemptible, if not a
+rash opinion. His own reading was inconsiderable; and he used to say,
+that if he had spent as much time in <i>reading</i> as other men of learning,
+he should have been as <i>ignorant</i> as they. He put little value on a
+<i>large library</i>, for he considered all <i>books</i> to be merely <i>extracts</i>
+and <i>copies</i>, for that most authors were like sheep, never deviating
+from the beaten path. History he treated lightly, and thought there were
+more lies than truths in it. But let us recollect after all this, that
+Hobbes was a mere metaphysician, idolising his own vain and empty
+hypotheses. It is true enough that weak heads carrying in them too much
+reading may be staggered. Le Clerc observes of two learned men, De
+Marcilly and Barthius, that they would have composed more useful works
+had they <i>read</i> less numerous authors, and digested the better writers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ABRIDGERS" id="ABRIDGERS"></a>ABRIDGERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Abridgers are a kind of literary men to whom the indolence of modern
+readers, and indeed the multiplicity of authors, give ample employment.</p>
+
+<p>It would be difficult, observed the learned Benedictines, the authors of
+the Literary History of France, to relate all the unhappy consequences
+which ignorance introduced, and the causes which produced that
+ignorance. But we must not forget to place in this number the mode of
+reducing, by way of abridgment, what the ancients had written in bulky
+volumes. Examples of this practice may be observed in preceding
+centuries, but in the fifth century it began to be in general use. As
+the number of students and readers diminished, authors neglected
+literature, and were disgusted with composition; for to write is seldom
+done, but when the writer entertains the hope of finding readers.
+Instead of original authors, there suddenly arose numbers of Abridgers.
+These men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> amidst the prevailing disgust for literature, imagined they
+should gratify the public by introducing a mode of reading works in a
+few hours, which otherwise could not be done in many months; and,
+observing that the bulky volumes of the ancients lay buried in dust,
+without any one condescending to examine them, necessity inspired them
+with an invention that might bring those works and themselves into
+public notice, by the care they took of renovating them. This they
+imagined to effect by forming abridgments of these ponderous tomes.</p>
+
+<p>All these Abridgers, however, did not follow the same mode. Some
+contented themselves with making a mere abridgment of their authors, by
+employing their own expressions, or by inconsiderable alterations.
+Others formed abridgments in drawing them from various authors, but from
+whose works they only took what appeared to them most worthy of
+observation, and embellished them in their own style. Others again,
+having before them several authors who wrote on the same subject, took
+passages from each, united them, and thus combined a new work; they
+executed their design by digesting in commonplaces, and under various
+titles, the most valuable parts they could collect, from the best
+authors they read. To these last ingenious scholars we owe the rescue of
+many valuable fragments of antiquity. They fortunately preserved the
+best maxims, characters, descriptions, and curious matters which they
+had found interesting in their studies.</p>
+
+<p>Some learned men have censured these Abridgers as the cause of our
+having lost so many excellent entire works of the ancients; for
+posterity becoming less studious was satisfied with these extracts, and
+neglected to preserve the originals, whose voluminous size was less
+attractive. Others, on the contrary, say that these Abridgers have not
+been so prejudicial to literature; and that had it not been for their
+care, which snatched many a perishable fragment from that shipwreck of
+letters which the barbarians occasioned, we should perhaps have had no
+works of the ancients remaining. Many voluminous works have been greatly
+improved by their Abridgers. The vast history of Trogus Pompeius was
+soon forgotten and finally perished, after the excellent epitome of it
+by Justin, who winnowed the abundant chaff from the grain.</p>
+
+<p>Bayle gives very excellent advice to an Abridger, Xiphilin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> in his
+"Abridgment of Dion," takes no notice of a circumstance very material
+for entering into the character of Domitian:&mdash;the recalling the empress
+Domitia after having turned her away for her intrigues with a player. By
+omitting this fact in the abridgment, and which is discovered through
+Suetonius, Xiphilin has evinced, he says, a deficient judgment; for
+Domitian's ill qualities are much better exposed, when it is known that
+he was mean-spirited enough to restore to the dignity of Empress the
+prostitute of a player.</p>
+
+<p>Abridgers, Compilers, and Translators, are now slightly regarded; yet to
+form their works with skill requires an exertion of judgment, and
+frequently of taste, of which their contemners appear to have no due
+conception. Such literary labours it is thought the learned will not be
+found to want; and the unlearned cannot discern the value. But to such
+Abridgers as Monsieur Le Grand, in his "Tales of the Minstrels," and Mr.
+Ellis, in his "English Metrical Romances," we owe much; and such writers
+must bring to their task a congeniality of genius, and even more taste
+than their original possessed. I must compare such to fine etchers after
+great masters:&mdash;very few give the feeling touches in the right place.</p>
+
+<p>It is an uncommon circumstance to quote the Scriptures on subjects of
+<i>modern literature</i>! but on the present topic the elegant writer of the
+books of the Maccabees has delivered, in a kind of preface to that
+history, very pleasing and useful instructions to an <i>Abridger</i>. I shall
+transcribe the passages, being concise, from Book ii. Chap. ii. v. 23,
+that the reader may have them at hand:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"All these things, I say, being declared by Jason of Cyrene, in <i>five
+books</i>, we will assay to <i>abridge</i> in one volume. We will be careful
+that they that will read may have <i>delight</i>, and that they that are
+desirous to commit to memory might have <i>ease</i>, and that all into whose
+hands it comes might have <i>profit</i>." How concise and Horatian! He then
+describes his literary labours with no insensibility:&mdash;"To us that have
+taken upon us this painful labour of <i>abridging</i>, it was not easy, but a
+matter of <i>sweat</i> and <i>watching</i>."&mdash;And the writer employs an elegant
+illustration: "Even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet,
+and seeketh the benefit of others; yet for the pleasuring of many, we
+will undertake gladly this great pain; leaving to the author the exact
+handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the <i>rules of an
+abridg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>ment</i>." He now embellishes his critical account with a sublime
+metaphor to distinguish the original from the copier:&mdash;"For as the
+master builder of a new house must care for the whole building; but he
+that undertaketh to set it out, and paint it, must seek out fit things
+for the adorning thereof; even so I think it is with us. To stand upon
+<i>every point</i>, and <i>go over things at large</i>, and to be <i>curious</i> in
+<i>particulars</i>, belonging to the <i>first author</i> of the story; but to use
+<i>brevity</i>, and avoid <i>much labouring</i> of the work, is to be granted to
+him that will make an Abridgment."</p>
+
+<p>Quintilian has not a passage more elegantly composed, nor more
+judiciously conceived.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PROFESSORS_OF_PLAGIARISM_AND_OBSCURITY" id="PROFESSORS_OF_PLAGIARISM_AND_OBSCURITY"></a>PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Among the most singular characters in literature may be ranked those who
+do not blush to profess publicly its most dishonourable practices. The
+first vender of printed sermons imitating manuscript, was, I think, Dr.
+Trusler. He to whom the following anecdotes relate had superior
+ingenuity. Like the famous orator, Henley, he formed a school of his
+own. The present lecturer openly taught not to <i>imitate</i> the best
+authors, but to <i>steal</i> from them!</p>
+
+<p>Richesource, a miserable declaimer, called himself "Moderator of the
+Academy of Philosophical Orators." He taught how a person destitute of
+literary talents might become eminent for literature; and published the
+principles of his art under the title of "The Mask of Orators; or the
+manner of disguising all kinds of composition; briefs, sermons,
+panegyrics, funeral orations, dedications, speeches, letters, passages,"
+&amp;c. I will give a notion of the work:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The author very truly observes, that all who apply themselves to polite
+literature do not always find from their own funds a sufficient supply
+to insure success. For such he labours; and teaches to gather, in the
+gardens of others, those fruits of which their own sterile grounds are
+destitute; but so artfully to gather, that the public shall not perceive
+their depredations. He dignifies this fine art by the title of
+<span class="smcap">Plagianism</span>, and thus explains it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Plagianism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode,
+which some adroitly employ, to change, or disguise, all sorts of
+speeches of their own composition, or that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span> of other authors, for their
+pleasure or their utility; in such a manner that it becomes impossible,
+even for the author himself to recognise his own work, his own genius,
+and his own style, so skilfully shall the whole be disguised."</p>
+
+<p>Our professor proceeds to reveal the manner of managing the whole
+economy of the piece which is to be copied or disguised; and which
+consists in giving a new order to the parts, changing the phrases, the
+words, &amp;c. An orator, for instance, having said that a plenipotentiary
+should possess three qualities,&mdash;<i>probity</i>, <i>capacity</i>, and <i>courage</i>;
+the plagiarist, on the contrary, may employ, <i>courage</i>, <i>capacity</i>, and
+<i>probity</i>. This is only for a general rule, for it is too simple to
+practise frequently. To render the part perfect we must make it more
+complex, by changing the whole of the expressions. The plagiarist in
+place of <i>courage</i>, will put <i>force</i>, <i>constancy</i>, or <i>vigour</i>. For
+<i>probity</i> he may say <i>religion</i>, <i>virtue</i>, or <i>sincerity</i>. Instead of
+<i>capacity</i>, he may substitute <i>erudition</i>, <i>ability</i>, or <i>science</i>. Or
+he may disguise the whole by saying, that the <i>plenipotentiary should be
+firm, virtuous</i>, and <i>able</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of this uncommon work is composed of passages extracted from
+celebrated writers, which are turned into the new manner of the
+plagiarist; their beauties, however, are never improved by their dress.
+Several celebrated writers when young, particularly the famous Flechier,
+who addressed verses to him, frequented the lectures of this professor!</p>
+
+<p>Richesource became so zealous in this course of literature, that he
+published a volume, entitled, "The Art of Writing and Speaking; or, a
+Method of composing all sorts of Letters, and holding a polite
+Conversation." He concludes his preface by advertising his readers, that
+authors who may be in want of essays, sermons, letters of all kinds,
+written pleadings and verses, may be accommodated on application to him.</p>
+
+<p>Our professor was extremely fond of copious title-pages, which I suppose
+to be very attractive to certain readers; for it is a custom which the
+Richesources of the day fail not to employ. Are there persons who value
+<i>books</i> by the length of their titles, as formerly the ability of a
+physician was judged by the dimensions of his wig?</p>
+
+<p>To this article may be added an account of another singular school,
+where the professor taught <i>obscurity</i> in literary composition!</p>
+
+<p>I do not believe that those who are unintelligible are very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>
+intelligent. Quintilian has justly observed, that the obscurity of a
+writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity. However, as there
+is hardly a defect which does not find partisans, the same author
+informs us of a rhetorician, who was so great an admirer of obscurity,
+that he always exhorted his scholars to preserve it; and made them
+correct, as blemishes, those passages of their works which appeared to
+him too intelligible. Quintilian adds, that the greatest panegyric they
+could give to a composition in that school was to declare, "I understand
+nothing of this piece." Lycophron possessed this taste, and he protested
+that he would hang himself if he found a person who should understand
+his poem, called the "Prophecy of Cassandra." He succeeded so well, that
+this piece has been the stumbling-block of all the grammarians,
+scholiasts, and commentators; and remains inexplicable to the present
+day. Such works Charpentier admirably compares to those subterraneous
+places, where the air is so thick and suffocating, that it extinguishes
+all torches. A most sophistical dilemma, on the subject of <i>obscurity</i>,
+was made by Thomas Anglus, or White, an English Catholic priest, the
+friend of Sir Kenelm Digby. This learned man frequently wandered in the
+mazes of metaphysical subtilties; and became perfectly unintelligible to
+his readers. When accused of this obscurity, he replied, "Either the
+learned understand me, or they do not. If they understand me, and find
+me in an error, it is easy for them to refute me; if they do not
+understand me, it is very unreasonable for them to exclaim against my
+doctrines."</p>
+
+<p>This is saying all that the wit of man can suggest in favour of
+<i>obscurity</i>! Many, however, will agree with an observation made by
+Gravina on the over-refinement of modern composition, that "we do not
+think we have attained genius, till others must possess as much
+themselves to understand us." Fontenelle, in France, followed by
+Marivaux, Thomas, and others, first introduced that subtilised manner of
+writing, which tastes more natural and simple reject; one source of such
+bitter complaints of obscurity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="LITERARY_DUTCH" id="LITERARY_DUTCH"></a>LITERARY DUTCH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Pere Bohours seriously asks if a German <i>can be a</i> BEL ESPRIT? This
+concise query was answered by Kramer, in a ponderous volume which bears
+for title, <i>Vindici&aelig; nominis Germanici</i>. This mode of refutation does
+not prove that the question was <i>then</i> so ridiculous as it was
+considered. The Germans of the present day, although greatly superior to
+their ancestors, there are who opine are still distant from the <i>acm&eacute;</i>
+of TASTE, which characterises the finished compositions of the French
+and the English authors. Nations display <i>genius</i> before they form
+<i>taste</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It was the mode with English and French writers to dishonour the Germans
+with the epithets of heavy, dull, and phlegmatic compilers, without
+taste, spirit, or genius; genuine descendants of the ancient
+B&oelig;otians,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Crassoque sub &aelig;&euml;re nati.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Many imaginative and many philosophical performances have lately shown
+that this censure has now become unjust; and much more forcibly answers
+the sarcastic question of Bohours than the thick quarto of Kramer.</p>
+
+<p>Churchill finely says of genius that it is independent of situation,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And may hereafter even in <span class="smcap">Holland</span> rise.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Vondel, whom, as Marchand observes, the Dutch regard as their &AElig;schylus,
+Sophocles, and Euripides, had a strange defective taste; the poet
+himself knew none of these originals, but he wrote on patriotic
+subjects, the sure way to obtain popularity; many of his tragedies are
+also drawn from the Scriptures; all badly chosen and unhappily executed.
+In his <i>Deliverance of the Children of Israel</i>, one of his principal
+characters is the <i>Divinity</i>! In his <i>Jerusalem Destroyed</i> we are
+disgusted with a tedious oration by the angel Gabriel, who proves
+theologically, and his proofs extend through nine closely printed pages
+in quarto, that this destruction has been predicted by the prophets;
+and, in the <i>Lucifer</i> of the same author, the subject is grossly
+scandalised by this haughty spirit becoming stupidly in love with Eve,
+and it is for her he causes the rebellion of the evil angels, and the
+fall of our first parents. Poor Vondel kept a hosier's shop, which he
+left to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> the care of his wife, while he indulged his poetical genius.
+His stocking-shop failed, and his poems produced him more chagrin than
+glory; for in Holland, even a patriotic poet, if a bankrupt, would, no
+doubt, be accounted by his fellow-citizens as a madman. Vondel had no
+other master but his genius, which, with his uncongenial situation,
+occasioned all his errors.</p>
+
+<p>Another Dutch poet is even less tolerable. Having written a long
+rhapsody concerning Pyramus and Thisbe, he concludes it by a ridiculous
+parallel between the death of these unfortunate victims of love, and the
+passion of Jesus Christ. He says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Om t'concluderem van onsen begrypt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dees Historie moraliserende,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is in den verstande wel accorderende,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By der Passie van Christus gebenedyt.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>And upon this, after having turned Pyramus into the Son of God, and
+Thisbe into the Christian soul, he proceeds with a number of
+comparisons; the latter always more impertinent than the former.</p>
+
+<p>I believe it is well known that the actors on the Dutch theatre are
+generally tradesmen, who quit their aprons at the hour of public
+representation. This was the fact when I was in Holland more than forty
+years ago. Their comedies are offensive by the grossness of their
+buffooneries. One of their comic incidents was a miller appearing in
+distress for want of wind to turn his mill; he had recourse to the novel
+scheme of placing his back against it, and by certain imitative sounds
+behind the scenes the mill is soon set a-going. It is hard to rival such
+a depravity of taste.</p>
+
+<p>I saw two of their most celebrated tragedies. The one was Gysbert Van
+Amstel, by Vondel; that is Gysbrecht of Amsterdam, a warrior, who in the
+civil wars preserved this city by his heroism. It is a patriotic
+historical play, and never fails to crowd the theatre towards Christmas,
+when it is usually performed successively. One of the acts concludes
+with the scene of a convent; the sound of warlike instruments is heard;
+the abbey is stormed; the nuns and fathers are slaughtered; with the aid
+of "blunderbuss and thunder," every Dutchman appears sensible of the
+pathos of the poet. But it does not here conclude. After this terrible
+slaughter, the conquerors and the vanquished remain for <i>ten minutes</i> on
+the stage, silent and motionless, in the attitudes in which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> groups
+happened to fall! and this pantomimic pathos commands loud bursts of
+applause.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p>
+
+<p>The other was the Ahasuerus of Schubart, or the Fall of Haman. In the
+triumphal entry the Batavian Mordecai was mounted on a genuine Flanders
+mare, that, fortunately, quietly received <i>her</i> applause with a lumpish
+majesty resembling her rider. I have seen an English ass once introduced
+on our stage which did not act with this decorum. Our late actors have
+frequently been beasts;&mdash;a Dutch taste!<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a></p>
+
+<p>Some few specimens of the best Dutch poetry which we have had, yield no
+evidence in favour of the national poetical taste. The Dutch poet Katz
+has a poem on the "Games of Children," where all the games are
+moralised; I suspect the taste of the poet as well as his subject is
+puerile. When a nation has produced no works above mediocrity, with them
+a certain mediocrity is excellence, and their masterpieces, with a
+people who have made a greater progress in refinement, can never be
+accepted as the works of a master.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_PRODUCTIONS_OF_THE_MIND_NOT_SEIZABLE_BY_CREDITORS" id="THE_PRODUCTIONS_OF_THE_MIND_NOT_SEIZABLE_BY_CREDITORS"></a>THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When Crebillon, the French tragic poet, published his Catiline, it was
+attended with an honour to literature, which though it is probably
+forgotten, for it was only registered, I think, as the news of the day,
+it becomes one zealous in the cause of literature to preserve. I give
+the circumstance, the petition, and the decree.</p>
+
+<p>At the time Catiline was given to the public, the creditors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> of the poet
+had the cruelty to attach the produce of this piece, as well at the
+bookseller's, who had printed the tragedy, as at the theatre where it
+was performed. The poet, irritated at these proceedings, addressed a
+petition to the king, in which he showed "that it was a thing yet
+unknown, that it should be allowed to class amongst seizable effects the
+productions of the human mind; that if such a practice was permitted,
+those who had consecrated their vigils to the studies of literature, and
+who had made the greatest efforts to render themselves, by this means,
+useful to their country, would see themselves placed in the cruel
+predicament of not venturing to publish works, often precious and
+interesting to the state; that the greater part of those who devote
+themselves to literature require for the first wants of life those aids
+which they have a right to expect from their labours; and that it never
+has been suffered in France to seize the fees of lawyers, and other
+persons of liberal professions."</p>
+
+<p>In answer to this petition, a decree immediately issued from the King's
+council, commanding a replevy of the arrests and seizures of which the
+petitioner complained. This honourable decree was dated 21st of May,
+1749, and bore the following title:&mdash;"Decree of the Council of his
+Majesty, in favour of M. Crebillon, author of the tragedy of Catiline,
+which declares that the productions of the mind are not amongst seizable
+effects."</p>
+
+<p>Louis XV. exhibits the noble example of bestowing a mark of
+consideration to the remains of a man of letters. This King not only
+testified his esteem of Crebillon by having his works printed at the
+Louvre, but also by consecrating to his glory a tomb of marble.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CRITICS" id="CRITICS"></a>CRITICS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Writers who have been unsuccessful in original composition have their
+other productions immediately decried, whatever merit they might once
+have been allowed to possess. Yet this is very unjust; an author who has
+given a wrong direction to his literary powers may perceive, at length,
+where he can more securely point them. Experience is as excellent a
+mistress in the school of literature as in the school of human life.
+Blackmore's epics are insufferable; yet neither Addison<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> nor Johnson
+erred when they considered his philosophical poem as a valuable
+composition. An indifferent poet may exert the art of criticism in a
+very high degree; and if he cannot himself produce an original work, he
+may yet be of great service in regulating the happier genius of another.
+This observation I shall illustrate by the characters of two French
+critics; the one is the Abb&eacute; d'Aubignac, and the other Chapelain.</p>
+
+<p>Boileau opens his Art of Poetry by a precept which though it be common
+is always important; this critical poet declares, that "It is in vain a
+daring author thinks of attaining to the height of Parnassus if he does
+not feel the secret influence of heaven, and if his natal star has not
+formed him to be a poet." This observation he founded on the character
+of our Abb&eacute;; who had excellently written on the economy of dramatic
+composition. His <i>Pratique du Th&eacute;&acirc;tre</i> gained him an extensive
+reputation. When he produced a tragedy, the world expected a finished
+piece; it was acted, and reprobated. The author, however, did not
+acutely feel its bad reception; he everywhere boasted that he, of all
+the dramatists, had most scrupulously observed the <i>rules</i> of Aristotle.
+The Prince de Guemen&eacute;, famous for his repartees, sarcastically observed,
+"I do not quarrel with the Abb&eacute; d'Aubignac for having so closely
+followed the precepts of Aristotle; but I cannot pardon the precepts of
+Aristotle, that occasioned the Abb&eacute; d'Aubignac to write so wretched a
+tragedy."</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pratique du Th&eacute;&acirc;tre</i> is not, however, to be despised, because the
+<i>Tragedy</i> of its author is despicable.</p>
+
+<p>Chapelain's unfortunate epic has rendered him notorious. He had gained,
+and not undeservedly, great reputation for his critical powers. After a
+retention of above thirty years, his <i>Pucelle</i> appeared. He immediately
+became the butt of every unfledged wit, and his former works were
+eternally condemned; insomuch that when Camusat published, after the
+death of our author, a little volume of extracts from his manuscript
+letters, it is curious to observe the awkward situation in which he
+finds himself. In his preface he seems afraid that the very name of
+Chapelain will be sufficient to repel the reader.</p>
+
+<p>Camusat observes of Chapelain, that "he found flatterers, who assured
+him his <i>Pucelle</i> ranked above the &AElig;neid; and this Chapelain but feebly
+denied. However this may be, it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> would be difficult to make the bad
+taste which reigns throughout this poem agree with that sound and exact
+criticism with which he decided on the works of others. So true is it,
+that <i>genius</i> is very superior to a justness of mind which is
+<i>sufficient to judge</i> and to advise others." Chapelain was ordered to
+draw up a critical list of the chief living authors and men of letters
+in France, for the king. It is extremely impartial, and performed with
+an analytical skill of their literary characters which could not have
+been surpassed by an Aristotle or a Boileau.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>talent of judging</i> may exist separately from the <i>power of
+execution</i>. An amateur may not be an artist, though an artist should be
+an amateur; and it is for this reason that young authors are not to
+contemn the precepts of such critics as even the Abb&eacute; d'Aubignac and
+Chapelain. It is to Walsh, a miserable versifier, that Pope stands
+indebted for the hint of our poetry then being deficient in correctness
+and polish; and it is from this fortunate hint that Pope derived his
+poetical excellence. Dionysius Halicarnassensis has composed a lifeless
+history; yet, as Gibbon observes, how admirably has <i>he</i> judged the
+masters, and defined the rules, of historical composition! Gravina, with
+great taste and spirit, has written on poetry and poets, but he composed
+tragedies which give him no title to be ranked among them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ANECDOTES_OF_CENSURED_AUTHORS" id="ANECDOTES_OF_CENSURED_AUTHORS"></a>ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is an ingenious observation made by a journalist of Trevoux, on
+perusing a criticism not ill written, which pretended to detect several
+faults in the compositions of Bruy&egrave;re, that in ancient Rome the great
+men who triumphed amidst the applauses of those who celebrated their
+virtues, were at the same time compelled to listen to those who
+reproached them with their vices. This custom is not less necessary to
+the republic of letters than it was formerly to the republic of Rome.
+Without this it is probable that authors would be intoxicated with
+success, and would then relax in their accustomed vigour; and the
+multitude who took them for models would, for want of judgment, imitate
+their defects.</p>
+
+<p>Sterne and Churchill were continually abusing the Reviewers, because
+they honestly told the one that obscenity was not wit, and obscurity was
+not sense; and the other that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> dissonance in poetry did not excel
+harmony, and that his rhymes were frequently prose lines of ten
+syllables cut into verse. They applauded their happier efforts.
+Notwithstanding all this, it is certain that so little discernment
+exists among common writers and common readers, that the obscenity and
+flippancy of Sterne, and the bald verse and prosaic poetry of Churchill,
+were precisely the portion which they selected for imitation. The
+blemishes of great men are not the less blemishes, but they are,
+unfortunately, the easiest parts for imitation.</p>
+
+<p>Yet criticism may be too rigorous, and genius too sensible to its direst
+attacks. Sir John Marsham, having published the first part of his
+"Chronology," suffered so much chagrin at the endless controversies
+which it raised&mdash;and some of his critics went so far as to affirm it was
+designed to be detrimental to revelation&mdash;that he burned the second
+part, which was ready for the press. Pope was observed to writhe with
+anguish in his chair on hearing mentioned the letter of Cibber, with
+other temporary attacks; and it is said of Montesquieu, that he was so
+much affected by the criticisms, true and false, which he daily
+experienced, that they contributed to hasten his death. Ritson's extreme
+irritability closed in lunacy, while ignorant Reviewers, in the shapes
+of assassins, were haunting his death-bed. In the preface to his
+"Metrical Romances," he describes himself as "brought to an end in ill
+health and low spirits&mdash;certain to be insulted by a base and prostitute
+gang of lurking assassins who stab in the dark, and whose poisoned
+daggers he has already experienced." Scott, of Amwell, never recovered
+from a ludicrous criticism, which I discovered had been written by a
+physician who never pretended to poetical taste.</p>
+
+<p>Pelisson has recorded a literary anecdote, which forcibly shows the
+danger of caustic criticism. A young man from a remote province came to
+Paris with a play, which he considered as a masterpiece. M. L'Etoile was
+more than just in his merciless criticism. He showed the youthful bard a
+thousand glaring defects in his chef-d'&oelig;uvre. The humbled country
+author burnt his tragedy, returned home, took to his chamber, and died
+of vexation and grief. Of all unfortunate men, one of the unhappiest is
+a middling author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.
+Athen&aelig;us, in his tenth book, has given us a lively portrait of this
+melancholy being. Anaxandrides appeared one day on horseback in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span>
+public assembly at Athens, to recite a dithyrambic poem, of which he
+read a portion. He was a man of fine stature, and wore a purple robe
+edged with golden fringe. But his complexion was saturnine and
+melancholy, which was the cause that he never spared his own writings.
+Whenever he was vanquished by a rival, he immediately gave his
+compositions to the druggists to be cut into pieces to wrap their
+articles in, without ever caring to revise his writings. It is owing to
+this that he destroyed a number of pleasing compositions; age increased
+his sourness, and every day he became more and more dissatisfied with
+the awards of his auditors. Hence his "Tereus," because it failed to
+obtain the prize, has not reached us, which, with other of his
+productions, deserved preservation, though they had missed the crown
+awarded by the public.</p>
+
+<p>Batteux having been chosen by the French government for the compilation
+of elementary hooks for the Military School, is said to have felt their
+unfavourable reception so acutely, that he became a prey to excessive
+grief. The lamentable death of Dr. Hawkesworth was occasioned by a
+similar circumstance. Government had consigned to his care the
+compilation of the voyages that pass under his name: how he succeeded is
+well known. He felt the public reception so sensibly, that he preferred
+the oblivion of death to the mortifying recollections of life.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p>
+
+<p>On this interesting subject Fontenelle, in his "Eloge sur Newton," has
+made the following observation:&mdash;"Newton was more desirous of remaining
+unknown than of having the calm of life disturbed by those literary
+storms which genius and science attract about those who rise to
+eminence." In one of his letters we learn that his "Treatise on Optics"
+being ready for the press, several premature objections which appeared
+made him abandon its publication. "I should reproach myself," he said,
+"for my imprudence, if I were to lose a thing so real as my ease to run
+after a shadow." But this shadow he did not miss: it did not cost him
+the ease he so much loved, and it had for him as much reality as ease
+itself. I refer to Bayle, in his curious article, "Hipponax," note F. To
+these instances we may add the fate of the Abb&eacute;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> Cassagne, a man of
+learning, and not destitute of talents. He was intended for one of the
+preachers at court; but he had hardly made himself known in the pulpit,
+when he was struck by the lightning of Boileau's muse. He felt so
+acutely the caustic verses, that they rendered him almost incapable of
+literary exertion; in the prime of life he became melancholy, and
+shortly afterwards died insane. A modern painter, it is known, never
+recovered from the biting ridicule of a popular, but malignant wit.
+Cummyns, a celebrated quaker, confessed he died of an anonymous letter
+in a public paper, which, said he, "fastened on my heart, and threw me
+into this slow fever." Racine, who died of his extreme sensibility to a
+royal rebuke, confessed that the pain which one severe criticism
+inflicted outweighed all the applause he could receive. The feathered
+arrow of an epigram has sometimes been wet with the heart's blood of its
+victim. Fortune has been lost, reputation destroyed, and every charity
+of life extinguished, by the inhumanity of inconsiderate wit.</p>
+
+<p>Literary history, even of our own days, records the fate of several who
+may be said to have <i>died of Criticism</i>.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> But there is more sense
+and infinite humour in the mode which Ph&aelig;drus adopted to answer the
+cavillers of his age. When he first published his Fables, the taste for
+conciseness and simplicity were so much on the decline, that they were
+both objected to him as faults. He used his critics as they deserved. To
+those who objected against the <i>conciseness</i> of his style, he tells a
+long <i>tedious story</i> (Lib. iii. Fab. 10, ver. 59), and treats those who
+condemned the <i>simplicity</i> of his style with a run of <i>bombast verses</i>,
+that have a great many noisy elevated words in them, without any sense
+at the bottom&mdash;this in Lib. iv. Fab. 6.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIRGINITY" id="VIRGINITY"></a>VIRGINITY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The writings of the Fathers once formed the studies of the learned.
+These labours abound with that subtilty of argument which will repay the
+industry of the inquisitive, and the antiquary may turn them over for
+pictures of the manners of the age. A favourite subject with Saint
+Ambrose was that of Virginity, on which he has several works; and
+perhaps he wished to revive the order of the vestals of ancient Rome,
+which afterwards produced the institution of Nuns. From his "Treatise on
+Virgins," written in the fourth century, we learn the lively impressions
+his exhortations had made on the minds and hearts of girls, not less in
+the most distant provinces, than in the neighbourhood of Milan, where he
+resided. The Virgins of Bologna, amounting only, it appears, to the
+number of twenty, performed all kinds of needlework, not merely to gain
+their livelihood, but also to be enabled to perform acts of liberality,
+and exerted their industry to allure other girls to join the holy
+profession of <span class="smcap">Virginity</span>. He exhorts daughters, in spite of their
+parents, and even their lovers, to consecrate themselves. "I do not
+blame marriage," he says, "I only show the advantages of <span class="smcap">Virginity</span>."</p>
+
+<p>He composed this book in so florid a style, that he considered it
+required some apology. A Religious of the Benedictines published a
+translation in 1689.</p>
+
+<p>So sensible was St. Ambrose of the <i>rarity</i> of the profession he would
+establish, that he thus combats his adversaries: "They complain that
+human nature will be exhausted; but I ask, who has ever sought to marry
+without finding women enough from amongst whom he might choose? What
+murder, or what war, has ever been occasioned for a virgin? It is one of
+the consequences of marriage to kill the adulterer, and to war with the
+ravisher."</p>
+
+<p>He wrote another treatise <i>On the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of
+God</i>. He attacks Bonosius on this subject, and defends her virginity,
+which was indeed greatly suspected by Bonosius, who, however, incurred
+by this bold suspicion the anathema of <i>Heresy</i>. A third treatise was
+entitled <i>Exhortation to Virginity</i>; a fourth, <i>On the Fate of a
+Virgin</i>, is more curious. He relates the misfortunes of one <i>Susannah</i>,
+who was by no means a companion for her namesake; for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> having made a vow
+of virginity, and taken the veil, she afterwards endeavoured to conceal
+her shame, but the precaution only tended to render her more culpable.
+Her behaviour, indeed, had long afforded ample food for the sarcasms of
+the Jews and Pagans. Saint Ambrose compelled her to perform public
+penance, and after having declaimed on her double crime, gave her hopes
+of pardon, if, like "Soeur Jeanne," this early nun would sincerely
+repent: to complete her chastisement, he ordered her every day to recite
+the fiftieth psalm.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_GLANCE_INTO_THE_FRENCH_ACADEMY" id="A_GLANCE_INTO_THE_FRENCH_ACADEMY"></a>A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the republic of letters the establishment of an academy has been a
+favourite project; yet perhaps it is little more than an Utopian scheme.
+The united efforts of men of letters in Academies have produced little.
+It would seem that no man likes to bestow his great labours on a small
+community, for whose members he himself does not feel, probably, the
+most flattering partiality. The French Academy made a splendid
+appearance in Europe; yet when this society published their Dictionary,
+that of Fureti&egrave;re's became a formidable rival; and Johnson did as much
+as the <i>forty</i> themselves. Voltaire confesses that the great characters
+of the literary republic were formed without the aid of academies.&mdash;"For
+what then," he asks, "are they necessary?&mdash;To preserve and nourish the
+fire which great geniuses have kindled." By observing the <i>Junto</i> at
+their meetings we may form some opinion of the indolent manner in which
+they trifled away their time. We are fortunately enabled to do this, by
+a letter in which Patru describes, in a very amusing manner, the visit
+which Christina of Sweden took a sudden fancy to pay to the Academy.</p>
+
+<p>The Queen of Sweden suddenly resolved to visit the French Academy, and
+gave so short a notice of her design, that it was impossible to inform
+the majority of the members of her intention. About four o'clock fifteen
+or sixteen academicians were assembled. M. Gombaut, who had never
+forgiven her majesty, because she did not relish his verses, thought
+proper to show his resentment by quitting the assembly.</p>
+
+<p>She was received in a spacious hall. In the middle was a table covered
+with rich blue velvet, ornamented with a broad border of gold and
+silver. At its head was placed an arm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>chair of black velvet embroidered
+with gold, and round the table were placed chairs with tapestry backs.
+The chancellor had forgotten to hang in the hall the portrait of the
+queen, which she had presented to the Academy, and which was considered
+as a great omission. About five, a footman belonging to the queen
+inquired if the company were assembled. Soon after, a servant of the
+king informed the chancellor that the queen was at the end of the
+street; and immediately her carriage drew up in the court-yard. The
+chancellor, followed by the rest of the members, went to receive her as
+she stepped out of her chariot; but the crowd was so great, that few of
+them could reach her majesty. Accompanied by the chancellor, she passed
+through the first hall, followed by one of her ladies, the captain of
+her guards, and one or two of her suite.</p>
+
+<p>When she entered the Academy she approached the fire, and spoke in a low
+voice to the chancellor. She then asked why M. Menage was not there? and
+when she was told that he did not belong to the Academy, she asked why
+he did not? She was answered, that, however he might merit the honour,
+he had rendered himself unworthy of it by several disputes he had had
+with its members. She then inquired aside of the chancellor whether the
+academicians were to sit or stand before her? On this the chancellor
+consulted with a member, who observed that in the time of Ronsard, there
+was held an assembly of men of letters before Charles IX. several times,
+and that they were always seated. The queen conversed with M. Bourdelot;
+and suddenly turning to Madame de Bregis, told her that she believed she
+must not be present at the assembly; but it was agreed that this lady
+deserved the honour. As the queen was talking with a member she abruptly
+quitted him, as was her custom, and in her quick way sat down in the
+arm-chair; and at the same time the members seated themselves. The queen
+observing that they did not, out of respect to her, approach the table,
+desired them to come near; and they accordingly approached it.</p>
+
+<p>During these ceremonious preparations several officers of state had
+entered the hall, and stood behind the academicians. The chancellor sat
+at the queen's left hand by the fire-side; and at the right was placed
+M. de la Chambre, the director; then Boisrobert, Patru, Pelisson, Cotin,
+the Abb&eacute; Tallemant, and others. M. de Mezeray sat at the bot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>tom of the
+table facing the queen, with an inkstand, paper, and the portfolio of
+the company lying before him: he occupied the place of the secretary.
+When they were all seated the director rose, and the academicians
+followed him, all but the chancellor, who remained in his seat. The
+director made his complimentary address in a low voice, his body was
+quite bent, and no person but the queen and the chancellor could hear
+him. She received his address with great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>All compliments concluded, they returned to their seats. The director
+then told the queen that he had composed a treatise on Pain, to add to
+his character of the Passions, and if it was agreeable to her majesty,
+he would read the first chapter.&mdash;"Very willingly," she answered. Having
+read it, he said to her majesty, that he would read no more lest he
+should fatigue her. "Not at all," she replied, "for I suppose what
+follows is like what I have heard."</p>
+
+<p>M. de Mezeray observed that M. Cotin had some verses, which her majesty
+would doubtless find beautiful, and if it was agreeable they should be
+read. M. Cotin read them: they were versions of two passages from
+Lucretius: the one in which he attacks a Providence, and the other,
+where he gives the origin of the world according to the Epicurean
+system: to these he added twenty lines of his own, in which he
+maintained the existence of a Providence. This done, an abb&eacute; rose, and,
+without being desired or ordered, read two sonnets, which by courtesy
+were allowed to be tolerable. It is remarkable that both the <i>poets</i>
+read their verses standing, while the rest read their compositions
+seated.</p>
+
+<p>After these readings, the director informed the queen that the ordinary
+exercise of the company was to labour on the dictionary; and that if her
+majesty should not find it disagreeable, they would read a <i>cahier</i>.
+"Very willingly," she answered. M. de Mezeray then read what related to
+the word <i>Jeu; Game</i>. Amongst other proverbial expressions was this:
+<i>Game of Princes, which only pleases the player</i>, to express a malicious
+violence committed by one in power. At this the queen laughed heartily;
+and they continued reading all that was fairly written. This lasted
+about an hour, when the queen observing that nothing more remained,
+arose, made a bow to the company, and returned in the manner she
+entered.</p>
+
+<p>Fureti&egrave;re, who was himself an academician, has described the miserable
+manner in which time was consumed at their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> assemblies. I confess he was
+a satirist, and had quarrelled with the Academy; there must have been,
+notwithstanding, sufficient resemblance for the following picture,
+however it may be overcharged. He has been blamed for thus exposing the
+Eleusinian mysteries of literature to the uninitiated.</p>
+
+<p>"He who is most clamorous, is he whom they suppose has most reason. They
+all have the art of making long orations upon a trifle. The second
+repeats like an echo what the first said; but generally three or four
+speak together. When there is a bench of five or six members, one reads,
+another decides, two converse, one sleeps, and another amuses himself
+with reading some dictionary which happens to lie before him. When a
+second member is to deliver his opinion, they are obliged to read again
+the article, which at the first perusal he had been too much engaged to
+hear. This is a happy manner of finishing their work. They can hardly
+get over two lines without long digressions; without some one telling a
+pleasant story, or the news of the day; or talking of affairs of state,
+and reforming the government."</p>
+
+<p>That the French Academy were generally frivolously employed appears also
+from an epistle to Balzac, by Boisrobert, the amusing companion of
+Cardinal Richelieu. "Every one separately," says he, "promises great
+things; when they meet they do nothing. They have been <i>six years</i>
+employed on the letter F; and I should be happy if I were certain of
+living till they got through G."</p>
+
+<p>The following anecdote concerns the <i>forty arm-chairs</i> of the
+academicians.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> Those cardinals who were academicians for a long time
+had not attended the meetings of the Academy, because they thought that
+<i>arm-chairs</i> were indispensable to their dignity, and the Academy had
+then only common chairs. These cardinals were desirous of being present
+at the election of M. Monnoie, that they might give him a distinguished
+mark of their esteem. "The king," says D'Alembert, "to satisfy at once
+the delicacy of their friendship, and that of their cardinalship, and to
+preserve at the same time that academical equality, of which this
+enlightened monarch (Louis XIV.) well knew the advantage, sent to the
+Academy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> forty arm-chairs for the forty academicians, the same chairs
+which we now occupy; and the motive to which we owe them is sufficient
+to render the memory of Louis XIV. precious to the republic of letters,
+to whom it owes so many more important obligations!"</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POETICAL_AND_GRAMMATICAL_DEATHS" id="POETICAL_AND_GRAMMATICAL_DEATHS"></a>POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It will appear by the following anecdotes, that some men may be said to
+have died <i>poetically</i> and even <i>grammatically</i>.</p>
+
+<p>There must be some attraction existing in poetry which is not merely
+fictitious, for often have its genuine votaries felt all its powers on
+the most trying occasions. They have displayed the energy of their mind
+by composing or repeating verses, even with death on their lips.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor Adrian, dying, made that celebrated address to his soul,
+which is so happily translated by Pope. Lucan, when he had his veins
+opened by order of Nero, expired reciting a passage from his Pharsalia,
+in which he had described the wound of a dying soldier. Petronius did
+the same thing on the same occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Patris, a poet of Caen, perceiving himself expiring, composed some
+verses which are justly admired. In this little poem he relates a dream,
+in which he appeared to be placed next to a beggar, when, having
+addressed him in the haughty strain he would probably have employed on
+this side of the grave, he receives the following reprimand:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ici tous sont &eacute;gaux; je ne te dois plus rien;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Je suis sur mon fumier comme toi sur le tien.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Here all are equal! now thy lot is mine!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I on my dunghill, as thou art on thine.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Des Barreaux, it is said, wrote on his death-bed that well-known sonnet
+which is translated in the "Spectator."</p>
+
+<p>Margaret of Austria, when she was nearly perishing in a storm at sea,
+composed her epitaph in verse. Had she perished, what would have become
+of the epitaph? And if she escaped, of what use was it? She should
+rather have said her prayers. The verses however have all the <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i>
+of the times. They are&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Cy gist Margot, la gente demoiselle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qu'eut deux maris, et si mourut pucelle.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Beneath this tomb is high-born Margaret laid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>She was betrothed to Charles VIII. of France, who forsook her; and being
+next intended for the Spanish infant, in her voyage to Spain, she wrote
+these lines in a storm.</p>
+
+<p>Mademoiselle de Serment was surnamed the philosopher. She was celebrated
+for her knowledge and taste in polite literature. She died of a cancer
+in her breast, and suffered her misfortune with exemplary patience. She
+expired in finishing these verses, which she addressed to Death:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">Nectare clausa suo,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It was after Cervantes had received extreme unction that he wrote the
+dedication of his Persiles.</p>
+
+<p>Roscommon, at the moment he expired, with an energy of voice that
+expressed the most fervent devotion, uttered two lines of his own
+version of "Dies Ir&aelig;!" Waller, in his last moments, repeated some lines
+from Virgil; and Chaucer seems to have taken his farewell of all human
+vanities by a moral ode, entitled, "A balade made by Geffrey Chaucyer
+upon his dethe-bedde lying in his grete anguysse."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p>
+
+<p>Cornelius de Witt fell an innocent victim to popular prejudice. His
+death is thus noticed by Hume:&mdash;"This man, who had bravely served his
+country in war, and who had been invested with the highest dignities,
+was delivered into the hands of the executioner, and torn in pieces by
+the most inhuman torments. Amidst the severe agonies which he endured he
+frequently repeated an ode of Horace, which contained sentiments suited
+to his deplorable condition." It was the third ode of the third book
+which this illustrious philosopher and statesman then repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Metastasio, after receiving the sacrament, a very short time before his
+last moments, broke out with all the enthusiasm of poetry and religion
+in these stanzas:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">T' offro il tuo proprio Figlio,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Che gi&agrave; d'amore in pegno,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Racchiuso in picciol segno<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Si volle a noi donar.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span></div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A lui rivolgi il ciglio.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Guardo chi t' offro, e poi<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lasci, Signor, se vuoi,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lascia di perdonar.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I offer to thee, O Lord, thine own Son, who already has given the
+pledge of love, enclosed in this thin emblem. Turn on him thine
+eyes: ah! behold whom I offer to thee, and then desist, O Lord! if
+thou canst desist from mercy." </p></div>
+
+<p>"The muse that has attended my course," says the dying Gleim in a letter
+to Klopstock, "still hovers round my steps to the very verge of the
+grave." A collection of lyrical poems, entitled "Last Hours," composed
+by old Gleim on his death-bed, was intended to be published. The death
+of Klopstock was one of the most poetical: in this poet's "Messiah," he
+had made the death of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, a picture
+of the death of the Just; and on his own death-bed he was heard
+repeating, with an expiring voice, his own verses on Mary; he was
+exhorting himself to die by the accents of his own harp, the sublimities
+of his own muse! The same song of Mary was read at the public funeral of
+Klopstock.</p>
+
+<p>Chatelar, a French gentleman, beheaded in Scotland for having loved the
+queen, and even for having attempted her honour, Brantome says, would
+not have any other viaticum than a poem of Ronsard. When he ascended the
+scaffold he took the hymns of this poet, and for his consolation read
+that on death, which our old critic says is well adapted to conquer its
+fear.</p>
+
+<p>When the Marquis of Montrose was condemned by his judges to have his
+limbs nailed to the gates of four cities, the brave soldier said that
+"he was sorry he had not limbs sufficient to be nailed to all the gates
+of the cities in Europe, as monuments of his loyalty." As he proceeded
+to his execution, he put this thought into verse.</p>
+
+<p>Philip Strozzi, imprisoned by Cosmo the First, Great Duke of Tuscany,
+was apprehensive of the danger to which he might expose his friends who
+had joined in his conspiracy against the duke, from the confessions
+which the rack might extort from him. Having attempted every exertion
+for the liberty of his country, he considered it as no crime therefore
+to die. He resolved on suicide. With the point of the sword, with which
+he killed himself, he cut out on the mantel-piece of the chimney this
+verse of Virgil:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rise some avenger from our blood!<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>I can never repeat without a strong emotion the following stanzas, begun
+by Andr&eacute; Chenier, in the dreadful period of the French revolution. He
+was waiting for his turn to be dragged to the guillotine, when he
+commenced this poem:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Comme un dernier rayon, comme un dernier z&eacute;phyre<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Anime la fin d'un beau jour;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Au pied de l'&eacute;chafaud j'essaie encore ma lyre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Peut-&ecirc;tre est ce bient&ocirc;t mon tour;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Peut-&ecirc;tre avant que l'heure en cercle promen&eacute;e<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Ait pos&eacute; sur l'&eacute;mail brillant,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dans les soixante pas o&ugrave; sa route est born&eacute;e<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Son pied sonore et vigilant,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Le sommeil du tombeau pressera ma paupi&egrave;re&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Here, at this pathetic line, was Andr&eacute; Chenier summoned to the
+guillotine! Never was a more beautiful effusion of grief interrupted by
+a more affecting incident!</p>
+
+<p>Several men of science have died in a scientific manner. Haller, the
+poet, philosopher, and physician, beheld his end approach with the
+utmost composure. He kept feeling his pulse to the last moment, and when
+he found that life was almost gone, he turned to his brother physician,
+observing, "My friend, the artery ceases to beat," and almost instantly
+expired. The same remarkable circumstance had occurred to the great
+Harvey: he kept making observations on the state of his pulse, when life
+was drawing to its close, "as if," says Dr. Wilson, in the oration
+spoken a few days after the event, "that he who had taught us the
+beginning of life might himself, at his departing from it, become
+acquainted with those of death."</p>
+
+<p>De Lagny, who was intended by his friends for the study of the law,
+having fallen on an Euclid, found it so congenial to his dispositions,
+that he devoted himself to mathematics. In his last moments, when he
+retained no further recollection of the friends who surrounded his bed,
+one of them, perhaps to make a philosophical experiment, thought proper
+to ask him the square of twelve: our dying mathematician instantly, and
+perhaps without knowing that he answered, replied, "One hundred and
+forty-four."</p>
+
+<p>The following anecdotes are of a different complexion, and may excite a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>P&egrave;re Bohours was a French grammarian, who had been justly accused of
+paying too scrupulous an attention to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> minuti&aelig; of letters. He was
+more solicitous of his <i>words</i> than his <i>thoughts</i>. It is said, that
+when he was dying, he called out to his friends (a correct grammarian to
+the last), "<i>Je</i> VAS <i>ou je</i> VAIS <i>mourir; l'un ou l'autre se dit</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>When Malherbe was dying, he reprimanded his nurse for making use of a
+solecism in her language; and when his confessor represented to him the
+felicities of a future state in low and trite expressions, the dying
+critic interrupted him:&mdash;"Hold your tongue," he said; "your wretched
+style only makes me out of conceit with them!"</p>
+
+<p>The favourite studies and amusements of the learned La Mothe le Vayer
+consisted in accounts of the most distant countries. He gave a striking
+proof of the influence of this master-passion, when death hung upon his
+lips. Bernier, the celebrated traveller, entering and drawing the
+curtains of his bed to take his eternal farewell, the dying man turning
+to him, with a faint voice inquired, "Well, my friend, what news from
+the Great Mogul?"</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SCARRON" id="SCARRON"></a>SCARRON.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Scarron, as a burlesque poet, but no other comparison exists, had his
+merit, but is now little read; for the uniformity of the burlesque style
+is as intolerable as the uniformity of the serious. From various sources
+we may collect some uncommon anecdotes, although he was a mere author.</p>
+
+<p>His father, a counsellor, having married a second wife, the lively
+Scarron became the object of her hatred.</p>
+
+<p>He studied, and travelled, and took the clerical tonsure; but discovered
+dispositions more suitable to the pleasures of his age than to the
+gravity of his profession. He formed an acquaintance with the wits of
+the times; and in the carnival of 1638 committed a youthful
+extravagance, for which his remaining days formed a continual
+punishment. He disguised himself as a savage; the singularity of a naked
+man attracted crowds. After having been hunted by the mob, he was forced
+to escape from his pursuers; and concealed himself in a marsh. A
+freezing cold seized him, and threw him, at the age of twenty-seven
+years, into a kind of palsy; a cruel disorder which tormented him all
+his life. "It was thus," he says, "that pleasure deprived me suddenly of
+legs which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> had danced with elegance, and of hands, which could manage
+the pencil and the lute."</p>
+
+<p>Goujet, without stating this anecdote, describes his disorder as an
+acrid humour, distilling itself on his nerves, and baffling the skill of
+his physicians; the sciatica, rheumatism, in a word, a complication of
+maladies attacked him, sometimes successively, sometimes together, and
+made of our poor Abb&eacute; a sad spectacle. He thus describes himself in one
+of his letters; and who could be in better humour?</p>
+
+<p>"I have lived to thirty: if I reach forty, I shall only add many
+miseries to those which I have endured these last eight or nine years.
+My person was well made, though short; my disorder has shortened it
+still more by a foot. My head is a little broad for my shape; my face is
+full enough for my body to appear very meagre; I have hair enough to
+render a wig unnecessary; I have got many white hairs, in spite of the
+proverb. My teeth, formerly square pearls, are now of the colour of
+wood, and will soon be of slate. My legs and thighs first formed an
+obtuse angle, afterwards an equilateral angle, and at length, an acute
+one. My thighs and body form another; and my head, always dropping on my
+breast, makes me not ill represent a Z. I have got my arms shortened as
+well as my legs, and my fingers as well as my arms. In a word, I am an
+abridgment of human miseries."</p>
+
+<p>He had the free use of nothing but his tongue and his hands; and he
+wrote on a portfolio placed on his knees.</p>
+
+<p>Balzac said of Scarron, that he had gone further in insensibility than
+the Stoics, who were satisfied in appearing insensible to pain; but
+Scarron was gay, and amused all the world with his sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>He pourtrays himself thus humorously in his address to the queen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i7">Je ne regard plus qu'en bas,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Je suis torticolis, j'ai la t&ecirc;te penchante;<br /></span>
+<span class="i7">Ma mine devient si plaisante<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Que quand on en riroit, je ne m'en plaindrois pas.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I can only see under me; I am wry-necked; my head hangs down; my
+appearance is so droll, that if people laugh, I shall not
+complain." </p></div>
+
+<p>He says elsewhere,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Parmi les torticolis<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Je passe pour un des plus jolis.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Among your wry-necked people I pass for one of the handsomest." </p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After having suffered this distortion of shape, and these acute pains
+for four years, he quitted his usual residence, the quarter du Marais,
+for the baths of the Fauxbourg Saint Germain. He took leave of his
+friends, by addressing some verses to them, entitled, <i>Adieu aux
+Marais</i>; in which he describes several celebrated persons. When he was
+brought into the street in a chair, the pleasure of seeing himself there
+once more overcame the pains which the motion occasioned, and he has
+celebrated the transport by an ode, which has for title, "The Way from
+le Marais to the Fauxbourg Saint Germain."</p>
+
+<p>The baths he tried had no effect on his miserable disorder. But a new
+affliction was added to the catalogue of his griefs.</p>
+
+<p>His father, who had hitherto contributed to his necessities, having
+joined a party against Cardinal Richelieu, was exiled. This affair was
+rendered still more unfortunate by his mother-in-law with her children
+at Paris, in the absence of her husband, appropriating the property of
+the family to her own use.</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto Scarron had had no connexion with Cardinal Richelieu. The
+conduct of his father had even rendered his name disagreeable to the
+minister, who was by no means prone to forgiveness. Scarron, however,
+when he thought his passion moderated, ventured to present a petition,
+which is considered by the critics as one of his happiest productions.
+Richelieu permitted it to be read to him, and acknowledged that it
+afforded him much pleasure, and that it was <i>pleasantly dated</i>. This
+<i>pleasant date</i> is thus given by Scarron:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fait &agrave; Paris dernier jour d'Octobre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Par moi, Scarron, qui malgre moi suis sobre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L'an que l'on prit le fameux Perpignan,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et, sans canon, la ville de Sedan.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">At Paris done, the last day of October,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By me, Scarron, who wanting wine am sober,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The year they took fam'd Perpignan,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And, without cannon-ball, Sedan.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This was flattering the minister adroitly in two points very agreeable
+to him. The poet augured well of the dispositions of the cardinal, and
+lost no time to return to the charge, by addressing an ode to him, to
+which he gave the title of <span class="smcap">Thanks</span>, as if he had already received the
+favours which he hoped he should receive! Thus Ronsard dedicated to
+Cathe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>rine of Medicis, who was prodigal of promises, his hymn to
+<span class="smcap">Promise</span>. But all was lost for Scarron by the death of the Cardinal.</p>
+
+<p>When Scarron's father died, he brought his mother-in-law into court;
+and, to complete his misfortunes, lost his suit. The cases which he drew
+up for the occasion were so extremely burlesque, that the world could
+not easily conceive how a man could amuse himself so pleasantly on a
+subject on which his existence depended.</p>
+
+<p>The successor of Richelieu, the Cardinal Mazarin, was insensible to his
+applications. He did nothing for him, although the poet dedicated to him
+his <i>Typhon</i>, a burlesque poem, in which the author describes the wars
+of the giants with the gods. Our bard was so irritated at this neglect,
+that he suppressed a sonnet he had written in his favour, and aimed at
+him several satirical bullets. Scarron, however, consoled himself for
+this kind of disgrace with those select friends who were not inconstant
+in their visits to him. The Bishop of Mans also, solicited by a friend,
+gave him a living in his diocese. When Scarron had taken possession of
+it, he began his <i>Roman Comique</i>, ill translated into English by
+<i>Comical Romance</i>. He made friends by his dedications. Such resources
+were indeed necessary, for he not only lived well, but had made his
+house an asylum for his two sisters, who there found refuge from an
+unfeeling step-mother.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this time that the beautiful and accomplished Mademoiselle
+d'Aubign&eacute;, afterwards so well known by the name of Madame de Maintenon,
+she who was to be one day the mistress, if not the queen of France,
+formed with Scarron the most romantic connexion. She united herself in
+marriage with one whom she well knew could only be a lover. It was
+indeed amidst that literary society she formed her taste and embellished
+with her presence his little residence, where assembled the most
+polished courtiers and some of the finest geniuses of Paris of that
+famous party, called <i>La Fronde</i>, formed against Mazarin. Such was the
+influence this marriage had over Scarron, that after this period his
+writings became more correct and more agreeable than those which he had
+previously composed. Scarron, on his side, gave a proof of his
+attachment to Madame de Maintenon; for by marrying her he lost his
+living of Mans. But though without wealth, he was accustomed to say that
+"his wife and he would not live uncomfortable by the produce of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>
+estate and the <i>Marquisate of Quinet</i>." Thus he called the revenue which
+his compositions produced, and <i>Quinet</i> was his bookseller.</p>
+
+<p>Scarron addressed one of his dedications to his dog, to ridicule those
+writers who dedicate their works indiscriminately, though no author has
+been more liberal of dedications than himself; but, as he confessed, he
+made dedication a kind of business. When he was low in cash he always
+dedicated to some lord, whom he praised as warmly as his dog, but whom
+probably he did not esteem as much.</p>
+
+<p>When Scarron was visited, previous to general conversation his friends
+were taxed with a perusal of what he had written since he saw them last.
+Segrais and a friend calling on him, "Take a chair," said our author,
+"and let me <i>try on you</i> my 'Roman Comique.'" He took his manuscript,
+read several pages, and when he observed that they laughed, he said,
+"Good, this goes well; my book can't fail of success, since it obliges
+such able persons as yourselves to laugh;" and then remained silent to
+receive their compliments. He used to call this <i>trying on his romance</i>,
+as a tailor <i>tries</i> his <i>coat</i>. He was agreeable and diverting in all
+things, even in his complaints and passions. Whatever he conceived he
+immediately too freely expressed; but his amiable lady corrected him of
+this in three months after marriage.</p>
+
+<p>He petitioned the queen, in his droll manner, to be permitted the honour
+of being her <i>Sick-Man by right of office</i>. These verses form a part of
+his address to her majesty:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Scarron, par la grace de Dieu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Malade indigne de la reine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Homme n'ayant ni feu, ni lieu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mais bien du mal et de la peine;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">H&ocirc;pital allant et venant,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Des jambes d'autrui cheminant,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Des sieunes n'ayant plus l'usage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Souffrant beaucoup, dormant bien pen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et pourtant faisant par courage<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Bonne mine et fort mauvais jeu.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Scarron, by the grace of God, the unworthy Sick-Man of the Queen;
+a man without a house, though a moving hospital of disorders;
+walking only with other people's legs, with great sufferings, but
+little sleep; and yet, in spite of all, very courageously showing a
+hearty countenance, though indeed he plays a losing game." </p></div>
+
+<p>She smiled, granted the title, and, what was better, added a small
+pension, which losing, by lampooning the minister<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> Mazarin, Fouquet
+generously granted him a more considerable one.</p>
+
+<p>The termination of the miseries of this facetious genius was now
+approaching. To one of his friends, who was taking leave of him for some
+time, Scarron said, "I shall soon die; the only regret I have in dying
+is not to be enabled to leave some property to my wife, who is possessed
+of infinite merit, and whom I have every reason imaginable to admire and
+to praise."</p>
+
+<p>One day he was seized with so violent a fit of the hiccough, that his
+friends now considered his prediction would soon be verified. When it
+was over, "If ever I recover," cried Scarron, "I will write a bitter
+satire against the hiccough." The satire, however, was never written,
+for he died soon after. A little before his death, when he observed his
+relations and domestics weeping and groaning, he was not much affected,
+but humorously told them, "My children, you will never weep for me so
+much as I have made you laugh." A few moments before he died, he said,
+that "he never thought that it was so easy a matter to laugh at the
+approach of death."</p>
+
+<p>The burlesque compositions of Scarron are now neglected by the French.
+This species of writing was much in vogue till attacked by the critical
+Boileau, who annihilated such puny writers as D'Assoucy and Dulot, with
+their stupid admirers. It is said he spared Scarron because his merit,
+though it appeared but at intervals, was uncommon. Yet so much were
+burlesque verses the fashion after Scarron's works, that the booksellers
+would not publish poems, but with the word "Burlesque" in the
+title-page. In 1649 appeared a poem, which shocked the pious, entitled,
+"The Passion of our Lord, in <i>burlesque Verses</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Swift, in his dotage, appears to have been gratified by such puerilities
+as Scarron frequently wrote. An ode which Swift calls "A Lilliputian
+Ode," consisting of verses of three syllables, probably originated in a
+long epistle in verses of three syllables, which Scarron addressed to
+Sarrazin. It is pleasant, and the following lines will serve as a
+specimen:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Ep&icirc;tre &agrave; M. Sarrazin.</i></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sarrazin<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mon voisin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cher ami,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qu'&agrave; demi,<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span><span class="i0">Je ne voi,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dont ma foi<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">J'ai d&eacute;pit<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Un petit.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">N'es-tu pas<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Barrabas,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Busiris,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Phalaris,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ganelon,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Le Felon?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He describes himself&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Un pauvret,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tr&egrave;s maigret;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Au col tors,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dont le corps<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tout tortu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tout bossu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Surann&eacute;,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">D&eacute;charn&eacute;,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Est r&eacute;duit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Jour et nuit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A souffrir<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sans gu&eacute;rir<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Des tourmens<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Vehemens.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>He complains of Sarrazin's not visiting him, threatens to reduce him
+into powder if he comes not quickly; and concludes,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mais pourtant,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Repentant<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Si tu viens<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et tu tiens<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Settlement<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Un moment<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Avec nous,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mon courroux<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Finira,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Et C&aelig;tera</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Roman Comique of our author abounds with pleasantry, with wit and
+character. His "Virgile Travestie" it is impossible to read long: this
+we likewise feel in "Cotton's Virgil travestied," which has
+notwithstanding considerable merit. Buffoonery after a certain time
+exhausts our patience. It is the chaste actor only who can keep the
+attention awake for a length of time. It is said that Scarron intended
+to write a tragedy; this perhaps would not have been the least facetious
+of his burlesques.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PETER_CORNEILLE" id="PETER_CORNEILLE"></a>PETER CORNEILLE.</h2>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Exact Racine and Corneille's noble fire<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Show'd us that France had something to admire.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i14"><span class="smcap">Pope.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The great Corneille having finished his studies, devoted himself to the
+bar; but this was not the stage on which his abilities were to be
+displayed. He followed the occupation of a lawyer for some time, without
+taste and without success. A trifling circumstance discovered to the
+world and to himself a different genius. A young man who was in love
+with a girl of the same town, having solicited him to be his companion
+in one of those secret visits which he paid to the lady, it happened
+that the stranger pleased infinitely more than his introducer. The
+pleasure arising from this adventure excited in Corneille a talent which
+had hitherto been unknown to him, and he attempted, as if it were by
+inspiration, dramatic poetry. On this little subject he wrote his comedy
+of M&eacute;lite, in 1625. At that moment the French drama was at a low ebb:
+the most favourable ideas were formed of our juvenile poet, and comedy,
+it was expected, would now reach its perfection. After the tumult of
+approbation had ceased, the critics thought that M&eacute;lite was too simple
+and barren of incident. Roused by this criticism, our poet wrote his
+Clitandre, and in that piece has scattered incidents and adventures with
+such a licentious profusion, that the critics say he wrote it rather to
+expose the public taste than to accommodate himself to it. In this piece
+the persons combat on the theatre; there are murders and assassinations;
+heroines fight; officers appear in search of murderers, and women are
+disguised as men. There is matter sufficient for a romance of ten
+volumes; "And yet," says a French critic, "nothing can be more cold and
+tiresome." He afterwards indulged his natural genius in various other
+performances; but began to display more forcibly his tragic powers in
+Medea. A comedy which he afterwards wrote was a very indifferent
+composition. He regained his full lustre in the famous Cid, a tragedy,
+of which he preserved in his closet translations in all the European
+languages, except the Sclavonian and the Turkish. He pursued his
+poetical career with uncommon splendour in the Horaces, Cinna, and at
+length in Polyeucte; which productions, the French critics say, can
+never be surpassed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At length the tragedy of "Pertharite" appeared, and proved unsuccessful.
+This so much disgusted our veteran bard, that, like Ben Jonson, he could
+not conceal his chagrin in the preface. There the poet tells us that he
+renounces the theatre for ever! and indeed this <i>eternity</i> lasted for
+<i>several years</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Disgusted by the fate of his unfortunate tragedy, he directed his
+poetical pursuits to a different species of composition. He now finished
+his translation in verse, of the "Imitation of Jesus Christ," by Thomas
+&agrave; Kempis. This work, perhaps from the singularity of its dramatic author
+becoming a religious writer, was attended with astonishing success. Yet
+Fontenelle did not find in this translation the prevailing charm of the
+original, which consists in that simplicity and <i>na&iuml;vet&eacute;</i> which are lost
+in the pomp of versification so natural to Corneille. "This book," he
+continues, "the finest that ever proceeded from the hand of man (since
+the gospel does not come from man) would not go so direct to the heart,
+and would not seize on it with such force, if it had not a natural and
+tender air, to which even that negligence which prevails in the style
+greatly contributes." Voltaire appears to confirm the opinion of our
+critic, in respect to the translation: "It is reported that Corneille's
+translation of the Imitation of Jesus Christ has been printed thirty-two
+times; it is as difficult to believe this as it is to <i>read the book
+once</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Corneille seems not to have been ignorant of the truth of this
+criticism. In his dedication to the Pope, he says, "The translation
+which I have chosen, by the simplicity of its style, precludes all the
+rich ornaments of poetry, and far from increasing my reputation, must be
+considered rather as a sacrifice made to the glory of the Sovereign
+Author of all, which I may have acquired by my poetical productions."
+This is an excellent elucidation of the truth of that precept of Johnson
+which respects religious poetry; but of which the author of "Calvary"
+seemed not to have been sensible. The merit of religious compositions
+appears, like this "Imitation of Jesus Christ," to consist in a
+simplicity inimical to the higher poetical embellishments; these are too
+human!</p>
+
+<p>When Racine, the son, published a long poem on "Grace," taken in its
+holy sense, a most unhappy subject at least for poetry; it was said that
+he had written on <i>Grace</i> without <i>grace</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>During the space of six years Corneille rigorously kept his promise of
+not writing for the theatre. At length, overpowered by the persuasions
+of his friends, and probably by his own inclinations, he once more
+directed his studies to the drama. He recommenced in 1659, and finished
+in 1675. During this time he wrote ten new pieces, and published a
+variety of little religious poems, which, although they do not attract
+the attention of posterity, were then read with delight, and probably
+preferred to the finest tragedies by the good catholics of the day.</p>
+
+<p>In 1675 he terminated his career. In the last year of his life his mind
+became so enfeebled as to be incapable of thinking, and he died in
+extreme poverty. It is true that his uncommon genius had been amply
+rewarded; but amongst his talents that of preserving the favours of
+fortune he had not acquired.</p>
+
+<p>Fontenelle, his nephew, presents a minute and interesting description of
+this great man. Vigneul Marville says, that when he saw Corneille he had
+the appearance of a country tradesman, and he could not conceive how a
+man of so rustic an appearance could put into the mouths of his Romans
+such heroic sentiments. Corneille was sufficiently large and full in his
+person; his air simple and vulgar; always negligent; and very little
+solicitous of pleasing by his exterior. His face had something
+agreeable, his nose large, his mouth not unhandsome, his eyes full of
+fire, his physiognomy lively, with strong features, well adapted to be
+transmitted to posterity on a medal or bust. His pronunciation was not
+very distinct: and he read his verses with force, but without grace.</p>
+
+<p>He was acquainted with polite literature, with history, and politics;
+but he generally knew them best as they related to the stage. For other
+knowledge he had neither leisure, curiosity, nor much esteem. He spoke
+little, even on subjects which he perfectly understood. He did not
+embellish what he said, and to discover the great Corneille it became
+necessary to read him.</p>
+
+<p>He was of a melancholy disposition, had something blunt in his manner,
+and sometimes he appeared rude; but in fact he was no disagreeable
+companion, and made a good father and husband. He was tender, and his
+soul was very susceptible of friendship. His constitution was very
+favourable to love, but never to debauchery, and rarely to violent
+attach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span>ment. His soul was fierce and independent: it could never be
+managed, for it would never bend. This, indeed, rendered him very
+capable of portraying Roman virtue, but incapable of improving his
+fortune. Nothing equalled his incapacity for business but his aversion:
+the slightest troubles of this kind occasioned him alarm and terror. He
+was never satiated with praise, although he was continually receiving
+it; but if he was sensible to fame, he was far removed from vanity.</p>
+
+<p>What Fontenelle observes of Corneille's love of fame is strongly proved
+by our great poet himself, in an epistle to a friend, in which we find
+the following remarkable description of himself; an instance that what
+the world calls vanity, at least interests in a great genius.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nous nous aimons un peu, c'est notre foible &agrave; tous;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Le prix que nous valons que le s&ccedil;ait mieux que nous?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et puis la mode en est, et la cour l'autorise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nous parlons de nous-m&ecirc;mes avec toute franchise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La fausse humilit&eacute; ne met plus en credit.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Je s&ccedil;ais ce que je vaux, et crois ce qu'on m'en dit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pour me faire admirer je ne fais point de ligue;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">J'ai peu de voix pour moi, mais je les ai sans brigue;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et mon ambition, pour faire plus de bruit<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ne les va point qu&ecirc;ter de r&eacute;duit en r&eacute;duit.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mon travail sans appui monte sur le the&acirc;tre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Chacun en libert&eacute; l'y blame ou idol&acirc;tre;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L&agrave;, sans que mes amis pr&ecirc;chent leurs sentimens,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">J'arrache quelquefois leurs applaudissemens;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L&agrave;, content da succ&egrave;s que le m&eacute;rite donne,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Par d'illustres avis je n'&eacute;blouis personne;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Je satisfais ensemble et peuple et courtisans;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et mes vers en tous lieux sent mes seuls partisans;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Par leur seule beaut&eacute; ma plume est estim&eacute;e;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Je ne dois qu'&agrave; moi seul toute ma renomm&eacute;e;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et pense toutefois n'avoir point de rival,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A qui je fasse tort, en le traitant d'&eacute;gal.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I give his sentiments in English verse.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Self-love prevails too much in every state;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who, like ourselves, our secret worth can rate?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Since 'tis a fashion authorised at court,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Frankly our merits we ourselves report.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A proud humility will not deceive;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I know my worth; what others say, believe.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To be admired I form no petty league;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Few are my friends, but gain'd without intrigue.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My bold ambition, destitute of grace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Scorns still to beg their votes from place to place.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On the fair stage my scenic toils I raise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While each is free to censure or to praise;<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span><span class="i0">And there, unaided by inferior arts,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I snatch the applause that rushes from their hearts.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Content by Merit still to win the crown,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With no illustrious names I cheat the town.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The galleries thunder, and the pit commends;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My verses, everywhere, my only friends!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis from their charms alone my praise I claim;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Tis to myself alone, I owe my fame;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And know no rival whom I fear to meet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or injure, when I grant an equal seat.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Voltaire censures Corneille for making his heroes say continually they
+are great men. But in drawing the character of a hero he draws his own.
+All his heroes are only so many Corneilles in different situations.</p>
+
+<p>Thomas Corneille attempted the same career as his brother; perhaps his
+name was unfortunate, for it naturally excited a comparison which could
+not be favourable to him. Ga&ccedil;on, the Dennis of his day, wrote the
+following smart impromptu under his portrait:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Voyant le portrait de Corneille,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Gardez-vous de crier merveille;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et dans vos transports n'allez pas<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Prendre ici <i>Pierre</i> pour <i>Thomas</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POETS" id="POETS"></a>POETS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In all ages there has existed an anti-poetical party. This faction
+consists of those frigid intellects incapable of that glowing expansion
+so necessary to feel the charms of an art, which only addresses itself
+to the imagination; or of writers who, having proved unsuccessful in
+their court to the muses, revenge themselves by reviling them; and also
+of those religious minds who consider the ardent effusions of poetry as
+dangerous to the morals and peace of society.</p>
+
+<p>Plato, amongst the ancients, is the model of those moderns who profess
+themselves to be ANTI-POETICAL.</p>
+
+<p>This writer, in his ideal republic, characterises a man who occupies
+himself with composing verses as a very dangerous member of society,
+from the inflammatory tendency of his writings. It is by arguing from
+its abuse, that he decries this enchanting talent. At the same time it
+is to be recollected, that no head was more finely organised for the
+visions of the muse than Plato's: he was a true poet, and had addicted
+him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span>self in his prime of life to the cultivation of the art, but
+perceiving that he could not surpass his inimitable original, Homer, he
+employed this insidious manner of depreciating his works. In the Ph&aelig;don
+he describes the feelings of a genuine Poet. To become such, he says, it
+will never be sufficient to be guided by the rules of art, unless we
+also feel the ecstasies of that <i>furor</i>, almost divine, which in this
+kind of composition is the most palpable and least ambiguous character
+of a true inspiration. Cold minds, ever tranquil and ever in possession
+of themselves, are incapable of producing exalted poetry; their verses
+must always be feeble, diffusive, and leave no impression; the verses of
+those who are endowed with a strong and lively imagination, and who,
+like Homer's personification of Discord, have their heads incessantly in
+the skies, and their feet on the earth, will agitate you, burn in your
+heart, and drag you along with them; breaking like an impetuous torrent,
+and swelling your breast with that enthusiasm with which they are
+themselves possessed.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the character of a <i>poet</i> in a <i>poetical age</i>!&mdash;The tuneful race
+have many corporate bodies of mechanics; Pontypool manufacturers,
+inlayers, burnishers, gilders, and filers!</p>
+
+<p>Men of taste are sometimes disgusted in turning over the works of the
+anti-poetical, by meeting with gross railleries and false judgments
+concerning poetry and poets. Locke has expressed a marked contempt of
+poets; but we see what ideas he formed of poetry by his warm panegyric
+of one of Blackmore's epics! and besides he was himself a most unhappy
+poet! Selden, a scholar of profound erudition, has given us <i>his</i>
+opinion concerning poets. "It is ridiculous for a <i>lord</i> to print
+verses; he may make them to please himself. If a man in a private
+chamber twirls his band-strings, or plays with a rush to please himself,
+it is well enough; but if he should go into Fleet-street, and sit upon a
+stall and twirl a band-string, or play with a rush, then all the boys in
+the street would laugh at him."&mdash;As if "the sublime and the beautiful"
+can endure a comparison with the twirling of a band-string or playing
+with a rush!&mdash;A poet, related to an illustrious family, and who did not
+write unpoetically, entertained a far different notion concerning poets.
+So persuaded was he that to be a true poet required an elevated mind,
+that it was a maxim with him that no writer could be an excellent poet
+who was not descended from a noble family. This opinion is as absurd as
+that of Selden:&mdash;but when one party<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> will not grant enough, the other
+always assumes too much. The great Pascal, whose extraordinary genius
+was discovered in the sciences, knew little of the nature of poetical
+beauty. He said "Poetry has no settled object." This was the decision of
+a geometrician, not of a poet. "Why should he speak of what he did not
+understand?" asked the lively Voltaire. Poetry is not an object which
+comes under the cognizance of philosophy or wit.</p>
+
+<p>Longuerue had profound erudition; but he decided on poetry in the same
+manner as those learned men. Nothing so strongly characterises such
+literary men as the following observations in the Longueruana, p. 170.</p>
+
+<p>"There are two <i>books on Homer</i>, which I prefer to <i>Homer himself</i>. The
+first is <i>Antiquitates Homeric&aelig;</i> of Feithius, where he has extracted
+everything relative to the usages and customs of the Greeks; the other
+is, <i>Homeri Gnomologia per Duportum</i>, printed at Cambridge. In these two
+books is found everything valuable in Homer, without being obliged to
+get through his <i>Contes &agrave; dormir debout</i>!" Thus men of <i>science</i> decide
+on men of <i>taste</i>! There are who study Homer and Virgil as the blind
+travel through a fine country, merely to get to the end of their
+journey. It was observed at the death of Longuerue that in his immense
+library not a volume of poetry was to be found. He had formerly read
+poetry, for indeed he had read everything. Racine tells us, that when
+young he paid him a visit; the conversation turned on <i>poets</i>; our
+<i>erudit</i> reviewed them all with the most ineffable contempt of the
+poetical talent, from which he said we learn nothing. He seemed a little
+charitable towards Ariosto.&mdash;"As for that <i>madman</i>," said he, "he has
+amused me sometimes." Dacier, a poetical pedant after all, was asked who
+was the greater poet, Homer or Virgil? he honestly answered, "Homer by a
+thousand years!"</p>
+
+<p>But it is mortifying to find among the <i>anti-poetical</i> even <i>poets</i>
+themselves! Malherbe, the first poet in France in his day, appears
+little to have esteemed the art. He used to say that "a good poet was
+not more useful to the state than a skilful player of nine-pins!"
+Malherbe wrote with costive labour. When a poem was shown to him which
+had been highly commended, he sarcastically asked if it would "lower the
+price of bread?" In these instances he maliciously confounded the
+<i>useful</i> with the <i>agreeable</i> arts. Be it remembered, that Malherbe had
+a cynical heart, cold and unfeeling; his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> character may be traced in his
+poetry; labour and correctness, without one ray of enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p>Le Clerc was a scholar not entirely unworthy to be ranked amongst the
+Lockes, the Seldens, and the Longuerues; and his opinions are as just
+concerning poets. In the Parhasiana he has written a treatise on poets
+in a very unpoetical manner. I shall notice his coarse railleries
+relating to what he calls "the personal defects of poets." In vol. i. p.
+33, he says, "In the Scaligerana we have Joseph Scaliger's opinion
+concerning poets. 'There never was a man who was a poet, or addicted to
+the study of poetry, but his heart was puffed up with his
+greatness.'&mdash;This is very true. The poetical enthusiasm persuades those
+gentlemen that they have something in them superior to others, because
+they employ a language peculiar to themselves. When the poetic furor
+seizes them, its traces frequently remain on their faces, which make
+connoisseurs say with Horace,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Aut insanit homo, ant versus facit.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">There goes a madman or a bard!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Their thoughtful air and melancholy gait make them appear insane; for,
+accustomed to versify while they walk, and to bite their nails in
+apparent agonies, their steps are measured and slow, and they look as if
+they were reflecting on something of consequence, although they are only
+thinking, as the phrase runs, of nothing!" I have only transcribed the
+above description of our jocular scholar, with an intention of
+describing those exterior marks of that fine enthusiasm, of which the
+poet is peculiarly susceptible, and which have exposed many an elevated
+genius to the ridicule of the vulgar.</p>
+
+<p>I find this admirably defended by Charpentier: "Men may ridicule as much
+as they please those gesticulations and contortions which poets are apt
+to make in the act of composing; it is certain, however, that they
+greatly assist in putting the imagination into motion. These kinds of
+agitation do not always show a mind which labours with its sterility;
+they frequently proceed from a mind which excites and animates itself.
+Quintilian has nobly compared them to those lashings of his tail which a
+lion gives himself when he is preparing to combat. Persius, when he
+would give us an idea of a cold and languishing oration, says that its
+author did not strike his desk nor bite his nails."</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nec pluteum c&aelig;dit, nec demorsos sapit ungues.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<p>These exterior marks of enthusiasm may be illustrated by the following
+curious anecdote:&mdash;Domenichino, the painter, was accustomed to act the
+characters of all the figures he would represent on his canvas, and to
+speak aloud whatever the passion he meant to describe could prompt.
+Painting the martyrdom of St. Andrew, Carracci one day caught him in a
+violent passion, speaking in a terrible and menacing tone. He was at
+that moment employed on a soldier who was threatening the saint. When
+this fit of enthusiastic abstraction had passed, Carracci ran and
+embraced him, acknowledging that Domenichino had been that day his
+master; and that he had learnt from him the true manner to succeed in
+catching the expression&mdash;that great pride of the painter's art.</p>
+
+<p>Thus different are the sentiments of the intelligent and the
+unintelligent on the same subject. A Carracci embraced a kindred genius
+for what a Le Clerc or a Selden would have ridiculed.</p>
+
+<p>Poets, I confess, frequently indulge <i>reveries</i>, which, though they
+offer no charms to their friends, are too delicious to forego. In the
+ideal world, peopled with all its fairy inhabitants, and ever open to
+their contemplation, they travel with an unwearied foot. Crebillon, the
+celebrated tragic poet, was enamoured of solitude, that he might there
+indulge, without interruption, in those fine romances with which his
+imagination teemed. One day when he was in a deep reverie, a friend
+entered hastily: "Don't disturb me," cried the poet; "I am enjoying a
+moment of happiness: I am going to hang a villain of a minister, and
+banish another who is an idiot."</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the anti-poetical may be placed the father of the great monarch
+of Prussia. George the Second was not more the avowed enemy of the
+muses. Frederic would not suffer the prince to read verses; and when he
+was desirous of study, or of the conversation of literary men, he was
+obliged to do it secretly. Every poet was odious to his majesty. One
+day, having observed some lines written on one of the doors of the
+palace, he asked a courtier their signification. They were explained to
+him; they were Latin verses composed by Wachter, a man of letters, then
+resident at Berlin. The king immediately sent for the bard, who came
+warm with the hope of receiving a reward for his ingenuity. He was
+astonished, however, to hear the king, in a violent passion, accost him,
+"I order you immediately to quit this city and my kingdom."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> Wachter
+took refuge in Hanover. As little indeed was this anti-poetical monarch
+a friend to philosophers. Two or three such kings might perhaps renovate
+the ancient barbarism of Europe. Barratier, the celebrated child, was
+presented to his majesty of Prussia as a prodigy of erudition; the king,
+to mortify our ingenious youth, coldly asked him, "If he knew the law?"
+The learned boy was constrained to acknowledge that he knew nothing of
+the law. "Go," was the reply of this Augustus, "go, and study it before
+you give yourself out as a scholar." Poor Barratier renounced for this
+pursuit his other studies, and persevered with such ardour that he
+became an excellent lawyer at the end of fifteen months; but his
+exertions cost him at the same time his life!</p>
+
+<p>Every monarch, however, has not proved so destitute of poetic
+sensibility as this Prussian. Francis I. gave repeated marks of his
+attachment to the favourites of the muses, by composing several
+occasional sonnets, which are dedicated to their eulogy. Andrelin, a
+French poet, enjoyed the happy fate of Oppian, to whom the emperor
+Caracalla counted as many pieces of gold as there were verses in one of
+his poems; and with great propriety they have been called "golden
+verses." Andrelin, when he recited his poem on the Conquest of Naples
+before Charles VIII., received a sack of silver coin, which with
+difficulty he carried home. Charles IX., says Brantome, loved verses,
+and recompensed poets, not indeed immediately, but gradually, that they
+might always be stimulated to excel. He used to say, that poets
+resembled race-horses, that must be fed but not fattened, for then they
+were good for nothing. Marot was so much esteemed by kings, that he was
+called the poet of princes, and the prince of poets.</p>
+
+<p>In the early state of poetry what honours were paid to its votaries!
+Ronsard, the French Chaucer, was the first who carried away the prize at
+the Floral Games. This meed of poetic honour was an eglantine composed
+of silver. The reward did not appear equal to the merit of the work and
+the reputation of the poet; and on this occasion the city of Toulouse
+had a Minerva of solid silver struck, of considerable value. This image
+was sent to Ronsard, accompanied by a decree, in which he was declared,
+by way of eminence, "The French Poet."</p>
+
+<p>It is a curious anecdote to add, that when, at a later period, a similar
+Minerva was adjudged to Maynard for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> verses, the Capitouls, of
+Toulouse, who were the executors of the Floral gifts, to their shame,
+out of covetousness, never obeyed the decision of the poetical judges.
+This circumstance is noticed by Maynard in an epigram, which bears this
+title: <i>On a Minerva of silver, promised but not given</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The anecdote of Margaret of Scotland, wife of the Dauphin of France, and
+Alain the poet, is generally known. Who is not charmed with that fine
+expression of her poetical sensibility? The person of Alain was
+repulsive, but his poetry had attracted her affections. Passing through
+one of the halls of the palace, she saw him sleeping on a bench; she
+approached and kissed him. Some of her attendants could not conceal
+their astonishment that she should press with her lips those of a man so
+frightfully ugly. The amiable princess answered, smiling, "I did not
+kiss the man, but the mouth which has uttered so many fine things."</p>
+
+<p>The great Colbert paid a pretty compliment to Boileau and Racine. This
+minister, at his villa, was enjoying the conversation of our two poets,
+when the arrival of a prelate was announced: turning quickly to the
+servant, he said, "Let him be shown everything except myself!"</p>
+
+<p>To such attentions from this great minister, Boileau alludes in these
+verses:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Plus d'un grand m'aima jusqnes &agrave; la tendresse;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et ma vue &agrave; Colbert inspiroit l'all&eacute;gresse.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Several pious persons have considered it as highly meritable to abstain
+from the reading of poetry! A good father, in his account of the last
+hours of Madame Racine, the lady of the celebrated tragic poet, pays
+high compliments to her religious disposition, which, he says, was so
+austere, that she would not allow herself to read poetry, as she
+considered it to be a dangerous pleasure; and he highly commends her for
+never having read the tragedies of her husband! Arnauld, though so
+intimately connected with Racine for many years, had not read his
+compositions. When at length he was persuaded to read Ph&aelig;dra, he
+declared himself to be delighted, but complained that the poet had set a
+dangerous example, in making the manly Hippolytus dwindle to an
+effeminate lover. As a critic, Arnauld was right; but Racine had his
+nation to please. Such persons entertain notions of poetry similar to
+that of an ancient father, who calls poetry the wine of Satan; or to
+that of the religious and austere Nicole, who was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> ably answered by
+Racine: he said, that dramatic poets were public poisoners, not of
+bodies, but of souls.</p>
+
+<p>Poets, it is acknowledged, have foibles peculiar to themselves. They
+sometimes act in the daily commerce of life as if every one was
+concerned in the success of their productions. Poets are too frequently
+merely poets. Segrais has recorded that the following maxim of
+Rochefoucault was occasioned by reflecting on the characters of Boileau
+and Racine. "It displays," he writes, "a great poverty of mind to have
+only one kind of genius." On this Segrais observes, and Segrais knew
+them intimately, that their conversation only turned on poetry; take
+them from that, and they knew nothing. It was thus with one Du Perrier,
+a good poet, but very poor. When he was introduced to Pelisson, who
+wished to be serviceable to him, the minister said, "In what can he be
+employed? He is only occupied by his verses."</p>
+
+<p>All these complaints are not unfounded; yet, perhaps, it is unjust to
+expect from an excelling artist all the petty accomplishments of
+frivolous persons, who have studied no art but that of practising on the
+weaknesses of their friends. The enthusiastic votary, who devotes his
+days and nights to meditations on his favourite art, will rarely be
+found that despicable thing, a mere man of the world. Du Bos has justly
+observed, that men of genius, born for a particular profession, appear
+inferior to others when they apply themselves to other occupations. That
+absence of mind which arises from their continued attention to their
+ideas, renders them awkward in their manners. Such defects are even a
+proof of the activity of genius.</p>
+
+<p>It is a common foible with poets to read their verses to friends.
+Segrais has ingeniously observed, to use his own words, "When young I
+used to please myself in reciting my verses indifferently to all
+persons; but I perceived when Scarron, who was my intimate friend, used
+to take his portfolio and read his verses to me, although they were
+good, I frequently became weary. I then reflected, that those to whom I
+read mine, and who, for the greater part, had no taste for poetry, must
+experience the same disagreeable sensation. I resolved for the future to
+read my verses only to those who entreated me, and to read but a few at
+a time. We flatter ourselves too much; we conclude that what please us
+must please others. We will have persons indulgent to us, and frequently
+we will have no indulgence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span> for those who are in want of it." An
+excellent hint for young poets, and for those old ones who carry odes
+and elegies in their pockets, to inflict the pains of the torture on
+their friends.</p>
+
+<p>The affection which a poet feels for his verses has been frequently
+extravagant. Bayle, ridiculing that parental tenderness which writers
+evince for their poetical compositions, tells us, that many having
+written epitaphs on friends whom they believed on report to have died,
+could not determine to keep them in their closet, but suffered them to
+appear in the lifetime of those very friends whose death they
+celebrated. In another place he says, such is their infatuation for
+their productions, that they prefer giving to the public their
+panegyrics of persons whom afterwards they satirized, rather than
+suppress the verses which contain those panegyrics. We have many
+examples of this in the poems, and even in the epistolary correspondence
+of modern writers. It is customary with most authors, when they quarrel
+with a person after the first edition of their work, to cancel his
+eulogies in the next. But poets and letter-writers frequently do not do
+this; because they are so charmed with the happy turn of their
+expressions, and other elegancies of composition, that they perfer the
+praise which they may acquire for their style to the censure which may
+follow from their inconsistency.</p>
+
+<p>After having given a hint to <i>young</i> poets, I shall offer one to
+<i>veterans</i>. It is a common defect with them that they do not know when
+to quit the muses in their advanced age. Bayle says, "Poets and orators
+should be mindful to retire from their occupations, which so peculiarly
+require the fire of imagination; yet it is but too common to see them in
+their career, even in the decline of life. It seems as if they would
+condemn the public to drink even the lees of their nectar." Afer and
+Daurat were both poets who had acquired considerable reputation, but
+which they overturned when they persisted to write in their old age
+without vigour and without fancy.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">What crowds of these impenitently bold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In sounds and jingling syllables grown old,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They run on poets, in a raging rein,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">E'en to the dregs and squeezings of the brain:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And rhyme with all the rage of impotence.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i14"><span class="smcap">Pope</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It is probable he had Wycherley in his eye when he wrote<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> this. The
+veteran bard latterly scribbled much indifferent verse; and Pope had
+freely given his opinion, by which he lost his friendship!</p>
+
+<p>It is still worse when aged poets devote their exhausted talents to
+<i>divine poems</i>, as did Waller; and Milton in his second epic. Such
+poems, observes Voltaire, are frequently entitled "<i>sacred poems</i>;" and
+<i>sacred</i> they are, for no one touches them. From a soil so arid what can
+be expected but insipid fruits? Corneille told Chevreau several years
+before his death, that he had taken leave of the theatre, for he had
+lost his poetical powers with his teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Poets have sometimes displayed an obliquity of taste in their female
+favourites. As if conscious of the power of ennobling others, some have
+selected them from the lowest classes, whom, having elevated into
+divinities, they have addressed in the language of poetical devotion.
+The Chloe of Prior, after all his raptures, was a plump barmaid. Ronsard
+addressed many of his verses to Miss Cassandra, who followed the same
+occupation: in one of his sonnets to her, he fills it with a crowd of
+personages taken from the Iliad, which to the honest girl must have all
+been extremely mysterious. Colletet, a French bard, married three of his
+servants. His last lady was called <i>la belle Claudine</i>. Ashamed of such
+menial alliances, he attempted to persuade the world that he had married
+the tenth muse; and for this purpose published verses in her name. When
+he died, the vein of Claudine became suddenly dry. She indeed published
+her "Adieux to the Muses;" but it was soon discovered that all the
+verses of this lady, including her "Adieux," were the compositions of
+her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, indeed, the ostensible mistresses of poets have no existence;
+and a slight occasion is sufficient to give birth to one. Racan and
+Malherbe were one day conversing on their amours; that is, of selecting
+a lady who should be the object of their verses. Racan named one, and
+Malherbe another. It happening that both had the same name, Catherine,
+they passed the whole afternoon in forming it into an anagram. They
+found three: Arthenice, Eracinthe, and Charint&eacute;. The first was
+preferred, and many a fine ode was written in praise of the beautiful
+Arthenice!</p>
+
+<p>Poets change their opinions of their own productions wonderfully at
+different periods of life. Baron Haller was in his youth warmly attached
+to poetic composition. His house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span> was on fire, and to rescue his poems
+he rushed through the flames. He was so fortunate as to escape with his
+beloved manuscripts in his hand. Ten years afterwards he condemned to
+the flames those very poems which he had ventured his life to preserve.</p>
+
+<p>Satirists, if they escape the scourges of the law, have reason to dread
+the cane of the satirised. Of this kind we have many anecdotes on
+record; but none more poignant than the following:&mdash;Benserade was caned
+for lampooning the Duc d'Epernon. Some days afterwards he appeared at
+court, but being still lame from the rough treatment he had received, he
+was forced to support himself by a cane. A wit, who knew what had
+passed, whispered the affair to the queen. She, dissembling, asked him
+if he had the gout? "Yes, madam," replied our lame satirist, "and
+therefore I make use of a cane." "Not so," interrupted the malignant
+Bautru, "Benserade in this imitates those holy martyrs who are always
+represented with the instrument which occasioned their sufferings."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ROMANCES" id="ROMANCES"></a>ROMANCES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of <span class="smcap">Fiction</span> and <span class="smcap">Love</span>.
+Men of learning have amused themselves with tracing the epocha of
+romances; but the erudition is desperate which would fix on the inventor
+of the first romance: for what originates in nature, who shall hope to
+detect the shadowy outlines of its beginnings? The Theagenes and
+Chariclea of Heliodorus appeared in the fourth century; and this elegant
+prelate was the Grecian Fenelon. It has been prettily said, that
+posterior romances seem to be the children of the marriage of Theagenes
+and Chariclea. The Romance of "The Golden Ass," by Apuleius, which
+contains the beautiful tale of "Cupid and Psyche," remains unrivalled;
+while the "D&auml;phne and Chloe" of Longus, in the old version of Amyot, is
+inexpressibly delicate, simple, and inartificial, but sometimes offends
+us, for nature there "plays her virgin fancies."</p>
+
+<p>Beautiful as these compositions are, when the imagination of the writer
+is sufficiently stored with accurate observations on human nature, in
+their birth, like many of the fine arts, the zealots of an ascetic
+religion opposed their progress.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> However Heliodorus may have delighted
+those who were not insensible to the felicities of a fine imagination,
+and to the enchanting elegancies of style, he raised himself, among his
+brother ecclesiastics, enemies, who at length so far prevailed, that, in
+a synod, it was declared that his performance was dangerous to young
+persons, and that if the author did not suppress it, he must resign his
+bishopric. We are told he preferred his romance to his bishopric. Even
+so late as in Racine's time it was held a crime to peruse these
+unhallowed pages. He informs us that the first effusions of his muse
+were in consequence of studying that ancient romance, which, his tutor
+observing him to devour with the keenness of a famished man, snatched
+from his hands and flung it in the fire. A second copy experienced the
+same fate. What could Racine do? He bought a third, and took the
+precaution of devouring it secretly till he got it by heart: after which
+he offered it to the pedagogue with a smile, to burn like the others.</p>
+
+<p>The decision of these ascetic bigots was founded in their opinion of the
+immorality of such works. They alleged that the writers paint too warmly
+to the imagination, address themselves too forcibly to the passions, and
+in general, by the freedom of their representations, hover on the
+borders of indecency. Let it be sufficient, however, to observe, that
+those who condemned the liberties which these writers take with the
+imagination could indulge themselves with the Anacreontic voluptuousness
+of the wise <i>Solomon</i>, when sanctioned by the authority of the church.</p>
+
+<p>The marvellous power of romance over the human mind is exemplified in
+this curious anecdote of oriental literature.</p>
+
+<p>Mahomet found they had such an influence over the imaginations of his
+followers, that he has expressly forbidden them in his Koran; and the
+reason is given in the following anecdote:&mdash;An Arabian merchant having
+long resided in Persia, returned to his own country while the prophet
+was publishing his Koran. The merchant, among his other riches, had a
+treasure of romances concerning the Persian heroes. These he related to
+his delighted countrymen, who considered them to be so excellent, that
+the legends of the Koran were neglected, and they plainly told the
+prophet that the "Persian Tales" were superior to his. Alarmed, he
+immediately had a visitation from the angel Gabriel, declaring them
+impious and pernicious, hateful to God and Mahomet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> This checked their
+currency; and all true believers yielded up the exquisite delight of
+poetic fictions for the insipidity of religious ones. Yet these romances
+may be said to have outlived the Koran itself; for they have spread into
+regions which the Koran could never penetrate. Even to this day Colonel
+Capper, in his travels across the Desert, saw "Arabians sitting round a
+fire, listening to their tales with such attention and pleasure, as
+totally to forget the fatigue and hardship with which an instant before
+they were entirely overcome." And Wood, in his journey to Palmyra:&mdash;"At
+night the Arabs sat in a circle drinking coffee, while one of the
+company diverted the rest by relating a piece of history on the subject
+of love or war, or with an extempore tale."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ellis has given us "Specimens of the Early English Metrical
+Romances," and Ritson and Weber have printed two collections of them
+entire, valued by the poetical antiquary. Learned inquirers have traced
+the origin of romantic fiction to various sources.<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> From Scandinavia
+issued forth the giants, dragons, witches, and enchanters. The curious
+reader will be gratified by "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities," a
+volume in quarto; where he will find extracts from "The Book of Heroes"
+and "The Nibelungen Lay,"<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> with many other metrical tales from the
+old German, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic languages. In the East,
+Arabian fancy bent her iris of many softened hues over a delightful land
+of fiction: while the Welsh, in their emigration to Britanny, are
+believed to have brought with them their national fables. That
+subsequent race of minstrels, known by the name of <i>Troubadours</i> in the
+South of France, composed their erotic or sentimental poems; and those
+romancers called <i>Troveurs</i>, or finders, in the North of France, culled
+and compiled their domestic tales or <i>Fabliaux</i>, <i>Dits</i>, <i>Conte</i>, or
+<i>Lai</i>. Millot, Sainte Palaye, and Le Grand, have preserved, in their
+"Histories of the Troubadours," their literary compositions. They were a
+romantic race of ambulatory poets, military and religious subjects their
+favourite themes, yet bold and sati<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span>rical on princes, and even on
+priests; severe moralisers, though libertines in their verse; so refined
+and chaste in their manners, that few husbands were alarmed at the
+enthusiastic language they addressed to their wives. The most romantic
+incidents are told of their loves. But love and its grosser passion were
+clearly distinguished from each other in their singular intercourse with
+their "Dames." The object of their mind was separated from the object of
+their senses; the virtuous lady to whom they vowed their hearts was in
+their language styled "<i>la dame de ses pens&eacute;es</i>," a very distinct being
+from their other mistress! Such was the Platonic chimera that charmed in
+the age of chivalry; the Laura of Petrarch might have been no other than
+"the lady of his thoughts."</p>
+
+<p>From such productions in their improved state poets of all nations have
+drawn their richest inventions. The agreeable wildness of that fancy
+which characterised the Eastern nations was often caught by the
+crusaders. When they returned home, they mingled in their own the
+customs of each country. The Saracens, being of another religion, brave,
+desperate, and fighting for their fatherland, were enlarged to their
+fears, under the tremendous form of <i>Paynim Giants</i>, while the reader of
+that day followed with trembling sympathy the <i>Redcross Knight</i>. Thus
+fiction embellished religion, and religion invigorated fiction; and such
+incidents have enlivened the cantos of Ariosto, and adorned the epic of
+Tasso. Spenser is the child of their creation; and it is certain that we
+are indebted to them for some of the bold and strong touches of Milton.
+Our great poet marks his affection for "these lofty Fables and Romances,
+among which his young feet wandered." Collins was bewildered among their
+magical seductions; and Dr. Johnson was enthusiastically delighted by
+the old Spanish folio romance of "Felixmarte of Hircania," and similar
+works. The most ancient romances were originally composed in verse
+before they were converted into prose: no wonder that the lacerated
+members of the poet have been cherished by the sympathy of poetical
+souls. Don Quixote's was a very agreeable insanity.</p>
+
+<p>The most voluminous of these ancient romances is "Le Roman de
+Perceforest." I have seen an edition in six small folio volumes, and its
+author has been called the French Homer by the writers of his age. In
+the class of romances of chivalry, we have several translations in the
+black letter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> These books are very rare, and their price is as
+voluminous. It is extraordinary that these writers were so unconscious
+of their future fame, that not one of their names has travelled down to
+us. There were eager readers in their days, but not a solitary
+bibliographer! All these romances now require some indulgence for their
+prolixity, and their Platonic amours; but they have not been surpassed
+in the wildness of their inventions, the ingenuity of their incidents,
+the simplicity of their style, and their curious manners. Many a Homer
+lies hid among them; but a celebrated Italian critic suggested to me
+that many of the fables of Homer are only disguised and degraded in the
+romances of chivalry. Those who vilify them as only barbarous imitations
+of classical fancy condemn them as some do Gothic architecture, as mere
+corruptions of a purer style: such critics form their decision by
+preconceived notions; they are but indifferent philosophers, and to us
+seem to be deficient in imagination.</p>
+
+<p>As a specimen I select two romantic adventures:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The title of the extensive romance of Perceforest is, "The most elegant,
+delicious, mellifluous, and delightful history of Perceforest, King of
+Great Britain, &amp;c." The most ancient edition is that of 1528. The
+writers of these Gothic fables, lest they should be considered as mere
+triflers, pretended to an allegorical meaning concealed under the
+texture of their fable. From the following adventure we learn the power
+of beauty in making <i>ten days</i> appear as <i>yesterday</i>! Alexander the
+Great in search of Perceforest, parts with his knights in an enchanted
+wood, and each vows they will not remain longer than one night in one
+place. Alexander, accompanied by a page, arrives at Sebilla's castle,
+who is a sorceress. He is taken by her witcheries and beauty, and the
+page, by the lady's maid, falls into the same mistake as his master, who
+thinks he is there only one night. They enter the castle with deep
+wounds, and issue perfectly recovered. I transcribe the latter part as a
+specimen of the manner. When they were once out of the castle, the king
+said, "Truly, Floridas, I know not how it has been with me; but
+certainly Sebilla is a very honourable lady, and very beautiful, and
+very charming in conversation. Sire (said Floridas), it is true; but one
+thing surprises me:&mdash;how is it that our wounds have healed in one night?
+I thought at least ten or fifteen days were necessary. Truly, said the
+king, that is astonishing! Now king Alexander met Gadiffer, king of
+Scotland,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> and the valiant knight Le Tors. Well, said the king, have ye
+news of the king of England? Ten days we have hunted him, and cannot
+find him out. How, said Alexander, did we not separate <i>yesterday</i> from
+each other? In God's name, said Gadiffer, what means your majesty? It is
+<i>ten days</i>! Have a care what you say, cried the king. Sire, replied
+Gadiffer, it is so; ask Le Tors. On my honour, said Le Tors, the king of
+Scotland speaks truth. Then, said the king, some of us are enchanted;
+Floridas, didst thou not think we separated <i>yesterday</i>? Truly, truly,
+your majesty, I thought so! But when I saw our wounds healed in one
+night, I had some suspicion that WE were <i>enchanted</i>."</p>
+
+<p>In the old romance of Melusina, this lovely fairy (though to the world
+unknown as such), enamoured of Count Raymond, marries him, but first
+extorts a solemn promise that he will never disturb her on Saturdays. On
+those days the inferior parts of her body are metamorphosed to that of a
+mermaid, as a punishment for a former error. Agitated by the malicious
+insinuations of a friend, his curiosity and his jealousy one day conduct
+him to the spot she retired to at those times. It was a darkened passage
+in the dungeon of the fortress. His hand gropes its way till it feels an
+iron gate oppose it; nor can he discover a single chink, but at length
+perceives by his touch a loose nail; he places his sword in its head and
+screws it out. Through this cranny he sees Melusina in the horrid form
+she is compelled to assume. That tender mistress, transformed into a
+monster bathing in a fount, flashing the spray of the water from a scaly
+tail! He repents of his fatal curiosity: she reproaches him, and their
+mutual happiness is for ever lost. The moral design of the tale
+evidently warns the lover to revere a <i>Woman's Secret</i>!</p>
+
+<p>Such are the works which were the favourite amusements of our English
+court, and which doubtless had a due effect in refining the manners of
+the age, in diffusing that splendid military genius, and that tender
+devotion to the fair sex, which dazzle us in the reign of Edward III.,
+and through that enchanting labyrinth of History constructed by the
+gallant Froissart. In one of the revenue rolls of Henry III. there is an
+entry of "Silver clasps and studs for his majesty's <i>great book of
+Romances</i>." Dr. Moore observes that the enthusiastic admiration of
+chivalry which Edward III. manifested during the whole course of his
+reign, was probably, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> some measure, owing to his having studied the
+<i>clasped book</i> in his great grandfather's library.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian romances of the fourteenth century were spread abroad in
+great numbers. They formed the polite literature of the day. But if it
+is not permitted to authors freely to express their ideas, and give full
+play to the imagination, these works must never be placed in the study
+of the rigid moralist. They, indeed, pushed their indelicacy to the
+verge of grossness, and seemed rather to seek than to avoid scenes,
+which a modern would blush to describe. They, to employ the expression
+of one of their authors, were not ashamed to name what God had created.
+Cinthio, Bandello, and others, but chiefly Boccaccio, rendered
+libertinism agreeable by the fascinating charms of a polished style and
+a luxuriant imagination.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, must not be admitted as an apology for immoral works; for
+poison is not the less poison, even when delicious. Such works were, and
+still continue to be, the favourites of a nation stigmatized for being
+prone to impure amours. They are still curious in their editions, and
+are not parsimonious in their price for what they call an uncastrated
+copy. There are many Italians, not literary men, who are in possession
+of an ample library of these old novelists.</p>
+
+<p>If we pass over the moral irregularities of these romances, we may
+discover a rich vein of invention, which only requires to be released
+from that rubbish which disfigures it, to become of an invaluable price.
+The <i>Decamerones</i>, the <i>Hecatommiti</i>, and the <i>Novellas</i> of these
+writers, translated into English, made no inconsiderable figure in the
+little library of our Shakspeare.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> Chaucer had been a notorious
+imitator and lover of them. His "Knight's Tale" is little more than a
+paraphrase of "Boccaccio's Teseoide." Fontaine has caught all their
+charms with all their licentiousness. From such works these great poets,
+and many of their contemporaries, frequently borrowed their plots; not
+uncommonly kindled at their flame the ardour of their genius; but
+bending too submissively to the taste of their age, in extracting the
+ore they have not purified it of the alloy. The origin of these tales
+must be traced to the inventions of the Troveurs, who doubtless often
+adopted them from various nations. Of these tales,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> Le Grand has printed
+a curious collection; and of the writers Mr. Ellis observes, in his
+preface to "Way's Fabliaux," that the authors of the "Cento Novelle
+Antiche," Boccaccio, Bandello, Chaucer, Gower,&mdash;in short, the writers of
+all Europe have probably made use of the inventions of the elder
+fablers. They have borrowed their general outlines, which they have
+filled up with colours of their own, and have exercised their ingenuity
+in varying the drapery, in combining the groups, and in forming them
+into more regular and animated pictures.</p>
+
+<p>We now turn to the French romances of the last century, called heroic,
+from the circumstance of their authors adopting the name of some hero.
+The manners are the modern antique; and the characters are a sort of
+beings made out of the old epical, the Arcadian pastoral, and the
+Parisian sentimentality and affectation of the days of Voiture.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The
+Astrea of D'Urf&eacute; greatly contributed to their perfection. As this work
+is founded on several curious circumstances, it shall be the subject of
+the following article; for it may be considered as a literary curiosity.
+The Astrea was followed by the illustrious Bassa, Artamene, or the Great
+Cyrus, Clelia, &amp;c., which, though not adapted to the present age, once
+gave celebrity to their authors; and the Great Cyrus, in ten volumes,
+passed through five or six editions. Their style, as well as that of the
+Astrea, is diffuse and languid; yet Za&iuml;de, and the Princess of Cleves,
+are masterpieces of the kind. Such works formed the first studies of
+Rousseau, who, with his father, would sit up all night, till warned by
+the chirping of the swallows how foolishly they had spent it! Some
+incidents in his Nouvelle Heloise have been retraced to these sources;
+and they certainly entered greatly into the formation of his character.</p>
+
+<p>Such romances at length were regarded as pernicious to good sense,
+taste, and literature. It was in this light they were considered by
+Boileau, after he had indulged in them in his youth.</p>
+
+<p>A celebrated Jesuit pronounced an oration against these works. The
+rhetorician exaggerates and hurls his thunders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> on flowers. He entreats
+the magistrates not to suffer foreign romances to be scattered amongst
+the people, but to lay on them heavy penalties, as on prohibited goods;
+and represents this prevailing taste as being more pestilential than the
+plague itself. He has drawn a striking picture of a family devoted to
+romance-reading; he there describes women occupied day and night with
+their perusal; children just escaped from the lap of their nurse
+grasping in their little hands the fairy tales; and a country squire
+seated in an old arm-chair, reading to his family the most wonderful
+passages of the ancient works of chivalry.</p>
+
+<p>These romances went out of fashion with our square-cocked hats: they had
+exhausted the patience of the public, and from them sprung NOVELS. They
+attempted to allure attention by this inviting title, and reducing their
+works from ten to two volumes. The name of romance, including imaginary
+heroes and extravagant passions, disgusted; and they substituted scenes
+of domestic life, and touched our common feelings by pictures of real
+nature. Heroes were not now taken from the throne: they were sometimes
+even sought after amongst the lowest ranks of the people. Scarron seems
+to allude sarcastically to this degradation of the heroes of Fiction:
+for in hinting at a new comic history he had projected, he tells us that
+he gave it up suddenly because he had "heard that his hero had just been
+hanged at Mans."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Novels</span>, as they were long <i>manufactured</i>, form a library of illiterate
+authors for illiterate readers; but as they are <i>created</i> by genius, are
+precious to the philosopher. They paint the character of an individual
+or the manners of the age more perfectly than any other species of
+composition: it is in novels we observe as it were passing under our
+eyes the refined frivolity of the French; the gloomy and disordered
+sensibility of the German; and the petty intrigues of the modern Italian
+in some Venetian Novels. We have shown the world that we possess writers
+of the first order in this delightful province of Fiction and of Truth;
+for every Fiction invented naturally, must be true. After the abundant
+invective poured on this class of books, it is time to settle for ever
+the controversy, by asserting that these works of fiction are among the
+most instructive of every polished nation, and must contain all the
+useful truths of human life, if composed with genius. They are pictures
+of the passions, useful to our youth to contemplate. That acute
+philosopher, Adam Smith,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> has given an opinion most favourable to
+<span class="smcap">Novels</span>. "The poets and romance writers who best paint the refinements
+and delicacies of love and friendship, and of all other private and
+domestic affections, Racine and Voltaire, Richardson Marivaux, and
+Riccoboni, are in this case much better instructors than Zeno,
+Chrysippus, or Epictetus."</p>
+
+<p>The history of romances has been recently given by Mr. Dunlop, with many
+pleasing details; but this work should be accompanied by the learned
+Lenglet du Fresnoy's "Biblioth&egrave;que des Romans," published under the name
+of M. le C. Gordon de Percel; which will be found useful for immediate
+reference for titles, dates, and a copious catalogue of romances and
+novels to the year 1734.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_ASTREA" id="THE_ASTREA"></a>THE ASTREA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I bring the Astrea forward to point out the ingenious manner by which a
+fine imagination can veil the common incidents of life, and turn
+whatever it touches into gold.</p>
+
+<p>Honor&eacute; D'Urf&eacute; was the descendant of an illustrious family. His brother
+Anne married Diana of Chateaumorand, the wealthy heiress of another
+great house. After a marriage of no less duration than twenty-two years,
+this union was broken by the desire of Anne himself, for a cause which
+the delicacy of Diana had never revealed. Anne then became an
+ecclesiastic. Some time afterwards, Honor&eacute;, desirous of retaining the
+great wealth of Diana in the family, addressed this lady, and married
+her. This union, however, did not prove fortunate. Diana, like the
+goddess of that name, was a huntress, continually surrounded by her
+dogs:&mdash;they dined with her at table, and slept with her in bed. This
+insupportable nuisance could not be patiently endured by the elegant
+Honor&eacute;. He was also disgusted with the barrenness of the huntress Diana,
+who was only delivered every year of abortions. He separated from her,
+and retired to Piedmont, where he passed his remaining days in peace,
+without feeling the thorns of marriage and ambition rankling in his
+heart. In this retreat he composed his Astrea; a pastoral romance, which
+was the admiration of Europe during half a century. It forms a striking
+picture of human life, for the incidents are facts beautifully
+concealed. They relate the amours and gallantries of the court of Henry
+the Fourth. The personages in the Astrea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> display a rich invention; and
+the work might be still read, were it not for those wire-drawn
+conversations, or rather disputations, which were then introduced into
+romances. In a modern edition, the Abb&eacute; Souchai has <i>curtailed</i> these
+tiresome dialogues; the work still consists of ten duodecimos.</p>
+
+<p>In this romance, Celid&eacute;e, to cure the unfortunate Celadon, and to
+deprive Thamire at the same time of every reason for jealousy, tears her
+face with a pointed diamond, and disfigures it in so cruel a manner,
+that she excites horror in the breast of Thamire; but he so ardently
+admires this exertion of virtue, that he loves her, hideous as she is
+represented, still more than when she was most beautiful. Heaven, to be
+just to these two lovers, restores the beauty of Celid&eacute;e; which is
+effected by a sympathetic powder. This romantic incident is thus
+explained:&mdash;One of the French princes (Thamire), when he returned from
+Italy, treated with coldness his amiable princess (Celid&eacute;e); this was
+the effect of his violent passion, which had become jealousy. The
+coolness subsisted till the prince was imprisoned, for state affairs, in
+the wood of Vincennes. The princess, with the permission of the court,
+followed him into his confinement. This proof of her love soon brought
+back the wandering heart and affections of the prince. The small-pox
+seized her; which is the pointed diamond, and the dreadful disfigurement
+of her face. She was so fortunate as to escape being marked by this
+disease; which is meant by the sympathetic powder. This trivial incident
+is happily turned into the marvellous: that a wife should choose to be
+imprisoned with her husband is not singular; to escape being marked by
+the small-pox happens every day; but to romance, as he has done, on such
+common circumstances, is beautiful and ingenious.</p>
+
+<p>D'Urf&eacute;, when a boy, is said to have been enamoured of Diana; this indeed
+has been questioned. D'Urf&eacute;, however, was sent to the island of Malta to
+enter into that order of knighthood; and in his absence Diana was
+married to Anne. What an affliction for Honor&eacute; on his return to see her
+married, and to his brother! His affection did not diminish, but he
+concealed it in respectful silence. He had some knowledge of his
+brother's unhappiness, and on this probably founded his hopes. After
+several years, during which the modest Diana had uttered no complaint,
+Anne declared himself; and shortly afterwards Honor&eacute;, as we have
+noticed, married Diana.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our author has described the parties under this false appearance of
+marriage. He assumes the names of Celadon and Sylvander, and gives Diana
+those of Astrea and Diana. He is Sylvander and she Astrea while she is
+married to Anne; and he Celadon and she Diana when the marriage is
+dissolved. Sylvander is represented always as a lover who sighs
+secretly; nor does Diana declare her passion till overcome by the long
+sufferings of her faithful shepherd. For this reason Astrea and Diana,
+as well as Sylvander and Celadon, go together, prompted by the same
+despair, to the FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE.</p>
+
+<p>Sylvander is called an unknown shepherd, who has no other wealth than
+his flock; because our author was the youngest of his family, or rather
+a knight of Malta who possessed nothing but honour.</p>
+
+<p>Celadon in despair throws himself into a river; this refers to his
+voyage to Malta. Under the name of Alexis he displays the friendship of
+Astrea for him, and all those innocent freedoms which passed between
+them as relatives; from this circumstance he has contrived a difficulty
+inimitably delicate.</p>
+
+<p>Something of passion is to be discovered in these expressions of
+friendship. When Alexis assumes the name of Celadon, he calls that love
+which Astrea had mistaken for fraternal affection. This was the trying
+moment. For though she loved him, she is rigorous in her duty and
+honour. She says, "what will they think of me if I unite myself to him,
+after permitting, for so many years, those familiarities which a brother
+may have taken with a sister, with me, who knew that in fact I remained
+unmarried?"</p>
+
+<p>How she got over this nice scruple does not appear; it was, however, for
+a long time a great obstacle to the felicity of our author. There is an
+incident which shows the purity of this married virgin, who was fearful
+the liberties she allowed Celadon might be ill construed. Phillis tells
+the druid Adamas that Astrea was seen sleeping by the fountain of the
+Truth of Love, and that the unicorns which guarded those waters were
+observed to approach her, and lay their heads on her lap. According to
+fable, it is one of the properties of these animals never to approach
+any female but a maiden: at this strange difficulty our druid remains
+surprised; while Astrea has thus given an incontrovertible proof of her
+purity.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Philander is that of the elder D'Urf&eacute;. None but boys
+disguised as girls, and girls as boys, appear in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span> the history. In this
+manner he concealed, without offending modesty, the defect of his
+brother. To mark the truth of this history, when Philander is disguised
+as a woman, while he converses with Astrea of his love, he frequently
+alludes to his misfortune, although in another sense.</p>
+
+<p>Philander, ready to expire, will die with the glorious name of the
+husband of Astrea. He entreats her to grant him this favour; she accords
+it to him, and swears before the gods that she receives him in her heart
+for her husband. The truth is, he enjoyed nothing but the name.
+Philander dies too, in combating with a hideous Moor, which is the
+personification of his conscience, and which at length compelled him to
+quit so beautiful an object, and one so worthy of being eternally
+beloved.</p>
+
+<p>The gratitude of Sylvander, on the point of being sacrificed, represents
+the consent of Honor&eacute;'s parents to dissolve his vow of celibacy, and
+unite him to Diana; and the druid Adamas represents ecclesiastical
+power. The FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE is that of marriage; the
+unicorns are the symbols of that purity which should ever guard it; and
+the flaming eyes of the lions, which are also there, represent those
+inconveniences attending marriage, but over which a faithful passion
+easily triumphs.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner has our author disguised his own private history; and
+blended in his works a number of little amours which passed at the court
+of Henry the Great. These particulars were confided to Patru, on
+visiting the author in his retirement.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="POETS_LAUREAT" id="POETS_LAUREAT"></a>POETS LAUREAT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The present article is a sketch of the history of POETS LAUREAT, from a
+memoir of the French Academy, by the Abb&eacute; Resnel.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of crowning poets is as ancient as poetry itself; it has,
+indeed, frequently varied; it existed, however, as late as the reign of
+Theodosius, when it was abolished as a remain of paganism.</p>
+
+<p>When the barbarians overspread Europe, few appeared to merit this
+honour, and fewer who could have read their works. It was about the time
+of <span class="smcap">Petrarch</span> that <span class="smcap">Poetry</span> resumed its ancient lustre; he was publicly
+honoured with the LAUREL CROWN. It was in this century (the thirteenth)
+that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span> establishment of Bachelor and Doctor was fixed in the
+universities. Those who were found worthy of the honour, obtained the
+<i>laurel of Bachelor</i>, or the <i>laurel of Doctor</i>; <i>Laurea
+Baccalaureatus</i>; <i>Laurea Doctoratus</i>. At their reception they not only
+assumed this <i>title</i> but they also had a <i>crown of laurel</i> placed on
+their heads.</p>
+
+<p>To this ceremony the ingenious writer attributes the revival of the
+custom. The <i>poets</i> were not slow in putting in their claims to what
+they had most a right; and their patrons sought to encourage them by
+these honourable distinctions.</p>
+
+<p>The following <i>formula</i> is the exact style of those which are yet
+employed in the universities to confer the degree of Bachelor and
+Doctor, and serves to confirm the conjecture of Resnel:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We, count and senator," (Count d'Anguillara, who bestowed the laurel on
+Petrarch,) "for us and our College, declare <span class="smcap">Francis Petrarch</span> great poet
+and historian, and for a special mark of his quality of poet we have
+placed with our hands on his head a <i>crown of laurel</i>, granting to him,
+by the tenor of these presents, and by the authority of King Robert, of
+the senate and the people of Rome, in the poetic, as well as in the
+historic art, and generally in whatever relates to the said arts, as
+well in this holy city as elsewhere, the free and entire power of
+reading, disputing, and interpreting all ancient books, to make new
+ones, and compose poems, which, God assisting, shall endure from age to
+age."</p>
+
+<p>In Italy, these honours did not long flourish; although Tasso dignified
+the laurel crown by his acceptance of it. Many got crowned who were
+unworthy of the distinction. The laurel was even bestowed on <span class="smcap">Querno</span>,
+whose character is given in the Dunciad:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Not with more glee, by hands pontific crown'd,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rome in her capitol saw <i>Querno</i> sit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thron'd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i14"><span class="smcap">Canto II.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This man was made laureat, for the joke's sake; his poetry was inspired
+by his cups, a kind of poet who came in with the dessert; and he recited
+twenty thousand verses. He was rather the <i>arch-buffoon</i> than the
+<i>arch-poet</i> of Leo. X. though honoured with the latter title. They
+invented for him a new kind of laureated honour, and in the intermixture
+of the foliage raised to Apollo, slily inserted the vine and the cabbage
+leaves,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> which he evidently deserved, from his extreme dexterity in
+clearing the pontiff's dishes and emptying his goblets.</p>
+
+<p>Urban VIII. had a juster and more elevated idea of the children of
+Fancy. It appears that he possessed much poetic sensibility. Of him it
+is recorded, that he wrote a letter to Chiabrera to felicitate him on
+the success of his poetry: letters written by a pope were then an honour
+only paid to crowned heads. One is pleased also with another testimony
+of his elegant dispositions. Charmed with a poem which Bracciolini
+presented to him, he gave him the surname of <span class="smcap">Delle-Ape</span>, of the bees,
+which were the arms of this amiable pope. He, however, never crowned
+these favourite bards with the laurel, which, probably, he deemed
+unworthy of them.</p>
+
+<p>In Germany, the laureat honours flourished under the reign of Maximilian
+the First. He founded, in 1504, a Poetical College at Vienna; reserving
+to himself and the regent the power of bestowing the laurel. But the
+institution, notwithstanding this well-concerted scheme, fell into
+disrepute, owing to a cloud of claimants who were fired with the rage of
+versifying, and who, though destitute of poetic talents, had the laurel
+bestowed on them. Thus it became a prostituted honour; and satires were
+incessantly levelled against the usurpers of the crown of Apollo: it
+seems, notwithstanding, always to have had charms in the eyes of the
+Germans, who did not reflect, as the Abb&eacute; elegantly expresses himself,
+that it faded when it passed over so many heads.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor of Germany retains the laureatship in all its splendour. The
+selected bard is called <i>Il Poeta Cesareo</i>. <span class="smcap">Apostolo Zeno</span>, as celebrated
+for his erudition as for his poetic powers, was succeeded by that most
+enchanting poet, <span class="smcap">Metastasio</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The French never had a <i>Poet Laureat</i>, though they had <i>Regal Poets</i>;
+for none were ever solemnly crowned. The Spanish nation, always desirous
+of titles of honour, seem to have known that of the <i>Laureat</i>; but
+little information concerning it can be gathered from their authors.</p>
+
+<p>Respecting our own country little can be added to the information of
+Selden. John Kay, who dedicated a History of Rhodes to Edward IV., takes
+the title of his <i>humble Poet Laureat</i>. Gower and Chaucer were laureats;
+so was likewise Skelton to Henry VIII. In the Acts of Rymer, there is a
+charter of Henry VII. with the title of <i>pro Poeta Laureato</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span>, t hat is,
+perhaps, only <i>a Poet laureated at the university</i>, in the king's
+household.</p>
+
+<p>Our poets were never solemnly crowned as in other countries. Selden,
+after all his recondite researches, is satisfied with saying, that some
+trace of this distinction is to be found in our nation. Our kings from
+time immemorial have placed a miserable dependent in their household
+appointment, who was sometimes called the <i>King's poet</i>, and the <i>King's
+versificator</i>. It is probable that at length the selected bard assumed
+the title of <i>Poet Laureat</i>, without receiving the honours of the
+ceremony; or, at the most, the <i>crown of laurel</i> was a mere obscure
+custom practised at our universities, and not attended with great public
+distinction. It was oftener placed on the skull of a pedant than
+wreathed on the head of a man of genius. Shadwell united the offices
+both of Poet Laureat and Historiographer; and by a MS. account of the
+public revenue, it appears that for two years' salary he received six
+hundred pounds. At his death Rymer became the Historiographer and Tate
+the Laureat: both offices seem equally useless, but, if united, will not
+prove so to the Poet Laureat.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ANGELO_POLITIAN" id="ANGELO_POLITIAN"></a>ANGELO POLITIAN.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Angelo Politian, an Italian, was one of the most polished writers of the
+fifteenth century. Baillet has placed him amongst his celebrated
+children; for he was a writer at twelve years of age. The Muses indeed
+cherished him in his cradle, and the Graces hung round it their wreaths.
+When he became professor of the Greek language, such were the charms of
+his lectures, that Chalcondylas, a native of Greece, saw himself
+abandoned by his pupils, who resorted to the delightful disquisitions of
+the elegant Politian. Critics of various nations have acknowledged that
+his poetical versions have frequently excelled the originals. This happy
+genius was lodged in a most unhappy form; nor were his morals untainted:
+it is only in his literary compositions that he appears perfect.</p>
+
+<p>As a specimen of his Epistles, here is one, which serves as prefatory
+and dedicatory. The letter is replete with literature, though void of
+pedantry; a barren subject is embellished by its happy turns. Perhaps no
+author has more playfully de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span>fended himself from the incertitude of
+criticism and the fastidiousness of critics.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><span class="smcap"  style="margin-left: 1em;">My Lord</span>,</p>
+
+<p>You have frequently urged me to collect my letters, to revise and to
+publish them in a volume. I have now gathered them, that I might not
+omit any mark of that obedience which I owe to him, on whom I rest all
+my hopes, and all my prosperity. I have not, however, collected them
+all, because that would have been a more laborious task than to have
+gathered the scattered leaves of the Sibyl. It was never, indeed, with
+an intention of forming my letters into one body that I wrote them, but
+merely as occasion prompted, and as the subjects presented themselves
+without seeking for them. I never retained copies except of a few,
+which, less fortunate, I think, than the others, were thus favoured for
+the sake of the verses they contained. To form, however, a tolerable
+volume, I have also inserted some written by others, but only those with
+which several ingenious scholars favoured me, and which, perhaps, may
+put the reader in good humour with my own.</p>
+
+<p>There is one thing for which some will be inclined to censure me; the
+style of my letters is very unequal; and, to confess the truth, I did
+not find myself always in the same humour, and the same modes of
+expression were not adapted to every person and every topic. They will
+not fail then to observe, when they read such a diversity of letters (I
+mean if they do read them), that I have composed not epistles, but (once
+more) miscellanies.</p>
+
+<p>I hope, my Lord, notwithstanding this, that amongst such a variety of
+opinions, of those who write letters, and of those who give precepts how
+letters should be written, I shall find some apology. Some, probably,
+will deny that they are Ciceronian. I can answer such, and not without
+good authority, that in epistolary composition we must not regard Cicero
+as a model. Another perhaps will say that I imitate Cicero. And him I
+will answer by observing, that I wish nothing better than to be capable
+of grasping something of this great man, were it but his shadow!</p>
+
+<p>Another will wish that I had borrowed a little from the manner of Pliny
+the orator, because his profound sense and accuracy were greatly
+esteemed. I shall oppose him by expressing my contempt of all writers of
+the age of Pliny. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> it should be observed, that I have imitated the
+manner of Pliny, I shall then screen myself by what Sidonius
+Apollinaris, an author who is by no means disreputable, says in
+commendation of his epistolary style. Do I resemble Symmachus? I shall
+not be sorry, for they distinguish his openness and conciseness. Am I
+considered in nowise resembling him? I shall confess that I am not
+pleased with his dry manner.</p>
+
+<p>Will my letters be condemned for their length? Plato, Aristotle,
+Thucydides, and Cicero, have all written long ones. Will some of them be
+criticised for their brevity? I allege in my favour the examples of
+Dion, Brutus, Apollonius, Philostratus, Marcus Antoninus, Alciphron,
+Julian, Symmachus, and also Lucian, who vulgarly, but falsely, is
+believed to have been Phalaris.</p>
+
+<p>I shall be censured for having treated of topics which are not generally
+considered as proper for epistolary composition. I admit this censure,
+provided, while I am condemned, Seneca also shares in the condemnation.
+Another will not allow of a sententious manner in my letters; I will
+still justify myself by Seneca. Another, on the contrary, desires abrupt
+sententious periods; Dionysius shall answer him for me, who maintains
+that pointed sentences should not be admitted into letters.</p>
+
+<p>Is my style too perspicuous? It is precisely that which Philostratus
+admires. Is it obscure? Such is that of Cicero to Attica. Negligent? An
+agreeable negligence in letters is more graceful than elaborate
+ornaments. Laboured? Nothing can be more proper, since we send epistles
+to our friends as a kind of presents. If they display too nice an
+arrangement, the Halicarnassian shall vindicate me. If there is none;
+Artemon says there should be none.</p>
+
+<p>Now as a good and pure Latinity has its peculiar taste, its manners,
+and, to express myself thus, its Atticisms; if in this sense a letter
+shall be found not sufficiently Attic, so much the better; for what was
+Herod the sophist censured? but that having been born an Athenian, he
+affected too much to appear one in his language. Should a letter seem
+too Attical; still better, since it was by discovering Theophrastus, who
+was no Athenian, that a good old woman of Athens laid hold of a word,
+and shamed him.</p>
+
+<p>Shall one letter be found not sufficiently serious? I love to jest. Or
+is it too grave? I am pleased with gravity. Is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> another full of figures?
+Letters being the images of discourse, figures have the effect of
+graceful action in conversation. Are they deficient in figures? This is
+just what characterises a letter, this want of figure! Does it discover
+the genius of the writer? This frankness is recommended. Does it conceal
+it? The writer did not think proper to paint himself; and it is one
+requisite in a letter, that it should be void of ostentation. You
+express yourself, some one will observe, in common terms on common
+topics, and in new terms on new topics. The style is thus adapted to the
+subject. No, no, he will answer; it is in common terms you express new
+ideas, and in new terms common ideas. Very well! It is because I have
+not forgotten an ancient Greek precept which expressly recommends this.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus by attempting to be ambidextrous, I try to ward off attacks.
+My critics, however, will criticise me as they please. It will be
+sufficient for me, my Lord, to be assured of having satisfied you, by my
+letters, if they are good; or by my obedience, if they are not so.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Florence, 1494.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ORIGINAL_LETTER_OF_QUEEN_ELIZABETH" id="ORIGINAL_LETTER_OF_QUEEN_ELIZABETH"></a>ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian, F. III. is preserved a letter
+written by Queen Elizabeth, then Princess. Her brother, Edward the
+Sixth, had desired to have her picture; and in gratifying the wishes of
+his majesty, Elizabeth accompanies the present with an elaborate letter.
+It bears no date of the <i>year</i> in which it was written; but her place of
+residence was at Hatfield. There she had retired to enjoy the silent
+pleasures of a studious life, and to be distant from the dangerous
+politics of the time. When Mary died, Elizabeth was still at Hatfield.
+At the time of its composition she was in habitual intercourse with the
+most excellent writers of antiquity: her letter displays this in every
+part of it; but it is too rhetorical. It is here now first published.</p>
+
+<h4>LETTER.</h4>
+
+<p>"Like as the riche man that dayly gathereth riches to riches, and to one
+bag of money layeth a greate sort til it come to infinit, so me thinkes,
+your Majestie not beinge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span> suffised with many benefits and gentilnes
+shewed to me afore this time, dothe now increase them in askinge and
+desiring wher you may bid and comaunde, requiring a thinge not worthy
+the desiringe for it selfe, but made worthy for your highness request.
+My pictur I mene, in wiche if the inward good mynde towarde your grace
+might as wel be declared as the outwarde face and countenance shal be
+seen, I wold nor haue taried the comandement but prevent it, nor haue
+bine the last to graunt but the first to offer it. For the face, I
+graunt, I might wel blusche to offer, but the mynde I shall neur be
+ashamed to present. For thogth from the grace of the pictur, the coulers
+may fade by time, may giue by wether, may be spotted by chance, yet the
+other nor time with her swift winges shall ouertake, nor the mistie
+cloudes with their loweringes may darken, nor chance with her slipery
+fote may ouerthrow. Of this althogth yet the profe could not be greate
+because the occasions hath bine but smal, notwithstandinge as a dog
+hathe a day, so may I perchaunce haue time to declare it in dides wher
+now I do write them but in wordes. And further I shal most humbly
+beseche your Maiestie that whan you shal loke on my pictur you wil
+witsafe to thinke that as you haue but the outwarde shadow of the body
+afore you, so my inwarde minde wischeth, that the body it selfe wer
+oftener in your presence; howbeit bicause bothe my so beinge I thinke
+coulde do your Maiestie litel pleasure thogth my selfe great good, and
+againe bicause I se as yet not the time agreing ther&#363;to, I shal lerne
+to folow this saing of Orace, Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest.
+And thus I wil (troblinge your Maiestie I fere) end with my most humble
+thankes, beseching God long to preserue you to his honour, to your
+c&#333;fort, to the realmes profit, and to my joy. From Hatfilde this 1
+day of May.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">"Your Maiesties most humbly Sistar<br />
+"and Seruante</p>
+
+<p class="author">"ELIZABETH."</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ANNE_BULLEN" id="ANNE_BULLEN"></a>ANNE BULLEN.</h2>
+
+
+<p>That minute detail of circumstances frequently found in writers of the
+history of their own times is more interesting than the elegant and
+general narratives of later, and probably of more philosophical
+historians. It is in the artless recitals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span> of memoir-writers, that the
+imagination is struck with a lively impression, and fastens on petty
+circumstances, which must be passed over by the classical historian. The
+writings of Brantome, Comines, Froissart, and others, are dictated by
+their natural feelings: while the passions of modern writers are
+temperate with dispassionate philosophy, or inflamed by the virulence of
+faction. History instructs, but Memoirs delight. These prefatory
+observations may serve as an apology for Anecdotes which are gathered
+from obscure corners, on which the dignity of the historian must not
+dwell.</p>
+
+<p>In Houssaie's <i>Memoirs</i>, Vol. I. p. 435, a little circumstance is
+recorded concerning the decapitation of the unfortunate Anne Bullen,
+which illustrates an observation of Hume. Our historian notices that her
+executioner was a Frenchman of Calais, who was supposed to have uncommon
+skill. It is probable that the following incident might have been
+preserved by tradition in France, from the account of the executioner
+himself:&mdash;Anne Bullen being on the scaffold, would not consent to have
+her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had no fear of death.
+All that the divine who assisted at her execution could obtain from her
+was, that she would shut her eyes. But as she was opening them at every
+moment, the executioner could not bear their tender and mild glances;
+fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to invent an expedient to
+behead the queen. He drew off his shoes, and approached her silently;
+while he was at her left hand, another person advanced at her right, who
+made a great noise in walking, so that this circumstance drawing the
+attention of Anne, she turned her face from the executioner, who was
+enabled by this artifice to strike the fatal blow, without being
+disarmed by that spirit of affecting resignation which shone in the eyes
+of the lovely Anne Bullen.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">The Common Executioner,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose heart th' accustom'd sight of death makes hard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Falls not the axe upon the humble neck<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But first begs pardon.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8"><span class="smcap">Shakspeare</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="JAMES_THE_FIRST" id="JAMES_THE_FIRST"></a>JAMES THE FIRST.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was usual, in the reign of James the First, when they compared it
+with the preceding glorious one, to distinguish him by the title of
+<i>Queen James</i>, and his illustrious prede<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span>cessor by that of <i>King
+Elizabeth</i>! Sir Anthony Weldon informs us, "That when James the First
+sent Sir Roger Aston as his messenger to Elizabeth, Sir Roger was always
+placed in the lobby: the hangings being turned so that he might see the
+Queen dancing to a little fiddle, which was to no other end than that he
+should tell his master, by her youthful disposition, how likely he was
+to come to the crown he so much thirsted after;"&mdash;and, indeed, when at
+her death this same knight, whose origin was low, and whose language was
+suitable to that origin, appeared before the English council, he could
+not conceal his Scottish rapture, for, asked how the king did? he
+replied, "Even, my lords, like a poore man wandering about forty years
+in a wildernesse and barren soyle, and now arrived at the <i>Land of
+Promise</i>." A curious anecdote, respecting the economy of the court in
+these reigns, is noticed in some manuscript memoirs written in James's
+reign, preserved in a family of distinction. The lady, who wrote these
+memoirs, tells us that a great change had taken place in <i>cleanliness</i>,
+since the last reign; for, having rose from her chair, she found, on her
+departure, that she had the honour of carrying <i>upon</i> her some
+companions who must have been inhabitants of the palace. The court of
+Elizabeth was celebrated occasionally for its magnificence, and always
+for its nicety. James was singularly effeminate; he could not behold a
+drawn sword without shuddering; was much too partial to handsome men;
+and appears to merit the bitter satire of Churchill. If wanting other
+proofs, we should only read the second volume of "Royal Letters," 6987,
+in the Harleian collections, which contains Stenie's correspondence with
+James. The gross familiarity of Buckingham's address is couched in such
+terms as these:&mdash;he calls his majesty "Dere dad and Gossope!" and
+concludes his letters with "your humble slaue and dogge, Stenie."<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a>
+He was a most weak, but not quite a vicious man; yet his expertness in
+the art of dissimulation was very great indeed. He called this
+<i>King-Craft</i>. Sir Anthony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> Weldon gives a lively anecdote of this
+dissimulation in the king's behaviour to the Earl of Somerset at the
+very moment he had prepared to disgrace him. The earl accompanied the
+king to Royston, and, to his apprehension, never parted from him with
+more seeming affection, though the king well knew he should never see
+him more. "The earl, when he kissed his hand, the king hung about his
+neck, slabbering his cheeks, saying&mdash;'For God's sake, when shall I see
+thee again? On my soul I shall neither eat nor sleep until you come
+again.' The earl told him on Monday (this being on the Friday). 'For
+God's sake let me,' said the king:&mdash;'Shall I, shall I?'&mdash;then lolled
+about his neck; 'then for God's sake give thy lady this kisse for me, in
+the same manner at the stayre's head, at the middle of the stayres, and
+at the stayre's foot.' The earl was not in his coach when the king used
+these very words (in the hearing of four servants, one of whom reported
+it instantly to the author of this history), 'I shall never see his face
+more.'"</p>
+
+<p>He displayed great imbecility in his amusements, which are characterised
+by the following one, related by Arthur Wilson:&mdash;When James became
+melancholy in consequence of various disappointments in state matters,
+Buckingham and his mother used several means of diverting him. Amongst
+the most ludicrous was the present. They had a young lady, who brought a
+pig in the dress of a new-born infant: the countess carried it to the
+king, wrapped in a rich mantle. One Turpin, on this occasion, was
+dressed like a bishop in all his pontifical ornaments. He began the
+rites of baptism with the common prayer-book in his hand; a silver ewer
+with water was held by another. The marquis stood as godfather. When
+James turned to look at the infant, the pig squeaked: an animal which he
+greatly abhorred. At this, highly displeased, he exclaimed,&mdash;"Out! Away
+for shame! What blasphemy is this!"</p>
+
+<p>This ridiculous joke did not accord with the feelings of James at that
+moment; he was not "i' the vein." Yet we may observe, that had not such
+artful politicians as Buckingham and his mother been strongly persuaded
+of the success of this puerile fancy, they would not have ventured on
+such "blasphemies." They certainly had witnessed amusements heretofore
+not less trivial which had gratified his majesty. The account which Sir
+Anthony Weldon gives, in his Court of King James, exhibits a curious
+scene of James's amuse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span>ments. "After the king supped, he would come
+forth to see pastimes and fooleries; in which Sir Ed. Zouch, Sir George
+Goring, and Sir John Finit, were the chiefe and master fools, and surely
+this fooling got them more than any others wisdome; Zouch's part was to
+sing bawdy songs, and tell bawdy tales; Finit's to compose these songs:
+there was a set of fiddlers brought to court on purpose for this
+fooling, and Goring was master of the game for fooleries, sometimes
+presenting David Droman and Archee Armstrong, the kings foole, on the
+back of the other fools, to tilt one at another, till they fell together
+by the eares; sometimes they performed antick dances. But Sir John
+Millicent (who was never known before) was commended for notable
+fooling; and was indeed the best <i>extemporary foole</i> of them all."
+Weldon's "Court of James" is a scandalous chronicle of the times.</p>
+
+<p>His dispositions were, however, generally grave and studious. He seems
+to have possessed a real love of letters, but attended with that
+mediocrity of talent which in a private person had never raised him into
+notice. "While there was a chance," writes the author of the Catalogue
+of Noble Authors, "that the dyer's son, Vorstius, might be
+divinity-professor at Leyden, instead of being burnt, as his majesty
+hinted <i>to the Christian prudence</i> of the Dutch that he deserved to be,
+our ambassadors could not receive instructions, and consequently could
+not treat on any other business. The king, who did not resent the
+massacre at Amboyna, was on the point of breaking with the States for
+supporting a man who professed the heresies of Enjedius, Ostodorus, &amp;c.,
+points of extreme consequence to Great Britain! Sir Dudley Carleton was
+forced to threaten the Dutch, not only with the hatred of King James,
+but also with his pen."</p>
+
+<p>This royal pedant is forcibly characterised by the following
+observations of the same writer:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Among his majesty's works is a small collection of poetry. Like several
+of his subjects, our royal author has condescended to apologise for its
+imperfections, as having been written in his youth, and his maturer age
+being otherwise occupied. So that (to employ his own language) 'when his
+ingyne and age could, his affaires and fascherie would not permit him to
+correct them, scarslie but at stolen moments, he having the leisure to
+blenk upon any paper.' When James sent a present of his harangues,
+turned into Latin, to the Protestant princes in Europe, it is not
+unenter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span>taining to observe in their answers of compliments and thanks,
+how each endeavoured to insinuate that he had read them, without
+positively asserting it! Buchanan, when asked how he came to make a
+pedant of his royal pupil, answered that it was the best he could make
+of him. Sir George Mackenzie relates a story of his tutelage, which
+shows Buchanan's humour, and the veneration of others for royalty. The
+young king being one day at play with his fellow-pupil, the master of
+Erskine, Buchanan was reading, and desired them to make less noise. As
+they disregarded his admonition, he told his majesty, if he did not hold
+his tongue, he would certainly whip his breech. The king replied, he
+would be glad to see who would <i>bell the cat</i>, alluding to the fable.
+Buchanan lost his temper, and throwing his book from him, gave his
+majesty a sound flogging. The old countess of Mar rushed into the room,
+and taking the king in her arms, asked how he dared to lay his hands on
+the Lord's anointed? Madam, replied the elegant and immortal historian,
+I have whipped his a&mdash;&mdash;, you may kiss it if you please!"</p>
+
+<p>Many years after this was published, I discovered a curious
+anecdote:&mdash;Even so late as when James I. was seated on the throne of
+England, once the appearance of his <i>frowning tutor in a dream</i> greatly
+agitated the king, who in vain attempted to pacify his illustrious
+pedagogue in this portentous vision. Such was the terror which the
+remembrance of this inexorable republican tutor had left on the
+imagination of his royal pupil.</p>
+
+<p>James I. was certainly a zealous votary of literature; his wish was
+sincere, when at viewing the Bodleian Library at Oxford, he exclaimed,
+"Were I not a king I would be an university man; and if it were so that
+I must be a prisoner, if I might have my wish, I would have no other
+prison than this library, and be chained together with these good
+authors."</p>
+
+<p>Hume has informed us, that "his death was decent." The following are the
+minute particulars: I have drawn them from an imperfect manuscript
+collection, made by the celebrated Sir Thomas Browne.</p>
+
+<p>"The lord keeper, on March 22, received a letter from the court, that it
+was feared his majesty's sickness was dangerous to death; which fear was
+more confirmed, for he, meeting Dr. Harvey in the road, was told by him
+that the king used<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span> to have a beneficial evacuation of nature, a
+sweating in his left arm, as helpful to him as any fontenel could be,
+which of late failed.</p>
+
+<p>"When the lord keeper presented himself before him, he moved to cheerful
+discourse, but it would not do. He stayed by his bedside until midnight.
+Upon the consultations of the physicians in the morning he was out of
+comfort, and by the prince's leave told him, kneeling by his pallet,
+that his days to come would be but few in this world. '<i>I am
+satisfied</i>,' said the king; 'but pray you assist me to make me ready for
+the next world, to go away hence for Christ, whose mercies I call for,
+and hope to find.'</p>
+
+<p>"From that time the keeper never left him, or put off his clothes to go
+to bed. The king took the communion, and professed he died in the bosom
+of the Church of England, whose doctrine he had defended with his pen,
+being persuaded it was according to the mind of Christ, as he should
+shortly answer it before him.</p>
+
+<p>"He stayed in the chamber to take notice of everything the king said,
+and to repulse those who crept much about the chamber door, and into the
+chamber; they were for the most addicted to the Church of Rome. Being
+rid of them, he continued in prayer, while the king lingered on, and at
+last <i>shut his eyes with his own hands</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in the full power of his faculties, a timorous prince</p>
+
+<p>encountered the horrors of dissolution. <i>Religion</i> rendered cheerful the
+abrupt night of futurity; and what can <i>philosophy</i> do more, or rather,
+can philosophy do as much?</p>
+
+<p>I proposed to have examined with some care the works of James I.; but
+that uninviting task has been now postponed till it is too late. As a
+writer, his works may not be valuable, and are infected with the
+pedantry and the superstition of the age; yet I <i>suspect</i> that James was
+not that degraded and feeble character in which he ranks by the
+contagious voice of criticism. He has had more critics than readers.
+After a great number of acute observations and witty allusions, made
+extempore, which we find continually recorded of him by contemporary
+writers, and some not friendly to him, I conclude that he possessed a
+great promptness of wit, and much solid judgment and acute ingenuity. It
+requires only a little labour to prove this.</p>
+
+<p>That labour I have since zealously performed. This article,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span> composed
+<i>more than thirty years</i> ago, displays the effects of first impressions
+and popular clamours. About <i>ten</i> years I <i>suspected</i> that his character
+was grossly injured, and <i>lately</i> I found how it has suffered from a
+variety of causes. That monarch preserved for us a peace of more than
+twenty years; and his talents were of a higher order than the calumnies
+of the party who have remorselessly degraded him have allowed a common
+inquirer to discover. For the rest I must refer the reader to "An
+Inquiry into the Literary and Political Character of James I.;" in which
+he may find many correctives for this article. I shall in a future work
+enter into further explanations of this ambiguous royal author.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="GENERAL_MONK_AND_HIS_WIFE" id="GENERAL_MONK_AND_HIS_WIFE"></a>GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>From the MS. collection of Sir Thomas Browne, I shall rescue an
+anecdote, which has a tendency to show that it is not advisable to
+permit ladies to remain at home, when political plots are to be secretly
+discussed. And while it displays the treachery of Monk's wife, it will
+also appear that, like other great revolutionists, it was ambition that
+first induced him to become the reformer he pretended to be.</p>
+
+<p>"Monk gave fair promises to the Rump, but last agreed with the French
+Ambassador to take the government on himself; by whom he had a promise
+from Mazarin of assistance from France. This bargain was struck late at
+night: but not so secretly but that Monk's wife, who had posted herself
+conveniently behind the hangings, finding what was resolved upon, sent
+her brother Clarges away immediately with notice of it to Sir A.A. She
+had promised to watch her husband, and inform Sir A. how matters went.
+Sir A. caused the council of state, whereof he was a member, to be
+summoned, and charged Monk that he was playing false. The general
+insisted that he was true to his principles, and firm to what he had
+promised, and that he was ready to give them all satisfaction. Sir A.
+told him if he were sincere he might remove all scruples, and should
+instantly take away their commissions from such and such men in his
+army, and appoint others, and that before he left the room. Monk
+consented; a great part of the commissions of his officers were changed,
+and Sir Edward Harley, a member of the council, and then present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span> was
+made governor of Dunkirk, in the room of Sir William Lockhart; the army
+ceased to be at Monk's devotion; the ambassador was recalled, and broke
+his heart."</p>
+
+<p>Such were the effects of the infidelity of the wife of General Monk!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PHILIP_AND_MARY" id="PHILIP_AND_MARY"></a>PHILIP AND MARY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Houssaie, in his M&eacute;moires, vol. i. p. 261, has given the following
+curious particulars of this singular union:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The second wife of Philip was Mary Queen of England; a virtuous
+princess (Houssaie was a good catholic), but who had neither youth
+nor beauty. This marriage was as little happy for the one as for
+the other. The husband did not like his wife, although she doted on
+him; and the English hated Philip still more than he hated them.
+Silhon says, that the rigour which he exercised in England against
+heretics partly hindered Prince Carlos from succeeding to that
+crown, and for <i>which purpose</i> Mary had invited him in case she
+died childless!"&mdash;But no historian speaks of this pretended
+inclination, and is it probable that Mary ever thought proper to
+call to the succession of the English throne the son of the Spanish
+Monarch? This marriage had made her nation detest her, and in the
+last years of her life she could be little satisfied with him, from
+his marked indifference for her. She well knew that the Parliament
+would never consent to exclude her sister Elizabeth, whom the
+nobility loved for being more friendly to the new religion, and
+more hostile to the house of Austria.</p>
+
+<p>In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian F. III. is preserved a note of
+instructions in the handwriting of Queen Mary, of which the
+following is a copy. It was, probably, written when Philip was just
+seated on the English throne. </p>
+
+<p>"Instructions for my lorde Previsel.</p>
+
+<p>"Firste, to tell the Kinge the whole state of this realme, w<sup>t</sup> all
+things appartaynyng to the same, as myche as ye knowe to be trewe.</p>
+
+<p>"Seconde, to obey his commandment in all thyngs.</p>
+
+<p>"Thyrdly, in all things he shall aske your aduyse to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span>declare your
+opinion as becometh a faythfull conceyllour to do.</p>
+
+<p class="author">"<span class="smcap">Mary</span> the Quene." </p></div>
+
+<p>Houssaie proceeds: "After the death of Mary, Philip sought Elizabeth in
+marriage; and she, who was yet unfixed at the beginning of her reign,
+amused him at first with hopes. But as soon as she unmasked herself to
+the pope, she laughed at Philip, telling the Duke of Feria, his
+ambassador, that her conscience would not permit her to marry the
+husband of her sister."</p>
+
+<p>This monarch, however, had no such scruples. Incest appears to have had
+in his eyes peculiar charms; for he offered himself three times to three
+different sisters-in-law. He seems also to have known the secret of
+getting quit of his wives when they became inconvenient. In state
+matters he spared no one whom he feared; to them he sacrificed his only
+son, his brother, and a great number of princes and ministers.</p>
+
+<p>It is said of Philip, that before he died he advised his son to make
+peace with England, and war with the other powers. <i>Pacem cum Anglo,
+bellum cum reliquis</i>. Queen Elizabeth, and the ruin of his invincible
+fleet, physicked his frenzy into health, and taught him to fear and
+respect that country which he thought he could have made a province of
+Spain.</p>
+
+<p>On his death-bed he did everything he could for <i>salvation</i>. The
+following protestation, a curious morsel of bigotry, he sent to his
+confessor a few days before he died:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Father confessor! as you occupy the place of God, I protest to you that
+I will do everything you shall say to be necessary for my being saved;
+so that what I omit doing will be placed to your account, as I am ready
+to acquit myself of all that shall be ordered to me."</p>
+
+<p>Is there, in the records of history, a more glaring instance of the idea
+which a good Catholic attaches to the power of a confessor, than the
+present authentic example? The most licentious philosophy seems not more
+dangerous than a religion whose votary believes that the accumulation of
+crimes can be dissipated by the breath of a few orisons, and which,
+considering a venal priest to "occupy the place of God," can traffic
+with the divine power at a very moderate price.</p>
+
+<p>After his death a Spanish grandee wrote with a coal on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span>
+chimney-piece of his chamber the following epitaph, which ingeniously
+paints his character in four verses:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Siendo mo&ccedil;o luxurioso;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Siendo hombre, fue cruel;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Siendo viejo, codicioso:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Que se puede esperar del?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In youth he was luxurious;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In manhood he was cruel;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In old age he was avaricious:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What could be hoped from him?<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. I. chap. v.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Sir Walter was sincere, for he inserted the poem in the
+"English Minstrelsy." It may now be found in these volumes, Vol. I. p.
+230, where, in consequence of the recollection of Sir Walter, and as
+illustrative of manners now obsolete, it was subsequently inserted.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "The present inquiry originates in an affair of literary
+conscience. Many years ago I set off with the popular notions of the
+character of James the First; but in the course of study, and with a
+more enlarged comprehension of the age, I was frequently struck by the
+contrast between his real and his apparent character. * * * * It would
+be a cowardly silence to shrink from encountering all that popular
+prejudice and party feeling may oppose; this would be incompatible with
+that constant search after truth, which at least may be expected from
+the retired student."&mdash;<i>Preface to the Inquiry.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. II. chap. XXV.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The Cottonian collection is the richest English historic
+library we possess, and is now located in the British Museum, having
+been purchased for the use of the nation by Parliament in 1707, at a
+cost of 4500<i>l</i>. The collection of Sir Hans Sloane was added thereto in
+1753, for the sum of 20,000<i>l.</i> Dr. Birch and Mr. Cracherode bequeathed
+their most valuable collections to the British Museum. Mr. Douce is the
+only collector in the list above who bequeathed his curious gatherings
+elsewhere. He was an officer of the Museum for many years, but preferred
+to leave his treasures to the Bodleian Library, where they are preserved
+intact, according to his earnest wish, a wish he feared might not be
+gratified in the national building. It is to this scholar and friend,
+the author of these volumes has dedicated them, as a lasting memorial of
+an esteem which endured during the life of each.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> By Mr. Inglis, in 1832. This famous bishop is said to have
+possessed more books than all the others in England put together. Like
+Magliabechi, he lived among them, and those who visited him had to
+dispense with ceremony and step over the volumes that always strewed his
+floor.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The earliest decorated books were the Consular Diptycha,
+ivory bookcovers richly sculptured in relief, and destined to contain
+upon their tablets the Fasti Consulares, the list ending with the name
+of the new consul, whose property they happened to be. Such as have
+descended to our own times appear to be works of the lower empire. They
+were generally decorated with full length figures of the consul and
+attendants, superintending the sports of the circus, or conjoined with
+portraits of the reigning prince and emblematic figures. The Greek
+Church adopted the style for the covers of the sacred volume, and
+ancient clerical libraries formerly possessed many such specimens of
+early bookbinding; the covers being richly sculptured in ivory, with
+bas-reliefs designed from Scripture history. Such ivories were sometimes
+placed in the centre of the covers, and framed in an ornamental
+metal-work studded with precious stones and engraved cameos. The
+barbaric magnificence of these volumes has never been surpassed; the era
+of Charlemagne was the culmination of their glory. One such volume,
+presented by that sovereign to the Cathedral at Treves, is enriched with
+Roman ivories and decorative gems. The value of manuscripts in the
+middle ages, suggested costly bindings for books that consumed the
+labour of lives to copy, and decorate with ornamental letters, or
+illustrative paintings. In the fifteenth century covers of leather
+embossed with storied ornament were in use; ladies also frequently
+employed their needles to construct, with threads of gold and silver, on
+grounds of coloured silk, the cover of a favourite volume. In the
+British Museum one is preserved of a later date&mdash;the work of our Queen
+Elizabeth. In the sixteenth century small ornaments, capable of being
+conjoined into a variety of elaborate patterns, were first used for
+stamping the covers with gilding; the leather was stained of various
+tints, and a beauty imparted to volumes which has not been surpassed by
+the most skilful modern workmen.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The Fuggers were a rich family of merchants, residing at
+Augsburg, carrying on trade with both the Indies, and from thence over
+Europe. They were ennobled by the Emperor Maximilian I. Their wealth
+often maintained the armies of Charles V.; and when Anthony Fugger
+received that sovereign at his house at Augsburg he is said, as a part
+of the entertainment, to have consumed in a fire of fragrant woods the
+bond of the emperor who condescended to become his guest.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> A living poet thus enthusiastically describes the charms of
+a student's life among his books&mdash;"he has his Rome, his Florence, his
+whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his
+books the ruins of an antique world, and the glories of a modern
+one."&mdash;Longfellow's <i>Hyperion</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> An allusion and pun which occasioned the French translator
+of the present work an unlucky blunder: puzzled, no doubt, by my
+<i>facetiously</i>, he translates "mettant, comme on l'a
+<i>tr&eacute;s-judicieusement</i> fait observer, l'entendement humain sous la clef."
+The great work and the great author alluded to, having quite escaped
+him!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The earliest satire on the mere book-collector is to be
+found in Barclay's translation of Brandt's "Ship of Fools," first
+printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1508. He thus announces his true
+position:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I am the first fool of the whole navie<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To keepe the poupe, the helme, and eke the sayle:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For this is my minde, this one pleasure have I,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of bookes to have greate plentie and apparayle.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Still I am busy bookes assembling,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thing<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In my conceyt, and to have them aye in hande:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But what they meane do I not understande.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But yet I have them in great reverence<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And honoure, saving them from filth and ordare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">By often brushing and much diligence;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Full goodly bound in pleasaunt coverture,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of damas, satten, or else of velvet pure:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I keepe them sure, fearing least they should be lost,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> David Ancillon was born at Metz in 1617. From his earliest
+years his devotion to study was so great as to call for the
+interposition of his father, to prevent his health being seriously
+affected by it; he was described as "intemperately studious." The
+Jesuits of Metz gave him the free range of their college library; but
+his studies led him to Protestantism, and in 1633 he removed to Geneva,
+and devoted himself to the duties of the Reformed Church. Throughout an
+honourable life he retained unabated his love of books; and having a
+fortune by marriage, he gratified himself in constantly collecting them,
+so that he ultimately possessed one of the finest private libraries in
+France. For very many years his life passed peaceably and happily amid
+his books and his duties, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
+drove him from his country. His noble library was scattered at
+waste-paper prices, "thus in a single day was destroyed the labour,
+care, and expense of forty-four years." He died seven years afterwards
+at Brandenburg.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This important political treatise was discovered in the
+year 1823, by Angelo Maii, in the library of the Vatican. A treatise on
+the Psalms covered it. This second treatise was written in the clear,
+minute character of the middle ages, but beneath it Maii saw distinct
+traces of the larger letters of the work of Cicero; and to the infinite
+joy of the learned succeeded in restoring to the world one of the most
+important works of the great orator.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "Many bishops and abbots began to consider learning as
+pernicious to true piety, and confounded illiberal ignorance with
+Christian simplicity," says Warton. The study of Pagan authors was
+declared to inculcate Paganism; the same sort of reasoning led others to
+say that the reading of the Scriptures would infallibly change the
+readers to Jews; it is amusing to look back on these vain efforts to
+stop the effect of the printing-press.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Agobard was Archbishop of Lyons, and one of the most
+learned men of the ninth century. He was born in 779; raised to the
+prelacy in 816, from which he was expelled by Louis le Debonnaire for
+espousing the cause of his son Lothaire; he fled to Italy, but was
+restored to his see in 838, dying in 840, when the Church canonized him.
+He was a strenuous Churchman, but with enlightened views; and his style
+as an author is remarkable alike for its clearness and perfect
+simplicity. His works were unknown until discovered in the manner
+narrated above, and were published by the discoverer at Paris in 1603,
+the originals being bequeathed to the Royal Library at his death. On
+examination, several errors were found in this edition, and a new one
+was published in 1662, to which another treatise by Agobard was added.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The celebrated minister of Philip II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> One of the most curious modern discoveries was that of the
+Fairfax papers and correspondence by the late J. N. Hughes, of
+Winchester, who purchased at a sale at Leeds Castle, Kent, a box
+apparently filled with old coloured paving-tiles; on removing the upper
+layers he found a large mass of manuscripts of the time of the Civil
+wars, evidently thus packed for concealment; they have since been
+published, and add most valuable information to this interesting period
+of English history.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> For some time previous to his death he was in so abject a
+state of poverty as to be dependent for subsistence upon the exertions
+of his faithful servant Antonio, a native of Java, whom he had brought
+with him from India, and who was accustomed to beg by night for the
+bread which was to save his unhappy master from perishing by want the
+next day. Cam&ouml;ens, when death at last put an end to a life which
+misfortune and neglect had rendered insupportable, was denied the solace
+of having his faithful Antonio to close his eyes. He was aged only
+fifty-five when he breathed his last in the hospital. This event
+occurred in 1579, but so little regard was paid to the memory of this
+great man that the day or month on which he expired remains
+unknown.&mdash;Adamson's <i>Memoirs of Cam&ouml;ens</i>, 1820.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> This melancholy event happened in 1788, fifteen years
+after the original projector of the Literary Fund, Mr. David Williams,
+had endeavoured to establish it. It appears that Mr. Floyer Sydenham was
+arrested "for a small debt; he never spoke after being arrested, and
+sunk under the pressure of his calamity." This is the published record
+of the event by the officers of the present fund; and these simple words
+are sufficiently indicative of the harrowing nature of the catastrophe;
+it was strongly felt that Mr. Williams' hopeful plan of preventing a
+second act so fatal should be encouraged. A small literary club took the
+initiative, and subscribed a few guineas to pay for such advertisements
+as were necessary to keep the intended objects of the founder before the
+public, and solicit its aid. Two years afterwards a committee was
+formed; another two years saw it take position among the established
+institutions of the country. In 1818 it obtained a royal charter. In its
+career it has relieved upwards of 1300 applicants, and devoted to that
+purpose 47,725<i>l.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Withers, throughout these unique eclogues, which are
+supposed to narrate the discourses of "friendly shepherds" who visit
+him&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">"&mdash;pent<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Within the jaws of strict imprisonment;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A forlorn shepherd void of all the means,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whereon man's common hope in danger leads"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+&mdash;is still upheld by the same consciousness of rectitude which inspired
+Sir Richard Lovelace in his better-known address "To Althea from
+Prison." Withers' poem was published before Lovelace was born. A few
+lines from Withers will display this similarity. Speaking of his
+enemies, he says:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"They may do much, but when they have done all,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Only my body they may bring in thrall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And 'tis not that, my Willy; 'tis my mind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My mind's more precious freedom I so weigh,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A thousand ways they may my body bind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In thousand thralls, but ne'er my mind betray:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hence it is that I contentment find,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And bear with patience this my load away:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'm still myself, and that I'd rather be.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Than to be lord of all these downs in fee."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The same anecdote is related of Dr. Johnson, who once
+being at a club where other literary men were indulging in jests, upon
+the entry of a new visitor exclaimed, "Let us be grave&mdash;here is a fool
+coming."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Impressions have been taken from plates engraved by the
+ancient Egyptians; and one of these, printed by the ordinary
+rolling-press, was exhibited at the Great Manchester Exhibition, 1857;
+it being for all practical purposes similar to those executed in the
+present day.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Henry gave a commission to the famous antiquary, John
+Leland, to examine the libraries of the suppressed religious houses, and
+preserve such as concerned history. Though Leland, after his search,
+told the king he had "conserved many good authors, the which otherwyse
+had bene lyke to have peryshed, to the no smal incommodite of good
+letters," he owns to the ruthless destruction of all such as were
+connected with the "doctryne of a rowt of Romayne bysshopps." Strype
+consequently notes with great sorrow that many "ancient manuscripts and
+writings of learned British and Saxon authors were lost. Libraries were
+sold by mercenary men for anything they could get, in that confusion and
+devastation of religious houses. Bale, the antiquary, makes mention of a
+merchant that bought two noble libraries about these times for forty
+shillings; the books whereof served him for no other use but for waste
+paper; and that he had been ten years consuming them, and yet there
+remained still store enough for as many years more. Vast quantities and
+numbers of these books vanished with the monks and friars from their
+monasteries, were conveyed away and carried beyond seas to booksellers
+there, by whole ship ladings; and a great many more were used in shops
+and kitchens."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> One of the most disastrous of these losses to the admirers
+of the old drama occurred through the neglect of a collector&mdash;John
+Warburton, Somerset herald-at-arms (who died 1759), and who had many of
+these early plays in manuscript. They were left carelessly in a corner,
+and during his absence his cook used them for culinary purposes as waste
+paper. The list published of his losses is, however, not quite accurate,
+as one or more escaped, or were mislaid by this careless man; for
+Massinger's tragedy, <i>The Tyrant</i>, stated to have been so destroyed, was
+found among his books, and sold at his sale in 1759; another play by the
+same author, <i>Believe as You List</i>, was discovered among some papers
+from Garrick's library in 1844, and was printed by the Percy Society,
+1849. It appears to be the very manuscript copy seen and described by
+Cibber and Chetwood.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> One of these shrivelled volumes is preserved in a case in
+our British Museum. The leaves have been twisted and drawn almost into a
+solid ball by the action of fire. Some few of the charred manuscripts
+have been admirably restored of late years by judicious pressure, and
+inlaying the damaged leaves in solid margins. The fire occurred while
+the collection was temporarily placed in Ashburnham House, Little Dean's
+Yard, Westminster, in October, 1731. From the Report published by a
+Committee of the House of Commons soon after, it appears that the
+original number of volumes was 958&mdash;"of which are lost, burnt, or
+entirely spoiled, 114; and damaged so as to be defective, 98."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Gianvincenzo Pinelli was descended from a noble Genoese
+family, and born at Naples in 1535. At the age of twenty-three he
+removed to Padua, then noted for its learning, and here he devoted his
+time and fortune to literary and scientific pursuits. There was scarcely
+a branch of knowledge that he did not cultivate; and at his death, in
+1601, he left a noble library behind him. But the Senate of Venice, ever
+fearful that an undue knowledge of its proceedings should be made
+public, set their seal upon his collection of manuscripts, and took away
+more than two hundred volumes which related in some degree to its
+affairs. The rest of the books were packed to go to Naples, where his
+heirs resided. The printed books are stated to have filled one hundred
+and sixteen chests, and the manuscripts were contained in fourteen
+others. Three ships were freighted with them. One fell into the hands of
+corsairs, and the contents were destroyed, as stated in the text; some
+of the books, scattered on the beach at Fermo, were purchased by the
+Bishop there. The other ship-loads were ultimately obtained by Cardinal
+Borromeo, and added to his library.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Book III. Letter V. Melmoth's translation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Book I. Letter XVI.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Jortin's <i>Remarks on Ecclesiastical History</i>, vol. v. p.
+17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> China is the stronghold where antiquarian controversy
+rests. Beaten in affixing the origin of any art elsewhere, the
+controversialist enshrines himself within the Great Wall, and is allowed
+to repose in peace. Opponents, like Arabs, give up the chase when these
+gates close, though possibly with as little reason as the children of
+the desert evince when they quietly succumb to any slight defence.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> They are small square blocks of metal, with the name in
+raised letters within a border, precisely similar to those used by the
+modern printer. Sometimes the stamp was round, or in the shape of a foot
+or hand, with the potter's name in the centre. They were in constant use
+for impressing the clay-works which supplied the wants of a Roman
+household. The list of potters' marks found upon fragments discovered in
+London alone amounts to several hundreds.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Another reason for the omission of a great initial is
+given. There was difficulty in obtaining such enriched letters by
+engraving as were used in manuscripts; and there was at this time a
+large number of professional scribes, whose interests were in some
+degree considered by the printer. Hence we find in early books a large
+space left to be filled in by the hand of the scribe with the proper
+letter indicated by a small type letter placed in the midst. The famous
+<i>Psalter</i> printed by Faust and Scheffer, at Mentz, in 1497, is the first
+book having large initial letters printed in red and blue inks, in
+imitation of the handwork of the old caligraphers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> The British Museum now possesses a remarkably fine series
+of these early works. They originated in the large sheet woodcuts, or
+"broadsides," representing saints, or scenes from saintly legends, used
+by the clergy as presents to the peasantry or pilgrims to certain
+shrines&mdash;a custom retained upon the Continent to the present time; such
+cuts exhibiting little advance in art since the days of their origin,
+being almost as rude, and daubed in a similar way with coarse colour.
+One ancient cut of this kind in the British Museum, representing the
+Saviour brought before Pilate, resembles in style the pen-drawings in
+manuscripts of the fourteenth century. Another exhibits the seven stages
+of human life, with the wheel of fortune in the centre. Another is an
+emblematic representation of the Tower of Sapience, each stone formed of
+some mental qualification. When books were formed, a large series of
+such cuts included pictures and type in each page, and in one piece. The
+so-called Poor Man's Bible (an evidently erroneous term for it, the
+invention of a bibliographer of the last century) was one of these, and
+consists of a series of pictures from Scripture history, with brief
+explanations. It was most probably preceded by the block books known as
+the <i>Apocalypse of St. John</i>, the <i>Cantico Canticorum</i>, and the <i>Ars
+Memorandi</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> This was Raoul le Fevre's <i>Recueil des Histoires de
+Troye</i>, a fanciful compilation of adventures, in which the heroes of
+antiquity perform the parts of the <i>preux chevaliers</i> of the middle
+ages. It was "ended in the Holy City of Colen," in September, 1471. The
+first book printed by him in England was <i>The Game and Playe of the
+Chesse</i>, in March, 1474. It is a fanciful moralization of the game,
+abounding with quaint old legends and stories.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Robert Stephens was the most celebrated of a family
+renowned through several generations in the history of printing. The
+first of the dynasty, Henry Estienne, who, in the spirit of the age,
+latinized his name, was born in Paris, in 1470, and commenced printing
+there at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His three
+sons&mdash;Francis, Robert, and Charles&mdash;were all renowned printers and
+scholars; Robert the most celebrated for the correctness and beauty of
+his work. His Latin Bible of 1532 made for him a great reputation; and
+he was appointed printer to Francis I. A new edition of his Bible, in
+1545, brought him into trouble with the formidable doctors of the
+Sorbonne, and he ultimately left Paris for Geneva, where he set up a
+printing-office, which soon became famous. He died in 1559. He was the
+author of some learned works, and a printer whose labours in the "noble
+art" have never been excelled. He left two sons&mdash;Henry and Robert&mdash;also
+remarkable as learned printers; and they both had sons who followed the
+same pursuits. There is not one of this large family without honourable
+recognition for labour and knowledge, and in their wives and daughters
+they found learned assistants. Chalmers says&mdash;"They were at once the
+ornament and reproach of the age in which they lived. They were all men
+of great learning, all extensive benefactors to literature, and all
+persecuted or unfortunate."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Plantin's office is still existing in Antwerp, and is one
+of the most interesting places in that interesting city. It is so
+carefully preserved, that its quadrangle was assigned to the soldiery in
+the last great revolution, to prevent any hostile incursion and damage.
+It is a lonely building, in which the old office, with its presses and
+printing material, still remains as when deserted by the last workman.
+The sheets of the last books printed there are still lying on the
+tables; and in the presses and drawers are hundreds of the woodcuts and
+copperplates used by Plantin for the books that made his office renowned
+throughout Europe. In the quadrangle are busts of himself and his
+successors, the Morels, and the scholars who were connected with them.
+Plantin's own room seems to want only his presence to perfect the scene.
+The furniture and fittings, the quaint decoration, leads the imagination
+insensibly back to the days of Charles V.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> It abounded with other errors, and was so rigidly
+suppressed, that a well-known collector was thirty years endeavouring
+ineffectually to obtain a copy. One has recently been added to the
+British Museum collection.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> A good example occurs in <i>Hudibras</i> (Part iii. canto 2,
+line 407), where persons are mentioned who
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Can by their pangs and <i>aches</i> find<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All turns and changes of the wind."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+The rhythm here demands the dissyllable <i>a-ches</i>, as used by the older
+writers, Shakspeare particularly, who, in his <i>Tempest</i>, makes Prospero
+threaten Caliban&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fill all thy bones with <i>aches</i>; make thee roar<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That beasts shall tremble at thy din."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+John Kemble was aware of the necessity of using this word in this
+instance as a dissyllable, but it was so unusual to his audiences that
+it excited ridicule; and during the O.P. row, a medal was struck,
+representing him as manager, enduring the din of cat-calls, trumpets,
+and rattles, and exclaiming, "Oh! my head <i>aitches</i>!"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> See the article on "Literary Blunders," in this volume,
+for the history of similar inventions, particularly the legend of St.
+Ursuala and the eleven thousand virgins, and the discovery of a certain
+St. Viar</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> The early history of the house is not given quite clearly
+and correctly in the text. The old foundation of Cistercians, named
+<i>Port-Royal des Champs</i>, was situated in the valley of Chevreuse, near
+Versailles, and founded in 1204 by Bishop Eudes, of Paris. It was in the
+reign of Louis XIII. that Madame Arnauld, the mother of the then Abbess,
+hearing that the sisterhood suffered from the damp situation of their
+convent and its confined space, purchased a house as an infirmary for
+its sick members in the Fauxbourg St. Jacques, and called it the
+<i>Port-Royal de Paris</i>, to distinguish it from the older foundation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> The same is reported of Butler; and it is said that
+Charles II. declared he could not believe him to be the author of
+<i>Hudibras</i>; that witty poem being such a contradiction to his heavy
+manners.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Xenophon having addressed a speech to his soldiers, in
+which he declared he felt many reasons for a dependence on the favour of
+the gods, had scarcely concluded his words when one of them emitted a
+loud sneeze. Xenophon at once declared this a spontaneous omen sent by
+Jupiter as a sign that his protection was awarded them.
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"O, happy Bridegroom! thee a lucky sneeze<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To Sparta welcom'd."&mdash;<i>Theocritus</i>, Idyll xviii.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+"Prometheus was the first that wished well to the sneezer, when the man
+which he had made of clay fell into a fit of sternutation upon the
+approach of that celestial fire which he stole from the sun."&mdash;Ross's
+<i>Arcana Microcosmi</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Burnet's little 12mo volume was printed at Amsterdam, "in
+the Warmoes-straet near the Dam," 1686, and compiled by him when living
+for safety in Holland during the reign of James II. He particularly
+attacks Varillas' ninth book, which relates to England, and its false
+history of the Reformation, or rather "his own imagination for true
+history." On the authority of Catholic students, he says "the greatest
+number of the pieces he cited were to be found nowhere but in his own
+fancy." Burnet allows full latitude to an author for giving the best
+colouring to his own views and that of his party&mdash;a latitude he
+certainly always allowed to himself; but he justly censures the
+falsifying, or rather inventing, of history; after Varillas' fashion.
+"History," says Burnet, "is a sort of trade, in which false coyn and
+false weights are more criminal than in other matters; because the
+errour may go further and run longer, though their authors colour their
+copper too slightly to make it keep its credit long."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The volume was published in 8vo in 1704, as "An Historical
+and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the
+Emperor of Japan." It is dedicated to the Bishop of London, who is told
+that "the Europeans have such obscure and various notions of Japan, and
+especially of our island Formosa, that they believe nothing for truth
+that has been said of it." He accordingly narrates the political history
+of the place; the manners and customs of its inhabitants; their
+religion, language, &amp;c. A number of engravings illustrate the whole, and
+depict the dresses of the people, their houses, temples, and ceremonies.
+A "Formosan Alphabet" is also given, and the Lord's Prayer, Apostles'
+Creed, and Ten Commandments, are "translated" into this imaginary
+language. To keep up the imposition, he ate raw meat when dining with
+the Secretary to the Royal Society, and Formosa appeared in the maps as
+a real island, in the spot he had described as its locality.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Psalmanazar would never reveal the true history of his
+early life, but acknowledged one of the southern provinces of France as
+the place of his birth, about 1679. He received a fair education, became
+lecturer in a Jesuit college, then a tutor at Avignon; he afterwards led
+a wandering life, subsisting on charity, and pretending to be an Irish
+student travelling to Rome for conscience sake. He soon found he would
+be more successful if he personated a Pagan stranger, and hence he
+gradually concocted his tale of <i>Formosa</i>; inventing an alphabet, and
+perfecting his story, which was not fully matured before he had had a
+few years' hard labour as a soldier in the Low Countries; where a Scotch
+gentleman introduced him to the notice of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London;
+who patronised him, and invited him to England. He came, and to oblige
+the booksellers compiled his <i>History of Formosa</i>, by the two editions
+of which he realized the noble sum of 22<i>l.</i> He ended in becoming a
+regular bookseller's hack, and so highly moral a character, that Dr.
+Johnson, who knew him well, declared he was "the best man he had ever
+known."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> William Lauder first began his literary impostures in the
+<i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> for 1747, where he accused Milton of gross
+plagiarisms in his <i>Paradise Lost</i>, pretending that he had discovered
+the prototypes of his best thoughts in other authors. This he did by
+absolute invention, in one instance interpolating twenty verses of a
+Latin translation of Milton into the works of another author, and then
+producing them with great virulence as a proof that Milton was a
+plagiarist. The falsehood of his pretended quotations was demonstrated
+by Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1751, but he returned to the
+charge in 1754. His character and conduct became too bad to allow of his
+continued residence in England, and he died in Barbadoes, "in universal
+contempt," about 1771.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Ireland's famous forgeries began when, as a young man in a
+lawyer's office, he sought to imitate old deeds and letters in the name
+of Shakspeare and his friends, urged thereto by his father's great
+anxiety to discover some writings connected with the great bard. Such
+was the enthusiasm with which they were received by men of great general
+knowledge, that Ireland persevered in fresh forgeries until an entire
+play was "discovered." It was a tragedy founded on early British
+history, and named <i>Vortigern</i>. It was produced at Kemble's Theatre, and
+was damned. Ireland's downward course commenced from that night. He
+ultimately published confessions of his frauds, and died very poor in
+1835.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Fielding, the novelist, in <i>The Author's Farce</i>, one of
+those slight plays which he wrote so cleverly, has used this incident,
+probably from his acquaintance with Hill's trick. He introduces his
+author trying to sell a translation of the <i>&AElig;neid</i>, which the bookseller
+will not purchase; but after some conversation offers him "employ" in
+the house as a translator; he then is compelled to own himself "not
+qualified," because he "understands no language but his own." "What! and
+translate <i>Virgil!</i>" exclaims the astonished bookseller. The detected
+author answers despondingly, "Alas! sir, I translated him out of
+Dryden!" The bookseller joyfully exclaims, "Not qualified! If I was an
+Emperor, thou should'st be my Prime Minister! Thou art as well vers'd in
+thy trade as if thou had'st laboured in my garret these ten years!"</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> The story is told in <i>The Defence of Coneycatching</i>, 1592,
+where he is said to have "sold <i>Orlando Furioso</i> to the Queen's players
+for twenty nobles, and when they were in the country sold the same play
+to the Lord Admirall's men for as much more."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Edmund Gayton was born in 1609, was educated at Oxford,
+then led the life of a literary drudge in London, where the best book he
+produced was <i>Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote</i>, in which are many
+curious and diverting stories, and among the rest the original of
+Prior's <i>Ladle</i>. He ultimately retired to Oxford, and died there very
+poor, in a subordinate place in his college.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Since the appearance of the <i>eleventh</i> edition of this
+work, the detection of a singular literary deception has occurred. The
+evidence respecting <i>The English Mercurie</i> rests on the alleged
+discovery of the literary antiquary, George Chalmers. I witnessed, fifty
+years ago, that laborious researcher busied among the long dusty shelves
+of our periodical papers, which then reposed in the ante-chamber to the
+former reading-room of the British Museum. To the industry which I had
+witnessed, I confided, and such positive and precise evidence could not
+fail to be accepted by all. In the British Museum, indeed, George
+Chalmers found the printed <i>English Mercurie</i>; but there also, it now
+appears, he might have seen <i>the original</i>, with all its corrections,
+before it was sent to the press, written on paper of modern fabric. The
+detection of this literary imposture has been ingeniously and
+unquestionably demonstrated by Mr. Thomas Watts, in a letter to Mr.
+Panizzi, the keeper of the printed books in the British Museum. The fact
+is, the whole is a modern forgery, for which Birch, preserving it among
+his papers, has not assigned either the occasion or the motive. Mr.
+Watts says&mdash;"The general impression left on the mind by the perusal of
+the <i>Mercurie</i> is, that it must have been written after the
+<i>Spectator</i>"; that the manuscript was composed in modern spelling,
+afterwards <i>antiquated</i> in the printed copy; while the type is similar
+to that used by Caslon in 1766. By this accidental reference to the
+originals, "the unaccountably successful imposition of fifty years was
+shattered to fragments in five minutes." I am inclined to suspect that
+it was a <i>jeu d'esprit</i> of historical antiquarianism, concocted by Birch
+and his friends the Yorkes, with whom, as it is well known, he was
+concerned in a more elegant literary recreation, the composition of the
+Athenian Letters. The blunder of George Chalmers has been repeated in
+numerous publications throughout Europe and in America. I think it
+better to correct the text by this notice than by a silent suppression,
+that it may remain a memorable instance of the danger incurred by the
+historian from forged documents; and a proof that multiplied authorities
+add no strength to evidence, when nil are to be traced to a single
+source.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> These curious passages, so strikingly indicative of the
+state of thought in the days of their authors, are worth clearly noting.
+Pilate's challenge to the Saviour is completely in the taste of the
+writer's day. He was Adam Davie, a poet of the fourteenth century, of
+whom an account is preserved in <i>Warton's History of English Poetry</i>;
+and the passage occurs in his poem of the <i>Battle of Jerusalem</i>, the
+incidents of which are treated as Froissart would treat the siege of a
+town happening in his own day.
+</p><p>
+The second passage above quoted occurs in the <i>Vision of Piers Plowman</i>,
+a poem of the same era, where the Roman soldier&mdash;whose name, according
+to legendary history, was Longinus, and who pierced the Saviour's
+side&mdash;is described as if he had given the wound in a passage of arms, or
+joust; and elsewhere in the same poem it is said that Christ,
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"For mankyndes sake,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Justed in Jerusalem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A joye to us all."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+And in another part of the poem, speaking of the victory of Christ, it
+is said&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Jhesus justede well."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> See also the remark of Galileo in a previous page of this
+volume, in the article headed "The Persecuted Learned."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> In Cochin-China, a traveller may always obtain his dinner
+by simply joining the family of the first house he may choose to enter,
+such hospitality being the general custom.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Esprit des Usages, et des Coutumes.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> If the master be present, he devotes himself to cramming
+his guests to repletion.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Many are of the nature of "peppercorn rents." Thus a manor
+was held from the king "by the service of one rose only, to be paid
+yearly, at the feast of St. John the Baptist, for all services; and they
+gave the king one penny for the price of the said one rose, as it was
+appraised by the barons of the Exchequer." Nicholas De Mora, in the
+reign of Henry III., "rendered at the Exchequer two knives, one good,
+and the other a very bad one, for certain land which he held in
+Shropshire." The citizens of London still pay to the Exchequer six
+horseshoes with nails, for their right to a piece of ground in the
+parish of St. Clement, originally granted to a farrier, as early as the
+reign of Henry III.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> This curious little volume deserves more attention than
+the slight mention above would occasion. It is diffuse in style, and
+hence looks a little like a "bookseller's job," of which the most was to
+be made; but the same fault has characterised many works whose authors
+possess a bad style. Many of the tales narrated of well-known London
+characters of the "merry days" of Charles the Second are very
+characteristic, and are not to be met with elsewhere.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> His name was Simon Symonds. The popular ballad absurdly
+exaggerates his deeds, and gives them untrue amplitude. It is not older
+than the last century, and is printed in Ritson's <i>English Songs</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> One of the most horrible of these books was the work of
+the Jesuit Pinamonti; it details with frightful minuteness the nature of
+hell-torments, accompanied by the most revolting pictures of the
+condemned under various refined torments. It was translated in an
+abbreviated form, and sold for a few pence as a popular religious book
+in Ireland, and may be so still. It is divided into a series of
+meditations for each day in the week, on hell and its torments.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> The finest collection at present is in Guy's Hospital,
+Southwark; they are the work of an artist especially retained there, who
+by long practice has become perfect, making a labour of love of a
+pursuit that would be disgustful to many.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> The description of these two famous statues is not
+correctly given in the text. The statue called <i>Marforio</i> is the figure
+of a recumbent river god of colossal proportions, found near the arch of
+Septimius Severus. When the museum of the capitol was completed, the
+Pope moved the figure into the court-yard; there it is still to be seen.
+He also wished to move that of <i>Pasquin</i>, but the Duke de Braschi
+refused to allow it; and it still stands on its pedestal, at the angle
+of the Braschi Palace, in the small square that takes the name of Piazza
+del Pasquino from that circumstance. It is much mutilated, but is the
+ruin of a very fine work; Bernini expressed great admiration for it. It
+is considered by Count Maffei to represent Ajax supporting Menelaus. The
+torso of the latter figure only is left, the arms of the former are
+broken away; but enough remains of both to conjecture what the original
+might have been in design. The <i>pose</i> of both figures is similar to the
+fine group known as Ajax and Telamon, in the Loggia of the Pitti Palace
+at Florence.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> The cannon were to supply the castle of St. Angelo, but a
+large portion of the metal (which formerly covered the roof of the
+temple) was used to construct the canopy and pillars which still stand
+over the tomb of St. Peter, in the great cathedral at Rome.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> This vehicle for satire was introduced early into England;
+thus, in 1589, was published "The return of the renowned Cavaliero
+Pasquill to England from the other side of the seas, and his meeting
+with Marforio at London, upon the Royall Exchange."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> For some very strong remarks on this fashion, the reader
+may consult Bulwer's <i>Anthropometamorphosis, or Artificiall Changeling</i>,
+1653. The author is very ungallant in his strictures on "precious jewels
+in the snouts of such swine."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> It consisted of three borders of lace of different depths,
+set one above the other, and was called a <i>Fontange</i>, from its inventor,
+Mademoiselle Font-Ange, a lady of the Court of Louis XIV.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> This was written in 1790.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> The <i>Lama</i>, or God of the Tartars, is composed of such
+frail materials as mere mortality; contrived, however, by the power of
+priestcraft, to appear immortal; the <i>succession of Lamas</i> never
+failing!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> In 1834 was published a curious little volume by William
+Hull, "The History of the Glove Trade, with the Customs connected with
+the Glove," which adds some interesting information to the present
+article.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> A still more curious use for gloves was proposed by the
+Marquis of Worcester, in his "Century of Inventions," 1659; it was to
+make them with "knotted silk strings, to signify any letter," or "pinked
+with the alphabet," that they might by this means be subservient to the
+practice of secret correspondence.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> This is an extraordinary mistake for so accurate an
+antiquary to make. They occur on monumental effigies, or brasses; also
+in illuminated manuscripts, continually from the Saxon era; as may be
+seen in Strutt's plates to any of his books.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> One of the most curious of these natural portraits is the
+enormous rock in Wales, known as the Pitt Stone. It is an immense
+fragment, the outline bearing a perfect resemblance to the profile of
+the great statesman. The frontispiece to Brace's "Visit to Norway and
+Sweden" represents an island popularly known as "The Horseman's Island,"
+that takes the form of a gigantic mounted horseman wading through the
+deep. W.B. Cooke, the late eminent engraver, amused himself by depicting
+a landscape with waterfalls and ruins, which, when turned on one side,
+formed a perfect human face.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Palmer's death took place on the Liverpool stage, August
+2, 1798; he was in the fifty-seventh year of his age. The death of his
+wife and his son had some time before thrown him into a profound
+melancholy, and on this occasion he was unfortunately "cast" for the
+agitating part of "the Stranger." He appeared unusually moved on
+uttering the words "there is another and a better world," in the third
+act. In the first scene of the following act, when he was asked "Why did
+you not keep your children with you? they would have amused you in many
+a dreary hour," he turned to reply&mdash;and "for the space of about ten
+seconds, he paused as if waiting for the prompter to give him the
+word"&mdash;says Mr. Whitfield the actor, who was then with him upon the
+stage&mdash;"then put out his right hand, as if going to take hold of mine.
+It dropt, as if to support his fall, but it had no power; in that
+instant he fell, but not at full length, he crouched in falling, so that
+his head did not strike the stage with great violence. He never breathed
+after. I think I may venture to say he died without a pang." It is one
+of the most melancholy incidents connected with theatrical history.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> In it he likens Christianity to a game at cards.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> In his "Sermon of the Plough," preached at Paul's Cross,
+1548, we meet the same quaint imagery. "Preaching of the Gospel is one
+of God's plough works, and the preacher is one of God's ploughmen&mdash;and
+well may the preacher and the ploughman be likened together: first, for
+their labour at all seasons of the year; for there is no time of the
+year in which the ploughman hath not some special work to do." He says
+that Satan "is ever busy in following his plough;" and he winds up his
+peroration by the somewhat startling words, "the devil shall go for my
+money, for he applieth to his business. Therefore, ye unpreaching
+prelates, learn of the devil: to be diligent in doing your office learn
+of the devil: and if you will not learn of God, nor good men, for shame
+learn of the devil."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Sir Robert Cecil, in a letter to Sir John Harrington,
+happily characterized her Majesty as occasionally "being more than a
+man, and, in truth, sometimes less than a woman."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> A peculiar arrangement of letters was in use by the German
+and Flemish printers of the 16th century. Thus cI&#596; denoted
+1000, and I&#596;, 500. The date 1619 would therefore be thus
+printed:&mdash;cI&#596;. I&#596;cxx.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> "Day fatality" was especially insisted on by these
+students, and is curiously noted in a folio tract, published in 1687,
+particularly devoted to "Remarques on the 14th of October, being the
+auspicious birth-day of his present Majesty James II.," whose author
+speaks of having seen in the hands of "that genera scholar, and great
+astrologer, E. Ashmole," a manuscript in which the following barbarous
+monkish rhymes were inserted, noting the unlucky days of each month:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">January</span>      Prima dies menses, et septima truncat ut ensis.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">February</span>     Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia fortem.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">March</span>        Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">April</span>        Denus et undenus est mortis vulnere plenus.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">May</span>          Tertius occidit, et septimus ora relidit.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">June</span>         Denus pallescit, quindenus f&oelig;dra nescit.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">July</span>         Ter-decimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">August</span>       Prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">September</span>    Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala membris.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">October</span>      Tertius et denus, est sicut mors alienus.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">November</span>     Scorpius est quintus, et tertius e nece cinctus.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">December</span>     Septimus exanguis, virosus denus et anguis.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+The author of this strange book fortifies his notions on "day fatality"
+by printing a letter from Sir Winstan Churchill, who says, "I have made
+great experience of the truth of it, and have set down Fryday as my own
+lucky day; the day on which I was born, christened, married, and I
+believe will be the day of my death. The day whereon I have had sundry
+deliverances from perils by sea and land, perils by false brethren,
+perils of lawsuits, &amp;c. I was knighted (by chance unexpected of myself)
+on the same day, and have several good accidents happened to me on that
+day; and am so superstitious in the belief of its good omen, that I
+choose to begin any considerable action that concerns me on the same
+day."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Lilly was at one time a staunch adherent of the
+Roundheads, and "read in the stars" all kinds of successes for them. His
+great feat was a prediction made for the month of June, 1645&mdash;"If now we
+fight, a victory stealeth upon us." A fight did occur at Naseby, and
+concluded the overthrow of the unfortunate Charles the First. The words
+are sufficiently ambiguous; but not so much so, as many other
+"prophecies" of the same notable quack, happily constructed to shift
+with changes in events, and so be made to fit them. Lilly was opposed by
+Wharton, who saw in the stars as many good signs for the Royal Army; and
+Lilly himself began to see differently as the power of Cromwell waned.
+Among the hundreds of pamphlets poured from the press in the excited
+days of the great civil wars in England, few are more curious than these
+"strange and remarkable predictions," "Signs in the Sky," and "Warnings
+to England," the productions of star-gazing knaves, which "terrified our
+isle from its propriety."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> He was assisted in the art by one Williamson, a
+watchmaker, of Dalton, Lancashire, with whom Romney lived in constant
+companionship. They were partners in a furnace, and had kept the fire
+burning for nine months, when the contents of the crucible began to
+assume the yellow hue which excited all their hopes; a few moments of
+neglect led to the catastrophe narrated above.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Religious parody seems to have carried no sense of
+impropriety with it to the minds of the men of the 15th and 16th
+centuries. Luther was an adept in this art, and the preachers who
+followed him continued the practice. The sermons of divines in the
+following century often sought an attraction by quaint titles, such
+as&mdash;"Heaven ravished"&mdash;"The Blacksmith, a sermon preached at Whitehall
+before the King," 1606. Beloe, in his <i>Anecdotes of Literature</i>, vol. 6,
+has recorded many of these quaint titles, among them the
+following:&mdash;"<i>The Nail hit on the head</i>, and driven into the city and
+cathedral wall of Norwich. By John Carter, 1644." "<i>The Wheel turned</i> by
+a voice from the throne of glory. By John Carter, 1647." "<i>Two Sticks
+made one</i>, or the excellence of Unity. By Matthew Mead, 1691." "<i>Peter's
+Net let downe</i>, or the Fisher and the Fish, both prepared towards a
+blessed haven. By R. Matthew, 1634." In the middle of the last century
+two religious tracts were published, one bearing the alarming title,
+"Die and be Damned," the other being termed, "A sure Guide to Hell." The
+first was levelled against the preaching of the Methodists, and the
+title obtained from what the author asserts to be the words of
+condemnation then frequently applied by them to all who differed from
+their creed. The second is a satirical attack on the prevalent follies
+and vices of the day, which form the surest "guide," in the opinion of
+the author, to the bottomless pit.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> The Scribleriad is a poem now scarcely known. It was a
+partial imitation of the Dunciad written by Richard Owen Cambridge, a
+scholar and man of fortune, who, in his residence at Twickenham,
+surrounded by friends of congenial tastes, enjoyed a life of literary
+ease. The Scribleriad is an attack on pseudo-science, the hero being a
+virtuoso of the most Quixotic kind, who travels far to discover
+rarities, loves a lady with the <i>plica Polonica</i>, waits three years at
+Naples to see the eruption of Vesuvius; and plays all kinds of fantastic
+tricks, as if in continual ridicule of <i>The Philosophical Transactions</i>,
+which are especially aimed at in the notes which accompany the poem. It
+achieved considerable notoriety in its own day, and is not without
+merit. It was published by Dodsley, in 1751, in a handsome quarto, with
+some good engravings by Boitard.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Thomas Jordan, a poet of the time of Charles II., has the
+following specimen of a double acrostic, which must have occupied a
+large amount of labour. He calls it "a cross acrostick on two crost
+lovers." The man's name running through from top to bottom, and the
+female's the contrary way of the poem.
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Though crost in our affections, still the flames<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of Honour shall secure our noble Names;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor shall Our fate divorce our faith, Or cause<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The least Mislike of love's Diviner lawes.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Crosses sometimes Are cures, Now let us prove,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That no strength Shall Abate the power of love:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Honour, wit, beauty, Riches, wise men call<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Frail fortune's Badges, In true love lies all.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Therefore to him we Yield, our Vowes shall be<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Paid&mdash;Read, and written in Eternity:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That All may know when men grant no Redress,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Much love can sweeten the unhappinesS.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> The following example, barbarously made up in this way
+from passages in the &AElig;neid and the Georgics, is by Stephen de Pleurre,
+and describes the adoration of the Magi. The references to each half
+line of the originals are given, the central cross marks the length of
+each quotation.
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i14">Tum Reges&mdash;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">7 &AElig; &middot; 98. Externi veniunt x qu&aelig; cuiq; est copia l&aelig;ti. 5 &AElig; &middot; 100.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">11 &AElig; &middot; 333. Munera portantes x molles sua tura Sab&aelig;i. 1 G &middot; 57.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">3 &AElig; &middot; 464. Dona dehinc auro gravia x Myrrhaque madentes.  12 &AElig; &middot; 100.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">9 &AElig; &middot; 659. Agnovere Deum Regum x Regumque parentum. 6 &AElig; &middot; 548.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">1 G &middot; 418. Mutavere vias x perfectis ordine votis. 10 &AElig; &middot; 548.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> The old Poet, Gascoigne, composed one of the longest
+English specimens, which he says gave him infinite trouble. It is as
+follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Lewd did I live, evil I did dwel."<br /></span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> We need feel little wonder at this when "The Book of
+Mormon" could be fabricated in our own time, and, with abundant evidence
+of that fact, yet become the Gospel of a very large number of persons.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> There are several instances of this ludicrous literal
+representation. Daniel Hopfer, a German engraver of the 16th century,
+published a large print of this subject; the scene is laid in the
+interior of a Gothic church, and <i>the beam</i> is a solid squared piece of
+timber, reaching from the eye of the man to the walls of the building.
+This peculiar mode of treating the subject may be traced to the earliest
+picture-books&mdash;thus the <i>Ars Memorandi</i>, a block-book of the early part
+of the 15th century, represents this figure of speech by a piece of
+timber transfixing a human eye.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Caricaturists were employed on both sides of the question,
+and by pictures as well as words the war of polemics was vigorously
+carried on. In one instance, the head of Luther is represented as the
+Devil's Bagpipe; he blows into his ear, and uses his nose as a chanter.
+Cocleus, in one of his tracts, represents Luther as a monster with seven
+heads, indicative of his follies; the first is that of a disputatious
+doctor, the last that of Barabbas! Luther replied in other pamphlets,
+adorned with equally gross delineations levelled at his opponents.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Bishop Percy's <i>Reliques of Ancient English Poetry</i> will
+furnish an example of the coarseness of invective used by both parties
+during the era of the Reformation; in such rhymes as "Plain Truth and
+Blind Ignorance"&mdash;"A Ballad of Luther and the Pope," &amp;c. The old
+interlude of "Newe Custome," printed in Dodsley's <i>Old Plays</i>; and that
+of "Lusty Juventus," in Hawkins's <i>English Drama</i>, are choice specimens
+of the vulgarest abuse. Bishop Bale in his play of <i>King John</i>
+(published in 1838 by the Camden Society), indulges in a levity and
+coarseness that would not now be tolerated in an alehouse&mdash;"stynkyng
+heretic" on one side, and "vile popysh swyne" on the other, are among
+the mildest epithets used in these religious satires. One of the most
+curious is a dialogue between John Bon, a husbandman, and "Master
+Parson" of his parish, on the subject of transubstantiation; it was so
+violent in its style as to threaten great trouble to author and printer
+(see Strype's <i>Ecclesiastical Memorials</i>). It may be seen in vol. xxx.
+of the Percy Society's publications.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> The first edition had all the external appearance of
+truth: a portrait of "Captain Lemuel Gulliver, of Redriff, aetat. su&aelig;
+lviii." faces the title; and maps of all the places, he only, visited,
+are carefully laid down in connexion with the realities of geography.
+Thus "Lilliput, discovered A.D. 1699," lies between Sumatra and Van
+Dieman's Land. "Brobdignag, discovered A.D. 1703," is a peninsula of
+North America. One Richard Sympson vouches for the veracity of his
+"antient and intimate friend," in a Preface detailing some "facts" of
+Gulliver's Life. Arbuthnot says he "lent the book to an old gentleman,
+who went immediately to his map to search for Lilliput."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> In Nagler's <i>Kunstler-Lexicon</i> is a whimsical error
+concerning a living English artist&mdash;George Cruikshank. Some years ago
+the relative merits of himself and brother were contrasted in an English
+review, and George was spoken of as "The real Simon Pure"&mdash;the first who
+had illustrated scenes of "Life in London." Unaware of the real
+significance of a quotation which has become proverbial among us, the
+German editor begins his Memoir of Cruikshank, by gravely informing us
+that he is an English artist, "whose real name is Simon Pure!" Turning
+to the artists under the letter P, we accordingly read:&mdash;"<span class="smcap">Pure</span> (Simon),
+the real name of the celebrated caricaturist, George Cruikshank."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> The whole of Dr. Stukeley's tract is a most curious
+instance of learned perversity and obstinacy. The coin is broken away
+where the letter F should be, and Stukeley himself allows that the upper
+part of the T might be worn away, and so the inscription really be
+<i>Fortuna Aug</i>; but he cast all such evidence aside, to construct an
+imaginary life of an imaginary empress; "that we have no history of this
+lady," he says, "is not to be wondered at," and he forthwith imagines
+one; that she was of a martial disposition, and "signalized herself in
+battle, and obtained a victory," as he guesses from the laurel wreath
+around her bust on the coin; her name he believes to be Gaulish, and
+"equivalent to what we now call Lucia," and that a regiment of soldiers
+was under her command, after the fashion of "the present Czarina," the
+celebrated Catherine of Russia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> One of the most curious pictorial and antiquarian blunders
+may be seen in Vallancey's <i>Collectanea</i>. He found upon one of the
+ancient stones on the Hill of Tara an inscription which he read <i>Beli
+Divose</i>, "to Belus, God of Fire;" but which ultimately proved to be the
+work of some idler who, lying on the stone, cut upside down his name and
+the date of the year, E. Conid, 1731; upon turning this engraving, the
+fact is apparent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Erroneous proper names of places occur continually in
+early writers, particularly French ones. There are some in Froissart
+that cannot be at all understood. Bassompierre is equally erroneous.
+<i>Jorchaux</i> is intended by him for <i>York House</i>; and, more wonderful
+still, <i>Inhimthort</i>, proves by the context to be <i>Kensington</i>!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Leopold Schefer, the German novelist, has composed an
+excellent sketch of Durer's married life. It is an admirably philosophic
+narrative of an intellectual man's wretchedness.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Since this article was written, many of these ancient
+Mysteries and Moralities have been printed at home and abroad. Hone, in
+his "Ancient Mysteries Described," 1825, first gave a summary of the
+<i>Ludus Coventri&aelig;,</i> the famous mysteries performed by the trading
+companies of Coventry; the entire series have been since printed by the
+Shakspeare Society, under the editorship of Mr. Halliwell, and consist
+of forty-two dramas, founded on incidents in the Old and New Testaments.
+The equally famous <i>Chester Mysteries</i> were also printed by the same
+society under the editorship of Mr. Wright, and consist of twenty-five
+long dramas, commencing with "The Fall of Lucifer," and ending with
+"Doomsday." In 1834, the Abbotsford Club published some others from the
+Digby MS., in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In 1825, Mr. Sharp, of
+Coventry, published a dissertation on the Mysteries once performed
+there, and printed the Pageant of the Sheremen and Taylor's Company; and
+in 1836 the Abbotsford Club printed the Pageant played by the Weavers of
+that city. In 1836, the Surtees Society published the series known as
+<i>The Towneley Mysteries,</i> consisting of thirty-two dramas; in 1838, Dr.
+Marriott published in English, at Basle, a selection of the most curious
+of these dramas. In 1837, M. Achille Jubinal published two octavo
+volumes of French "Myst&egrave;res in&eacute;dits du Quinzi&egrave;me Si&egrave;cle." This list
+might be swelled by other notes of such books, printed within the last
+thirty years, in illustration of these early religious dramas.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> In Jubinal's <i>Tapisseries Anciennes</i> is engraved that
+found in the tent of Charles the Bold, at Nancy, and still preserved in
+that city. It is particularly curious, inasmuch as it depicts the
+incidents described in the Morality above-named.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> The British Museum library was enriched in 1845 by a very
+curions collection of these old comic plays, which was formed about
+1560. It consists of sixty-four dramas, of which number only five or six
+were known before. They are exceedingly curious as pictures of early
+manners and amusements; very simple in construction, and containing few
+characters. One is a comic dialogue between two persons as to the best
+way of managing a wife. Another has for its plot the adventure of a
+husband sent from home by the seigneur of the village, that he may
+obtain access to his wife; and who is checkmated by the peasant, who
+repairs to the neglected lady of the seigneur. Some are entirely
+composed of allegorical characters; all are broadly comic, in language
+equally broad. They were played by a jocular society, whose chief was
+termed Prince des Sots; hence the name Sotties given to the farces.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> The peasants of the Ober-Ammergau, a village in the
+Bavarian Alps, still perform, at intervals of ten years, a long miracle
+play, detailing the chief incidents of the Passion of our Saviour from
+his entrance into Jerusalem to his ascension. It is done in fulfilment
+of a vow made during a pestilence in 1633. The performance lasted twelve
+hours in 1850, when it was last performed. The actors were all of the
+peasant class.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> An amusing instance of his classical emendations occurs
+in the text of Shakspeare. [King Henry IV. pt. 2, act 1, sc. 1.] The
+poet speaks of one who
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i5">"&mdash;&mdash;woebegone<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Bentley alters the first word of the sentence to a proper name, which is
+given in the third book of the Iliad, and the second of the &AElig;neid; and
+reads the passage thus:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">"&mdash;&mdash;Ucaligon<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Drew Priam's curtain," &amp;c.!<br /></span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Marana appears to have carelessly deserted his literary
+offspring. It is not improbable that his English translators continued
+his plan, and that their volumes were translated; so that what appears
+the French original may be, for the greater part, of our own home
+manufacture. The superiority of the first part was early perceived. The
+history of our ancient Grub-street is enveloped in the obscurity of its
+members, and there are more claimants than one for the honour of this
+continuation. We know too little of Marana to account for his silence;
+Cervantes was indignant at the impudent genius who dared to continue the
+immortal Quixote.
+</p><p>
+The tale remains imperfectly told.
+</p><p>
+See a correspondence on this subject in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1840
+and 1841.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> This play, Langbaine says, is written by Shakspeare.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> He had the palsy at that time.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> The names of several of Jonson's dramatis person&aelig;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> New Inn, Act iii. Scene 2.&mdash;Act iv. Scene 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> This break was purposely designed by the poet, to expose
+that singular one in Ben's third stanza.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> His man, Richard Broome, wrote with success several
+comedies. He had been the amanuensis or attendant of Jonson. The epigram
+made against Pope for the assistance W. Broome gave him appears to have
+been borrowed from this pun. Johnson has inserted it in "Broome's
+Life."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> He was remarkable for his memory of all that he read, not
+only the matter but the form, the contents of each page and the peculiar
+spelling of every word. It is said he was once tested by the pretended
+destruction of a manuscript, which he reproduced without a variation of
+word or line.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> He used to lie in a sort of lounging-chair in the midst
+of his study, surrounded by heaps of dusty volumes, never allowed to be
+removed, and forming a colony for the spiders whose society he so highly
+valued.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> His comparatively useless life was quietly satirized by
+the Rev. Mr. Spence, in "a parallel after the manner of Plutarch,"
+between Magliabechi and Hill, a self-taught tailor of Buckinghamshire.
+It is published in Dodsley's <i>Fugitive Pieces</i>, 2 vols., 12mo, 1774.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> The Dutch are not, however, to be entirely blamed for
+repulsive scenes on the stage. Shakspeare's Titus Andronicus, and many
+of the dramas of our Elizabethan writers, exhibit cruelties very
+repulsive to modern ideas. The French stage has occasionally exhibited
+in modern times scenes that have been afterwards condemned by the
+censors; and in Italy the "people's theatre" occasionally panders to
+popular tastes by execution scenes, where the criminal is merely taken
+off the stage; the blow struck on a wooden block, to give reality to the
+action; and the executioner re-enters flourishing a bloody axe.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Ned Shuter was the comedian who first introduced a donkey
+on the stage. Seated on the beast he delivered a prologue written on the
+occasion of his benefit. Sometimes the donkey wore a great tie-wig.
+Animals educated to play certain parts are a later invention. Horses,
+dogs, and elephants have been thus trained in the present century, and
+plays written expressly to show their proficiency.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> The doctor was paid 6000<i>l.</i> to prepare the narrative of
+the Voyages of Captain Cook from the rough notes. He indulged in much
+pruriency of description, and occasional remarks savouring of
+infidelity. They were loudly and generally condemned, and he died soon
+afterwards.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Keats is the most melancholy instance. The effect of the
+severe criticism in the Quarterly Review upon his writings, is said by
+Shelley to have "appeared like madness, and he was with difficulty
+prevented from suicide." He never recovered its baneful effect; and when
+he died in Rome, desired his epitaph might be, "Here lies one whose name
+was writ in water." The tombstone in the Protestant cemetery is
+nameless, and simply records that "A young English poet" lies there.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> A very clever satire has been concocted in an imaginary
+history of "a forty-first chair" of the Academy which has been occupied
+by the great men of literature who have not been recognised members of
+the official body, and whose "existence there has been unaccountably
+forgotten" in the annals of its members.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Barham, the author of the <i>Ingoldsby Legends</i>, wrote a
+similar death-bed lay in imitation of the older poets. It is termed "As
+I laye a-thinkynge." Bewick, the wood-engraver, was last employed upon,
+and left unfinished at his death, a cut, the subject of which was "The
+old Horse waiting for Death."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Since the above was written, many other volumes have been
+published illustrative of this branch of literature. The Bannatyne and
+Maitland Club and the Camden and Percy Societies have printed Metrical
+Romances entire.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> This famed lay has been magnificently published in
+Germany, where it is now considered as the native epic of the ancient
+kingdom. Its scenes have been delineated by the greatest of their
+artists, who have thus given a world-wide reputation to a poem
+comparatively unknown when the first edition of this work was printed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> These early novels have been collected and published by
+Mr. J. P. Collier, under the title of <i>Shakespeare's Library</i>. They form
+the foundation of some of the great Poet's best dramas.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> They were ridiculed in a French burlesque Romance of the
+Shepherd Lysis, translated by Davis, and published 1660. Don Quixote,
+when dying, made up his mind, if he recovered, to turn shepherd, in
+imitation of some of the romance-heroes, who thus finished their career.
+This old "anti-romance" works out this notion by a mad reader of
+pastorals, who assumes the shepherd habit and tends a few wretched sheep
+at St. Cloud.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Buckingham's style was even stronger and coarser than the
+text leads one to suppose. "Your sowship" is the beginning of one
+letter, and "I kiss your dirty hands" the conclusion of another. The
+king had encouraged this by his own extraordinary familiarity. "My own
+sweet and dear child," "Sweet hearty," "My sweet Steenie and gossip,"
+are the commencements of the royal epistles to Buckingham; and in one
+instance, where he proposes a hunting party and invites the ladies of
+his family, he does it in words of perfect obscenity.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<h4>END OF VOL. I.</h4>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of
+3), by Isaac  D'Israeli
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@@ -0,0 +1,22065 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3), by
+Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
+
+Author: Isaac  D'Israeli
+
+Editor: The Earl Of Beaconsfield
+
+Release Date: May 26, 2007 [EBook #21615]
+Last updated: January 16, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Janet Blenkinship and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+BY
+
+ISAAC DISRAELI.
+
+
+A New Edition,
+
+EDITED, WITH MEMOIR AND NOTES,
+
+BY HIS SON,
+
+THE EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.
+
+
+IN THREE VOLUMES.
+
+VOL. I.
+
+
+LONDON:
+
+FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.,
+
+BEDFORD STREET, STRAND.
+
+LONDON:
+
+BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
+
+
++--------------------------------------------------------------+
+|Transcriber's Note: In this text the macron is represented as |
+|                                                              |
+|[=u] and [=o]                                                 |
+|                                                              |
+|[R 'c'] represents a reverse 'c'                              |
++--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+This is the first collected edition of a series of works which have
+separately attained to a great popularity: volumes that have been always
+delightful to the young and ardent inquirer after knowledge. They offer
+as a whole a diversified miscellany of literary, artistic, and political
+history, of critical disquisition and biographic anecdote, such as it is
+believed cannot be elsewhere found gathered together in a form so
+agreeable and so attainable. To this edition is appended a Life of the
+Author by his son, also original notes, which serve to illustrate or to
+correct the text, where more recent discoveries have brought to light
+facts unknown when these volumes were originally published.
+
+                                                    LONDON, 1881.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+ON THE
+
+LIFE AND WRITINGS OF MR. DISRAELI.
+
+BY HIS SON.
+
+
+The traditionary notion that the life of a man of letters is necessarily
+deficient in incident, appears to have originated in a misconception of
+the essential nature of human action. The life of every man is full of
+incidents, but the incidents are insignificant, because they do not
+affect his species; and in general the importance of every occurrence is
+to be measured by the degree with which it is recognised by mankind. An
+author may influence the fortunes of the world to as great an extent as
+a statesman or a warrior; and the deeds and performances by which this
+influence is created and exercised, may rank in their interest and
+importance with the decisions of great Congresses, or the skilful valour
+of a memorable field. M. de Voltaire was certainly a greater Frenchman
+than Cardinal Fleury, the Prime Minister of France in his time. His
+actions were more important; and it is certainly not too much to
+maintain that the exploits of Homer, Aristotle, Dante, or my Lord Bacon,
+were as considerable events as anything that occurred at Actium,
+Lepanto, or Blenheim. A Book may be as great a thing as a battle, and
+there are systems of philosophy that have produced as great revolutions
+as any that have disturbed even the social and political existence of
+our centuries.
+
+The life of the author, whose character and career we are venturing to
+review, extended far beyond the allotted term of man: and, perhaps, no
+existence of equal duration ever exhibited an uniformity more sustained.
+The strong bent of his infancy was pursued through youth, matured in
+manhood, and maintained without decay to an advanced old age. In the
+biographic spell, no ingredient is more magical than predisposition. How
+pure, and native, and indigenous it was in the character of this writer,
+can only be properly appreciated by an acquaintance with the
+circumstances amid which he was born, and by being able to estimate how
+far they could have directed or developed his earliest inclinations.
+
+My grandfather, who became an English Denizen in 1748, was an Italian
+descendant from one of those Hebrew families whom the Inquisition forced
+to emigrate from the Spanish Peninsula at the end of the fifteenth
+century, and who found a refuge in the more tolerant territories of the
+Venetian Republic. His ancestors had dropped their Gothic surname on
+their settlement in the Terra Firma, and grateful to the God of Jacob
+who had sustained them through unprecedented trials and guarded them
+through unheard-of perils, they assumed the name of DISRAELI, a name
+never borne before or since by any other family, in order that their
+race might be for ever recognised. Undisturbed and unmolested, they
+flourished as merchants for more than two centuries under the protection
+of the lion of St. Mark, which was but just, as the patron saint of the
+Republic was himself a child of Israel. But towards the middle of the
+eighteenth century, the altered circumstances of England, favourable, as
+it was then supposed, to commerce and religious liberty, attracted the
+attention of my great-grandfather to this island, and he resolved that
+the youngest of his two sons, Benjamin, the "son of his right hand,"
+should settle in a country where the dynasty seemed at length
+established, through the recent failure of Prince Charles Edward, and
+where public opinion appeared definitively adverse to persecution on
+matters of creed and conscience.
+
+The Jewish families who were then settled in England were few, though,
+from their wealth and other circumstances, they were far from
+unimportant. They were all of them Sephardim, that is to say, children
+of Israel, who had never quitted the shores of the Midland Ocean, until
+Torquamada had driven them from their pleasant residences and rich
+estates in Arragon, and Andalusia, and Portugal, to seek greater
+blessings, even than a clear atmosphere and a glowing sun, amid the
+marshes of Holland and the fogs of Britain. Most of these families, who
+held themselves aloof from the Hebrews of Northern Europe, then only
+occasionally stealing into England, as from an inferior caste, and whose
+synagogue was reserved only for Sephardim, are now extinct; while the
+branch of the great family, which, notwithstanding their own sufferings
+from prejudice, they had the hardihood to look down upon, have achieved
+an amount of wealth and consideration which the Sephardim, even with the
+patronage of Mr. Pelham, never could have contemplated. Nevertheless, at
+the time when my grandfather settled in England, and when Mr. Pelham,
+who was very favourable to the Jews, was Prime Minister, there might be
+found, among other Jewish families flourishing in this country, the
+Villa Reals, who brought wealth to these shores almost as great as their
+name, though that is the second in Portugal, and who have twice allied
+themselves with the English aristocracy, the Medinas--the Laras, who
+were our kinsmen--and the Mendez da Costas, who, I believe, still exist.
+
+Whether it were that my grandfather, on his arrival, was not encouraged
+by those to whom he had a right to look up,--which is often our hard
+case in the outset of life,--or whether he was alarmed at the unexpected
+consequences of Mr. Pelham's favourable disposition to his countrymen
+in the disgraceful repeal of the Jew Bill, which occurred a very few
+years after his arrival in this country, I know not; but certainly he
+appears never to have cordially or intimately mixed with his community.
+This tendency to alienation was, no doubt, subsequently encouraged by
+his marriage, which took place in 1765. My grandmother, the beautiful
+daughter of a family who had suffered much from persecution, had imbibed
+that dislike for her race which the vain are too apt to adopt when they
+find that they are born to public contempt. The indignant feeling that
+should be reserved for the persecutor, in the mortification of their
+disturbed sensibility, is too often visited on the victim; and the cause
+of annoyance is recognised not in the ignorant malevolence of the
+powerful, but in the conscientious conviction of the innocent sufferer.
+Seventeen years, however, elapsed before my grandfather entered into
+this union, and during that interval he had not been idle. He was only
+eighteen when he commenced his career, and when a great responsibility
+devolved upon him. He was not unequal to it. He was a man of ardent
+character; sanguine, courageous, speculative, and fortunate; with a
+temper which no disappointment could disturb, and a brain, amid
+reverses, full of resource. He made his fortune in the midway of life,
+and settled near Enfield, where he formed an Italian garden, entertained
+his friends, played whist with Sir Horace Mann, who was his great
+acquaintance, and who had known his brother at Venice as a banker, eat
+macaroni which was dressed by the Venetian Consul, sang canzonettas, and
+notwithstanding a wife who never pardoned him for his name, and a son
+who disappointed all his plans, and who to the last hour of his life was
+an enigma to him, lived till he was nearly ninety, and then died in
+1817, in the full enjoyment of prolonged existence.
+
+My grandfather retired from active business on the eve of that great
+financial epoch, to grapple with which his talents were well adapted;
+and when the wars and loans of the Revolution were about to create those
+families of millionaires, in which he might probably have enrolled his
+own. That, however, was not our destiny. My grandfather had only one
+child, and nature had disqualified him, from his cradle, for the busy
+pursuits of men.
+
+A pale, pensive child, with large dark brown eyes, and flowing hair,
+such as may be beheld in one of the portraits annexed to these volumes,
+had grown up beneath this roof of worldly energy and enjoyment,
+indicating even in his infancy, by the whole carriage of his life, that
+he was of a different order from those among whom he lived. Timid,
+susceptible, lost in reverie, fond of solitude, or seeking no better
+company than a book, the years had stolen on, till he had arrived at
+that mournful period of boyhood when eccentricities excite attention and
+command no sympathy. In the chapter on Predisposition, in the most
+delightful of his works,[1] my father has drawn from his own, though his
+unacknowledged feelings, immortal truths. Then commenced the age of
+domestic criticism. His mother, not incapable of deep affections, but so
+mortified by her social position that she lived until eighty without
+indulging in a tender expression, did not recognise in her only
+offspring a being qualified to control or vanquish his impending fate.
+His existence only served to swell the aggregate of many humiliating
+particulars. It was not to her a source of joy, or sympathy, or solace.
+She foresaw for her child only a future of degradation. Having a strong,
+clear mind, without any imagination, she believed that she beheld an
+inevitable doom. The tart remark and the contemptuous comment on her
+part, elicited, on the other, all the irritability of the poetic
+idiosyncrasy. After frantic ebullitions, for which, when the
+circumstances were analysed by an ordinary mind, there seemed no
+sufficient cause, my grandfather always interfered to soothe with
+good-tempered commonplaces, and promote peace. He was a man who thought
+that the only way to make people happy was to make them a present. He
+took it for granted that a boy in a passion wanted a toy or a guinea. At
+a later date, when my father ran away from home, and after some
+wanderings was brought back, found lying on a tombstone in Hackney
+churchyard, he embraced him, and gave him a pony.
+
+In this state of affairs, being sent to school in the neighbourhood, was
+a rather agreeable incident. The school was kept by a Scotchman, one
+Morison, a good man, and not untinctured with scholarship, and it is
+possible that my father might have reaped some advantage from this
+change; but the school was too near home, and his mother, though she
+tormented his existence, was never content if he were out of her sight.
+His delicate health was an excuse for converting him, after a short
+interval, into a day scholar; then many days of attendance were omitted;
+finally, the solitary walk home through Mr. Mellish's park was dangerous
+to the sensibilities that too often exploded when they encountered on
+the arrival at the domestic hearth a scene which did not harmonise with
+the fairy-land of reverie.
+
+The crisis arrived, when, after months of unusual abstraction and
+irritability, my father produced a poem. For the first time, my
+grandfather was seriously alarmed. The loss of one of his argosies,
+uninsured, could not have filled him with more blank dismay. His idea of
+a poet was formed from one of the prints of Hogarth hanging in his room,
+where an unfortunate wight in a garret was inditing an ode to riches,
+while dunned for his milk-score. Decisive measures were required to
+eradicate this evil, and to prevent future disgrace--so, as seems the
+custom when a person is in a scrape, it was resolved that my father
+should be sent abroad, where a new scene and a new language might divert
+his mind from the ignominious pursuit which so fatally attracted him.
+The unhappy poet was consigned like a bale of goods to my grandfather's
+correspondent at Amsterdam, who had instructions to place him at some
+collegium of repute in that city. Here were passed some years not
+without profit, though his tutor was a great impostor, very neglectful
+of his pupils, and both unable and disinclined to guide them in severe
+studies. This preceptor was a man of letters, though a wretched writer,
+with a good library, and a spirit inflamed with all the philosophy of
+the eighteenth century, then (1780-1) about to bring forth and bear its
+long-matured fruits. The intelligence and disposition of my father
+attracted his attention, and rather interested him. He taught his charge
+little, for he was himself generally occupied in writing bad odes, but
+he gave him free warren in his library, and before his pupil was
+fifteen, he had read the works of Voltaire and had dipped into Bayle.
+Strange that the characteristics of a writer so born and brought up
+should have been so essentially English; not merely from his mastery
+over our language, but from his keen and profound sympathy with all that
+concerned the literary and political history of our country at its most
+important epoch.
+
+When he was eighteen, he returned to England a disciple of Rousseau. He
+had exercised his imagination during the voyage in idealizing the
+interview with his mother, which was to be conducted on both sides with
+sublime pathos. His other parent had frequently visited him during his
+absence. He was prepared to throw himself on his mother's bosom, to
+bedew her hands with his tears, and to stop her own with his lips; but,
+when he entered, his strange appearance, his gaunt figure, his excited
+manners, his long hair, and his unfashionable costume, only filled her
+with a sentiment of tender aversion; she broke into derisive laughter,
+and noticing his intolerable garments, she reluctantly lent him her
+cheek. Whereupon Emile, of course, went into heroics, wept, sobbed, and
+finally, shut up in his chamber, composed an impassioned epistle. My
+grandfather, to soothe him, dwelt on the united solicitude of his
+parents for his welfare, and broke to him their intention, if it were
+agreeable to him, to place him in the establishment of a great merchant
+at Bordeaux. My father replied that he had written a poem of
+considerable length, which he wished to publish, against Commerce, which
+was the corrupter of man. In eight-and-forty hours confusion again
+reigned in this household, and all from a want of psychological
+perception in its master and mistress.
+
+My father, who had lost the timidity of his childhood, who, by nature,
+was very impulsive, and indeed endowed with a degree of volatility which
+is only witnessed in the south of France, and which never deserted him
+to his last hour, was no longer to be controlled. His conduct was
+decisive. He enclosed his poem to Dr. Johnson, with an impassioned
+statement of his case, complaining, which he ever did, that he had never
+found a counsellor or literary friend. He left his packet himself at
+Bolt Court, where he was received by Mr. Francis Barber, the doctor's
+well-known black servant, and told to call again in a week. Be sure that
+he was very punctual; but the packet was returned to him unopened, with
+a message that the illustrious doctor was too ill to read anything. The
+unhappy and obscure aspirant, who received this disheartening message,
+accepted it, in his utter despondency, as a mechanical excuse. But,
+alas! the cause was too true; and, a few weeks after, on that bed,
+beside which the voice of Mr. Burke faltered, and the tender spirit of
+Benett Langton was ever vigilant, the great soul of Johnson quitted
+earth.
+
+But the spirit of self-confidence, the resolution to struggle against
+his fate, the paramount desire to find some sympathising sage--some
+guide, philosopher, and friend--was so strong and rooted in my father,
+that I observed, a few weeks ago, in a magazine, an original letter,
+written by him about this time to Dr. Vicesimus Knox, full of high-flown
+sentiments, reading indeed like a romance of Scudery, and entreating
+the learned critic to receive him in his family, and give him the
+advantage of his wisdom, his taste, and his erudition.
+
+With a home that ought to have been happy, surrounded with more than
+comfort, with the most good-natured father in the world, and an
+agreeable man; and with a mother whose strong intellect, under ordinary
+circumstances, might have been of great importance to him; my father,
+though himself of a very sweet disposition, was most unhappy. His
+parents looked upon him as moonstruck, while he himself, whatever his
+aspirations, was conscious that he had done nothing to justify the
+eccentricity of his course, or the violation of all prudential
+considerations in which he daily indulged. In these perplexities, the
+usual alternative was again had recourse to--absence; he was sent
+abroad, to travel in France, which the peace then permitted, visit some
+friends, see Paris, and then proceed to Bordeaux if he felt inclined. My
+father travelled in France, and then proceeded to Paris, where he
+remained till the eve of great events in that capital. This was a visit
+recollected with satisfaction. He lived with learned men and moved in
+vast libraries, and returned in the earlier part of 1788, with some
+little knowledge of life, and with a considerable quantity of books.
+
+At this time Peter Pindar flourished in all the wantonness of literary
+riot. He was at the height of his flagrant notoriety. The novelty and
+the boldness of his style carried the million with him. The most exalted
+station was not exempt from his audacious criticism, and learned
+institutions trembled at the sallies whose ribaldry often cloaked taste,
+intelligence, and good sense. His "Odes to the Academicians," which
+first secured him the ear of the town, were written by one who could
+himself guide the pencil with skill and feeling, and who, in the form of
+a mechanic's son, had even the felicity to discover the vigorous genius
+of Opie. The mock-heroic which invaded with success the sacred recesses
+of the palace, and which was fruitlessly menaced by Secretaries of
+State, proved a reckless intrepidity, which is apt to be popular with
+"the general." The powerful and the learned quailed beneath the lash
+with an affected contempt which scarcely veiled their tremor. In the
+meantime, as in the latter days of the Empire, the barbarian ravaged the
+country, while the pale-faced patricians were inactive within the walls.
+No one offered resistance.
+
+There appeared about this time a satire "On the Abuse of Satire." The
+verses were polished and pointed; a happy echo of that style of Mr. Pope
+which still lingered in the spell-bound ear of the public. Peculiarly
+they offered a contrast to the irregular effusions of the popular
+assailant whom they in turn assailed, for the object of their indignant
+invective was the bard of the "Lousiad." The poem was anonymous, and was
+addressed to Dr. Warton in lines of even classic grace. Its publication
+was appropriate. There are moments when every one is inclined to praise,
+especially when the praise of a new pen may at the same time revenge the
+insults of an old one.
+
+But if there could be any doubt of the success of this new hand, it was
+quickly removed by the conduct of Peter Pindar himself. As is not
+unusual with persons of his habits, Wolcot was extremely sensitive, and,
+brandishing a tomahawk, always himself shrank from a scratch. This was
+shown some years afterwards by his violent assault on Mr. Gifford, with
+a bludgeon, in a bookseller's shop, because the author of the "Baviad
+and Maeviad" had presumed to castigate the great lampooner of the age. In
+the present instance, the furious Wolcot leapt to the rash conclusion,
+that the author of the satire was no less a personage than Mr. Hayley,
+and he assailed the elegant author of the "Triumphs of Temper" in a
+virulent pasquinade. This ill-considered movement of his adversary of
+course achieved the complete success of the anonymous writer.
+
+My father, who came up to town to read the newspapers at the St. James's
+Coffee-house, found their columns filled with extracts from the
+fortunate effusion of the hour, conjectures as to its writer, and much
+gossip respecting Wolcot and Hayley. He returned to Enfield laden with
+the journals, and, presenting them to his parents, broke to them the
+intelligence, that at length he was not only an author, but a successful
+one.
+
+He was indebted to this slight effort for something almost as agreeable
+as the public recognition of his ability, and that was the acquaintance,
+and almost immediately the warm personal friendship, of Mr. Pye. Mr. Pye
+was the head of an ancient English family that figured in the
+Parliaments and struggles of the Stuarts; he was member for the County
+of Berkshire, where his ancestral seat of Faringdon was situate, and at
+a later period (1790) became Poet Laureat. In those days, when literary
+clubs did not exist, and when even political ones were extremely limited
+and exclusive in their character, the booksellers' shops were social
+rendezvous. Debrett's was the chief haunt of the Whigs; Hatchard's, I
+believe, of the Tories. It was at the latter house that my father made
+the acquaintance of Mr. Pye, then publishing his translation of
+Aristotle's Poetics, and so strong was party feeling at that period,
+that one day, walking together down Piccadilly, Mr. Pye, stopping at the
+door of Debrett, requested his companion to go in and purchase a
+particular pamphlet for him, adding that if he had the audacity to
+enter, more than one person would tread upon his toes.
+
+My father at last had a friend. Mr. Pye, though double his age, was
+still a young man, and the literary sympathy between them was complete.
+Unfortunately, the member for Berkshire was a man rather of an elegant
+turn of mind, than one of that energy and vigour which a youth required
+for a companion at that moment. Their tastes and pursuits were perhaps a
+little too similar. They addressed poetical epistles to each other, and
+were, reciprocally, too gentle critics. But Mr. Pye was a most amiable
+and accomplished man, a fine classical scholar, and a master of correct
+versification. He paid a visit to Enfield, and by his influence hastened
+a conclusion at which my grandfather was just arriving, to wit, that he
+would no longer persist in the fruitless effort of converting a poet
+into a merchant, and that content with the independence he had realised,
+he would abandon his dreams of founding a dynasty of financiers. From
+this moment all disquietude ceased beneath this always well-meaning,
+though often perplexed, roof, while my father, enabled amply to gratify
+his darling passion of book-collecting, passed his days in tranquil
+study, and in the society of congenial spirits.
+
+His new friend introduced him almost immediately to Mr. James Pettit
+Andrews, a Berkshire gentleman of literary pursuits, and whose
+hospitable table at Brompton was the resort of the best literary society
+of the day. Here my father was a frequent guest, and walking home one
+night together from this house, where they had both dined, he made the
+acquaintance of a young poet, which soon ripened into intimacy, and
+which throughout sixty years, notwithstanding many changes of life,
+never died away. This youthful poet had already gained laurels, though
+he was only three or four years older than my father, but I am not at
+this moment quite aware whether his brow was yet encircled with the
+amaranthine wreath of the "Pleasures of Memory."
+
+Some years after this, great vicissitudes unhappily occurred in the
+family of Mr. Pye. He was obliged to retire from Parliament, and to sell
+his family estate of Faringdon. His Majesty had already, on the death of
+Thomas Warton, nominated him Poet Laureat, and after his retirement from
+Parliament, the government which he had supported, appointed him a
+Commissioner of Police. It was in these days that his friend, Mr. Penn,
+of Stoke Park, in Buckinghamshire, presented him with a cottage worthy
+of a poet on his beautiful estate; and it was thus my father became
+acquainted with the amiable descendant of the most successful of
+colonisers, and with that classic domain which the genius of Gray, as it
+were, now haunts, and has for ever hallowed, and from which he beheld
+with fond and musing eye, those
+
+    Distant spires and antique towers,
+
+that no one can now look upon without remembering him. It was amid these
+rambles in Stoke Park, amid the scenes of Gray's genius, the elegiac
+churchyard, and the picturesque fragments of the Long Story, talking
+over the deeds of "Great Rebellion" with the descendants of Cavaliers
+and Parliament-men, that my father first imbibed that feeling for the
+county of Buckingham, which induced him occasionally to be a dweller in
+its limits, and ultimately, more than a quarter of a century afterwards,
+to establish his household gods in its heart. And here, perhaps, I may
+be permitted to mention a circumstance, which is indeed trifling, and
+yet, as a coincidence, not, I think, without interest. Mr. Pye was the
+great-grandson of Sir Robert Pye, of Bradenham, who married Anne, the
+eldest daughter of Mr. Hampden. How little could my father dream, sixty
+years ago, that he would pass the last quarter of his life in the
+mansion-house of Bradenham; that his name would become intimately
+connected with the county of Buckingham; and that his own remains would
+be interred in the vault of the chancel of Bradenham Church, among the
+coffins of the descendants of the Hampdens and the Pyes. All which
+should teach us that whatever may be our natural bent, there is a power
+in the disposal of events greater than human will.
+
+It was about two years after his first acquaintance with Mr. Pye, that
+my father, being then in his twenty-fifth year, influenced by the circle
+in which he then lived, gave an anonymous volume to the press, the fate
+of which he could little have foreseen. The taste for literary history
+was then of recent date in England. It was developed by Dr. Johnson and
+the Wartons, who were the true founders of that elegant literature in
+which France had so richly preceded us. The fashion for literary
+anecdote prevailed at the end of the last century. Mr. Pettit Andrews,
+assisted by Mr. Pye and Captain Grose, and shortly afterwards, his
+friend, Mr. Seward, in his "Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons," had
+both of them produced ingenious works, which had experienced public
+favour. But these volumes were rather entertaining than substantial, and
+their interest in many instances was necessarily fleeting; all which
+made Mr. Rogers observe, that the world was far gone in its anecdotage.
+
+While Mr. Andrews and his friend were hunting for personal details in
+the recollections of their contemporaries, my father maintained one day,
+that the most interesting of miscellanies might be drawn up by a
+well-read man from the library in which he lived. It was objected, on
+the other hand, that such a work would be a mere compilation, and could
+not succeed with its dead matter in interesting the public. To test the
+truth of this assertion, my father occupied himself in the preparation
+of an octavo volume, the principal materials of which were found in the
+diversified collections of the French Ana; but he enriched his subjects
+with as much of our own literature as his reading afforded, and he
+conveyed the result in that lively and entertaining style which he from
+the first commanded. This collection of "Anecdotes, Characters,
+Sketches, and Observations; Literary, Critical, and Historical," as the
+title-page of the first edition figures, he invested with the happy
+baptism of "Curiosities of Literature."
+
+He sought by this publication neither reputation nor a coarser reward,
+for he published his work anonymously, and avowedly as a compilation;
+and he not only published the work at his own expense, but in his
+heedlessness made a present of the copyright to the bookseller, which
+three or four years afterwards he was fortunate enough to purchase at a
+public sale. The volume was an experiment whether a taste for literature
+could not be infused into the multitude. Its success was so decided,
+that its projector was tempted to add a second volume two years
+afterward, with a slight attempt at more original research; I observe
+that there was a second edition of both volumes in 1794. For twenty
+years the brother volumes remained favourites of the public; when after
+that long interval their writer, taking advantage of a popular title,
+poured forth all the riches of his matured intellect, his refined taste,
+and accumulated knowledge into their pages, and produced what may be
+fairly described as the most celebrated Miscellany of Modern Literature.
+
+The moment that the name of the youthful author of the "Abuse of Satire"
+had transpired, Peter Pindar, faithful to the instinct of his nature,
+wrote a letter of congratulation and compliment to his assailant, and
+desired to make his acquaintance. The invitation was responded to, and
+until the death of Wolcot, they were intimate. My father always
+described Wolcot as a warm-hearted man; coarse in his manners, and
+rather rough, but eager to serve those whom he liked, of which, indeed,
+I might appropriately mention an instance.
+
+It so happened, that about the year 1795, when he was in his 29th year
+there came over my father that mysterious illness to which the youth of
+men of sensibility, and especially literary men, is frequently
+subject--a failing of nervous energy, occasioned by study and too
+sedentary habits, early and habitual reverie, restless and indefinite
+purpose. The symptoms, physical and moral, are most distressing:
+lassitude and despondency. And it usually happens, as in the present
+instance, that the cause of suffering is not recognised; and that
+medical men, misled by the superficial symptoms, and not seeking to
+acquaint themselves with the psychology of their patients, arrive at
+erroneous, often fatal, conclusions. In this case, the most eminent of
+the faculty gave it as their opinion, that the disease was consumption.
+Dr. Turton, if I recollect right, was then the most considered physician
+of the day. An immediate visit to a warmer climate was his specific; and
+as the Continent was then disturbed and foreign residence out of the
+question, Dr. Turton recommended that his patient should establish
+himself without delay in Devonshire.
+
+When my father communicated this impending change in his life to Wolcot,
+the modern Skelton shook his head. He did not believe that his friend
+was in a consumption, but being a Devonshire man, and loving very much
+his native province, he highly approved of the remedy. He gave my father
+several letters of introduction to persons of consideration at Exeter;
+among others, one whom he justly described as a poet and a physician,
+and the best of men, the late Dr. Hugh Downman. Provincial cities very
+often enjoy a transient term of intellectual distinction. An eminent man
+often collects around him congenial spirits, and the power of
+association sometimes produces distant effects which even an individual,
+however gifted, could scarcely have anticipated. A combination of
+circumstances had made at this time Exeter a literary metropolis. A
+number of distinguished men flourished there at the same moment: some of
+their names are even now remembered. Jackson of Exeter still survives as
+a native composer of original genius. He was also an author of high
+aesthetical speculation. The heroic poems of Hole are forgotten, but his
+essay on the Arabian Nights is still a cherished volume of elegant and
+learned criticism. Hayter was the classic antiquary who first discovered
+the art of unrolling the MSS. of Herculaneum. There were many others,
+noisier and more bustling, who are now forgotten, though they in some
+degree influenced the literary opinion of their time. It was said, and I
+believe truly, that the two principal, if not sole, organs of periodical
+criticism at that time, I think the "Critical Review" and the "Monthly
+Review," were principally supported by Exeter contributions. No doubt
+this circumstance may account for a great deal of mutual praise and
+sympathetic opinion on literary subjects, which, by a convenient
+arrangement, appeared in the pages of publications otherwise professing
+contrary opinions on all others. Exeter had then even a learned society
+which published its Transactions.
+
+With such companions, by whom he was received with a kindness and
+hospitality which to the last he often dwelt on, it may easily be
+supposed that the banishment of my father from the delights of literary
+London was not as productive a source of gloom as the exile of Ovid to
+the savage Pontus, even if it had not been his happy fortune to have
+been received on terms of intimate friendship by the accomplished family
+of Mr. Baring, who was then member for Exeter, and beneath whose roof he
+passed a great portion of the period of nearly three years during which
+he remained in Devonshire.
+
+The illness of my father was relieved, but not removed, by this change
+of life. Dr. Downman was his physician, whose only remedies were port
+wine, horse-exercise, rowing on the neighbouring river, and the
+distraction of agreeable society. This wise physician recognised the
+temperament of his patient, and perceived that his physical derangement
+was an effect instead of a cause. My father instead of being in a
+consumption, was endowed with a frame of almost super-human strength,
+and which was destined for half a century of continuous labour and
+sedentary life. The vital principle in him, indeed, was so strong that
+when he left us at eighty-two, it was only as the victim of a violent
+epidemic, against whose virulence he struggled with so much power, that
+it was clear, but for this casualty, he might have been spared to this
+world even for several years.
+
+I should think that this illness of his youth, and which, though of a
+fitful character, was of many years' duration, arose from his inability
+to direct to a satisfactory end the intellectual power which he was
+conscious of possessing. He would mention the ten years of his life,
+from twenty-five to thirty-five years of age, as a period very deficient
+in self-contentedness. The fact is, with a poetic temperament, he had
+been born in an age when the poetic faith of which he was a votary had
+fallen into decrepitude, and had become only a form with the public, not
+yet gifted with sufficient fervour to discover a new creed. He was a
+pupil of Pope and Boileau, yet both from his native impulse and from the
+glowing influence of Rousseau, he felt the necessity and desire of
+infusing into the verse of the day more passion than might resound from
+the frigid lyre of Mr. Hayley. My father had fancy, sensibility, and an
+exquisite taste, but he had not that rare creative power, which the
+blended and simultaneous influence of the individual organisation and
+the spirit of the age, reciprocally acting upon each other, can alone,
+perhaps, perfectly develope; the absence of which, at periods of
+transition, is so universally recognised and deplored, and yet which
+always, when it does arrive, captivates us, as it were, by surprise. How
+much there was of freshness, and fancy, and natural pathos in his mind,
+may be discerned in his Persian romance of "The Loves of Mejnoon and
+Leila." We who have been accustomed to the great poets of the nineteenth
+century seeking their best inspiration in the climate and manners of the
+East; who are familiar with the land of the Sun from the isles of Ionia
+to the vales of Cashmere; can scarcely appreciate the literary
+originality of a writer who, fifty years ago, dared to devise a real
+Eastern story, and seeking inspiration in the pages of Oriental
+literature, compose it with reference to the Eastern mind, and customs,
+and landscape. One must have been familiar with the Almorans and Hamets,
+the Visions of Mirza and the kings of Ethiopia, and the other dull and
+monstrous masquerades of Orientalism then prevalent, to estimate such an
+enterprise, in which, however, one should not forget the author had the
+advantage of the guiding friendship of that distinguished Orientalist,
+Sir William Ouseley. The reception of this work by the public, and of
+other works of fiction which its author gave to them anonymously, was in
+every respect encouraging, and their success may impartially be
+registered as fairly proportionate to their merits; but it was not a
+success, or a proof of power, which, in my father's opinion, compensated
+for that life of literary research and study which their composition
+disturbed and enfeebled. It was at the ripe age of five-and-thirty that
+he renounced his dreams of being an author, and resolved to devote
+himself for the rest of his life to the acquisition of knowledge.
+
+When my father, many years afterwards, made the acquaintance of Sir
+Walter Scott, the great poet saluted him by reciting a poem of
+half-a-dozen stanzas which my father had written in his early youth. Not
+altogether without agitation, surprise was expressed that these lines
+should have been known, still more that they should have been
+remembered. "Ah!" said Sir Walter, "if the writer of these lines had
+gone on, he would have been an English poet."[2]
+
+It is possible; it is even probable that, if my father had devoted
+himself to the art, he might have become the author of some elegant and
+popular didactic poem, on some ordinary subject, which his fancy would
+have adorned with grace and his sensibility invested with sentiment;
+some small volume which might have reposed with a classic title upon our
+library shelves, and served as a prize volume at Ladies' Schools. This
+celebrity was not reserved for him: instead of this he was destined to
+give to his country a series of works illustrative of its literary and
+political history, full of new information and new views, which time
+and opinion has ratified as just. But the poetical temperament was not
+thrown away upon him; it never is on any one; it was this great gift
+which prevented his being a mere literary antiquary; it was this which
+animated his page with picture and his narrative with interesting
+vivacity; above all, it was this temperament, which invested him with
+that sympathy with his subject, which made him the most delightful
+biographer in our language. In a word, it was because he was a poet,
+that he was a popular writer, and made belles-lettres charming to the
+multitude.
+
+It was during the ten years that now occurred that he mainly acquired
+that store of facts which were the foundation of his future
+speculations. His pen was never idle, but it was to note and to
+register, not to compose. His researches were prosecuted every morning
+among the MSS. of the British Museum, while his own ample collections
+permitted him to pursue his investigation in his own library into the
+night. The materials which he accumulated during this period are only
+partially exhausted. At the end of ten years, during which, with the
+exception of one anonymous work, he never indulged in composition, the
+irresistible desire of communicating his conclusions to the world came
+over him, and after all his almost childish aspirations, his youth of
+reverie and hesitating and imperfect effort, he arrived at the mature
+age of forty-five before his career as a great author, influencing
+opinion, really commenced.
+
+The next ten years passed entirely in production: from 1812 to 1822 the
+press abounded with his works. His "Calamities of Authors," his "Memoirs
+of Literary Controversy," in the manner of Bayle; his "Essay on the
+Literary Character," the most perfect of his compositions; were all
+chapters in that History of English Literature which he then commenced
+to meditate, and which it was fated should never be completed.
+
+It was during this period also that he published his "Inquiry into the
+Literary and Political Character of James the First," in which he first
+opened those views respecting the times and the conduct of the Stuarts,
+which were opposed to the long prevalent opinions of this country, but
+which with him were at least the result of unprejudiced research, and
+their promulgation, as he himself expressed it, "an affair of literary
+conscience."[3]
+
+But what retarded his project of a History of our Literature at this
+time was the almost embarrassing success of his juvenile production,
+"The Curiosities of Literature." These two volumes had already reached
+five editions, and their author found himself, by the public demand,
+again called upon to sanction their re-appearance. Recognising in this
+circumstance some proof of their utility, he resolved to make the work
+more worthy of the favour which it enjoyed, and more calculated to
+produce the benefit which he desired. Without attempting materially to
+alter the character of the first two volumes, he revised and enriched
+them, while at the same time he added a third volume of a vein far more
+critical, and conveying the results of much original research. The
+success of this publication was so great, that its author, after much
+hesitation, resolved, as he was wont to say, to take advantage of a
+popular title, and pour forth the treasures of his mind in three
+additional volumes, which, unlike continuations in general, were at once
+greeted with the highest degree of popular delight and esteem. And,
+indeed, whether we consider the choice variety of the subjects, the
+critical and philosophical speculation which pervades them, the amount
+of new and interesting information brought to bear, and the animated
+style in which all is conveyed, it is difficult to conceive
+miscellaneous literature in a garb more stimulating and attractive.
+These six volumes, after many editions, are now condensed into the form
+at present given to the public, and in which the development of the
+writer's mind for a quarter of a century may be completely traced.
+
+Although my father had on the whole little cause to complain of unfair
+criticism, especially considering how isolated he always remained, it is
+not to be supposed that a success so eminent should have been exempt in
+so long a course from some captious comments. It has been alleged of
+late years by some critics, that he was in the habit of exaggerating the
+importance of his researches; that he was too fond of styling every
+accession to our knowledge, however slight, as a discovery; that there
+were some inaccuracies in his early volumes (not very wonderful in so
+multifarious a work), and that the foundation of his "secret history"
+was often only a single letter, or a passage in a solitary diary.
+
+The sources of secret history at the present day are so rich and
+various; there is such an eagerness among their possessors to publish
+family papers, even sometimes in shapes, and at dates so recent, as
+scarcely to justify their appearance; that modern critics, in their
+embarrassment of manuscript wealth, are apt to view with too
+depreciating an eye the more limited resources of men of letters at the
+commencement of the century. Not five-and-twenty years ago, when
+preparing his work on King Charles the First, the application of my
+father to make some researches in the State Paper Office was refused by
+the Secretary of State of the day. Now, foreign potentates and ministers
+of State, and public corporations and the heads of great houses, feel
+honoured by such appeals, and respond to them with cordiality. It is not
+only the State Paper Office of England, but the Archives of France,
+that are open to the historical investigator. But what has produced this
+general and expanding taste for literary research in the world, and
+especially in England? The labours of our elder authors, whose taste and
+acuteness taught us the value of the materials which we in our ignorance
+neglected. When my father first frequented the reading-room of the
+British Museum at the end of the last century, his companions never
+numbered half-a-dozen; among them, if I remember rightly, were Mr.
+Pinkerton and Mr. Douce. Now these daily pilgrims of research may be
+counted by as many hundreds. Few writers have more contributed to form
+and diffuse this delightful and profitable taste for research than the
+author of the "Curiosities of Literature;" few writers have been more
+successful in inducing us to pause before we accepted without a scruple
+the traditionary opinion that has distorted a fact or calumniated a
+character; and independently of every other claim which he possesses to
+public respect, his literary discoveries, viewed in relation to the age
+and the means, were considerable. But he had other claims: a vital
+spirit in his page, kindred with the souls of a Bayle and a Montaigne.
+His innumerable imitators and their inevitable failure for half a
+century alone prove this, and might have made them suspect that there
+were some ingredients in the spell besides the accumulation of facts and
+a happy title. Many of their publications, perpetually appearing and
+constantly forgotten, were drawn up by persons of considerable
+acquirements, and were ludicrously mimetic of their prototype, even as
+to the size of the volume and the form of the page. What has become of
+these "Varieties of Literature," and "Delights of Literature," and
+"Delicacies of Literature," and "Relics of Literature,"--and the other
+Protean forms of uninspired compilation? Dead as they deserve to be:
+while the work, the idea of which occurred to its writer in his early
+youth, and which he lived virtually to execute in all the ripeness of
+his studious manhood, remains as fresh and popular as ever,--the
+Literary Miscellany of the English People.
+
+I have ventured to enter into some details as to the earlier and
+obscurer years of my father's life, because I thought that they threw
+light upon human character, and that without them, indeed, a just
+appreciation of his career could hardly be formed. I am mistaken, if we
+do not recognise in his instance two very interesting qualities of life:
+predisposition and self-formation. There was a third, which I think is
+to be honoured, and that was his sympathy with his order. No one has
+written so much about authors, and so well. Indeed, before his time, the
+Literary Character had never been fairly placed before the world. He
+comprehended its idiosyncrasy: all its strength and all its weakness. He
+could soften, because he could explain, its infirmities; in the analysis
+and record of its power, he vindicated the right position of authors in
+the social scale. They stand between the governors and the governed, he
+impresses on us in the closing pages of his greatest work.[4] Though he
+shared none of the calamities, and scarcely any of the controversies, of
+literature, no one has sympathised so intimately with the sorrows, or so
+zealously and impartially registered the instructive disputes, of
+literary men. He loved to celebrate the exploits of great writers, and
+to show that, in these ages, the pen is a weapon as puissant as the
+sword. He was also the first writer who vindicated the position of the
+great artist in the history of genius. His pages are studded with
+pregnant instances and graceful details, borrowed from the life of Art
+and its votaries, and which his intimate and curious acquaintance with
+Italian letters readily and happily supplied. Above all writers, he has
+maintained the greatness of intellect, and the immortality of thought.
+
+He was himself a complete literary character, a man who really passed
+his life in his library. Even marriage produced no change in these
+habits; he rose to enter the chamber where he lived alone with his
+books, and at night his lamp was ever lit within the same walls.
+Nothing, indeed, was more remarkable than the isolation of this
+prolonged existence; and it could only be accounted for by the united
+influence of three causes: his birth, which brought him no relations or
+family acquaintance; the bent of his disposition; and the circumstance
+of his inheriting an independent fortune, which rendered unnecessary
+those exertions that would have broken up his self-reliance. He disliked
+business, and he never required relaxation; he was absorbed in his
+pursuits. In London his only amusement was to ramble among booksellers;
+if he entered a club, it was only to go into the library. In the
+country, he scarcely ever left his room but to saunter in abstraction
+upon a terrace; muse over a chapter, or coin a sentence. He had not a
+single passion or prejudice: all his convictions were the result of his
+own studies, and were often opposed to the impressions which he had
+early imbibed. He not only never entered into the politics of the day,
+but he could never understand them. He never was connected with any
+particular body or set of men; comrades of school or college, or
+confederates in that public life which, in England, is, perhaps, the
+only foundation of real friendship. In the consideration of a question,
+his mind was quite undisturbed by traditionary preconceptions; and it
+was this exemption from passion and prejudice which, although his
+intelligence was naturally somewhat too ingenious and fanciful for the
+conduct of close argument, enabled him, in investigation, often to show
+many of the highest attributes of the judicial mind, and particularly to
+sum up evidence with singular happiness and ability.
+
+Although in private life he was of a timid nature, his moral courage as
+a writer was unimpeachable. Most certainly, throughout his long career,
+he never wrote a sentence which he did not believe was true. He will
+generally be found to be the advocate of the discomfited and the
+oppressed. So his conclusions are often opposed to popular impressions.
+This was from no love of paradox, to which he was quite superior; but
+because in the conduct of his researches, he too often found that the
+unfortunate are calumniated. His vindication of King James the First, he
+has himself described as "an affair of literary conscience:" his greater
+work on the Life and Times of the son of the first Stuart arose from the
+same impulse. He had deeply studied our history during the first moiety
+of the seventeenth century; he looked upon it as a famous age; he was
+familiar with the works of its great writers, and there was scarcely one
+of its almost innumerable pamphlets with which he was not acquainted.
+During the thoughtful investigations of many years, he had arrived at
+results which were not adapted to please the passing multitude, but
+which, because he held them to be authentic, he was uneasy lest he
+should die without recording. Yet strong as were his convictions,
+although, notwithstanding his education in the revolutionary philosophy
+of the eighteenth century, his nature and his studies had made him a
+votary of loyalty and reverence, his pen was always prompt to do justice
+to those who might be looked upon as the adversaries of his own cause:
+and this was because his cause was really truth. If he has upheld Laud
+under unjust aspersions, the last labour of his literary life was to
+vindicate the character of Hugh Peters. If, from the recollection of the
+sufferings of his race, and from profound reflection on the principles
+of the Institution, he was hostile to the Papacy, no writer in our
+literature has done more complete justice to the conduct of the English
+Romanists. Who can read his history of Chidiock Titchbourne unmoved? or
+can refuse to sympathise with his account of the painful difficulties of
+the English Monarchs with their loyal subjects of the old faith? If in
+a parliamentary country he has dared to criticise the conduct of
+Parliaments, it was only because an impartial judgment had taught him,
+as he himself expresses it, that "Parliaments have their passions as
+well as individuals."
+
+He was five years in the composition of his work on the "Life and Reign
+of Charles the First," and the five volumes appeared at intervals
+between 1828 and 1831. It was feared by his publisher, that the
+distracted epoch at which this work was issued, and the tendency of the
+times, apparently so adverse to his own views, might prove very
+injurious to its reception. But the effect of these circumstances was
+the reverse. The minds of men were inclined to the grave and national
+considerations that were involved in these investigations. The
+principles of political institutions, the rival claims of the two Houses
+of Parliament, the authority of the Established Church, the demands of
+religious sects, were, after a long lapse of years, anew the theme of
+public discussion. Men were attracted to a writer who traced the origin
+of the anti-monarchical principle in modern Europe; treated of the arts
+of insurgency; gave them, at the same time, a critical history of the
+Puritans, and a treatise on the genius of the Papacy; scrutinised the
+conduct of triumphant patriots, and vindicated a decapitated monarch.
+The success of this work was eminent; and its author appeared for the
+first and only time of his life in public, when amidst the cheers of
+under-graduates, and the applause of graver men, the solitary student
+received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford, a fitting
+homage, in the language of the great University, "OPTIMI REGIS OPTIMO
+VINDICI."
+
+I cannot but recall a trait that happened on this occasion. After my
+father returned to his hotel from the theatre, a stranger requested an
+interview with him. A Swiss gentleman, travelling in England at the
+time, who had witnessed the scene just closed, begged to express the
+reason why he presumed thus personally and cordially to congratulate
+the new Doctor of Civil Law. He was the son of my grandfather's chief
+clerk, and remembered his parent's employer; whom he regretted did not
+survive to be aware of this honourable day. Thus, amid all the strange
+vicissitudes of life, we are ever, as it were, moving in a circle.
+
+Notwithstanding he was now approaching his seventieth year, his health
+being unbroken and his constitution very robust, my father resolved
+vigorously to devote himself to the composition of the history of our
+vernacular Literature. He hesitated for a moment, whether he should at
+once address himself to this greater task, or whether he should first
+complete a Life of Pope, for which he had made great preparations, and
+which had long occupied his thoughts. His review of "Spence's Anecdotes"
+in the Quarterly, so far back as 1820, which gave rise to the celebrated
+Pope Controversy, in which Mr. Campbell, Lord Byron, Mr. Bowles, Mr.
+Roscoe, and others less eminent broke lances, would prove how well
+qualified, even at that distant date, the critic was to become the
+biographer of the great writer, whose literary excellency and moral
+conduct he, on that occasion, alike vindicated. But, unfortunately as it
+turned out, my father was persuaded to address himself to the weightier
+task. Hitherto, in his publications, he had always felt an extreme
+reluctance to travel over ground which others had previously visited. He
+liked to give new matter, and devote himself to detached points, on
+which he entertained different opinions from those prevalent. Thus his
+works are generally of a supplementary character, and assume in their
+readers a certain degree of preliminary knowledge. In the present
+instance he was induced to frame his undertaking on a different scale,
+and to prepare a history which should be complete in itself, and supply
+the reader with a perfect view of the gradual formation of our language
+and literature. He proposed to effect this in six volumes; though, I
+apprehend, he would not have succeeded in fulfilling his intentions
+within that limit. His treatment of the period of Queen Anne would have
+been very ample, and he would also have accomplished in this general
+work a purpose which he had also long contemplated, and for which he had
+made curious and extensive collections, namely, a History of the English
+Freethinkers.
+
+But all these great plans were destined to a terrible defeat. Towards
+the end of the year 1839, still in the full vigour of his health and
+intellect, he suffered a paralysis of the optic nerve; and that eye,
+which for so long a term had kindled with critical interest over the
+volumes of so many literatures and so many languages, was doomed to
+pursue its animated course no more. Considering the bitterness of such a
+calamity to one whose powers were otherwise not in the least impaired,
+he bore on the whole his fate with magnanimity, even with cheerfulness.
+Unhappily, his previous habits of study and composition rendered the
+habit of dictation intolerable, even impossible to him. But with the
+assistance of his daughter, whose intelligent solicitude he has
+commemorated in more than one grateful passage, he selected from his
+manuscripts three volumes, which he wished to have published under the
+becoming title of "A Fragment of a History of English Literature," but
+which were eventually given to the public under that of "Amenities of
+Literature."
+
+He was also enabled during these last years of physical, though not of
+moral, gloom, to prepare a new edition of his work on the Life and Times
+of Charles the First, which had been for some time out of print. He
+contrived, though slowly, and with great labour, very carefully to
+revise, and improve, and enrich these volumes. He was wont to say that
+the best monument to an author was a good edition of his works: it is my
+purpose that he should possess this memorial. He has been described by a
+great authority as a writer sui generis; and indeed had he never
+written, it appears to me, that there would have been a gap in our
+libraries, which it would have been difficult to supply. Of him it might
+be added that, for an author, his end was an euthanasia, for on the day
+before he was seized by that fatal epidemic, of the danger of which, to
+the last moment, he was unconscious, he was apprised by his publishers,
+that all his works were out of print, and that their re-publication
+could no longer be delayed.
+
+In this notice of the career of my father, I have ventured to draw
+attention to three circumstances which I thought would be esteemed
+interesting; namely, predisposition, self-formation, and sympathy with
+his order. There is yet another which completes and crowns the
+character,--constancy of purpose; and it is only in considering his
+course as a whole, that we see how harmonious and consistent have been
+that life and its labours, which, in a partial and brief view, might be
+supposed to have been somewhat desultory and fragmentary.
+
+On his moral character I shall scarcely presume to dwell. The
+philosophic sweetness of his disposition, the serenity of his lot, and
+the elevating nature of his pursuits, combined to enable him to pass
+through life without an evil act, almost without an evil thought. As the
+world has always been fond of personal details respecting men who have
+been celebrated, I will mention that he was fair, with a Bourbon nose,
+and brown eyes of extraordinary beauty and lustre. He wore a small black
+velvet cap, but his white hair latterly touched his shoulders in curls
+almost as flowing as in his boyhood. His extremities were delicate and
+well-formed, and his leg, at his last hour, as shapely as in his youth,
+which showed the vigour of his frame. Latterly he had become corpulent.
+He did not excel in conversation, though in his domestic circle he was
+garrulous. Everything interested him; and blind, and eighty-two, he was
+still as susceptible as a child. One of his last acts was to compose
+some verses of gay gratitude to his daughter-in-law, who was his London
+correspondent, and to whose lively pen his last years were indebted for
+constant amusement. He had by nature a singular volatility which never
+deserted him. His feelings, though always amiable, were not painfully
+deep, and amid joy or sorrow, the philosophic vein was ever evident. He
+more resembled Goldsmith than any man that I can compare him to: in his
+conversation, his apparent confusion of ideas ending with some
+felicitous phrase of genius, his naivete, his simplicity not untouched
+with a dash of sarcasm affecting innocence--one was often reminded of
+the gifted and interesting friend of Burke and Johnson. There was,
+however, one trait in which my father did not resemble Goldsmith: he had
+no vanity. Indeed, one of his few infirmities was rather a deficiency of
+self-esteem.
+
+On the whole, I hope--nay I believe--that taking all into
+consideration--the integrity and completeness of his existence, the fact
+that, for sixty years, he largely contributed to form the taste, charm
+the leisure, and direct the studious dispositions, of the great body of
+the public, and that his works have extensively and curiously
+illustrated the literary and political history of our country, it will
+be conceded, that in his life and labours, he repaid England for the
+protection and the hospitality which this country accorded to his father
+a century ago.
+                                                               D.
+
+  HUGHENDEN MANOR,
+  _Christmas_, 1848.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. I. chap. v.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Sir Walter was sincere, for he inserted the poem in the
+"English Minstrelsy." It may now be found in these volumes, Vol. I. p.
+230, where, in consequence of the recollection of Sir Walter, and as
+illustrative of manners now obsolete, it was subsequently inserted.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "The present inquiry originates in an affair of literary
+conscience. Many years ago I set off with the popular notions of the
+character of James the First; but in the course of study, and with a
+more enlarged comprehension of the age, I was frequently struck by the
+contrast between his real and his apparent character. * * * * It would
+be a cowardly silence to shrink from encountering all that popular
+prejudice and party feeling may oppose; this would be incompatible with
+that constant search after truth, which at least may be expected from
+the retired student."--_Preface to the Inquiry._]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Essay on the Literary Character," Vol. II. chap. XXV.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+BY
+
+I. DISRAELI.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+    TO
+
+    FRANCIS DOUCE, ESQ.
+
+    THESE VOLUMES OF SOME LITERARY RESEARCHES
+
+    ARE INSCRIBED;
+
+    AS A SLIGHT MEMORIAL OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+    AND
+
+    A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+    TO
+
+    A LOVER OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Of a work which long has been placed on that shelf which Voltaire has
+discriminated as _la Bibliotheque du Monde_, it is never mistimed for
+the author to offer the many, who are familiar with its pages, a settled
+conception of its design.
+
+The "Curiosities of Literature," commenced fifty years since, have been
+composed at various periods, and necessarily partake of those successive
+characters which mark the eras of the intellectual habits of the writer.
+
+In my youth, the taste for modern literary history was only of recent
+date. The first elegant scholar who opened a richer vein in the mine of
+MODERN LITERATURE was JOSEPH WARTON;--he had a fragmentary mind, and he
+was a rambler in discursive criticism. Dr. JOHNSON was a famished man
+for anecdotical literature, and sorely complained of the penury of our
+literary history.
+
+THOMAS WARTON must have found, in the taste of his brother and the
+energy of Johnson, his happiest prototypes; but he had too frequently to
+wrestle with barren antiquarianism, and was lost to us at the gates of
+that paradise which had hardly opened on him. These were the true
+founders of that more elegant literature in which France had preceded
+us. These works created a more pleasing species of erudition:--the age
+of taste and genius had come; but the age of philosophical thinking was
+yet but in its dawn.
+
+Among my earliest literary friends, two distinguished themselves by
+their anecdotical literature: JAMES PETIT ANDREWS, by his "Anecdotes,
+Ancient and Modern," and WILLIAM SEWARD, by his "Anecdotes of
+Distinguished Persons." These volumes were favourably received, and to
+such a degree, that a wit of that day, and who is still a wit as well as
+a poet, considered that we were far gone in our "Anecdotage."
+
+I was a guest at the banquet, but it seemed to me to consist wholly of
+confectionery. I conceived the idea of a collection of a different
+complexion. I was then seeking for instruction in modern literature; and
+our language afforded no collection of the _res litterariae_. In the
+diversified volumes of the French _Ana_, I found, among the best,
+materials to work on. I improved my subjects with as much of our own
+literature as my limited studies afforded. The volume, without a name,
+was left to its own unprotected condition. I had not miscalculated the
+wants of others by my own.
+
+This first volume had reminded the learned of much which it is grateful
+to remember, and those who were restricted by their classical studies,
+or lounged only in perishable novelties, were in modern literature but
+dry wells, for which I had opened clear waters from a fresh spring. The
+work had effected its design in stimulating the literary curiosity of
+those, who, with a taste for its tranquil pursuits, are impeded in their
+acquirement. Imitations were numerous. My reading became more various,
+and the second volume of "Curiosities of Literature" appeared, with a
+slight effort at more original investigation. The two brother volumes
+remained favourites during an interval of twenty years.
+
+It was as late as 1817 that I sent forth the third volume; without a
+word of preface. I had no longer anxieties to conceal or promises to
+perform. The subjects chosen were novel, and investigated with more
+original composition. The motto prefixed to this third volume from the
+Marquis of Halifax is lost in the republications, but expresses the
+peculiar delight of all literary researches for those who love them:
+"The struggling for knowledge hath a pleasure in it like that of
+wrestling with a fine woman."
+
+The notice which the third volume obtained, returned me to the dream of
+my youth. I considered that essay writing, from Addison to the
+successors of Johnson, which had formed one of the most original
+features of our national literature, would now fail in its attraction,
+even if some of those elegant writers themselves had appeared in a form
+which their own excellence had rendered familiar and deprived of all
+novelty. I was struck by an observation which Johnson has thrown out.
+That sage, himself an essayist and who had lived among our essayists,
+fancied that "mankind may come in time to write all aphoristically;" and
+so athirst was that first of our great moral biographers for the details
+of human life and the incidental characteristics of individuals, that he
+was desirous of obtaining anecdotes without preparation or connexion.
+"If a man," said this lover of literary anecdotes, "is to wait till he
+weaves anecdotes, we may be long in getting them, and get but few in
+comparison to what we might get." Another observation, of Lord
+Bolingbroke, had long dwelt in my mind, that "when examples are pointed
+out to us, there is a kind of appeal with which we are flattered made to
+our senses as well as our understandings." An induction from a variety
+of particulars seemed to me to combine that delight, which Johnson
+derived from anecdotes, with that philosophy which Bolingbroke founded
+on examples; and on this principle the last three volumes of the
+"Curiosities of Literature" were constructed, freed from the formality
+of dissertation, and the vagueness of the lighter essay.
+
+These "Curiosities of Literature" have passed through a remarkable
+ordeal of time; they have survived a generation of rivals; they are
+found wherever books are bought, and they have been repeatedly reprinted
+at foreign presses, as well as translated. These volumes have imbued our
+youth with their first tastes for modern literature, have diffused a
+delight in critical and philosophical speculation among circles of
+readers who were not accustomed to literary topics; and finally, they
+have been honoured by eminent contemporaries, who have long consulted
+them and set their stamp on the metal.
+
+A voluminous miscellany, composed at various periods, cannot be exempt
+from slight inadvertencies. Such a circuit of multifarious knowledge
+could not be traced were we to measure and count each step by some
+critical pedometer; life would be too short to effect any reasonable
+progress. Every work must be judged by its design, and is to be valued
+by its result.
+
+  BRADENHAM HOUSE,
+
+  _March_, 1839.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+    LIBRARIES                                                          1
+
+    THE BIBLIOMANIA                                                    9
+
+    LITERARY JOURNALS                                                 12
+
+    RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS                                           17
+
+    SKETCHES OF CRITICISM                                             24
+
+    THE PERSECUTED LEARNED                                            27
+
+    POVERTY OF THE LEARNED                                            29
+
+    IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED                                       35
+
+    AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED                                         38
+
+    PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS                                              42
+
+    DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS                                              47
+
+    SOME NOTIONS OF LOST WORKS                                        58
+
+    QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS                           60
+
+    FAME CONTEMNED                                                    66
+
+    THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE                                        66
+
+    IMITATORS                                                         67
+
+    CICERO'S PUNS                                                     69
+
+    PREFACES                                                          71
+
+    EARLY PRINTING                                                    73
+
+    ERRATA                                                            78
+
+    PATRONS                                                           82
+
+    POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT                85
+
+    INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS                                            88
+
+    GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE                                                88
+
+    LEGENDS                                                           89
+
+    THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY                                            94
+
+    THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES                            98
+
+    SPANISH POETRY                                                   100
+
+    SAINT EVREMOND                                                   102
+
+    MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION                          103
+
+    VIDA                                                             105
+
+    THE SCUDERIES                                                    105
+
+    DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT                                              110
+
+    PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL                                              111
+
+    THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS                                    112
+
+    THE TALMUD                                                       113
+
+    RABBINICAL STORIES                                               120
+
+    ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING                         126
+
+    BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS                                           128
+
+    GROTIUS                                                          129
+
+    NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS                                          131
+
+    LITERARY IMPOSTURES                                              132
+
+    CARDINAL RICHELIEU                                               139
+
+    ARISTOTLE AND PLATO                                              142
+
+    ABELARD AND ELOISA                                               145
+
+    PHYSIOGNOMY                                                      148
+
+    CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES                            150
+
+    MILTON                                                           152
+
+    ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS                                             155
+
+    TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES                 161
+
+    INQUISITION                                                      166
+
+    SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS       170
+
+    MONARCHS                                                         173
+
+    OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE           175
+
+    TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS                                             178
+
+    ROYAL DIVINITIES                                                 179
+
+    DETHRONED MONARCHS                                               181
+
+    FEUDAL CUSTOMS                                                   183
+
+    GAMING                                                           187
+
+    THE ARABIC CHRONICLE                                             191
+
+    METEMPSYCHOSIS                                                   192
+
+    SPANISH ETIQUETTE                                                194
+
+    THE GOTHS AND HUNS                                               196
+
+    VICARS OF BRAY                                                   196
+
+    DOUGLAS                                                          197
+
+    CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY                                      198
+
+    SOLOMON AND SHEBA                                                202
+
+    HELL                                                             203
+
+    THE ABSENT MAN                                                   206
+
+    WAX-WORK                                                         206
+
+    PASQUIN AND MARFORIO                                             208
+
+    FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS                                      211
+
+    MODERN PLATONISM                                                 213
+
+    ANECDOTES OF FASHION                                             216
+
+    A SENATE OF JESUITS                                              231
+
+    THE LOVER'S HEART                                                233
+
+    THE HISTORY OF GLOVES                                            235
+
+    RELICS OF SAINTS                                                 239
+
+    PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS                                  243
+
+    NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS           244
+
+    THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA                                    247
+
+    TRAGIC ACTORS                                                    248
+
+    JOCULAR PREACHERS                                                251
+
+    MASTERLY IMITATORS                                               258
+
+    EDWARD THE FOURTH                                                261
+
+    ELIZABETH                                                        264
+
+    THE CHINESE LANGUAGE                                             267
+
+    MEDICAL MUSIC                                                    269
+
+    MINUTE WRITING                                                   275
+
+    NUMERICAL FIGURES                                                276
+
+    ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS                                              278
+
+    ALCHYMY                                                          283
+
+    TITLES OF BOOKS                                                  288
+
+    LITERARY FOLLIES                                                 293
+
+    LITERARY CONTROVERSY                                             308
+
+    LITERARY BLUNDERS                                                320
+
+    A LITERARY WIFE                                                  327
+
+    DEDICATIONS                                                      337
+
+    PHILOSOPHIC DESCRIPTIVE POEMS                                    341
+
+    PAMPHLETS                                                        343
+
+    LITTLE BOOKS                                                     347
+
+    A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION                                          349
+
+    THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER                        350
+
+    MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES                       352
+
+    LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY                              362
+
+    RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES                                           363
+
+    "CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S
+        MILTON                                                       370
+
+    A JANSENIST DICTIONARY                                           373
+
+    MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS                                            375
+
+    THE TURKISH SPY                                                  377
+
+    SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE                                  379
+
+    BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH                                381
+
+    ARIOSTO AND TASSO                                                386
+
+    BAYLE                                                            391
+
+    CERVANTES                                                        394
+
+    MAGLIABECHI                                                      394
+
+    ABRIDGERS                                                        397
+
+    PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY                           400
+
+    LITERARY DUTCH                                                   403
+
+    THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS            405
+
+    CRITICS                                                          406
+
+    ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS                                    408
+
+    VIRGINITY                                                        412
+
+    A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY                                 413
+
+    POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS                                  417
+
+    SCARRON                                                          421
+
+    PETER CORNEILLE                                                  428
+
+    POETS                                                            432
+
+    ROMANCES                                                         442
+
+    THE ASTREA                                                       451
+
+    POETS LAUREAT                                                    454
+
+    ANGELO POLITIAN                                                  456
+
+    ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH                               460
+
+    ANNE BULLEN                                                      461
+
+    JAMES THE FIRST                                                  462
+
+    GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE                                        468
+
+    PHILIP AND MARY                                                  469
+
+
+
+
+CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE.
+
+
+
+
+LIBRARIES.
+
+
+The passion for forming vast collections of books has necessarily
+existed in all periods of human curiosity; but long it required regal
+munificence to found a national library. It is only since the art of
+multiplying the productions of the mind has been discovered, that men of
+letters themselves have been enabled to rival this imperial and
+patriotic honour. The taste for books, so rare before the fifteenth
+century, has gradually become general only within these four hundred
+years: in that small space of time the public mind of Europe has been
+created.
+
+Of LIBRARIES, the following anecdotes seem most interesting, as they
+mark either the affection, or the veneration, which civilised men have
+ever felt for these perennial repositories of their minds. The first
+national library founded in Egypt seemed to have been placed under the
+protection of the divinities, for their statues magnificently adorned
+this temple, dedicated at once to religion and to literature. It was
+still further embellished by a well-known inscription, for ever grateful
+to the votary of literature; on the front was engraven,--"The
+nourishment of the soul;" or, according to Diodorus, "The medicine of
+the mind."
+
+The Egyptian Ptolemies founded the vast library of Alexandria, which was
+afterwards the emulative labour of rival monarchs; the founder infused a
+soul into the vast body he was creating, by his choice of the librarian,
+Demetrius Phalereus, whose skilful industry amassed from all nations
+their choicest productions. Without such a librarian, a national library
+would be little more than a literary chaos; his well exercised memory
+and critical judgment are its best catalogue. One of the Ptolemies
+refused supplying the famished Athenians with wheat, until they
+presented him with the original manuscripts of AEschylus, Sophocles, and
+Euripides; and in returning copies of these autographs, he allowed them
+to retain the fifteen talents which he had pledged with them as a
+princely security.
+
+When tyrants, or usurpers, have possessed sense as well as courage, they
+have proved the most ardent patrons of literature; they know it is their
+interest to turn aside the public mind from political speculations, and
+to afford their subjects the inexhaustible occupations of curiosity, and
+the consoling pleasures of the imagination. Thus Pisistratus is said to
+have been among the earliest of the Greeks, who projected an immense
+collection of the works of the learned, and is supposed to have been the
+collector of the scattered works, which passed under the name of Homer.
+
+The Romans, after six centuries of gradual dominion, must have possessed
+the vast and diversified collections of the writings of the nations they
+conquered: among the most valued spoils of their victories, we know that
+manuscripts were considered as more precious than vases of gold. Paulus
+Emilius, after the defeat of Perseus, king of Macedon, brought to Rome a
+great number which he had amassed in Greece, and which he now
+distributed among his sons, or presented to the Roman people. Sylla
+followed his example. Alter the siege of Athens, he discovered an entire
+library in the temple of Apollo, which having carried to Rome, he
+appears to have been the founder of the first Roman public library.
+After the taking of Carthage, the Roman senate rewarded the family of
+Regulus with the books found in that city. A library was a national
+gift, and the most honourable they could bestow. From the intercourse of
+the Romans with the Greeks, the passion for forming libraries rapidly
+increased, and individuals began to pride themselves on their private
+collections.
+
+Of many illustrious Romans, their magnificent taste in their _libraries_
+has been recorded. Asinius Pollio, Crassus, Caesar, and Cicero, have,
+among others, been celebrated for their literary splendor. Lucullus,
+whose incredible opulence exhausted itself on more than imperial
+luxuries, more honourably distinguished himself by his vast collections
+of books, and the happy use he made of them by the liberal access he
+allowed the learned. "It was a library," says Plutarch, "whose walks,
+galleries, and cabinets, were open to all visitors; and the ingenious
+Greeks, when at leisure, resorted to this abode of the Muses to hold
+literary conversations, in which Lucullus himself loved to join." This
+library enlarged by others, Julius Caesar once proposed to open for the
+public, having chosen the erudite Varro for its librarian; but the
+daggers of Brutus and his party prevented the meditated projects of
+Caesar. In this museum, Cicero frequently pursued his studies, during the
+time his friend Faustus had the charge of it; which he describes to
+Atticus in his 4th Book, Epist. 9. Amidst his public occupations and his
+private studies, either of them sufficient to have immortalised one man,
+we are astonished at the minute attention Cicero paid to the formation
+of his libraries and his cabinets of antiquities.
+
+The emperors were ambitious, at length, to give _their names_ to the
+_libraries_ they founded; they did not consider the purple as their
+chief ornament. Augustus was himself an author; and to one of those
+sumptuous buildings, called _Thermae_, ornamented with porticos,
+galleries, and statues, with shady walks, and refreshing baths,
+testified his love of literature by adding a magnificent library. One of
+these libraries he fondly called by the name of his sister Octavia; and
+the other, the temple of Apollo, became the haunt of the poets, as
+Horace, Juvenal, and Persius have commemorated. The successors of
+Augustus imitated his example, and even Tiberius had an imperial
+library, chiefly consisting of works concerning the empire and the acts
+of its sovereigns. These Trajan augmented by the Ulpian library,
+denominated from his family name. In a word, we have accounts of the
+rich ornaments the ancients bestowed on their libraries; of their floors
+paved with marble, their walls covered with glass and ivory, and their
+shelves and desks of ebony and cedar.
+
+The first _public library_ in Italy was founded by a person of no
+considerable fortune: his credit, his frugality, and fortitude, were
+indeed equal to a treasury. Nicholas Niccoli, the son of a merchant,
+after the death of his father relinquished the beaten roads of gain, and
+devoted his soul to study, and his fortune to assist students. At his
+death, he left his library to the public, but his debts exceeding his
+effects, the princely generosity of Cosmo de' Medici realised the
+intention of its former possessor, and afterwards enriched it by the
+addition of an apartment, in which he placed the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic,
+Chaldaic, and Indian MSS. The intrepid spirit of Nicholas V. laid the
+foundations of the Vatican; the affection of Cardinal Bessarion for his
+country first gave Venice the rudiments of a public library; and to Sir
+T. Bodley we owe the invaluable one of Oxford. Sir Robert Cotton, Sir
+Hans Sloane, Dr. Birch, Mr. Cracherode, Mr. Douce, and others of this
+race of lovers of books, have all contributed to form these literary
+treasures, which our nation owe to the enthusiasm of individuals, who
+have consecrated their fortunes and their days to this great public
+object; or, which in the result produces the same public good, the
+collections of such men have been frequently purchased on their deaths,
+by government, and thus have been preserved entire in our national
+collections.[5]
+
+LITERATURE, like virtue, is often its own reward, and the enthusiasm
+some experience in the permanent enjoyments of a vast library has far
+outweighed the neglect or the calumny of the world, which some of its
+votaries have received. From the time that Cicero poured forth his
+feelings in his oration for the poet Archias, innumerable are the
+testimonies of men of letters of the pleasurable delirium of their
+researches. Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, and Chancellor of England
+so early as 1341, perhaps raised the first private library in our
+country. He purchased thirty or forty volumes of the Abbot of St. Albans
+for fifty pounds' weight of silver. He was so enamoured of his large
+collection, that he expressly composed a treatise on his love of books,
+under the title of _Philobiblion_; and which has been recently
+translated.[6]
+
+He who passes much of his time amid such vast resources, and does not
+aspire to make some small addition to his library, were it only by a
+critical catalogue, must indeed be not more animated than a leaden
+Mercury. He must be as indolent as that animal called the Sloth, who
+perishes on the tree he climbs, after he has eaten all its leaves.
+
+Rantzau, the founder of the great library at Copenhagen, whose days were
+dissolved in the pleasures of reading, discovers his taste and ardour in
+the following elegant effusion:--
+
+    Salvete aureoli mei libelli,
+    Meae deliciae, mei lepores!
+    Quam vos saepe oculis juvat videre,
+    Et tritos manibus tenere nostris!
+    Tot vos eximii, tot eruditi,
+    Prisci lumina saeculi et recentis,
+    Confecere viri, suasque vobis
+    Ausi credere lucubrationes:
+    Et sperare decus perenne scriptis;
+    Neque haec irrita spes fefellit illos.
+
+    IMITATED.
+
+    Golden volumes! richest treasures!
+    Objects of delicious pleasures!
+    You my eyes rejoicing please,
+    You my hands in rapture seize!
+    Brilliant wits, and musing sages,
+    Lights who beamed through many ages,
+    Left to your conscious leaves their story,
+    And dared to trust you with their glory;
+    And now their hope of fame achieved,
+    Dear volumes! you have not deceived!
+
+This passion for the enjoyment of _books_ has occasioned their lovers
+embellishing their outsides with costly ornaments;[7] a fancy which
+ostentation may have abused; but when these volumes belong to the real
+man of letters, the most fanciful bindings are often the emblems of his
+taste and feelings. The great Thuanus procured the finest copies for his
+library, and his volumes are still eagerly purchased, bearing his
+autograph on the last page. A celebrated amateur was Grollier; the Muses
+themselves could not more ingeniously have ornamented their favourite
+works. I have seen several in the libraries of curious collectors. They
+are gilded and stamped with peculiar neatness; the compartments on the
+binding are drawn, and painted, with subjects analogous to the works
+themselves; and they are further adorned by that amiable inscription,
+_Jo. Grollierii et amicorum!_--purporting that these literary treasures
+were collected for himself and for his friends.
+
+The family of the Fuggers had long felt an hereditary passion for the
+accumulation of literary treasures: and their portraits, with others in
+their picture gallery, form a curious quarto volume of 127 portraits,
+rare even in Germany, entitled "Fuggerorum Pinacotheca."[8] Wolfius, who
+daily haunted their celebrated library, pours out his gratitude in some
+Greek verses, and describes this bibliotheque as a literary heaven,
+furnished with as many books as there were stars in the firmament; or as
+a literary garden, in which he passed entire days in gathering fruit and
+flowers, delighting and instructing himself by perpetual occupation.
+
+In 1364, the royal library of France did not exceed twenty volumes.
+Shortly after, Charles V. increased it to 900, which, by the fate of
+war, as much at least as by that of money, the Duke of Bedford
+afterwards purchased and transported to London, where libraries were
+smaller than on the continent, about 1440. It is a circumstance worthy
+observation, that the French sovereign, Charles V. surnamed the Wise,
+ordered that thirty portable lights, with a silver lamp suspended from
+the centre, should be illuminated at night, that students might not find
+their pursuits interrupted at any hour. Many among us, at this moment,
+whose professional avocations admit not of morning studies, find that
+the resources of a public library are not accessible to them, from the
+omission of the regulation of the zealous Charles V. of France. An
+objection to night-studies in public libraries is the danger of fire,
+and in our own British Museum not a light is permitted to be carried
+about on any pretence whatever. The history of the "Bibliotheque du Roi"
+is a curious incident in literature; and the progress of the human mind
+and public opinion might be traced by its gradual accessions, noting the
+changeable qualities of its literary stores chiefly from theology, law,
+and medicine, to philosophy and elegant literature. It was first under
+Louis XIV. that the productions of the art of engraving were there
+collected and arranged; the great minister Colbert purchased the
+extensive collections of the Abbe de Marolles, who may be ranked among
+the fathers of our print-collectors. Two hundred and sixty-four ample
+portfolios laid the foundations, and the very catalogues of his
+collections, printed by Marolles himself, are rare and high-priced. Our
+own national print gallery is growing from its infant establishment.
+
+Mr. Hallam has observed, that in 1440, England had made comparatively
+but little progress in learning--and Germany was probably still less
+advanced. However, in Germany, Trithemius, the celebrated abbot of
+Spanheim, who died in 1516, had amassed about two thousand manuscripts;
+a literary treasure which excited such general attention, that princes
+and eminent men travelled to visit Trithemius and his library. About
+this time, six or eight hundred volumes formed a royal collection, and
+their cost could only be furnished by a prince. This was indeed a great
+advancement in libraries, for at the beginning of the fourteenth century
+the library of Louis IX. contained only four classical authors; and that
+of Oxford, in 1300, consisted of "a few tracts kept in chests."
+
+The pleasures of study are classed by Burton among those exercises or
+recreations of the mind which pass _within doors_. Looking about this
+"world of books," he exclaims, "I could even live and die with such
+meditations, and take more delight and true content of mind in them than
+in all thy wealth and sport! There is a sweetness, which, as Circe's
+cup, bewitcheth a student: he cannot leave off, as well may witness
+those many laborious hours, days, and nights, spent in their voluminous
+treatises. So sweet is the delight of study. The last day is _prioris
+discipulus_. Heinsius was mewed up in the library of Leyden all the year
+long, and that which, to my thinking, should have bred a loathing,
+caused in him a greater liking. 'I no sooner,' saith he, 'come into the
+library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding Lust, Ambition, Avarice,
+and all such vices, whose nurse is Idleness, the mother of Ignorance and
+Melancholy. In the very lap of eternity, amongst so many divine souls, I
+take my seat with so lofty a spirit, and sweet content, that I pity all
+our great ones and rich men, that know not this happiness.'" Such is the
+incense of a votary who scatters it on the altar less for the ceremony
+than from the devotion.[9]
+
+There is, however, an intemperance in study, incompatible often with our
+social or more active duties. The illustrious Grotius exposed himself to
+the reproaches of some of his contemporaries for having too warmly
+pursued his studies, to the detriment of his public station. It was the
+boast of Cicero that his philosophical studies had never interfered with
+the services he owed the republic, and that he had only dedicated to
+them the hours which others give to their walks, their repasts, and
+their pleasures. Looking on his voluminous labours, we are surprised at
+this observation;--how honourable is it to him, that his various
+philosophical works bear the titles of the different villas he
+possessed, which indicates that they were composed in these respective
+retirements! Cicero must have been an early riser; and practised that
+magic art in the employment of time, which multiplies our days.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 5: The Cottonian collection is the richest English historic
+library we possess, and is now located in the British Museum, having
+been purchased for the use of the nation by Parliament in 1707, at a
+cost of 4500_l._ The collection of Sir Hans Sloane was added thereto in
+1753, for the sum of 20,000_l._ Dr. Birch and Mr. Cracherode bequeathed
+their most valuable collections to the British Museum. Mr. Douce is the
+only collector in the list above who bequeathed his curious gatherings
+elsewhere. He was an officer of the Museum for many years, but preferred
+to leave his treasures to the Bodleian Library, where they are preserved
+intact, according to his earnest wish, a wish he feared might not be
+gratified in the national building. It is to this scholar and friend,
+the author of these volumes has dedicated them, as a lasting memorial of
+an esteem which endured during the life of each.]
+
+[Footnote 6: By Mr. Inglis, in 1832. This famous bishop is said to have
+possessed more books than all the others in England put together. Like
+Magliabechi, he lived among them, and those who visited him had to
+dispense with ceremony and step over the volumes that always strewed his
+floor.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The earliest decorated books were the Consular Diptycha,
+ivory bookcovers richly sculptured in relief, and destined to contain
+upon their tablets the Fasti Consulares, the list ending with the name
+of the new consul, whose property they happened to be. Such as have
+descended to our own times appear to be works of the lower empire. They
+were generally decorated with full length figures of the consul and
+attendants, superintending the sports of the circus, or conjoined with
+portraits of the reigning prince and emblematic figures. The Greek
+Church adopted the style for the covers of the sacred volume, and
+ancient clerical libraries formerly possessed many such specimens of
+early bookbinding; the covers being richly sculptured in ivory, with
+bas-reliefs designed from Scripture history. Such ivories were sometimes
+placed in the centre of the covers, and framed in an ornamental
+metal-work studded with precious stones and engraved cameos. The
+barbaric magnificence of these volumes has never been surpassed; the era
+of Charlemagne was the culmination of their glory. One such volume,
+presented by that sovereign to the Cathedral at Treves, is enriched with
+Roman ivories and decorative gems. The value of manuscripts in the
+middle ages, suggested costly bindings for books that consumed the
+labour of lives to copy, and decorate with ornamental letters, or
+illustrative paintings. In the fifteenth century covers of leather
+embossed with storied ornament were in use; ladies also frequently
+employed their needles to construct, with threads of gold and silver, on
+grounds of coloured silk, the cover of a favourite volume. In the
+British Museum one is preserved of a later date--the work of our Queen
+Elizabeth. In the sixteenth century small ornaments, capable of being
+conjoined into a variety of elaborate patterns, were first used for
+stamping the covers with gilding; the leather was stained of various
+tints, and a beauty imparted to volumes which has not been surpassed by
+the most skilful modern workmen.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Fuggers were a rich family of merchants, residing at
+Augsburg, carrying on trade with both the Indies, and from thence over
+Europe. They were ennobled by the Emperor Maximilian I. Their wealth
+often maintained the armies of Charles V.; and when Anthony Fugger
+received that sovereign at his house at Augsburg he is said, as a part
+of the entertainment, to have consumed in a fire of fragrant woods the
+bond of the emperor who condescended to become his guest.]
+
+[Footnote 9: A living poet thus enthusiastically describes the charms of
+a student's life among his books--"he has his Rome, his Florence, his
+whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his
+books the ruins of an antique world, and the glories of a modern
+one."--Longfellow's _Hyperion_.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BIBLIOMANIA.
+
+
+The preceding article is honourable to literature, yet even a passion
+for collecting books is not always a passion for literature.
+
+The BIBLIOMANIA, or the collecting an enormous heap of books without
+intelligent curiosity, has, since libraries have existed, infected weak
+minds, who imagine that they themselves acquire knowledge when they keep
+it on their shelves. Their motley libraries have been called the
+_madhouses of the Human mind_; and again, _the tomb of books_, when the
+possessor will not communicate them, and coffins them up in the cases of
+his library. It was facetiously observed, these collections are not
+without a _Lock on the Human Understanding_.[10]
+
+The BIBLIOMANIA never raged more violently than in our own times. It is
+fortunate that literature is in no ways injured by the follies of
+collectors, since though they preserve the worthless, they necessarily
+protect the good.[11]
+
+Some collectors place all their fame on the _view_ of a splendid
+library, where volumes, arrayed in all the pomp of lettering, silk
+linings, triple gold bands, and tinted leather, are locked up in wire
+cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the _mere reader_, dazzling
+our eyes like eastern beauties peering through their jalousies!
+
+LA BRUYERE has touched on this mania with humour:--"Of such a collector,
+as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the staircase, from
+a strong smell of Morocco leather. In vain he shows me fine editions,
+gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, and naming them one after another, as if
+he were showing a gallery of pictures! a gallery, by-the-bye, which he
+seldom traverses when _alone_, for he rarely reads; but me he offers to
+conduct through it! I thank him for his politeness, and as little as
+himself care to visit the tan-house, which he calls his library."
+
+LUCIAN has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of
+a vast library, like him, who in the present day, after turning over the
+pages of an old book, chiefly admires the _date_. LUCIAN compares him to
+a pilot, who was never taught the science of navigation; to a rider who
+cannot keep his seat on a spirited horse; to a man who, not having the
+use of his feet, would conceal the defect by wearing embroidered shoes;
+but, alas! he cannot stand in them! He ludicrously compares him to
+Thersites wearing the armour of Achilles, tottering at every step;
+leering with his little eyes under his enormous helmet, and his
+hunchback raising the cuirass above his shoulders. Why do you buy so
+many books? You have no hair, and you purchase a comb; you are blind,
+and you will have a grand mirror; you are deaf, and you will have fine
+musical instruments! Your costly bindings are only a source of vexation,
+and you are continually discharging your librarians for not preserving
+them from the silent invasion of the worms, and the nibbling triumphs of
+the rats!
+
+Such _collectors_ will contemptuously smile at the _collection_ of the
+amiable Melancthon. He possessed in his library only four
+authors,--Plato, Pliny, Plutarch, and Ptolemy the geographer.
+
+Ancillon was a great collector of curious books, and dexterously
+defended himself when accused of the _Bibliomania_. He gave a good
+reason for buying the most elegant editions; which he did not consider
+merely as a literary luxury.[12] The less the eyes are fatigued in
+reading a work, the more liberty the mind feels to judge of it: and as
+we perceive more clearly the excellences and defects of a printed book
+than when in MS.; so we see them more plainly in good paper and clear
+type, than when the impression and paper are both bad. He always
+purchased _first editions_, and never waited for second ones; though it
+is the opinion of some that a first edition is only to be considered as
+an imperfect essay, which the author proposes to finish after he has
+tried the sentiments of the literary world. Bayle approves of Ancillon's
+plan. Those who wait for a book till it is reprinted, show plainly that
+they prefer the saving of a pistole to the acquisition of knowledge.
+With one of these persons, who waited for a second edition, which never
+appeared, a literary man argued, that it was better to have two editions
+of a book rather than to deprive himself of the advantage which the
+reading of the first might procure him. It has frequently happened,
+besides, that in second editions, the author omits, as well as adds, or
+makes alterations from prudential reasons; the displeasing truths which
+he _corrects_, as he might call them, are so many losses incurred by
+Truth itself. There is an advantage in comparing the first and
+subsequent editions; among other things, we feel great satisfaction in
+tracing the variations of a work after its revision. There are also
+other secrets, well known to the intelligent curious, who are versed in
+affairs relating to books. Many first editions are not to be purchased
+for the treble value of later ones. The collector we have noticed
+frequently said, as is related of Virgil, "I collect gold from Ennius's
+dung." I find, in some neglected authors, particular things, not
+elsewhere to be found. He read many of these, but not with equal
+attention--"_Sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugiens_;" like a dog at
+the Nile, drinking and running.
+
+Fortunate are those who only consider a book for the utility and
+pleasure they may derive from its possession. Students, who know much,
+and still thirst to know more, may require this vast sea of books; yet
+in that sea they may suffer many shipwrecks.
+
+Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the
+damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the
+_borrowers_, not to say a word of the _purloiners_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 10: An allusion and pun which occasioned the French
+translator of the present work an unlucky blunder: puzzled, no
+doubt, by my _facetiously_, he translates "mettant, comme on l'a
+_tres-judicieusement_ fait observer, l'entendement humain sous la clef."
+The great work and the great author alluded to, having quite escaped
+him!]
+
+[Footnote 11: The earliest satire on the mere book-collector is to be
+found in Barclay's translation of Brandt's "Ship of Fools," first
+printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1508. He thus announces his true
+position:--
+
+    I am the first fool of the whole navie
+    To keepe the poupe, the helme, and eke the sayle:
+    For this is my minde, this one pleasure have I,
+    Of bookes to have greate plentie and apparayle.
+    Still I am busy bookes assembling,
+    For to have plenty it is a pleasaunt thing
+    In my conceyt, and to have them aye in hande:
+    But what they meane do I not understande.
+    But yet I have them in great reverence
+    And honoure, saving them from filth and ordare,
+    By often brushing and much diligence;
+    Full goodly bound in pleasaunt coverture,
+    Of damas, satten, or else of velvet pure:
+    I keepe them sure, fearing least they should be lost,
+    For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast.]
+
+[Footnote 12: David Ancillon was born at Metz in 1617. From his earliest
+years his devotion to study was so great as to call for the
+interposition of his father, to prevent his health being seriously
+affected by it; he was described as "intemperately studious." The
+Jesuits of Metz gave him the free range of their college library; but
+his studies led him to Protestantism, and in 1633 he removed to Geneva,
+and devoted himself to the duties of the Reformed Church. Throughout an
+honourable life he retained unabated his love of books; and having a
+fortune by marriage, he gratified himself in constantly collecting them,
+so that he ultimately possessed one of the finest private libraries in
+France. For very many years his life passed peaceably and happily amid
+his books and his duties, when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
+drove him from his country. His noble library was scattered at
+waste-paper prices, "thus in a single day was destroyed the labour,
+care, and expense of forty-four years." He died seven years afterwards
+at Brandenburg.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY JOURNALS.
+
+
+When writers were not numerous, and readers rare, the unsuccessful
+author fell insensibly into oblivion; he dissolved away in his own
+weakness. If he committed the private folly of printing what no one
+would purchase, he was not arraigned at the public tribunal--and the
+awful terrors of his day of judgment consisted only in the retributions
+of his publisher's final accounts. At length, a taste for literature
+spread through the body of the people; vanity induced the inexperienced
+and the ignorant to aspire to literary honours. To oppose these forcible
+entries into the haunts of the Muses, periodical criticism brandished
+its formidable weapon; and the fall of many, taught some of our greatest
+geniuses to rise. Multifarious writings produced multifarious
+strictures; and public criticism reached to such perfection, that taste
+was generally diffused, enlightening those whose occupations had
+otherwise never permitted them to judge of literary compositions.
+
+The invention of REVIEWS, in the form which they have at length
+gradually assumed, could not have existed but in the most polished ages
+of literature: for without a constant supply of authors, and a refined
+spirit of criticism, they could not excite a perpetual interest among
+the lovers of literature. These publications were long the chronicles of
+taste and science, presenting the existing state of the public mind,
+while they formed a ready resource for those idle hours, which men of
+letters would not pass idly.
+
+Their multiplicity has undoubtedly produced much evil; puerile critics
+and venal drudges manufacture reviews; hence that shameful discordance
+of opinion, which is the scorn and scandal of criticism. Passions
+hostile to the peaceful truths of literature have likewise made
+tremendous inroads in the republic, and every literary virtue has been
+lost! In "Calamities of Authors" I have given the history of a literary
+conspiracy, conducted by a solitary critic, GILBERT STUART, against the
+historian HENRY.
+
+These works may disgust by vapid panegyric, or gross invective; weary
+by uniform dulness, or tantalise by superficial knowledge. Sometimes
+merely written to catch the public attention, a malignity is indulged
+against authors, to season the caustic leaves. A reviewer has admired
+those works in private, which he has condemned in his official capacity.
+But good sense, good temper, and good taste, will ever form an estimable
+journalist, who will inspire confidence, and give stability to his
+decisions.
+
+To the lovers of literature these volumes, when they have outlived their
+year, are not unimportant. They constitute a great portion of literary
+history, and are indeed the annals of the republic.
+
+To our own reviews, we must add the old foreign journals, which are
+perhaps even more valuable to the man of letters. Of these the variety
+is considerable; and many of their writers are now known. They delight
+our curiosity by opening new views, and light up in observing minds many
+projects of works, wanted in our own literature. GIBBON feasted on them;
+and while he turned them over with constant pleasure, derived accurate
+notions of works, which no student could himself have verified; of many
+works a notion is sufficient.
+
+The origin of literary journals was the happy project of DENIS DE SALLO,
+a counsellor in the parliament of Paris. In 1665 appeared his _Journal
+des Scavans_. He published his essay in the name of the Sieur de
+Hedouville, his footman! Was this a mere stroke of humour, or designed
+to insinuate that the freedom of criticism could only be allowed to his
+lacquey? The work, however, met with so favourable a reception, that
+SALLO had the satisfaction of seeing it, the following year, imitated
+throughout Europe, and his Journal, at the same time, translated into
+various languages. But as most authors lay themselves open to an acute
+critic, the animadversions of SALLO were given with such asperity of
+criticism, and such malignity of wit, that this new journal excited loud
+murmurs, and the most heart-moving complaints. The learned had their
+plagiarisms detected, and the wit had his claims disputed. Sarasin
+called the gazettes of this new Aristarchus, Hebdomadary Flams!
+_Billevesees hebdomadaires!_ and Menage having published a law book,
+which Sallo had treated with severe raillery, he entered into a long
+argument to prove, according to Justinian, that a lawyer is not allowed
+to defame another lawyer, &c.: _Senatori maledicere non licet,
+remaledicere jus fasque est_. Others loudly declaimed against this new
+species of imperial tyranny, and this attempt to regulate the public
+opinion by that of an individual. Sallo, after having published only his
+third volume, felt the irritated wasps of literature thronging so thick
+about him, that he very gladly abdicated the throne of criticism. The
+journal is said to have suffered a short interruption by a remonstrance
+from the nuncio of the pope, for the energy with which Sallo had
+defended the liberties of the Gallican church.
+
+Intimidated by the fate of SALLO, his successor, the Abbe GALLOIS,
+flourished in a milder reign. He contented himself with giving the
+titles of books, accompanied with extracts; and he was more useful than
+interesting. The public, who had been so much amused by the raillery and
+severity of the founder of this dynasty of new critics, now murmured at
+the want of that salt and acidity by which they had relished the
+fugitive collation. They were not satisfied with having the most
+beautiful, or the most curious parts of a new work brought together;
+they wished for the unreasonable entertainment of railing and raillery.
+At length another objection was conjured up against the review;
+mathematicians complained that they were neglected to make room for
+experiments in natural philosophy; the historian sickened over works of
+natural history; the antiquaries would have nothing but discoveries of
+MSS. or fragments of antiquity. Medical works were called for by one
+party, and reprobated by another. In a word, each reader wished only to
+have accounts of books, which were interesting to his profession or his
+taste. But a review is a work presented to the public at large, and
+written for more than one country. In spite of all these difficulties,
+this work was carried to a vast extent. An _index_ to the _Journal des
+Scavans_ has been arranged on a critical plan, occupying ten volumes in
+quarto, which may be considered as a most useful instrument to obtain
+the science and literature of the entire century.
+
+The next celebrated reviewer is BAYLE, who undertook, in 1684, his
+_Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres_. He possessed the art, acquired
+by habit, of reading a book by his fingers, as it has been happily
+expressed; and of comprising, in concise extracts, a just notion of a
+book, without the addition of irrelevant matter. Lively, neat, and full
+of that attic salt which gives a relish to the driest disquisitions,
+for the first time the ladies and all the _beau-monde_ took an interest
+in the labours of the critic. He wreathed the rod of criticism with
+roses. Yet even BAYLE, who declared himself to be a reporter, and not a
+judge, BAYLE, the discreet sceptic, could not long satisfy his readers.
+His panegyric was thought somewhat prodigal; his fluency of style
+somewhat too familiar; and others affected not to relish his gaiety. In
+his latter volumes, to still the clamour, he assumed the cold sobriety
+of an historian: and has bequeathed no mean legacy to the literary
+world, in thirty-six small volumes of criticism, closed in 1687. These
+were continued by Bernard, with inferior skill; and by Basnage more
+successfully, in his _Histoire des Ouvrages des Scavans_.
+
+The contemporary and the antagonist of BAYLE was LE CLERC. His firm
+industry has produced three _Bibliotheques_--_Universelle et
+Historique_, _Choisie_, and _Ancienne et Moderne_; forming in all
+eighty-two volumes, which, complete, bear a high price. Inferior to
+BAYLE in the more pleasing talents, he is perhaps superior in erudition,
+and shows great skill in analysis: but his hand drops no flowers! GIBBON
+resorted to Le Clerc's volumes at his leisure, "as an inexhaustible
+source of amusement and instruction." Apostolo Zeno's _Giornale del
+Litterati d'Italia_, from 1710 to 1733, is valuable.
+
+BEAUSOBRE and L'ENFANT, two learned Protestants, wrote a _Bibliotheque
+Germanique_, from 1720 to 1740, in 50 volumes. Our own literature is
+interested by the "_Bibliotheque Britannique_," written by some literary
+Frenchmen, noticed by La Croze, in his "Voyage Litteraire," who
+designates the writers in this most tantalising manner: "Les auteurs
+sont gens de merite, et qui entendent tous parfaitement l'Anglois;
+Messrs. S.B., le M.D., et le savant Mr. D." Posterity has been partially
+let into the secret: De Missy was one of the contributors, and Warburton
+communicated his project of an edition of Velleius Patereulus. This
+useful account of English books begins in 1733, and closes in 1747,
+Hague, 23 vols.: to this we must add the _Journal Britannique_, in 18
+vols., by Dr. MATY, a foreign physician residing in London; this Journal
+exhibits a view of the state of English literature from 1750 to 1755.
+GIBBON bestows a high character on the journalist, who sometimes
+"aspires to the character of a poet and a philosopher; one of the last
+disciples of the school of Fontenelle."
+
+MATY'S son produced here a review known to the curious, his style and
+decisions often discover haste and heat, with some striking
+observations: alluding to his father, in his motto, Maty applies
+Virgil's description of the young Ascanius, "Sequitur _patrem_ non
+passibus aequis." He says he only holds a _monthly conversation_ with the
+public. His obstinate resolution of carrying on this review without an
+associate, has shown its folly and its danger; for a fatal illness
+produced a cessation, at once, of his periodical labours and his life.
+
+Other reviews, are the _Memoires de Trevoux_, written by the Jesuits.
+Their caustic censure and vivacity of style made them redoubtable in
+their day; they did not even spare their brothers. The _Journal
+Litteraire_, printed at the Hague, was chiefly composed by Prosper
+Marchand, Sallengre, and Van Effen, who were then young writers. This
+list may be augmented by other journals, which sometimes merit
+preservation in the history of modern literature.
+
+Our early English journals notice only a few publications, with little
+acumen. Of these, the "Memoirs of Literature," and the "Present State of
+the Republic of Letters," are the best. The Monthly Review, the
+venerable (now the deceased) mother of our journals, commenced in 1749.
+
+It is impossible to form a literary journal in a manner such as might be
+wished; it must be the work of many, of different tempers and talents.
+An individual, however versatile and extensive his genius, would soon be
+exhausted. Such a regular labour occasioned Bayle a dangerous illness,
+and Maty fell a victim to his Review. A prospect always extending as we
+proceed, the frequent novelty of the matter, the pride of considering
+one's self as the arbiter of literature, animate a journalist at the
+commencement of his career; but the literary Hercules becomes fatigued;
+and to supply his craving pages he gives copious extracts, till the
+journal becomes tedious, or fails in variety. The Abbe Gallois was
+frequently diverted from continuing his journal, and Fontenelle remarks,
+that this occupation was too restrictive for a mind so extensive as his;
+the Abbe could not resist the charms of revelling in a new work, and
+gratifying any sudden curiosity which seized him; this interrupted
+perpetually the regularity which the public expects from a journalist.
+
+The character of a perfect journalist would be only an ideal portrait;
+there are, however, some acquirements which are indispensable. He must
+be tolerably acquainted with the subjects he treats on; no _common_
+acquirement! He must possess the _literary history of his own times_; a
+science which, Fontenelle observes, is almost distinct from any other.
+It is the result of an active curiosity, which takes a lively interest
+in the tastes and pursuits of the age, while it saves the journalist
+from some ridiculous blunders. We often see the mind of a reviewer half
+a century remote from the work reviewed. A fine feeling of the various
+manners of writers, with a style adapted to fix the attention of the
+indolent, and to win the untractable, should be his study; but candour
+is the brightest gem of criticism! He ought not to throw everything into
+the crucible, nor should he suffer the whole to pass as if he trembled
+to touch it. Lampoons and satires in time will lose their effect, as
+well as panegyrics. He must learn to resist the seductions of his own
+pen: the pretension of composing a treatise on the _subject_, rather
+than on the _book_ he criticises--proud of insinuating that he gives, in
+a dozen pages, what the author himself has not been able to perform in
+his volumes. Should he gain confidence by a popular delusion, and by
+unworthy conduct, he may chance to be mortified by the pardon or by the
+chastisement of insulted genius. The most noble criticism is that in
+which the critic is not the antagonist so much as the rival of the
+author.
+
+
+
+
+RECOVERY OF MANUSCRIPTS.
+
+
+Our ancient classics had a very narrow escape from total annihilation.
+Many have perished: many are but fragments; and chance, blind arbiter of
+the works of genius, has left us some, not of the highest value; which,
+however, have proved very useful, as a test to show the pedantry of
+those who adore antiquity not from true feeling, but from traditional
+prejudice.
+
+We lost a great number of ancient authors by the conquest of Egypt by
+the Saracens, which deprived Europe of the use of the _papyrus_. They
+could find no substitute, and knew no other expedient but writing on
+parchment, which became every day more scarce and costly. Ignorance and
+barbarism unfortunately seized on Roman manuscripts, and industriously
+defaced pages once imagined to have been immortal! The most elegant
+compositions of classic Rome were converted into the psalms of a
+breviary, or the prayers of a missal. Livy and Tacitus "hide their
+diminished heads" to preserve the legend of a saint, and immortal truths
+were converted into clumsy fictions. It happened that the most
+voluminous authors were the greatest sufferers; these were preferred,
+because their volume being the greatest, most profitably repaid their
+destroying industry, and furnished ampler scope for future
+transcription. A Livy or a Diodorus was preferred to the smaller works
+of Cicero or Horace; and it is to this circumstance that Juvenal,
+Persius, and Martial have come down to us entire, rather probably than
+to these pious personages preferring their obscenities, as some have
+accused them. At Rome, a part of a book of Livy was found, between the
+lines of a parchment but half effaced, on which they had substituted a
+book of the Bible; and a recent discovery of Cicero _De Republica_,
+which lay concealed under some monkish writing, shows the fate of
+ancient manuscripts.[13]
+
+That the Monks had not in high veneration the _profane_ authors, appears
+by a facetious anecdote. To read the classics was considered as a very
+idle recreation, and some held them in great horror. To distinguish them
+from other books, they invented a disgraceful sign: when a monk asked
+for a pagan author, after making the general sign they used in their
+manual and silent language when they wanted a book, he added a
+particular one, which consisted in scratching under his ear, as a dog,
+which feels an itching, scratches himself in that place with his
+paw--because, said they, an unbeliever is compared to a dog! In this
+manner they expressed an _itching_ for those _dogs_ Virgil or
+Horace![14]
+
+There have been ages when, for the possession of a manuscript, some
+would transfer an estate, or leave in pawn for its loan hundreds of
+golden crowns; and when even the sale or loan of a manuscript was
+considered of such importance as to have been solemnly registered by
+public acts. Absolute as was Louis XI. he could not obtain the MS. of
+Rasis, an Arabian writer, from the library of the Faculty of Paris, to
+have a copy made, without pledging a hundred golden crowns; and the
+president of his treasury, charged with this commission, sold part of
+his plate to make the deposit. For the loan of a volume of Avicenna, a
+Baron offered a pledge of ten marks of silver, which was refused:
+because it was not considered equal to the risk incurred of losing a
+volume of Avicenna! These events occurred in 1471. One cannot but smile,
+at an anterior period, when a Countess of Anjou bought a favourite book
+of homilies for two hundred sheep, some skins of martins, and bushels of
+wheat and rye.
+
+In those times, manuscripts were important articles of commerce; they
+were excessively scarce, and preserved with the utmost care. Usurers
+themselves considered them as precious objects for pawn. A student of
+Pavia, who was reduced, raised a new fortune by leaving in pawn a
+manuscript of a body of law; and a grammarian, who was ruined by a fire,
+rebuilt his house with two small volumes of Cicero.
+
+At the restoration of letters, the researches of literary men were
+chiefly directed to this point; every part of Europe and Greece was
+ransacked; and, the glorious end considered, there was something sublime
+in this humble industry, which often recovered a lost author of
+antiquity, and gave one more classic to the world. This occupation was
+carried on with enthusiasm, and a kind of mania possessed many, who
+exhausted their fortunes in distant voyages and profuse prices. In
+reading the correspondence of the learned Italians of these times, their
+adventures of manuscript-hunting are very amusing; and their raptures,
+their congratulations, or at times their condolence, and even their
+censures, are all immoderate. The acquisition of a province would not
+have given so much satisfaction as the discovery or an author little
+known, or not known at all. "Oh, great gain! Oh, unexpected felicity! I
+intreat you, my Poggio, send me the manuscript as soon as possible, that
+I may see it before I die!" exclaims Aretino, in a letter overflowing
+with enthusiasm, on Poggio's discovery of a copy of Quintilian. Some of
+the half-witted, who joined in this great hunt, were often thrown out,
+and some paid high for manuscripts not authentic; the knave played on
+the bungling amateur of manuscripts, whose credulity exceeded his purse.
+But even among the learned, much ill-blood was inflamed; he who had
+been most successful in acquiring manuscripts was envied by the less
+fortunate, and the glory of possessing a manuscript of Cicero seemed to
+approximate to that of being its author. It is curious to observe that
+in these vast importations into Italy of manuscripts from Asia, John
+Aurispa, who brought many hundreds of Greek manuscripts, laments that he
+had chosen more profane than sacred writers; which circumstance he tells
+us was owing to the Greeks, who would not so easily part with
+theological works, but did not highly value profane writers!
+
+These manuscripts were discovered in the obscurest recesses of
+monasteries; they were not always imprisoned in libraries, but rotting
+in dark unfrequented corners with rubbish. It required not less
+ingenuity to find out places where to grope in, than to understand the
+value of the acquisition. An universal ignorance then prevailed in the
+knowledge of ancient writers. A scholar of those times gave the first
+rank among the Latin writers to one Valerius, whether he meant Martial
+or Maximus is uncertain; he placed Plato and Tully among the poets, and
+imagined that Ennius and Statius were contemporaries. A library of six
+hundred volumes was then considered as an extraordinary collection.
+
+Among those whose lives were devoted to this purpose, Poggio the
+Florentine stands distinguished; but he complains that his zeal was not
+assisted by the great. He found under a heap of rubbish in a decayed
+coffer, in a tower belonging to the monastery of St. Gallo, the work of
+Quintilian. He is indignant at its forlorn situation; at least, he
+cries, it should have been preserved in the library of the monks; but I
+found it _in teterrimo quodam et obscuro carcere_--and to his great joy
+drew it out of its grave! The monks have been complimented as the
+preservers of literature, but by facts, like the present, their real
+affection may be doubted.
+
+The most valuable copy of Tacitus, of whom so much is wanting, was
+likewise discovered in a monastery of Westphalia. It is a curious
+circumstance in literary history, that we should owe Tacitus to this
+single copy; for the Roman emperor of that name had copies of the works
+of his illustrious ancestor placed in all the libraries of the empire,
+and every year had ten copies transcribed; but the Roman libraries seem
+to have been all destroyed, and the imperial protection availed nothing
+against the teeth of time.
+
+The original manuscript of Justinian's Pandects was discovered by the
+Pisans, when they took a city in Calabria; that vast code of laws had
+been in a manner unknown from the time of that emperor. This curious
+book was brought to Pisa; and when Pisa was taken by the Florentines,
+was transferred to Florence, where it is still preserved.
+
+It sometimes happened that manuscripts were discovered in the last
+agonies of existence. Papirius Masson found, in the house of a
+bookbinder of Lyons, the works of Agobard; the mechanic was on the point
+of using the manuscripts to line the covers of his books.[15] A page of
+the second decade of Livy, it is said, was found by a man of letters in
+the parchment of his battledore, while he was amusing himself in the
+country. He hastened to the maker of the battledore--but arrived too
+late! The man had finished the last page of Livy--about a week before.
+
+Many works have undoubtedly perished in this manuscript state. By a
+petition of Dr. Dee to Queen Mary, in the Cotton library, it appears
+that Cicero's treatise _De Republica_ was once extant in this country.
+Huet observes that Petronius was probably entire in the days of John of
+Salisbury, who quotes fragments, not now to be found in the remains of
+the Roman bard. Raimond Soranzo, a lawyer in the papal court, possessed
+two books of Cicero "on Glory," which he presented to Petrarch, who lent
+them to a poor aged man of letters, formerly his preceptor. Urged by
+extreme want, the old man pawned them, and returning home died suddenly
+without having revealed where he had left them. They have never been
+recovered. Petrarch speaks of them with ecstasy, and tells us that he
+had studied them perpetually. Two centuries afterwards, this treatise on
+Glory by Cicero was mentioned in a catalogue of books bequeathed to a
+monastery of nuns, but when inquired after was missing. It was supposed
+that Petrus Alcyonius, physician to that household, purloined it, and
+after transcribing as much of it as he could into his own writings, had
+destroyed the original. Alcyonius, in his book _De Exilio_, the critics
+observed, had many splendid passages which stood isolated in his work,
+and were quite above his genius. The beggar, or in this case the thief,
+was detected by mending his rags with patches of purple and gold.
+
+In this age of manuscript, there is reason to believe, that when a man
+of letters accidentally obtained an unknown work, he did not make the
+fairest use of it, but cautiously concealed it from his contemporaries.
+Leonard Aretino, a distinguished scholar at the dawn of modern
+literature, having found a Greek manuscript of Procopius _De Bello
+Gothico_, translated it into Latin, and published the work; but
+concealing the author's name, it passed as his own, till another
+manuscript of the same work being dug out of its grave, the fraud of
+Aretino was apparent. Barbosa, a bishop of Ugento, in 1649, has printed
+among his works a treatise, obtained by one of his domestics bringing in
+a fish rolled in a leaf of written paper, which his curiosity led him to
+examine. He was sufficiently interested to run out and search the fish
+market, till he found the manuscript out of which it had been torn. He
+published it, under the title _De Officio Episcopi_. Machiavelli acted
+more adroitly in a similar case; a manuscript of the Apophthegms of the
+Ancients by Plutarch having fallen into his hands, he selected those
+which pleased him, and put them into the mouth of his hero Castrucio
+Castricani.
+
+In more recent times, we might collect many curious anecdotes concerning
+manuscripts. Sir Robert Cotton one day at his tailor's discovered that
+the man was holding in his hand, ready to cut up for measures--an
+original Magna Charta, with all its appendages of seals and signatures.
+This anecdote is told by Colomies, who long resided in this country; and
+an original Magna Charta is preserved in the Cottonian library
+exhibiting marks of dilapidation.
+
+Cardinal Granvelle[16] left behind him several chests filled with a
+prodigious quantity of letters written in different languages,
+commented, noted, and underlined by his own hand. These curious
+manuscripts, after his death, were left in a garret to the mercy of the
+rain and the rats. Five or six of these chests the steward sold to the
+grocers. It was then that a discovery was made of this treasure. Several
+learned men occupied themselves in collecting sufficient of these
+literary relics to form eighty thick folios, consisting of original
+letters by all the crowned heads in Europe, with instructions for
+ambassadors, and other state-papers.
+
+A valuable secret history by Sir George Mackenzie, the king's advocate
+in Scotland, was rescued from a mass of waste paper sold to a grocer,
+who had the good sense to discriminate it, and communicated this curious
+memorial to Dr. M'Crie. The original, in the handwriting of its author,
+has been deposited in the Advocate's Library. There is an hiatus, which
+contained the history of six years. This work excited inquiry after the
+rest of the MSS., which were found to be nothing more than the sweepings
+of an attorney's office.
+
+Montaigne's Journal of his Travels into Italy has been but recently
+published. A prebendary of Perigord, travelling through this province to
+make researches relative to its history, arrived at the ancient
+_chateau_ of Montaigne, in possession of a descendant of this great man.
+He inquired for the archives, if there had been any. He was shown an old
+worm-eaten coffer, which had long held papers untouched by the incurious
+generations of Montaigne. Stifled in clouds of dust, he drew out the
+original manuscript of the travels of Montaigne. Two-thirds of the work
+are in the handwriting of Montaigne, and the rest is written by a
+servant, who always speaks of his master in the third person. But he
+must have written what Montaigne dictated, as the expressions and the
+egotisms are all Montaigne's. The bad writing and orthography made it
+almost unintelligible. They confirmed Montaigne's own observation, that
+he was very negligent in the correction of his works.
+
+Our ancestors were great hiders of manuscripts: Dr. Dee's singular MSS.
+were found in the secret drawer of a chest, which had passed through
+many hands undiscovered; and that vast collection of state-papers of
+Thurloe's, the secretary of Cromwell, which formed about seventy volumes
+in the original manuscripts, accidentally fell out of the false ceiling
+of some chambers in Lincoln's-Inn.
+
+A considerable portion of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters I
+discovered in the hands of an attorney: family-papers are often
+consigned to offices of lawyers, where many valuable manuscripts are
+buried. Posthumous publications of this kind are too frequently made
+from sordid motives: discernment and taste would only be detrimental to
+the views of bulky publishers.[17]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 13: This important political treatise was discovered in the
+year 1823, by Angelo Maii, in the library of the Vatican. A treatise on
+the Psalms covered it. This second treatise was written in the clear,
+minute character of the middle ages, but beneath it Maii saw distinct
+traces of the larger letters of the work of Cicero; and to the infinite
+joy of the learned succeeded in restoring to the world one of the most
+important works of the great orator.]
+
+[Footnote 14: "Many bishops and abbots began to consider learning as
+pernicious to true piety, and confounded illiberal ignorance with
+Christian simplicity," says Warton. The study of Pagan authors was
+declared to inculcate Paganism; the same sort of reasoning led others to
+say that the reading of the Scriptures would infallibly change the
+readers to Jews; it is amusing to look back on these vain efforts to
+stop the effect of the printing-press.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Agobard was Archbishop of Lyons, and one of the most
+learned men of the ninth century. He was born in 779; raised to the
+prelacy in 816, from which he was expelled by Louis le Debonnaire for
+espousing the cause of his son Lothaire; he fled to Italy, but was
+restored to his see in 838, dying in 840, when the Church canonized him.
+He was a strenuous Churchman, but with enlightened views; and his style
+as an author is remarkable alike for its clearness and perfect
+simplicity. His works were unknown until discovered in the manner
+narrated above, and were published by the discoverer at Paris in 1603,
+the originals being bequeathed to the Royal Library at his death. On
+examination, several errors were found in this edition, and a new one
+was published in 1662, to which another treatise by Agobard was added.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The celebrated minister of Philip II.]
+
+[Footnote 17: One of the most curious modern discoveries was that of the
+Fairfax papers and correspondence by the late J. N. Hughes, of
+Winchester, who purchased at a sale at Leeds Castle, Kent, a box
+apparently filled with old coloured paving-tiles; on removing the upper
+layers he found a large mass of manuscripts of the time of the Civil
+wars, evidently thus packed for concealment; they have since been
+published, and add most valuable information to this interesting period
+of English history.]
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES OF CRITICISM.
+
+
+It may, perhaps, be some satisfaction to show the young writer, that the
+most celebrated ancients have been as rudely subjected to the tyranny of
+criticism as the moderns. Detraction has ever poured the "waters of
+bitterness."
+
+It was given out, that Homer had stolen from anterior poets whatever was
+most remarkable in the Iliad and Odyssey. Naucrates even points out the
+source in the library at Memphis in a temple of Vulcan, which according
+to him the blind bard completely pillaged. Undoubtedly there were good
+poets before Homer; how absurd to conceive that an elaborate poem could
+be the first! We have indeed accounts of anterior poets, and apparently
+of epics, before Homer; AElian notices Syagrus, who composed a poem on
+the Siege of Troy; and Suidas the poem of Corinnus, from which it is
+said Homer greatly borrowed. Why did Plato so severely condemn the great
+bard, and imitate him?
+
+Sophocles was brought to trial by his children as a lunatic; and some,
+who censured the inequalities of this poet, have also condemned the
+vanity of Pindar; the rough verses of AEschylus; and Euripides, for the
+conduct of his plots.
+
+Socrates, considered as the wisest and the most moral of men, Cicero
+treated as an usurer, and the pedant Athenaeus as illiterate; the latter
+points out as a Socratic folly our philosopher disserting on the nature
+of justice before his judges, who were so many thieves. The malignant
+buffoonery of Aristophanes treats him much worse; but he, as Jortin
+says, was a great wit, but a great rascal.
+
+Plato--who has been called, by Clement of Alexandria, the Moses of
+Athens; the philosopher of the Christians, by Arnobius; and the god of
+philosophers, by Cicero--Athenaeus accuses of envy; Theopompus of lying;
+Suidas of avarice; Aulus Gellius, of robbery; Porphyry, of incontinence;
+and Aristophanes, of impiety.
+
+Aristotle, whose industry composed more than four hundred volumes, has
+not been less spared by the critics; Diogenes Laertius, Cicero, and
+Plutarch, have forgotten nothing that can tend to show his ignorance,
+his ambition, and his vanity.
+
+It has been said, that Plato was so envious of the celebrity of
+Democritus, that he proposed burning all his works; but that Amydis and
+Clinias prevented it, by remonstrating that there were copies of them
+everywhere; and Aristotle was agitated by the same passion against all
+the philosophers his predecessors.
+
+Virgil is destitute of invention, if we are to give credit to Pliny,
+Carbilius, and Seneca. Caligula has absolutely denied him even
+mediocrity; Herennus has marked his faults; and Perilius Faustinus has
+furnished a thick volume with his plagiarisms. Even the author of his
+apology has confessed, that he has stolen from Homer his greatest
+beauties; from Apollonius Rhodius, many of his pathetic passages; from
+Nicander, hints for his Georgies; and this does not terminate the
+catalogue.
+
+Horace censures the coarse humour of Plautus; and Horace, in his turn,
+has been blamed for the free use he made of the Greek minor poets.
+
+The majority of the critics regard Pliny's Natural History only as a
+heap of fables; and Pliny cannot bear with Diodorus and Vopiscus; and in
+one comprehensive criticism, treats all the historians as narrators of
+fables.
+
+Livy has been reproached for his aversion to the Gauls; Dion, for his
+hatred of the republic; Velleius Paterculus, for speaking too kindly of
+the vices of Tiberius; and Herodotus and Plutarch, for their excessive
+partiality to their own country: while the latter has written an entire
+treatise on the malignity of Herodotus. Xenophon and Quintus Curtius
+have been considered rather as novelists than historians; and Tacitus
+has been censured for his audacity in pretending to discover the
+political springs and secret causes of events. Dionysius of
+Harlicarnassus has made an elaborate attack on Thucydides for the
+unskilful choice of his subject, and his manner of treating it.
+Dionysius would have nothing written but what tended to the glory of his
+country and the pleasure of the reader--as if history were a song! adds
+Hobbes, who also shows a personal motive in this attack. The same
+Dionysius severely criticises the style of Xenophon, who, he says, in
+attempting to elevate his style, shows himself incapable of supporting
+it. Polybius has been blamed for his frequent introduction of
+reflections which interrupt the thread of his narrative; and Sallust has
+been blamed by Cato for indulging his own private passions, and
+studiously concealing many of the glorious actions of Cicero. The Jewish
+historian, Josephus, is accused of not having designed his history for
+his own people so much as for the Greeks and Romans, whom he takes the
+utmost care never to offend. Josephus assumes a Roman name, Flavius; and
+considering his nation as entirely subjugated, to make them appear
+dignified to their conquerors, alters what he himself calls the _Holy
+books_. It is well known how widely he differs from the scriptural
+accounts. Some have said of Cicero, that there is no connexion, and to
+adopt their own figures, no _blood_ and _nerves_, in what his admirers
+so warmly extol. Cold in his extemporaneous effusions, artificial in his
+exordiums, trifling in his strained raillery, and tiresome in his
+digressions. This is saying a good deal about Cicero.
+
+Quintilian does not spare Seneca; and Demosthenes, called by Cicero the
+prince of orators, has, according to Hermippus, more of art than of
+nature. To Demades, his orations appear too much laboured; others have
+thought him too dry; and, if we may trust AEschines, his language is by
+no means pure.
+
+The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius, and the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus,
+while they have been extolled by one party, have been degraded by
+another. They have been considered as botchers of rags and remnants;
+their diligence has not been accompanied by judgment; and their taste
+inclined more to the frivolous than to the useful. Compilers, indeed,
+are liable to a hard fate, for little distinction is made in their
+ranks; a disagreeable situation, in which honest Burton seems to have
+been placed; for he says of his work, that some will cry out, "This is a
+thinge of meere industrie; a _collection_ without wit or invention; a
+very toy! So men are valued; their labours vilified by fellowes of no
+worth themselves, as things of nought: Who could not have done as much?
+Some understande too little, and some too much."
+
+Should we proceed with this list to our own country, and to our own
+times, it might be curiously augmented, and show the world what men the
+Critics are! but, perhaps, enough has been said to soothe irritated
+genius, and to shame fastidious criticism. "I would beg the critics to
+remember," the Earl of Roscommon writes, in his preface to Horace's Art
+of Poetry, "that Horace owed his favour and his fortune to the character
+given of him by Virgil and Varus; that Fundanius and Pollio are still
+valued by what Horace says of them; and that, in their golden age, there
+was a good understanding among the ingenious; and those who were the
+most esteemed, were the best natured."
+
+
+
+
+THE PERSECUTED LEARNED.
+
+
+Those who have laboured most zealously to instruct mankind have been
+those who have suffered most from ignorance; and the discoverers of new
+arts and sciences have hardly ever lived to see them accepted by the
+world. With a noble perception of his own genius, Lord Bacon, in his
+prophetic Will, thus expresses himself: "For my name and memory, I leave
+it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next
+ages." Before the times of Galileo and Harvey the world believed in the
+stagnation of the blood, and the diurnal immovability of the earth; and
+for denying these the one was persecuted and the other ridiculed.
+
+The intelligence and the virtue of Socrates were punished with death.
+Anaxagoras, when he attempted to propagate a just notion of the Supreme
+Being, was dragged to prison. Aristotle, after a long series of
+persecution, swallowed poison. Heraclitus, tormented by his countrymen,
+broke off all intercourse with men. The great geometricians and
+chemists, as Gerbert, Roger Bacon, and Cornelius Agrippa, were abhorred
+as magicians. Pope Gerbert, as Bishop Otho gravely relates, obtained the
+pontificate by having given himself up entirely to the devil: others
+suspected him, too, of holding an intercourse with demons; but this was
+indeed a devilish age!
+
+Virgilius, Bishop of Saltzburg, having asserted that there existed
+antipodes, the Archbishop of Mentz declared him a heretic; and the Abbot
+Trithemius, who was fond of improving steganography or the art of secret
+writing, having published several curious works on this subject, they
+were condemned, as works full of diabolical mysteries; and Frederic
+II., Elector Palatine, ordered Trithemius's original work, which was in
+his library, to be publicly burnt.
+
+Galileo was condemned at Rome publicly to disavow sentiments, the truth
+of which must have been to him abundantly manifest. "Are these then my
+judges?" he exclaimed, in retiring from the inquisitors, whose ignorance
+astonished him. He was imprisoned, and visited by Milton, who tells us,
+he was then _poor_ and _old_. The confessor of his widow, taking
+advantage of her piety, perused the MSS. of this great philosopher, and
+destroyed such as in his _judgment_ were not fit to be known to the
+world!
+
+Gabriel Naude, in his apology for those great men who have been accused
+of magic, has recorded a melancholy number of the most eminent scholars,
+who have found, that to have been successful in their studies, was a
+success which harassed them with continual persecution--a prison or a
+grave!
+
+Cornelius Agrippa was compelled to fly his country, and the enjoyment of
+a large income, merely for having displayed a few philosophical
+experiments, which now every school-boy can perform; but more
+particularly having attacked the then prevailing opinion, that St. Anne
+had three husbands, he was obliged to fly from place to place. The
+people beheld him as an object of horror; and when he walked, he found
+the streets empty at his approach.
+
+In those times, it was a common opinion to suspect every great man of an
+intercourse with some familiar spirit. The favourite black dog of
+Agrippa was supposed to be a demon. When Urban Grandier, another victim
+to the age, was led to the stake, a large fly settled on his head: a
+monk, who had heard that Beelzebub signifies in Hebrew the God of Flies,
+reported that he saw this spirit come to take possession of him. M. de
+Langier, a French minister, who employed many spies, was frequently
+accused of diabolical communication. Sixtus the Fifth, Marechal Faber,
+Roger Bacon, Caesar Borgia, his son Alexander VI., and others, like
+Socrates, had their diabolical attendant.
+
+Cardan was believed to be a magician. An able naturalist, who happened
+to know something of the arcana of nature, was immediately suspected of
+magic. Even the learned themselves, who had not applied to natural
+philosophy, seem to have acted with the same feelings as the most
+ignorant; for when Albert, usually called the Great, an epithet it has
+been said that he derived from his name _De Groot_, constructed a
+curious piece of mechanism, which sent forth distinct vocal sounds,
+Thomas Aquinas was so much terrified at it, that he struck it with his
+staff, and, to the mortification of Albert, annihilated the curious
+labour of thirty years!
+
+Petrarch was less desirous of the laurel for the honour, than for the
+hope of being sheltered by it from the thunder of the priests, by whom
+both he and his brother poets were continually threatened. They could
+not imagine a poet, without supposing him to hold an intercourse with
+some demon. This was, as Abbe Resnel observes, having a most exalted
+idea of poetry, though a very bad one of poets. An anti-poetic Dominican
+was notorious for persecuting all verse-makers; whose power he
+attributed to the effects of _heresy_ and _magic_. The lights of
+philosophy have dispersed all these accusations of magic, and have shown
+a dreadful chain of perjuries and conspiracies.
+
+Descartes was horribly persecuted in Holland, when he first published
+his opinions. Voetius, a bigot of great influence at Utrecht, accused
+him of atheism, and had even projected in his mind to have this
+philosopher burnt at Utrecht in an extraordinary fire, which, kindled on
+an eminence, might be observed by the seven provinces. Mr. Hallam has
+observed, that "the ordeal of fire was the great purifier of books and
+men." This persecution of science and genius lasted till the close of
+the seventeenth century.
+
+"If the metaphysician stood a chance of being burnt as a heretic, the
+natural philosopher was not in less jeopardy as a magician," is an
+observation of the same writer, which sums up the whole.
+
+
+
+
+POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius: others
+find a hundred by-roads to her palace; there is but one open, and that a
+very indifferent one, for men of letters. Were we to erect an asylum for
+venerable genius, as we do for the brave and the helpless part of our
+citizens, it might be inscribed, "An Hospital for Incurables!" When even
+Fame will not protect the man of genius from Famine, Charity ought. Nor
+should such an act be considered as a debt incurred by the helpless
+member, but a just tribute we pay in his person to Genius itself. Even
+in these enlightened times, many have lived in obscurity, while their
+reputation was widely spread, and have perished in poverty, while their
+works were enriching the booksellers.
+
+Of the heroes of modern literature the accounts are as copious as they
+are sorrowful.
+
+Xylander sold his notes on Dion Cassius for a dinner. He tells us that
+at the age of eighteen he studied to acquire glory, but at twenty-five
+he studied to get bread.
+
+Cervantes, the immortal genius of Spain, is supposed to have wanted
+food; Camoeens, the solitary pride of Portugal, deprived of the
+necessaries of life, perished in an hospital at Lisbon. This fact has
+been accidentally preserved in an entry in a copy of the first edition
+of the Lusiad, in the possession of Lord Holland. It is a note, written
+by a friar who must have been a witness of the dying scene of the poet,
+and probably received the volume which now preserves the sad memorial,
+and which recalled it to his mind, from the hands of the unhappy
+poet:--"What a lamentable thing to see so great a genius so ill
+rewarded! I saw him die in an hospital in Lisbon, without having a sheet
+or shroud, _una sauana_, to cover him, after having triumphed in the
+East Indies, and sailed 5500 leagues! What good advice for those who
+weary themselves night and day in study without profit!" Camoeens, when
+some fidalgo complained that he had not performed his promise in writing
+some verses for him, replied, "When I wrote verses I was young, had
+sufficient food, was a lover, and beloved by many friends and by the
+ladies; then I felt poetical ardour: now I have no spirits, no peace of
+mind. See there my Javanese, who asks me for two pieces to purchase
+firing, and I have them not to give him." The Portuguese, after his
+death, bestowed on the man of genius they had starved, the appellation
+of Great![18] Vondel, the Dutch Shakspeare, after composing a number of
+popular tragedies, lived in great poverty, and died at ninety years of
+age; then he had his coffin carried by fourteen poets, who without his
+genius probably partook of his wretchedness.
+
+The great Tasso was reduced to such a dilemma that he was obliged to
+borrow a crown for a week's subsistence. He alludes to his distress
+when, entreating his cat to assist him, during the night, with the
+lustre of her eyes--"_Non avendo candele per iscrivere i suoi versi_!"
+having no candle to see to write his verses.
+
+When the liberality of Alphonso enabled Ariosto to build a small house,
+it seems that it was but ill furnished. When told that such a building
+was not fit for one who had raised so many fine palaces in his writings,
+he answered, that the structure of _words_ and that of _stones_ was not
+the same thing. _"Che pervi le pietre, e porvi le parole, non e il
+medesimo!"_ At Ferrari this house is still shown, "Parva sed apta" he
+calls it, but exults that it was paid for with his own money. This was
+in a moment of good humour, which he did not always enjoy; for in his
+Satires he bitterly complains of the bondage of dependence and poverty.
+Little thought the poet that the _commune_ would order this small house
+to be purchased with their own funds, that it might be dedicated to his
+immortal memory.
+
+Cardinal Bentivoglio, the ornament of Italy and of literature,
+languished, in his old age, in the most distressful poverty; and having
+sold his palace to satisfy his creditors, left nothing behind him but
+his reputation. The learned Pomponius Laetus lived in such a state of
+poverty, that his friend Platina, who wrote the lives of the popes, and
+also a book of cookery, introduces him into the cookery book by a
+facetious observation, that "If Pomponius Laetus should be robbed of a
+couple of eggs, he would not have wherewithal to purchase two other
+eggs." The history of Aldrovandus is noble and pathetic; having expended
+a large fortune in forming his collections of natural history, and
+employing the first artists in Europe, he was suffered to die in the
+hospital of that city, to whose fame he had eminently contributed.
+
+Du Ryer, a celebrated French poet, was constrained to write with
+rapidity, and to live in the cottage of an obscure village. His
+bookseller bought his heroic verses for one hundred sols the hundred
+lines, and the smaller ones for fifty sols. What an interesting picture
+has a contemporary given of a visit to this poor and ingenious author!
+"On a fine summer day we went to him, at some distance from town. He
+received us with joy, talked to us of his numerous projects, and showed
+us several of his works. But what more interested us was, that, though
+dreading to expose to us his poverty, he contrived to offer some
+refreshments. We seated ourselves under a wide oak, the table-cloth was
+spread on the grass, his wife brought us some milk, with fresh water and
+brown bread, and he picked a basket of cherries. He welcomed us with
+gaiety, but we could not take leave of this amiable man, now grown old,
+without tears, to see him so ill treated by fortune, and to have nothing
+left but literary honour!"
+
+Vaugelas, the most polished writer of the French language, who devoted
+thirty years to his translation of Quintus Curtius, (a circumstance
+which modern translators can have no conception of), died possessed of
+nothing valuable but his precious manuscripts. This ingenious scholar
+left his corpse to the surgeons, for the benefit of his creditors!
+
+Louis the Fourteenth honoured Racine and Boileau with a private monthly
+audience. One day the king asked what there was new in the literary
+world. Racine answered, that he had seen a melancholy spectacle in the
+house of Corneille, whom he found dying, deprived even of a little
+broth! The king preserved a profound silence; and sent the dying poet a
+sum of money.
+
+Dryden, for less than three hundred pounds, sold Tonson ten thousand
+verses, as may be seen by the agreement.
+
+Purchas, who in the reign of our first James, had spent his life in
+compiling his _Relation of the World_, when he gave it to the public,
+for the reward of his labours was thrown into prison, at the suit of his
+printer. Yet this was the book which, he informs Charles I. in his
+dedication, his father read every night with great profit and
+satisfaction.
+
+The Marquis of Worcester, in a petition to parliament, in the reign of
+Charles II., offered to publish the hundred processes and machines,
+enumerated in his very curious "Centenary of Inventions," on condition
+that money should be granted to extricate him from the _difficulties in
+which he had involved himself by the prosecution of useful discoveries_.
+The petition does not appear to have been attended to! Many of these
+admirable inventions were lost. The _steam-engine_ and the _telegraph_,
+may be traced among them.
+
+It appears by the Harleian MS. 7524, that Rushworth, the author of the
+"Historical Collections," passed the last years of his life in gaol,
+where indeed he died. After the Restoration, when he presented to the
+king several of the privy council's books, which he had preserved from
+ruin, he received for his only reward the _thanks of his majesty_.
+
+Rymer, the collector of the Foedera, must have been sadly reduced, by
+the following letter, I found addressed by Peter le Neve, Norroy, to the
+Earl of Oxford.
+
+"I am desired by Mr. Rymer, historiographer, to lay before your lordship
+the circumstances of his affairs. He was forced some years back to part
+with all his choice printed books to subsist himself: and now, he says,
+he must be forced, for subsistence, to sell all his MS. collections to
+the best bidder, without your lordship will be pleased to buy them for
+the queen's library. They are fifty volumes in folio, of public affairs,
+which he hath collected, but not printed. The price he asks is five
+hundred pounds."
+
+Simon Ockley, a learned student in Oriental literature, addresses a
+letter to the same earl, in which he paints his distresses in glowing
+colours. After having devoted his life to Asiatic researches, then very
+uncommon, he had the mortification of dating his preface to his great
+work from Cambridge Castle, where he was confined for debt; and, with an
+air of triumph, feels a martyr's enthusiasm in the cause for which he
+perishes.
+
+He published his first volume of the History of the Saracens in 1708;
+and, ardently pursuing his oriental studies, published his second, ten
+years afterwards, without any patronage. Alluding to the encouragement
+necessary to bestow on youth, to remove the obstacles to such studies,
+he observes, that "young men will hardly come in on the prospect of
+finding leisure, in a prison, to transcribe those papers for the press,
+which they have collected with indefatigable labour, and oftentimes at
+the expense of their rest, and all the other conveniences of life, for
+the service of the public. No! though I were to assure them, from my own
+experience, that _I have enjoyed more true liberty, more happy leisure,
+and more solid repose, in six months_ HERE, than in thrice the same
+number of years before. _Evil is the condition of that historian who
+undertakes to write the lives of others, before he knows how to live
+himself._--Not that I speak thus as if I thought I had any just cause to
+be angry with the world--I did always in my judgment give the
+possession of _wisdom_ the preference to that of _riches_!"
+
+Spenser, the child of Fancy, languished out his life in misery, "Lord
+Burleigh," says Granger, "who it is said prevented the queen giving him
+a hundred pounds, seems to have thought the lowest clerk in his office a
+more deserving person." Mr. Malone attempts to show that Spenser had a
+small pension, but the poet's querulous verses must not be forgotten--
+
+    "Full little knowest thou, that hast not try'd,
+    What Hell it is, in suing long to bide."
+
+To lose good days--to waste long nights--and, as he feelingly exclaims,
+
+    "To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
+    To speed, to give, to want, to be undone!"
+
+How affecting is the death of Sydenham, who had devoted his life to a
+laborious version of Plato! He died in a sponging-house, and it was his
+death which appears to have given rise to the Literary Fund "for the
+relief of distressed authors."[19]
+
+Who will pursue important labours when they read these anecdotes? Dr.
+Edmund Castell spent a great part of his life in compiling his _Lexicon
+Heptaglotton_, on which he bestowed incredible pains, and expended on it
+no less than 12,000_l._, broke his constitution, and exhausted his
+fortune. At length it was printed, but the copies remained _unsold_ on
+his hands. He exhibits a curious picture of literary labour in his
+preface. "As for myself, I have been unceasingly occupied for such a
+number of years in this mass," _Molendino_ he calls them, "that that
+day seemed, as it were, a holiday in which I have not laboured so much
+as sixteen or eighteen hours in these enlarging lexicons and Polyglot
+Bibles."
+
+Le Sage resided in a little cottage while he supplied the world with
+their most agreeable novels, and appears to have derived the sources of
+his existence in his old age from the filial exertions of an excellent
+son, who was an actor of some genius. I wish, however, that every man of
+letters could apply to himself the epitaph of this delightful writer:--
+
+_"Sous ce tombeau git LE SAGE, abattu Par le ciseau de la Parque
+importune; S'il ne fut pas ami de la fortune, Il fut toujours ami de la
+vertu."_
+
+Many years after this article had been written, I published "Calamities
+of Authors," confining myself to those of our own country; the catalogue
+is incomplete, but far too numerous.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: For some time previous to his death he was in so abject a
+state of poverty as to be dependent for subsistence upon the exertions
+of his faithful servant Antonio, a native of Java, whom he had brought
+with him from India, and who was accustomed to beg by night for the
+bread which was to save his unhappy master from perishing by want the
+next day. Camoeens, when death at last put an end to a life which
+misfortune and neglect had rendered insupportable, was denied the solace
+of having his faithful Antonio to close his eyes. He was aged only
+fifty-five when he breathed his last in the hospital. This event
+occurred in 1579, but so little regard was paid to the memory of this
+great man that the day or month on which he expired remains
+unknown.--Adamson's _Memoirs of Camoeens_, 1820.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This melancholy event happened in 1788, fifteen years
+after the original projector of the Literary Fund, Mr. David Williams,
+had endeavoured to establish it. It appears that Mr. Floyer Sydenham was
+arrested "for a small debt; he never spoke after being arrested, and
+sunk under the pressure of his calamity." This is the published record
+of the event by the officers of the present fund; and these simple words
+are sufficiently indicative of the harrowing nature of the catastrophe;
+it was strongly felt that Mr. Williams' hopeful plan of preventing a
+second act so fatal should be encouraged. A small literary club took the
+initiative, and subscribed a few guineas to pay for such advertisements
+as were necessary to keep the intended objects of the founder before the
+public, and solicit its aid. Two years afterwards a committee was
+formed; another two years saw it take position among the established
+institutions of the country. In 1818 it obtained a royal charter. In its
+career it has relieved upwards of 1300 applicants, and devoted to that
+purpose 47,725_l._]
+
+
+
+
+IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Imprisonment has not always disturbed the man of letters in the progress
+of his studies, but has unquestionably greatly promoted them.
+
+In prison Boethius composed his work on the Consolations of Philosophy;
+and Grotius wrote his Commentary on Saint Matthew, with other works: the
+detail of his allotment of time to different studies, during his
+confinement, is very instructive.
+
+Buchanan, in the dungeon of a monastery in Portugal, composed his
+excellent Paraphrases of the Psalms of David.
+
+Cervantes composed the most agreeable book in the Spanish language
+during his captivity in Barbary.
+
+Fleta, a well-known law production, was written by a person confined in
+the Fleet for debt; the name of the _place_, though not that of the
+_author_, has thus been preserved; and another work, "Fleta Minor, or
+the Laws of Art and Nature in, knowing the bodies of Metals, &c. by Sir
+John Pettus, 1683;" received its title from the circumstance of his
+having translated it from the German during his confinement in this
+prison.
+
+Louis the Twelfth, when Duke of Orleans, was long imprisoned in the
+Tower of Bourges: applying himself to his studies, which he had
+hitherto neglected, he became, in consequence, an enlightened monarch.
+
+Margaret, queen of Henry the Fourth, King of France, confined in the
+Louvre, pursued very warmly the studies of elegant literature, and
+composed a very skilful apology for the irregularities of her conduct.
+
+Sir Walter Raleigh's unfinished History of the World, which leaves us to
+regret that later ages had not been celebrated by his eloquence, was the
+fruits of eleven years of imprisonment. It was written for the use of
+Prince Henry, as he and Dallington, who also wrote "Aphorisms" for the
+same prince, have told us; the prince looked over the manuscript. Of
+Raleigh it is observed, to employ the language of Hume, "They were
+struck with the extensive genius of the man, who, being educated amidst
+naval and military enterprises, had surpassed, in the pursuits of
+literature, even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives; and they
+admired his unbroken magnanimity, which, at his age, and under his
+circumstances, could engage him to undertake and execute so great a
+work, as his History of the World." He was assisted in this great work
+by the learning of several eminent persons, a circumstance which has not
+been usually noticed.
+
+The plan of the "_Henriade_" was sketched, and the greater part
+composed, by Voltaire during his imprisonment in the Bastile; and "the
+Pilgrim's Progress" of Bunyan was performed in the circuit of a prison's
+walls.
+
+Howell, the author of "Familiar Letters," wrote the chief part of them,
+and almost all his other works, during his long confinement in the Fleet
+prison: he employed his fertile pen for subsistence; and in all his
+books we find much entertainment.
+
+Lydiat, while confined in the King's Bench for debt, wrote his
+Annotations on the Parian Chronicle, which were first published by
+Prideaux. He was the learned scholar alluded to by Johnson; an allusion
+not known to Boswell and others.
+
+The learned Selden, committed to prison for his attacks on the divine
+right of tithes and the king's prerogative, prepared during his
+confinement his "History of Eadmer," enriched by his notes.
+
+Cardinal Polignac formed the design of refuting the arguments of the
+sceptics which Bayle had been renewing in his dictionary; but his public
+occupations hindered him. Two exiles at length fortunately gave him the
+leisure; and the Anti-Lucretius is the fruit of the court disgraces of
+its author.
+
+Freret, when imprisoned in the Bastile, was permitted only to have Bayle
+for his companion. His dictionary was always before him, and his
+principles were got by heart. To this circumstance we owe his works,
+animated by all the powers of scepticism.
+
+Sir William Davenant finished his poem of Gondibert during his
+confinement by the rebels in Carisbrook Castle. George Withers dedicates
+his "Shepherds Hunting," "To his friends, my visitants in the
+Marshalsea:" these "eclogues" having been printed in his
+imprisonment.[20]
+
+De Foe, confined in Newgate for a political pamphlet, began his
+"Review;" a periodical paper, which was extended to nine thick volumes
+in quarto, and it has been supposed served as the model of the
+celebrated papers of Steele.
+
+Wicquefort's curious work "on Ambassadors" is dated from his prison,
+where he had been confined for state affairs. He softened the rigour of
+those heavy hours by several historical works.
+
+One of the most interesting facts of this kind is the fate of an Italian
+scholar, of the name of Maggi. Early addicted to the study of the
+sciences, and particularly to the mathematics, and military
+architecture, he successfully defended Famagusta, besieged by the
+Turks, by inventing machines which destroyed their works. When that city
+was taken in 1571, they pillaged his library and carried him away in
+chains. Now a slave, after his daily labours he amused a great part of
+his nights by literary compositions; _De Tintinnabulis_, on Bells, a
+treatise still read by the curious, was actually composed by him when a
+slave in Turkey, without any other resource than the erudition of his
+own memory, and the genius of which adversity could not deprive him.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 20: Withers, throughout these unique eclogues, which are
+supposed to narrate the discourses of "friendly shepherds" who visit
+him--
+
+                                  "--pent
+    Within the jaws of strict imprisonment;
+    A forlorn shepherd void of all the means,
+    Whereon man's common hope in danger leads"
+
+--is still upheld by the same consciousness of rectitude which inspired
+Sir Richard Lovelace in his better-known address "To Althea from
+Prison." Withers' poem was published before Lovelace was born. A few
+lines from Withers will display this similarity. Speaking of his
+enemies, he says:--
+
+    "They may do much, but when they have done all,
+    Only my body they may bring in thrall.
+    And 'tis not that, my Willy; 'tis my mind,
+    My mind's more precious freedom I so weigh,
+    A thousand ways they may my body bind,
+    In thousand thralls, but ne'er my mind betray:
+    And hence it is that I contentment find,
+    And bear with patience this my load away:
+    I'm still myself, and that I'd rather be.
+    Than to be lord of all these downs in fee."]
+
+
+
+
+AMUSEMENTS OF THE LEARNED.
+
+
+Among the Jesuits it was a standing rule of the order, that after an
+application to study for two hours, the mind of the student should be
+unbent by some relaxation, however trifling. When Petavius was employed
+in his _Dogmata Theologica_, a work of the most profound and extensive
+erudition, the great recreation of the learned father was, at the end of
+every second hour, to twirl his chair for five minutes. After protracted
+studies Spinosa would mix with the family-party where he lodged, and
+join in the most trivial conversations, or unbend his mind by setting
+spiders to fight each other; he observed their combats with so much
+interest, that he was often seized with immoderate fits of laughter. A
+continuity of labour deadens the soul, observes Seneca, in closing his
+treatise on "The Tranquillity of the Soul," and the mind must unbend
+itself by certain amusements. Socrates did not blush to play with
+children; Cato, over his bottle, found an alleviation from the fatigues
+of government; a circumstance, Seneca says in his manner, which rather
+gives honour to this defect, than the defect dishonours Cato. Some men
+of letters portioned out their day between repose and labour. Asinius
+Pollio would not suffer any business to occupy him beyond a stated hour;
+after that time he would not allow any letter to be opened, that his
+hours of recreation might not be interrupted by unforeseen labours. In
+the senate, after the tenth hour, it was not allowed to make any new
+motion.
+
+Tycho Brahe diverted himself with polishing glasses for all kinds of
+spectacles, and making mathematical instruments; an employment too
+closely connected with his studies to be deemed an amusement.
+
+D'Andilly, the translator of Josephus, after seven or eight hours of
+study every day, amused himself in cultivating trees; Barclay, the
+author of the Argenis, in his leisure hours was a florist; Balzac amused
+himself with a collection of crayon portraits; Peirese found his
+amusement amongst his medals and antiquarian curiosities; the Abbe de
+Marolles with his prints; and Politian in singing airs to his lute.
+Descartes passed his afternoons in the conversation of a few friends,
+and in cultivating a little garden; in the morning, occupied by the
+system of the world, he relaxed his profound speculations by rearing
+delicate flowers.
+
+Conrad ab Uffenbach, a learned German, recreated his mind, after severe
+studies, with a collection of prints of eminent persons, methodically
+arranged; he retained this ardour of the _Grangerite_ to his last days.
+
+Rohault wandered from shop to shop to observe the mechanics labour;
+Count Caylus passed his mornings in the _studios_ of artists, and his
+evenings in writing his numerous works on art. This was the true life of
+an amateur.
+
+Granville Sharp, amidst the severity of his studies, found a social
+relaxation in the amusement of a barge on the Thames, which was well
+known to the circle of his friends; there, was festive hospitality with
+musical delight. It was resorted to by men of the most eminent talents
+and rank. His little voyages to Putney, to Kew, and to Richmond, and the
+literary intercourse they produced, were singularly happy ones. "The
+history of his amusements cannot be told without adding to the dignity
+of his character," observes Prince Hoare, in the life of this great
+philanthropist.
+
+Some have found amusement in composing treatises on odd subjects. Seneca
+wrote a burlesque narrative of Claudian's death. Pierius Valerianus has
+written an eulogium on beards; and we have had a learned one recently,
+with due gravity and pleasantry, entitled "Eloge de Perruques."
+
+Holstein has written an eulogium on the North Wind; Heinsius, on "the
+Ass;" Menage, "the Transmigration of the Parasitical Pedant to a
+Parrot;" and also the "Petition of the Dictionaries."
+
+Erasmus composed, to amuse himself when travelling, his panegyric on
+_Moria_, or folly; which, authorised by the pun, he dedicated to Sir
+Thomas More.
+
+Sallengre, who would amuse himself like Erasmus, wrote, in imitation of
+his work, a panegyric on _Ebriety_. He says, that he is willing to be
+thought as drunken a man as Erasmus was a foolish one. Synesius composed
+a Greek panegyric on _Baldness_. These burlesques were brought into
+great vogue by Erasmus's _Moriae Encomium_.
+
+It seems, Johnson observes in his life of Sir Thomas Browne, to have
+been in all ages the pride of art to show how it could exalt the low and
+amplify the little. To this ambition, perhaps, we owe the Frogs of
+Homer; the Gnat and the Bees of Virgil; the Butterfly of Spenser; the
+Shadow of Wowerus; and the Quincunx of Browne.
+
+Cardinal de Richelieu, amongst all his great occupations, found a
+recreation in violent exercises; and he was once discovered jumping with
+his servant, to try who could reach the highest side of a wall. De
+Grammont, observing the cardinal to be jealous of his powers, offered to
+jump with him; and, in the true spirit of a courtier, having made some
+efforts which nearly reached the cardinal's, confessed the cardinal
+surpassed him. This was jumping like a politician; and by this means he
+is said to have ingratiated himself with the minister.
+
+The great Samuel Clarke was fond of robust exercise; and this profound
+logician has been found leaping over tables and chairs. Once perceiving
+a pedantic fellow, he said, "Now we must desist, for a fool is coming
+in!"[21]
+
+An eminent French lawyer, confined by his business to a Parisian life,
+amused himself with collecting from the classics all the passages which
+relate to a country life. The collection was published after his death.
+
+Contemplative men seem to be fond of amusements which accord with their
+habits. The thoughtful game of chess, and the tranquil delight of
+angling, have been favourite recreations with the studious. Paley had
+himself painted with a rod and line in his hand; a strange
+characteristic for the author of "Natural Theology." Sir Henry Wotton
+called angling "idle time not idly spent:" we may suppose that his
+meditations and his amusements were carried on at the same moment.
+
+The amusements of the great d'Aguesseau, chancellor of France, consisted
+in an interchange of studies; his relaxations were all the varieties of
+literature. "Le changement de l'etude est mon seul delassement," said
+this great man; and "in the age of the passions, his only passion was
+study."
+
+Seneca has observed on amusements proper for literary men, that, in
+regard to robust exercises, it is not decent to see a man of letters
+exult in the strength of his arm, or the breadth of his back! Such
+amusements diminish the activity of the mind. Too much fatigue exhausts
+the animal spirits, as too much food blunts the finer faculties: but
+elsewhere he allows his philosopher an occasional slight inebriation; an
+amusement which was very prevalent among our poets formerly, when they
+exclaimed:--
+
+    "Fetch me Ben Jonson's scull, and fill't with sack,
+    Rich as the same he drank, when the whole pack
+    Of jolly sisters pledged, and did agree
+    It was no sin to be as drunk as he!"
+
+Seneca concludes admirably, "whatever be the amusements you choose,
+return not slowly from those of the body to the mind; exercise the
+latter night and day. The mind is nourished at a cheap rate; neither
+cold nor heat, nor age itself, can interrupt this exercise; give
+therefore all your cares to a possession which ameliorates even in its
+old age!"
+
+An ingenious writer has observed, that "a garden just accommodates
+itself to the perambulations of a scholar, who would perhaps rather wish
+his walks abridged than extended." There is a good characteristic
+account of the mode in which the Literati may take exercise, in Pope's
+Letters. "I, like a poor squirrel, am continually in motion indeed, but
+it is but a cage of three foot! my little excursions are like those of a
+shopkeeper, who walks every day a mile or two before his own door, but
+minds his business all the while." A turn or two in a garden will often
+very happily close a fine period, mature an unripened thought, and raise
+up fresh associations, whenever the mind, like the body, becomes rigid
+by preserving the same posture. Buffon often quitted the old tower he
+studied in, which was placed in the midst of his garden, for a walk in
+it. Evelyn loved "books and a garden."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 21: The same anecdote is related of Dr. Johnson, who once
+being at a club where other literary men were indulging in jests, upon
+the entry of a new visitor exclaimed, "Let us be grave--here is a fool
+coming."]
+
+
+
+
+PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS.
+
+
+With the ancients, it was undoubtedly a custom to place the portraits of
+authors before their works. Martial's 186th epigram of his fourteenth
+book is a mere play on words, concerning a little volume containing the
+works of Virgil, and which had his portrait prefixed to it. The volume
+and the characters must have been very diminutive.
+
+    _Quam brevis immensum cepit membrana Maronem!
+    Ipsius Vultus prima tabella gerit._
+
+Martial is not the only writer who takes notice of the ancients
+prefixing portraits to the works of authors. Seneca, in his ninth
+chapter on the Tranquillity of the Soul, complains of many of the
+luxurious great, who, like so many of our own collectors, possessed
+libraries as they did their estates and equipages. "It is melancholy to
+observe how the portraits of men of genius, and the works of their
+divine intelligence, are used only as the luxury and the ornaments of
+walls."
+
+Pliny has nearly the same observation, _lib._ xxxv. _cap._ 2. He
+remarks, that the custom was rather modern in his time; and attributes
+to Asinius Pollio the honour of having introduced it into Rome. "In
+consecrating a library with the portraits of our illustrious authors, he
+has formed, if I may so express myself, a republic of the intellectual
+powers of men." To the richness of book-treasures, Asinius Pollio had
+associated a new source of pleasure, by placing the statues of their
+authors amidst them, inspiring the minds of the spectators, even by
+their eyes.
+
+A taste for collecting portraits, or busts, was warmly pursued in the
+happier periods of Rome; for the celebrated Atticus, in a work he
+published of illustrious Romans, made it more delightful, by ornamenting
+it with the portraits of those great men; and the learned Varro, in his
+biography of Seven Hundred celebrated Men, by giving the world their
+true features and their physiognomy _in some manner, aliquo modo
+imaginibus_ is Pliny's expression, showed that even their persons should
+not entirely be annihilated; they indeed, adds Pliny, form a spectacle
+which the gods themselves might contemplate; for if the gods sent those
+heroes to the earth, it is Varro who secured their immortality, and has
+so multiplied and distributed them in all places, that we may carry
+them about us, place them wherever we choose, and fix our eyes on them
+with perpetual admiration. A spectacle that every day becomes more
+varied and interesting, as new heroes appear, and as works of this kind
+are spread abroad.
+
+But as printing was unknown, to the ancients (though _stamping an
+impression_ was daily practised, and, in fact, they possessed the art of
+printing without being aware of it[22]), how were these portraits of
+Varro so easily propagated? If copied with a pen, their correctness was
+in some danger, and their diffusion must have been very confined and
+slow; perhaps they were outlines. This passage of Pliny excites
+curiosity difficult to satisfy; I have in vain inquired of several
+scholars, particularly of the late Grecian, Dr. Burney.
+
+A collection of the portraits of illustrious characters affords not only
+a source of entertainment and curiosity, but displays the different
+modes or habits of the time; and in settling our floating ideas upon the
+true features of famous persons, they also fix the chronological
+particulars of their birth, age, death, sometimes with short characters
+of them, besides the names of painter and engraver. It is thus a single
+print, by the hand of a skilful artist, may become a varied banquet. To
+this Granger adds, that in a collection of engraved portraits, the
+contents of many galleries are reduced into the narrow compass of a few
+volumes; and the portraits of eminent persons, who distinguished
+themselves through a long succession of ages, may be turned over in a
+few hours.
+
+"Another advantage," Granger continues, "attending such an assemblage
+is, that the methodical arrangement has a surprising effect upon the
+memory. We see the celebrated contemporaries of every age almost at one
+view; and the mind is insensibly led to the history of that period. I
+may add to these, an important circumstance, which is, the power that
+such a collection will have in _awakening genius_. A skilful preceptor
+will presently perceive the true bent of the temper of his pupil, by his
+being struck with a Blake or a Boyle, a Hyde or a Milton."
+
+A circumstance in the life of Cicero confirms this observation. Atticus
+had a gallery adorned with the images or portraits of the great men of
+Rome, under each of which he had severally described their principal
+acts and honours, in a few concise verses of his own composition. It was
+by the contemplation of two of these portraits (the ancient Brutus and a
+venerable relative in one picture) that Cicero seems to have incited
+Brutus, by the example of these his great ancestors, to dissolve the
+tyranny of Caesar. General Fairfax made a collection of engraved
+portraits of warriors. A story much in favour of portrait-collectors is
+that of the Athenian courtesan, who, in the midst of a riotous banquet
+with her lovers, accidentally casting her eyes on the _portrait_ of a
+philosopher that hung opposite to her seat, the happy character of
+temperance and virtue struck her with so lively an image of her own
+unworthiness, that she suddenly retreated for ever from the scene of
+debauchery. The Orientalists have felt the same charm in their pictured
+memorials; for "the imperial Akber," says Mr. Forbes, in his Oriental
+Memoirs, "employed artists to make portraits of all the principal omrahs
+and officers in his court;" they were bound together in a thick volume,
+wherein, as the Ayeen Akbery, or the Institutes of Akber, expresses it,
+"The PAST are kept in lively remembrance; and the PRESENT are insured
+immortality."
+
+Leonard Aretin, when young and in prison, found a portrait of Petrarch,
+on which his eyes were perpetually fixed; and this sort of contemplation
+inflamed the desire of imitating this great man. Buffon hung the
+portrait of Newton before his writing-table.
+
+On this subject, Tacitus sublimely expresses himself at the close of his
+admired biography of Agricola: "I do not mean to censure the custom of
+preserving in brass or marble the shape and stature of eminent men; but
+busts and statues, like their originals, are frail and perishable. The
+soul is formed of finer elements, its inward form is not to be expressed
+by the hand of an artist with unconscious matter; our manners and our
+morals may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of Agricola that
+gained our love and raised our admiration still subsists, and ever will
+subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register of ages and the
+records of fame."
+
+What is more agreeable to the curiosity of the mind and the eye than the
+portraits of great characters? An old philosopher, whom Marville invited
+to see a collection of landscapes by a celebrated artist, replied,
+"Landscapes I prefer seeing in the country itself, but I am fond of
+contemplating the pictures of illustrious men." This opinion has some
+truth; Lord Orford preferred an interesting portrait to either landscape
+or historical painting. "A landscape, however excellent in its
+distributions of wood, and water, and buildings, leaves not one trace in
+the memory; historical painting is perpetually false in a variety of
+ways, in the costume, the grouping, the portraits, and is nothing more
+than fabulous painting; but a real portrait is truth itself, and calls
+up so many collateral ideas as to fill an intelligent mind more than any
+other species."
+
+Marville justly reprehends the fastidious feelings of those ingenious
+men who have resisted the solicitations of the artist, to sit for their
+portraits. In them it is sometimes as much pride as it is vanity in
+those who are less difficult in this respect. Of Gray, Fielding, and
+Akenside, we have no heads for which they sat; a circumstance regretted
+by their admirers, and by physiognomists.
+
+To an arranged collection of PORTRAITS, we owe several interesting
+works. Granger's justly esteemed volumes originated in such a
+collection. Perrault's _Eloges_ of "the illustrious men of the
+seventeenth century" were drawn up to accompany the engraved portraits
+of the most celebrated characters of the age, which a fervent love of
+the fine arts and literature had had engraved as an elegant tribute to
+the fame of those great men. They are confined to his nation, as
+Granger's to ours. The parent of this race of books may perhaps be the
+Eulogiums of Paulus Jovius, which originated in a beautiful CABINET,
+whose situation he has described with all its amenity.
+
+Paulus Jovius had a country house, in an insular situation, of a most
+romantic aspect. Built on the ruins of the villa of Pliny, in his time
+the foundations were still to be traced. When the surrounding lake was
+calm, in its lucid bosom were still viewed sculptured marbles, the
+trunks of columns, and the fragments of those pyramids which had once
+adorned the residence of the friend of Trajan. Jovius was an enthusiast
+of literary leisure: an historian, with the imagination of a poet; a
+Christian prelate nourished on the sweet fictions of pagan mythology.
+His pen colours like a pencil. He paints rapturously his gardens bathed
+by the waters of the lake, the shade and freshness of his woods, his
+green hills, his sparkling fountains, the deep silence, and the calm of
+solitude. He describes a statue raised in his gardens to NATURE; in his
+hall an Apollo presided with his lyre, and the Muses with their
+attributes; his library was guarded by Mercury, and an apartment devoted
+to the three Graces was embellished by Doric columns, and paintings of
+the most pleasing kind. Such was the interior! Without, the pure and
+transparent lake spread its broad mirror, or rolled its voluminous
+windings, by banks richly covered with olives and laurels; and in the
+distance, towns, promontories, hills rising in an amphitheatre blushing
+with vines, and the elevations of the Alps covered with woods and
+pasturage, and sprinkled with herds and flocks.
+
+In the centre of this enchanting habitation stood the CABINET, where
+Paulus Jovius had collected, at great cost, the PORTRAITS of celebrated
+men of the fourteenth and two succeeding centuries. The daily view of
+them animated his mind to compose their eulogiums. These are still
+curious, both for the facts they preserve, and the happy conciseness
+with which Jovius delineates a character. He had collected these
+portraits as others form a collection of natural history; and he pursued
+in their characters what others do in their experiments.
+
+One caution in collecting portraits must not be forgotten; it respects
+their authenticity. We have too many supposititious heads, and ideal
+personages. Conrad ab Uffenbach, who seems to have been the first
+collector who projected a methodical arrangement, condemned those
+spurious portraits which were fit only for the amusement of children.
+The painter does not always give a correct likeness, or the engraver
+misses it in his copy. Goldsmith was a short thick man, with wan
+features and a vulgar appearance, but looks tall and fashionable in a
+bag-wig. Bayle's portrait does not resemble him, as one of his friends
+writes. Rousseau, in his Montero cap, is in the same predicament.
+Winkelmann's portrait does not preserve the striking physiognomy of the
+man, and in the last edition a new one is substituted. The faithful
+Vertue refused to engrave for Houbraken's set, because they did not
+authenticate their originals; and some of these are spurious, as that of
+Ben Jonson, Sir Edward Coke, and others. Busts are not so liable to
+these accidents. It is to be regretted that men of genius have not been
+careful to transmit their own portraits to their admirers: it forms a
+part of their character; a false delicacy has interfered. Erasmus did
+not like to have his own diminutive person sent down to posterity, but
+Holbein was always affectionately painting his friend. Montesquieu once
+sat to Dassier the medallist, after repeated denials, won over by the
+ingenious argument of the artist; "Do you not think," said Dassier,
+"that there is as much pride in refusing my offer as in accepting it?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 22: Impressions have been taken from plates engraved by the
+ancient Egyptians; and one of these, printed by the ordinary
+rolling-press, was exhibited at the Great Manchester Exhibition, 1857;
+it being for all practical purposes similar to those executed in the
+present day.]
+
+
+
+
+DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS.
+
+
+The literary treasures of antiquity have suffered from the malice of Men
+as well as that of Time. It is remarkable that conquerors, in the moment
+of victory, or in the unsparing devastation of their rage, have not been
+satisfied with destroying _men_, but have even carried their vengeance
+to _books_.
+
+The Persians, from hatred of the religion of the Phoenicians and the
+Egyptians, destroyed their books, of which Eusebius notices a great
+number. A Grecian library at Gnidus was burnt by the sect of
+Hippocrates, because the Gnidians refused to follow the doctrines of
+their master. If the followers of Hippocrates formed the majority, was
+it not very unorthodox in the Gnidians to prefer taking physic their own
+way? But Faction has often annihilated books.
+
+The Romans burnt the books of the Jews, of the Christians, and the
+Philosophers; the Jews burnt the books of the Christians and the Pagans;
+and the Christians burnt the books of the Pagans and the Jews. The
+greater part of the books of Origen and other heretics were continually
+burnt by the orthodox party. Gibbon pathetically describes the empty
+library of Alexandria, after the Christians had destroyed it. "The
+valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near
+twenty years afterwards the appearance of the _empty shelves_ excited
+the regret and indignation of every spectator, whose mind was not
+totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient
+genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have
+been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and
+instruction of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or avarice of the
+archbishop might have been satiated with the richest spoils which were
+the rewards of his victory."
+
+The pathetic narrative of Nicetas Choniates, of the ravages committed by
+the Christians of the thirteenth century in Constantinople, was
+fraudulently suppressed in the printed editions. It has been preserved
+by Dr. Clarke; who observes, that the Turks have committed fewer
+injuries to the works of art than the barbarous Christians of that age.
+
+The reading of the Jewish Talmud has been forbidden by various edicts,
+of the Emperor Justinian, of many of the French and Spanish kings, and
+numbers of Popes. All the copies were ordered to be burnt: the intrepid
+perseverance of the Jews themselves preserved that work from
+annihilation. In 1569 twelve thousand copies were thrown into the flames
+at Cremona. John Reuchlin interfered to stop this universal destruction
+of Talmuds; for which he became hated by the monks, and condemned by the
+Elector of Mentz, but appealing to Rome, the prosecution was stopped;
+and the traditions of the Jews were considered as not necessary to be
+destroyed.
+
+Conquerors at first destroy with the rashest zeal the national records
+of the conquered people; hence it is that the Irish people deplore the
+irreparable losses of their most ancient national memorials, which their
+invaders have been too successful in annihilating. The same event
+occurred in the conquest of Mexico; and the interesting history of the
+New World must ever remain imperfect, in consequence of the unfortunate
+success of the first missionaries. Clavigero, the most authentic
+historian of Mexico, continually laments this affecting loss. Everything
+in that country had been painted, and painters abounded there as scribes
+in Europe. The first missionaries, suspicious that superstition was
+mixed with all their paintings, attacked the chief school of these
+artists, and collecting, in the market-place, a little mountain of these
+precious records, they set fire to it, and buried in the ashes the
+memory of many interesting events. Afterwards, sensible of their error,
+they tried to collect information from the mouths of the Indians; but
+the Indians were indignantly silent: when they attempted to collect the
+remains of these painted histories, the patriotic Mexican usually buried
+in concealment the fragmentary records of his country.
+
+The story of the Caliph Omar proclaiming throughout the kingdom, at the
+taking of Alexandria, that the Koran contained everything which was
+useful to believe and to know, and therefore he commanded that all the
+books in the Alexandrian library should be distributed to the masters of
+the baths, amounting to 4000, to be used in heating their stoves during
+a period of six months, modern paradox would attempt to deny. But the
+tale would not be singular even were it true: it perfectly suits the
+character of a bigot, a barbarian, and a blockhead. A similar event
+happened in Persia. When Abdoolah, who in the third century of the
+Mohammedan aera governed Khorassan, was presented at Nishapoor with a MS.
+which was shown as a literary curiosity, he asked the title of it--it
+was the tale of Wamick and Oozra, composed by the great poet Noshirwan.
+On this Abdoolah observed, that those of his country and faith had
+nothing to do with any other book than the Koran; and all Persian MSS.
+found within the circle of his government, as the works of idolaters,
+were to be burnt. Much of the most ancient poetry of the Persians
+perished by this fanatical edict.
+
+When Buda was taken by the Turks, a Cardinal offered a vast sum to
+redeem the great library founded by Matthew Corvini, a literary monarch
+of Hungary: it was rich in Greek and Hebrew lore, and the classics of
+antiquity. Thirty amanuenses had been employed in copying MSS. and
+illuminating them by the finest art. The barbarians destroyed most of
+the books in tearing away their splendid covers and their silver bosses;
+an Hungarian soldier picked up a book as a prize: it proved to be the
+Ethiopics of Heliodorus, from which the first edition was printed in
+1534.
+
+Cardinal Ximenes seems to have retaliated a little on the Saracens; for
+at the taking of Granada, he condemned to the flames five thousand
+Korans.
+
+The following anecdote respecting a Spanish missal, called St.
+Isidore's, is not incurious; hard fighting saved it from destruction. In
+the Moorish wars, all these missals had been destroyed, excepting those
+in the city of Toledo. There, in six churches, the Christians were
+allowed the free exercise of their religion. When the Moors were
+expelled several centuries afterwards from Toledo, Alphonsus the Sixth
+ordered the Roman missal to be used in those churches; but the people of
+Toledo insisted on having their own, as revised by St. Isidore. It
+seemed to them that Alphonsus was more tyrannical than the Turks. The
+contest between the Roman and the Toletan missals came to that height,
+that at length it was determined to decide their fate by single combat;
+the champion of the Toletan missal felled by one blow the knight of the
+Roman missal. Alphonsus still considered this battle as merely the
+effect of the heavy arm of the doughty Toletan, and ordered a fast to be
+proclaimed, and a great fire to be prepared, into which, after his
+majesty and the people had joined in prayer for heavenly assistance in
+this ordeal, both the rivals (not the men, but the missals) were thrown
+into the flames--again St. Isidore's missal triumphed, and this iron
+book was then allowed to be orthodox by Alphonsus, and the good people
+of Toledo were allowed to say their prayers as they had long been used
+to do. However, the copies of this missal at length became very scarce;
+for now, when no one opposed the reading of St. Isidore's missal, none
+cared to use it. Cardinal Ximenes found it so difficult to obtain a
+copy, that he printed a large impression, and built a chapel,
+consecrated to St. Isidore, that this service might be daily chaunted as
+it had been by the ancient Christians.
+
+The works of the ancients were frequently destroyed at the instigation
+of the monks. They appear sometimes to have mutilated them, for passages
+have not come down to us, which once evidently existed; and occasionally
+their interpolations and other forgeries formed a destruction in a new
+shape, by additions to the originals. They were indefatigable in erasing
+the best works of the most eminent Greek and Latin authors, in order to
+transcribe their ridiculous lives of saints on the obliterated vellum.
+One of the books of Livy is in the Vatican most painfully defaced by
+some pious father for the purpose of writing on it some missal or
+psalter, and there have been recently others discovered in the same
+state. Inflamed with the blindest zeal against everything pagan, Pope
+Gregory VII. ordered that the library of the Palatine Apollo, a treasury
+of literature formed by successive emperors, should be committed to the
+flames! He issued this order under the notion of confining the attention
+of the clergy to the holy scriptures! From that time all ancient
+learning which was not sanctioned by the authority of the church, has
+been emphatically distinguished as _profane_ in opposition to _sacred_.
+This pope is said to have burnt the works of Varro, the learned Roman,
+that Saint Austin should escape from the charge of plagiarism, being
+deeply indebted to Varro for much of his great work "the City of God."
+
+The Jesuits, sent by the emperor Ferdinand to proscribe Lutheranism from
+Bohemia, converted that flourishing kingdom comparatively into a desert.
+Convinced that an enlightened people could never be long subservient to
+a tyrant, they struck one fatal blow at the national literature: every
+book they condemned was destroyed, even those of antiquity; the annals
+of the nation were forbidden to be read, and writers were not permitted
+even to compose on subjects of Bohemian literature. The mother-tongue
+was held out as a mark of vulgar obscurity, and domiciliary visits were
+made for the purpose of inspecting the libraries of the Bohemians. With
+their books and their language they lost their national character and
+their independence.
+
+The destruction of libraries in the reign of Henry VIII. at the
+dissolution of the monasteries, is wept over by John Bale. Those who
+purchased the religious houses took the libraries as part of the booty,
+with which they scoured their furniture, or sold the books as waste
+paper, or sent them abroad in ship-loads to foreign bookbinders.[23]
+
+The fear of destruction induced many to hide manuscripts under ground,
+and in old walls. At the Reformation popular rage exhausted itself on
+illuminated books, or MSS. that had red letters in the title page: any
+work that was decorated was sure to be thrown into the flames as a
+superstitious one. Red letters and embellished figures were sure marks
+of being papistical and diabolical. We still find such volumes mutilated
+of their gilt letters and elegant initials. Many have been found
+underground, having been forgotten; what escaped the flames were
+obliterated by the damp: such is the deplorable fate of books during a
+persecution!
+
+The puritans burned everything they found which bore the vestige of
+popish origin. We have on record many curious accounts of their pious
+depredations, of their maiming images and erasing pictures. The heroic
+expeditions of one Dowsing are journalised by himself: a fanatical
+Quixote, to whose intrepid arm many of our noseless saints, sculptured
+on our Cathedrals, owe their misfortunes.
+
+The following are some details from the diary of this redoubtable Goth,
+during his rage for reformation. His entries are expressed with a
+laconic conciseness, and it would seem with a little dry humour. "At
+_Sunbury_, we brake down ten mighty great angels in glass. At _Barham_,
+brake down the twelve apostles in the chancel, and six superstitious
+pictures more there; and eight in the church, one a lamb with a cross
+(+) on the back; and digged down the steps and took up four
+superstitious inscriptions in brass," &c. "_Lady Bruce's house_, the
+chapel, a picture of God the Father, of the Trinity, of Christ, the Holy
+Ghost, and the cloven tongues, which we gave orders to take down, and
+the lady promised to do it." At another place they "brake six hundred
+superstitious pictures, eight Holy Ghosts, and three of the Son." And in
+this manner he and his deputies scoured one hundred and fifty parishes!
+It has been humorously conjectured, that from this ruthless devastator
+originated the phrase to _give a Dowsing_. Bishop Hall saved the windows
+of his chapel at Norwich from destruction, by taking out the heads of
+the figures; and this accounts for the many faces in church windows
+which we see supplied by white glass.
+
+In the various civil wars in our country, numerous libraries have
+suffered both in MSS. and printed books. "I dare maintain," says Fuller,
+"that the wars betwixt York and Lancaster, which lasted sixty years,
+were not so destructive as our modern wars in six years." He alludes to
+the parliamentary feuds in the reign of Charles I. "For during the
+former their differences agreed in the _same religion_, impressing them
+with reverence to all allowed muniments! whilst our _civil wars_,
+founded in _faction_ and _variety_ of pretended _religions_, exposed all
+naked church records a prey to armed violence; a sad vacuum, which will
+be sensible in our _English historie_."
+
+When it was proposed to the great Gustavus of Sweden to destroy the
+palace of the Dukes of Bavaria, that hero nobly refused; observing, "Let
+us not copy the example of our unlettered ancestors, who, by waging war
+against every production of genius, have rendered the name of GOTH
+universally proverbial of the rudest state of barbarity."
+
+Even the civilisation of the eighteenth century could not preserve from
+the destructive fury of an infuriated mob, in the most polished city of
+Europe, the valuable MSS. of the great Earl of Mansfield, which were
+madly consigned to the flames during the riots of 1780; as those of Dr.
+Priestley were consumed by the mob at Birmingham.
+
+In the year 1599, the Hall of the Stationers underwent as great a
+purgation as was carried on in Don Quixote's library. Warton gives a
+list of the best writers who were ordered for immediate conflagration by
+the prelates Whitgift and Bancroft, urged by the Puritanical and
+Calvinistic factions. Like thieves and outlaws, they were ordered _to be
+taken wheresoever they may be found_.--"It was also decreed that no
+satires or epigrams should be printed for the future. No plays were to
+be printed without the inspection and permission of the archbishop of
+Canterbury and the bishop of London; nor any _English historyes_, I
+suppose novels and romances, without the sanction of the privy council.
+Any pieces of this nature, unlicensed, or now at large and wandering
+abroad, were to be diligently sought, recalled, and delivered over to
+the ecclesiastical arm at London-house."
+
+At a later period, and by an opposite party, among other extravagant
+motions made in parliament, one was to destroy the Records in the Tower,
+and to settle the nation on a new foundation! The very same principle
+was attempted to be acted on in the French Revolution by the "true
+sans-culottes." With us Sir Matthew Hale showed the weakness of the
+project, and while he drew on his side "all sober persons, stopped even
+the mouths of the frantic people themselves."
+
+To descend to the losses incurred by individuals, whose names ought to
+have served as an amulet to charm away the demons of literary
+destruction. One of the most interesting is the fate of Aristotle's
+library; he who by a Greek term was first saluted as a collector of
+books! His works have come down to us accidentally, but not without
+irreparable injuries, and with no slight suspicion respecting their
+authenticity. The story is told by Strabo, in his thirteenth book. The
+books of Aristotle came from his scholar Theophrastus to Neleus, whose
+posterity, an illiterate race, kept them locked up without using them,
+buried in the earth! Apellion, a curious collector, purchased them, but
+finding the MSS. injured by age and moisture, conjecturally supplied
+their deficiencies. It is impossible to know how far Apellion has
+corrupted and obscured the text. But the mischief did not end here; when
+Sylla at the taking of Athens brought them to Rome, he consigned them
+to the care of Tyrannio, a grammarian, who employed scribes to copy
+them; he suffered them to pass through his hands without correction, and
+took great freedoms with them; the words of Strabo are strong: "Ibique
+Tyrannionem grammaticum iis usum atque (ut fama est) _intercidisse_, aut
+_invertisse_." He gives it indeed as a report; but the fact seems
+confirmed by the state in which we find these works: Averroes declared
+that he read Aristotle forty times over before he succeeded in perfectly
+understanding him; he pretends he did at the one-and-fortieth time! And
+to prove this, has published five folios of commentary!
+
+We have lost much valuable literature by the illiberal or malignant
+descendants of learned and ingenious persons. Many of Lady Mary Wortley
+Montague's letters have been destroyed, I am informed, by her daughter,
+who imagined that the family honours were lowered by the addition of
+those of literature: some of her best letters, recently published, were
+found buried in an old trunk. It would have mortified her ladyship's
+daughter to have heard, that her mother was the Sevigne of Britain.
+
+At the death of the learned Peiresc, a chamber in his house filled with
+letters from the most eminent scholars of the age was discovered: the
+learned in Europe had addressed Peiresc in their difficulties, who was
+hence called "the attorney-general of the republic of letters." The
+niggardly niece, although repeatedly entreated to permit them to be
+published, preferred to use these learned epistles occasionally to light
+her fires![24]
+
+The MSS. of Leonardo da Vinci have equally suffered from his relatives.
+When a curious collector discovered some, he generously brought them to
+a descendant of the great painter, who coldly observed, that "he had a
+great deal more in the garret, which had lain there for many years, if
+the rats had not destroyed them!" Nothing which this great artist wrote
+but showed an inventive genius.
+
+Menage observes on a friend having had his library destroyed by fire, in
+which several valuable MSS. had perished, that such a loss is one of the
+greatest misfortunes that can happen to a man of letters. This gentleman
+afterwards consoled himself by composing a little treatise _De
+Bibliothecae incendio_. It must have been sufficiently curious. Even in
+the present day men of letters are subject to similar misfortunes; for
+though the fire-offices will insure books, they will not allow _authors
+to value their own manuscripts_.
+
+A fire in the Cottonian library shrivelled and destroyed many
+Anglo-Saxon MSS.--a loss now irreparable. The antiquary is doomed to
+spell hard and hardly at the baked fragments that crumble in his
+hand.[25]
+
+Meninsky's famous Persian dictionary met with a sad fate. Its excessive
+rarity is owing to the siege of Vienna by the Turks: a bomb fell on the
+author's house, and consumed the principal part of his indefatigable
+labours. There are few sets of this high-priced work which do not bear
+evident proofs of the bomb; while many parts are stained with the water
+sent to quench the flames.
+
+The sufferings of an author for the loss of his manuscripts strongly
+appear in the case of Anthony Urceus, a great scholar of the fifteenth
+century. The loss of his papers seems immediately to have been followed
+by madness. At Forli, he had an apartment in the palace, and had
+prepared an important work for publication. His room was dark, and he
+generally wrote by lamp-light. Having gone out, he left the lamp
+burning; the papers soon kindled, and his library was reduced to ashes.
+As soon as he heard the news, he ran furiously to the palace, and
+knocking his head violently against the gate, uttered this blasphemous
+language: "Jesus Christ, what great crime have I done! who of those who
+believed in you have I ever treated so cruelly? Hear what I am saying,
+for I am in earnest, and am resolved. If by chance I should be so weak
+as to address myself to you at the point of death, don't hear me, for I
+will not be with you, but prefer hell and its eternity of torments." To
+which, by the by, he gave little credit. Those who heard these ravings,
+vainly tried to console him. He quitted the town, and lived franticly,
+wandering about the woods!
+
+Ben Jonson's _Execration on Vulcan_ was composed on a like occasion; the
+fruits of twenty years' study were consumed in one short hour; our
+literature suffered, for among some works of imagination there were many
+philosophical collections, a commentary on the poetics, a complete
+critical grammar, a life of Henry V., his journey into Scotland, with
+all his adventures in that poetical pilgrimage, and a poem on the ladies
+of Great Britain. What a catalogue of losses!
+
+Castelvetro, the Italian commentator on Aristotle, having heard that his
+house was on fire, ran through the streets exclaiming to the people,
+_alla Poetica! alla Poetica! To the Poetic! To the Poetic_! He was then
+writing his commentary on the Poetics of Aristotle.
+
+Several men of letters have been known to have risen from their
+death-bed to destroy their MSS. So solicitous have they been not to
+venture their posthumous reputation in the hands of undiscerning
+friends. Colardeau, the elegant versifier of Pope's epistle of Eliosa to
+Abelard, had not yet destroyed what he had written of a translation of
+Tasso. At the approach of death, he recollected his unfinished labour;
+he knew that his friends would not have the courage to annihilate one of
+his works; this was reserved for him. Dying, he raised himself, and as
+if animated by an honourable action, he dragged himself along, and with
+trembling hands seized his papers, and consumed them in one
+sacrifice.--I recollect another instance of a man of letters, of our own
+country, who acted the same part. He had passed his life in constant
+study, and it was observed that he had written several folio volumes,
+which his modest fears would not permit him to expose to the eye even of
+his critical friends. He promised to leave his labours to posterity; and
+he seemed sometimes, with a glow on his countenance, to exult that they
+would not be unworthy of their acceptance. At his death his sensibility
+took the alarm; he had the folios brought to his bed; no one could open
+them, for they were closely locked. At the sight of his favourite and
+mysterious labours, he paused; he seemed disturbed in his mind, while he
+felt at every moment his strength decaying; suddenly he raised his
+feeble hands by an effort of firm resolve, burnt his papers, and smiled
+as the greedy Vulcan licked up every page. The task exhausted his
+remaining strength, and he soon afterwards expired. The late Mrs.
+Inchbald had written her life in several volumes; on her death-bed, from
+a motive perhaps of too much delicacy to admit of any argument, she
+requested a friend to cut them into pieces before her eyes--not having
+sufficient strength left herself to perform this funereal office. These
+are instances of what may be called the heroism of authors.
+
+The republic of letters has suffered irreparable losses by shipwrecks.
+Guarino Veronese, one of those learned Italians who travelled through
+Greece for the recovery of MSS., had his perseverance repaid by the
+acquisition of many valuable works. On his return to Italy he was
+shipwrecked, and lost his treasures! So poignant was his grief on this
+occasion that, according to the relation of one of his countrymen, his
+hair turned suddenly white.
+
+About the year 1700, Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh,
+animated solely by literary curiosity, went to China to instruct himself
+in the language, and in whatever was remarkable in this singular people.
+He acquired the skill of a mandarine in that difficult language; nor did
+the form of his Dutch face undeceive the physiognomists of China. He
+succeeded to the dignity of a mandarine; he travelled through the
+provinces under this character, and returned to Europe with a collection
+of observations, the cherished labour of thirty years, and all these
+were sunk in the bottomless sea.
+
+The great Pinellian library, after the death of its illustrious
+possessor, filled three vessels to be conveyed to Naples. Pursued by
+corsairs, one of the vessels was taken; but the pirates finding nothing
+on board but books, they threw them all into the sea: such was the fate
+of a great portion of this famous library.[26] National libraries have
+often perished at sea, from the circumstance of conquerors transporting
+them into their own kingdoms.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 23: Henry gave a commission to the famous antiquary, John
+Leland, to examine the libraries of the suppressed religious houses, and
+preserve such as concerned history. Though Leland, after his search,
+told the king he had "conserved many good authors, the which otherwyse
+had bene lyke to have peryshed, to the no smal incommodite of good
+letters," he owns to the ruthless destruction of all such as were
+connected with the "doctryne of a rowt of Romayne bysshopps." Strype
+consequently notes with great sorrow that many "ancient manuscripts and
+writings of learned British and Saxon authors were lost. Libraries were
+sold by mercenary men for anything they could get, in that confusion and
+devastation of religious houses. Bale, the antiquary, makes mention of a
+merchant that bought two noble libraries about these times for forty
+shillings; the books whereof served him for no other use but for waste
+paper; and that he had been ten years consuming them, and yet there
+remained still store enough for as many years more. Vast quantities and
+numbers of these books vanished with the monks and friars from their
+monasteries, were conveyed away and carried beyond seas to booksellers
+there, by whole ship ladings; and a great many more were used in shops
+and kitchens."]
+
+[Footnote 24: One of the most disastrous of these losses to the admirers
+of the old drama occurred through the neglect of a collector--John
+Warburton, Somerset herald-at-arms (who died 1759), and who had many of
+these early plays in manuscript. They were left carelessly in a corner,
+and during his absence his cook used them for culinary purposes as waste
+paper. The list published of his losses is, however, not quite accurate,
+as one or more escaped, or were mislaid by this careless man; for
+Massinger's tragedy, _The Tyrant_, stated to have been so destroyed, was
+found among his books, and sold at his sale in 1759; another play by the
+same author, _Believe as You List_, was discovered among some papers
+from Garrick's library in 1844, and was printed by the Percy Society,
+1849. It appears to be the very manuscript copy seen and described by
+Cibber and Chetwood.]
+
+[Footnote 25: One of these shrivelled volumes is preserved in a case in
+our British Museum. The leaves have been twisted and drawn almost into a
+solid ball by the action of fire. Some few of the charred manuscripts
+have been admirably restored of late years by judicious pressure, and
+inlaying the damaged leaves in solid margins. The fire occurred while
+the collection was temporarily placed in Ashburnham House, Little Dean's
+Yard, Westminster, in October, 1731. From the Report published by a
+Committee of the House of Commons soon after, it appears that the
+original number of volumes was 958--"of which are lost, burnt, or
+entirely spoiled, 114; and damaged so as to be defective, 98."]
+
+[Footnote 26: Gianvincenzo Pinelli was descended from a noble Genoese
+family, and born at Naples in 1535. At the age of twenty-three he
+removed to Padua, then noted for its learning, and here he devoted his
+time and fortune to literary and scientific pursuits. There was scarcely
+a branch of knowledge that he did not cultivate; and at his death, in
+1601, he left a noble library behind him. But the Senate of Venice, ever
+fearful that an undue knowledge of its proceedings should be made
+public, set their seal upon his collection of manuscripts, and took away
+more than two hundred volumes which related in some degree to its
+affairs. The rest of the books were packed to go to Naples, where his
+heirs resided. The printed books are stated to have filled one hundred
+and sixteen chests, and the manuscripts were contained in fourteen
+others. Three ships were freighted with them. One fell into the hands of
+corsairs, and the contents were destroyed, as stated in the text; some
+of the books, scattered on the beach at Fermo, were purchased by the
+Bishop there. The other ship-loads were ultimately obtained by Cardinal
+Borromeo, and added to his library.]
+
+
+
+
+SOME NOTICES OF LOST WORKS.
+
+
+Although it is the opinion of some critics that our literary losses do
+not amount to the extent which others imagine, they are however much
+greater than they allow. Our severest losses are felt in the historical
+province, and particularly in the earliest records, which might not have
+been the least interesting to philosophical curiosity.
+
+The history of Phoenicia by Sanchoniathon, supposed to be a contemporary
+with Solomon, now consists of only a few valuable fragments preserved by
+Eusebius. The same ill fortune attends Manetho's history of Egypt, and
+Berosu's history of Chaldea. The histories of these most ancient
+nations, however veiled in fables, would have presented to the
+philosopher singular objects of contemplation.
+
+Of the history of Polybios, which once contained forty books, we have
+now only five; of the historical library of Diodorus Siculus fifteen
+books only remain out of forty; and half of the Roman antiquities of
+Dionysius Helicarnassensis has perished. Of the eighty books of the
+history of Dion Cassius, twenty-five only remain. The present opening
+book of Ammianus Marcellinus is entitled the fourteenth. Livy's history
+consisted of one hundred and forty books, and we only possess
+thirty-five of that pleasing historian. What a treasure has been lost in
+the thirty books of Tacitus! little more than four remain. Murphy
+elegantly observes, that "the reign of Titus, the delight of human kind,
+is totally lost, and Domitian has escaped the vengeance of the
+historian's pen." Yet Tacitus in fragments is still the colossal torso
+of history. Velleius Paterculas, of whom a fragment only has reached
+us, we owe to a single copy: no other having ever been discovered, and
+which has occasioned the text of this historian to remain incurably
+corrupt. Taste and criticism have certainly incurred an irreparable loss
+in that _Treatise on the Causes of the Corruption of Eloquence_, by
+Quintilian; which he has himself noticed with so much satisfaction in
+his "Institutes." Petrarch declares, that in his youth he had seen the
+works of Varro, and the second Decad of Livy; but all his endeavours to
+recover them were fruitless.
+
+These are only some of the most known losses; but in reading
+contemporary writers we are perpetually discovering many important ones.
+We have lost two precious works in ancient biography: Varro wrote the
+lives of seven hundred illustrious Romans; and Atticus, the friend of
+Cicero, composed another, on the acts of the great men among the Romans.
+When we consider that these writers lived familiarly with the finest
+geniuses of their times, and were opulent, hospitable, and lovers of the
+fine arts, their biography and their portraits, which are said to have
+accompanied them, are felt as an irreparable loss to literature. I
+suspect likewise we have had great losses of which we are not always
+aware; for in that curious letter in which the younger Pliny describes
+in so interesting a manner the sublime industry, for it seems sublime by
+its magnitude, of his Uncle,[27] it appears that his Natural History,
+that vast register of the wisdom and the credulity of the ancients, was
+not his only great labour; for among his other works was a history in
+twenty books, which has entirely perished. We discover also the works of
+writers, which, by the accounts of them, appear to have equalled in
+genius those which have descended to us. Pliny has feelingly described a
+poet of whom he tells us, "his works are never out of my hands; and
+whether I sit down to write anything myself, or to revise what I have
+already wrote, or am in a disposition to amuse myself, I constantly take
+up this agreeable author; and as often as I do so, he is still new."[28]
+He had before compared this poet to Catullus; and in a critic of so fine
+a taste as Pliny, to have cherished so constant an intercourse with the
+writings of this author, indicates high powers. Instances of this kind
+frequently occur. Who does not regret the loss of the Anticato of
+Caesar?
+
+The losses which the poetical world has sustained are sufficiently known
+by those who are conversant with the few invaluable fragments of
+Menander, who might have interested us perhaps more than Homer: for he
+was evidently the domestic poet, and the lyre he touched was formed of
+the strings of the human heart. He was the painter of passions, and the
+historian of the manners. The opinion of Quintilian is confirmed by the
+golden fragments preserved for the English reader in the elegant
+versions of Cumberland. Even of AEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who
+each wrote about one hundred dramas, seven only have been preserved of
+AEschylus and of Sophocles, and nineteen of Euripides. Of the one hundred
+and thirty comedies of Plautus, we only inherit twenty imperfect ones.
+The remainder of Ovid's Fasti has never been recovered.
+
+I believe that a philosopher would consent to lose any poet to regain an
+historian; nor is this unjust, for some future poet may arise to supply
+the vacant place of a lost poet, but it is not so with the historian.
+Fancy may be supplied; but Truth once lost in the annals of mankind
+leaves a chasm never to be filled.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 27: Book III. Letter V. Melmoth's translation.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Book I. Letter XVI.]
+
+
+
+
+QUODLIBETS, OR SCHOLASTIC DISQUISITIONS.
+
+
+The scholastic questions were called _Questiones Quodlibeticae_; and they
+were generally so ridiculous that we have retained the word _Quodlibet_
+in our vernacular style, to express anything ridiculously subtile;
+something which comes at length to be distinguished into nothingness,
+
+    "With all the rash dexterity of wit."
+
+The history of the scholastic philosophy furnishes an instructive theme;
+it enters into the history of the human mind, and fills a niche in our
+literary annals. The works of the scholastics, with the debates of these
+_Quodlibetarians_, at once show the greatness and the littleness of the
+human intellect; for though they often degenerate into incredible
+absurdities, those who have examined the works of Thomas Aquinas and
+Duns Scotus have confessed their admiration of the Herculean texture of
+brain which they exhausted in demolishing their aerial fabrics.
+
+The following is a slight sketch of the school divinity.
+
+The christian doctrines in the primitive ages of the gospel were adapted
+to the simple comprehension of the multitude; metaphysical subtilties
+were not even employed by the Fathers, of whom several are eloquent. The
+Homilies explained, by an obvious interpretation, some scriptural point,
+or inferred, by artless illustration, some moral doctrine. When the
+Arabians became the only learned people, and their empire extended over
+the greater part of the known world, they impressed their own genius on
+those nations with whom they were allied as friends, or reverenced as
+masters. The Arabian genius was fond of abstruse studies; it was highly
+metaphysical and mathematical, for the fine arts their religion did not
+permit them to cultivate; and the first knowledge which modern Europe
+obtained of Euclid and Aristotle was through the medium of Latin
+translations of Arabic versions. The Christians in the west received
+their first lessons from the Arabians in the east; and Aristotle, with
+his Arabic commentaries, was enthroned in the schools of Christendom.
+
+Then burst into birth, from the dark cave of metaphysics, a numerous and
+ugly spawn of monstrous sects; unnatural children of the same foul
+mother, who never met but for mutual destruction. Religion became what
+is called the study of Theology; and they all attempted to reduce the
+worship of God into a system! and the creed into a thesis! Every point
+relating to religion was debated through an endless chain of infinite
+questions, incomprehensible distinctions, with differences mediate and
+immediate, the concrete and the abstract, a perpetual civil war carried
+on against common sense in all the Aristotelian severity. There existed
+a rage for Aristotle; and Melancthon complains that in sacred assemblies
+the ethics of Aristotle were read to the people instead of the gospel.
+Aristotle was placed a-head of St. Paul; and St. Thomas Aquinas in his
+works distinguishes him by the title of "The Philosopher;" inferring,
+doubtless, that no other man could possibly be a philosopher who
+disagreed with Aristotle. Of the blind rites paid to Aristotle, the
+anecdotes of the Nominalists and Realists are noticed in the article
+"Literary Controversy" in this work.
+
+Had their subtile questions and perpetual wranglings only been addressed
+to the metaphysician in his closet, and had nothing but strokes of the
+pen occurred, the scholastic divinity would only have formed an episode
+in the calm narrative of literary history; but it has claims to be
+registered in political annals, from the numerous persecutions and
+tragical events with which they too long perplexed their followers, and
+disturbed the repose of Europe. The Thomists, and the Scotists, the
+Occamites, and many others, soared into the regions of mysticism.
+
+Peter Lombard had laboriously compiled, after the celebrated Abelard's
+"Introduction to Divinity," his four books of "Sentences," from the
+writings of the Fathers; and for this he is called "The Master of
+Sentences." These Sentences, on which we have so many commentaries, are
+a collection of passages from the Fathers, the real or apparent
+contradictions of whom he endeavours to reconcile. But his successors
+were not satisfied to be mere commentators on these "sentences," which
+they now only made use of as a row of pegs to hang on their fine-spun
+metaphysical cobwebs. They at length collected all these quodlibetical
+questions into enormous volumes, under the terrifying form, for those
+who have seen them, of _Summaries of Divinity_! They contrived, by their
+chimerical speculations, to question the plainest truths; to wrest the
+simple meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and give some appearance of truth
+to the most ridiculous and monstrous opinions.
+
+One of the subtile questions which agitated the world in the tenth
+century, relating to dialectics, was concerning _universals_ (as for
+example, man, horse, dog, &c.) signifying not _this_ or _that_ in
+particular, but _all_ in general. They distinguished _universals_, or
+what we call abstract terms, by the _genera_ and _species rerum_; and
+they never could decide whether these were _substances_--or _names_!
+That is, whether the abstract idea we form of a horse was not really a
+_being_ as much as the horse we ride! All this, and some congenial
+points respecting the origin of our ideas, and what ideas were, and
+whether we really had an idea of a thing before we discovered the thing
+itself--in a word, what they called universals, and the essence of
+universals; of all this nonsense, on which they at length proceeded to
+accusations of heresy, and for which many learned men were
+excommunicated, stoned, and what not, the whole was derived from the
+reveries of Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, about the nature of ideas, than
+which subject to the present day no discussion ever degenerated into
+such insanity. A modern metaphysician infers that we have no ideas at
+all!
+
+Of the scholastic divines, the most illustrious was Saint THOMAS
+AQUINAS, styled the Angelical Doctor. Seventeen folio volumes not only
+testify his industry but even his genius. He was a great man, busied all
+his life with making the charades of metaphysics.
+
+My learned friend Sharon Turner has favoured me with a notice of his
+greatest work--his "Sum of all Theology," _Summa totius Theologiae_,
+Paris, 1615. It is a metaphysicological treatise, or the most abstruse
+metaphysics of theology. It occupies above 1250 folio pages, of very
+small close print in double columns. It may be worth noticing that to
+this work are appended 19 folio pages of double columns of errata, and
+about 200 of additional index!
+
+The whole is thrown into an Aristotelian form; the difficulties or
+questions are proposed first, and the answers are then appended. There
+are 168 articles on Love--358 on Angels--200 on the Soul--85 on
+Demons--151 on the Intellect--134 on Law--3 on the Catamenia--237 on
+Sins--17 on Virginity, and others on a variety of topics.
+
+The scholastic tree is covered with prodigal foliage, but is barren of
+fruit; and when the scholastics employed themselves in solving the
+deepest mysteries, their philosophy became nothing more than an
+instrument in the hands of the Roman Pontiff. Aquinas has composed 358
+articles on angels, of which a few of the heads have been culled for the
+reader.
+
+He treats of angels, their substance, orders, offices, natures, habits,
+&c., as if he himself had been an old experienced angel!
+
+Angels were not before the world!
+
+Angels might have been before the world!
+
+Angels were created by God--They were created immediately by Him--They
+were created in the Empyrean sky--They were created in grace--They were
+created in imperfect beatitude. After a severe chain of reasoning, he
+shows that angels are incorporeal compared to us, but corporeal compared
+to God.
+
+An angel is composed of action and potentiality; the more superior he
+is, he has the less potentiality. They have not matter properly. Every
+angel differs from another angel in species. An angel is of the same
+species as a soul. Angels have not naturally a body united to them. They
+may assume bodies; but they do not want to assume bodies for themselves,
+but for us.
+
+The bodies assumed by angels are of thick air.
+
+The bodies they assume have not the natural virtues which they show, nor
+the operations of life, but those which are common to inanimate things.
+
+An angel may be the same with a body.
+
+In the same body there are, the soul formally giving being, and
+operating natural operations; and the angel operating supernatural
+operations.
+
+Angels administer and govern every corporeal creature.
+
+God, an angel, and the soul, are not contained in space, but contain it.
+
+Many angels cannot be in the same space.
+
+The motion of an angel in space is nothing else than different contacts
+of different successive places.
+
+The motion of an angel is a succession of his different operations.
+
+His motion may be continuous and discontinuous as he will.
+
+The continuous motion of an angel is necessary through every medium, but
+may be discontinuous without a medium.
+
+The velocity of the motion of an angel is not according to the quantity
+of his strength, but according to his will.
+
+The motion of the illumination of an angel is threefold, or circular,
+straight, and oblique.
+
+In this account of the motion of an angel we are reminded of the
+beautiful description of Milton, who marks it by a continuous motion,
+
+    "Smooth-sliding without step."
+
+The reader desirous of being _merry_ with Aquinas's angels may find them
+in Martinus Scriblerus, in Ch. VII. who inquires if angels pass from one
+extreme to another without going through the _middle_? And if angels
+know things more clearly in a morning? How many angels can dance on the
+point of a very fine needle, without jostling one another?
+
+All the questions in Aquinas are answered with a subtlety of distinction
+more difficult to comprehend and remember than many problems in Euclid;
+and perhaps a few of the best might still be selected for youth as
+curious exercises of the understanding. However, a great part of these
+peculiar productions are loaded with the most trifling, irreverent, and
+even scandalous discussions. Even Aquinas could gravely debate, Whether
+Christ was not an hermaphrodite? Whether there are excrements in
+Paradise? Whether the pious at the resurrection will rise with their
+bowels? Others again debated--Whether the angel Gabriel appeared to the
+Virgin Mary in the shape of a serpent, of a dove, of a man, or of a
+woman? Did he seem to be young or old? In what dress was he? Was his
+garment white or of two colours? Was his linen clean or foul? Did he
+appear in the morning, noon, or evening? What was the colour of the
+Virgin Mary's hair? Was she acquainted with the mechanic and liberal
+arts? Had she a thorough knowledge of the Book of Sentences, and all it
+contains? that is, Peter Lombard's compilation from the works of the
+Fathers, written 1200 years after her death.--But these are only
+trifling matters: they also agitated, Whether when during her conception
+the Virgin was seated, Christ too was seated; and whether when she lay
+down, Christ also lay down? The following question was a favourite topic
+for discussion, and the acutest logicians never resolved it: "When a hog
+is carried to market with a rope tied about his neck, which is held at
+the other end by a man, whether is the _hog_ carried to market by the
+_rope_ or the _man_?"
+
+In the tenth century[29], after long and ineffectual controversy about
+the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, they at length universally
+agreed to sign a peace. This mutual forbearance must not, however, be
+ascribed to the prudence and virtue of those times. It was mere
+ignorance and incapacity of reasoning which kept the peace, and deterred
+them from entering into debates to which they at length found themselves
+unequal!
+
+Lord Lyttleton, in his Life of Henry II., laments the unhappy effects of
+the scholastic philosophy on the progress of the human mind. The minds
+of men were turned from classical studies to the subtilties of school
+divinity, which Rome encouraged, as more profitable for the maintenance
+of her doctrines. It was a great misfortune to religion and to learning,
+that men of such acute understandings as Abelard and Lombard, who might
+have done much to reform the errors of the church, and to restore
+science in Europe, should have depraved both, by applying their
+admirable parts to weave those cobwebs of sophistry, and to confound the
+clear simplicity of evangelical truths, by a false philosophy and a
+captious logic.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 29: Jortin's _Remarks on Ecclesiastical History_, vol. v. p.
+17.]
+
+
+
+
+FAME CONTEMNED.
+
+
+All men are fond of glory, and even those philosophers who write against
+that noble passion prefix their _names_ to their own works. It is worthy
+of observation that the authors of two _religious books_, universally
+received, have concealed their names from the world. The "Imitation of
+Christ" is attributed, without any authority, to Thomas A'Kempis; and
+the author of the "Whole Duty of Man" still remains undiscovered.
+Millions of their books have been dispersed in the Christian world.
+
+To have revealed their _names_ would have given them as much worldly
+fame as any moralist has obtained--but they contemned it! Their religion
+was raised above all worldly passions! Some profane writers, indeed,
+have also concealed their names to great works, but their _motives_ were
+of a very different cast.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIX FOLLIES OF SCIENCE.
+
+
+Nothing is so capable of disordering the intellects as an intense
+application to any one of these six things: the Quadrature of the
+Circle; the Multiplication of the Cube; the Perpetual Motion; the
+Philosophical Stone; Magic; and Judicial Astrology. "It is proper,
+however," Fontenelle remarks, "to apply one's self to these inquiries;
+because we find, as we proceed, many valuable discoveries of which we
+were before ignorant." The same thought Cowley has applied, in an
+address to his mistress, thus--
+
+    "Although I think thou never wilt be found,
+      Yet I'm resolved to search for thee:
+        The search itself rewards the pains.
+          So though the chymist his great secret miss,
+    (For neither it in art nor nature is)
+      Yet things well worth his toil he gains;
+    And does his charge and labour pay
+    With good unsought experiments by the way."
+
+The same thought is in Donne; perhaps Cowley did not suspect that he was
+an imitator; Fontenelle could not have read either; he struck out the
+thought by his own reflection, Glauber searched long and deeply for the
+philosopher's stone, which though he did not find, yet in his researches
+he discovered a very useful purging salt, which bears his name.
+
+Maupertuis observes on the _Philosophical Stone_, that we cannot prove
+the impossibility of obtaining it, but we can easily see the folly of
+those who employ their time and money in seeking for it. This price is
+too great to counterbalance the little probability of succeeding in it.
+However, it is still a bantling of modern chemistry, who has nodded very
+affectionately on it!--Of the _Perpetual Motion_, he shows the
+impossibility, in the sense in which it is generally received. On the
+_Quadrature of the Circle_, he says he cannot decide if this problem be
+resolvable or not: but he observes, that it is very useless to search
+for it any more; since we have arrived by approximation to such a point
+of accuracy, that on a large circle, such as the orbit which the earth
+describes round the sun, the geometrician will not mistake by the
+thickness of a hair. The quadrature of the circle is still, however, a
+favourite game with some visionaries, and several are still imagining
+that they have discovered the perpetual motion; the Italians nickname
+them _matto perpetuo_: and Bekker tells us of the fate of one Hartmann,
+of Leipsic, who was in such despair at having passed his life so vainly,
+in studying the perpetual motion, that at length he hanged himself!
+
+
+
+
+IMITATORS.
+
+
+Some writers, usually pedants, imagine that they can supply, by the
+labours of industry, the deficiencies of nature. Paulus Manutius
+frequently spent a month in writing a single letter. He affected to
+imitate Cicero. But although he painfully attained to something of the
+elegance of his style, destitute of the native graces of unaffected
+composition, he was one of those whom Erasmus bantered in his
+_Ciceronianus_, as so slavishly devoted to Cicero's style, that they
+ridiculously employed the utmost precautions when they were seized by a
+Ciceronian fit. The _Nosoponus_ of Erasmus tells of his devotion to
+Cicero; of his three indexes to all his words, and his never writing but
+in the dead of night, employing months upon a few lines; and his
+religious veneration for _words_, with his total indifference about the
+_sense_.
+
+Le Brun, a Jesuit, was a singular instance of such unhappy imitation. He
+was a Latin poet, and his themes were religious. He formed the
+extravagant project of substituting a _religious Virgil_ and _Ovid_
+merely by adapting his works to their titles. His _Christian Virgil_
+consists, like the Pagan Virgil, of _Eclogues_, _Georgics_, and of an
+_Epic_ of twelve books; with this difference, that devotional subjects
+are substituted for fabulous ones. His epic is the _Ignaciad_, or the
+pilgrimage of Saint Ignatius. His _Christian Ovid_, is in the same
+taste; everything wears a new face. His _Epistles_ are pious ones; the
+_Fasti_ are the six days of the Creation; the _Elegies_ are the six
+Lamentations of Jeremiah; a poem on _the Love of God_ is substituted for
+the _Art of Love_; and the history of some _Conversions_ supplies the
+place of the _Metamorphoses_! This Jesuit would, no doubt, have approved
+of a _family Shakspeare_!
+
+A poet of a far different character, the elegant Sannazarius, has done
+much the same thing in his poem _De Partu Virginis_. The same servile
+imitation of ancient taste appears. It professes to celebrate the birth
+of _Christ_, yet his name is not once mentioned in it! The _Virgin_
+herself is styled _spes deorum_! "The hope of the gods!" The
+_Incarnation_ is predicted by _Proteus_! The Virgin, instead of
+consulting the _sacred writings_, reads the _Sibylline oracles_! Her
+attendants are _dryads_, _nereids_, &c. This monstrous mixture of
+polytheism with the mysteries of Christianity, appears in everything he
+had about him. In a chapel at one of his country seats he had two
+statues placed at his tomb, _Apollo_ and _Minerva_; catholic piety found
+no difficulty in the present case, as well as in innumerable others of
+the same kind, to inscribe the statue of _Apollo_ with the name of
+_David_, and that of _Minerva_ with the female one of _Judith_!
+
+Seneca, in his 114th Epistle, gives a curious literary anecdote of the
+sort of imitation by which an inferior mind becomes the monkey of an
+original writer. At Rome, when Sallust was the fashionable writer, short
+sentences, uncommon words, and an obscure brevity, were affected as so
+many elegances. Arruntius, who wrote the history of the Punic Wars,
+painfully laboured to imitate Sallust. Expressions which are rare in
+Sallust are frequent in Arruntius, and, of course, without the motive
+that induced Sallust to adopt them. What rose naturally under the pen of
+the great historian, the minor one must have run after with ridiculous
+anxiety. Seneca adds several instances of the servile affectation of
+Arruntius, which seem much like those we once had of Johnson, by the
+undiscerning herd of his apes.
+
+One cannot but smile at these imitators; we have abounded with them. In
+the days of Churchill, every month produced an effusion which tolerably
+imitated his slovenly versification, his coarse invective, and his
+careless mediocrity,--but the genius remained with the English Juvenal.
+Sterne had his countless multitude; and in Fielding's time, Tom Jones
+produced more bastards in wit than the author could ever suspect. To
+such literary echoes, the reply of Philip of Macedon to one who prided
+himself on imitating the notes of the nightingale may be applied: "I
+prefer the nightingale herself!" Even the most successful of this
+imitating tribe must be doomed to share the fate of Silius Italicus, in
+his cold imitation of Virgil, and Cawthorne in his empty harmony of
+Pope.
+
+To all these imitators I must apply an Arabian anecdote. Ebn Saad, one
+of Mahomet's amanuenses, when writing what the prophet dictated, cried
+out by way of admiration--"Blessed be God, the best Creator!" Mahomet
+approved of the expression, and desired him to write those words down as
+part of the inspired passage.--The consequence was, that Ebn Saad began
+to think himself as great a prophet as his master, and took upon himself
+to imitate the Koran according to his fancy; but the imitator got
+himself into trouble, and only escaped with life by falling on his
+knees, and solemnly swearing he would never again imitate the Koran, for
+which he was sensible God had never created him.
+
+
+
+
+CICERO'S PUNS.
+
+
+"I should," says Menage, "have received great pleasure to have conversed
+with Cicero, had I lived in his time. He must have been a man very
+agreeable in conversation, since even Caesar carefully collected his
+_bons mots_. Cicero has boasted of the great actions he has done for his
+country, because there is no vanity in exulting in the performance of
+our duties; but he has not boasted that he was the most eloquent orator
+of his age, though he certainly was; because nothing is more disgusting
+than to exult in our intellectual powers."
+
+Whatever were the _bons mots_ of Cicero, of which few have come down to
+us, it is certain that Cicero was an inveterate punster; and he seems to
+have been more ready with them than with repartees. He said to a
+senator, who was the son of a tailor, "_Rem acu tetigisti_." You have
+touched it sharply; _acu_ means sharpness as well as the point of a
+needle. To the son of a cook, "_ego quoque tibi jure favebo_." The
+ancients pronounced _coce_ and _quoque_ like _co-ke_, which alludes to
+the Latin _cocus_, cook, besides the ambiguity of _jure_, which applies
+to _broth_ or _law--jus_. A Sicilian suspected of being a Jew, attempted
+to get the cause of Verres into his own hands; Cicero, who knew that he
+was a creature of the great culprit, opposed him, observing "What has a
+Jew to do with swine's flesh?" The Romans called a boar pig Verres. I
+regret to afford a respectable authority for forensic puns; however, to
+have degraded his adversaries by such petty personalities, only proves
+that Cicero's taste was not exquisite.
+
+There is something very original in Montaigne's censure of Cicero.
+Cotton's translation is admirable.
+
+"Boldly to confess the truth, his way of writing, and that of all other
+long-winded authors, appears to me very tedious; for his preface,
+definitions, divisions, and etymologies, take up the greatest part of
+his work; whatever there is of life and marrow, is smothered and lost in
+the preparation. When I have spent an hour in reading him, which is a
+great deal for me, and recollect what I have thence extracted of juice
+and substance, for the most part I find nothing but wind: for he is not
+yet come to the arguments that serve to his purpose, and the reasons
+that should properly help to loose the knot I would untie. For me, who
+only desired to become more wise, not more learned or eloquent, these
+logical or Aristotelian disquisitions of poets are of no use. I look for
+good and solid reasons at the first dash. I am for discourses that give
+the first charge into the heart of the doubt; his languish about the
+subject, and delay our expectation. Those are proper for the schools,
+for the bar, and for the pulpit, where we have leisure to nod, and may
+awake a quarter of an hour after, time enough to find again the thread
+of the discourse. It is necessary to speak after this manner to judges,
+whom a man has a design, right or wrong, to incline to favour his cause;
+to children and common people, to whom a man must say all he can. I
+would not have an author make it his business to render me attentive; or
+that he should cry out fifty times _O yes_! as the clerks and heralds
+do.
+
+"As to Cicero, I am of the common opinion that, learning excepted, he
+had no great natural parts. He was a good citizen, of an affable
+nature, as all fat heavy men--(_gras et gausseurs_ are the words in the
+original, meaning perhaps broad jokers, for Cicero was not fat)--such as
+he was, usually are; but given to ease, and had a mighty share of vanity
+and ambition. Neither do I know how to excuse him for thinking his
+poetry fit to be published. 'Tis no great imperfection to write ill
+verses; but it is an imperfection not to be able to judge how unworthy
+bad verses were of the glory of his name. For what concerns his
+eloquence, that is totally out of comparison, and I believe will never
+be equalled."
+
+
+
+
+PREFACES.
+
+
+A preface, being the entrance to a book, should invite by its beauty. An
+elegant porch announces the splendour of the interior. I have observed
+that ordinary readers skip over these little elaborate compositions. The
+ladies consider them as so many pages lost, which might better be
+employed in the addition of a picturesque scene, or a tender letter to
+their novels. For my part I always gather amusement from a preface, be
+it awkwardly or skilfully written; for dulness, or impertinence, may
+raise a laugh for a page or two. A preface is frequently a superior
+composition to the work itself: for, long before the days of Johnson, it
+had been a custom for many authors to solicit for this department of
+their work the ornamental contribution of a man of genius. Cicero tells
+his friend Atticus, that he had a volume of prefaces or introductions
+always ready by him to be used as circumstances required. These must
+have been like our periodical essays. A good preface is as essential to
+put the reader into good humour, as a good prologue is to a play, or a
+fine symphony to an opera, containing something analogous to the work
+itself; so that we may feel its want as a desire not elsewhere to be
+gratified. The Italians call the preface _La salsa del libra_, the sauce
+of the book, and if well seasoned it creates an appetite in the reader
+to devour the book itself. A preface badly composed prejudices the
+reader against the work. Authors are not equally fortunate in these
+little introductions; some can compose volumes more skilfully than
+prefaces, and others can finish a preface who could never be capable of
+finishing a book.
+
+On a very elegant preface prefixed to an ill-written book, it was
+observed that they ought never to have _come together_; but a sarcastic
+wit remarked that he considered such _marriages_ were allowable, for
+they were _not of kin_.
+
+In prefaces an affected haughtiness or an affected humility are alike
+despicable. There is a deficient dignity in Robertson's; but the
+haughtiness is now to our purpose. This is called by the French, "_la
+morgue litteraire_," the surly pomposity of literature. It is sometimes
+used by writers who have succeeded in their first work, while the
+failure of their subsequent productions appears to have given them a
+literary hypochondriasm. Dr. Armstrong, after his classical poem, never
+shook hands cordially with the public for not relishing his barren
+labours. In the _preface_ to his lively "Sketches" he tells us, "he
+could give them much bolder strokes as well as more delicate touches,
+but that he _dreads the danger of writing too well_, and feels the value
+of his own labour too sensibly to bestow it upon the _mobility_." This
+is pure milk compared to the gall in the _preface_ to his poems. There
+he tells us, "that at last he has taken the _trouble to collect them_!
+What he has destroyed would, probably enough, have been better received
+by the _great majority of readers_. But he has always _most heartily
+despised their opinion_." These prefaces remind one of the _prologi
+galeati_, prefaces with a helmet! as St. Jerome entitles the one to his
+Version of the Scriptures. These _armed prefaces_ were formerly very
+common in the age of literary controversy; for half the business of an
+author consisted then, either in replying, or anticipating a reply, to
+the attacks of his opponent.
+
+Prefaces ought to be dated; as these become, after a series of editions,
+leading and useful circumstances in literary history.
+
+Fuller with quaint humour observes on INDEXES--"An INDEX is a necessary
+implement, and no impediment of a book, except in the same sense wherein
+the carriages of an army are termed _Impedimenta_. Without this, a large
+author is but a labyrinth without a clue to direct the reader therein. I
+confess there is a lazy kind of learning which is _only Indical_; when
+scholars (like adders which only bite the horse's heels) nibble but at
+the tables, which are _calces librorum_, neglecting the body of the
+book. But though the idle deserve no crutches (let not a staff be used
+by them, but on them), pity it is the weary should be denied the benefit
+thereof, and industrious scholars prohibited the accommodation of an
+index, most used by those who most pretend to contemn it."
+
+
+
+
+EARLY PRINTING.
+
+
+There is some probability that this art originated in China, where it
+was practised long before it was known in Europe. Some European
+traveller might have imported the hint.[30] That the Romans did not
+practise the art of printing cannot but excite our astonishment, since
+they actually used it, unconscious of their rich possession. I have seen
+Roman stereotypes, or immoveable printing types, with which they stamped
+their pottery.[31] How in daily practising the art, though confined to
+this object, it did not occur to so ingenious a people to print their
+literary works, is not easily to be accounted for. Did the wise and
+grave senate dread those inconveniences which attend its indiscriminate
+use? Or perhaps they did not care to deprive so large a body of scribes
+of their business. Not a hint of the art itself appears in their
+writings.
+
+When first the art of printing was discovered, they only made use of one
+side of a leaf; they had not yet found out the expedient of impressing
+the other. Afterwards they thought of pasting the blank sides, which
+made them appear like one leaf. Their blocks were made of soft woods,
+and their letters were carved; but frequently breaking, the expense and
+trouble of carving and gluing new letters suggested our moveable types
+which, have produced an almost miraculous celerity in this art. The
+modern stereotype, consisting of entire pages in solid blocks of metal,
+and, not being liable to break like the soft wood at first used, has
+been profitably employed for works which require to be frequently
+reprinted. Printing in carved blocks of wood must have greatly retarded
+the progress of universal knowledge: for one set of types could only
+have produced one work, whereas it now serves for hundreds.
+
+When their editions were intended to be curious, they omitted to print
+the initial letter of a chapter: they left that blank space to be
+painted or illuminated, to the fancy of the purchaser. Several ancient
+volumes of these early times have been found where these letters are
+wanting, as they neglected to have them painted.
+
+The initial carved letter, which is generally a fine wood-cut, among our
+printed books, is evidently a remains or imitation of these
+ornaments.[32] Among the very earliest books printed, which were
+religious, the Poor Man's Bible has wooden cuts in a coarse style,
+without the least shadowing or crossing of strokes, and these they
+inelegantly daubed over with broad colours, which they termed
+illuminating, and sold at a cheap rate to those who could not afford to
+purchase costly missals elegantly written and painted on vellum.
+Specimens of these rude efforts of illuminated prints may be seen in
+Strutt's Dictionary of Engravers. The Bodleian library possesses the
+originals.[33]
+
+In the productions of early printing may be distinguished the various
+splendid editions of _Primers_, or _Prayer-books_. These were
+embellished with cuts finished in a most elegant taste: many of them
+were grotesque or obscene. In one of them an angel is represented
+crowning the Virgin Mary, and God the Father himself assisting at the
+ceremony. Sometimes St. Michael is overcoming Satan; and sometimes St.
+Anthony is attacked by various devils of most clumsy forms--not of the
+grotesque and limber family of Callot!
+
+Printing was gradually practised throughout Europe from the year 1440 to
+1500. Caxton and his successor Wynkyn de Worde were our own earliest
+printers. Caxton was a wealthy merchant, who, in 1464, being sent by
+Edward IV. to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Duke of Burgundy,
+returned to his country with this invaluable art. Notwithstanding his
+mercantile habits, he possessed a literary taste, and his first work was
+a translation from a French historical miscellany.[34]
+
+The tradition of the Devil and Dr. Faustus was said to have been derived
+from the odd circumstance in which the Bibles of the first printer,
+Fust, appeared to the world; but if Dr. Faustus and Faustus the printer
+are two different persons, the tradition becomes suspicious, though, in
+some respects, it has a foundation in truth. When Fust had discovered
+this new art, and printed off a considerable number of copies of the
+Bible to imitate those which were commonly sold as MSS., he undertook
+the sale of them at Paris. It was his interest to conceal this
+discovery, and to pass off his printed copies for MSS. But, enabled to
+sell his Bibles at sixty crowns, while the other scribes demanded five
+hundred, this raised universal astonishment; and still more when he
+produced copies as fast as they were wanted, and even lowered his price.
+The uniformity of the copies increased the wonder. Informations were
+given in to the magistrates against him as a magician; and in searching
+his lodgings a great number of copies were found. The red ink, and
+Fust's red ink is peculiarly brilliant, which embellished his copies,
+was said to be his blood; and it was solemnly adjudged that he was in
+league with the Infernals. Fust at length was obliged, to save himself
+from a bonfire, to reveal his art to the Parliament of Paris, who
+discharged him from all prosecution in consideration of the wonderful
+invention.
+
+When the art of printing was established, it became the glory of the
+learned to be correctors of the press to eminent printers. Physicians,
+lawyers, and bishops themselves occupied this department. The printers
+then added frequently to their names those of the correctors of the
+press; and editions were then valued according to the abilities of the
+corrector.
+
+The _prices_ of books in these times were considered as an object worthy
+of the animadversions of the highest powers. This anxiety in favour of
+the studious appears from a privilege of Pope Leo X. to Aldus Manutius
+for printing Varro, dated 1553, signed Cardinal Bembo. Aldus is exhorted
+to put a moderate price on the work, lest the Pope should withdraw his
+privilege, and accord it to others.
+
+Robert Stephens, one of the early printers, surpassed in correctness
+those who exercised the same profession.[35]
+
+To render his editions immaculate, he hung up the proofs in public
+places, and generously recompensed those who were so fortunate as to
+detect any errata.
+
+Plantin, though a learned man, is more famous as a printer. His
+printing-office was one of the wonders of Europe. This grand building
+was the chief ornament of the city of Antwerp. Magnificent in its
+structure, it presented to the spectator a countless number of presses,
+characters of all figures and all sizes, matrixes to cast letters, and
+all other printing materials; which Baillet assures us amounted to
+immense sums.[36]
+
+In Italy, the three Manutii were more solicitous of correctness and
+illustrations than of the beauty of their printing. They were ambitious
+of the character of the scholar, not of the printer.
+
+It is much to be regretted that our publishers are not literary men,
+able to form their own critical decisions. Among the learned printers
+formerly, a book was valued because it came from the presses of an Aldus
+or a Stephens; and even in our own time the names of Bowyer and Dodsley
+sanctioned a work. Pelisson, in his history of the French Academy,
+mentions that Camusat was selected as their bookseller, from his
+reputation for publishing only valuable works. "He was a man of some
+literature and good sense, and rarely printed an indifferent work; and
+when we were young I recollect that we always made it a rule to purchase
+his publications. His name was a test of the goodness of the work." A
+publisher of this character would be of the greatest utility to the
+literary world: at home he would induce a number of ingenious men to
+become authors, for it would be honourable to be inscribed in his
+catalogue; and it would be a direction for the continental reader.
+
+So valuable a union of learning and printing did not, unfortunately,
+last. The printers of the seventeenth century became less charmed with
+glory than with gain. Their correctors and their letters evinced as
+little delicacy of choice.
+
+The invention of what is now called the _Italic_ letter in printing was
+made by Aldus Manutius, to whom learning owes much. He observed the
+many inconveniences resulting from the vast number of _abbreviations_,
+which were then so frequent among the printers, that a book was
+difficult to understand; a treatise was actually written on the art of
+reading a printed book, and this addressed to the learned! He contrived
+an expedient, by which these abbreviations might be entirely got rid of,
+and yet books suffer little increase in bulk. This he effected by
+introducing what is now called the _Italic_ letter, though it formerly
+was distinguished by the name of the inventor, and called the _Aldine_.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 30: China is the stronghold where antiquarian controversy
+rests. Beaten in affixing the origin of any art elsewhere, the
+controversialist enshrines himself within the Great Wall, and is allowed
+to repose in peace. Opponents, like Arabs, give up the chase when these
+gates close, though possibly with as little reason as the children of
+the desert evince when they quietly succumb to any slight defence.]
+
+[Footnote 31: They are small square blocks of metal, with the name in
+raised letters within a border, precisely similar to those used by the
+modern printer. Sometimes the stamp was round, or in the shape of a foot
+or hand, with the potter's name in the centre. They were in constant use
+for impressing the clay-works which supplied the wants of a Roman
+household. The list of potters' marks found upon fragments discovered in
+London alone amounts to several hundreds.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Another reason for the omission of a great initial is
+given. There was difficulty in obtaining such enriched letters by
+engraving as were used in manuscripts; and there was at this time a
+large number of professional scribes, whose interests were in some
+degree considered by the printer. Hence we find in early books a large
+space left to be filled in by the hand of the scribe with the proper
+letter indicated by a small type letter placed in the midst. The famous
+_Psalter_ printed by Faust and Scheffer, at Mentz, in 1497, is the first
+book having large initial letters printed in red and blue inks, in
+imitation of the handwork of the old caligraphers.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The British Museum now possesses a remarkably fine series
+of these early works. They originated in the large sheet woodcuts, or
+"broadsides," representing saints, or scenes from saintly legends, used
+by the clergy as presents to the peasantry or pilgrims to certain
+shrines--a custom retained upon the Continent to the present time; such
+cuts exhibiting little advance in art since the days of their origin,
+being almost as rude, and daubed in a similar way with coarse colour.
+One ancient cut of this kind in the British Museum, representing the
+Saviour brought before Pilate, resembles in style the pen-drawings in
+manuscripts of the fourteenth century. Another exhibits the seven stages
+of human life, with the wheel of fortune in the centre. Another is an
+emblematic representation of the Tower of Sapience, each stone formed of
+some mental qualification. When books were formed, a large series of
+such cuts included pictures and type in each page, and in one piece. The
+so-called Poor Man's Bible (an evidently erroneous term for it, the
+invention of a bibliographer of the last century) was one of these, and
+consists of a series of pictures from Scripture history, with brief
+explanations. It was most probably preceded by the block books known as
+the _Apocalypse of St. John_, the _Cantico Canticorum_, and the _Ars
+Memorandi_.]
+
+[Footnote 34: This was Raoul le Fevre's _Recueil des Histoires de
+Troye_, a fanciful compilation of adventures, in which the heroes of
+antiquity perform the parts of the _preux chevaliers_ of the middle
+ages. It was "ended in the Holy City of Colen," in September, 1471. The
+first book printed by him in England was _The Game and Playe of the
+Chesse_, in March, 1474. It is a fanciful moralization of the game,
+abounding with quaint old legends and stories.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Robert Stephens was the most celebrated of a family
+renowned through several generations in the history of printing. The
+first of the dynasty, Henry Estienne, who, in the spirit of the age,
+latinized his name, was born in Paris, in 1470, and commenced printing
+there at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His three
+sons--Francis, Robert, and Charles--were all renowned printers and
+scholars; Robert the most celebrated for the correctness and beauty of
+his work. His Latin Bible of 1532 made for him a great reputation; and
+he was appointed printer to Francis I. A new edition of his Bible, in
+1545, brought him into trouble with the formidable doctors of the
+Sorbonne, and he ultimately left Paris for Geneva, where he set up a
+printing-office, which soon became famous. He died in 1559. He was the
+author of some learned works, and a printer whose labours in the "noble
+art" have never been excelled. He left two sons--Henry and Robert--also
+remarkable as learned printers; and they both had sons who followed the
+same pursuits. There is not one of this large family without honourable
+recognition for labour and knowledge, and in their wives and daughters
+they found learned assistants. Chalmers says--"They were at once the
+ornament and reproach of the age in which they lived. They were all men
+of great learning, all extensive benefactors to literature, and all
+persecuted or unfortunate."]
+
+[Footnote 36: Plantin's office is still existing in Antwerp, and is one
+of the most interesting places in that interesting city. It is so
+carefully preserved, that its quadrangle was assigned to the soldiery in
+the last great revolution, to prevent any hostile incursion and damage.
+It is a lonely building, in which the old office, with its presses and
+printing material, still remains as when deserted by the last workman.
+The sheets of the last books printed there are still lying on the
+tables; and in the presses and drawers are hundreds of the woodcuts and
+copperplates used by Plantin for the books that made his office renowned
+throughout Europe. In the quadrangle are busts of himself and his
+successors, the Morels, and the scholars who were connected with them.
+Plantin's own room seems to want only his presence to perfect the scene.
+The furniture and fittings, the quaint decoration, leads the imagination
+insensibly back to the days of Charles V.]
+
+
+
+
+ERRATA.
+
+
+Besides the ordinary _errata_, which happen in printing a work, others
+have been purposely committed, that the _errata_ may contain what is not
+permitted to appear in the body of the work. Wherever the Inquisition
+had any power, particularly at Rome, it was not allowed to employ the
+word _fatum_, or _fata_, in any book. An author, desirous of using the
+latter word, adroitly invented this scheme; he had printed in his book
+_facta_, and, in the _errata_, he put, "For _facta_, read _fata_."
+
+Scarron has done the same thing on another occasion. He had composed
+some verses, at the head of which he placed this dedication--_A
+Guillemette, Chienne de ma Soeur_; but having a quarrel with his sister,
+he maliciously put into the _errata_, "Instead of _Chienne de ma Soeur_,
+read _ma Chienne de Soeur_."
+
+Lully, at the close of a bad prologue said, the word _fin du prologue_
+was an _erratum_, it should have been _fi du prologue_!
+
+In a book, there was printed, _le docte Morel_. A wag put into the
+_errata_, "For _le docte Morel_, read _le Docteur Morel_." This _Morel_
+was not the first _docteur_ not _docte_.
+
+When a fanatic published a mystical work full of unintelligible
+raptures, and which he entitled _Les Delices de l'Esprit_, it was
+proposed to print in his errata, "For _Delices_ read _Delires_."
+
+The author of an idle and imperfect book ended with the usual phrase of
+_cetera desiderantur_, one altered it, _Non desiderantur sed desunt_;
+"The rest is _wanting_, but not _wanted_."
+
+At the close of a silly book, the author as usual printed the word
+FINIS.--A wit put this among the errata, with this pointed couplet:--
+
+    FINIS!--an error, or a lie, my friend!
+    In writing foolish books--there is _no End_!
+
+In the year 1561 was printed a work, entitled "the Anatomy of the Mass."
+It is a thin octavo, of 172 pages, and it is accompanied by an _Errata_
+of 15 pages! The editor, a pious monk, informs us that a very serious
+reason induced him to undertake this task: for it is, says he, to
+forestal the _artifices of Satan_. He supposes that the Devil, to ruin
+the fruit of this work, employed two very malicious frauds: the first
+before it was printed, by drenching the MS. in a kennel, and having
+reduced it to a most pitiable state, rendered several parts illegible:
+the second, in obliging the printers to commit such numerous blunders,
+never yet equalled in so small a work. To combat this double machination
+of Satan he was obliged carefully to re-peruse the work, and to form
+this singular list of the blunders of printers under the influence of
+Satan. All this he relates in an advertisement prefixed to the _Errata_.
+
+A furious controversy raged between two famous scholars from a very
+laughable but accidental _Erratum_, and threatened serious consequences
+to one of the parties. Flavigny wrote two letters, criticising rather
+freely a polyglot Bible edited by Abraham Ecchellensis. As this learned
+editor had sometimes censured the labours of a friend of Flavigny, this
+latter applied to him the third and fifth verses of the seventh chapter
+of St. Matthew, which he printed in Latin. Ver 3. _Quid vides festucam
+in_ OCULO _fratris tui, et trabem in_ OCULO _tuo non vides_? Ver. 5.
+_Ejice primum trabem de_ OCULO _tuo, et tunc videbis ejicere festucam
+de_ OCULO _fratris tui_. Ecchellensis opens his reply by accusing
+Flavigny of an _enormous crime_ committed in this passage; attempting to
+correct the sacred text of the Evangelist, and daring to reject a word,
+while he supplied its place by another as _impious_ as _obscene_! This
+crime, exaggerated with all the virulence of an angry declaimer, closes
+with a dreadful accusation. Flavigny's morals are attacked, and his
+reputation overturned by a horrid imputation. Yet all this terrible
+reproach is only founded on an _Erratum_! The whole arose from the
+printer having negligently suffered the _first letter_ of the word
+_Oculo_ to have dropped from the form, when he happened to touch a line
+with his finger, which did not stand straight! He published another
+letter to do away the imputation of Ecchellensis; but thirty years
+afterwards his rage against the negligent printer was not extinguished;
+the wits were always reminding him of it.
+
+Of all literary blunders none equalled that of the edition of the
+Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His Holiness carefully superintended every sheet
+as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of the world, the
+work remained without a rival--it swarmed with errata! A multitude of
+scraps were printed to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to
+give the true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these
+patches; and the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal
+infallibility! The copies were called in, and violent attempts made to
+suppress it; a few still remain for the raptures of the biblical
+collectors; not long ago the bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty
+guineas--not too much for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly
+amused at the bull of the editorial Pope prefixed to the first volume,
+which excommunicates all printers who in reprinting the work should make
+any _alteration_ in the text!
+
+In the version of the Epistles of St. Paul into the Ethiopic language,
+which proved to be full of errors, the editors allege a good-humoured
+reason--"They who printed the work could not read, and we could not
+print; they helped us, and we helped them, as the blind helps the
+blind."
+
+A printer's widow in Germany, while a new edition of the Bible was
+printing at her house, one night took an opportunity of stealing into
+the office, to alter that sentence of subjection to her husband,
+pronounced upon Eve in Genesis, chap. 3, v. 16. She took out the two
+first letters of the word HERR, and substituted NA in their place, thus
+altering the sentence from "and he shall be thy LORD" (_Herr_), to "and
+he shall be thy FOOL" (_Narr_). It is said her life paid for this
+intentional erratum; and that some secreted copies of this edition have
+been bought up at enormous prices.
+
+We have an edition of the Bible, known by the name of _The Vinegar
+Bible_; from the erratum in the title to the 20th chap. of St. Luke, in
+which "Parable of the _Vineyard_," is printed, "Parable of the
+_Vinegar_." It was printed in 1717, at the Clarendon press.
+
+We have had another, where "Thou shalt commit adultery" was printed,
+omitting the negation; which occasioned the archbishop to lay one of the
+heaviest penalties on the Company of Stationers that was ever recorded
+in the annals of literary history.[37]
+
+Herbert Croft used to complain of the incorrectness of our English
+classics, as reprinted by the booksellers. It is evident some stupid
+printer often changes a whole text intentionally. The fine description
+by Akenside of the Pantheon, "SEVERELY great," not being understood by
+the blockhead, was printed _serenely great_. Swift's own edition of "The
+City Shower," has "old ACHES throb." _Aches_ is two syllables, but
+modern printers, who had lost the right pronunciation, have _aches_ as
+one syllable; and then, to complete the metre, have foisted in "aches
+_will_ throb." Thus what the poet and the linguist wish to preserve is
+altered, and finally lost.[38]
+
+It appears by a calculation made by the printer of Steevens's edition of
+Shakspeare, that every octavo page of that work, text and notes,
+contains 2680 distinct pieces of metal; which in a sheet amount to
+42,880--the misplacing of any one of which would inevitably cause a
+blunder! With this curious fact before us, the accurate state of our
+printing, in general, is to be admired, and errata ought more freely to
+be pardoned than the fastidious minuteness of the insect eye of certain
+critics has allowed.
+
+Whether such a miracle as an immaculate edition of a classical author
+does exist, I have never learnt; but an attempt has been made to obtain
+this glorious singularity--and was as nearly realised as is perhaps
+possible in the magnificent edition of _Os Lusiadas_ of Camoens, by Dom
+Joze Souza, in 1817. This amateur spared no prodigality of cost and
+labour, and flattered himself, that by the assistance of Didot, not a
+single typographical error should be found in that splendid volume. But
+an error was afterwards discovered in some of the copies, occasioned by
+one of the letters in the word _Lusitano_ having got misplaced during
+the working of one of the sheets. It must be confessed that this was an
+_accident_ or _misfortune_--rather than an _Erratum!_
+
+One of the most remarkable complaints on ERRATA is that of Edw. Leigh,
+appended to his curious treatise on "Religion and Learning." It consists
+of two folio pages, in a very minute character, and exhibits an
+incalculable number of printers' blunders. "We have not," he says,
+"Plantin nor Stephens amongst us; and it is no easy task to specify the
+chiefest errata; false interpunctions there are too many; here a letter
+wanting, there a letter too much; a syllable too much, one letter for
+another; words parted where they should be joined; words joined which
+should be severed; words misplaced; chronological mistakes," &c. This
+unfortunate folio was printed in 1656. Are we to infer, by such frequent
+complaints of the authors of that day, that either they did not receive
+proofs from the printers, or that the printers never attended to the
+corrected proofs? Each single erratum seems to have been felt as a stab
+to the literary feelings of the poor author!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 37: It abounded with other errors, and was so rigidly
+suppressed, that a well-known collector was thirty years endeavouring
+ineffectually to obtain a copy. One has recently been added to the
+British Museum collection.]
+
+[Footnote 38: A good example occurs in _Hudibras_ (Part iii. canto 2,
+line 407), where persons are mentioned who
+
+    "Can by their pangs and _aches_ find
+    All turns and changes of the wind."
+
+The rhythm here demands the dissyllable _a-ches_, as used by the older
+writers, Shakspeare particularly, who, in his _Tempest_, makes Prospero
+threaten Caliban--
+
+    "If thou neglect'st, or dost unwillingly
+    What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps;
+    Fill all thy bones with _aches_; make thee roar
+    That beasts shall tremble at thy din."
+
+John Kemble was aware of the necessity of using this word in this
+instance as a dissyllable, but it was so unusual to his audiences that
+it excited ridicule; and during the O.P. row, a medal was struck,
+representing him as manager, enduring the din of cat-calls, trumpets,
+and rattles, and exclaiming, "Oh! my head _aitches_!"]
+
+
+
+
+PATRONS.
+
+
+Authors have too frequently received ill treatment even from those to
+whom they dedicated their works.
+
+Some who felt hurt at the shameless treatment of such mock Maecenases
+have observed that no writer should dedicate his works but to his
+FRIENDS, as was practised by the ancients, who usually addressed those
+who had solicited their labours, or animated their progress. Theodosius
+Gaza had no other recompense for having inscribed to Sixtus IV. his
+translation of the book of Aristotle on the Nature of Animals, than the
+price of the binding, which this charitable father of the church
+munificently bestowed upon him.
+
+Theocritus fills his Idylliums with loud complaints of the neglect of
+his patrons; and Tasso was as little successful in his dedications.
+
+Ariosto, in presenting his Orlando Furioso to the Cardinal d'Este, was
+gratified with the bitter sarcasm of--"_Dove diavolo avete pigliato
+tante coglionerie?_" Where the devil have you found all this nonsense?
+
+When the French historian Dupleix, whose pen was indeed fertile,
+presented his book to the Duke d'Epernon, this Maecenas, turning to the
+Pope's Nuncio, who was present, very coarsely exclaimed--"Cadedids! ce
+monsieur a un flux enrage, il chie un livre toutes les lunes!"
+
+Thomson, the ardent author of the Seasons, having extravagantly praised
+a person of rank, who afterwards appeared to be undeserving of
+eulogiums, properly employed his pen in a solemn recantation of his
+error. A very different conduct from that of Dupleix, who always spoke
+highly of Queen Margaret of France for a little place he held in her
+household: but after her death, when the place became extinct, spoke of
+her with all the freedom of satire. Such is too often the character of
+some of the literati, who only dare to reveal the truth, when they have
+no interest to conceal it.
+
+Poor Mickle, to whom we are indebted for so beautiful a version of
+Camoens' Lusiad, having dedicated this work, the continued labour of
+five years, to the Duke of Buccleugh, had the mortification to find, by
+the discovery of a friend, that he had kept it in his possession three
+weeks before he could collect sufficient intellectual desire to cut open
+the pages! The neglect of this nobleman reduced the poet to a state of
+despondency. This patron was a political economist, the pupil of Adam
+Smith! It is pleasing to add, in contrast with this frigid Scotch
+patron, that when Mickle went to Lisbon, where his translation had long
+preceded his visit, he found the Prince of Portugal waiting on the quay
+to be the first to receive the translator of his great national poem;
+and during a residence of six months, Mickle was warmly regarded by
+every Portuguese nobleman.
+
+"Every man believes," writes Dr. Johnson to Baretti, "that mistresses
+are unfaithful, and patrons are capricious. But he excepts his own
+mistress, and his own patron."
+
+A patron is sometimes oddly obtained. Benserade attached himself to
+Cardinal Mazarin; but his friendship produced nothing but civility. The
+poet every day indulged his easy and charming vein of amatory and
+panegyrical poetry, while all the world read and admired his verses.
+One evening the cardinal, in conversation with the king, described his
+mode of life when at the papal court. He loved the sciences; but his
+chief occupation was the belles lettres, composing little pieces of
+poetry; he said that he was then in the court of Rome what Benserade was
+now in that of France. Some hours afterwards, the friends of the poet
+related to him the conversation of the cardinal. He quitted them
+abruptly, and ran to the apartment of his eminence, knocking with all
+his force, that he might be certain of being heard. The cardinal had
+just gone to bed; but he incessantly clamoured, demanding entrance; they
+were compelled to open the door. He ran to his eminence, fell upon his
+knees, almost pulled off the sheets of the bed in rapture, imploring a
+thousand pardons for thus disturbing him; but such was his joy in what
+he had just heard, which he repeated, that he could not refrain from
+immediately giving vent to his gratitude and his pride, to have been
+compared with his eminence for his poetical talents! Had the door not
+been immediately opened, he should have expired; he was not rich, it was
+true, but he should now die contented! The cardinal was pleased with his
+_ardour_, and probably never suspected his _flattery_; and the next week
+our new actor was pensioned.
+
+On Cardinal Richelieu, another of his patrons, he gratefully made this
+epitaph:--
+
+    Cy gist, ouy gist, par la mort bleu,
+    Le Cardinal de Richelieu,
+    Et ce qui cause mon ennuy
+    Ma PENSION avec lui.
+
+    Here lies, egad, 'tis very true,
+    The illustrious Cardinal Richelieu:
+    My grief is genuine--void of whim!
+    Alas! my _pension_ lies with him!
+
+Le Brun, the great French artist, painted himself holding in his hand
+the portrait of his earliest patron. In this accompaniment the Artist
+may be said to have portrayed the features of his soul. If genius has
+too often complained of its patrons, has it not also often over-valued
+their protection?
+
+
+
+
+POETS, PHILOSOPHERS, AND ARTISTS, MADE BY ACCIDENT.
+
+
+Accident has frequently occasioned the most eminent geniuses to display
+their powers. "It was at Rome," says Gibbon, "on the 15th of October,
+1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the
+bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that
+the idea of writing the Decline and Fall of the City first started to my
+mind."
+
+Father Malebranche having completed his studies in philosophy and
+theology without any other intention than devoting himself to some
+religious order, little expected the celebrity his works acquired for
+him. Loitering in an idle hour in the shop of a bookseller, and turning
+over a parcel of books, _L'Homme de Descartes_ fell into his hands.
+Having dipt into parts, he read with such delight that the palpitations
+of his heart compelled him to lay the volume down. It was this
+circumstance that produced those profound contemplations which made him
+the Plato of his age.
+
+Cowley became a poet by accident. In his mother's apartment he found,
+when very young, Spenser's Fairy Queen; and, by a continual study of
+poetry, he became so enchanted by the Muse, that he grew irrecoverably a
+poet.
+
+Sir Joshua Reynolds had the first fondness for his art excited by the
+perusal of Richardson's Treatise.
+
+Vaucanson displayed an uncommon genius for mechanics. His taste was
+first determined by an accident: when young, he frequently attended his
+mother to the residence of her confessor; and while she wept with
+repentance, he wept with weariness! In this state of disagreeable
+vacation, says Helvetius, he was struck with the uniform motion of the
+pendulum of the clock in the hall. His curiosity was roused; he
+approached the clock-case, and studied its mechanism; what he could not
+discover he guessed at. He then projected a similar machine; and
+gradually his genius produced a clock. Encouraged by this first success,
+he proceeded in his various attempts; and the genius, which thus could
+form a clock, in time formed a fluting automaton.
+
+Accident determined the taste of Moliere for the stage. His grandfather
+loved the theatre, and frequently carried him there. The young man lived
+in dissipation; the father observing it asked in anger, if his son was
+to be made an actor. "Would to God," replied the grandfather, "he were
+as good an actor as Monrose." The words struck young Moliere, he took a
+disgust to his tapestry trade, and it is to this circumstance France
+owes her greatest comic writer.
+
+Corneille loved; he made verses for his mistress, became a poet,
+composed _Melite_ and afterwards his other celebrated works. The
+discreet Corneille had else remained a lawyer.
+
+We owe the great discovery of Newton to a very trivial accident. When a
+student at Cambridge, he had retired during the time of the plague into
+the country. As he was reading under an apple-tree, one of the fruit
+fell, and struck him a smart blow on the head. When he observed the
+smallness of the apple, he was surprised at the force of the stroke.
+This led him to consider the accelerating motion of falling bodies; from
+whence he deduced the principle of gravity, and laid the foundation of
+his philosophy.
+
+Ignatius Loyola was a Spanish gentleman, who was dangerously wounded at
+the siege of Pampeluna. Having heated his imagination by reading the
+Lives of the Saints during his illness, instead of a romance, he
+conceived a strong ambition to be the founder of a religious order;
+whence originated the celebrated society of the Jesuits.
+
+Rousseau found his eccentric powers first awakened by the advertisement
+of the singular annual subject which the Academy of Dijon proposed for
+that year, in which he wrote his celebrated declamation against the arts
+and sciences. A circumstance which decided his future literary efforts.
+
+La Fontaine, at the age of twenty-two, had not taken any profession, or
+devoted himself to any pursuit. Having accidentally heard some verses of
+Malherbe, he felt a sudden impulse, which directed his future life. He
+immediately bought a Malherbe, and was so exquisitely delighted with
+this poet that, after passing the nights in treasuring his verses in his
+memory, he would run in the day-time to the woods, where, concealing
+himself, he would recite his verses to the surrounding dryads.
+
+Flamsteed was an astronomer by accident. He was taken from school on
+account of his illness, when Sacrobosco's book De Sphaera having been
+lent to him, he was so pleased with it that he immediately began a
+course of astronomic studies. Pennant's first propensity to natural
+history was the pleasure he received from an accidental perusal of
+Willoughby's work on birds. The same accident of finding, on the table
+of his professor, Reaumur's History of Insects, which he read more than
+he attended to the lecture, and, having been refused the loan, gave such
+an instant turn to the mind of Bonnet, that he hastened to obtain a
+copy; after many difficulties in procuring this costly work, its
+possession gave an unalterable direction to his future life. This
+naturalist indeed lost the use of his sight by his devotion to the
+microscope.
+
+Dr. Franklin attributes the cast of his genius to a similar accident. "I
+found a work of De Foe's, entitled an 'Essay on Projects,' from which
+perhaps I derived impressions that have since influenced some of the
+principal events of my life."
+
+I shall add the incident which occasioned Roger Ascham to write his
+_Schoolmaster_, one of the few works among our elder writers, which we
+still read with pleasure.
+
+At a dinner given by Sir William Cecil, at his apartments at Windsor, a
+number of ingenious men were invited. Secretary Cecil communicated the
+news of the morning, that several scholars at Eton had run away on
+account of their master's severity, which he condemned as a great error
+in the education of youth. Sir William Petre maintained the contrary;
+severe in his own temper, he pleaded warmly in defence of hard flogging.
+Dr. Wootton, in softer tones, sided with the secretary. Sir John Mason,
+adopting no side, bantered both. Mr. Haddon seconded the hard-hearted
+Sir William Petre, and adduced, as an evidence, that the best
+schoolmaster then in England was the hardest flogger. Then was it that
+Roger Ascham indignantly exclaimed, that if such a master had an able
+scholar it was owing to the boy's genius, and not the preceptor's rod.
+Secretary Cecil and others were pleased with Ascham's notions. Sir
+Richard Sackville was silent, but when Ascham after dinner went to the
+queen to read one of the orations of Demosthenes, he took him aside, and
+frankly told him that, though he had taken no part in the debate, he
+would not have been absent from that conversation for a great deal; that
+he knew to his cost the truth that Ascham had supported; for it was the
+perpetual flogging of such a schoolmaster that had given him an
+unconquerable aversion to study. And as he wished to remedy this defect
+in his own children, he earnestly exhorted Ascham to write his
+observations on so interesting a topic. Such was the circumstance which
+produced the admirable treatise of Roger Ascham.
+
+
+
+
+INEQUALITIES OF GENIUS.
+
+
+Singular inequalities are observable in the labours of genius; and
+particularly in those which admit great enthusiasm, as in poetry, in
+painting, and in music. Faultless mediocrity industry can preserve in
+one continued degree; but excellence, the daring and the happy, can only
+be attained, by human faculties, by starts.
+
+Our poets who possess the greatest genius, with perhaps the least
+industry, have at the same time the most splendid and the worst passages
+of poetry. Shakspeare and Dryden are at once the greatest and the least
+of our poets. With some, their great fault consists in having none.
+
+Carraccio sarcastically said of Tintoret--_Ho veduto il Tintoretto hora
+eguale a Titiano, hora minore del Tintoretto_--"I have seen Tintoret now
+equal to Titian, and now less than Tintoret."
+
+Trublet justly observes--The more there are _beauties_ and _great
+beauties_ in a work, I am the less surprised to find _faults_ and _great
+faults_. When you say of a work that it has many faults, that decides
+nothing: and I do not know by this, whether it is execrable or
+excellent. You tell me of another, that it is without any faults: if
+your account be just, it is certain the work cannot be excellent.
+
+It was observed of one pleader, that he _knew_ more than he _said_; and
+of another, that he _said_ more than he _knew_.
+
+Lucian happily describes the works of those who abound with the most
+luxuriant language, void of ideas. He calls their unmeaning verbosity
+"anemone-words;" for anemonies are flowers, which, however brilliant,
+only please the eye, leaving no fragrance. Pratt, who was a writer of
+flowing but nugatory verses, was compared to the _daisy_; a flower
+indeed common enough, and without odour.
+
+
+
+
+GEOGRAPHICAL STYLE.
+
+
+There are many sciences, says Menage, on which we cannot indeed compose
+in a florid or elegant diction, such as geography, music, algebra,
+geometry, &c. When Atticus requested Cicero to write on geography, the
+latter excused himself, observing that its scenes were more adapted to
+please the eye, than susceptible of the embellishments of style.
+However, in these kind of sciences, we may lend an ornament to their
+dryness by introducing occasionally some elegant allusion, or noticing
+some incident suggested by the object.
+
+Thus when we notice some inconsiderable place, for instance _Woodstock_,
+we may recall attention to the residence of _Chaucer_, the parent of our
+poetry, or the romantic labyrinth of Rosamond; or as in "an Autumn on
+the Rhine," at Ingelheim, at the view of an old palace built by
+Charlemagne, the traveller adds, with "a hundred columns brought from
+Rome," and further it was "the scene of the romantic amours of that
+monarch's fair daughter, Ibertha, with Eginhard, his secretary:" and
+viewing the Gothic ruins on the banks of the Rhine, he noticed them as
+having been the haunts of those illustrious _chevaliers voleurs_ whose
+chivalry consisted in pillaging the merchants and towns, till, in the
+thirteenth century, a citizen of Mayence persuaded the merchants of more
+than a hundred towns to form a league against these little princes and
+counts; the origin of the famous Rhenish league, which contributed so
+much to the commerce of Europe. This kind of erudition gives an interest
+to topography, by associating in our memory great events and personages
+with the localities.
+
+The same principle of composition may be carried with the happiest
+effect into some dry investigations, though the profound antiquary may
+not approve of these sports of wit or fancy. Dr. Arbuthnot, in his
+Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, a topic extremely barren
+of amusement, takes every opportunity of enlivening the dulness of his
+task; even in these mathematical calculations he betrays his wit; and
+observes that "the polite Augustus, the emperor of the world, had
+neither any glass in his windows, nor a shirt to his back!" Those uses
+of glass and linen indeed were not known in his time. Our physician is
+not less curious and facetious in the account of the _fees_ which the
+Roman physicians received.
+
+
+
+
+LEGENDS.
+
+
+Those ecclesiastical histories entitled Legends are said to have
+originated in the following circumstance.
+
+Before colleges were established in the monasteries where the schools
+were held, the professors in rhetoric frequently gave their pupils the
+life of some saint for a trial of their talent at _amplification_. The
+students, at a loss to furnish out their pages, invented most of these
+wonderful adventures. Jortin observes, that the Christians used to
+collect out of Ovid, Livy, and other pagan poets and historians, the
+miracles and portents to be found there, and accommodated them to their
+own monks and saints. The good fathers of that age, whose simplicity was
+not inferior to their devotion, were so delighted with these flowers of
+rhetoric, that they were induced to make a collection of these
+miraculous compositions; not imagining that, at some distant period,
+they would become matters of faith. Yet, when James de Voragine, Peter
+Nadal, and Peter Ribadeneira, wrote the Lives of the Saints, they sought
+for their materials in the libraries of the monasteries; and, awakening
+from the dust these manuscripts of amplification, imagined they made an
+invaluable present to the world, by laying before them these voluminous
+absurdities. The people received these pious fictions with all
+imaginable simplicity, and as these are adorned by a number of cuts, the
+miracles were perfectly intelligible to their eyes. Tillemont, Fleury,
+Baillet, Launoi, and Bollandus, cleared away much of the rubbish; the
+enviable title of _Golden Legend_, by which James de Voragine called his
+work, has been disputed; iron or lead might more aptly describe its
+character.
+
+When the world began to be more critical in their reading, the monks
+gave a graver turn to their narratives; and became penurious of their
+absurdities. The faithful Catholic contends, that the line of tradition
+has been preserved unbroken; notwithstanding that the originals were
+lost in the general wreck of literature from the barbarians, or came
+down in a most imperfect state.
+
+Baronius has given the lives of many apocryphal saints; for instance, of
+a Saint _Xinoris_, whom he calls a martyr of Antioch; but it appears
+that Baronius having read in Chrysostom this _word_, which signifies a
+_couple_ or _pair_, he mistook it for the name of a saint, and contrived
+to give the most authentic biography of a saint who never existed![39]
+The Catholics confess this sort of blunder is not uncommon, but then it
+is only fools who laugh! As a specimen of the happier inventions, one
+is given, embellished by the diction of Gibbon--
+
+"Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted to
+distinguish the memorable fable of the _Seven Sleepers_; whose imaginary
+date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius, and the
+conquest of Africa by the Vandals. When the Emperor Decius persecuted
+the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed themselves in a
+spacious cavern on the side of an adjacent mountain; where they were
+doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should
+be firmly secured with a pile of stones. They immediately fell into a
+deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the
+powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty-seven years.
+At the end of that time the slaves of Adolius, to whom the inheritance
+of the mountain had descended, removed the stones to supply materials
+for some rustic edifice. The light of the sun darted into the cavern,
+and the Seven Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber as they
+thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger; and
+resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should secretly return to
+the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions. The youth, if
+we may still employ that appellation, could no longer recognise the once
+familiar aspect of his native country; and his surprise was increased by
+the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly erected over the principal
+gate of Ephesus. His singular dress and obsolete language confounded the
+baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the current coin
+of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret treasure,
+was dragged before the judge. Their mutual inquiries produced the
+amazing discovery, that two centuries were almost elapsed since
+Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a Pagan tyrant.
+The Bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and, it
+is said, the Emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of
+the Seven Sleepers; who bestowed their benediction, related their story,
+and at the same instant peaceably expired.
+
+"This popular tale Mahomet learned when he drove his camels to the fairs
+of Syria; and he has introduced it, as a _divine revelation_, into the
+Koran."--The same story has been adopted and adorned by the nations,
+from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion.
+
+The too curious reader may perhaps require other specimens of the more
+unlucky inventions of this "Golden Legend;" as characteristic of a
+certain class of minds, the philosopher will contemn these grotesque
+fictions.
+
+These monks imagined that holiness was often proportioned to a saint's
+filthiness. St. Ignatius, say they, delighted to appear abroad with old
+dirty shoes; he never used a comb, but let his hair clot; and
+religiously abstained from paring his nails. One saint attained to such
+piety as to have near three hundred patches on his breeches; which,
+after his death, were hung up in public as an _incentive to imitation_.
+St. Francis discovered, by certain experience, that the devils were
+frightened away by such kinds of breeches, but were animated by clean
+clothing to tempt and seduce the wearers; and one of their heroes
+declares that the purest souls are in the dirtiest bodies. On this they
+tell a story which may not be very agreeable to fastidious delicacy.
+Brother Juniper was a gentleman perfectly pious, on this principle;
+indeed so great was his merit in this species of mortification, that a
+brother declared he could always nose Brother Juniper when within a mile
+of the monastery, provided the wind was at the due point. Once, when the
+blessed Juniper, for he was no saint, was a guest, his host, proud of
+the honour of entertaining so pious a personage, the intimate friend of
+St. Francis, provided an excellent bed, and the finest sheets. Brother
+Juniper abhorred such luxury. And this too evidently appeared after his
+sudden departure in the morning, unknown to his kind host. The great
+Juniper did this, says his biographer, having told us what he did, not
+so much from his habitual inclinations, for which he was so justly
+celebrated, as from his excessive piety, and as much as he could to
+mortify worldly pride, and to show how a true saint despised clean
+sheets.
+
+In the life of St. Francis we find, among other grotesque miracles, that
+he preached a sermon in a desert, but he soon collected an immense
+audience. The birds shrilly warbled to every sentence, and stretched out
+their necks, opened their beaks, and when he finished, dispersed with a
+holy rapture into four companies, to report his sermon to all the birds
+in the universe. A grasshopper remained a week with St. Francis during
+the absence of the Virgin Mary, and pittered on his head. He grew so
+companionable with a nightingale, that when a nest of swallows began to
+babble, he hushed them by desiring them not to tittle-tattle of their
+sister, the nightingale. Attacked by a wolf, with only the sign-manual
+of the cross, he held a long dialogue with his rabid assailant, till the
+wolf, meek as a lap-dog, stretched his paws in the hands of the saint,
+followed him through towns, and became half a Christian.
+
+This same St. Francis had such a detestation of the good things of this
+world, that he would never suffer his followers to touch money. A friar
+having placed in a window some money collected at the altar, he desired
+him to take it in his mouth, and throw it on the dung of an ass! St.
+Philip Nerius was such a _lover of poverty_, that he frequently prayed
+that God would bring him to that state as to stand in need of a penny,
+and find nobody that would give him one!
+
+But St. Macaire was so shocked at having _killed a louse_, that he
+endured seven years of penitence among the thorns and briars of a
+forest. A circumstance which seems to have reached Moliere, who gives
+this stroke to the character of his Tartuffe:--
+
+    Il s'impute a peche la moindre bagatelle;
+    Jusques-la qu'il se vint, l'autre jour, s'accuser
+    D'avoir pris une puce en faisant sa priere,
+    Et de l'avoir tuee avec trop de colere!
+
+I give a miraculous incident respecting two pious maidens. The night of
+the Nativity of Christ, after the first mass, they both retired into a
+solitary spot of their nunnery till the second mass was rung. One asked
+the other, "Why do you want two cushions, when I have only one?" The
+other replied, "I would place it between us, for the child Jesus; as the
+Evangelist says, where there are two or three persons assembled I am in
+the midst of them."--This being done, they sat down, feeling a most
+lively pleasure at their fancy; and there they remained, from the
+Nativity of Christ to that of John the Baptist; but this great interval
+of time passed with these saintly maidens as two hours would appear to
+others. The abbess and nuns were alarmed at their absence, for no one
+could give any account of them. In the eve of St. John, a cowherd,
+passing by them, beheld a beautiful child seated on a cushion between
+this pair of runaway nuns. He hastened to the abbess with news of these
+stray sheep; she came and beheld this lovely child playfully seated
+between these nymphs; they, with blushing countenances, inquired if the
+second bell had already rung? Both parties were equally astonished to
+find our young devotees had been there from the Nativity of Jesus to
+that of St. John. The abbess inquired about the child who sat between
+them; they solemnly declared they saw no child between them! and
+persisted in their story!
+
+Such is one of these miracles of "the Golden Legend," which a wicked wit
+might comment on, and see nothing extraordinary in the whole story. The
+two nuns might be missing between the Nativities, and be found at last
+with a child seated between them.--They might not choose to account
+either for their absence or their child--the only touch of miracle is
+that, they asseverated, they _saw no child_--that I confess is a _little
+(child) too much_.
+
+The lives of the saints by Alban Butler is the most sensible history of
+these legends; Ribadeneira's lives of the saints exhibit more of the
+legendary spirit, for wanting judgment and not faith, he is more
+voluminous in his details. The antiquary may collect much curious
+philosophical information, concerning the manners of the times, from
+these singular narratives.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 39: See the article on "Literary Blunders," in this volume,
+for the history of similar inventions, particularly the legend of St.
+Ursuala and the eleven thousand virgins, and the discovery of a certain
+St. Viar]
+
+
+
+
+THE PORT-ROYAL SOCIETY.
+
+
+Every lover of letters has heard of this learned society, which
+contributed so greatly to establish in France a taste for just
+reasoning, simplicity of style, and philosophical method. Their "Logic,
+or the Art of Thinking," for its lucid, accurate, and diversified
+matter, is still an admirable work; notwithstanding the writers had to
+emancipate themselves from the barbarism of the scholastic logic. It was
+the conjoint labour of Arnauld and Nicolle. Europe has benefited by the
+labours of these learned men: but not many have attended to the origin
+and dissolution of this literary society.
+
+In the year 1637, Le Maitre, a celebrated advocate, resigned the bar,
+and the honour of being _Conseiller d'Etat_, which his uncommon merit
+had obtained him, though then only twenty-eight years of age. His
+brother, De Sericourt, who had followed the military profession, quitted
+it at the same time. Consecrating themselves to the service of religion,
+they retired into a small house near _the Port-Royal_ of Paris, where
+they were joined by their brothers De Sacy, De St. Elme, and De Valmont.
+Arnauld, one of their most illustrious associates, was induced to enter
+into the Jansenist controversy, and then it was that they encountered
+the powerful persecution of the Jesuits. Constrained to remove from that
+spot, they fixed their residence at a few leagues from Paris, and called
+it _Port-Royal des Champs_.[40]
+
+These illustrious recluses were joined by many distinguished persons who
+gave up their parks and houses to be appropriated to their schools; and
+this community was called the _Society of Port-Royal_.
+
+Here were no rules, no vows, no constitution, and no cells formed.
+Prayer and study, and manual labour, were their only occupations. They
+applied themselves to the education of youth, and raised up little
+academies in the neighbourhood, where the members of Port-Royal, the
+most illustrious names of literary France, presided. None considered his
+birth entitled him to any exemption from their public offices, relieving
+the poor and attending on the sick, and employing themselves in their
+farms and gardens; they were carpenters, ploughmen, gardeners, and
+vine-dressers, as if they had practised nothing else; they studied
+physic, and surgery, and law; in truth, it seems that, from religious
+motives, these learned men attempted to form a community of primitive
+Christianity.
+
+The Duchess of Longueville, once a political chief, sacrificed her
+ambition on the altar of Port-Royal, enlarged the monastic inclosure
+with spacious gardens and orchards, built a noble house, and often
+retreated to its seclusion. The learned D'Andilly, the translator of
+Josephus, after his studious hours, resorted to the cultivation of
+fruit-trees; and the fruit of Port-Royal became celebrated for its size
+and flavour. Presents were sent to the Queen-Mother of France, Anne of
+Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin, who used to call it "fruit beni." It
+appears that "families of rank, affluence, and piety, who did not wish
+entirely to give up their avocations in the world, built themselves
+country-houses in the valley of Port-Royal, in order to enjoy the
+society of its religious and literary inhabitants."
+
+In the solitudes of Port-Royal _Racine_ received his education; and, on
+his death-bed, desired to be buried in its cemetery, at the feet of his
+master Hamon. Arnauld, persecuted, and dying in a foreign country, still
+cast his lingering looks on this beloved retreat, and left the society
+his heart, which was there inurned.
+
+The Duchess of Longueville, a princess of the blood-royal, was, during
+her life, the powerful patroness of these solitary and religious men:
+but her death, in 1679, was the fatal stroke which dispersed them for
+ever.
+
+The envy and the fears of the Jesuits, and their rancour against
+Arnauld, who with such ability had exposed their designs, occasioned the
+destruction of the Port-Royal Society. _Exinanite, exinanite usque ad
+fundamentum in ea!_--"Annihilate it, annihilate it, to its very
+foundations!" Such are the terms of the Jesuitic decree. The Jesuits had
+long called the little schools of Port-Royal the hot-beds of heresy. The
+Jesuits obtained by their intrigues an order from government to dissolve
+that virtuous society. They razed the buildings, and ploughed up the
+very foundation; they exhausted their hatred even on the stones, and
+profaned even the sanctuary of the dead; the corpses were torn out of
+their graves, and dogs were suffered to contend for the rags of their
+shrouds. The memory of that asylum of innocence and learning was still
+kept alive by those who collected the engravings representing the place
+by Mademoiselle Hortemels. The police, under Jesuitic influence, at
+length seized on the plates in the cabinet of the fair artist.--Caustic
+was the retort courteous which Arnauld gave the Jesuits--"I do not fear
+your _pen_, but its _knife_."
+
+These were men whom the love of retirement had united to cultivate
+literature, in the midst of solitude, of peace, and of piety. Alike
+occupied on sacred, as on profane writers, their writings fixed the
+French language. The example of these solitaries shows how retirement is
+favourable to penetrate into the sanctuary of the Muses.
+
+An interesting anecdote is related of Arnauld on the occasion of the
+dissolution of this society. The dispersion of these great men, and
+their young scholars, was lamented by every one but their enemies. Many
+persons of the highest rank participated in their sorrows. The excellent
+Arnauld, in that moment, was as closely pursued as if he had been a
+felon.
+
+It was then the Duchess of Longueville concealed Arnauld in an obscure
+lodging, who assumed the dress of a layman, wearing a sword and
+full-bottomed wig. Arnauld was attacked by a fever, and in the course of
+conversation with his physician, he inquired after news. "They talk of a
+new book of the Port-Royal," replied the doctor, "ascribed to Arnauld or
+to Sacy; but I do not believe it comes from Sacy; he does not write so
+well."--"How, sir!" exclaimed the philosopher, forgetting his sword and
+wig; "believe me, my nephew writes better than I do."--The physician
+eyed his patient with amazement--he hastened to the duchess, and told
+her, "The malady of the gentleman you sent me to is not very serious,
+provided you do not suffer him to see any one, and insist on his holding
+his tongue." The duchess, alarmed, immediately had Arnauld conveyed to
+her palace. She concealed him in an apartment, and persisted to attend
+him herself.--"Ask," she said, "what you want of the servant, but it
+shall be myself who shall bring it to you."
+
+How honourable is it to the female character, that, in many similar
+occurrences, their fortitude has proved to be equal to their
+sensibility! But the Duchess of Longueville contemplated in Arnauld a
+model of human fortitude which martyrs never excelled. His remarkable
+reply to Nicolle, when they were hunted from place to place, should
+never be forgotten: Arnauld wished Nicolle to assist him in a new work,
+when the latter observed, "We are now old, is it not time to rest?"
+"Rest!" returned Arnauld, "have we not all Eternity to rest in?" The
+whole of the Arnauld family were the most extraordinary instance of that
+hereditary character, which is continued through certain families: here
+it was a sublime, and, perhaps, singular union of learning with
+religion. The Arnaulds, Sacy, Pascal, Tillemont, with other illustrious
+names, to whom literary Europe will owe perpetual obligations, combined
+the life of the monastery with that of the library.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 40: The early history of the house is not given quite clearly
+and correctly in the text. The old foundation of Cistercians, named
+_Port-Royal des Champs_, was situated in the valley of Chevreuse, near
+Versailles, and founded in 1204 by Bishop Eudes, of Paris. It was in the
+reign of Louis XIII. that Madame Arnauld, the mother of the then Abbess,
+hearing that the sisterhood suffered from the damp situation of their
+convent and its confined space, purchased a house as an infirmary for
+its sick members in the Fauxbourg St. Jacques, and called it the
+_Port-Royal de Paris_, to distinguish it from the older foundation.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PROGRESS OF OLD AGE IN NEW STUDIES.
+
+
+Of the pleasures derivable from the cultivation of the arts, sciences,
+and literature, time will not abate the growing passion; for old men
+still cherish an affection and feel a youthful enthusiasm in those
+pursuits, when all others have ceased to interest. Dr. Reid, to his last
+day, retained a most active curiosity in his various studies, and
+particularly in the revolutions of modern chemistry. In advanced life we
+may resume our former studies with a new pleasure, and in old age we may
+enjoy them with the same relish with which more youthful students
+commence. Adam Smith observed to Dugald Stewart, that "of all the
+amusements of old age, the most grateful and soothing is a renewal of
+acquaintance with the favourite studies and favourite authors of
+youth--a remark, adds Stewart, which, in his own case, seemed to be more
+particularly exemplified while he was reperusing, with the enthusiasm of
+a student, the tragic poets of ancient Greece. I have heard him repeat
+the observation more than once, while Sophocles and Euripides lay open
+on his table."
+
+Socrates learnt to play on musical instruments in his old age; Cato, at
+eighty, thought proper to learn Greek; and Plutarch, almost as late in
+his life, Latin.
+
+Theophrastus began his admirable work on the Characters of Men at the
+extreme age of ninety. He only terminated his literary labours by his
+death.
+
+Ronsard, one of the fathers of French poetry, applied himself late to
+study. His acute genius, and ardent application, rivalled those poetic
+models which he admired; and Boccaccio was thirty-five years of age when
+he commenced his studies in polite literature.
+
+The great Arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and the command of
+his pen, to the age of eighty-two, and was still the great Arnauld.
+
+Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, but cultivated
+them at fifty years of age. His early years were chiefly passed in
+farming, which greatly diverted him from his studies; but a remarkable
+disappointment respecting a contested estate disgusted him with these
+rustic occupations: resolved to attach himself to regular studies, and
+literary society, he sold his farms, and became the most learned
+antiquary and lawyer.
+
+Colbert, the famous French minister, almost at sixty, returned to his
+Latin and law studies.
+
+Dr. Johnson applied himself to the Dutch language but a few years before
+his death. The Marquis de Saint Aulaire, at the age of seventy, began to
+court the Muses, and they crowned him with their freshest flowers. The
+verses of this French Anacreon are full of fire, delicacy, and
+sweetness.
+
+Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were the composition of his latest years:
+they were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and finished in his
+sixty-first.
+
+Ludovico Monaldesco, at the extraordinary age of 115, wrote the memoirs
+of his times. A singular exertion, noticed by Voltaire; who himself is
+one of the most remarkable instances of the progress of age in new
+studies.
+
+The most delightful of autobiographies for artists is that of Benvenuto
+Cellini; a work of great originality, which was not begun till "the
+clock of his age had struck fifty-eight."
+
+Koornhert began at forty to learn the Latin and Greek languages, of
+which he became a master; several students, who afterwards distinguished
+themselves, have commenced as late in life their literary pursuits.
+Ogilby, the translator of Homer and Virgil, knew little of Latin or
+Greek till he was past fifty; and Franklin's philosophical pursuits
+began when he had nearly reached his fiftieth year.
+
+Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the study of the law
+so late, answered, beginning it late, he should master it the sooner.
+
+Dryden's complete works form the largest body of poetry from the pen of
+a single writer in the English language; yet he gave no public testimony
+of poetic abilities till his twenty-seventh year. In his sixty-eighth
+year he proposed to translate the whole Iliad: and his most pleasing
+productions were written in his old age.
+
+Michael Angelo preserved his creative genius even in extreme old age:
+there is a device said to be invented by him, of an old man represented
+in a _go-cart_, with an hour-glass upon it; the inscription _Ancora
+imparo!_--YET I AM LEARNING!
+
+We have a literary curiosity in a favourite treatise with Erasmus and
+men of letters of that period, _De Ratione Studii_, by Joachim Sterck,
+otherwise Fortius de Ringelberg. The enthusiasm of the writer often
+carries him to the verge of ridicule; but something must be conceded to
+his peculiar situation and feelings; for Baillet tells us that this
+method of studying had been formed entirely from his own practical
+knowledge and hard experience: at a late period of life he had commenced
+his studies, and at length he imagined that he had discovered a more
+perpendicular mode of ascending the hill of science than by its usual
+circuitous windings. His work has been compared to the sounding of a
+trumpet.
+
+Menage, in his Anti-Baillet, has a very curious apology for writing
+verses in his old age, by showing how many poets amused themselves
+notwithstanding their grey hairs, and wrote sonnets or epigrams at
+ninety.
+
+La Casa, in one of his letters, humorously said, _Io credo ch'io faro
+Sonnetti venti cinque anni, o trenta, pio che io saro morto_.--"I think
+I may make sonnets twenty-five, or perhaps thirty years, after I shall
+be dead!" Petau tells us that he wrote verses to solace the evils of old
+age--
+
+    ---- Petavius aeger
+    Cantabat veteris quaerens solatia morbi.
+
+Malherbe declares the honours of genius were his, yet young--
+
+    Je les posseday jeune, et les possede encore
+        A la fin de mes jours!
+
+
+
+
+SPANISH POETRY.
+
+
+Pere Bouhours observes, that the Spanish poets display an extravagant
+imagination, which is by no means destitute of _esprit_--shall we say
+_wit_? but which evinces little taste or judgment.
+
+Their verses are much in the style of our Cowley--trivial points,
+monstrous metaphors, and quaint conceits. It is evident that the Spanish
+poets imported this taste from the time of Marino in Italy; but the
+warmth of the Spanish climate appears to have redoubled it, and to have
+blown the kindled sparks of chimerical fancy to the heat of a Vulcanian
+forge.
+
+Lopez de Vega, in describing an afflicted shepherdess, in one of his
+pastorals, who is represented weeping near the sea-side, says, "That the
+sea joyfully advances to gather her tears; and that, having enclosed
+them in shells, it converts them into pearls."
+
+        "Y el mar como imbidioso
+        A tierra por las lagrimas salia,
+        Y alegre de cogerlas
+    Las guarda en conchas, y convierte en perlas."
+
+Villegas addresses a stream--"Thou who runnest over sands of gold, with
+feet of silver," more elegant than our Shakspeare's--"Thy silver skin
+laced with thy golden blood," which possibly he may not have written.
+Villegas monstrously exclaims, "Touch my breast, if you doubt the power
+of Lydia's eyes--you will find it turned to ashes." Again--"Thou art so
+great that thou canst only imitate thyself with thy own greatness;" much
+like our "None but himself can be his parallel."
+
+Gongora, whom the Spaniards once greatly admired, and distinguished by
+the epithet of _The Wonderful_, abounds with these conceits.
+
+He imagines that a nightingale, who enchantingly varied her notes, and
+sang in different manners, had a hundred thousand other nightingales in
+her breast, which alternately sang through her throat--
+
+    "Con diferancia tal, con gracia tanta,
+    A quel ruysenor llora, que sospecho
+    Que tiene otros cien mil dentro del pecho,
+    Que alterno su dolor por su garganta."
+
+Of a young and beautiful lady he says, that she has but a few _years_ of
+life, but many _ages_ of beauty.
+
+    "Muchos siglos de hermosura
+    En pocos anos de edad."
+
+Many ages of beauty is a false thought, for beauty becomes not more
+beautiful from its age; it would be only a superannuated beauty. A face
+of two or three ages old could have but few charms.
+
+In one of his odes he addresses the River of Madrid by the title of the
+_Duke of Streams_, and the _Viscount of Rivers_--
+
+    "Mancanares, Mancanares,
+    Os que en todo el aguatismo,
+    Estois _Duque_ de Arroyos,
+    Y _Visconde_ de los Rios."
+
+He did not venture to call it a _Spanish Grandee_, for, in fact, it is
+but a shallow and dirty stream; and as Quevedo wittily informs us,
+"_Mancanares_ is reduced, during the summer season, to the melancholy
+condition of the wicked rich man, who asks for water in the depths of
+hell." Though so small, this stream in the time of a flood spreads
+itself over the neighbouring fields; for this reason Philip the Second
+built a bridge eleven hundred feet long!--A Spaniard passing it one day,
+when it was perfectly dry, observing this superb bridge, archly
+remarked, "That it would be proper that the bridge should be sold to
+purchase water."--_Es menester, vender la puente, par comprar agua._
+
+The following elegant translation of a Spanish madrigal of the kind here
+criticised I found in a newspaper, but it is evidently by a master-hand.
+
+    On the green margin of the land,
+      Where Guadalhorce winds his way,
+      My lady lay:
+    With golden key Sleep's gentle hand
+      Had closed her eyes so bright--
+      Her eyes, two suns of light--
+      And bade his balmy dews
+      Her rosy cheeks suffuse.
+    The River God in slumber saw her laid:
+      He raised his dripping head,
+      With weeds o'erspread,
+    Clad in his wat'ry robes approach'd the maid,
+    And with cold kiss, like death,
+      Drank the rich perfume of the maiden's breath.
+    The maiden felt that icy kiss:
+      _Her suns unclosed, their flame_
+      Full and unclouded on th' intruder came.
+      Amazed th' intruder felt
+      _His frothy body melt
+    And heard the radiance on his bosom hiss_;
+      And, forced in blind confusion to retire,
+      _Leapt in the water to escape the fire_.
+
+
+
+
+SAINT EVREMOND.
+
+
+The portrait of St. Evremond is delineated by his own hand.
+
+In his day it was a literary fashion for writers to give their own
+portraits; a fashion that seems to have passed over into our country,
+for Farquhar has drawn his own character in a letter to a lady. Others
+of our writers have given these self-miniatures. Such painters are, no
+doubt, great flatterers, and it is rather their ingenuity, than their
+truth, which we admire in these cabinet-pictures.
+
+"I am a philosopher, as far removed from superstition as from impiety; a
+voluptuary, who has not less abhorrence of debauchery than inclination
+for pleasure; a man who has never known want nor abundance. I occupy
+that station of life which is contemned by those who possess everything;
+envied by those who have nothing; and only relished by those who make
+their felicity consist in the exercise of their reason. Young, I hated
+dissipation; convinced that man must possess wealth to provide for the
+comforts of a long life. Old, I disliked economy; as I believe that we
+need not greatly dread want, when we have but a short time to be
+miserable. I am satisfied with what nature has done for me, nor do I
+repine at fortune. I do not seek in men what they have of evil, that I
+may censure; I only discover what they have ridiculous, that I may be
+amused. I feel a pleasure in detecting their follies; I should feel a
+greater in communicating my discoveries, did not my prudence restrain
+me. Life is too short, according to my ideas, to read all kinds of
+books, and to load our memories with an endless number of things at the
+cost of our judgment. I do not attach myself to the observations of
+scientific men to acquire science; but to the most rational, that I may
+strengthen my reason. Sometimes I seek for more delicate minds, that my
+taste may imbibe their delicacy; sometimes for the gayer, that I may
+enrich my genius with their gaiety; and, although I constantly read, I
+make it less my occupation than my pleasure. In religion, and in
+friendship, I have only to paint myself such as I am--in friendship more
+tender than a philosopher; and in religion, as constant and as sincere
+as a youth who has more simplicity than experience. My piety is composed
+more of justice and charity than of penitence. I rest my confidence on
+God, and hope everything from His benevolence. In the bosom of
+Providence I find my repose, and my felicity."
+
+
+
+
+MEN OF GENIUS DEFICIENT IN CONVERSATION.
+
+
+The student or the artist who may shine a luminary of learning and of
+genius, in his works, is found, not rarely, to lie obscured beneath a
+heavy cloud in colloquial discourse.
+
+If you love the man of letters, seek him in the privacies of his study.
+It is in the hour of confidence and tranquillity that his genius shall
+elicit a ray of intelligence more fervid than the labours of polished
+composition.
+
+The great Peter Corneille, whose genius resembled that of our
+Shakspeare, and who has so forcibly expressed the sublime sentiments of
+the hero, had nothing in his exterior that indicated his genius; his
+conversation was so insipid that it never failed of wearying. Nature,
+who had lavished on him the gifts of genius, had forgotten to blend with
+them her more ordinary ones. He did not even _speak_ correctly that
+language of which he was such a master. When his friends represented to
+him how much more he might please by not disdaining to correct these
+trivial errors, he would smile, and say--"_I am not the less Peter
+Corneille!_"
+
+Descartes, whose habits were formed in solitude and meditation, was
+silent in mixed company; it was said that he had received his
+intellectual wealth from nature in solid bars, but not in current coin;
+or as Addison expressed the same idea, by comparing himself to a banker
+who possessed the wealth of his friends at home, though he carried none
+of it in his pocket; or as that judicious moralist Nicolle, of the
+Port-Royal Society, said of a scintillant wit--"He conquers me in the
+drawing-room, but he surrenders to me at discretion on the staircase."
+Such may say with Themistocles, when asked to play on a lute--"I cannot
+fiddle, but I can make a little village a great city."
+
+The deficiencies of Addison in conversation are well known. He preserved
+a rigid silence amongst strangers; but if he was silent, it was the
+silence of meditation. How often, at that moment, he laboured at some
+future Spectator!
+
+Mediocrity can _talk_; but it is for genius to _observe_.
+
+The cynical Mandeville compared Addison, after having passed an evening
+in his company, to "a silent parson in a tie-wig."
+
+Virgil was heavy in conversation, and resembled more an ordinary man
+than an enchanting poet.
+
+La Fontaine, says La Bruyere, appeared coarse, heavy, and stupid; he
+could not speak or describe what he had just seen; but when he wrote he
+was a model of poetry.
+
+It is very easy, said a humorous observer on La Fontaine, to be a man of
+wit, or a fool; but to be both, and that too in the extreme degree, is
+indeed admirable, and only to be found in him. This observation applies
+to that fine natural genius Goldsmith. Chaucer was more facetious in his
+tales than in his conversation, and the Countess of Pembroke used to
+rally him by saying, that his silence was more agreeable to her than his
+conversation.
+
+Isocrates, celebrated for his beautiful oratorical compositions, was of
+so timid a disposition, that he never ventured to speak in public. He
+compared himself to the whetstone which will not cut, but enables other
+things to do so; for his productions served as models to other orators.
+Vaucanson was said to be as much a machine as any he had made.
+
+Dryden says of himself--"My conversation is slow and dull, my humour
+saturnine and reserved. In short, I am none of those who endeavour to
+break jests in company, or make repartees."[41]
+
+
+
+
+VIDA.
+
+
+What a consolation for an aged parent to see his child, by the efforts
+of his own merits, attain from the humblest obscurity to distinguished
+eminence! What a transport for the man of sensibility to return to the
+obscure dwelling of his parent, and to embrace him, adorned with public
+honours! Poor _Vida_ was deprived of this satisfaction; but he is placed
+higher in our esteem by the present anecdote, than even by that classic
+composition, which rivals the Art of Poetry of his great master.
+
+_Jerome Vida_, after having long served two Popes, at length attained to
+the episcopacy. Arrayed in the robes of his new dignity, he prepared to
+visit his aged parents, and felicitated himself with the raptures which
+the old couple would feel in embracing their son as their bishop. When
+he arrived at their village, he learnt that it was but a few days since
+they were no more. His sensibilities were exquisitely pained. The muse
+dictated some elegiac verse, and in the solemn pathos deplored the death
+and the disappointment of his parents.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCUDERIES.
+
+
+    Bien heureux SCUDERY, dont la fertile plume
+    Peut tous les mois sans peine enfanter un volume.
+
+Boileau has written this couplet on the Scuderies, the brother and
+sister, both famous in their day for composing romances, which they
+sometimes extended to ten or twelve volumes. It was the favourite
+literature of that period, as novels are now. Our nobility not
+unfrequently condescended to translate these voluminous compositions.
+
+The diminutive size of our modern novels is undoubtedly an improvement:
+but, in resembling the size of primers, it were to be wished that their
+contents had also resembled their inoffensive pages. Our
+great-grandmothers were incommoded with overgrown folios; and, instead
+of finishing the eventful history of two lovers at one or two sittings,
+it was sometimes six months, _including Sundays_, before they could get
+quit of their Clelias, their Cyrus's, and Parthenissas.
+
+Mademoiselle Scudery had composed _ninety volumes_! She had even
+finished another romance, which she would not give the public, whose
+taste, she perceived, no more relished this kind of works. She was one
+of those unfortunate authors who, living to more than ninety years of
+age, survive their own celebrity.
+
+She had her panegyrists in her day: Menage observes--"What a pleasing
+description has Mademoiselle Scudery made, in her Cyrus, of the little
+court at Rambouillet! A thousand things in the romances of this learned
+lady render them inestimable. She has drawn from the ancients their
+happiest passages, and has even improved upon them; like the prince in
+the fable, whatever she touches becomes gold. We may read her works with
+great profit, if we possess a correct taste, and love instruction. Those
+who censure their _length_ only show the littleness of their judgment;
+as if Homer and Virgil were to be despised, because many of their books
+were filled with episodes and incidents that necessarily retard the
+conclusion. It does not require much penetration to observe that _Cyrus_
+and _Clelia_ are a species of the _epic_ poem. The epic must embrace a
+number of events to suspend the course of the narrative; which, only
+taking in a part of the life of the hero, would terminate too soon to
+display the skill of the poet. Without this artifice, the charm of
+uniting the greater part of the episodes to the principal subject of the
+romance would be lost. Mademoiselle de Scudery has so well treated them,
+and so aptly introduced a variety of beautiful passages, that nothing in
+this kind is comparable to her productions. Some expressions, and
+certain turns, have become somewhat obsolete; all the rest will last
+for ever, and outlive the criticisms they have undergone."
+
+Menage has here certainly uttered a false prophecy. The curious only
+look over her romances. They contain doubtless many beautiful
+inventions; the misfortune is, that _time_ and _patience_ are rare
+requisites for the enjoyment of these Iliads in prose.
+
+"The misfortune of her having written too abundantly has occasioned an
+unjust contempt," says a French critic. "We confess there are many heavy
+and tedious passages in her voluminous romances; but if we consider that
+in the Clelia and the Artamene are to be found inimitable delicate
+touches, and many splendid parts, which would do honour to some of our
+living writers, we must acknowledge that the great defects of all her
+works arise from her not writing in an age when taste had reached the
+_acme_ of cultivation. Such is her erudition, that the French place her
+next to the celebrated Madame Dacier. Her works, containing many secret
+intrigues of the court and city, her readers must have keenly relished
+on their early publication."
+
+Her Artamene, or the Great Cyrus, and principally her Clelia, are
+representations of what then passed at the court of France. The _Map_ of
+the _Kingdom of Tenderness_, in Clelia, appeared, at the time, as one of
+the happiest inventions. This once celebrated _map_ is an allegory which
+distinguishes the different kinds of TENDERNESS, which are reduced to
+_Esteem_, _Gratitude_, and _Inclination_. The map represents three
+rivers, which have these three names, and on which are situated three
+towns called Tenderness: Tenderness on _Inclination_; Tenderness on
+_Esteem_; and Tenderness on _Gratitude_. _Pleasing Attentions_, or,
+_Petits Soins_, is a _village_ very beautifully situated. Mademoiselle
+de Scudery was extremely proud of this little allegorical map; and had a
+terrible controversy with another writer about its originality.
+
+GEORGE SCUDERY, her brother, and inferior in genius, had a striking
+singularity of character:--he was one of the most complete votaries to
+the universal divinity, Vanity. With a heated imagination, entirely
+destitute of judgment, his military character was continually exhibiting
+itself by that peaceful instrument the pen, so that he exhibits a most
+amusing contrast of ardent feelings in a cool situation; not liberally
+endowed with genius, but abounding with its semblance in the fire of
+eccentric gasconade; no man has portrayed his own character with a
+bolder colouring than himself, in his numerous prefaces and addresses;
+surrounded by a thousand self-illusions of the most sublime class,
+everything that related to himself had an Homeric grandeur of
+conception.
+
+In an epistle to the Duke of Montmorency, Scudery says, "I will learn to
+write with my left hand, that my right hand may more nobly be devoted to
+your service;" and alluding to his pen (_plume_), declares "he comes
+from a family who never used one, but to stick in their hats." When he
+solicits small favours from the great, he assures them "that princes
+must not think him importunate, and that his writings are merely
+inspired by his own individual interest; no! (he exclaims) I am studious
+only of your glory, while I am careless of my own fortune." And indeed,
+to do him justice, he acted up to these romantic feelings. After he had
+published his epic of Alaric, Christina of Sweden proposed to honour him
+with a chain of gold of the value of five hundred pounds, provided he
+would expunge from his epic the eulogiums he bestowed on the Count of
+Gardie, whom she had disgraced. The epical soul of Scudery magnanimously
+scorned the bribe, and replied, that "If the chain of gold should be as
+weighty as that chain mentioned in the history of the Incas, I will
+never destroy any altar on which I have sacrificed!"
+
+Proud of his boasted nobility and erratic life, he thus addresses the
+reader: "You will lightly pass over any faults in my work, if you
+reflect that I have employed the greater part of my life in seeing the
+finest parts of Europe, and that I have passed more days in the camp
+than in the library. I have used more matches to light my musket than to
+light my candles; I know better to arrange columns in the field than
+those on paper; and to square battalions better than to round periods."
+In his first publication, he began his literary career perfectly in
+character, by a challenge to his critics!
+
+He is the author of sixteen plays, chiefly heroic tragedies; children
+who all bear the features of their father. He first introduced, in his
+"L'Amour Tyrannique," a strict observance of the Aristotelian unities of
+time and place; and the necessity and advantages of this regulation are
+insisted on, which only shows that Aristotle's art goes but little to
+the composition of a pathetic tragedy. In his last drama, "Arminius,"
+he extravagantly scatters his panegyrics on its fifteen predecessors;
+but of the present one he has the most exalted notion: it is the
+quintessence of Scudery! An ingenious critic calls it "The downfall of
+mediocrity!" It is amusing to listen to this blazing preface:--"At
+length, reader, nothing remains for me but to mention the great Arminius
+which I now present to you, and by which I have resolved to close my
+long and laborious course. It is indeed my masterpiece! and the most
+finished work that ever came from my pen; for whether we examine the
+fable, the manners, the sentiments, or the versification, it is certain
+that I never performed anything so just, so great, nor more beautiful;
+and if my labours could ever deserve a crown, I would claim it for this
+work!"
+
+The actions of this singular personage were in unison with his writings:
+he gives a pompous description of a most unimportant government which he
+obtained near Marseilles, but all the grandeur existed only in our
+author's heated imagination. Bachaumont and De la Chapelle describe it,
+in their playful "Voyage:"
+
+    Mais il faut vous parler du fort,
+    Qui sans doute est une merveille;
+    C'est notre dame de la garde!
+    Gouvernement commode et beau,
+    A qui suffit pour tout garde,
+    Un Suisse avec sa hallebarde
+    Peint sur la porte du chateau!
+
+A fort very commodiously guarded; only requiring one sentinel with his
+halbert--painted on the door!
+
+In a poem on his disgust with the world, he tells us how intimate he has
+been with princes: Europe has known him through all her provinces; he
+ventured everything in a thousand combats:
+
+    L'on me vit obeir, l'on me vit commander,
+    Et mon poil tout poudreux a blanchi sons les armes;
+    Il est peu de beaux arts ou je ne sois instruit;
+    En prose et en vers, mon nom fit quelque bruit;
+    Et par plus d'un chemin je parvins a la gloire.
+
+    IMITATED.
+
+    Princes were proud my friendship to proclaim,
+    And Europe gazed, where'er her hero came!
+    I grasp'd the laurels of heroic strife,
+    The thousand perils of a soldier's life;
+    Obedient in the ranks each toilful day!
+    Though heroes soon command, they first obey.
+
+    'Twas not for me, too long a time to yield!
+    Born for a chieftain in the tented field!
+    Around my plumed helm, my silvery hair
+    Hung like an honour'd wreath of age and care!
+    The finer arts have charm'd my studious hours,
+    Versed in their mysteries, skilful in their powers;
+    In verse and prose my equal genius glow'd,
+    Pursuing glory by no single road!
+
+Such was the vain George Scudery! whose heart, however, was warm:
+poverty could never degrade him; adversity never broke down his
+magnanimous spirit!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 41: The same is reported of Butler; and it is said that
+Charles II. declared he could not believe him to be the author of
+_Hudibras_; that witty poem being such a contradiction to his heavy
+manners.]
+
+
+
+
+DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT.
+
+
+The maxims of this noble author are in the hands of every one. To those
+who choose to derive every motive and every action from the solitary
+principle of _self-love_, they are inestimable. They form one continued
+satire on human nature; but they are not reconcilable to the feelings of
+the man of better sympathies, or to him who passes through life with the
+firm integrity of virtue. Even at court we find a Sully, a Malesherbes,
+and a Clarendon, as well as a Rouchefoucault and a Chesterfield.
+
+The Duke de la Rochefoucault, says Segrais, had not studied; but he was
+endowed with a wonderful degree of discernment, and knew the world
+perfectly well. This afforded him opportunities of making reflections,
+and reducing into maxims those discoveries which he had made in the
+heart of man, of which he displayed an admirable knowledge.
+
+It is perhaps worthy of observation, that this celebrated French duke
+could never summon resolution, at his election, to address the Academy.
+Although chosen a member, he never entered, for such was his timidity,
+that he could not face an audience and deliver the usual compliment on
+his introduction; he whose courage, whose birth, and whose genius were
+alike distinguished. The fact is, as appears by Mad. de Sevigne, that
+Rochefoucault lived a close domestic life; there must be at least as
+much _theoretical_ as _practical_ knowledge in the opinions of such a
+retired philosopher.
+
+Chesterfield, our English Rochefoucault, we are also informed, possessed
+an admirable knowledge of the heart of man; and he, too, has drawn a
+similar picture of human nature. These are two _noble authors_ whose
+chief studies seem to have been made in _courts_. May it not be
+possible, allowing these authors not to have written a sentence of
+apocrypha, that the fault lies not so much in _human nature_ as in the
+satellites of Power breathing their corrupt atmosphere?
+
+
+
+
+PRIOR'S HANS CARVEL.
+
+
+Were we to investigate the genealogy of our best modern stories, we
+should often discover the illegitimacy of our favourites; and retrace
+them frequently to the East. My well-read friend Douce had collected
+materials for such a work. The genealogies of tales would have gratified
+the curious in literature.
+
+The story of the ring of Hans Carvel is of very ancient standing, as are
+most of the tales of this kind.
+
+Menage says that Poggius, who died in 1459, has the merit of its
+invention; but I suspect he only related a very popular story.
+
+Rabelais, who has given it in his peculiar manner, changed its original
+name of Philelphus to that of Hans Carvel.
+
+This title is likewise in the eleventh of _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_
+collected in 1461, for the amusement of Louis XI. when Dauphin, and
+living in solitude.
+
+Ariosto has borrowed it, at the end of his fifth Satire; but has fairly
+appropriated it by his pleasant manner.
+
+In a collection of novels at Lyons, in 1555, it is introduced into the
+eleventh novel.
+
+Celio Malespini has it again in page 288 of the second part of his Two
+Hundred Novels, printed at Venice in 1609.
+
+Fontaine has prettily set it off, and an anonymous writer has composed
+it in Latin Anacreontic verses; and at length our Prior has given it
+with equal gaiety and freedom. After Ariosto, La Fontaine, and Prior,
+let us hear of it no more; yet this has been done, in a manner, however,
+which here cannot be told.
+
+Voltaire has a curious essay to show that most of our best modern
+stories and plots originally belonged to the eastern nations, a fact
+which has been made more evident by recent researches. The Amphitryon of
+Moliere was an imitation of Plautus, who borrowed it from the Greeks,
+and they took it from the Indians! It is given by Dow in his History of
+Hindostan. In Captain Scott's Tales and Anecdotes from Arabian writers,
+we are surprised at finding so many of our favourites very ancient
+orientalists.--The Ephesian Matron, versified by La Fontaine, was
+borrowed from the Italians; it is to be found in Petronius, and
+Petronius had it from the Greeks. But where did the Greeks find it? In
+the Arabian Tales! And from whence did the Arabian fabulists borrow it?
+From the Chinese! It is found in Du Halde, who collected it from the
+Versions of the Jesuits.
+
+
+
+
+THE STUDENT IN THE METROPOLIS.
+
+
+A man of letters, more intent on the acquisitions of literature than on
+the intrigues of politics, or the speculations of commerce, may find a
+deeper solitude in a populous metropolis than in the seclusion of the
+country.
+
+The student, who is no flatterer of the little passions of men, will not
+be much incommoded by their presence. Gibbon paints his own situation in
+the heart of the fashionable world:--"I had not been endowed by art or
+nature with those happy gifts of confidence and address which unlock
+every door and every bosom. While coaches were rattling through
+Bond-street, I have passed many a solitary evening in my lodging with my
+books. I withdrew without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene
+of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure." And even
+after he had published the first volume of his History, he observes that
+in London his confinement was solitary and sad; "the many forgot my
+existence when they saw me no longer at Brookes's, and the few who
+sometimes had a thought on their friend were detained by business or
+pleasure, and I was proud and happy if I could prevail on my bookseller,
+Elmsly, to enliven the dulness of the evening."
+
+A situation, very elegantly described in the beautifully polished verses
+of Mr. Rogers, in his "Epistle to a Friend:"
+
+    When from his classic dreams the student steals
+    Amid the buzz of crowds, the whirl of wheels,
+    To muse unnoticed, while around him press
+    The meteor-forms of equipage and dress;
+    Alone in wonder lost, he seems to stand
+    A very stranger in his native land.
+
+He compares the student to one of the seven sleepers in the ancient
+legend.
+
+Descartes residing in the commercial city of Amsterdam, writing to
+Balzac, illustrates these descriptions with great force and vivacity.
+
+"You wish to retire; and your intention is to seek the solitude of the
+Chartreux, or, possibly, some of the most beautiful provinces of France
+and Italy. I would rather advise you, if you wish to observe mankind,
+and at the same time to lose yourself in the deepest solitude, to join
+me in Amsterdam. I prefer this situation to that even of your delicious
+villa, where I spent so great a part of the last year; for, however
+agreeable a country-house may be, a thousand little conveniences are
+wanted, which can only be found in a city. One is not alone so
+frequently in the country as one could wish: a number of impertinent
+visitors are continually besieging you. Here, as all the world, except
+myself, is occupied in commerce, it depends merely on myself to live
+unknown to the world. I walk every day amongst immense ranks of people,
+with as much tranquillity as you do in your green alleys. The men I meet
+with make the same impression on my mind as would the trees of your
+forests, or the flocks of sheep grazing on your common. The busy hum too
+of these merchants does not disturb one more than the purling of your
+brooks. If sometimes I amuse myself in contemplating their anxious
+motions, I receive the same pleasure which you do in observing those men
+who cultivate your land; for I reflect that the end of all their labours
+is to embellish the city which I inhabit, and to anticipate all my
+wants. If you contemplate with delight the fruits of your orchards, with
+all the rich promises of abundance, do you think I feel less in
+observing so many fleets that convey to me the productions of either
+India? What spot on earth could you find, which, like this, can so
+interest your vanity and gratify your taste?"
+
+
+
+
+THE TALMUD.
+
+
+The JEWS have their TALMUD; the CATHOLICS their LEGENDS of Saints; and
+the TURKS their SONNAH. The PROTESTANT has nothing but his BIBLE. The
+former are three kindred works. Men have imagined that the more there is
+to be believed, the more are the merits of the believer. Hence all
+_traditionists_ formed the orthodox and the strongest party. The word
+of God is lost amidst those heaps of human inventions, sanctioned by an
+order of men connected with religious duties; they ought now, however,
+to be regarded rather as CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. I give a
+sufficiently ample account of the TALMUD and the LEGENDS; but of the
+SONNAH I only know that it is a collection of the traditional opinions
+of the Turkish prophets, directing the observance of petty superstitions
+not mentioned in the Koran.
+
+The TALMUD is a collection of Jewish traditions which have been _orally_
+preserved. It comprises the MISHNA, which is the text; and the GEMARA,
+its commentary. The whole forms a complete system of the learning,
+ceremonies, civil and canon laws of the Jews; treating indeed on all
+subjects; even gardening, manual arts, &c. The rigid Jews persuaded
+themselves that these traditional explications are of divine origin. The
+Pentateuch, say they, was written out by their legislator before his
+death in thirteen copies, distributed among the twelve tribes, and the
+remaining one deposited in the ark. The oral law Moses continually
+taught in the Sanhedrim, to the elders and the rest of the people. The
+law was repeated four times; but the interpretation was delivered only
+by _word of mouth_ from generation to generation. In the fortieth year
+of the flight from Egypt, the memory of the people became treacherous,
+and Moses was constrained to repeat this oral law, which had been
+conveyed by successive traditionists. Such is the account of honest
+David Levi; it is the creed of every rabbin.--David believed in
+everything but in Jesus.
+
+This history of the Talmud some inclined to suppose apocryphal, even
+among a few of the Jews themselves. When these traditions first
+appeared, the keenest controversy has never been able to determine. It
+cannot be denied that there existed traditions among the Jews in the
+time of Jesus Christ. About the second century, they were industriously
+collected by Rabbi Juda the Holy, the prince of the rabbins, who enjoyed
+the favour of Antoninus Pius. He has the merit of giving some order to
+this multifarious collection.
+
+It appears that the Talmud was compiled by certain Jewish doctors, who
+were solicited for this purpose by their nation, that they might have
+something to oppose to their Christian adversaries.
+
+The learned W. Wotton, in his curious "Discourses" on the traditions of
+the Scribes and Pharisees, supplies an analysis of this vast collection;
+he has translated entire two divisions of this code of traditional laws,
+with the original text and the notes.
+
+There are two Talmuds: the Jerusalem and the Babylonian. The last is the
+most esteemed, because it is the most bulky.
+
+R. Juda, the prince of the rabbins, committed to writing all these
+traditions, and arranged them under six general heads, called orders or
+classes. The subjects are indeed curious for philosophical inquirers,
+and multifarious as the events of civil life. Every _order_ is formed of
+_treatises_; every _treatise_ is divided into chapters, every _chapter_
+into _mishnas_, which word means mixtures or miscellanies, in the form
+of _aphorisms_. In the first part is discussed what relates to _seeds_,
+_fruits_, and _trees_; in the second, _feasts_; in the third, _women_,
+their duties, their _disorders_, _marriages_, _divorces_, _contracts_,
+and _nuptials_; in the fourth, are treated the damages or losses
+sustained by beasts or men; of _things found_; _deposits_; _usuries_;
+_rents_; _farms_; _partnerships_ in commerce; _inheritance_; _sales_ and
+_purchases_; _oaths_; _witnesses_; _arrests_; _idolatry_; and here are
+named those by whom the oral law was received and preserved. In the
+fifth part are noticed _sacrifices_ and _holy things_; and the sixth
+treats of _purifications_; _vessels_; _furniture_; _clothes_; _houses_;
+_leprosy_; _baths_; and numerous other articles. All this forms the
+MISHNA.
+
+The GEMARA, that is, the _complement_ or _perfection_, contains the
+DISPUTES and the OPINIONS of the RABBINS on the oral traditions. Their
+last decisions. It must be confessed that absurdities are sometimes
+elucidated by other absurdities; but there are many admirable things in
+this vast repository. The Jews have such veneration for this
+compilation, that they compare the holy writings to _water_, and the
+Talmud to _wine_; the text of Moses to _pepper_, but the Talmud to
+_aromatics_. Of the twelve hours of which the day is composed, they tell
+us that _God_ employs nine to study the Talmud, and only three to read
+the written law!
+
+St. Jerome appears evidently to allude to this work, and notices its
+"Old Wives' Tales," and the filthiness of some of its matters. The truth
+is, that the rabbins resembled the Jesuits and Casuists; and Sanchez's
+work on "_Matrimonio_" is well known to agitate matters with such
+_scrupulous niceties_ as to become the most offensive thing possible.
+But as among the schoolmen and casuists there have been great men, the
+same happened to these Gemaraists. Maimonides was a pillar of light
+among their darkness. The antiquity of this work is of itself sufficient
+to make it very curious.
+
+A specimen of the topics may be shown from the table and contents of
+"Mishnic Titles." In the order of seeds, we find the following heads,
+which present no uninteresting picture of the pastoral and pious
+ceremonies of the ancient Jews.
+
+The Mishna, entitled the _Corner_, i.e. of the field. The laws of
+gleaning are commanded according to Leviticus; xix. 9, 10. Of the corner
+to be left in a corn-field. When the corner is due and when not. Of the
+forgotten sheaf. Of the ears of corn left in gathering. Of grapes left
+upon the vine. Of olives left upon the trees. When and where the poor
+may lawfully glean. What sheaf, or olives, or grapes, may be looked upon
+to be forgotten, and what not. Who are the proper witnesses concerning
+the poor's due, to exempt it from tithing, &c. They distinguished
+uncircumcised fruit:--it is unlawful to eat of the fruit of any tree
+till the fifth year of its growth: the first three years of its bearing,
+it is called uncircumcised; the fourth is offered to God; and the fifth
+may be eaten.
+
+The Mishna, entitled _Heterogeneous Mixtures_, contains several curious
+horticultural particulars. Of divisions between garden-beds and fields,
+that the produce of the several sorts of grains or seeds may appear
+distinct. Of the distance between every species. Distances between vines
+planted in corn-fields from one another and from the corn; between vines
+planted against hedges, walls, or espaliers, and anything sowed near
+them. Various cases relating to vineyards planted near any forbidden
+seeds.
+
+In their seventh, or sabbatical year, in which the produce of all
+estates was given up to the poor, one of these regulations is on the
+different work which must not be omitted in the sixth year, lest
+(because the seventh being devoted to the poor) the produce should be
+unfairly diminished, and the public benefit arising from this law be
+frustrated. Of whatever is not perennial, and produced that year by the
+earth, no money may be made; but what is perennial may be sold.
+
+On priests' tithes, we have a regulation concerning eating the fruits
+carried to the place where they are to be separated.
+
+The order _women_ is very copious. A husband is obliged to forbid his
+wife to keep a particular man's company before two witnesses. Of the
+waters of jealousy by which a suspected woman is to be tried by
+drinking, we find ample particulars. The ceremonies of clothing the
+accused woman at her trial. Pregnant women, or who suckle, are not
+obliged to drink for the rabbins seem to be well convinced of the
+effects of the imagination. Of their divorces many are the laws; and
+care is taken to particularise bills of divorces written by men in
+delirium or dangerously ill. One party of the rabbins will not allow of
+any divorce, unless something light was found in the woman's character,
+while another (the Pharisees) allow divorces even when a woman has only
+been so unfortunate as to suffer her husband's soup to be burnt!
+
+In the order of _damages_, containing rules how to tax the damages done
+by man or beast, or other casualties, their distinctions are as nice as
+their cases are numerous. What beasts are innocent and what convict. By
+the one they mean creatures not naturally used to do mischief in any
+particular way; and by the other, those that naturally, or by a vicious
+habit, are mischievous that way. The tooth of a beast is convict, when
+it is proved to eat its usual food, the property of another man, and
+full restitution must be made; but if a beast that is used to eat fruits
+and herbs gnaws clothes or damages tools, which are not its usual food,
+the owner of the beast shall pay but half the damage when committed on
+the property of the injured person; but if the injury is committed on
+the property of the person who does the damage, he is free, because the
+beast gnawed what was not its usual food. As thus; if the beast of A.
+gnaws or tears the clothes of B. in B.'s house or grounds, A. shall pay
+half the damages; but if B.'s clothes are injured in A.'s grounds by
+A.'s beast, A. is free, for what had B. to do to put his clothes in A.'s
+grounds? They made such subtile distinctions, as when an ox gores a man
+or beast, the law inquired into the habits of the beast; whether it was
+an ox that used to gore, or an ox that was not used to gore. However
+acute these niceties sometimes were, they were often ridiculous. No
+beast could be _convicted_ of being vicious till evidence was given that
+he had done mischief three successive days; but if he leaves off those
+vicious tricks for three days more, he is innocent again. An ox may be
+convict of goring an ox and not a man, or of goring a man and not an ox:
+nay; of goring on the sabbath, and not on a working day. Their aim was
+to make the punishment depend on the proofs of the _design_ of the
+beast that did the injury; but this attempt evidently led them to
+distinctions much too subtile and obscure. Thus some rabbins say that
+the morning prayer of the _Shemah_ must be read at the time they can
+distinguish _blue_ from _white_; but another, more indulgent, insists it
+may be when we can distinguish _blue_ from _green_! which latter colours
+are so near akin as to require a stronger light. With the same
+remarkable acuteness in distinguishing things, is their law respecting
+not touching fire on the Sabbath. Among those which are specified in
+this constitution, the rabbins allow the minister to look over young
+children by lamp-light, but he shall not read himself. The minister is
+forbidden to _read_ by lamp-light, lest he should trim his lamp; but he
+may direct the children where they should read, because that is quickly
+done, and there would be no danger of his trimming his lamp in their
+presence, or suffering any of them to do it in his. All these
+regulations, which some may conceive as minute and frivolous, show a
+great intimacy with the human heart, and a spirit of profound
+observation which had been capable of achieving great purposes.
+
+The owner of an innocent beast only pays half the costs for the mischief
+incurred. Man is always convict, and for all mischief he does he must
+pay full costs. However there are casual damages,--as when a man pours
+water accidentally on another man; or makes a thorn-hedge which annoys
+his neighbour; or falling down, and another by stumbling on him incurs
+harm: how such compensations are to be made. He that has a vessel of
+another's in keeping, and removes it, but in the removal breaks it, must
+swear to his own integrity; i.e., that he had no design to break it. All
+offensive or noisy trades were to be carried on at a certain distance
+from a town. Where there is an estate, the sons inherit, and the
+daughters are maintained; but if there is not enough for all, the
+daughters are maintained, and the sons must get their living as they
+can, or even beg. The contrary to this excellent ordination has been
+observed in Europe.
+
+These few titles may enable the reader to form a general notion of the
+several subjects on which the Mishna treats. The Gemara or Commentary is
+often overloaded with ineptitudes and ridiculous subtilties. For
+instance, in the article of "Negative Oaths." If a man swears he will
+eat no bread, and does eat all sorts of bread, in that case the perjury
+is but one; but if he swears that he will eat neither barley, nor
+wheaten, nor rye-bread, the perjury is multiplied as he multiplies his
+eating of the several sorts.--Again, the Pharisees and the Sadducees had
+strong differences about touching the holy writings with their hands.
+The doctors ordained that whoever touched the book of the law must not
+eat of the truma (first fruits of the wrought produce of the ground),
+till they had washed their hands. The reason they gave was this. In
+times of persecution, they used to hide those sacred books in secret
+places, and good men would lay them out of the way when they had done
+reading them. It was possible, then, that these rolls of the law might
+be gnawed by _mice_. The hands then that touched these books when they
+took them out of the places where they had laid them up, were supposed
+to be unclean, so far as to disable them from eating the truma till they
+were washed. On that account they made this a general rule, that if any
+part of the _Bible_ (except _Ecclesiastes_, because that excellent book
+their sagacity accounted less holy than the rest) or their phylacteries,
+or the strings of their phylacteries, were touched by one who had a
+right to eat the truma, he might not eat it till he had washed his
+hands. An evidence of that superstitious trifling, for which the
+Pharisees and the later Rabbins have been so justly reprobated.
+
+They were absurdly minute in the literal observance of their vows, and
+as shamefully subtile in their artful evasion of them. The Pharisees
+could be easy enough to themselves when convenient, and always as hard
+and unrelenting as possible to all others. They quibbled, and dissolved
+their vows, with experienced casuistry. Jesus reproaches the Pharisees
+in Matthew xv. and Mark vii. for flagrantly violating the fifth
+commandment, by allowing the vow of a son, perhaps made in hasty anger,
+its full force, when he had sworn that his father should never be the
+better for him, or anything he had, and by which an indigent father
+might be suffered to starve. There is an express case to this purpose in
+the Mishna, in the title of _Vows_. The reader may be amused by the
+story:--A man made a vow that his _father should not profit by him_.
+This man afterwards made a wedding-feast for his son, and wishes his
+father should be present; but he cannot invite him, because he is tied
+up by his vow. He invented this expedient:--He makes a gift of the court
+in which the feast was to be kept, and of the feast itself, to a third
+person in trust, that his father should be invited by that third person,
+with the other company whom he at first designed. This third person then
+says--If these things you thus have given me are mine, I will dedicate
+them to God, and then none of you can be the better for them. The son
+replied--I did not give them to you that you should consecrate them.
+Then the third man said--Yours was no donation, only you were willing to
+eat and drink with your father. Thus, says R. Juda, they dissolved each
+other's intentions; and when the case came before the rabbins, they
+decreed that a gift which may not be consecrated by the person to whom
+it is given is not a gift.
+
+The following extract from the Talmud exhibits a subtile mode of
+reasoning, which the Jews adopted when the learned of Rome sought to
+persuade them to conform to their idolatry. It forms an entire Mishna,
+entitled _Sedir Nezikin_, Avoda Zara, iv. 7. on idolatrous worship,
+translated by Wotton.
+
+"Some Roman senators examined the Jews in this manner:--If God hath no
+delight in the worship of idols, why did he not destroy them? The Jews
+made answer--If men had worshipped only things of which the world had
+had no need, he would have destroyed the object of their worship; but
+they also worship the sun and moon, stars and planets; and then he must
+have destroyed his world for the sake of these deluded men. But still,
+said the Romans, why does not God destroy the things which the world
+does not want, and leave those things which the world cannot be without?
+Because, replied the Jews, this would strengthen the hands of such as
+worship these necessary things, who would then say--Ye allow now that
+these are gods, since they are not destroyed."
+
+
+
+
+RABBINICAL STORIES.
+
+
+The preceding article furnishes some of the more serious investigations
+to be found in the Talmud. Its levities may amuse. I leave untouched the
+gross obscenities and immoral decisions. The Talmud contains a vast
+collection of stories, apologues, and jests; many display a vein of
+pleasantry, and at times have a wildness of invention, which
+sufficiently mark the features of an eastern parent. Many extravagantly
+puerile were designed merely to recreate their young students. When a
+rabbin was asked the reason of so much nonsense, he replied that the
+ancients had a custom of introducing music in their lectures, which
+accompaniment made them more agreeable; but that not having musical
+instruments in the schools, the rabbins invented these strange stories
+to arouse attention. This was ingeniously said; but they make miserable
+work when they pretend to give mystical interpretations to pure
+nonsense.
+
+In 1711, a German professor of the Oriental languages, Dr. Eisenmenger,
+published in two large volumes quarto, his "Judaism Discovered," a
+ponderous labour, of which the scope was to ridicule the Jewish
+traditions.
+
+I shall give a dangerous adventure into which King David was drawn by
+the devil. The king one day hunting, Satan appeared before him in the
+likeness of a roe. David discharged an arrow at him, but missed his aim.
+He pursued the feigned roe into the land of the Philistines. Ishbi, the
+brother of Goliath, instantly recognised the king as him who had slain
+that giant. He bound him, and bending him neck and heels, laid him under
+a wine-press in order to press him to death. A miracle saves David. The
+earth beneath him became soft, and Ishbi could not press wine out of
+him. That evening in the Jewish congregation a dove, whose wings were
+covered with silver, appeared in great perplexity; and evidently
+signified the king of Israel was in trouble. Abishai, one of the king's
+counsellors, inquiring for the king, and finding him absent, is at a
+loss to proceed, for according to the Mishna, no one may ride on the
+king's horse, nor sit upon his throne, nor use his sceptre. The school
+of the rabbins, however, allowed these things in time of danger. On this
+Abishai vaults on David's horse, and (with an Oriental metaphor) the
+land of the Philistines leaped to him instantly! Arrived at Ishbi's
+house, he beholds his mother Orpa spinning. Perceiving the Israelite,
+she snatched up her spinning-wheel and threw it at him, to kill him; but
+not hitting him, she desired him to bring the spinning-wheel to her. He
+did not do this exactly, but returned it to her in such a way that she
+never asked any more for her spinning-wheel. When Ishbi saw this, and
+recollecting that David, though tied up neck and heels, was still under
+the wine-press, he cried out. "There are now two who will destroy me!"
+So he threw David high up into the air, and stuck his spear into the
+ground, imagining that David would fall upon it and perish. But Abishai
+pronounced the magical name, which the Talmudists frequently make use
+of, and it caused David to hover between earth and heaven, so that he
+fell not down! Both at length unite against Ishbi, and observing that
+two young lions should kill one lion, find no difficulty in getting rid
+of the brother of Goliath.
+
+Of Solomon, another favourite hero of the Talmudists, a fine Arabian
+story is told. This king was an adept in necromancy, and a male and a
+female devil were always in waiting for an emergency. It is observable,
+that the Arabians, who have many stories concerning Solomon, always
+describe him as a magician. His adventures with Aschmedai, the prince of
+devils, are numerous; and they both (the king and the devil) served one
+another many a slippery trick. One of the most remarkable is when
+Aschmedai, who was prisoner to Solomon, the king having contrived to
+possess himself of the devil's seal-ring, and chained him, one day
+offered to answer an unholy question put to him by Solomon, provided he
+returned him his seal-ring and loosened his chain. The impertinent
+curiosity of Solomon induced him to commit this folly. Instantly
+Aschmedai swallowed the monarch; and stretching out his wings up to the
+firmament of heaven, one of his feet remaining on the earth, he spit out
+Solomon four hundred leagues from him. This was done so privately, that
+no one knew anything of the matter. Aschmedai then assumed the likeness
+of Solomon, and sat on his throne. From that hour did Solomon say,
+"_This_ then is the reward of all my labour," according to
+Ecclesiasticus i. 3; which _this_ means, one rabbin says, his
+walking-staff; and another insists was his ragged coat. For Solomon went
+a begging from door to door; and wherever he came he uttered these
+words; "I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem." At length
+coming before the council, and still repeating these remarkable words,
+without addition or variation, the rabbins said, "This means something:
+for a fool is not constant in his tale!" They asked the chamberlain, if
+the king frequently saw him? and he replied to them, No! Then they sent
+to the queens, to ask if the king came into their apartments? and they
+answered, Yes! The rabbins then sent them a message to take notice of
+his feet; for the feet of devils are like the feet of cocks. The queens
+acquainted them that his majesty always came in slippers, but forced
+them to embrace at times forbidden by the law. He had attempted to lie
+with his mother Bathsheba, whom he had almost torn to pieces. At this
+the rabbins assembled in great haste, and taking the beggar with them,
+they gave him the ring and the chain in which the great magical name was
+engraven, and led him to the palace. Asehmedai was sitting on the throne
+as the real Solomon entered; but instantly he shrieked and flew away.
+Yet to his last day was Solomon afraid of the prince of devils, and had
+his bed guarded by the valiant men of Israel, as is written in Cant.
+iii. 7, 8.
+
+They frequently display much humour in their inventions, as in the
+following account of the manners and morals of an infamous town, which
+mocked at all justice. There were in Sodom four judges, who were liars,
+and deriders of justice. When any one had struck his neighbour's wife,
+and caused her to miscarry, these judges thus counselled the
+husband:--"Give her to the offender, that he may get her with child for
+thee." When any one had cut off an ear of his neighbour's ass, they said
+to the owner--"Let him have the ass till the ear is grown again, that it
+may be returned to thee as thou wishest." When any one had wounded his
+neighbour, they told the wounded man to "give him a fee for letting him
+blood." A toll was exacted in passing a certain bridge; but if any one
+chose to wade through the water, or walk round about to save it, he was
+condemned to a double toll. Eleasar, Abraham's servant, came thither,
+and they wounded him. When, before the judge, he was ordered to pay his
+fee for having his blood let, Eleasar flung a stone at the judge, and
+wounded him; on which the judge said to him--"What meaneth this?"
+Eleasar replied--"Give him who wounded me the fee that is due to myself
+for wounding thee." The people of this town had a bedstead on which they
+laid travellers who asked for rest. If any one was too long for it, they
+cut off his legs; and if he was shorter than the bedstead, they strained
+him to its head and foot. When a beggar came to this town, every one
+gave him a penny, on which was inscribed the donor's name; but they
+would sell him no bread, nor let him escape. When the beggar died from
+hunger, then they came about him, and each man took back his penny.
+These stories are curious inventions of keen mockery and malice,
+seasoned with humour. It is said some of the famous decisions of Sancho
+Panza are to be found in the Talmud.
+
+Abraham is said to have been jealous of his wives, and built an
+enchanted city for them. He built an iron city and put them in. The
+walls were so high and dark, the sun could not be seen in it. He gave
+them a bowl full of pearls and jewels, which sent forth a light in this
+dark city equal to the sun. Noah, it seems, when in the ark, had no
+other light than jewels and pearls. Abraham, in travelling to Egypt,
+brought with him a chest. At the custom-house the officers exacted the
+duties. Abraham would have readily paid, but desired they would not open
+the chest. They first insisted on the duty for clothes, which Abraham
+consented to pay; but then they thought, by his ready acquiescence, that
+it might be gold. Abraham consents to pay for gold. They now suspected
+it might be silk. Abraham was willing to pay for silk, or more costly
+pearls; and Abraham generously consented to pay as if the chest
+contained the most valuable of things. It was then they resolved to open
+and examine the chest; and, behold, as soon as that chest was opened,
+that great lustre of human beauty broke out which made such a noise in
+the land of Egypt; it was Sarah herself! The jealous Abraham, to conceal
+her beauty, had locked her up in this chest.
+
+The whole creation in these rabbinical fancies is strangely gigantic and
+vast. The works of eastern nations are full of these descriptions; and
+Hesiod's Theogony, and Milton's battles of angels, are puny in
+comparison with these rabbinical heroes, or rabbinical things. Mountains
+are hurled, with all their woods, with great ease, and creatures start
+into existence too terrible for our conceptions. The winged monster in
+the "Arabian Nights," called the Roc, is evidently one of the creatures
+of rabbinical fancy; it would sometimes, when very hungry, seize and fly
+away with an elephant. Captain Cook found a bird's nest in an island
+near New Holland, built with sticks on the ground, six-and-twenty feet
+in circumference, and near three feet in height. But of the rabbinical
+birds, fish, and animals, it is not probable any circumnavigator will
+ever trace even the slightest vestige or resemblance.
+
+One of their birds, when it spreads its wings, blots out the sun. An egg
+from another fell out of its nest, and the white thereof broke and glued
+about three hundred cedar-trees, and overflowed a village. One of them
+stands up to the lower joint of the leg in a river, and some mariners,
+imagining the water was not deep, were hastening to bathe, when a voice
+from heaven said--"Step not in there, for seven years ago there a
+carpenter dropped his axe, and it hath not yet reached the bottom."
+
+The following passage, concerning fat geese, is perfectly in the style
+of these rabbins:--"A rabbin once saw in a desert a flock of geese so
+fat that their feathers fell off, and the rivers flowed in fat. Then
+said I to them, shall we have part of you in the other world when the
+Messiah shall come? And one of them lifted up a wing, and another a leg,
+to signify these parts we should have. We should otherwise have had all
+parts of these geese; but we Israelites shall be called to an account
+touching these fat geese, because their sufferings are owing to us. It
+is our iniquities that have delayed the coming of the Messiah; and these
+geese suffer greatly by reason of their excessive fat, which daily and
+daily increases, and will increase till the Messiah comes!"
+
+What the manna was which fell in the wilderness, has often been
+disputed, and still is disputable; it was sufficient for the rabbins to
+have found in the Bible that the taste of it was "as a wafer made with
+honey," to have raised their fancy to its pitch. They declare it was
+"like oil to children, honey to old men, and cakes to middle age." It
+had every kind of taste except that of cucumbers, melons, garlic, and
+onions, and leeks, for these were those Egyptian roots which the
+Israelites so much regretted to have lost. This manna had, however, the
+quality to accommodate itself to the palate of those who did not murmur
+in the wilderness; and to these it became fish, flesh, or fowl.
+
+The rabbins never advance an absurdity without quoting a text in
+Scripture; and to substantiate this fact they quote Deut. ii. 7, where
+it is said, "Through this great wilderness these forty years the Lord
+thy God hath been with thee, and _thou hast lacked nothing_!" St. Austin
+repeats this explanation of the Rabbins, that the faithful found in this
+manna the taste of their favourite food! However, the Israelites could
+not have found all these benefits, as the rabbins tell us; for in
+Numbers xi. 6, they exclaim, "There is _nothing at all besides this
+manna_ before our eyes!" They had just said that they remembered the
+melons, cucumbers, &c., which they had eaten of so freely in Egypt. One
+of the hyperboles of the rabbins is, that the manna fell in such
+mountains, that the kings of the east and the west beheld them; which
+they found on a passage in the 23rd Psalm; "Thou preparest a table
+before me in the presence of mine enemies!" These may serve as specimens
+of the forced interpretations on which their grotesque fables are
+founded.
+
+Their detestation of Titus, their great conqueror, appears by the
+following wild invention. After having narrated certain things too
+shameful to read, of a prince whom Josephus describes in far different
+colours, they tell us that on sea Titus tauntingly observed, in a great
+storm, that the God of the Jews was only powerful on the water, and
+that, therefore, he had succeeded in drowning Pharaoh and Sisera. "Had
+he been strong, he would have waged war with me in Jerusalem." On
+uttering this blasphemy, a voice from heaven said, "Wicked man! I have a
+little creature in the world which shall wage war with thee!" When Titus
+landed, a gnat entered his nostrils, and for seven years together made
+holes in his brains. When his skull was opened, the gnat was found to be
+as large as a pigeon: the mouth of the gnat was of copper, and the claws
+of iron. A collection which has recently appeared of these Talmudical
+stories has not been executed with any felicity of selection. That there
+are, however, some beautiful inventions in the Talmud, I refer to the
+story of Solomon and Sheba, in the present volume.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE CUSTOM OF SALUTING AFTER SNEEZING.
+
+
+It is probable that this custom, so universally prevalent, originated in
+some ancient superstition; it seems to have excited inquiry among all
+nations.
+
+"Some Catholics," says Father Feyjoo, "have attributed the origin of
+this custom to the ordinance of a pope, Saint Gregory, who is said to
+have instituted a short benediction to be used on such occasions, at a
+time when, during a pestilence, the crisis was attended by _sneezing_,
+and in most cases followed by _death_."
+
+But the rabbins, who have a story for everything, say, that before Jacob
+men never sneezed but _once_, and then immediately _died_: they assure
+us that that patriarch was the first who died by natural disease; before
+him all men died by sneezing; the memory of which was ordered to be
+preserved in _all nations_, by a command of every prince to his subjects
+to employ some salutary exclamation after the act of sneezing. But these
+are Talmudical dreams, and only serve to prove that so familiar a custom
+has always excited inquiry.
+
+Even Aristotle has delivered some considerable nonsense on this custom;
+he says it is an honourable acknowledgment of the seat of good sense and
+genius--the head--to distinguish it from two other offensive eruptions
+of air, which are never accompanied by any benediction from the
+by-standers. The custom, at all events, existed long prior to Pope
+Gregory. The lover in Apuleius, Gyton in Petronius, and allusions to it
+in Pliny, prove its antiquity; and a memoir of the French Academy
+notices the practice in the New World, on the first discovery of
+America. Everywhere man is saluted for sneezing.
+
+An amusing account of the ceremonies which attend the _sneezing_ of a
+king of Monomotapa, shows what a national concern may be the sneeze of
+despotism.--Those who are near his person, when this happens, salute him
+in so loud a tone, that persons in the ante-chamber hear it, and join in
+the acclamation; in the adjoining apartments they do the same, till the
+noise reaches the street, and becomes propagated throughout the city; so
+that, at each sneeze of his majesty, results a most horrid cry from the
+salutations of many thousands of his vassals.
+
+When the king of Sennaar sneezes, his courtiers immediately turn their
+backs on him, and give a loud slap on their right thigh.
+
+With the ancients sneezing was ominous;[42] from the _right_ it was
+considered auspicious; and Plutarch, in his Life of Themistocles, says,
+that before a naval battle it was a sign of conquest! Catullus, in his
+pleasing poem of Acme and Septimus, makes this action from the deity of
+Love, from the _left_, the source of his fiction. The passage has been
+elegantly versified by a poetical friend, who finds authority that the
+gods sneezing on the _right_ in _heaven_, is supposed to come to us on
+_earth_ on the _left_.
+
+    Cupid _sneezing_ in his flight,
+    Once was heard upon the _right_,
+    Boding woe to lovers true;
+    But now upon the _left_ he flew,
+    And with sporting _sneeze_ divine,
+    Gave to joy the sacred sign.
+    Acme bent her lovely face,
+    Flush'd with rapture's rosy grace,
+    And those eyes that swam in bliss,
+    Prest with many a breathing kiss;
+    Breathing, murmuring, soft, and low,
+    Thus might life for ever flow!
+    "Love of my life, and life of love!
+    Cupid rules our fates above,
+    Ever let us vow to join
+    In homage at his happy shrine."
+    Cupid heard the lovers true,
+    Again upon the _left_ he flew,
+    And with sporting _sneeze_ divine,
+    Renew'd of joy the _sacred sign_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 42: Xenophon having addressed a speech to his soldiers, in
+which he declared he felt many reasons for a dependence on the favour of
+the gods, had scarcely concluded his words when one of them emitted a
+loud sneeze. Xenophon at once declared this a spontaneous omen sent by
+Jupiter as a sign that his protection was awarded them.
+
+    "O, happy Bridegroom! thee a lucky sneeze
+    To Sparta welcom'd."--_Theocritus_, Idyll xviii.
+
+"Prometheus was the first that wished well to the sneezer, when the man
+which he had made of clay fell into a fit of sternutation upon the
+approach of that celestial fire which he stole from the sun."--Ross's
+_Arcana Microcosmi_.]
+
+
+
+
+BONAVENTURE DE PERIERS.
+
+
+A happy art in the relation of a story is, doubtless, a very agreeable
+talent; it has obtained La Fontaine all the applause which his charming
+_naivete_ deserves.
+
+Of "_Bonaventure de Periers, Valet de Chambre de la Royne de Navarre_,"
+there are three little volumes of tales in prose, in the quaint or the
+coarse pleasantry of that day. The following is not given as the best,
+but as it introduces a novel etymology of a word in great use:--
+
+"A student at law, who studied at Poitiers, had tolerably improved
+himself in cases of equity; not that he was over-burthened with
+learning; but his chief deficiency was a want of assurance and
+confidence to display his knowledge. His father, passing by Poitiers,
+recommended him to read aloud, and to render his memory more prompt by
+continued exercise. To obey the injunctions of his father, he determined
+to read at the _Ministery_. In order to obtain a certain quantity of
+assurance, he went every day into a garden, which was a very retired
+spot, being at a distance from any house, and where there grew a great
+number of fine large cabbages. Thus for a long time he pursued his
+studies, and repeated his lectures to these cabbages, addressing them by
+the title of _gentlemen_, and balancing his periods to them as if they
+had composed an audience of scholars. After a fort-night or three weeks'
+preparation, he thought it was high time to take the _chair_; imagining
+that he should be able to lecture his scholars as well as he had before
+done his cabbages. He comes forward, he begins his oration--but before a
+dozen words his tongue freezes between his teeth! Confused, and hardly
+knowing where he was, all he could bring out was--_Domini, Ego bene
+video quod non eslis caules_; that is to say--for there are some who
+will have everything in plain English--_Gentlemen, I now clearly see you
+are not cabbages!_ In the _garden_ he could conceive the _cabbages_ to
+be _scholars_; but in the _chair_, he could not conceive the _scholars_
+to be _cabbages_."
+
+On this story La Monnoye has a note, which gives a new origin to a
+familiar term.
+
+"The hall of the School of Equity at Poitiers, where the institutes were
+read, was called _La Ministerie_. On which head Florimond de Remond
+(book vii. ch. 11), speaking of Albert Babinot, one of the first
+disciples of Calvin, after having said he was called 'The _good man_,'
+adds, that because he had been a student of the institutes at this
+_Ministerie_ of Poitiers, Calvin and others styled him _Mr. Minister_;
+from whence, afterwards _Calvin_ took occasion to give the name of
+MINISTERS to the pastors of his church."
+
+
+
+
+GROTIUS.
+
+
+The Life of Grotius shows the singular felicity of a man of letters and
+a statesman, and how a student can pass his hours in the closest
+imprisonment. The gate of the prison has sometimes been the porch of
+fame.
+
+Grotius, studious from his infancy, had also received from Nature the
+faculty of genius, and was so fortunate as to find in his father a tutor
+who formed his early taste and his moral feelings. The younger Grotius,
+in imitation of Horace, has celebrated his gratitude in verse.
+
+One of the most interesting circumstances in the life of this great man,
+which strongly marks his genius and fortitude, is displayed in the
+manner in which he employed his time during his imprisonment. Other men,
+condemned to exile and captivity, if they survive, despair; the man of
+letters may reckon those days as the sweetest of his life.
+
+When a prisoner at the Hague, he laboured on a Latin essay on the means
+of terminating religious disputes, which occasion so many infelicities
+in the state, in the church, and in families; when he was carried to
+Louvenstein, he resumed his law studies, which other employments had
+interrupted. He gave a portion of his time to moral philosophy, which
+engaged him to translate the maxims of the ancient poets, collected by
+Stobaeus, and the fragments of Menander and Philemon.
+
+Every Sunday was devoted to the Scriptures, and to his Commentaries on
+the New Testament. In the course of the work he fell ill; but as soon as
+he recovered his health, he composed his treatise, in Dutch verse, on
+the Truth of the Christian Religion. Sacred and profane authors occupied
+him alternately. His only mode of refreshing his mind was to pass from
+one work to another. He sent to Vossius his observations on the
+Tragedies of Seneca. He wrote several other works--particularly a little
+Catechism, in verse, for his daughter Cornelia--and collected materials
+to form his Apology. Although he produced thus abundantly, his
+confinement was not more than two years. We may well exclaim here, that
+the mind of Grotius had never been imprisoned.
+
+To these various labours we may add an extensive correspondence he held
+with the learned; his letters were often so many treatises, and there is
+a printed collection amounting to two thousand. Grotius had notes ready
+for every classical author of antiquity, whenever a new edition was
+prepared; an account of his plans and his performances might furnish a
+volume of themselves; yet he never published in haste, and was fond of
+revising them. We must recollect, notwithstanding such uninterrupted
+literary avocations, his hours were frequently devoted to the public
+functions of an ambassador:--"I only reserve for my studies the time
+which other ministers give to their pleasures, to conversations often
+useless, and to visits sometimes unnecessary." Such is the language of
+this great man!
+
+I have seen this great student censured for neglecting his official
+duties; but, to decide on this accusation, it would be necessary to know
+the character of his accuser.
+
+
+
+
+NOBLEMEN TURNED CRITICS.
+
+
+I offer to the contemplation of those unfortunate mortals who are
+necessitated to undergo the criticisms of _lords_, this pair of
+anecdotes:--
+
+Soderini, the Gonfaloniere of Florence, having had a statue made by the
+great _Michael Angelo_, when it was finished, came to inspect it; and
+having for some time sagaciously considered it, poring now on the face,
+then on the arms, the knees, the form of the leg, and at length on the
+foot itself; the statue being of such perfect beauty, he found himself
+at a loss to display his powers of criticism, only by lavishing his
+praise. But only to praise might appear as if there had been an
+obtuseness in the keenness of his criticism. He trembled to find a
+fault, but a fault must be found. At length he ventured to mutter
+something concerning the nose--it might, he thought, be something more
+Grecian. _Angelo_ differed from his Grace, but he said he would attempt
+to gratify his taste. He took up his chisel, and concealed some marble
+dust in his hand; feigning to re-touch the part, he adroitly let fall
+some of the dust he held concealed. The Cardinal observing it as it
+fell, transported at the idea of his critical acumen, exclaimed--"Ah,
+_Angelo_, you have now given an inimitable grace!"
+
+When Pope was first introduced to read his Iliad to Lord Halifax, the
+noble critic did not venture to be dissatisfied with so perfect a
+composition; but, like the cardinal, this passage, and that word, this
+turn, and that expression, formed the broken cant of his criticisms. The
+honest poet was stung with vexation; for, in general, the parts at which
+his lordship hesitated were those with which he was most satisfied. As
+he returned home with Sir Samuel Garth, he revealed to him the anxiety
+of his mind. "Oh," replied Garth, laughing, "you are not so well
+acquainted with his lordship as myself; he must criticize. At your next
+visit, read to him those very passages as they now stand; tell him that
+you have recollected his criticisms; and I'll warrant you of his
+approbation of them. This is what I have done a hundred times myself."
+_Pope_ made use of this stratagem; it took, like the marble dust of
+_Angelo_; and my lord, like the cardinal, exclaimed--"Dear _Pope_, they
+are now inimitable!"
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY IMPOSTURES.
+
+
+Some authors have practised singular impositions on the public.
+Varillas, the French historian, enjoyed for some time a great reputation
+in his own country for his historical compositions; but when they became
+more known, the scholars of other countries destroyed the reputation
+which he had unjustly acquired. His continual professions of sincerity
+prejudiced many in his favour, and made him pass for a writer who had
+penetrated into the inmost recesses of the cabinet; but the public were
+at length undeceived, and were convinced that the historical anecdotes
+which Varillas put off for authentic facts had no foundation, being
+wholly his own inventions--though he endeavoured to make them pass for
+realities by affected citations of titles, instructions, letters,
+memoirs, and relations, all of them imaginary! He had read almost
+everything historical, printed and manuscript; but his fertile political
+imagination gave his conjectures as facts, while he quoted at random his
+pretended authorities. Burnet's book against Varillas is a curious
+little volume.[43]
+
+Gemelli Carreri, a Neapolitan gentleman, for many years never quitted
+his chamber; confined by a tedious indisposition, he amused himself with
+writing a _Voyage round the World_; giving characters of men, and
+descriptions of countries, as if he had really visited them: and his
+volumes are still very interesting. I preserve this anecdote as it has
+long come down to us; but Carreri, it has been recently ascertained, met
+the fate of Bruce--for he had visited the places he has described;
+Humboldt and Clavigero have confirmed his local knowledge of Mexico and
+of China, and found his book useful and veracious. Du Halde, who has
+written so voluminous an account of China, compiled it from the Memoirs
+of the Missionaries, and never travelled ten leagues from Paris in his
+life,--though he appears, by his writings, to be familiar with Chinese
+scenery.
+
+Damberger's Travels some years ago made a great sensation--and the
+public were duped; they proved to be the ideal voyages of a member of
+the German Grub-street, about his own garret. Too many of our "Travels"
+have been manufactured to fill a certain size; and some which bear names
+of great authority were not written by the professed authors.
+
+There is an excellent observation of an anonymous author:--"_Writers_
+who never visited foreign countries, and _travellers_ who have run
+through immense regions with fleeting pace, have given us long accounts
+of various countries and people; evidently collected from the idle
+reports and absurd traditions of the ignorant vulgar, from whom only
+they could have received those relations which we see accumulated with
+such undiscerning credulity."
+
+Some authors have practised the singular imposition of announcing a
+variety of titles of works preparing for the press, but of which nothing
+but the titles were ever written.
+
+Paschal, historiographer of France, had a reason for these ingenious
+inventions; he continually announced such titles, that his pension for
+writing on the history of France might not be stopped. When he died, his
+historical labours did not exceed six pages!
+
+Gregorio Leti is an historian of much the same stamp as Varillas. He
+wrote with great facility, and hunger generally quickened his pen. He
+took everything too lightly; yet his works are sometimes looked into for
+many anecdotes of English history not to be found elsewhere; and perhaps
+ought not to have been there if truth had been consulted. His great aim
+was always to make a book: he swells his volumes with digressions,
+intersperses many ridiculous stories, and applies all the repartees he
+collected from old novel-writers to modern characters.
+
+Such forgeries abound; the numerous "Testaments Politiques" of Colbert,
+Mazarin, and other great ministers, were forgeries usually from the
+Dutch press, as are many pretended political "Memoirs."
+
+Of our old translations from the Greek and Latin authors, many were
+taken from French versions.
+
+The Travels, written in Hebrew, of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, of which we
+have a curious translation, are, I believe, apocryphal. He describes a
+journey, which, if ever he took, it must have been with his night-cap
+on; being a perfect dream! It is said that to inspirit and give
+importance to his nation, he pretended that he had travelled to all the
+synagogues in the East; he mentions places which he does not appear ever
+to have seen, and the different people he describes no one has known. He
+calculates that he has found near eight hundred thousand Jews, of which
+about half are independent, and not subjects of any Christian or Gentile
+sovereign. These fictitious travels have been a source of much trouble
+to the learned; particularly to those who in their zeal to authenticate
+them followed the aerial footsteps of the Hyppogriffe of Rabbi Benjamin.
+He affirms that the tomb of Ezekiel, with the library of the first and
+second temples, were to be seen in his time at a place on the banks of
+the river Euphrates; Wesselius of Groningen, and many other literati,
+travelled on purpose to Mesopotamia, to reach the tomb and examine the
+library; but the fairy treasures were never to be seen, nor even heard
+of!
+
+The first on the list of impudent impostors is Annius of Viterbo, a
+Dominican, and master of the sacred palace under Alexander VI. He
+pretended he had discovered the entire works of Sanchoniatho, Manetho,
+Berosus, and others, of which only fragments are remaining. He published
+seventeen books of antiquities! But not having any MSS. to produce,
+though he declared he had found them buried in the earth, these literary
+fabrications occasioned great controversies; for the author died before
+he made up his mind to a confession. At their first publication
+universal joy was diffused among the learned. Suspicion soon rose, and
+detection followed. However, as the forger never would acknowledge
+himself as such, it has been ingeniously conjectured that he himself was
+imposed on, rather than that he was the impostor; or, as in the case of
+Chatterton, possibly all may not be fictitious. It has been said that a
+great volume in MS., anterior by two hundred years to the seventeen
+books of Annius, exists in the Bibliotheque Colbertine, in which these
+pretended histories were to be read; but as Annius would never point out
+the sources of his, the whole may be considered as a very wonderful
+imposture. I refer the reader to Tyrwhitt's Vindication of his Appendix
+to Rowley's or Chatterton's Poems, p. 140, for some curious
+observations, and some facts of literary imposture.
+
+An extraordinary literary imposture was that of one Joseph Vella, who,
+in 1794, was an adventurer in Sicily, and pretended that he possessed
+seventeen of the lost books of Livy in Arabic: he had received this
+literary treasure, he said, from a Frenchman, who had purloined it from
+a shelf in St. Sophia's church at Constantinople. As many of the Greek
+and Roman classics have been translated by the Arabians, and many were
+first known in Europe in their Arabic dress, there was nothing
+improbable in one part of his story. He was urged to publish these
+long-desired books; and Lady Spencer, then in Italy, offered to defray
+the expenses. He had the effrontery, by way of specimen, to edit an
+Italian translation of the sixtieth book, but that book took up no more
+than one octavo page! A professor of Oriental literature in Prussia
+introduced it in his work, never suspecting the fraud; it proved to be
+nothing more than the epitome of Florus. He also gave out that he
+possessed a code which he had picked up in the abbey of St. Martin,
+containing the ancient history of Sicily in the Arabic period,
+comprehending above two hundred years; and of which ages their own
+historians were entirely deficient in knowledge. Vella declared he had a
+genuine official correspondence between the Arabian governors of Sicily
+and their superiors in Africa, from the first landing of the Arabians in
+that island. Vella was now loaded with honours and pensions! It is true
+he showed Arabic MSS., which, however, did not contain a syllable of
+what he said. He pretended he was in continual correspondence with
+friends at Morocco and elsewhere. The King of Naples furnished him with
+money to assist his researches. Four volumes in quarto were at length
+published! Vella had the adroitness to change the Arabic MSS. he
+possessed, which entirely related to Mahomet, to matters relative to
+Sicily; he bestowed several weeks' labour to disfigure the whole,
+altering page for page, line for line, and word for word, but
+interspersed numberless dots, strokes, and flourishes; so that when he
+published a fac-simile, every one admired the learning of Vella, who
+could translate what no one else could read. He complained he had lost
+an eye in this minute labour; and every one thought his pension ought to
+have been increased. Everything prospered about him, except his eye,
+which some thought was not so bad neither. It was at length discovered
+by his blunders, &c., that the whole was a forgery: though it had now
+been patronised, translated, and extracted through Europe. When this MS.
+was examined by an Orientalist, it was discovered to be nothing but a
+history of _Mahomet and his family_. Vella was condemned to
+imprisonment.
+
+The Spanish antiquary, Medina Conde, in order to favour the pretensions
+of the church in a great lawsuit, forged deeds and inscriptions, which
+he buried in the ground, where he knew they would shortly be dug up.
+Upon their being found, he published engravings of them, and gave
+explanations of their unknown characters, making them out to be so many
+authentic proofs and evidences of the contested assumptions of the
+clergy.
+
+The Morocco ambassador purchased of him a copper bracelet of Fatima,
+which Medina proved by the Arabic inscription and many certificates to
+be genuine, and found among the ruins of the Alhambra, with other
+treasures of its last king, who had hid them there in hope of better
+days. This famous bracelet turned out afterwards to be the work of
+Medina's own hand, made out of an old brass candlestick!
+
+George Psalmanazar, to whose labours we owe much of the great Universal
+History, exceeded in powers of deception any of the great impostors of
+learning. His Island of Formosa was an illusion eminently bold,[44] and
+maintained with as much felicity as erudition; and great must have been
+that erudition which could form a pretended language and its grammar,
+and fertile the genius which could invent the history of an unknown
+people: it is said that the deception was only satisfactorily
+ascertained by his own penitential confession; he had defied and
+baffled the most learned.[45] The literary impostor Lauder had much more
+audacity than ingenuity, and he died contemned by all the world.[46]
+Ireland's "Shakspeare" served to show that commentators are not blessed,
+necessarily, with an interior and unerring tact.[47] Genius and learning
+are ill directed in forming literary impositions, but at least they must
+be distinguished from the fabrications of ordinary impostors.
+
+A singular forgery was practised on Captain Wilford by a learned Hindu,
+who, to ingratiate himself and his studies with the too zealous and
+pious European, contrived, among other attempts, to give the history of
+Noah and his three sons, in his "Purana," under the designation of
+Satyavrata. Captain Wilford having _read_ the passage, transcribed it
+for Sir William Jones, who translated it as a curious extract; the whole
+was an interpolation by the dexterous introduction of a forged sheet,
+discoloured and prepared for the purpose of deception, and which, having
+served his purpose for the moment, was afterwards withdrawn. As books in
+India are not bound, it is not difficult to introduce loose leaves. To
+confirm his various impositions, this learned forger had the patience to
+write two voluminous sections, in which he connected all the legends
+together in the style of the _Puranas_, consisting of 12,000 lines. When
+Captain Wilford resolved to collate the manuscript with others, the
+learned Hindu began to disfigure his own manuscript, the captain's, and
+those of the college, by erasing the name of the country and
+substituting that of Egypt. With as much pains, and with a more
+honourable direction, our Hindu Lauder might have immortalized his
+invention.
+
+We have authors who sold their names to be prefixed to works they never
+read; or, on the contrary, have prefixed the names of others to their
+own writings. Sir John Hill, once when he fell sick, owned to a friend
+that he had over-fatigued himself with writing seven works at once! one
+of which was on architecture, and another on cookery! This hero once
+contracted to translate Swammerdam's work on insects for fifty guineas.
+After the agreement with the bookseller, he recollected that he did not
+understand a word of the Dutch language! Nor did there exist a French
+translation! The work, however, was not the less done for this small
+obstacle. Sir John bargained with another translator for twenty-five
+guineas. The second translator was precisely in the same situation as
+the first--as ignorant, though not so well paid as the knight. He
+rebargained with a third, who perfectly understood his original, for
+twelve guineas! So that the translators who could not translate feasted
+on venison and turtle, while the modest drudge, whose name never
+appeared to the world, broke in patience his daily bread! The craft of
+authorship has many mysteries.[48] One of the great patriarchs and
+primeval dealers in English literature was Robert Green, one of the most
+facetious, profligate, and indefatigable of the Scribleri family. He
+laid the foundation of a new dynasty of literary emperors. The first act
+by which he proved his claim to the throne of Grub-street has served as
+a model to his numerous successors--it was an ambidextrous trick! Green
+sold his "Orlando Furioso" to two different theatres, and is among the
+first authors in English literary history who wrote as a _trader_;[49]
+or as crabbed Anthony Wood phrases it, in the language of celibacy and
+cynicism, "he wrote to maintain his _wife_, and that high and loose
+course of living which _poets generally follow_." With a drop still
+sweeter, old Anthony describes Gayton, another worthy; "he came up to
+London to live in a _shirking condition_, and wrote _trite things_
+merely to get bread to sustain him and his _wife_."[50] The hermit
+Anthony seems to have had a mortal antipathy against the Eves of
+literary men.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 43: Burnet's little 12mo volume was printed at Amsterdam, "in
+the Warmoes-straet near the Dam," 1686, and compiled by him when living
+for safety in Holland during the reign of James II. He particularly
+attacks Varillas' ninth book, which relates to England, and its false
+history of the Reformation, or rather "his own imagination for true
+history." On the authority of Catholic students, he says "the greatest
+number of the pieces he cited were to be found nowhere but in his own
+fancy." Burnet allows full latitude to an author for giving the best
+colouring to his own views and that of his party--a latitude he
+certainly always allowed to himself; but he justly censures the
+falsifying, or rather inventing, of history; after Varillas' fashion.
+"History," says Burnet, "is a sort of trade, in which false coyn and
+false weights are more criminal than in other matters; because the
+errour may go further and run longer, though their authors colour their
+copper too slightly to make it keep its credit long."]
+
+[Footnote 44: The volume was published in 8vo in 1704, as "An Historical
+and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the
+Emperor of Japan." It is dedicated to the Bishop of London, who is told
+that "the Europeans have such obscure and various notions of Japan, and
+especially of our island Formosa, that they believe nothing for truth
+that has been said of it." He accordingly narrates the political history
+of the place; the manners and customs of its inhabitants; their
+religion, language, &c. A number of engravings illustrate the whole, and
+depict the dresses of the people, their houses, temples, and ceremonies.
+A "Formosan Alphabet" is also given, and the Lord's Prayer, Apostles'
+Creed, and Ten Commandments, are "translated" into this imaginary
+language. To keep up the imposition, he ate raw meat when dining with
+the Secretary to the Royal Society, and Formosa appeared in the maps as
+a real island, in the spot he had described as its locality.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Psalmanazar would never reveal the true history of his
+early life, but acknowledged one of the southern provinces of France as
+the place of his birth, about 1679. He received a fair education, became
+lecturer in a Jesuit college, then a tutor at Avignon; he afterwards led
+a wandering life, subsisting on charity, and pretending to be an Irish
+student travelling to Rome for conscience sake. He soon found he would
+be more successful if he personated a Pagan stranger, and hence he
+gradually concocted his tale of _Formosa_; inventing an alphabet, and
+perfecting his story, which was not fully matured before he had had a
+few years' hard labour as a soldier in the Low Countries; where a Scotch
+gentleman introduced him to the notice of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London;
+who patronised him, and invited him to England. He came, and to oblige
+the booksellers compiled his _History of Formosa_, by the two editions
+of which he realized the noble sum of 22_l._ He ended in becoming a
+regular bookseller's hack, and so highly moral a character, that Dr.
+Johnson, who knew him well, declared he was "the best man he had ever
+known."]
+
+[Footnote 46: William Lauder first began his literary impostures in the
+_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1747, where he accused Milton of gross
+plagiarisms in his _Paradise Lost_, pretending that he had discovered
+the prototypes of his best thoughts in other authors. This he did by
+absolute invention, in one instance interpolating twenty verses of a
+Latin translation of Milton into the works of another author, and then
+producing them with great virulence as a proof that Milton was a
+plagiarist. The falsehood of his pretended quotations was demonstrated
+by Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, in 1751, but he returned to the
+charge in 1754. His character and conduct became too bad to allow of his
+continued residence in England, and he died in Barbadoes, "in universal
+contempt," about 1771.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Ireland's famous forgeries began when, as a young man in a
+lawyer's office, he sought to imitate old deeds and letters in the name
+of Shakspeare and his friends, urged thereto by his father's great
+anxiety to discover some writings connected with the great bard. Such
+was the enthusiasm with which they were received by men of great general
+knowledge, that Ireland persevered in fresh forgeries until an entire
+play was "discovered." It was a tragedy founded on early British
+history, and named _Vortigern_. It was produced at Kemble's Theatre, and
+was damned. Ireland's downward course commenced from that night. He
+ultimately published confessions of his frauds, and died very poor in
+1835.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Fielding, the novelist, in _The Author's Farce_, one of
+those slight plays which he wrote so cleverly, has used this incident,
+probably from his acquaintance with Hill's trick. He introduces his
+author trying to sell a translation of the _AEneid_, which the bookseller
+will not purchase; but after some conversation offers him "employ" in
+the house as a translator; he then is compelled to own himself "not
+qualified," because he "understands no language but his own." "What! and
+translate _Virgil!_" exclaims the astonished bookseller. The detected
+author answers despondingly, "Alas! sir, I translated him out of
+Dryden!" The bookseller joyfully exclaims, "Not qualified! If I was an
+Emperor, thou should'st be my Prime Minister! Thou art as well vers'd in
+thy trade as if thou had'st laboured in my garret these ten years!"]
+
+
+
+
+CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
+
+
+The present anecdote concerning Cardinal Richelieu may serve to teach
+the man of letters how he deals out criticisms to the _great_, when they
+ask his opinion of manuscripts, be they in verse or prose.
+
+The cardinal placed in a gallery of his palace the portraits of several
+illustrious men, and was desirous of composing the inscriptions under
+the portraits. The one which he intended for Montluc, the marechal of
+France, was conceived in these terms: _Multa fecit, plura scripsit, vir
+tamen magnus fuit_. He showed it without mentioning the author to
+Bourbon, the royal Greek professor, and asked his opinion concerning it.
+The critic considered that the Latin was much in the style of the
+breviary; and, had it concluded with an _allelujah_, it would serve for
+an _anthem_ to the _magnificat_. The cardinal agreed with the severity
+of his strictures, and even acknowledged the discernment of the
+professor; "for," he said, "it is really written by a priest." But
+however he might approve of Bourbon's critical powers, he punished
+without mercy his ingenuity. The pension his majesty had bestowed on him
+was withheld the next year.
+
+The cardinal was one of those ambitious men who foolishly attempt to
+rival every kind of genius; and seeing himself constantly disappointed,
+he envied, with all the venom of rancour, those talents which are so
+frequently the _all_ that men of genius possess.
+
+He was jealous of Balzac's splendid reputation; and offered the elder
+Heinsius ten thousand crowns to write a criticism which should ridicule
+his elaborate compositions. This Heinsius refused, because Salmasius
+threatened to revenge Balzac on his _Herodes Infanticida_.
+
+He attempted to rival the reputation of Corneille's "Cid," by opposing
+to it one of the most ridiculous dramatic productions; it was the
+allegorical tragedy called "Europe," in which the _minister_ had
+congregated the four quarters of the world! Much political matter was
+thrown together, divided into scenes and acts. There are appended to it
+keys of the dramatis personae and of the allegories. In this tragedy
+Francion represents France; Ibere, Spain; Parthenope, Naples, &c.; and
+these have their attendants:--Lilian (alluding to the French lilies) is
+the servant of Francion, while Hispale is the confidant of Ibere. But
+the key to the allegories is much more copious:--Albione signifies
+England; _three knots of the hair of Austrasie_ mean the towns of
+Clermont, Stenay, and Jamet, these places once belonging to Lorraine. _A
+box of diamonds_ of Austrasie is the town of Nancy, belonging once to
+the dukes of Lorraine. The _key_ of Ibere's great porch is Perpignan,
+which France took from Spain; and in this manner is this sublime tragedy
+composed! When he first sent it anonymously to the French Academy it was
+reprobated. He then tore it in a rage, and scattered it about his study.
+Towards evening, like another Medea lamenting over the members of her
+own children, he and his secretary passed the night in uniting the
+scattered limbs. He then ventured to avow himself; and having pretended
+to correct this incorrigible tragedy, the submissive Academy retracted
+their censures, but the public pronounced its melancholy fate on its
+first representation. This lamentable tragedy was intended to thwart
+Corneille's "Cid." Enraged at its success, Richelieu even commanded the
+Academy to publish a severe _critique_ of it, well known in French
+literature. Boileau on this occasion has these two well-turned verses:--
+
+    "En vain contre le Cid, un ministre se ligue;
+    Tout Paris, pour _Chimene_, a les yeux de _Rodrigue_."
+
+    "To oppose the Cid, in vain the statesman tries;
+    All Paris, for _Chimene_, has _Roderick's_ eyes."
+
+It is said that, in consequence of the fall of this tragedy, the French
+custom is derived of securing a number of friends to applaud their
+pieces at their first representations. I find the following droll
+anecdote concerning this droll tragedy in Beauchamp's _Recherches sur le
+Theatre_.
+
+The minister, after the ill success of his tragedy, retired
+unaccompanied the same evening to his country-house at Ruel. He then
+sent for his favourite Desmaret, who was at supper with his friend
+Petit. Desmaret, conjecturing that the interview would be stormy, begged
+his friend to accompany him.
+
+"Well!" said the Cardinal, as soon as he saw them, "the French will
+never possess a taste for what is lofty; they seem not to have relished
+my tragedy."--"My lord," answered Petit, "it is not the fault of the
+piece, which is so admirable, but that of the _players_. Did not your
+eminence perceive that not only they knew not their parts, but that they
+were all _drunk_?"--"Really," replied the Cardinal, something pleased,
+"I observed they acted it dreadfully ill."
+
+Desmaret and Petit returned to Paris, flew directly to the players to
+plan a _new mode_ of performance, which was to _secure_ a number of
+spectators; so that at the second representation bursts of applause were
+frequently heard!
+
+Richelieu had another singular vanity, of closely imitating Cardinal
+Ximenes. Pliny was not a more servile imitator of Cicero. Marville tells
+us that, like Ximenes, he placed himself at the head of an army; like
+him, he degraded princes and nobles; and like him, rendered himself
+formidable to all Europe. And because Ximenes had established schools of
+theology, Richelieu undertook likewise to raise into notice the schools
+of the Sorbonne. And, to conclude, as Ximenes had written several
+theological treatises, our cardinal was also desirous of leaving
+posterity various polemical works. But his gallantries rendered him more
+ridiculous. Always in ill health, this miserable lover and grave
+cardinal would, in a freak of love, dress himself with a red feather in
+his cap and sword by his side. He was more hurt by an offensive nickname
+given him by the queen of Louis XIII., than even by the hiss of theatres
+and the critical condemnation of academies.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu was assuredly a great political genius. Sir William
+Temple observes, that he instituted the French Academy to give
+employment to the _wits_, and to hinder them from inspecting too
+narrowly his politics and his administration. It is believed that the
+Marshal de Grammont lost an important battle by the orders of the
+cardinal; that in this critical conjuncture of affairs his majesty, who
+was inclined to dismiss him, could not then absolutely do without him.
+
+Vanity in this cardinal levelled a great genius. He who would attempt to
+display universal excellence will be impelled to practise meanness, and
+to act follies which, if he has the least sensibility, must occasion him
+many a pang and many a blush.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 49: The story is told in _The Defence of Coneycatching_, 1592,
+where he is said to have "sold _Orlando Furioso_ to the Queen's players
+for twenty nobles, and when they were in the country sold the same play
+to the Lord Admirall's men for as much more."]
+
+[Footnote 50: Edmund Gayton was born in 1609, was educated at Oxford,
+then led the life of a literary drudge in London, where the best book he
+produced was _Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixote_, in which are many
+curious and diverting stories, and among the rest the original of
+Prior's _Ladle_. He ultimately retired to Oxford, and died there very
+poor, in a subordinate place in his college.]
+
+
+
+
+ARISTOTLE AND PLATO.
+
+
+No philosopher has been so much praised and censured as Aristotle: but
+he had this advantage, of which some of the most eminent scholars have
+been deprived, that he enjoyed during his life a splendid reputation.
+Philip of Macedon must have felt a strong conviction of his merit, when
+he wrote to him, on the birth of Alexander:--"I receive from the gods
+this day a son; but I thank them not so much for the favour of his
+birth, as his having come into the world at a time when you can have the
+care of his education; and that through you he will be rendered worthy
+of being my son."
+
+Diogenes Laertius describes the person of the Stagyrite.--His eyes were
+small, his voice hoarse, and his legs lank. He stammered, was fond of a
+magnificent dress, and wore costly rings. He had a mistress whom he
+loved passionately, and for whom he frequently acted inconsistently with
+the philosophic character; a thing as common with philosophers as with
+other men. Aristotle had nothing of the austerity of the philosopher,
+though his works are so austere: he was open, pleasant, and even
+charming in his conversation; fiery and volatile in his pleasures;
+magnificent in his dress. He is described as fierce, disdainful, and
+sarcastic. He joined to a taste for profound erudition, that of an
+elegant dissipation. His passion for luxury occasioned him such expenses
+when he was young, that he consumed all his property. Laertius has
+preserved the will of Aristotle, which is curious. The chief part turns
+on the future welfare and marriage of his daughter. "If, after my death,
+she chooses to marry, the executors will be careful she marries no
+person of an inferior rank. If she resides at Chalcis, she shall occupy
+the apartment contiguous to the garden; if she chooses Stagyra, she
+shall reside in the house of my father, and my executors shall furnish
+either of those places she fixes on."
+
+Aristotle had studied under the divine Plato; but the disciple and the
+master could not possibly agree in their doctrines: they were of
+opposite tastes and talents. Plato was the chief of the academic sect,
+and Aristotle of the peripatetic. Plato was simple, modest, frugal, and
+of austere manners; a good friend and a zealous citizen, but a
+theoretical politician: a lover indeed of benevolence, and desirous of
+diffusing it amongst men, but knowing little of them as we find them;
+his "Republic" is as chimerical as Rousseau's ideas, or Sir Thomas
+More's Utopia.
+
+Rapin, the critic, has sketched an ingenious parallel of these two
+celebrated philosophers:--
+
+"The genius of Plato is more polished, and that of Aristotle more vast
+and profound. Plato has a lively and teeming imagination; fertile in
+invention, in ideas, in expressions, and in figures; displaying a
+thousand turns, a thousand new colours, all agreeable to their subject;
+but after all it is nothing more than imagination. Aristotle is hard and
+dry in all he says, but what he says is all reason, though it is
+expressed drily: his diction, pure as it is, has something uncommonly
+austere; and his obscurities, natural or affected, disgust and fatigue
+his readers. Plato is equally delicate in his thoughts and in his
+expressions. Aristotle, though he may be more natural, has not any
+delicacy: his style is simple and equal, but close and nervous; that of
+Plato is grand and elevated, but loose and diffuse. Plato always says
+more than he should say: Aristotle never says enough, and leaves the
+reader always to think more than he says. The one surprises the mind,
+and charms it by a flowery and sparkling character: the other
+illuminates and instructs it by a just and solid method. Plato
+communicates something of genius, by the fecundity of his own; and
+Aristotle something of judgment and reason, by that impression of good
+sense which appears in all he says. In a word, Plato frequently only
+thinks to express himself well: and Aristotle only thinks to think
+justly."
+
+An interesting anecdote is related of these philosophers--Aristotle
+became the rival of Plato. Literary disputes long subsisted betwixt
+them. The disciple ridiculed his master, and the master treated
+contemptuously his disciple. To make his superiority manifest, Aristotle
+wished for a regular disputation before an audience, where erudition and
+reason might prevail; but this satisfaction was denied.
+
+Plato was always surrounded by his scholars, who took a lively interest
+in his glory. Three of these he taught to rival Aristotle, and it became
+their mutual interest to depreciate his merits. Unfortunately one day
+Plato found himself in his school without these three favourite
+scholars. Aristotle flies to him--a crowd gathers and enters with him.
+The idol whose oracles they wished to overturn was presented to them. He
+was then a respectable old man, the weight of whose years had enfeebled
+his memory. The combat was not long. Some rapid sophisms embarrassed
+Plato. He saw himself surrounded by the inevitable traps of the subtlest
+logician. Vanquished, he reproached his ancient scholar by a beautiful
+figure:--"He has kicked against us as a colt against its mother."
+
+Soon after this humiliating adventure he ceased to give public lectures.
+Aristotle remained master in the field of battle. He raised a school,
+and devoted himself to render it the most famous in Greece. But the
+three favourite scholars of Plato, zealous to avenge the cause of their
+master, and to make amends for their imprudence in having quitted him,
+armed themselves against the usurper.--Xenocrates, the most ardent of
+the three, attacked Aristotle, confounded the logician, and
+re-established Plato in all his rights. Since that time the academic and
+peripatetic sects, animated by the spirits of their several chiefs,
+avowed an eternal hostility. In what manner his works have descended to
+us has been told in a preceding article, on _Destruction of Books_.
+Aristotle having declaimed irreverently of the gods, and dreading the
+fate of Socrates, wished to retire from Athens. In a beautiful manner he
+pointed out his successor. There were two rivals in his schools:
+Menedemus the Rhodian, and Theophrastus the Lesbian. Alluding delicately
+to his own critical situation, he told his assembled scholars that the
+wine he was accustomed to drink was injurious to him, and he desired
+them to bring the wines of Rhodes and Lesbos. He tasted both, and
+declared they both did honour to their soil, each being excellent,
+though differing in their quality;--the Rhodian wine is the strongest,
+but the Lesbian is the sweetest, and that he himself preferred it. Thus
+his ingenuity designated his favourite Theophrastus, the author of the
+"Characters," for his successor.
+
+
+
+
+ABELARD AND ELOISA.
+
+
+Abelard, so famous for his writings and his amours with Eloisa, ranks
+amongst the Heretics for opinions concerning the Trinity! His superior
+genius probably made him appear so culpable in the eyes of his enemies.
+The cabal formed against him disturbed the earlier part of his life with
+a thousand persecutions, till at length they persuaded Bernard, his old
+_friend_, but who had now turned _saint_, that poor Abelard was what
+their malice described him to be. Bernard, inflamed against him,
+condemned unheard the unfortunate scholar. But it is remarkable that the
+book which was burnt as unorthodox, and as the composition of Abelard,
+was in fact written by Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris; a work which has
+since been _canonised_ in the Sarbonne, and on which the scholastic
+theology is founded. The objectionable passage is an illustration of the
+_Trinity_ by the nature of a _syllogism_!--"As (says he) the three
+propositions of a syllogism form but one truth, so the _Father and Son_
+constitute but _one essence_. The _major_ represents the _Father_, the
+_minor_ the _Son_, and the _conclusion_ the _Holy Ghost_!" It is curious
+to add, that Bernard himself has explained this mystical union precisely
+in the same manner, and equally clear. "The understanding," says this
+saint, "is the image of God. We find it consists of three parts: memory,
+intelligence, and will. To _memory_, we attribute all which we know,
+without cogitation; to _intelligence_, all truths we discover which have
+not been deposited by memory. By _memory_, we resemble the _Father_; by
+_intelligence_, the _Son_; and by _will_, the _Holy Ghost_." Bernard's
+Lib. de Anima, cap. i. num. 6, quoted in the "Mem. Secretes de la
+Republique des Lettres." We may add also, that because Abelard, in the
+warmth of honest indignation, had reproved the monks of St. Denis, in
+France, and St. Gildas de Ruys, in Bretagne, for the horrid incontinence
+of their lives, they joined his enemies, and assisted to embitter the
+life of this ingenious scholar, who perhaps was guilty of no other crime
+than that of feeling too sensibly an attachment to one who not only
+possessed the enchanting attractions of the softer sex, but, what indeed
+is very unusual, a congeniality of disposition, and an enthusiasm of
+imagination.
+
+    "Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well?"
+
+It appears by a letter of Peter de Cluny to Eloisa, that she had
+solicited for Abelard's absolution. The abbot gave it to her. It runs
+thus:--"Ego Petrus Cluniacensis Abbas, qui Petrum Abaelardum in monachum
+Cluniacensem recepi, et corpus ejus furtim delatum Heloissae abbatissae et
+moniali Paracleti concessi, auctoritate omnipotentis Dei et omnium
+sanctorum absolvo eum pro officio ab omnibus peccatis suis."
+
+An ancient chronicle of Tours records, that when they deposited the body
+of the Abbess Eloisa in the tomb of her lover, Peter Abelard, who had
+been there interred twenty years, this faithful husband raised his arms,
+stretched them, and closely embraced his beloved Eloisa. This poetic
+fiction was invented to sanctify, by a miracle, the frailties of their
+youthful days. This is not wonderful;--but it is strange that Du Chesne,
+the father of French history, not only relates this legendary tale of
+the ancient chroniclers, but gives it as an incident well authenticated,
+and maintains its possibility by various other examples. Such fanciful
+incidents once not only embellished poetry, but enlivened history.
+
+Bayle tells us that _billets doux_ and _amorous verses_ are two powerful
+machines to employ in the assaults of love, particularly when the
+passionate songs the poetical lover composes are sung by himself. This
+secret was well known to the elegant Abelard. Abelard so touched the
+sensible heart of Eloisa, and infused such fire into her frame, by
+employing his _fine pen_, and his _fine voice_, that the poor woman
+never recovered from the attack. She herself informs us that he
+displayed two qualities which are rarely found in philosophers, and by
+which he could instantly win the affections of the female;--he _wrote_
+and _sung_ finely. He composed _love-verses_ so beautiful, and _songs_
+so agreeable, as well for the _words_ as the _airs_, that all the world
+got them by heart, and the name of his mistress was spread from province
+to province.
+
+What a gratification to the enthusiastic, the amorous, the vain Eloisa!
+of whom Lord Lyttleton, in his curious Life of Henry II., observes, that
+had she not been compelled to read the fathers and the legends in a
+nunnery, and had been suffered to improve her genius by a continued
+application to polite literature, from what appears in her letters, she
+would have excelled any man of that age.
+
+Eloisa, I suspect, however, would have proved but a very indifferent
+polemic; she seems to have had a certain delicacy in her manners which
+rather belongs to the _fine lady_. We cannot but smile at an observation
+of hers on the _Apostles_ which we find in her letters:--"We read that
+the _apostles_, even in the company of their Master, were so _rustic_
+and _ill-bred,_ that, regardless of common decorum, as they passed
+through the corn-fields they plucked the ears, and ate them like
+children. Nor did they wash their hands before they sat down to table.
+To eat with unwashed hands, said our Saviour to those who were offended,
+doth not defile a man."
+
+It is on the misconception of the mild apologetical reply of Jesus,
+indeed, that religious fanatics have really considered, that, to be
+careless of their dress, and not to free themselves from filth and
+slovenliness, is an act of piety; just as the late political fanatics,
+who thought that republicanism consisted in the most offensive
+filthiness. On this principle, that it is saint-like to go dirty, ragged
+and slovenly, says Bishop Lavington, in his "Enthusiasm of the
+Methodists and Papists," how _piously_ did Whitfield take care of the
+outward man, who in his journals writes, "My apparel was mean--thought
+it unbecoming a penitent to have _powdered hair_.--I wore _woollen
+gloves_, a _patched gown_, and _dirty shoes!_"
+
+After an injury, not less cruel than humiliating, Abelard raises the
+school of the Paraclete; with what enthusiasm is he followed to that
+desert! His scholars in crowds hasten to their adored master; they cover
+their mud sheds with the branches of trees; they care not to sleep under
+better roofs, provided they remain by the side of their unfortunate
+master. How lively must have been their taste for study!--it formed
+their solitary passion, and the love of glory was gratified even in that
+desert.
+
+The two reprehensible lines in Pope's Eloisa, too celebrated among
+certain of its readers--
+
+    "Not Cesar's empress would I deign to prove;
+    No,--make me mistress to the man I love!"--
+
+are, however, found in her original letters. The author of that ancient
+work, "The Romaunt of the Rose," has given it thus _naively_; a specimen
+of the _natural_ style in those days:--
+
+    Si l'empereur, qui est a Rome,
+    Souhz qui doyvent etre tout homme,
+    Me daignoit prendre pour sa femme,
+    Et me faire du monde dame!
+    Si vouldroye-je mieux, dist-elle
+    Et Dieu en tesmoing en appelle,
+    Etre sa Putaine appellee
+    Qu'etre emperiere couronnee.
+
+
+
+
+PHYSIOGNOMY.
+
+
+A very extraordinary physiognomical anecdote has been given by De la
+Place, in his "_Pieces Interessantes et peu Connues_," vol. iv. p. 8.
+
+A friend assured him that he had seen a voluminous and secret
+correspondence which had been carried on between Louis XIV. and his
+favourite physician, De la Chambre, on this science. The faith of the
+monarch seems to have been great, and the purpose to which this
+correspondence tended was extraordinary indeed, and perhaps scarcely
+credible. Who will believe that Louis XIV. was so convinced of that
+talent which De la Chambre attributed to himself, of deciding merely by
+the physiognomy of persons, not only on the real bent of their
+character, but to what employment they were adapted, that the king
+entered into a _secret correspondence_ to obtain the critical notices of
+his _physiognomist?_ That Louis XIV. should have pursued this system,
+undetected by his own courtiers, is also singular; but it appears, by
+this correspondence, that this art positively swayed him in his choice
+of officers and favourites. On one of the backs of these letters De la
+Chambre had written, "If I die before his majesty, he will incur great
+risk of making many an unfortunate choice!"
+
+This collection of physiognomical correspondence, if it does really
+exist, would form a curious publication; we have heard nothing of it! De
+la Chambre was an enthusiastic physiognomist, as appears by his works;
+"The Characters of the Passions," four volumes in quarto; "The Art of
+Knowing Mankind;" and "The Knowledge of Animals." Lavater quotes his
+"Vote and Interest," in favour of his favourite science. It is, however,
+curious to add, that Philip Earl of Pembroke, under James I., had formed
+a particular collection of portraits, with a view to physiognomical
+studies. According to Evelyn on Medals, p. 302, such was his sagacity in
+discovering the characters and dispositions of men by their
+countenances, that James I. made no little use of his extraordinary
+talent on _the first arrival of ambassadors at court_.
+
+The following physiological definition of PHYSIOGNOMY is extracted from
+a publication by Dr. Gwither, of the year 1604, which, dropping his
+history of "The Animal Spirits," is curious:--
+
+"Soft wax cannot receive more various and numerous impressions than are
+imprinted on a man's face by _objects_ moving his affections: and not
+only the _objects_ themselves have this power, but also the very
+_images_ or _ideas_; that is to say, anything that puts the animal
+spirits into the same motion that the _object_ present did, will have
+the same effect with the object. To prove the first, let one observe a
+man's face looking on a pitiful object, then a ridiculous, then a
+strange, then on a terrible or dangerous object, and so forth. For the
+second, that _ideas_ have the same effect with the _object_, dreams
+confirm too often.
+
+"The manner I conceive to be thus:--the animal spirits, moved in the
+sensory by an object, continue their motion to the brain; whence the
+motion is propagated to this or that particular part of the body, as is
+most suitable to the design of its creation; having first made an
+alteration in the _face_ by its nerves, especially by the _pathetic_ and
+_oculorum motorii_ actuating its many muscles, as the dial-plate to that
+stupendous piece of clock-work which shows what is to be expected next
+from the striking part; not that I think the motion of the spirits in
+the sensory continued by the impression of the object all the way, as
+from a finger to the foot; I know it too weak, though the tenseness of
+the nerves favours it. But I conceive it done in the medulla of the
+brain, where is the common stock of spirits; as in an organ, whose
+pipes being uncovered, the air rushes into them; but the keys let go,
+are stopped again. Now, if by repeated acts of frequent entertaining of
+a favourite idea of a passion or vice, which natural temperament has
+hurried one to, or custom dragged, the _face_ is so often put into that
+posture which attends such acts, that the animal spirits find such
+latent passages into its nerves, that it is sometimes unalterably set:
+as the _Indian_ religious are by long continuing in strange postures in
+their _pagods_. But most commonly such a habit is contracted, that it
+falls insensibly into that posture when some present object does not
+obliterate that more natural impression by a new, or dissimulation hide
+it.
+
+"Hence it is that we see great _drinkers_ with _eyes_ generally set
+towards the nose, the adducent muscles being often employed to let them
+see their loved liquor in the glass at the time of drinking; which were,
+therefore, called _bibitory Lascivious persons_ are remarkable for the
+_oculorum nobilis petulantia_, as Petronius calls it. From this also we
+may solve the _Quaker's_ expecting face, waiting for the pretended
+spirit; and the melancholy face of the _sectaries_; the _studious_ face
+of men of great application of mind; revengeful and _bloody_ men, like
+executioners in the act: and though silence in a sort may awhile pass
+for wisdom, yet, sooner or later, Saint Martin peeps through the
+disguise to undo all. A _changeable face_ I have observed to show a
+_changeable mind_. But I would by no means have what has been said
+understood as without exception; for I doubt not but sometimes there are
+found men with great and virtuous souls under very unpromising
+outsides."
+
+The great Prince of Conde was very expert in a sort of physiognomy which
+showed the peculiar habits, motions, and postures of familiar life and
+mechanical employments. He would sometimes lay wagers with his friends,
+that he would guess, upon the Pont Neuf, what trade persons were of that
+passed by, from their walk and air.
+
+
+
+
+CHARACTERS DESCRIBED BY MUSICAL NOTES.
+
+
+The idea of describing characters under the names of Musical Instruments
+has been already displayed in two most pleasing papers which embellish
+the _Tatler_, written by Addison. He dwells on this idea with uncommon
+success. It has been applauded for its _originality_; and in the
+general preface to that work, those papers are distinguished for their
+felicity of imagination. The following paper was published in the year
+1700, in a volume of "Philosophical Transactions and Collections," and
+the two numbers of Addison in the year 1710. It is probable that this
+inimitable writer borrowed the seminal hint from this work:--
+
+"A conjecture at dispositions from the modulations of the voice.
+
+"Sitting in some company, and having been but a little before musical, I
+chanced to take notice that, in ordinary discourse, _words_ were spoken
+in perfect _notes_; and that some of the company used _eighths_, some
+_fifths_, some _thirds_; and that his discourse which was the most
+pleasing, his _words_, as to their tone, consisted most of _concords_,
+and were of _discords_ of such as made up harmony. The same person was
+the most affable, pleasant, and best-natured in the company. This
+suggests a reason why many discourses which one _hears_ with much
+pleasure, when they come to be _read_ scarcely seem the same things.
+
+"From this difference of MUSIC in SPEECH, we may conjecture that of
+TEMPERS. We know the Doric mood sounds gravity and sobriety; the Lydian,
+buxomness and freedom; the AEolic, sweet stillness and quiet composure;
+the Phrygian, jollity and youthful levity; the Ionic is a stiller of
+storms and disturbances arising from passion; and why may we not
+reasonably suppose, that those whose speech naturally runs into the
+notes peculiar to any of these moods, are likewise in nature hereunto
+congenerous? _C Fa ut_ may show me to be of an ordinary capacity, though
+good disposition. _G Sol re ut_, to be peevish and effeminate. _Flats_,
+a manly or melancholic sadness. He who hath a voice which will in some
+measure agree with all _cliffs_, to be of good parts, and fit for
+variety of employments, yet somewhat of an inconstant nature. Likewise
+from the TIMES: so _semi-briefs_ may speak a temper dull and phlegmatic;
+_minims_, grave and serious; _crotchets_, a prompt wit; _quavers_,
+vehemency of passion, and scolds use them. _Semi-brief-rest_ may denote
+one either stupid or fuller of thoughts than he can utter; _minimrest,_
+one that deliberates; _crotchet-rest_, one in a passion. So that from
+the natural use of MOOD, NOTE, and TIME, we may collect DISPOSITIONS."
+
+
+
+
+MILTON.
+
+
+It is painful to observe the acrimony which the most eminent scholars
+have infused frequently in their controversial writings. The politeness
+of the present times has in some degree softened the malignity of the
+man, in the dignity of the author; but this is by no means an
+irrevocable law.
+
+It is said not to be honourable to literature to revive such
+controversies; and a work entitled "Querelles Litteraires," when it
+first appeared, excited loud murmurs; but it has its moral: like showing
+the drunkard to a youth, that he may turn aside disgusted with ebriety.
+Must we suppose that men of letters are exempt from the human passions?
+Their sensibility, on the contrary, is more irritable than that of
+others. To observe the ridiculous attitudes in which great men appear,
+when they employ the style of the fish-market, may be one great means of
+restraining that ferocious pride often breaking out in the republic of
+letters. Johnson at least appears to have entertained the same opinion;
+for he thought proper to republish the low invective of _Dryden_ against
+_Settle_; and since I have published my "Quarrels of Authors," it
+becomes me to say no more.
+
+The celebrated controversy of _Salmasius_, continued by Morus with
+_Milton_--the first the pleader of King Charles, the latter the advocate
+of the people--was of that magnitude, that all Europe took a part in the
+paper-war of these two great men. The answer of Milton, who perfectly
+massacred Salmasius, is now read but by the few. Whatever is addressed
+to the times, however great may be its merits, is doomed to perish with
+the times; yet on these pages the philosopher will not contemplate in
+vain.
+
+It will form no uninteresting article to gather a few of the rhetorical
+_weeds_, for _flowers_ we cannot well call them, with which they
+mutually presented each other. Their rancour was at least equal to their
+erudition,--the two most learned antagonists of a learned age!
+
+Salmasius was a man of vast erudition, but no taste. His writings are
+learned, but sometimes ridiculous. He called his work _Defensio
+Regia_, Defence of Kings. The opening of this work provokes a
+laugh:--"Englishmen! who toss the heads of kings as so many
+tennis-balls; who play with crowns as if they were bowls; who look upon
+sceptres as so many crooks."
+
+That the deformity of the body is an idea we attach to the deformity of
+the mind, the vulgar must acknowledge; but surely it is unpardonable in
+the enlightened philosopher thus to compare the crookedness of corporeal
+matter with the rectitude of the intellect; yet Milbourne and Dennis,
+the last a formidable critic, have frequently considered, that comparing
+Dryden and Pope to whatever the eye turned from with displeasure, was
+very good argument to lower their literary abilities. Salmasius seems
+also to have entertained this idea, though his spies in England gave him
+wrong information; or, possibly, he only drew the figure of his own
+distempered imagination.
+
+Salmasius sometimes reproaches Milton as being but a puny piece of man;
+an homunculus, a dwarf deprived of the human figure, a bloodless being,
+composed of nothing but skin and bone; a contemptible pedagogue, fit
+only to flog his boys: and, rising into a poetic frenzy, applies to him
+the words of Virgil, "_Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen
+ademptum_." Our great poet thought this senseless declamation merited a
+serious refutation; perhaps he did not wish to appear despicable in the
+eyes of the ladies; and he would not be silent on the subject, he says,
+lest any one should consider him as the credulous Spaniards are made to
+believe by their priests, that a heretic is a kind of rhinoceros or a
+dog-headed monster. Milton says, that he does not think any one ever
+considered him as unbeautiful; that his size rather approaches
+mediocrity than, the diminutive; that he still felt the same courage and
+the same strength which he possessed when young, when, with his sword,
+he felt no difficulty to combat with men more robust than himself; that
+his face, far from being pale, emaciated, and wrinkled, was sufficiently
+creditable to him: for though he had passed his fortieth year, he was in
+all other respects ten years younger. And very pathetically he adds,
+"that even his eyes, blind as they are, are unblemished in their
+appearance; in this instance alone, and much against my inclination, I
+am a deceiver!"
+
+Morus, in his Epistle dedicatory of his _Regii Sanguinis Clamor_,
+compares Milton to a hangman; his disordered vision to the blindness of
+his soul, and so vomits forth his venom.
+
+When Salmasius found that his strictures on the person of Milton were
+false, and that, on the contrary, it was uncommonly beautiful, he then
+turned his battery against those graces with which Nature had so
+liberally adorned his adversary: and it is now that he seems to have
+laid no restrictions on his pen; but, raging with the irritation of
+Milton's success, he throws out the blackest calumnies, and the most
+infamous aspersions.
+
+It must be observed, when Milton first proposed to answer Salmasius, he
+had lost the use of one of his eyes; and his physicians declared that,
+if he applied himself to the controversy, the other would likewise close
+for ever! His patriotism was not to be baffled, but with life itself.
+Unhappily, the prediction of his physicians took place! Thus a learned
+man in the occupations of study falls blind--a circumstance even now not
+read without sympathy. Salmasius considers it as one from which he may
+draw caustic ridicule and satiric severity.
+
+Salmasius glories that Milton lost his health and his eyes in answering
+his apology for King Charles! He does not now reproach him with natural
+deformities; but he malignantly sympathises with him, that he now no
+more is in possession of that beauty which rendered him so amiable
+during his residence in _Italy_. He speaks more plainly in a following
+page; and, in a word, would blacken the austere virtue of Milton with a
+crime infamous to name.
+
+Impartiality of criticism obliges us to confess that Milton was not
+destitute of rancour. When he was told that his adversary boasted he had
+occasioned the loss of his eyes, he answered, with ferocity--"_And I
+shall cost him his life!_" A prediction which was soon after verified;
+for Christina, Queen of Sweden, withdrew her patronage from Salmasius,
+and sided with Milton. The universal neglect the proud scholar felt
+hastened his death in the course of a twelve-month.
+
+The greatness of Milton's mind was degraded! He actually condescended to
+enter into a correspondence in Holland, to obtain little scandalous
+anecdotes of his miserable adversary, Morus; and deigned to adulate the
+unworthy Christina of Sweden, because she had expressed herself
+favourably on his "Defence." Of late years, we have had too many
+instances of this worst of passions, the antipathies of politics!
+
+
+
+
+ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS.
+
+
+We are indebted to the Italians for the idea of newspapers. The title of
+their _gazettas_ was, perhaps, derived from _gazzera_, a magpie or
+chatterer; or, more probably, from a farthing coin, peculiar to the city
+of Venice, called _gazetta_, which was the common price of the
+newspapers. Another etymologist is for deriving it from the Latin
+_gaza_, which would colloquially lengthen into _gazetta_, and signify a
+little treasury of news. The Spanish derive it from the Latin _gaza_,
+and likewise their _gazatero_, and our _gazetteer_, for a writer of the
+_gazette_ and, what is peculiar to themselves, _gazetista_, for a lover
+of the gazette.
+
+Newspapers, then, took their birth in that principal land of modern
+politicians, Italy, and under the government of that aristocratical
+republic, Venice. The first paper was a Venetian one, and only monthly;
+but it was merely the newspaper of the government. Other governments
+afterwards adopted the Venetian plan of a newspaper, with the Venetian
+name:--from a solitary government gazette, an inundation of newspapers
+has burst upon us.
+
+Mr. George Chalmers, in his Life of Ruddiman, gives a curious particular
+of these Venetian gazettes:--"A jealous government did not allow a
+_printed_ newspaper; and the Venetian _gazetta_ continued long after the
+invention of printing, to the close of the sixteenth century, and even
+to our own days, to be distributed in _manuscript_." In the
+Magliabechian library at Florence are thirty volumes of Venetian
+gazettas, all in manuscript.
+
+Those who first wrote newspapers were called by the Italians _menanti_;
+because, says Vossius, they intended commonly by these loose papers to
+spread about defamatory reflections, and were therefore prohibited in
+Italy by Gregory XIII. by a particular bull, under the name of
+_menantes_, from the Latin _minantes_, threatening. Menage, however,
+derives it from the Italian _menare_, which signifies to lead at large,
+or spread afar.
+
+We are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh
+for the first newspaper. The epoch of the Spanish Armada is also the
+epoch of a genuine newspaper. In the British Museum are several
+newspapers which were printed while the Spanish fleet was in the English
+Channel during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to prevent, during a
+moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing
+real information. The earliest newspaper is entitled "The English
+Mercurie," which by _authority_ was "imprinted at London by her
+highness's printer, 1588." These were, however, but extraordinary
+gazettes, not regularly published. In this obscure origin they were
+skilfully directed by the policy of that great statesman Burleigh, who,
+to inflame the national feeling, gives an extract of a letter from
+Madrid which speaks of putting the queen to death, and the instruments
+of torture on board the Spanish fleet.
+
+George Chalmers first exultingly took down these patriarchal newspapers,
+covered with the dust of two centuries.
+
+The first newspaper in the collection of the British Museum is marked
+No. 50, and is in Roman, not in black letter. It contains the usual
+articles of news, like the London Gazette of the present day. In that
+curious paper, there are news dated from Whitehall, on the 23rd July,
+1588. Under the date of July 26, there is the following
+notice:--"Yesterday the Scots ambassador, being introduced to Sir
+Francis Walsingham, had a private audience of her majesty, to whom he
+delivered a letter from the king his master; containing the most cordial
+assurances of his resolution to adhere to her majesty's interests, and
+to those of the Protestant religion. And it may not here be improper to
+take notice of a wise and spiritual saying of this young prince (he was
+twenty-two) to the queen's minister at his court, viz.--That all the
+favour he did expect from the Spaniards was the courtesy of Polypheme to
+Ulysses, _to be the last devoured_." The gazetteer of the present day
+would hardly give a more decorous account of the introduction of a
+foreign minister. The aptness of King James's classical saying carried
+it from the newspaper into history. I must add, that in respect to his
+_wit_ no man has been more injured than this monarch. More pointed
+sentences are recorded of James I. than perhaps of any prince; and yet,
+such is the delusion of that medium by which the popular eye sees things
+in this world, that he is usually considered as a mere royal pedant. I
+have entered more largely on this subject, in an "Inquiry of the
+Literary and Political Character of James I."[51]
+
+Periodical papers seem first to have been more generally used by the
+English, during the civil wars of the usurper Cromwell, to disseminate
+amongst the people the sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, according as
+their authors were disposed. _Peter Heylin_, in the preface to his
+_Cosmography_, mentions, that "the affairs of each town, of war, were
+better presented to the reader in the _Weekly News-books_." Hence we
+find some papers, entitled "News from Hull," "Truths from York,"
+"Warranted Tidings from Ireland," &c. We find also, "The Scots' Dove"
+opposed to "The Parliament Kite," or "The Secret Owl."--Keener
+animosities produced keener titles: "Heraclitus ridens" found an
+antagonist in "Democritus ridens," and "The Weekly Discoverer" was
+shortly met by "The Discoverer stript naked." "Mercuriua Britannicus"
+was grappled by "Mercurius Mastix, faithfully lashing all Scouts,
+Mercuries, Posts, Spies, and others." Under all these names papers had
+appeared, but a "Mercury" was the prevailing title of these
+"News-books," and the principles of the writer were generally shown by
+the additional epithet. We find an alarming number of these Mercuries,
+which, were the story not too long to tell, might excite laughter; they
+present us with a very curious picture of those singular times.
+
+Devoted to political purposes, they soon became a public nuisance by
+serving as receptacles of party malice, and echoing to the farthest ends
+of the kingdom the insolent voice of all factions. They set the minds of
+men more at variance, inflamed their tempers to a greater fierceness,
+and gave a keener edge to the sharpness of civil discord.
+
+Such works will always find adventurers adapted to their scurrilous
+purposes, who neither want at times either talents, or boldness, or wit,
+or argument. A vast crowd issued from the press, and are now to be found
+in private collections. They form a race of authors unknown to most
+readers of these times: the names of some of their chiefs, however, have
+reached us, and in the minor chronicle of domestic literature I rank
+three notable heroes; Marchmont Needham, Sir John Birkenhead, and Sir
+Roger L'Estrange.
+
+_Marchmont Needham_, the great patriarch of newspaper writers, was a man
+of versatile talents and more versatile politics; a bold adventurer, and
+most successful, because the most profligate of his tribe. From college
+he came to London; was an usher in Merchant Tailors' school; then an
+under clerk in Gray's Inn; at length studied physic, and practised
+chemistry; and finally, he was a captain, and in the words of our great
+literary antiquary, "siding with the rout and scum of the people, he
+made them weekly sport by railing at all that was noble, in his
+Intelligence, called Mercurius Britannicus, wherein his endeavours were
+to sacrifice the fame of some lord, or any person of quality, and of the
+king himself, to the beast with many heads." He soon became popular, and
+was known under the name of Captain Needham, of Gray's Inn; and whatever
+he now wrote was deemed oracular. But whether from a slight imprisonment
+for aspersing Charles I. or some pique with his own party, he requested
+an audience on his knees with the king, reconciled himself to his
+majesty, and showed himself a violent royalist in his "Mercurius
+Pragmaticus," and galled the Presbyterians with his wit and quips. Some
+time after, when the popular party prevailed, he was still further
+enlightened, and was got over by President Bradshaw, as easily as by
+Charles I. Our Mercurial writer became once more a virulent
+Presbyterian, and lashed the royalists outrageously in his "Mercurius
+Politicus;" at length on the return of Charles II. being now conscious,
+says our cynical friend Anthony, that he might be in danger of the
+halter, once more he is said to have fled into Holland, waiting for an
+act of oblivion. For money given to a hungry courtier, Needham obtained
+his pardon under the great seal. He latterly practised as a physician
+among his party, but lived detested by the royalists; and now only
+committed harmless treasons with the College of Physicians, on whom he
+poured all that gall and vinegar which the government had suppressed
+from flowing through its natural channel.
+
+The royalists were not without their Needham in the prompt activity of
+_Sir John Birkenhead_. In buffoonery, keenness, and boldness, having
+been frequently imprisoned, he was not inferior, nor was he at times
+less an adventurer. His "Mercurius Aulicus" was devoted to the court,
+then at Oxford. But he was the fertile parent of numerous political
+pamphlets, which appear to abound in banter, wit, and satire. Prompt to
+seize on every temporary circumstance, he had equal facility in
+execution. His "Paul's Church-yard" is a bantering pamphlet, containing
+fictitious titles of books and acts of parliament, reflecting on the mad
+reformers of those times. One of his poems is entitled "_The Jolt_,"
+being written on the Protector having fallen off his own coach-box:
+Cromwell had received a present from the German Count Oldenburgh, of six
+German horses, and attempted to drive them himself in Hyde Park, when
+this great political Phaeton met the accident, of which Sir John
+Birkenhead was not slow to comprehend the benefit, and hints how
+unfortunately for the country it turned out! Sir John was during the
+dominion of Cromwell an author by profession. After various
+imprisonments for his majesty's cause, says the venerable historian of
+English literature already quoted, "he lived by his wits, in helping
+young gentlemen out at dead lifts in making poems, songs, and epistles
+on and to their mistresses; as also in translating, and other petite
+employments." He lived however after the Restoration to become one of
+the masters of requests, with a salary of 3000_l._ a year. But he showed
+the baseness of his spirit, says Anthony, by slighting those who had
+been his benefactors in his necessities.
+
+Sir _Roger L'Estrange_ among his rivals was esteemed as the most
+perfect model of political writing. He was a strong party-writer on the
+government side, for Charles the Second, and the compositions of the
+author seem to us coarse, yet they contain much idiomatic expression.
+His AEsop's Fables are a curious specimen of familiar style. Queen Mary
+showed a due contempt of him, after the Revolution, by this anagram:--
+
+    _Roger L'Estrange_,
+    _Lye strange Roger_!
+
+Such were the three patriarchs of newspapers. De Saint Foix gives the
+origin of newspapers to France. Renaudot, a physician at Paris, to amuse
+his patients was a great collector of news; and he found by these means
+that he was more sought after than his learned brethren. But as the
+seasons were not always sickly, and he had many hours not occupied by
+his patients, he reflected, after several years of assiduity given up to
+this singular employment, that he might turn it to a better account, by
+giving every week to his patients, who in this case were the public at
+large, some fugitive sheets which should contain the news of various
+countries. He obtained a privilege for this purpose in 1632.
+
+At the Restoration the proceedings of parliament were interdicted to be
+published, unless by authority; and the first daily paper after the
+Revolution took the popular title of "The Orange Intelligencer."
+
+In the reign of Queen _Anne_, there was but one daily paper; the others
+were weekly. Some attempted to introduce literary subjects, and others
+topics of a more general speculation. _Sir Richard Steele_ formed the
+plan of his _Tatler_. He designed it to embrace the three provinces, of
+manners and morals, of literature, and of politics. The public were to
+be conducted insensibly into so different a track from that to which
+they had been hitherto accustomed. Hence politics were admitted into his
+paper. But it remained for the chaster genius of _Addison_ to banish
+this painful topic from his elegant pages. The writer in polite letters
+felt himself degraded by sinking into the diurnal narrator of political
+events, which so frequently originate in rumours and party fictions.
+From this time, newspapers and periodical literature became distinct
+works--at present, there seems to be an attempt to revive this union; it
+is a retrograde step for the independent dignity of literature.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 51: Since the appearance of the _eleventh_ edition of this
+work, the detection of a singular literary deception has occurred. The
+evidence respecting _The English Mercurie_ rests on the alleged
+discovery of the literary antiquary, George Chalmers. I witnessed, fifty
+years ago, that laborious researcher busied among the long dusty shelves
+of our periodical papers, which then reposed in the ante-chamber to the
+former reading-room of the British Museum. To the industry which I had
+witnessed, I confided, and such positive and precise evidence could not
+fail to be accepted by all. In the British Museum, indeed, George
+Chalmers found the printed _English Mercurie_; but there also, it now
+appears, he might have seen _the original_, with all its corrections,
+before it was sent to the press, written on paper of modern fabric. The
+detection of this literary imposture has been ingeniously and
+unquestionably demonstrated by Mr. Thomas Watts, in a letter to Mr.
+Panizzi, the keeper of the printed books in the British Museum. The fact
+is, the whole is a modern forgery, for which Birch, preserving it among
+his papers, has not assigned either the occasion or the motive. Mr.
+Watts says--"The general impression left on the mind by the perusal of
+the _Mercurie_ is, that it must have been written after the
+_Spectator_"; that the manuscript was composed in modern spelling,
+afterwards _antiquated_ in the printed copy; while the type is similar
+to that used by Caslon in 1766. By this accidental reference to the
+originals, "the unaccountably successful imposition of fifty years was
+shattered to fragments in five minutes." I am inclined to suspect that
+it was a _jeu d'esprit_ of historical antiquarianism, concocted by Birch
+and his friends the Yorkes, with whom, as it is well known, he was
+concerned in a more elegant literary recreation, the composition of the
+Athenian Letters. The blunder of George Chalmers has been repeated in
+numerous publications throughout Europe and in America. I think it
+better to correct the text by this notice than by a silent suppression,
+that it may remain a memorable instance of the danger incurred by the
+historian from forged documents; and a proof that multiplied authorities
+add no strength to evidence, when nil are to be traced to a single
+source.]
+
+
+
+
+TRIALS AND PROOFS OF GUILT IN SUPERSTITIOUS AGES.
+
+
+The strange trials to which those suspected of guilt were put in the
+middle ages, conducted with many devout ceremonies by the ministers of
+religion, were pronounced to be the _judgments of God_! The ordeal
+consisted of various kinds: walking blindfold amidst burning
+ploughshares; passing through fires; holding in the hand a red-hot bar;
+and plunging the arm into boiling water: the popular affirmation--"I
+will put my hand in the fire to confirm this," was derived from this
+custom of our rude ancestors. Challenging the accuser to single combat,
+when frequently the stoutest champion was allowed to supply their place;
+swallowing a morsel of consecrated bread; sinking or swimming in a river
+for witchcraft; or weighing a witch; stretching out the arms before the
+cross, till the champion soonest wearied dropped his arms, and lost his
+estate, which was decided by this very short chancery suit, called the
+_judicium crucis_. The bishop of Paris and the abbot of St. Denis
+disputed about the patronage of a monastery: Pepin the Short, not being
+able to decide on their confused claims, decreed one of these judgments
+of God, that of the Cross. The bishop and abbot each chose a man, and
+both the men appeared in the chapel, where they stretched out their arms
+in the form of a cross. The spectators, more devout than the mob of the
+present day, but still the mob, were piously attentive, but _betted_
+however now for one man, now for the other, and critically watched the
+slightest motion of the arms. The bishop's man was first tired:--he let
+his arms fall, and ruined his patron's cause for ever. Though sometimes
+these trials might be eluded by the artifice of the priest, numerous
+were the innocent victims who unquestionably suffered in these
+superstitious practices.
+
+From the tenth to the twelfth century they were common. Hildebert,
+bishop of Mans, being accused of high treason by our William Rufus, was
+prepared to undergo one of these trials, when Ives, bishop of Chartres,
+convinced him that they were against the canons of the constitutions of
+the church, and adds, that in this manner _Innocentiam defendere, set
+innocentiam perdere_.
+
+An abbot of St. Aubin, of Angers, in 1066, having refused to present a
+horse to the Viscount of Tours, which the viscount claimed in right of
+his lordship, whenever an abbot first took possession of that abbey, the
+ecclesiastic offered to justify himself by the trial of the ordeal, or
+by duel, for which he proposed to furnish a man. The viscount at first
+agreed to the duel; but, reflecting that these combats, though
+sanctioned by the church, depended wholly on the skill or vigour of the
+adversary, and could therefore afford no substantial proof of the equity
+of his claim, he proposed to compromise the matter in a manner which
+strongly characterises the times: he waived his claim, on condition that
+the abbot should not forget to mention in his prayers himself, his wife,
+and his brothers! As the _orisons_ appeared to the abbot, in comparison
+with the _horse_, of little or no value, he accepted the proposal.
+
+In the tenth century the right of representation was not fixed: it was a
+question whether the sons of a son ought to be reckoned among the
+children of the family, and succeed equally with their uncles, if their
+fathers happened to die while their grandfathers survived. This point
+was decided by one of these combats. The champion in behalf of the right
+of children to represent their deceased father proved victorious. It was
+then established by a perpetual decree that they should thenceforward
+share in the inheritance, together with their uncles. In the eleventh
+century the same mode was practised to decide respecting two rival
+_Liturgies_! A pair of knights, clad in complete armour, were the
+critics to decide which was the authentic.
+
+"If two neighbours," say the capitularies of Dagobert, "dispute
+respecting the boundaries of their possessions, let a piece of turf of
+the contested land be dug up by the judge, and brought by him into the
+court; the two parties shall touch it with the points of their swords,
+calling on God as a witness of their claims;--after this let them
+_combat_, and let victory decide on their rights!"
+
+In Germany, a solemn circumstance was practised in these judicial
+combats. In the midst of the lists they placed a _bier_.--By its side
+stood the accuser and the accused; one at the head and the other at the
+foot of the bier, and leaned there for some time in profound silence,
+before they began the combat.
+
+The manners of the age are faithfully painted in the ancient Fabliaux.
+The judicial combat is introduced by a writer of the fourteenth century,
+in a scene where Pilate challenges Jesus Christ to _single combat_.
+Another describes the person who pierced the side of Christ as _a knight
+who jousted with Jesus_.[52]
+
+Judicial combat appears to have been practised by the Jews. Whenever the
+rabbins had to decide on a dispute about property between two parties,
+neither of which could produce evidence to substantiate his claim, they
+terminated it by single combat. The rabbins were impressed by a notion,
+that consciousness of right would give additional confidence and
+strength to the rightful possessor. It may, however, be more
+philosophical to observe, that such judicial combats were more
+frequently favourable to the criminal than to the innocent, because the
+bold wicked man is usually more ferocious and hardy than he whom he
+singles out as his victim, and who only wishes to preserve his own quiet
+enjoyment:--in this case the assailant is the more terrible combatant.
+
+Those accused of robbery were put to trial by a piece of barley-bread,
+on which the mass had been said; which if they could not swallow, they
+were declared guilty. This mode of trial was improved by adding to the
+_bread_ a slice of _cheese_; and such was their credulity, that they
+were very particular in this holy _bread_ and _cheese_, called the
+_corsned_. The bread was to be of unleavened barley, and the cheese made
+of ewe's milk in the month of May.
+
+Du Cange observed, that the expression--"_May this piece of bread choke
+me!_" comes from this custom. The anecdote of Earl Godwin's death by
+swallowing a piece of bread, in making this asseveration, is recorded in
+our history. Doubtless superstition would often terrify the innocent
+person, in the attempt of swallowing a consecrated morsel.
+
+Among the proofs of guilt in superstitious ages was that of the
+_bleeding of a corpse_. It was believed, that at the touch or approach
+of the murderer the blood gushed out of the murdered. By the side of the
+bier, if the slightest change was observable in the eyes, the mouth,
+feet, or hands of the corpse, the murderer was conjectured to be
+present, and many innocent spectators must have suffered death. "When a
+body is full of blood, warmed by a sudden external heat, and a
+putrefaction coming on, some of the blood-vessels will burst, as they
+will all in time." This practice was once allowed in England, and is
+still looked on in some of the uncivilized parts of these kingdoms as a
+detection of the criminal. It forms a solemn picture in the histories
+and ballads of our old writers.
+
+Robertson observes, that all these absurd institutions were cherished
+from the superstitious of the age believing the legendary histories of
+those saints who crowd and disgrace the Roman calendar. These fabulous
+miracles had been declared authentic by the bulls of the popes and the
+decrees of councils; they were greedily swallowed by the populace; and
+whoever believed that the Supreme Being had interposed miraculously on
+those trivial occasions mentioned in legends, could not but expect the
+intervention of Heaven in these most solemn appeals. These customs were
+a substitute for written laws, which that barbarous period had not; and
+as no society can exist without _laws_, the ignorance of the people had
+recourse to these _customs_, which, evil and absurd as they were, closed
+endless controversies. Ordeals are in truth the rude laws of a barbarous
+people who have not yet obtained a written code, and are not
+sufficiently advanced in civilization to enter into the refined
+inquiries, the subtile distinctions, and elaborate investigations, which
+a court of law demands.
+
+These ordeals probably originate in that one of Moses called the "Waters
+of Jealousy." The Greeks likewise had ordeals, for in the Antigonus of
+Sophocles the soldiers offer to prove their innocence by handling
+red-hot iron, and walking between fires. One cannot but smile at the
+whimsical ordeals of the Siamese. Among other practices to discover the
+justice of a cause, civil or criminal, they are particularly attached to
+using certain consecrated purgative pills, which they make the
+contending parties swallow. He who _retains_ them longest gains his
+cause! The practice of giving Indians a consecrated grain of rice to
+swallow is known to discover the thief, in any company, by the
+contortions and dismay evident on the countenance of the real thief.
+
+In the middle ages, they were acquainted with _secrets_ to pass unhurt
+these singular trials. Voltaire mentions one for undergoing the ordeal
+of boiling water. Our late travellers in the East have confirmed this
+statement. The Mevleheh dervises can hold red-hot iron between their
+teeth. Such artifices have been often publicly exhibited at Paris and
+London. Mr. Sharon Turner observes, on the ordeal of the Anglo-Saxons,
+that the hand was not to be immediately inspected, and was left to the
+chance of a good constitution to be so far healed during three days (the
+time they required to be bound up and sealed, before it was examined) as
+to discover those appearances when inspected, which were allowed to be
+satisfactory. There was likewise much preparatory training, suggested by
+the more experienced; besides, the accused had an opportunity of _going
+alone into the church_, and making _terms_ with the _priest_. The few
+_spectators_ were always _distant_; and cold iron might be substituted,
+and the fire diminished, at the moment.
+
+They possessed secrets and medicaments, to pass through these trials in
+perfect security. An anecdote of these times may serve to show their
+readiness. A rivalship existed between the Austin-friars and the
+Jesuits. The father-general of the Austin-friars was dining with the
+Jesuits; and when the table was removed, he entered into a formal
+discourse of the superiority of the monastic order, and charged the
+Jesuits, in unqualified terms, with assuming the title of "fratres,"
+while they held not the three vows, which other monks were obliged to
+consider as sacred and binding. The general of the Austin-friars was
+very eloquent and very authoritative:--and the superior of the Jesuits
+was very unlearned, but not half a fool.
+
+The Jesuit avoided entering the list of controversy with the
+Austin-friar, but arrested his triumph by asking him if he would see one
+of his friars, who pretended to be nothing more than a Jesuit, and one
+of the Austin-friars who religiously performed the aforesaid three vows,
+show instantly which of them would be the readier to obey his
+superiors? The Austin-friar consented. The Jesuit then turning to one of
+his brothers, the holy friar Mark, who was waiting on them, said,
+"Brother Mark, our companions are cold. I command you, in virtue of the
+holy obedience you have sworn to me, to bring here instantly out of the
+kitchen-fire, and in your hands, some burning coals, that they may warm
+themselves over your hands." Father Mark instantly obeys, and, to the
+astonishment of the Austin-friar, brought in his hands a supply of red
+burning coals, and held them to whoever chose to warm himself; and at
+the command of his superior returned them to the kitchen-hearth. The
+general of the Austin-friars, with the rest of his brotherhood, stood
+amazed; he looked wistfully on one of his monks, as if he wished to
+command him to do the like. But the Austin monk, who perfectly
+understood him, and saw this was not a time to hesitate,
+observed,--"Reverend father, forbear, and do not command me to tempt
+God! I am ready to fetch you fire in a chafing-dish, but not in my bare
+hands." The triumph of the Jesuits was complete; and it is not necessary
+to add, that the _miracle_ was noised about, and that the Austin-friars
+could never account for it, notwithstanding their strict performance of
+the three vows!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 52: These curious passages, so strikingly indicative of the
+state of thought in the days of their authors, are worth clearly noting.
+Pilate's challenge to the Saviour is completely in the taste of the
+writer's day. He was Adam Davie, a poet of the fourteenth century, of
+whom an account is preserved in _Warton's History of English Poetry_;
+and the passage occurs in his poem of the _Battle of Jerusalem_, the
+incidents of which are treated as Froissart would treat the siege of a
+town happening in his own day.
+
+The second passage above quoted occurs in the _Vision of Piers Plowman_,
+a poem of the same era, where the Roman soldier--whose name, according
+to legendary history, was Longinus, and who pierced the Saviour's
+side--is described as if he had given the wound in a passage of arms, or
+joust; and elsewhere in the same poem it is said that Christ,
+
+    "For mankyndes sake,
+    Justed in Jerusalem,
+    A joye to us all."
+
+And in another part of the poem, speaking of the victory of Christ, it
+is said--
+
+    "Jhesus justede well."]
+
+
+
+
+THE INQUISITION.
+
+
+Innocent the Third, a pope as enterprising as he was successful in his
+enterprises, having sent Dominic with some missionaries into Languedoc,
+these men so irritated the heretics they were sent to convert, that most
+of them were assassinated at Toulouse in the year 1200. He called in the
+aid of temporal arms, and published against them a crusade, granting, as
+was usual with the popes on similar occasions, all kinds of indulgences
+and pardons to those who should arm against these _Mahometans_, so he
+termed these unfortunate Languedocians. Once all were Turks when they
+were not Romanists. Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was constrained to
+submit. The inhabitants were passed on the edge of the sword, without
+distinction of age or sex. It was then he established that scourge of
+Europe, THE INQUISITION. This pope considered that, though men might be
+compelled to submit by arms, numbers might remain professing particular
+dogmas; and he established this sanguinary tribunal solely to inspect
+into all families, and INQUIRE concerning all persons who they imagined
+were unfriendly to the interests of Rome. Dominic did so much by his
+persecuting inquiries, that he firmly established the Inquisition at
+Toulouse.
+
+Not before the year 1484 it became known in Spain. To another Dominican,
+John de Torquemada, the court of Rome owed this obligation. As he was
+the confessor of Queen Isabella, he had extorted from her a promise,
+that if ever she ascended the throne, she would use every means to
+extirpate heresy and heretics. Ferdinand had conquered Granada, and had
+expelled from the Spanish realms multitudes of unfortunate Moors. A few
+remained, whom, with the Jews, he compelled to become Christians: they
+at least assumed the name; but it was well known that both these nations
+naturally respected their own faith, rather than that of the Christians.
+This race was afterwards distinguished as _Christianos Novos_; and in
+forming marriages, the blood of the Hidalgo was considered to lose its
+purity by mingling with such a suspicious source.
+
+Torquemada pretended that this dissimulation would greatly hurt the
+interests of the holy religion. The queen listened with respectful
+diffidence to her confessor; and at length gained over the king to
+consent to the establishment of this unrelenting tribunal. Torquemada,
+indefatigable in his zeal for the holy chair, in the space of fourteen
+years that he exercised the office of chief inquisitor, is said to have
+prosecuted near eighty thousand persons, of whom six thousand were
+condemned to the flames.
+
+Voltaire attributes the taciturnity of the Spaniards to the universal
+horror such proceedings spread. "A general jealousy and suspicion took
+possession of all ranks of people: friendship and sociability were at an
+end! Brothers were afraid of brothers, fathers of their children."
+
+The situation and the feelings of one imprisoned in the cells of the
+Inquisition are forcibly painted by Orobio, a mild, and meek, and
+learned man, whose controversy with Limborch is well known. When he
+escaped from Spain he took refuge in Holland, was circumcised, and died
+a philosophical Jew. He has left this admirable description of himself
+in the cell of the Inquisition. "Inclosed in this dungeon I could not
+even find space enough to turn myself about; I suffered so much that I
+felt my brain disordered. I frequently asked myself, am I really Don
+Balthazar Orobio, who used to walk about Seville at my pleasure, who so
+greatly enjoyed myself with my wife and children? I often imagined that
+all my life had only been a dream, and that I really had been born in
+this dungeon! The only amusement I could invent was metaphysical
+disputations. I was at once opponent, respondent, and praeses!"
+
+In the cathedral at Saragossa is the tomb of a famous inquisitor; six
+pillars surround this tomb; to each is chained a Moor, as preparatory to
+his being burnt. On this St. Foix ingeniously observes, "If ever the
+Jack Ketch of any country should be rich enough to have a splendid tomb,
+this might serve as an excellent model."
+
+The Inquisition punished heretics by _fire_, to elude the maxim,
+"_Ecclesia non novit sanguinem_;" for burning a man, say they, does not
+_shed his blood_. Otho, the bishop at the Norman invasion, in the
+tapestry worked by Matilda the queen of William the Conqueror, is
+represented with a _mace_ in his hand, for the purpose that when he
+_despatched_ his antagonist he might not _spill blood_, but only break
+his bones! Religion has had her quibbles as well as law.
+
+The establishment of this despotic order was resisted in France; but it
+may perhaps surprise the reader that a recorder of London, in a speech,
+urged the necessity of setting up an Inquisition in England! It was on
+the trial of Penn the Quaker, in 1670, who was acquitted by the jury,
+which highly provoked the said recorder. "_Magna Charta_," writes the
+prefacer to the trial, "with the recorder of London, is nothing more
+than _Magna F----!_" It appears that the jury, after being kept two days
+and two nights to alter their verdict, were in the end both fined and
+imprisoned. Sir John Howell, the recorder, said, "Till now I never
+understood the reason of the policy and prudence of the Spaniards in
+suffering the Inquisition among them; and certainly it will not be well
+with us, till something _like unto the Spanish Inquisition be in
+England_." Thus it will ever be, while both parties struggling for the
+pre-eminence rush to the sharp extremity of things, and annihilate the
+trembling balance of the constitution. But the adopted motto of Lord
+Erskine must ever be that of every Briton, "_Trial by Jury_."
+
+So late as the year 1761, Gabriel Malagrida, an old man of seventy, was
+burnt by these evangelical executioners. His trial was printed at
+Amsterdam, 1762, from the Lisbon copy. And for what was this unhappy
+Jesuit condemned? Not, as some have imagined, for his having been
+concerned in a conspiracy against the king of Portugal. No other charge
+is laid to him in this trial but that of having indulged certain
+heretical notions, which any other tribunal but that of the Inquisition
+would have looked upon as the delirious fancies of a fanatical old man.
+Will posterity believe, that in the eighteenth century an aged visionary
+was led to the stake for having said, amongst other extravagances, that
+"The holy Virgin having commanded him to write the life of Anti-Christ,
+told him that he, Malagrida, was a second John, but more clear than John
+the Evangelist; that there were to be three Anti-Christs, and that the
+last should be born at Milan, of a monk and a nun, in the year 1920; and
+that he would marry Proserpine, one of the infernal furies."
+
+For such ravings as these the unhappy old man was burnt in recent times.
+Granger assures us, that in his remembrance a _horse_ that had been
+taught to tell the spots upon cards, the hour of the day, &c., by
+significant tokens, was, together with his _owner_, put into the
+Inquisition for _both_ of them dealing with the devil! A man of letters
+declared that, having fallen into their hands, nothing perplexed him so
+much as the ignorance of the inquisitor and his council; and it seemed
+very doubtful whether they had read even the Scriptures.[53]
+
+One of the most interesting anecdotes relating to the terrible
+Inquisition, exemplifying how the use of the diabolical engines of
+torture forces men to confess crimes they have not been guilty of, was
+related to me by a Portuguese gentleman.
+
+A nobleman in Lisbon having heard that his physician and friend was
+imprisoned by the Inquisition, under the stale pretext of Judaism,
+addressed a letter to one of them to request his freedom, assuring the
+inquisitor that his friend was as orthodox a Christian as himself. The
+physician, notwithstanding this high recommendation, was put to the
+torture; and, as was usually the case, at the height of his sufferings
+confessed everything they wished! This enraged the nobleman, and
+feigning a dangerous illness he begged the inquisitor would come to give
+him his last spiritual aid.
+
+As soon as the Dominican arrived, the lord, who had prepared his
+confidential servants, commanded the inquisitor in their presence to
+acknowledge himself a Jew, to write his confession, and to sign it. On
+the refusal of the inquisitor, the nobleman ordered his people to put on
+the inquisitor's head a red-hot helmet, which to his astonishment, in
+drawing aside a screen, he beheld glowing in a small furnace. At the
+sight of this new instrument of torture, "Luke's iron crown," the monk
+wrote and subscribed the abhorred confession. The nobleman then
+observed, "See now the enormity of your manner of proceeding with
+unhappy men! My poor physician, like you, has confessed Judaism; but
+with this difference, only torments have forced that from him which fear
+alone has drawn from you!"
+
+The Inquisition has not failed of receiving its due praises. Macedo, a
+Portuguese Jesuit, has discovered the "Origin of the _Inquisition_" in
+the terrestrial Paradise, and presumes to allege that God was the first
+who began the functions of an _inquisitor_ over Cain and the workmen of
+Babel! Macedo, however, is not so dreaming a personage as he appears;
+for he obtained a Professor's chair at Padua for the arguments he
+delivered at Venice against the pope, which were published by the title
+of "The literary Roarings of the Lion at St. Mark;" besides he is the
+author of 109 different works; but it is curious to observe how far our
+interest is apt to prevail over our conscience,--Macedo praised the
+Inquisition up to the skies, while he sank the pope to nothing!
+
+Among the great revolutions of this age, and since the last edition of
+this work, the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal is abolished--but its
+history enters into that of the human mind; and the history of the
+Inquisition by Limborch, translated by Chandler, with a very curious
+"Introduction," loses none of its value with the philosophical mind.
+This monstrous tribunal of human opinions aimed at the sovereignty of
+the intellectual world, without intellect.
+
+In these changeful times, the history of the Inquisition is not the
+least mutable. The Inquisition, which was abolished, was again
+restored--and at the present moment, I know not whether it is to be
+restored or abolished.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 53: See also the remark of Galileo in a previous page of this
+volume, in the article headed "The Persecuted Learned."]
+
+
+
+
+SINGULARITIES OBSERVED BY VARIOUS NATIONS IN THEIR REPASTS.
+
+
+The Maldivian islanders eat alone. They retire into the most hidden
+parts of their houses; and they draw down the cloths that serve as
+blinds to their windows, that they may eat unobserved. This custom
+probably arises from the savage, in early periods of society, concealing
+himself to eat: he fears that another, with as sharp an appetite, but
+more strong than himself, should come and ravish his meal from him. The
+ideas of witchcraft are also widely spread among barbarians; and they
+are not a little fearful that some incantation may be thrown among their
+victuals.
+
+In noticing the solitary meal of the Maldivian islander, another reason
+may be alleged for this misanthropical repast. They never will eat with
+any one who is inferior to them in birth, in riches, or dignity; and as
+it is a difficult matter to settle this equality, they are condemned to
+lead this unsocial life.
+
+On the contrary, the islanders of the Philippines are remarkably social.
+Whenever one of them finds himself without a companion to partake of his
+meal, he runs till he meets with one; and we are assured that, however
+keen his appetite may be, he ventures not to satisfy it without a
+guest.[54]
+
+Savages, says Montaigne, when they eat, "_S'essuyent les doigts aux
+cuisses, a la bourse des genitoires, et a la plante des pieds_." We
+cannot forbear exulting in the polished convenience of napkins!
+
+The tables of the rich Chinese shine with a beautiful varnish, and are
+covered with silk carpets very elegantly worked. They do not make use of
+plates, knives, and forks: every guest has two little ivory or ebony
+sticks, which he handles very adroitly.
+
+The Otaheiteans, who are naturally social, and very gentle in their
+manners, feed separately from each other. At the hour of repast, the
+members of each family divide; two brothers, two sisters, and even
+husband and wife, father and mother, have each their respective basket.
+They place themselves at the distance of two or three yards from each
+other; they turn their backs, and take their meal in profound silence.
+
+The custom of drinking at different hours from those assigned for eating
+exists among many savage nations. Originally begun from necessity, it
+became a habit, which subsisted even when the fountain was near to them.
+A people transplanted, observes an ingenious philosopher, preserve in
+another climate modes of living which relate to those from whence they
+originally came. It is thus the Indians of Brazil scrupulously abstain
+from eating when they drink, and from drinking when they eat.[55]
+
+When neither decency nor politeness is known, the man who invites his
+friends to a repast is greatly embarrassed to testify his esteem for his
+guests, and to offer them some amusement; for the savage guest imposes
+on himself this obligation. Amongst the greater part of the American
+Indians, the host is continually on the watch to solicit them to eat,
+but touches nothing himself. In New France, he wearies himself with
+singing, to divert the company while they eat.
+
+When civilization advances, men wish to show their confidence to their
+friends: they treat their guests as relations; and it is said that in
+China the master of a house, to give a mark of his politeness, absents
+himself while his guests regale themselves at his table with undisturbed
+revelry.[56]
+
+The demonstrations of friendship in a rude state have a savage and gross
+character, which it is not a little curious to observe. The Tartars pull
+a man by the ear to press him to drink, and they continue tormenting him
+till he opens his mouth; then they clap their hands and dance before
+him.
+
+No customs seem more ridiculous than those practised by a Kamschatkan,
+when he wishes to make another his friend. He first invites him to eat.
+The host and his guest strip themselves in a cabin which is heated to an
+uncommon degree. While the guest devours the food with which they serve
+him, the other continually stirs the fire. The stranger must bear the
+excess of the heat as well as of the repast. He vomits ten times before
+he will yield; but, at length obliged to acknowledge himself overcome,
+he begins to compound matters. He purchases a moment's respite by a
+present of clothes or dogs; for his host threatens to heat the cabin,
+and oblige him to eat till he dies. The stranger has the right of
+retaliation allowed to him: he treats in the same manner, and exacts the
+same presents. Should his host not accept the invitation of him whom he
+had so handsomely regaled, in that case the guest would take possession
+of his cabin, till he had the presents returned to him which the other
+had in so singular a manner obtained.
+
+For this extravagant custom a curious reason has been alleged. It is
+meant to put the person to a trial, whose friendship is sought. The
+Kamschatkan who is at the expense of the fires, and the repast, is
+desirous to know if the stranger has the strength to support pain with
+him, and if he is generous enough to share with him some part of his
+property. While the guest is employed on his meal, he continues heating
+the cabin to an insupportable degree; and for a last proof of the
+stranger's constancy and attachment, he exacts more clothes and more
+dogs. The host passes through the same ceremonies in the cabin of the
+stranger; and he shows, in his turn, with what degree of fortitude he
+can defend his friend. The most singular customs would appear simple, if
+it were possible for the philosopher to understand them on the spot.
+
+As a distinguishing mark of their esteem, the negroes of Ardra drink out
+of one cup at the same time. The king of Loango eats in one house, and
+drinks in another. A Kamschatkan kneels before his guests; he cuts an
+enormous slice from a sea-calf; he crams it entire into the mouth of his
+friend, furiously crying out "_Tana!_"--There! and cutting away what
+hangs about his lips, snatches and swallows it with avidity.
+
+A barbarous magnificence attended the feasts of the ancient monarchs of
+France. After their coronation or consecration, when they sat at table,
+the nobility served them on horseback.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 54: In Cochin-China, a traveller may always obtain his dinner
+by simply joining the family of the first house he may choose to enter,
+such hospitality being the general custom.]
+
+[Footnote 55: _Esprit des Usages, et des Coutumes._]
+
+[Footnote 56: If the master be present, he devotes himself to cramming
+his guests to repletion.]
+
+
+
+
+MONARCHS.
+
+
+Saint Chrysostom has this very acute observation on _kings_: Many
+monarchs are infected with a strange wish that their successors may turn
+out bad princes. Good kings desire it, as they imagine, continues this
+pious politician, that their glory will appear the more splendid by the
+contrast; and the bad desire it, as they consider such kings will serve
+to countenance their own misdemeanours.
+
+Princes, says Gracian, are willing to be _aided_, but not _surpassed_:
+which maxim is thus illustrated.
+
+A Spanish lord having frequently played at chess with Philip II., and
+won all the games, perceived, when his Majesty rose from play, that he
+was much ruffled with chagrin. The lord, when he returned home, said to
+his family--"My children, we have nothing more to do at court: there we
+must expect no favour; for the king is offended at my having won of him
+every game of chess." As chess entirely depends on the genius of the
+players, and not on fortune, King Philip the chess-player conceived he
+ought to suffer no rival.
+
+This appears still clearer by the anecdote told of the Earl of
+Sunderland, minister to George I., who was partial to the game of chess.
+He once played with the Laird of Cluny, and the learned Cunningham, the
+editor of Horace. Cunningham, with too much skill and too much
+sincerity, beat his lordship. "The earl was so fretted at his
+superiority and surliness, that he dismissed him without any reward.
+Cluny allowed himself sometimes to be beaten; and by that means got his
+pardon, with something handsome besides."
+
+In the Criticon of Gracian, there is a singular anecdote relative to
+kings.
+
+A Polish monarch having quitted his companions when he was hunting, his
+courtiers found him, a few days after, in a market-place, disguised as a
+porter, and lending out the use of his shoulders for a few pence. At
+this they were as much surprised as they were doubtful at first whether
+the _porter_ could be his _majesty_. At length they ventured to express
+their complaints that so great a personage should debase himself by so
+vile an employment. His majesty having heard them, replied--"Upon my
+honour, gentlemen, the load which I quitted is by far heavier than the
+one you see me carry here: the weightiest is but a straw, when compared
+to that world under which I laboured. I have slept more in four nights
+than I have during all my reign. I begin to live, and to be king of
+myself. Elect whom you choose. For me, who am so well, it were madness
+to return to _court_." Another Polish king, who succeeded this
+philosophic _monarchical porter_, when they placed the sceptre in his
+hand, exclaimed--"I had rather tug at an _oar_!" The vacillating
+fortunes of the Polish monarchy present several of these anecdotes;
+their monarchs appear to have frequently been philosophers; and, as the
+world is made, an excellent philosopher proves but an indifferent king.
+
+Two observations on kings were offered to a courtier with great
+_naivete_ by that experienced politician, the Duke of Alva:--"Kings who
+affect to be familiar with their companions make use of _men_ as they do
+of _oranges_; they take oranges to extract their juice, and when they
+are well sucked they throw them away. Take care the king does not do the
+same to you; be careful that he does not read all your thoughts;
+otherwise he will throw you aside to the back of his chest, as a book of
+which he has read enough." "The squeezed orange," the King of Prussia
+applied in his dispute with Voltaire.
+
+When it was suggested to Dr. Johnson that kings must be unhappy because
+they are deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and
+unreserved society, he observed that this was an ill-founded notion.
+"Being a king does not exclude a man from such society. Great kings have
+always been social. The King of Prussia, the only great king at present
+(this was THE GREAT Frederic) is very social. Charles the Second, the
+last king of England who was a man of parts, was social; our Henries and
+Edwards were all social."
+
+The Marquis of Halifax, in his character of Charles II., has exhibited a
+_trait_ in the royal character of a good-natured monarch; that _trait_,
+is _sauntering_. I transcribe this curious observation, which introduces
+us into a levee.
+
+"There was as much of laziness as of love in all those hours which he
+passed amongst his mistresses, who served only to fill up his seraglio,
+while a bewitching kind of pleasure, called SAUNTERING, was the sultana
+queen he delighted in.
+
+"The thing called SAUNTERING is a stronger temptation to princes than it
+is to others.--The being galled with importunities, pursued from one
+room to another with asking faces; the dismal sound of unreasonable
+complaints and ill-grounded pretences; the deformity of fraud
+ill-disguised:--all these would make any man run away from them, and I
+used to think it was the motive for making him walk so fast."
+
+
+
+
+OF THE TITLES OF ILLUSTRIOUS, HIGHNESS, AND EXCELLENCE.
+
+
+The title of _illustrious_ was never given, till the reign of
+Constantine, but to those whose reputation was splendid in arms or in
+letters. Adulation had not yet adopted this noble word into her
+vocabulary. Suetonius composed a book to record those who had possessed
+this title; and, as it was _then_ bestowed, a moderate volume was
+sufficient to contain their names.
+
+In the time of Constantine, the title of _illustrious_ was given more
+particularly to those princes who had distinguished themselves in war;
+but it was not continued to their descendants. At length, it became very
+common; and every son of a prince was _illustrious_. It is now a
+convenient epithet for the poet.
+
+In the rage for TITLES the ancient lawyers in Italy were not satisfied
+by calling kings ILLUSTRES; they went a step higher, and would have
+emperors to be _super-illustres_, a barbarous coinage of their own.
+
+In Spain, they published a book of _titles_ for their kings, as well as
+for the Portuguese; but Selden tells us, that "their _Cortesias_ and
+giving of titles grew at length, through the affectation of heaping
+great attributes on their princes to such an insufferable forme, that a
+remedie was provided against it." This remedy was an act published by
+Philip III. which ordained that all the _Cortesias_, as they termed
+these strange phrases they had so servilely and ridiculously invented,
+should be reduced to a simple superscription, "To the king our lord,"
+leaving out those fantastical attributes of which every secretary had
+vied with his predecessors in increasing the number.
+
+It would fill three or four of these pages to transcribe the titles and
+attributes of the Grand Signior, which he assumes in a letter to Henry
+IV. Selden, in his "Titles of Honour," first part, p. 140, has preserved
+them. This "emperor of victorious emperors," as he styles himself, at
+length condescended to agree with the emperor of Germany, in 1606, that
+in all their letters and instruments they should be only styled _father_
+and _son_: the emperor calling the sultan his son; and the sultan the
+emperor, in regard of his years, his _father_.
+
+Formerly, says Houssaie, the title of _highness_ was only given to
+kings; but now it has become so common that all the great houses assume
+it. All the great, says a modern, are desirous of being confounded with
+princes, and are ready to seize on the privileges of royal dignity. We
+have already come to _highness_. The pride of our descendants, I
+suspect, will usurp that of _majesty_.
+
+Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and his queen Isabella of Castile, were only
+treated with the title of _highness_. Charles was the first who took
+that of _majesty_: not in his quality of king of Spain, but as emperor.
+St. Foix informs us, that kings were usually addressed by the titles of
+_most illustrious_, or _your serenity_, or _your grace_; but that the
+custom of giving them that of _majesty_ was only established by Louis
+XI., a prince the least majestic in all his actions, his manners, and
+his exterior--a severe monarch, but no ordinary man, the Tiberius of
+France. The manners of this monarch were most sordid; in public
+audiences he dressed like the meanest of the people, and affected to sit
+on an old broken chair, with a filthy dog on his knees. In an account
+found of his household, this _majestic_ prince has a charge made him for
+two new sleeves sewed on one of his old doublets.
+
+Formerly kings were apostrophised by the title of _your grace_. Henry
+VIII. was the first, says Houssaie, who assumed the title of _highness_;
+and at length _majesty_. It was Francis I. who saluted him with this
+last title, in their interview in the year 1520, though he called
+himself only the first gentleman in his kingdom!
+
+So distinct were once the titles of _highness_ and _excellence_, that
+when Don Juan, the brother of Philip II., was permitted to take up the
+latter title, and the city of Granada saluted him by the title of
+_highness_, it occasioned such serious jealousy at court, that had he
+persisted in it, he would have been condemned for treason.
+
+The usual title of _cardinals_, about 1600, was _seignoria
+illustrissima_; the Duke of Lerma, the Spanish minister and cardinal, in
+his old age, assumed the title of _eccellencia reverendissima_. The
+church of Rome was in its glory, and to be called _reverend_ was then
+accounted a higher honour than to be styled _illustrious_. But by use
+_illustrious_ grew familiar, and _reverend_ vulgar, and at last the
+cardinals were distinguished by the title of _eminent_.
+
+After all these historical notices respecting these titles, the reader
+will smile when he is acquainted with the reason of an honest curate of
+Montferrat, who refused to bestow the title of _highness_ on the duke of
+Mantua, because he found in his breviary these words, _Tu solus Dominus,
+tu solus Altissimus_; from all which he concluded, that none but the
+Lord was to be honoured with the title of _highness_! The "Titles of
+Honour" of Selden is a very curious volume, and, as the learned Usher
+told Evelyn, the most valuable work of this great scholar. The best
+edition is a folio of about one thousand pages. Selden vindicates the
+right of a king of England to the title of _emperor_.
+
+    "And never yet was TITLE did not move;
+    And never eke a mind, _that_ TITLE did not love."
+
+
+
+
+TITLES OF SOVEREIGNS.
+
+
+In countries where despotism exists in all its force, and is gratified
+in all its caprices, either the intoxication of power has occasioned
+sovereigns to assume the most solemn and the most fantastic titles; or
+the royal duties and functions were considered of so high and extensive
+a nature, that the people expressed their notion of the pure monarchical
+state by the most energetic descriptions of oriental fancy.
+
+The chiefs of the Natchez are regarded by their people as the children
+of the sun, and they bear the name of their father.
+
+The titles which some chiefs assume are not always honourable in
+themselves; it is sufficient if the people respect them. The king of
+Quiterva calls himself the _great lion_; and for this reason lions are
+there so much respected, that they are not allowed to kill them, but at
+certain royal huntings.
+
+The king of Monomotapa is surrounded by musicians and poets, who adulate
+him by such refined flatteries as _lord of the sun and moon_; _great
+magician_; and _great thief!_--where probably thievery is merely a term
+for dexterity.
+
+The Asiatics have bestowed what to us appear as ridiculous titles of
+honour on their _princes_. The king of Arracan assumes the following
+ones: "Emperor of Arracan, possessor of the white elephant, and the two
+ear-rings, and in virtue of this possession legitimate heir of Pegu and
+Brama; lord of the twelve provinces of Bengal, and the twelve kings who
+place their heads under his feet."
+
+His majesty of Ava is called _God_: when he writes to a foreign
+sovereign he calls himself the king of kings, whom all others should
+obey, as he is the cause of the preservation of all animals; the
+regulator of the seasons, the absolute master of the ebb and flow of the
+sea, brother to the sun, and king of the four-and-twenty umbrellas!
+These umbrellas are always carried before him as a mark of his dignity.
+
+The titles of the kings of Achem are singular, though voluminous. The
+most striking ones are sovereign of the universe, whose body is luminous
+as the sun; whom God created to be as accomplished as the moon at her
+plenitude; whose eye glitters like the northern star; a king as
+spiritual as a ball is round; who when he rises shades all his people;
+from under whose feet a sweet odour is wafted, &c. &c.
+
+The Kandyan sovereign is called _Dewo_ (God). In a deed of gift he
+proclaims his extraordinary attributes. "The protector of religion,
+whose fame is infinite, and of surpassing excellence, exceeding the
+moon, the unexpanded jessamine buds, the stars, &c.; whose feet are as
+fragrant to the noses of other kings as flowers to bees; our most noble
+patron and god by custom," &c.
+
+After a long enumeration of the countries possessed by the king of
+Persia, they give him some poetical distinctions: _the branch of
+honour_; _the mirror of virtue_; and _the rose of delight_.
+
+
+
+
+ROYAL DIVINITIES.
+
+
+There is a curious dissertation in the "Memoires de l'Academie des
+Inscriptions et Belles Lettres," by the Abbe Mongault, "on the divine
+honours which were paid to the governors of provinces during the Roman
+republic;" in their lifetime these originally began in gratitude, and at
+length degenerated into flattery. These facts curiously show how far the
+human mind can advance, when led on by customs that operate
+unperceivably on it, and blind us in our absurdities. One of these
+ceremonies was exquisitely ludicrous. When they voted a statue to a
+proconsul, they placed it among the statues of the gods in the festival
+called _Lectisternium_, from the ridiculous circumstances of this solemn
+festival. On that day the gods were invited to a repast, which was
+however spread in various quarters of the city, to satiate mouths more
+mortal. The gods were however taken down from their pedestals, laid on
+beds ornamented in their temples; pillows were placed under their marble
+heads; and while they reposed in this easy posture they were served with
+a magnificent repast. When Caesar had conquered Rome, the servile senate
+put him to dine with the gods! Fatigued by and ashamed of these honours,
+he desired the senate to erase from his statue in the capitol the title
+they had given him of a _demi-god_!
+
+The adulations lavished on the first Roman emperors were extravagant;
+but perhaps few know that they were less offensive than the flatterers
+of the third century under the Pagan, and of the fourth under the
+Christian emperors. Those who are acquainted with the character of the
+age of Augustulus have only to look at the one, and the other _code_, to
+find an infinite number of passages which had not been tolerable even in
+that age. For instance, here is a law of Arcadius and Honorius,
+published in 404:--
+
+"Let the officers of the palace be warned to abstain from frequenting
+tumultuous meetings; and that those who, instigated by a _sacrilegious_
+temerity, dare to oppose the authority of _our divinity_, shall be
+deprived of their employments, and their estates confiscated." The
+letters they write are _holy_. When the sons speak of their fathers, it
+is, "Their father of _divine_ memory;" or "Their _divine_ father." They
+call their own laws _oracles_, and _celestial_ oracles. So also their
+subjects address them by the titles of "_Your Perpetuity_, _your
+Eternity._" And it appears by a law of Theodoric the Great, that the
+emperors at length added this to their titles. It begins, "If any
+magistrate, after having concluded a public work, put his name rather
+than that of _Our Perpetuity_, let him be judged guilty of
+high-treason." All this reminds one of "the celestial empire" of the
+Chinese.
+
+Whenever the Great Mogul made an observation, Bernier tells us that some
+of the first Omrahs lifted up their hands, crying, "Wonder! wonder!
+wonder!" And a proverb current in his dominion was, "If the king saith
+at noonday it is night, you are to say, Behold the moon and the stars!"
+Such adulation, however, could not alter the general condition and
+fortune of this unhappy being, who became a sovereign without knowing
+what it is to be one. He was brought out of the seraglio to be placed on
+the throne, and it was he, rather than the spectators, who might have
+truly used the interjection of astonishment!
+
+
+
+
+DETHRONED MONARCHS
+
+
+Fortune never appears in a more extravagant humour than when she reduces
+monarchs to become mendicants. Half a century ago it was not imagined
+that our own times should have to record many such instances. After
+having contemplated _kings_ raised into _divinities_, we see them now
+depressed as _beggars_. Our own times, in two opposite senses, may
+emphatically be distinguished as the _age of kings_.
+
+In Candide, or the Optimist, there is an admirable stroke of Voltaire's.
+Eight travellers meet in an obscure inn, and some of them with not
+sufficient money to pay for a scurvy dinner. In the course of
+conversation, they are discovered to be _eight monarchs_ in Europe, who
+had been deprived of their crowns!
+
+What added to this exquisite satire was, that there were eight living
+monarchs at that moment wanderers on the earth;--a circumstance which
+has since occurred!
+
+Adelaide, the widow of Lothario, king of Italy, one of the most
+beautiful women in her age, was besieged in Pavia by Berenger, who
+resolved to constrain her to marry his son after Pavia was taken; she
+escaped from her prison with her almoner. The archbishop of Reggio had
+offered her an asylum: to reach it, she and her almoner travelled on
+foot through the country by night, concealing herself in the day-time
+among the corn, while the almoner begged for alms and food through the
+villages.
+
+The emperor Henry IV. after having been deposed and imprisoned by his
+son, Henry V., escaped from prison; poor, vagrant, and without aid, he
+entreated the bishop of Spires to grant him a lay prebend in his church.
+"I have studied," said he, "and have learned to sing, and may therefore
+be of some service to you." The request was denied, and he died
+miserably and obscurely at Liege, after having drawn the attention of
+Europe to his victories and his grandeur!
+
+Mary of Medicis, the widow of Henry the Great, mother of Louis XIII.,
+mother-in-law of three sovereigns, and regent of France, frequently
+wanted the necessaries of life, and died at Cologne in the utmost
+misery. The intrigues of Richelieu compelled her to exile herself, and
+live an unhappy fugitive. Her petition exists, with this supplicatory
+opening: "Supplie Marie, Reine de France et de Navarre, disant, que
+depuis le 23 Fevrier elle aurait ete arretee prisonniere au chateau de
+Compiegne, sans etre ni accusee ni soupconne," &c. Lilly, the
+astrologer, in his Life and Death of King Charles the First, presents us
+with a melancholy picture of this unfortunate monarch. He has also
+described the person of the old queen-mother of France:--
+
+"In the month of August, 1641, I beheld the old queen-mother of France
+departing from London, in company of Thomas, Earl of Arundel. A sad
+spectacle of mortality it was, and produced tears from mine eyes and
+many other beholders, to see an aged, lean, decrepit, poor queen, ready
+for her grave, necessitated to depart hence, having no place of
+residence in this world left her, but where the courtesy of her hard
+fortune assigned it. She had been the only stately and magnificent woman
+of Europe: wife to the greatest king that ever lived in France; mother
+unto one king and unto two queens."
+
+In the year 1595, died at Paris, Antonio, king of Portugal. His body is
+interred at the Cordeliers, and his heart deposited at the Ave-Maria.
+Nothing on earth could compel this prince to renounce his crown. He
+passed over to England, and Elizabeth assisted him with troops; but at
+length he died in France in great poverty. This dethroned monarch was
+happy in one thing, which is indeed rare: in all his miseries he had a
+servant, who proved a tender and faithful friend, and who only desired
+to participate in his misfortunes, and to soften his miseries; and for
+the recompense of his services he only wished to be buried at the feet
+of his dear master. This hero in loyalty, to whom the ancient Romans
+would have raised altars, was Don Diego Bothei, one of the greatest
+lords of the court of Portugal, and who drew his origin from the kings
+of Bohemia.
+
+Hume supplies an anecdote of singular royal distress. The queen of
+England, with her son Charles, "had a moderate pension assigned her; but
+it was so ill paid, and her credit ran so low, that one morning when the
+Cardinal de Retz waited on her, she informed him that her daughter, the
+Princess Henrietta, was obliged to lie a-bed for want of a fire to warm
+her. To such a condition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of
+England, and a daughter of Henry IV. of France!" We find another proof
+of her extreme poverty. Salmasius, after publishing his celebrated
+political book, in favour of Charles I., the _Defensio Regia_, was much
+blamed by a friend for not having sent a copy to the widowed queen of
+Charles, who, he writes, "though poor, would yet have paid the bearer."
+
+The daughter of James the First, who married the Elector Palatine, in
+her attempts to get her husband crowned, was reduced to the utmost
+distress, and wandered frequently in disguise.
+
+A strange anecdote is related of Charles VII. of France. Our Henry V.
+had shrunk his kingdom into the town of Bourges. It is said that having
+told a shoemaker, after he had just tried a pair of his boots, that he
+had no money to pay for them, Crispin had such callous feelings that he
+refused his majesty the boots. "It is for this reason," says Comines, "I
+praise those princes who are on good terms with the lowest of their
+people; for they know not at what hour they may want them."
+
+Many monarchs of this day have experienced more than once the truth of
+the reflection of Comines.
+
+We may add here, that in all conquered countries the descendants of
+royal families have been found among the dregs of the populace. An Irish
+prince has been discovered in the person of a miserable peasant; and in
+Mexico, its faithful historian Clavigero notices, that he has known a
+locksmith, who was a descendant of its ancient kings, and a tailor, the
+representative of one of its noblest families.
+
+
+
+
+FEUDAL CUSTOMS.
+
+
+Barbarous as the feudal customs were, they were the first attempts at
+organising European society. The northern nations, in their irruptions
+and settlements in Europe, were barbarians independent of each other,
+till a sense of public safety induced these hordes to confederate. But
+the private individual reaped no benefit from the public union; on the
+contrary, he seems to have lost his wild liberty in the subjugation; he
+in a short time was compelled to suffer from his chieftain; and the
+curiosity of the philosopher is excited by contemplating in the feudal
+customs a barbarous people carrying into their first social institutions
+their original ferocity. The institution of forming cities into
+communities at length gradually diminished this military and
+aristocratic tyranny; and the freedom of cities, originating in the
+pursuits of commerce, shook off the yoke of insolent lordships. A famous
+ecclesiastical writer of that day, who had imbibed the feudal
+prejudices, calls these communities, which were distinguished by the
+name of _libertates_ (hence probably our municipal term the
+_liberties_), as "execrable inventions, by which, contrary to law and
+justice, slaves withdrew themselves from that obedience which they owed
+to their masters." Such was the expiring voice of aristocratic tyranny!
+This subject has been ingeniously discussed by Robertson in his
+preliminary volume to Charles V.; but the following facts constitute the
+picture which the historian leaves to be gleaned by the minuter
+inquirer.
+
+The feudal government introduced a species of servitude which till that
+time was unknown, and which was called the servitude of the land. The
+bondmen or serfs, and the villains or country servants, did not reside
+in the house of the lord: but they entirely depended on his caprice; and
+he sold them, as he did the animals, with the field where they lived,
+and which they cultivated.
+
+It is difficult to conceive with what insolence the petty lords of those
+times tyrannized over their villains: they not only oppressed their
+slaves with unremitted labour, instigated by a vile cupidity, but their
+whim and caprice led them to inflict miseries without even any motive of
+interest.
+
+In Scotland they had a shameful institution of maiden-rights; and
+Malcolm the Third only abolished it, by ordering that they might be
+redeemed by a quit-rent. The truth of this circumstance Dalrymple has
+attempted, with excusable patriotism, to render doubtful. There seems,
+however, to be no doubt of the existence of this custom; since it also
+spread through Germany, and various parts of Europe; and the French
+barons extended their domestic tyranny to three nights of involuntary
+prostitution. Montesquieu is infinitely French, when he could turn this
+shameful species of tyranny into a _bon mot_; for he boldly observes on
+this, "_C'etoit bien ces trois nuits-la, qu'il falloit choisir; car pour
+les autres on n'auroit pas donne beaucoup d'argent_." The legislator in
+the wit forgot the feelings of his heart.
+
+Others, to preserve this privilege when they could not enjoy it in all
+its extent, thrust their leg booted into the bed of the new-married
+couple. This was called the _droit de cuisse_. When the bride was in
+bed, the esquire or lord performed this ceremony, and stood there, his
+thigh in the bed, with a lance in his hand: in this ridiculous attitude
+he remained till he was tired; and the bridegroom was not suffered to
+enter the chamber till his lordship had retired. Such indecent
+privileges must have originated in the worst of intentions; and when
+afterwards they advanced a step in more humane manners, the ceremonial
+was preserved from avaricious motives. Others have compelled their
+subjects to pass the first night at the top of a tree, and there to
+consummate their marriage; to pass the bridal hours in a river; or to be
+bound naked to a cart, and to trace some furrows as they were dragged;
+or to leap with their feet tied over the horns of stags.
+
+Sometimes their caprice commanded the bridegroom to appear in drawers at
+their castle, and plunge into a ditch of mud; and sometimes they were
+compelled to beat the waters of the ponds to hinder the frogs from
+disturbing the lord!
+
+Wardship, or the privilege of guardianship enjoyed by some lords, was
+one of the barbarous inventions of the feudal ages; the guardian had
+both the care of the person, and for his own use the revenue of the
+estates. This feudal custom was so far abused in England, that the king
+sold these lordships to strangers; and when the guardian had fixed on a
+marriage for the infant, if the youth or maiden did not agree to this,
+they forfeited the value of the marriage; that is, the sum the guardian
+would have obtained by the other party had it taken place. This cruel
+custom was a source of domestic unhappiness, particularly in
+love-affairs, and has served as the ground-work of many a pathetic play
+by our elder dramatists.
+
+There was a time when the German lords reckoned amongst their privileges
+that of robbing on the highways of their territory; which ended in
+raising up the famous Hanseatic Union, to protect their commerce against
+rapine and avaricious exactions of toll.
+
+Geoffrey, lord of Coventry, compelled his wife to ride naked on a white
+pad through the streets of the town; that by this mode he might restore
+to the inhabitants those privileges of which his wantonness had deprived
+them. This anecdote some have suspected to be fictitious, from its
+extreme barbarity; but the character of the middle ages will admit of
+any kind of wanton barbarism.
+
+When the abbot of Figeac made his entry into that town, the lord of
+Montbron, dressed in a harlequin's coat, and one of his legs naked, was
+compelled by an ancient custom to conduct him to the door of his abbey,
+leading his horse by the bridle. Blount's "Jocular Tenures" is a curious
+collection of such capricious clauses in the grants of their lands.[57]
+
+The feudal barons frequently combined to share among themselves those
+children of their villains who appeared to be the most healthy and
+serviceable, or remarkable for their talent; and not unfrequently sold
+them in their markets.
+
+The feudal servitude is not, even in the present enlightened times,
+abolished in Poland, in Germany, and in Russia. In those countries, the
+bondmen are still entirely dependent on the caprice of their masters.
+The peasants of Hungary or Bohemia frequently revolt, and attempt to
+shake off the pressure of feudal tyranny.
+
+An anecdote of comparatively recent date displays their unfeeling
+caprice. A lord or prince of the northern countries passing through one
+of his villages, observed a small assembly of peasants and their
+families amusing themselves with dancing. He commands his domestics to
+part the men from the women, and confine them in the houses. He orders
+the coats of the women to be drawn up above their heads, and tied with
+their garters. The men were then liberated, and those who did not
+recognise their wives in that state received a severe castigation.
+
+Absolute dominion hardens the human heart; and nobles accustomed to
+command their bondmen will treat their domestics as slaves, as
+capricious or inhuman West Indians treated their domestic slaves. Those
+of Siberia punish theirs by a free use of the cudgel or rod. The Abbe
+Chappe saw two Russian slaves undress a chambermaid, who had by some
+trifling negligence given offence to her mistress; after having
+uncovered as far as her waist, one placed her head betwixt his knees;
+the other held her by the feet; while both, armed with two sharp rods,
+violently lashed her back till it pleased the domestic tyrant to decree
+_it was enough_!
+
+After a perusal of these anecdotes of feudal tyranny, we may exclaim
+with Goldsmith--
+
+    "I fly from  PETTY TYRANTS--to the THRONE."
+
+Mr. Hallam's "State of Europe during the Middle Ages" renders this short
+article superfluous in a philosophical view.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 57: Many are of the nature of "peppercorn rents." Thus a manor
+was held from the king "by the service of one rose only, to be paid
+yearly, at the feast of St. John the Baptist, for all services; and they
+gave the king one penny for the price of the said one rose, as it was
+appraised by the barons of the Exchequer." Nicholas De Mora, in the
+reign of Henry III., "rendered at the Exchequer two knives, one good,
+and the other a very bad one, for certain land which he held in
+Shropshire." The citizens of London still pay to the Exchequer six
+horseshoes with nails, for their right to a piece of ground in the
+parish of St. Clement, originally granted to a farrier, as early as the
+reign of Henry III.]
+
+
+
+
+GAMING.
+
+
+Gaming appears to be an universal passion. Some have attempted to deny
+its universality; they have imagined that it is chiefly prevalent in
+cold climates, where such a passion becomes most capable of agitating
+and gratifying the torpid minds of their inhabitants.
+
+The fatal propensity of gaming is to be discovered, as well amongst the
+inhabitants of the frigid and torrid zones, as amongst those of the
+milder climates. The savage and the civilized, the illiterate and the
+learned, are alike captivated by the hope of accumulating wealth without
+the labours of industry.
+
+Barbeyrac has written an elaborate treatise on gaming, and we have two
+quarto volumes, by C. Moore, on suicide, gaming, and duelling, which may
+be placed by the side of Barbeyrac. All these works are excellent
+sermons; but a sermon to a gambler, a duellist, or a suicide! A
+dice-box, a sword, and pistol, are the only things that seem to have any
+power over these unhappy men, for ever lost in a labyrinth of their own
+construction.
+
+I am much pleased with the following thought. "The ancients," says the
+author of _Amusemens Serieux et Comiques_, "assembled to see their
+gladiators kill one another; they classed this among their _games_! What
+barbarity! But are we less barbarous, we who call a _game_ an
+assembly--who meet at the faro table, where the actors themselves
+confess they only meet to destroy one another?" In both these cases the
+philosopher may perhaps discover their origin in the listless state of
+_ennui_ requiring an immediate impulse of the passions, and very
+inconsiderate as to the fatal means which procure the desired agitation.
+
+The most ancient treatise by a modern on this subject, is said to be by
+a French physician, one Eckeloo, who published in 1569, _De Alea, sive
+de curanda Ludendi in Pecuniam cupiditate_, that is, "On games of
+chance, or a cure for gaming." The treatise itself is only worth notice
+from the circumstance of the author being himself one of the most
+inveterate gamblers; he wrote this work to convince himself of this
+folly. But in spite of all his solemn vows, the prayers of his friends,
+and his own book perpetually quoted before his face, he was a great
+gamester to his last hour! The same circumstance happened to Sir John
+Denham, who also published a tract against gaming, and to the last
+remained a gamester. They had not the good sense of old Montaigne, who
+gives the reason why he gave over gaming. "I used to like formerly games
+of chance with cards and dice; but of that folly I have long been cured;
+merely because I found that whatever good countenance I put on when I
+lost, I did not feel my vexation the less." Goldsmith fell a victim to
+this madness. To play any game well requires serious study, time, and
+experience. If a literary man plays deeply, he will be duped even by
+shallow fellows, as well as by professed gamblers.
+
+_Dice_, and that little pugnacious animal the _cock_, are the chief
+instruments employed by the numerous nations of the East, to agitate
+their minds and ruin their fortunes; to which the Chinese, who are
+desperate gamesters, add the use of _cards_. When all other property is
+played away, the Asiatic gambler scruples not to stake his _wife_ or his
+_child_, on the cast of a die, or the courage and strength of a martial
+bird. If still unsuccessful, the last venture he stakes is _himself_.
+
+In the Island of Ceylon, _cock-fighting_ is carried to a great height.
+The Sumatrans are addicted to the use of dice. A strong spirit of play
+characterises a Malayan. After having resigned everything to the good
+fortune of the winner, he is reduced to a horrid state of desperation;
+he then loosens a certain lock of hair, which indicates war and
+destruction to all whom the raving gamester meets. He intoxicates
+himself with opium; and working himself into a fit of frenzy, he bites
+or kills every one who comes in his way. But as soon as this lock is
+seen flowing, it is _lawful_ to fire at the person and to destroy him
+as fast as possible. This custom is what is called "To run a muck." Thus
+Dryden writes--
+
+    "Frontless and satire-proof, he scours the streets,
+    And _runs_ an Indian _muck_ at all he meets."
+
+Thus also Pope--
+
+    "Satire's my weapon, but =I'm= too discreet
+    To _run a muck_, and tilt at all I meet."
+
+Johnson could not discover the derivation of the word _muck_. To "run a
+muck" is an old phrase for attacking madly and indiscriminately; and has
+since been ascertained to be a Malay word.
+
+To discharge their gambling debts, the Siamese sell their possessions,
+their families, and at length themselves. The Chinese play _night_ and
+_day_, till they have lost all they are worth; and then they usually go
+and hang themselves. Such is the propensity of the Javanese for high
+play, that they were compelled to make a law, that "Whoever ventures his
+money at play shall be put to death." In the newly-discovered islands of
+the Pacific Ocean, they venture even their hatchets, which they hold as
+invaluable acquisitions, on running-matches.--"We saw a man," says Cook,
+"beating his breast and tearing his hair in the violence of rage, for
+having lost three hatchets at one of these races, and which he had
+purchased with nearly half his property."
+
+The ancient nations were not less addicted to gaming: Persians,
+Grecians, and Romans; the Goths, and Germans. To notice the modern ones
+were a melancholy task: there is hardly a family in Europe which cannot
+record, from their own domestic annals, the dreadful prevalence of this
+passion.
+
+_Gamester_ and _cheater_ were synonymous terms in the time of Shakspeare
+and Jonson: they have hardly lost much of their double signification in
+the present day.
+
+The following is a curious picture of a gambling-house, from a
+contemporary account, and appears to be an establishment more systematic
+even than the "Hells" of the present day.
+
+"A list of the officers established in the most notorious
+gaming-houses," from the DAILY JOURNAL, Jan. 9th, 1731.
+
+1st. A COMMISSIONER, always a proprietor, who looks in of a night; and
+the week's account is audited by him and two other proprietors.
+
+2nd. A DIRECTOR, who superintends the room.
+
+3rd. An OPERATOR, who deals the cards at a cheating game, called Faro.
+
+4th. Two CROWPEES, who watch the cards, and gather the money for the
+hank.
+
+5th. Two PUFFS, who have money given them to decoy others to play.
+
+6th. A CLERK, who is a check upon the PUFFS, to see that they sink none
+of the money given them to play with.
+
+7th. A SQUIB is a puff of lower rank, who serves at half-pay salary
+while he is learning to deal.
+
+8th. A FLASHER, to swear how often the bank has been stript.
+
+9th. A DUNNER, who goes about to recover money lost at play.
+
+10th. A WAITER, to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the
+gaming-room.
+
+11th. An ATTORNEY, a Newgate solicitor.
+
+12th. A CAPTAIN, who is to fight any gentleman who is peevish for losing
+his money.
+
+13th. An USHER, who lights gentlemen up and down stairs, and gives the
+word to the porter.
+
+14th. A PORTER, who is generally a soldier of the Foot Guards.
+
+15th. An ORDERLY MAN, who walks up and down the outside of the door, to
+give notice to the porter, and alarm the house at the approach of the
+constable.
+
+16th. A RUNNER, who is to get intelligence of the justices' meeting.
+
+17th. LINK-BOYS, COACHMEN, CHAIRMEN, or others who bring intelligence of
+the justices' meetings, or of the constables being out, at half-a-guinea
+reward.
+
+18th. COMMON-BAIL, AFFIDAVIT-MEN, RUFFIANS, BRAVOES, ASSASSINS, _cum
+multis aliis_.
+
+The "Memoirs of the most famous Gamesters from the reign of Charles II.
+to Queen Anne, by T. Lucas, Esq., 1714," appears to be a bookseller's
+job; but probably a few traditional stories are preserved.[58]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 58: This curious little volume deserves more attention than
+the slight mention above would occasion. It is diffuse in style, and
+hence looks a little like a "bookseller's job," of which the most was to
+be made; but the same fault has characterised many works whose authors
+possess a bad style. Many of the tales narrated of well-known London
+characters of the "merry days" of Charles the Second are very
+characteristic, and are not to be met with elsewhere.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ARABIC CHRONICLE.
+
+
+An Arabic chronicle is only valuable from the time of Mahomet. For such
+is the stupid superstition of the Arabs, that they pride themselves on
+being ignorant of whatever has passed before the mission of their
+Prophet. The Arabic chronicle of Jerusalem contains the most curious
+information concerning the crusades: Longuerue translated several
+portions of this chronicle, which appears to be written with
+impartiality. It renders justice to the Christian heroes, and
+particularly dwells on the gallant actions of the Count de St. Gilles.
+
+Our historians chiefly write concerning _Godfrey de Bouillon_; only the
+learned know that the Count _de St. Gilles_ acted there so important a
+character. The stories of the _Saracens_ are just the reverse; they
+speak little concerning Godfrey, and eminently distinguish Saint Gilles.
+
+Tasso has given in to the more vulgar accounts, by making the former so
+eminent, at the cost of the other heroes, in his Jerusalem Delivered.
+Thus Virgil transformed by his magical power the chaste Dido into a
+distracted lover; and Homer the meretricious Penelope into a moaning
+matron. It is not requisite for poets to be historians, but historians
+should not be so frequently poets. The same charge, I have been told,
+must be made against the Grecian historians. The Persians are viewed to
+great disadvantage in Grecian history. It would form a curious inquiry,
+and the result might be unexpected to some, were the Oriental student to
+comment on the Grecian historians. The Grecians were not the demi-gods
+they paint themselves to have been, nor those they attacked the
+contemptible multitudes they describe. These boasted victories might be
+diminished. The same observation attaches to Caesar's account of his
+British expedition. He never records the defeats he frequently
+experienced. The national prejudices of the Roman historians have
+undoubtedly occasioned us to have a very erroneous conception of the
+Carthaginians, whose discoveries in navigation and commercial
+enterprises were the most considerable among the ancients. We must
+indeed think highly of that people, whose works on agriculture, which
+they had raised into a science, the senate of Rome ordered to be
+translated into Latin. They must indeed have been a wise and grave
+people.--Yet they are stigmatised by the Romans for faction, cruelty,
+and cowardice; and the "Punic" faith has come down to us in a proverb:
+but Livy was a Roman! and there is such a thing as a patriotic
+malignity!
+
+
+
+
+METEMPSYCHOSIS.
+
+
+If we except the belief of a future remuneration beyond this life for
+suffering virtue, and retribution for successful crimes, there is no
+system so simple, and so little repugnant to our understanding, as that
+of the metempsychosis. The pains and the pleasures of this life are by
+this system considered as the recompense or the punishment of our
+actions in an anterior state: so that, says St. Foix, we cease to wonder
+that, among men and animals, some enjoy an easy and agreeable life,
+while others seem born only to suffer all kinds of miseries.
+Preposterous as this system may appear, it has not wanted for advocates
+in the present age, which indeed has revived every kind of fanciful
+theory. Mercier, in _L'an deux mille quatre cents quarante_, seriously
+maintains the present one.
+
+If we seek for the origin of the opinion of the metempsychosis, or the
+transmigration of souls into other bodies, we must plunge into the
+remotest antiquity; and even then we shall find it impossible to fix the
+epoch of its first author. The notion was long extant in Greece before
+the time of Pythagoras. Herodotus assures us that the Egyptian priests
+taught it; but he does not inform us of the time it began to spread. It
+probably followed the opinion of the immortality of the soul. As soon as
+the first philosophers had established this dogma, they thought they
+could not maintain this immortality without a transmigration of souls.
+The opinion of the metempsychosis spread in almost every region of the
+earth; and it continues, even to the present time, in all its force
+amongst those nations who have not yet embraced Christianity. The people
+of Arracan, Peru, Siam, Camboya, Tonquin, Cochin-China, Japan, Java, and
+Ceylon still entertain that fancy, which also forms the chief article of
+the Chinese religion. The Druids believed in transmigration. The bardic
+triads of the Welsh are full of this belief; and a Welsh antiquary
+insists, that by an emigration which formerly took place, it was
+conveyed to the Bramins of India from Wales! The Welsh bards tell us
+that the souls of men transmigrate into the bodies of those animals
+whose habits and characters they most resemble, till after a circuit of
+such penitential miseries, they are purified for the celestial presence;
+for man may be converted into a pig or a wolf, till at length he assumes
+the inoffensiveness of the dove.
+
+My learned friend Sharon Turner has explained, in his "Vindication of
+the ancient British Poems," p. 231, the Welsh system of the
+metempsychosis. Their bards mention three circles of existence. The
+circle of the all-enclosing circle holds nothing alive or dead, but God.
+The second circle, that of felicity, is that which men are to pervade
+after they have passed through their terrestrial changes. The circle of
+evil is that in which human nature passes through those varying stages
+of existence which it must undergo before it is qualified to inhabit the
+circle of felicity.
+
+The progression of man through the circle of evil is marked by three
+infelicities: Necessity, oblivion, and deaths. The deaths which follow
+our changes are so many escapes from their power. Man is a free agent,
+and has the liberty of choosing; his sufferings and changes cannot be
+foreseen. By his misconduct he may happen to fall retrograde into the
+lowest state from which he had emerged. If his conduct in any one state,
+instead of improving his being, had made it worse, he fell back into a
+worse condition, to commence again his purifying revolutions. Humanity
+was the limit of the degraded transmigrations. All the changes above
+humanity produced felicity. Humanity is the scene of the contest; and
+after man has traversed every state of animated existence, and can
+remember all that he has passed through, that consummation follows which
+he attains in the circle of felicity. It is on this system of
+transmigration that Taliessin, the Welsh bard, who wrote in the sixth
+century, gives a recital of his pretended transmigrations. He tells how
+he had been a serpent, a wild ass, a buck, or a crane, &c.; and this
+kind of reminiscence of his former state, this recovery of memory, was a
+proof of the mortal's advances to the happier circle. For to forget what
+we have been was one of the curses of the circle of evil. Taliessin,
+therefore, adds Mr. Turner, as profusely boasts of his recovered
+reminiscence as any modern sectary can do of his state of grace and
+election.
+
+In all these wild reveries there seems to be a moral fable in the
+notion, that the clearer a man recollects what a _brute_ he has been, it
+is a certain proof that he is in an improved state!
+
+According to the authentic Clavigero, in his history of Mexico, we find
+the Pythagorean transmigration carried on in the West, and not less
+fancifully than in the countries of the East. The people of Tlascala
+believe that the souls of persons of rank went after their death to
+inhabit the bodies of _beautiful and sweet singing birds_, and those of
+the _nobler quadrupeds_; while the souls of inferior persons were
+supposed to pass into _weasels_, _beetles_, and such other _meaner
+animals_.
+
+There is something not a little ludicrous in the description Plutarch
+gives at the close of his treatise on "the delay of heavenly justice."
+Thespesius saw at length the souls of those who were condemned to return
+to life, and whom they violently forced to take the forms of all kinds
+of animals. The labourers charged with this transformation forged with
+their instruments certain parts; others, a new form; and made some
+totally disappear; that these souls might be rendered proper for another
+kind of life and other habits. Among these he perceived the soul of
+Nero, which had already suffered long torments, and which stuck to the
+body by nails red from the fire. The workmen seized on him to make a
+viper of, under which form he was now to live, after having devoured the
+breast that had carried him.--But in this Plutarch only copies the fine
+reveries of Plato.
+
+
+
+
+SPANISH ETIQUETTE.
+
+
+The etiquette, or rules to be observed in royal palaces, is necessary
+for keeping order at court. In Spain it was carried to such lengths as
+to make martyrs of their kings. Here is an instance, at which, in spite
+of the fatal consequences it produced, one cannot refrain from smiling.
+
+Philip the Third was gravely seated by the fire-side: the fire-maker of
+the court had kindled so great a quantity of wood, that the monarch was
+nearly suffocated with heat, and his _grandeur_ would not suffer him to
+rise from the chair; the domestics could not _presume_ to enter the
+apartment, because it was against the _etiquette_. At length the Marquis
+de Potat appeared, and the king ordered him to damp the fire; but _he_
+excused himself; alleging that he was forbidden by the _etiquette_ to
+perform such a function, for which the Duke d'Ussada ought to be called
+upon, as it was his business. The duke was gone out: the _fire_ burnt
+fiercer; and the _king_ endured it, rather than derogate from his
+_dignity_. But his blood was heated to such a degree, that an erysipelas
+of the head appeared the next day, which, succeeded by a violent fever,
+carried him off in 1621, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign.
+
+The palace was once on fire; a soldier, who knew the king's sister was
+in her apartment, and must inevitably have been consumed in a few
+moments by the flames, at the risk of his life rushed in, and brought
+her highness safe out in his arms: but the Spanish _etiquette_ was here
+wofully broken into! The loyal soldier was brought to trial; and as it
+was impossible to deny that he had entered her apartment, the judges
+condemned him to die! The Spanish Princess however condescended, in
+consideration of the circumstance, to _pardon_ the soldier, and very
+benevolently saved his life.
+
+When Isabella, mother of Philip II., was ready to be delivered of him,
+she commanded that all the lights should be extinguished: that if the
+violence of her pain should occasion her face to change colour, no one
+might perceive it. And when the midwife said, "Madam, cry out, that will
+give you ease," she answered in _good Spanish_, "How dare you give me
+such advice? I would rather die than cry out."
+
+    "Spain gives us _pride_--which Spain to all the earth
+    May largely give, nor fear herself a dearth!"--_Churchill._
+
+Philip the Third was a weak bigot, who suffered himself to be governed
+by his ministers. A patriot wished to open his eyes, but he could not
+pierce through the crowds of his flatterers; besides that the voice of
+patriotism heard in a corrupted court would have become a crime never
+pardoned. He found, however, an ingenious manner of conveying to him his
+censure. He caused to be laid on his table, one day, a letter sealed,
+which bore this address--"To the King of Spain, Philip the Third, at
+present in the service of the Duke of Lerma."
+
+In a similar manner, Don Carlos, son to Philip the Second, made a book
+with empty pages, to contain the voyages of his father, which bore this
+title--"The great and admirable Voyages of the King Mr. Philip." All
+these voyages consisted in going to the Escurial from Madrid, and
+returning to Madrid from the Escurial. Jests of this kind at length cost
+him his life.
+
+
+
+
+THE GOTHS AND HUNS.
+
+
+The terrific honours which these ferocious nations paid to their
+deceased monarchs are recorded in history, by the interment of Attila,
+king of the Huns, and Alaric, king of the Goths.
+
+Attila died in 453, and was buried in the midst of a vast champaign in a
+coffin which was inclosed in one of gold, another of silver, and a third
+of iron. With the body were interred all the spoils of the enemy,
+harnesses embroidered with gold and studded with jewels, rich silks, and
+whatever they had taken most precious in the palaces of the kings they
+had pillaged; and that the place of his interment might for ever remain
+concealed, the Huns deprived of life all who assisted at his burial!
+
+The Goths had done nearly the same for Alaric in 410, at Cosenca, a town
+in Calabria. They turned aside the river Vasento; and having formed a
+grave in the midst of its bed where its course was most rapid, they
+interred this king with prodigious accumulations of riches. After having
+caused the river to reassume its usual course, they murdered, without
+exception, all those who had been concerned in digging this singular
+grave.
+
+
+
+
+VICARS OF BRAY.
+
+
+The vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, was a papist under the reign of Henry
+the Eighth, and a Protestant under Edward the Sixth; he was a papist
+again under Mary, and once more became a Protestant in the reign of
+Elizabeth.[59] When this scandal to the gown was reproached for his
+versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turncoat and an
+inconstant changeling, as Fuller expresses it, he replied, "Not so
+neither; for if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my
+principle; which is, to live and die the vicar of Bray!"
+
+This vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a proverb peculiar
+to this county, "The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still." But how
+has it happened that this _vicar_ should be so notorious, and one in
+much higher rank, acting the same part, should have escaped notice? Dr.
+_Kitchen_, bishop of Llandaff, from an idle abbot under Henry VIII. was
+made a busy bishop; Protestant under Edward, he returned to his old
+master under Mary; and at last took the oath of supremacy under
+Elizabeth, and finished as a parliament Protestant. A pun spread the
+odium of his name; for they said that he had always loved the _Kitchen_
+better than the _Church_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 59: His name was Simon Symonds. The popular ballad absurdly
+exaggerates his deeds, and gives them untrue amplitude. It is not older
+than the last century, and is printed in Ritson's _English Songs_.]
+
+
+
+
+DOUGLAS.
+
+
+It may be recorded as a species of Puritanic barbarism, that no later
+than the year 1757, a man of genius was persecuted because he had
+written a tragedy which tended by no means to hurt the morals; but, on
+the contrary, by awakening the piety of domestic affections with the
+nobler passions, would rather elevate and purify the mind.
+
+When Home, the author of the tragedy of Douglas, had it performed at
+Edinburgh, some of the divines, his acquaintance, attending the
+representation, the clergy, with the monastic spirit of the darkest
+ages, published a paper, which I abridge for the contemplation of the
+reader, who may wonder to see such a composition written in the
+eighteenth century."
+
+"On Wednesday, February the 2nd, 1757, the Presbytery of Glasgow came to
+the following resolution. They having seen a printed paper, intituled,
+'An admonition and exhortation of the reverend Presbytery of Edinburgh;'
+which, among other _evils_ prevailing, observing the following
+_melancholy_ but _notorious_ facts: that one who is a minister of the
+church of Scotland did _himself_ write and compose _a stage-play_,
+intituled, 'The tragedy of Douglas,' and got it to be acted at the
+theatre of Edinburgh; and that he with several other ministers of the
+church were present; and _some_ of them _oftener than once_, at the
+acting of the said play before a numerous audience. The presbytery being
+_deeply affected_ with this new and strange appearance, do publish these
+sentiments," &c Sentiments with which I will not disgust the reader;
+but which they appear not yet to have purified and corrected, as they
+have shown in the case of Logan and other Scotchmen, who have committed
+the crying sin of composing dramas!
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL HISTORY OF POVERTY.
+
+
+M. Morin, in the Memoirs of the French Academy, has formed a little
+history of Poverty, which I abridge.
+
+The writers on the genealogies of the gods have not noticed the deity of
+Poverty, though admitted as such in the pagan heaven, while she has had
+temples and altars on earth. The allegorical Plato has pleasingly
+narrated, that at the feast which Jupiter gave on the birth of Venus,
+Poverty modestly stood at the gate of the palace to gather the fragments
+of the celestial banquet; when she observed the god of riches,
+inebriated with nectar, roll out of the heavenly residence, and passing
+into the Olympian Gardens, throw himself on a vernal bank. She seized
+this opportunity to become familiar with the god. The frolicsome deity
+honoured her with his caresses; and from this amour sprung the god of
+Love, who resembles his father in jollity and mirth, and his mother in
+his nudity. The allegory is ingenious. The union of poverty with riches
+must inevitably produce the most delightful of pleasures.
+
+The golden age, however, had but the duration of a flower; when it
+finished, Poverty began to appear. The ancestors of the human race, if
+they did not meet her face to face, knew her in a partial degree; the
+vagrant Cain encountered her. She was firmly established in the
+patriarchal age. We hear of merchants who publicly practised the
+commerce of vending slaves, which indicates the utmost degree of
+poverty. She is distinctly marked by Job: this holy man protests, that
+he had nothing to reproach himself with respecting the poor, for he had
+assisted them in their necessities.
+
+In the scriptures, legislators paid great attention to their relief.
+Moses, by his wise precautions, endeavoured to soften the rigours of
+this unhappy state. The division of lands, by tribes and families; the
+septennial jubilees; the regulation to bestow at the harvest-time a
+certain portion of all the fruits of the earth for those families who
+were in want; and the obligation of his moral law to love one's
+neighbour as one's self; were so many mounds erected against the
+inundations of poverty. The Jews under their Theocracy had few or no
+mendicants. Their kings were unjust; and rapaciously seizing on
+inheritances which were not their right, increased the numbers of the
+poor. From the reign of David there were oppressive governors, who
+devoured the people as their bread. It was still worse under the foreign
+powers of Babylon, of Persia, and the Roman emperors. Such were the
+extortions of their publicans, and the avarice of their governors, that
+the number of mendicants dreadfully augmented; and it was probably for
+that reason that the opulent families consecrated a tenth part of their
+property for their succour, as appears in the time of the evangelists.
+In the preceding ages no more was given, as their casuists assure us,
+than the fortieth or thirtieth part; a custom which this singular nation
+still practise. If there are no poor of their nation where they reside,
+they send it to the most distant parts. The Jewish merchants make this
+charity a regular charge in their transactions with each other; and at
+the close of the year render an account to the poor of their nation.
+
+By the example of Moses, the ancient legislators were taught to pay a
+similar attention to the poor. Like him, they published laws respecting
+the division of lands; and many ordinances were made for the benefit of
+those whom fires, inundations, wars, or bad harvests had reduced to
+want. Convinced that _idleness_ more inevitably introduced poverty than
+any other cause, it was rigorously punished; the Egyptians made it
+criminal, and no vagabonds or mendicants were suffered under any
+pretence whatever. Those who were convicted of slothfulness, and still
+refused to labour for the public when labour was offered to them, were
+punished with death. The famous Pyramids are the works of men who
+otherwise had remained vagabonds and mendicants.
+
+The same spirit inspired Greece. Lycurgus would not have in his republic
+either _poor_ or _rich_: they lived and laboured in common. As in the
+present times, every family has its stores and cellars, so they had
+public ones, and distributed the provisions according to the ages and
+constitutions of the people. If the same regulation was not precisely
+observed by the Athenians, the Corinthians, and the other people of
+Greece, the same maxim existed in full force against idleness.
+
+According to the laws of Draco, Solon, &c., a conviction of wilful
+poverty was punished with the loss of life. Plato, more gentle in his
+manners, would have them only banished. He calls them enemies of the
+state; and pronounces as a maxim, that where there are great numbers of
+mendicants, fatal revolutions will happen; for as these people have
+nothing to lose, they plan opportunities to disturb the public repose.
+
+The ancient Romans, whose universal object was the public prosperity,
+were not indebted to Greece on this head. One of the principal
+occupations of their censors was to keep a watch on the vagabonds. Those
+who were condemned as incorrigible sluggards were sent to the mines, or
+made to labour on the public edifices. The Romans of those times, unlike
+the present race, did not consider the _far niente_ as an occupation;
+they were convinced that their liberalities were ill-placed in bestowing
+them on such men. The little republics of the _bees_ and the _ants_ were
+often held out as an example; and the last particularly, where Virgil
+says, that they have elected overseers who correct the sluggards:
+
+    "---- Pars agmina cogunt,
+    Castigantque moras."
+
+And if we may trust the narratives of our travellers, the _beavers_
+pursue this regulation more rigorously and exactly than even these
+industrious societies. But their rigour, although but animals, is not so
+barbarous as that of the ancient Germans; who, Tacitus informs us,
+plunged the idlers and vagabonds in the thickest mire of their marshes,
+and left them to perish by a kind of death which resembled their
+inactive dispositions.
+
+Yet, after all, it was not inhumanity that prompted the ancients thus
+severely to chastise idleness; they were induced to it by a strict
+equity, and it would be doing them injustice to suppose, that it was
+thus they treated those _unfortunate poor_, whose indigence was
+occasioned by infirmities, by age, or unforeseen calamities. Every
+family constantly assisted its branches to save them from being reduced
+to beggary; which to them appeared worse than death. The magistrates
+protected those who were destitute of friends, or incapable of labour.
+When Ulysses was disguised as a mendicant, and presented himself to
+Eurymachus, this prince observing him, to be robust and healthy, offered
+to give him employment, or otherwise to leave him to his ill fortune.
+When the Roman Emperors, even in the reigns of Nero and Tiberius,
+bestowed their largesses, the distributors were ordered to exempt those
+from receiving a share whose bad conduct kept them in misery; for that
+it was better the lazy should die with hunger than be fed in idleness.
+
+Whether the police of the ancients was more exact, or whether they were
+more attentive to practise the duties of humanity, or that slavery
+served as an efficacious corrective of idleness; it clearly appears how
+small was the misery, and how few the numbers of their poor. This they
+did, too, without having recourse to hospitals.
+
+At the establishment of Christianity, when the apostles commanded a
+community of wealth among their disciples, the miseries of the poor
+became alleviated in a greater degree. If they did not absolutely live
+together, as we have seen religious orders, yet the wealthy continually
+supplied their distressed brethren: but matters greatly changed under
+Constantine. This prince published edicts in favour of those Christians
+who had been condemned in the preceding reigns to slavery, to the mines,
+to the galleys, or prisons. The church felt an inundation of prodigious
+crowds of these miserable men, who brought with them urgent wants and
+corporeal infirmities. The Christian families were then not numerous;
+they could not satisfy these claimants. The magistrates protected them:
+they built spacious hospitals, under different titles, for the sick, the
+aged, the invalids, the widows, and orphans. The emperors, and the most
+eminent personages, were seen in these hospitals, examining the
+patients; they assisted the helpless; they dressed the wounded. This did
+so much honour to the new religion, that Julian the Apostate introduced
+this custom among the pagans. But the best things are continually
+perverted.
+
+These retreats were found insufficient. Many slaves, proud of the
+liberty they had just recovered, looked on them as prisons; and, under
+various pretexts, wandered about the country. They displayed with art
+the scars of their former wounds, and exposed the imprinted marks of
+their chains. They found thus a lucrative profession in begging, which
+had been interdicted by the laws. The profession did not finish with
+them: men of an untoward, turbulent, and licentious disposition, gladly
+embraced it. It spread so wide that the succeeding emperors were obliged
+to institute new laws; and individuals were allowed to seize on these
+mendicants for their slaves and perpetual vassals: a powerful
+preservative against this disorder. It is observed in almost every part
+of the world but ours; and prevents that populace of beggary which
+disgraces Europe. China presents us with a noble example. No beggars are
+seen loitering in that country. All the world are occupied, even to the
+blind and the lame; and only those who are incapable of labour live at
+the public expense. What is done _there_ may also be performed _here_.
+Instead of that hideous, importunate, idle, licentious poverty, as
+pernicious to the police as to morality, we should see the poverty of
+the earlier ages, humble, modest, frugal, robust, industrious, and
+laborious. Then, indeed, the fable of Plato might be realised: Poverty
+might be embraced by the god of Riches; and if she did not produce the
+voluptuous offspring of Love, she would become the fertile mother of
+Agriculture, and the ingenious parent of the Arts and Manufactures.
+
+
+
+
+SOLOMON AND SHEBA.
+
+
+A Rabbin once told me an ingenious invention, which in the Talmud is
+attributed to Solomon.
+
+The power of the monarch had spread his wisdom to the remotest parts of
+the known world. Queen Sheba, attracted by the splendour of his
+reputation, visited this poetical king at his own court; there, one day
+to exercise the sagacity of the monarch, Sheba presented herself at the
+foot of the throne: in each hand she held a wreath; the one was composed
+of natural, and the other of artificial, flowers. Art, in the labour of
+the mimetic wreath, had exquisitely emulated the lively hues of nature;
+so that, at the distance it was held by the queen for the inspection of
+the king, it was deemed impossible for him to decide, as her question
+imported, which wreath was the production of nature, and which the work
+of art. The sagacious Solomon seemed perplexed; yet to be vanquished,
+though in a trifle, by a trifling woman, irritated his pride. The son of
+David, he who had written treatises on the vegetable productions "from
+the cedar to the hyssop," to acknowledge himself outwitted by a woman,
+with shreds of paper and glazed paintings! The honour of the monarch's
+reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished, and the whole Jewish
+court looked solemn and melancholy. At length an expedient presented
+itself to the king; and one it must be confessed worthy of the
+naturalist. Observing a cluster of bees hovering about a window, he
+commanded that it should be opened: it was opened; the bees rushed into
+the court, and alighted immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a
+single one fixed on the other. The baffled Sheba had one more reason to
+be astonished at the wisdom of Solomon.
+
+This would make a pretty poetical tale. It would yield an elegant
+description, and a pleasing moral; that _the bee_ only _rests_ on the
+natural beauties, and never _fixes_ on the _painted flowers_, however
+inimitably the colours may be laid on. Applied to the _ladies_, this
+would give it pungency. In the "Practical Education" of the Edgeworths,
+the reader will find a very ingenious conversation founded on this
+story.
+
+
+
+
+HELL.
+
+
+Oldham, in his "Satires upon the Jesuits," a work which would admit of a
+curious commentary, alludes to their "lying legends," and the
+innumerable impositions they practised on the credulous. I quote a few
+lines in which he has collected some of those legendary miracles, which
+I have noticed in the article LEGENDS, and the amours of the Virgin Mary
+are detailed in that on RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.
+
+    Tell, how _blessed Virgin_ to come down was seen,
+    Like play-house punk descending in machine,
+    How she writ _billet-doux_ and _love-discourse_,
+    Made _assignations_, _visits_, and _amours_;
+    How hosts distrest, her _smock_ for _banner_ wore,
+    Which vanquished foes!
+    ---- how _fish_ in conventicles met,
+    And _mackerel_ were with _bait of doctrine_ caught:
+    How cattle have judicious hearers been!--
+    How _consecrated hives_ with bells were hung,
+    And _bees_ kept mass, and holy _anthems sung_!
+    How _pigs_ to th' _rosary_ kneel'd, and _sheep_ were taught
+    To bleat _Te Deum_ and _Magnificat_;
+    How _fly-flap_, of church-censure houses rid
+    Of insects, which at _curse of fryar_ died.
+    How _ferrying cowls_ religious pilgrims bore
+    O'er waves, without the help of sail or oar;
+    How _zealous crab_ the _sacred image_ bore,
+    And swam a catholic to the distant shore.
+    With shams like these the giddy rout mislead,
+    Their folly and their superstition feed.
+
+All these are allusions to the extravagant fictions in the "Golden
+Legend." Among other gross impositions to deceive the mob, Oldham
+likewise attacks them for certain publications on topics not less
+singular. The tales he has recounted, Oldham says, are only baits for
+children, like toys at a fair; but they have their profounder and higher
+matters for the learned and inquisitive. He goes on:--
+
+    One undertakes by scales of miles to tell
+    The bounds, dimensions, and extent of HELL;
+    How many German leagues that realm contains!
+    How many chaldrons Hell each year expends
+    In coals for roasting Hugonots and friends!
+    Another frights the rout with useful stories
+    Of wild chimeras, limbos--PURGATORIES--
+    Where bloated souls in smoky durance hung,
+    Like a Westphalia gammon or neat's tongue,
+    To be redeem'd with masses and a song.--SATIRE IV.
+
+The readers of Oldham, for Oldham must ever have readers among the
+curious in our poetry, have been greatly disappointed in the pompous
+edition of a Captain Thompson, which illustrates none of his allusions.
+In the above lines Oldham alludes to some singular works.
+
+Treatises and topographical descriptions of HELL, PURGATORY, and even
+HEAVEN, were once the favourite researches among certain zealous
+defenders of the Romish Church, who exhausted their ink-horns in
+building up a Hell to their own taste, or for their particular
+purpose.[60] We have a treatise of Cardinal Bellarmin, a Jesuit, on
+_Purgatory_; he seems to have the science of a surveyor among all the
+secret tracks and the formidable divisions of "the bottomless pit."
+
+Bellarmin informs us that there are beneath the earth four different
+places, or a profound place divided into four parts. The deepest of
+these places is _Hell_; it contains all the souls of the damned, where
+will be also their bodies after the resurrection, and likewise all the
+demons. The place nearest _Hell_ is _Purgatory_, where souls are purged,
+or rather where they appease the anger of God by their sufferings. He
+says that the same fires and the same torments are alike in both these
+places, the only difference between _Hell_ and _Purgatory_ consisting in
+their duration. Next to _Purgatory_ is the _limbo_ of those _infants_
+who die without having received the sacrament; and the fourth place is
+the _limbo_ of the _Fathers_; that is to say, of those _just men_ who
+died before the death of Christ. But since the days of the Redeemer,
+this last division is empty, like an apartment to be let. A later
+catholic theologist, the famous Tillemont, condemns _all the illustrious
+pagans_ to the _eternal torments of Hell_? because they lived before the
+time of Jesus, and therefore could not be benefited by the redemption!
+Speaking of young Tiberius, who was compelled to fall on his own sword,
+Tillemont adds, "Thus by his own hand he ended his miserable life, _to
+begin another, the misery of which will never end_!" Yet history records
+nothing bad of this prince. Jortin observes that he added this
+_reflection_ in his later edition, so that the good man as he grew older
+grew more uncharitable in his religious notions. It is in this manner
+too that the Benedictine editor of Justin Martyr speaks of the
+illustrious pagans. This father, after highly applauding Socrates, and a
+few more who resembled him, inclines to think that they are not fixed in
+_Hell_. But the Benedictine editor takes great pains to clear the good
+father from the shameful imputation of supposing that a _virtuous pagan
+might be saved_ as well as a Benedictine monk! For a curious specimen of
+this _odium theologicum_, see the "Censure" of the Sorbonne on
+Marmontel's Belisarius.
+
+The adverse party, who were either philosophers or reformers, received
+all such information with great suspicion. Anthony Cornelius, a lawyer
+in the sixteenth century, wrote a small tract, which was so effectually
+suppressed, as a monster of atheism, that a copy is now only to be found
+in the hands of the curious. This author ridiculed the absurd and horrid
+doctrine of _infant damnation_, and was instantly decried as an atheist,
+and the printer prosecuted to his ruin! Caelius Secundus Curio, a noble
+Italian, published a treatise _De Amplitudine beati Regni Dei_, to prove
+that _Heaven_ has more inhabitants than _Hell_,--or, in his own phrase,
+that the _elect_ are more numerous than the _reprobate_. However we may
+incline to smile at these works, their design was benevolent. They were
+the first streaks of the morning light of the Reformation. Even such
+works assisted mankind to examine more closely, and hold in greater
+contempt, the extravagant and pernicious doctrines of the domineering
+papistical church.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 60: One of the most horrible of these books was the work of
+the Jesuit Pinamonti; it details with frightful minuteness the nature of
+hell-torments, accompanied by the most revolting pictures of the
+condemned under various refined torments. It was translated in an
+abbreviated form, and sold for a few pence as a popular religious book
+in Ireland, and may be so still. It is divided into a series of
+meditations for each day in the week, on hell and its torments.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ABSENT MAN.
+
+
+The character of Bruyere's "Absent Man" has been translated in the
+Spectator, and exhibited on the theatre. It is supposed to be a
+fictitious character, or one highly coloured. It was well known,
+however, to his contemporaries, to be the Count de Brancas. The present
+anecdotes concerning the same person were unknown to, or forgotten by,
+Bruyere; and are to the full as extraordinary as those which
+characterise _Menalcas_, or the Absent Man.
+
+The count was reading by the fireside, but Heaven knows with what degree
+of attention, when the nurse brought him his infant child. He throws
+down the book; he takes the child in his arms. He was playing with her,
+when an important visitor was announced. Having forgot he had quitted
+his book, and that it was his child he held in his hands, he hastily
+flung the squalling innocent on the table.
+
+The count was walking in the street, and the Duke de la Rochefoucault
+crossed the way to speak to him.--"God bless thee, poor man!" exclaimed
+the count. Rochefoucault smiled, and was beginning to address him:--"Is
+it not enough," cried the count, interrupting him, and somewhat in a
+passion; "is it not enough that I have said, at first, I have nothing
+for you? Such lazy vagrants as you hinder a gentleman from walking the
+streets." Rochefoucault burst into a loud laugh, and awakening the
+absent man from his lethargy, he was not a little surprised, himself,
+that he should have taken his friend for an importunate mendicant! La
+Fontaine is recorded to have been one of the most absent men; and
+Furetiere relates a most singular instance of this absence of mind. La
+Fontaine attended the burial of one of his friends, and some time
+afterwards he called to visit him. At first he was shocked at the
+information of his death; but recovering from his surprise,
+observed--"True! true! I recollect I went to his funeral."
+
+
+
+
+WAX-WORK.
+
+
+We have heard of many curious deceptions occasioned by the imitative
+powers of wax-work. A series of anatomical sculptures in coloured wax
+was projected by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, under the direction of
+Fontana. Twenty apartments have been filled with those curious
+imitations. They represent in every possible detail, and in each
+successive stage of denudation, the organs of sense and reproduction;
+the muscular, the vascular, the nervous, and the bony system. They
+imitate equally well the form, and more exactly the colouring, of nature
+than injected preparations; and they have been employed to perpetuate
+many transient phenomena of disease, of which no other art could have
+made so lively a record.[61]
+
+There is a species of wax-work, which, though it can hardly claim the
+honours of the fine arts, is adapted to afford much pleasure--I mean
+figures of wax, which may be modelled with great truth of character.
+
+Menage has noticed a work of this kind. In the year 1675, the Duke de
+Maine received a gilt cabinet, about the size of a moderate table. On
+the door was inscribed, "_The Apartment of Wit_." The inside exhibited
+an alcove and a long gallery. In an arm-chair was seated the figure of
+the duke himself, composed of wax, the resemblance the most perfect
+imaginable. On one side stood the Duke de la Rochefoucault, to whom he
+presented a paper of verses for his examination. M. de Marsillac, and
+Bossuet bishop of Meaux, were standing near the arm-chair. In the
+alcove, Madame de Thianges and Madame de la Fayette sat retired, reading
+a book. Boileau, the satirist, stood at the door of the gallery,
+hindering seven or eight bad poets from entering. Near Boileau stood
+Racine, who seemed to beckon to La Fontaine to come forwards. All these
+figures were formed of wax; and this philosophical baby-house,
+interesting for the personages it imitated, might induce a wish in some
+philosophers to play once more with one.
+
+There was lately an old canon at Cologne who made a collection of small
+wax models of characteristic figures, such as personifications of
+Misery, in a haggard old man with a scanty crust and a brown jug before
+him; or of Avarice, in a keen-looking Jew miser counting his gold: which
+were done with such a spirit and reality that a Flemish painter, a
+Hogarth or Wilkie, could hardly have worked up the _feeling_ of the
+figure more impressively. "All these were done with truth and expression
+which I could not have imagined the wax capable of exhibiting," says the
+lively writer of "An Autumn near the Rhine." There is something very
+infantine in this taste; but I lament that it is very rarely gratified
+by such close copiers of nature as was this old canon of Cologne.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 61: The finest collection at present is in Guy's Hospital,
+Southwark; they are the work of an artist especially retained there, who
+by long practice has become perfect, making a labour of love of a
+pursuit that would be disgustful to many.]
+
+
+
+
+PASQUIN AND MARFORIO.
+
+
+All the world have heard of these _statues_: they have served as
+vehicles for the keenest satire in a land of the most uncontrolled
+despotism. The _statue of Pasquin_ (from whence the word _pasquinade_)
+and that of _Marforio_ are placed in Rome in two different quarters.
+_Marforio_ is an ancient _statue_ of _Mars_, found in the _Forum_, which
+the people have corrupted into _Marforio_. _Pasquin_ is a marble
+_statue_, greatly mutilated, supposed to be the figure of a
+gladiator.[62] To one or other of these _statues_, during the
+concealment of the night, are affixed those satires or lampoons which
+the authors wish should be dispersed about Rome without any danger to
+themselves. When _Marforio_ is attacked, _Pasquin_ comes to his succour;
+and when _Pasquin_ is the sufferer, he finds in _Marforio_ a constant
+defender. Thus, by a thrust and a parry, the most serious matters are
+disclosed: and the most illustrious personages are attacked by their
+enemies, and defended by their friends.
+
+Misson, in his Travels in Italy, gives the following account of the
+origin of the name of the statue of _Pasquin_:--
+
+A satirical tailor, who lived at Rome, and whose name was _Pasquin_,
+amused himself by severe raillery, liberally bestowed on those who
+passed by his shop; which in time became the lounge of the newsmongers.
+The tailor had precisely the talents to head a regiment of satirical
+wits; and had he had time to _publish_, he would have been the Peter
+Pindar of his day; but his genius seems to have been satisfied to rest
+cross-legged on his shopboard. When any lampoons or amusing bon-mots
+were current at Rome, they were usually called, from his shop,
+_pasquinades_. After his death, this statue of an ancient gladiator was
+found under the pavement of his shop. It was soon set up, and by
+universal consent was inscribed with his name; and they still attempt to
+raise him from the dead, and keep the caustic tailor alive, in the
+marble gladiator of wit.
+
+There is a very rare work, with this title:--"Pasquillorum Tomi Duo;"
+the first containing the verse, and the second the prose pasquinades,
+published at Basle, 1544. The rarity of this collection of satirical
+pieces is entirely owing to the arts of suppression practised by the
+papal government. Sallengre, in his literary Memoirs, has given an
+account of this work; his own copy had formerly belonged to Daniel
+Heinsius, who, in verses written in his hand, describes its rarity and
+the price it too cost:--
+
+    Roma meos fratres igni dedit, unica Phoenix
+    Vivo, aureisque venio centum Heinsio.
+
+     "Rome gave my brothers to the flames, but I survive a solitary
+     Phoenix. Heinsius bought me for a hundred golden ducats."
+
+This collection contains a great number of pieces composed at different
+times, against the popes, cardinals, &c. They are not, indeed, materials
+for the historian, and they must be taken with grains of allowance. We
+find sarcastic epigrams on Leo X., and the infamous Lucretia, daughter
+of Alexander VI.: even the corrupt Romans of the day were capable of
+expressing themselves with the utmost freedom. Of Alexander VI. we have
+an apology for his conduct:
+
+    Vendit Alexander claves, altaria, Christum;
+    Emerat ille prius, vendere jure potest.
+
+    "Alexander _sells_ the keys, the altars, and Christ;
+    As he _bought_ them first, he had a right to _sell them_!"
+
+On Lucretia:--
+
+    Hoc tumulo dormit Lucretia nomine, sed re
+      Thais; Alexandri filia, sponsa, nurus!
+
+     "Beneath this stone sleeps Lucretia by name, but by nature Thais;
+     the daughter, the wife, and the daughter-in-law of Alexander!"
+
+Leo X. was a frequent butt for the arrows of Pasquin:--
+
+    Sacra sub extrema, si forte requiritis, hora
+      Cur Leo non potuit sumere; vendiderat.
+
+     "Do you ask why Leo did not take the sacrament on his
+     death-bed?--How could he? He had sold it!"
+
+Many of these satirical touches depend on puns. Urban VII., one of the
+_Barberini_ family, pillaged the Pantheon of brass to make cannon,[63]
+on which occasion Pasquin was made to say:--
+
+    Quod non fecerunt _Barbari_ Romae, fecit _Barberini_.
+
+On Clement VII., whose death was said to be occasioned by the
+prescriptions of his physician:--
+
+    Curtius occidit Clementem; Curtius auro
+      Donandus, per quem publica parta salus.
+
+     "Dr. Curtius has killed the pope by his remedies; he ought to be
+     remunerated as a man who has cured the state."
+
+The following, on Paul III., are singular conceptions:--
+
+    Papa Medusaeum caput est, coma turba Nepotum;
+      Perseu caede caput, Caesaries periit.
+
+     "The pope is the head of Medusa; the horrid tresses are his
+     nephews; Perseus, cut off the head, and then we shall be rid of
+     these serpent-locks."
+
+Another is sarcastic--
+
+    Ut canerent data multa olim sunt Vatibus aera:
+      Ut taceam, quantum tu mihi, Paule, dabis?
+
+     "Heretofore money was given to poets that they might sing: how much
+     will you give me, Paul, to be silent?"
+
+This collection contains, among other classes, passages from the
+Scriptures which have been applied to the court of Rome; to different
+nations and persons; and one of "_Sortes Virgilianae per Pasquillum
+collectae_,"--passages from Virgil frequently happily applied; and those
+who are curious in the history of those times will find this portion
+interesting. The work itself is not quite so rare as Daniel Heinsius
+imagined; the price might now reach from five to ten guineas.[64]
+
+These satirical statues are placed at opposite ends of the town, so that
+there is always sufficient time to make Marforio reply to the gibes and
+jeers of Pasquin in walking from one to the other. They are an ingenious
+substitute for publishing to the world, what no Roman newspaper would
+dare to print.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 62: The description of these two famous statues is not
+correctly given in the text. The statue called _Marforio_ is the figure
+of a recumbent river god of colossal proportions, found near the arch of
+Septimius Severus. When the museum of the capitol was completed, the
+Pope moved the figure into the court-yard; there it is still to be seen.
+He also wished to move that of _Pasquin_, but the Duke de Braschi
+refused to allow it; and it still stands on its pedestal, at the angle
+of the Braschi Palace, in the small square that takes the name of Piazza
+del Pasquino from that circumstance. It is much mutilated, but is the
+ruin of a very fine work; Bernini expressed great admiration for it. It
+is considered by Count Maffei to represent Ajax supporting Menelaus. The
+torso of the latter figure only is left, the arms of the former are
+broken away; but enough remains of both to conjecture what the original
+might have been in design. The _pose_ of both figures is similar to the
+fine group known as Ajax and Telamon, in the Loggia of the Pitti Palace
+at Florence.]
+
+[Footnote 63: The cannon were to supply the castle of St. Angelo, but a
+large portion of the metal (which formerly covered the roof of the
+temple) was used to construct the canopy and pillars which still stand
+over the tomb of St. Peter, in the great cathedral at Rome.]
+
+
+
+
+FEMALE BEAUTY AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+
+The ladies in Japan gild their teeth; and those of the Indies paint them
+red. The pearl of teeth must be dyed black to be beautiful in Guzerat.
+In Greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow. However
+fresh the complexion of a Muscovite may be, she would think herself very
+ugly if she was not plastered over with paint. The Chinese must have
+their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goat; and to render them
+thus, their youth is passed in tortures. In ancient Persia an aquiline
+nose was often thought worthy of the crown; and if there was any
+competition between two princes, the people generally went by this
+criterion of majesty. In some countries, the mothers break the noses of
+their children; and in others press the head between two boards, that it
+may become square. The modern Persians have a strong aversion to red
+hair: the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of it. The female
+Hottentot receives from the hand of her lover, not silks nor wreaths of
+flowers, but warm guts and reeking tripe, to dress herself with enviable
+ornaments.
+
+In China, small round eyes are liked; and the girls are continually
+plucking their eye-brows, that they may be thin and long. The Turkish
+women dip a gold brush in the tincture of a black drug, which they pass
+over their eye-brows. It is too visible by day, but looks shining by
+night. They tinge their nails with a rose-colour. An African beauty must
+have small eyes, thick lips, a large flat nose, and a skin beautifully
+black. The Emperor of Monomotapa would not change his amiable negress
+for the most brilliant European beauty.
+
+An ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unnecessary. The
+Peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they hang on it a weighty ring,
+the thickness of which is proportioned by the rank of their husbands.
+The custom of boring it, as our ladies do their ears, is very common in
+several nations. Through the perforation are hung various materials;
+such as green crystal, gold, stones, a single and sometimes a great
+number of gold rings.[65] This is rather troublesome to them in blowing
+their noses; and the fact is, as some have informed us, that the Indian
+ladies never perform this very useful operation.
+
+The female head-dress is carried in some countries to singular
+extravagance. The Chinese fair carries on her head the figure of a
+certain bird. This bird is composed of copper or of gold, according to
+the quality of the person; the wings spread out, fall over the front of
+the head-dress, and conceal the temples. The tail, long and open, forms
+a beautiful tuft of feathers. The beak covers the top of the nose; the
+neck is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, that
+it may the more freely play, and tremble at the slightest motion.
+
+The extravagance of the Myantses is far more ridiculous than the above.
+They carry on their heads a slight board, rather longer than a foot, and
+about six inches broad; with this they cover their hair, and seal it
+with wax. They cannot lie down, or lean, without keeping the neck
+straight; and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to find
+them with their head-dress entangled in the trees. Whenever they comb
+their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in melting the wax; but this
+combing is only performed once or twice a year.
+
+The inhabitants of the land of Natal wear caps or bonnets, from six to
+ten inches high, composed of the fat of oxen. They then gradually anoint
+the head with a purer grease, which mixing with the hair, fastens these
+_bonnets_ for their lives.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 64: This vehicle for satire was introduced early into England;
+thus, in 1589, was published "The return of the renowned Cavaliero
+Pasquill to England from the other side of the seas, and his meeting
+with Marforio at London, upon the Royall Exchange."]
+
+[Footnote 65: For some very strong remarks on this fashion, the reader
+may consult Bulwer's _Anthropometamorphosis, or Artificiall Changeling_,
+1653. The author is very ungallant in his strictures on "precious jewels
+in the snouts of such swine."]
+
+
+
+
+MODERN PLATONISM.
+
+
+Erasmus, in his Age of Religious Revolution, expressed an alarm, which
+in some shape has been since realized. He strangely, yet acutely
+observes, that "_literature_ began to make a great and happy progress;
+but," he adds, "I fear two things--that the study of _Hebrew_ will
+promote _Judaism_, and the study of _philology_ will revive PAGANISM."
+He speaks to the same purpose in the Adages, c. 189, as Jortin observes.
+Blackwell, in his curious Life of Homer, after showing that the ancient
+oracles were the fountains of knowledge, and that the votaries of the
+_god_ of _Delphi_ had their faith confirmed by the oracle's perfect
+acquaintance with the country, parentage, and fortunes of the suppliant,
+and many predictions verified; that besides all this, the oracles that
+have reached us discover a wide knowledge of everything relating to
+Greece;--this learned writer is at a loss to account for a knowledge
+that he thinks has something divine in it: it was a knowledge to be
+found nowhere in Greece but among the _Oracles_. He would account for
+this phenomenon by supposing there existed a succession of learned men
+devoted to this purpose. He says, "Either we must admit the knowledge of
+the priests, or turn _converts to the ancients_, and believe in the
+_omniscience of Apollo, which in this age I know nobody in hazard of_."
+Yet, to the astonishment of this writer, were he now living, he would
+have witnessed this incredible fact! Even Erasmus himself might have
+wondered.
+
+We discover the origin of MODERN PLATONISM, as it may be distinguished,
+among the Italians. About the middle of the fifteenth century, some time
+before the Turks had become masters of Constantinople, a great number of
+philosophers flourished. _Gemisthus Pletho_ was one distinguished by his
+genius, his erudition, and his fervent passion for _platonism_. Mr.
+Roscoe notices Pletho: "His discourses had so powerful an effect upon
+Cosmo de' Medici, who was his constant auditor, that he established an
+academy at Florence, for the sole purpose of cultivating this new and
+more elevated species of philosophy." The learned Marsilio Ficino
+translated Plotinus, that great archimage of _platonic mysticism_. Such
+were Pletho's eminent abilities, that in his old age those whom his
+novel system had greatly irritated either feared or respected him. He
+had scarcely breathed his last when they began to abuse Plato and our
+Pletho. The following account is written by George of Trebizond.
+
+"Lately has risen amongst us a second Mahomet: and this second, if we do
+not take care, will exceed in greatness the first, by the dreadful
+consequences of his wicked doctrine, as the first has exceeded Plato. A
+disciple and rival of this philosopher in philosophy, in eloquence, and
+in science, he had fixed his residence in the Peloponnese. His common
+name was _Gemisthus_, but he assumed that of _Pletho_. Perhaps
+Gemisthus, to make us believe more easily that he was descended from
+heaven, and to engage us to receive more readily his doctrine and his
+new law, wished to change his name, according to the manner of the
+ancient patriarchs, of whom it is said, that at the time the name was
+changed they were called to the greatest things. He has written with no
+vulgar art, and with no common elegance. He has given new rules for the
+conduct of life, and for the regulation of human affairs; and at the
+same time has vomited forth a great number of blasphemies against the
+Catholic religion. He was so zealous a platonist that he entertained no
+other sentiments than those of Plato, concerning the nature of the gods,
+souls, sacrifices, &c. I have heard him myself, when we were together at
+Florence, say, that in a few years all men on the face of the earth
+would embrace with one common consent, and with one mind, a single and
+simple religion, at the first instructions which should be given by a
+single preaching. And when I asked him if it would be the religion of
+Jesus Christ, or that of Mahomet? he answered, 'Neither one nor the
+other; but a _third_, which will not greatly differ from _paganism_.'
+These words I heard with so much indignation, that since that time I
+have always hated him: I look upon him as a dangerous viper; and I
+cannot think of him without abhorrence."
+
+The pious writer might have been satisfied to have bestowed a smile of
+pity or contempt.
+
+When Pletho died, full of years and honours, the malice of his enemies
+collected all its venom. This circumstance seems to prove that his
+abilities must have been great indeed, to have kept such crowds silent.
+Several Catholic writers lament that his book was burnt, and regret the
+loss of Pletho's work; which, they say, was not designed to subvert the
+Christian religion, but only to unfold the system of Plato, and to
+collect what he and other philosophers had written on religion and
+politics.
+
+Of his religious scheme, the reader may judge by this summary account.
+The general title of the volume ran thus:--"This book treats of the laws
+of the best form of government, and what all men must observe in their
+public and private stations, to live together in the most perfect, the
+most innocent, and the most happy manner." The whole was divided into
+three books. The titles of the chapters where paganism was openly
+inculcated are reported by Gennadius, who condemned it to the flames,
+but who has not thought proper to enter into the manner of his
+arguments. The extravagance of this new legislator appeared, above all,
+in the articles which concerned religion. He acknowledges a plurality of
+gods: some superior, whom he placed above the heavens; and the others
+inferior, on this side the heavens. The first existing from the remotest
+antiquity; the others younger, and of different ages. He gave a king to
+all these gods, and he called him [Greek: ZEUS], or _Jupiter_; as the
+pagans named this power formerly. According to him, the stars had a
+soul; the demons were not malignant spirits; and the world was eternal.
+He established polygamy, and was even inclined to a community of women.
+All his work was filled with such reveries, and, with not a few
+impieties, which my pious author has not ventured to give.
+
+What were the intentions of Pletho? If the work was only an arranged
+system of paganism, or the platonic philosophy, it might have been an
+innocent, if not a curious volume. He was learned and humane, and had
+not passed his life entirely in the solitary recesses of his study.
+
+To strain human curiosity to the utmost limits of human credibility, a
+_modern Pletho_ has risen in Mr. _Thomas Taylor_, who, consonant to the
+platonic philosophy in the present day, religiously professes
+_polytheism_! At the close of the eighteenth century, be it recorded,
+were published many volumes, in which the author affects to avow himself
+a zealous Platonist, and asserts that he can prove that the Christian
+religion is "a bastardized and barbarous Platonism." The divinities of
+Plato are the divinities to be adored, and we are to be taught to call
+God, Jupiter; the Virgin, Venus; and Christ, Cupid! The Iliad of Homer
+allegorised, is converted into a Greek bible of the arcana of nature!
+Extraordinary as this literary lunacy may appear, we must observe, that
+it stands not singular in the annals of the history of the human mind.
+The Florentine Academy, which Cosmo founded, had, no doubt, some
+classical enthusiasts; but who, perhaps, according to the political
+character of their country, were prudent and reserved. The platonic
+furor, however, appears to have reached other countries. In the reign of
+Louis XII., a scholar named Hemon de la Fosse, a native of Abbeville, by
+continually reading the Greek and Latin writers, became mad enough to
+persuade himself that it was impossible that the religion of such great
+geniuses as Homer, Cicero, and Virgil was a false one. On the 25th of
+August, 1503, being at church, he suddenly snatched the host from the
+hands of the priest, at the moment it was raised, exclaiming--"What!
+always this folly!" He was immediately seized. In the hope that he would
+abjure his extravagant errors, they delayed his punishment; but no
+exhortation or entreaties availed. He persisted in maintaining that
+Jupiter was the sovereign God of the universe, and that there was no
+other paradise than the Elysian fields. He was burnt alive, after having
+first had his tongue pierced, and his hand cut off. Thus perished an
+ardent and learned youth, who ought only to have been condemned as a
+Bedlamite.
+
+Dr. More, the most rational of our modern Platonists, abounds, however,
+with the most extravagant reveries, and was inflated with egotism and
+enthusiasm, as much as any of his mystic predecessors. He conceived that
+he communed with the Divinity itself! that he had been shot as a fiery
+dart into the world, and he hoped he had hit the mark. He carried his
+self-conceit to such extravagance, that he thought his urine smelt like
+violets, and his body in the spring season had a sweet odour; a
+perfection peculiar to himself. These visionaries indulge the most
+fanciful vanity.
+
+The "sweet odours," and that of "the violets," might, however, have been
+real--for they mark a certain stage of the disease of diabetes, as
+appears in a medical tract by the elder Dr. Latham.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES OF FASHION.
+
+
+A volume on this subject might be made very curious and entertaining,
+for our ancestors were not less vacillating, and perhaps more
+capriciously grotesque, though with infinitely less taste, than the
+present generation. Were a philosopher and an artist, as well as an
+antiquary, to compose such a work, much diversified entertainment, and
+some curious investigation of the progress of the arts and taste, would
+doubtless be the result; the subject otherwise appears of trifling
+value; the very farthing pieces of history.
+
+The origin of many fashions was in the endeavour to conceal some
+deformity of the inventor: hence the cushions, ruffs, hoops, and other
+monstrous devices. If a reigning beauty chanced to have an unequal hip,
+those who had very handsome hips would load them with that false rump
+which the other was compelled by the unkindness of nature to substitute.
+Patches were invented in England in the reign of Edward VI. by a foreign
+lady, who in this manner ingeniously covered a wen on her neck.
+Full-bottomed wigs were invented by a French barber, one Duviller, whose
+name they perpetuated, for the purpose of concealing an elevation in the
+shoulder of the Dauphin. Charles VII. of France introduced long coats to
+hide his ill-made legs. Shoes with very long points, full two feet in
+length, were invented by Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Anjou, to conceal a
+large excrescence on one of his feet. When Francis I. was obliged to
+wear his hair short, owing to a wound he received in the head, it became
+a prevailing fashion at court. Others, on the contrary, adapted fashions
+to set off their peculiar beauties: as Isabella of Bavaria, remarkable
+for her gallantry, and the fairness of her complexion, introduced the
+fashion of leaving the shoulders and part of the neck uncovered.
+
+Fashions have frequently originated from circumstances as silly as the
+following one. Isabella, daughter of Philip II. and wife of the Archduke
+Albert, vowed not to change her linen till Ostend was taken; this siege,
+unluckily for her comfort, lasted three years; and the supposed colour
+of the archduchess's linen gave rise to a fashionable colour, hence
+called _l'Isabeau_, or the Isabella; a kind of whitish-yellow-dingy.
+Sometimes they originate in some temporary event; as after the battle of
+Steenkirk, where the allies wore large cravats, by which the French
+frequently seized hold of them, a circumstance perpetuated on the medals
+of Louis XIV., cravats were called Steenkirks; and after the battle of
+Ramilies, wigs received that denomination.
+
+The _court_, in all ages and in every country, are the modellers of
+fashions; so that all the ridicule, of which these are so susceptible,
+must fall on them, and not upon their servile imitators the _citizens_.
+This complaint is made even so far back as in 1586, by Jean des Caures,
+an old French moralist, who, in declaiming against the fashions of his
+day, notices one, of the ladies carrying _mirrors fixed to their
+waists_, which seemed to employ their eyes in perpetual activity. From
+this mode will result, according to honest Des Caures, their eternal
+damnation. "Alas! (he exclaims) in what an age do we live: to see such
+depravity which we see, that induces them even to bring into church
+these _scandalous mirrors hanging about their waists_! Let all
+histories, divine, human, and profane, be consulted; never will it be
+found that these objects of vanity were ever thus brought into public by
+the most meretricious of the sex. It is true, at present none but the
+ladies of the court venture to wear them; but long it will not be before
+_every citizen's daughter_ and every _female servant_, will have them!"
+Such in all times has been the rise and decline of fashion; and the
+absurd mimicry of the _citizens_, even of the lowest classes, to their
+very ruin, in straining to rival the _newest fashion_, has mortified and
+galled the courtier.
+
+On this subject old Camden, in his Remains, relates a story of a trick
+played off on a citizen, which I give in the plainness of his own
+venerable style. Sir Philip Calthrop purged John Drakes, the _shoemaker
+of Norwich_, in the time of King Henry VIII. of the _proud humour_ which
+our _people have to be of the gentlemen's cut_. This knight bought on a
+time as much fine French tawny cloth as should make him a gown, and sent
+it to the taylor's to be made. John Drakes, a shoemaker of that town,
+coming to this said taylor's, and seeing the knight's gown cloth lying
+there, liking it well, caused the taylor to buy him as much of the same
+cloth and price to the same intent, and further bade him to _make it of
+the same fashion that the knight would have his made of_. Not long
+after, the knight coming to the taylor's to take measure of his gown,
+perceiving the like cloth lying there, asked of the taylor whose it was?
+Quoth the taylor, it is John Drakes' the _shoemaker_, who will have it
+_made of the self-same fashion that yours is made of_! 'Well!' said the
+knight, 'in good time be it! I will have mine made _as full of cuts as
+thy shears can make it_.' 'It shall be done!' said the taylor;
+whereupon, because the time drew near, he made haste to finish both
+their garments. John Drakes had no time to go to the taylor's till
+Christmas-day, for serving his customers, when he hoped to have worn his
+gown; perceiving the same to be _full of cuts_ began to swear at the
+taylor, for the making his gown after that sort. 'I have done nothing,'
+quoth the taylor, 'but that you bid me; for as Sir Philip Calthrop's
+garment is, even so I have made yours!' 'By my latchet!' quoth John
+Drakes, '_I will never wear gentlemen's fashions again_!'
+
+Sometimes fashions are quite reversed in their use in one age from
+another. Bags, when first in fashion in France, were only worn _en
+deshabille_; in visits of ceremony, the hair was tied by a riband and
+floated over the shoulders, which is exactly reversed in the present
+fashion. In the year 1735 the men had no hats but a little chapeau de
+bras; in 1745 they wore a very small hat; in 1755 they wore an enormous
+one, as may be seen in Jeffrey's curious "Collection of Habits in all
+Nations." Old Puttenham, in "The Art of Poesie," p. 239, on the present
+topic gives some curious information. "Henry VIII. caused his own head,
+and all his courtiers, to be _polled_ and his _beard_ to be _cut short_;
+_before that time_ it was thought _more decent_, both for old men and
+young, to be _all shaven_, and weare _long haire_, either rounded or
+square. Now _again at this time_ (Elizabeth's reign), the young
+gentlemen of the court have _taken up the long haire_ trayling on their
+shoulders, and think this more decent; for what respect I would be glad
+to know."
+
+When the fair sex were accustomed to behold their lovers with beards,
+the sight of a shaved chin excited feelings of horror and aversion; as
+much indeed as, in this less heroic age, would a gallant whose luxuriant
+beard should
+
+    "Stream like a meteor to the troubled air."
+
+When Louis VII., to obey the injunctions of his bishops, cropped his
+hair, and shaved his beard, Eleanor, his consort, found him, with this
+unusual appearance, very ridiculous, and soon very contemptible. She
+revenged herself as she thought proper, and the poor shaved king
+obtained a divorce. She then married the Count of Anjou, afterwards our
+Henry II. She had for her marriage dower the rich provinces of Poitou
+and Guienne; and this was the origin of those wars which for three
+hundred years ravaged France, and cost the French three millions of men.
+All which, probably, had never occurred had Louis VII. not been so rash
+as to crop his head and shave his beard, by which he became so
+disgustful in the eyes of our Queen Eleanor.
+
+We cannot perhaps sympathise with the feelings of her majesty, though at
+Constantinople she might not have been considered unreasonable. There
+must be something more powerful in _beards_ and _mustachios_ than we are
+quite aware of; for when these were in fashion--and long after this was
+written--the fashion has returned on us--with what enthusiasm were they
+not contemplated! When _mustachios_ were in general use, an author, in
+his Elements of Education, published in 1640, thinks that "hairy
+excrement," as Armado in "Love's Labour Lost" calls it, contributed to
+make men valorous. He says, "I have a favourable opinion of that young
+gentleman who is _curious in fine mustachios_. The time he employs in
+adjusting, dressing, and curling them, is no lost time; for the more he
+contemplates his mustachios, the more his mind will cherish and be
+animated by masculine and courageous notions." The best reason that
+could be given for wearing the _longest and largest beard_ of any
+Englishman was that of a worthy clergyman in Elizabeth's reign, "that no
+act of his life might be unworthy of the gravity of his appearance."
+
+The grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Cromwell, the literary
+friend of Pope, by her account, "was very nice in the mode of that age,
+his valet being some hours every morning in _starching his beard_ and
+_curling his whiskers_; during which time he was always read to."
+Taylor, the water poet, humorously describes the great variety of beards
+in his time, which extract may be found in Grey's Hudibras, Vol. I. p.
+300. The _beard_ dwindled gradually under the two Charleses, till it was
+reduced into _whiskers_, and became extinct in the reign of James II.,
+as if its fatality had been connected with that of the house of Stuart.
+
+The hair has in all ages been an endless topic for the declamation of
+the moralist, and the favourite object of fashion. If the _beau monde_
+wore their hair luxuriant, or their wig enormous, the preachers, in
+Charles the Second's reign, instantly were seen in the pulpit with their
+hair cut shorter, and their sermon longer, in consequence; respect was,
+however, paid by the world to the size of the _wig_, in spite of the
+_hair-cutter_ in the pulpit. Our judges, and till lately our physicians,
+well knew its magical effect. In the reign of Charles II. the
+hair-dress of the ladies was very elaborate; it was not only curled and
+frizzled with the nicest art, but set off with certain artificial curls,
+then too emphatically known by the pathetic terms of _heart-breakers_
+and _love-locks_. So late as William and Mary, lads, and even children,
+wore wigs; and if they had not wigs, they curled their hair to resemble
+this fashionable ornament. Women then were the hair-dressers.
+
+There are flagrant follies in fashion which must be endured while they
+reign, and which never appear ridiculous till they are out of fashion.
+In the reign of Henry III. of France, they could not exist without an
+abundant use of comfits. All the world, the grave and the gay, carried
+in their pockets a _comfit-box_, as we do snuff-boxes. They used them
+even on the most solemn occasions; when the Duke of Guise was shot at
+Blois, he was found with his comfit-box in his hand.--Fashions indeed
+have been carried to so extravagant a length, as to have become a public
+offence, and to have required the interference of government. Short and
+tight breeches were so much the rage in France, that Charles V. was
+compelled to banish this disgusting mode by edicts, which may be found
+in Mezerai. An Italian author of the fifteenth century supposes an
+Italian traveller of nice modesty would not pass through France, that he
+might not be offended by seeing men whose clothes rather exposed their
+nakedness than hid it. The very same fashion was the complaint in the
+remoter period of our Chaucer, in his Parson's Tale.
+
+In the reign of our Elizabeth the reverse of all this took place; then
+the mode of enormous breeches was pushed to a most laughable excess. The
+beaux of that day stuffed out their breeches with rags, feathers, and
+other light matters, till they brought them out to an enormous size.
+They resembled woolsacks, and in a public spectacle they were obliged to
+raise scaffolds for the seats of these ponderous beaux. To accord with
+this fantastical taste, the ladies invented large hoop farthingales; two
+lovers aside could surely never have taken one another by the hand. In a
+preceding reign the fashion ran on square toes; insomuch that a
+proclamation was issued that no person should wear shoes above six
+inches square at the toes! Then succeeded picked-pointed shoes! The
+nation was again, in the reign of Elizabeth, put under the royal
+authority. "In that time," says honest John Stowe, "he was held the
+greatest gallant that had the _deepest ruff_ and _longest rapier_: the
+offence to the eye of the one, and hurt unto the life of the subject
+that came by the other--this caused her Majestie to _make proclamation
+against them both_, and to _place selected grave citizens at every gate,
+to cut the ruffes, and breake the rapiers' points_ of all passengers
+that exceeded a yeard in length of their rapiers, and a nayle of a yeard
+in depth of their ruffes." These "grave citizens," at every gate cutting
+the ruffs and breaking the rapiers, must doubtless have encountered in
+their ludicrous employment some stubborn opposition; but this regulation
+was, in the spirit of that age, despotic and effectual. Paul, the
+Emperor of Russia, one day ordered the soldiers to stop every passenger
+who wore pantaloons, and with their hangers to cut off, upon the leg,
+the offending part of these superfluous breeches; so that a man's legs
+depended greatly on the adroitness and humanity of a Russ or a Cossack;
+however this war against _pantaloons_ was very successful, and obtained
+a complete triumph in favour of the _breeches_ in the course of the
+week.
+
+A shameful extravagance in dress has been a most venerable folly. In the
+reign of Richard II. their dress was sumptuous beyond belief. Sir John
+Arundel had a change of no less than fifty-two new suits of cloth of
+gold tissue. The prelates indulged in all the ostentatious luxury of
+dress. Chaucer says, they had "chaunge of clothing everie daie."
+Brantome records of Elizabeth, Queen of Philip II. of Spain, that she
+never wore a gown twice; this was told him by her majesty's own
+_tailleur_, who from a poor man soon became as rich as any one he knew.
+Our own Elizabeth left no less than three thousand different habits in
+her wardrobe when she died. She was possessed of the dresses of all
+countries.
+
+The catholic religion has ever considered the pomp of the clerical habit
+as not the slightest part of its religious ceremonies; their devotion is
+addressed to the eye of the people. In the reign of our catholic Queen
+Mary, the dress of a priest was costly indeed; and the sarcastic and
+good-humoured Fuller gives, in his Worthies, the will of a priest, to
+show the wardrobe of men of his order, and desires that the priest may
+not be jeered for the gallantry of his splendid apparel. He bequeaths to
+various parish churches and persons, "My vestment of crimson satin--my
+vestment of crimson velvet--my stole and fanon set with pearl--my black
+gown faced with taffeta," &c.
+
+Chaucer has minutely detailed in "The Persone's Tale" the grotesque and
+the costly fashions of his day; and the simplicity of the venerable
+satirist will interest the antiquary and the philosopher. Much, and
+curiously, has his caustic severity or lenient humour descanted on the
+"moche superfluitee," and "wast of cloth in vanitee," as well as "the
+disordinate scantnesse." In the spirit of the good old times, he
+calculates "the coste of the embrouding or embroidering; endenting or
+barring; ounding or wavy; paling or imitating pales; and winding or
+bending; the costlewe furring in the gounes; so much pounsoning of
+chesel to maken holes (that is, punched with a bodkin); so moche dagging
+of sheres (cutting into slips); with the superfluitee in length of the
+gounes trailing in the dong and in the myre, on horse and eke on foot,
+as wel of man as of woman--that all thilke trailing," he verily
+believes, which wastes, consumes, wears threadbare, and is rotten with
+dung, are all to the damage of "the poor folk," who might be clothed
+only out of the flounces and draggle-tails of these children of vanity.
+But then his Parson is not less bitter against "the horrible disordinat
+scantnesse of clothing," and very copiously he describes, though perhaps
+in terms and with a humour too coarse for me to transcribe, the
+consequences of these very tight dresses. Of these persons, among other
+offensive matters, he sees "the buttokkes behind, as if they were the
+hinder part of a sheap, in the ful of the mone." He notices one of the
+most grotesque modes, the wearing a parti-coloured dress; one stocking
+part white and part red, so that they looked as if they had been flayed.
+Or white and blue, or white and black, or black and red; this variety of
+colours gave an appearance to their members of St. Anthony's fire, or
+cancer, or other mischance!
+
+The modes of dress during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were
+so various and ridiculous, that they afforded perpetual food for the
+eager satirist.
+
+The conquests of Edward III. introduced the French fashions into
+England; and the Scotch adopted them by their alliance with the French
+court, and close intercourse with that nation.
+
+Walsingham dates the introduction of French fashions among us from the
+taking of Calais in 1347; but we appear to have possessed such a rage
+for imitation in dress, that an English beau was actually a fantastical
+compound of all the fashions in Europe, and even Asia, in the reign of
+Elizabeth. In Chaucer's time, the prevalence of French fashions was a
+common topic with our satirist; and he notices the affectation of our
+female citizens in speaking the French language, a stroke of satire
+which, after four centuries, is not obsolete, if applied to their faulty
+pronunciation. In the prologue to the Prioresse, Chaucer has these
+humorous lines:--
+
+    Entewned in her voice full seemly,
+    And French she spake full feteously,
+    _After the Scole of Stratford at Bowe_:
+    The _French of Paris_ was to her unknowe.
+
+A beau of the reign of Henry IV. has been made out, by the laborious
+Henry. They wore then long-pointed shoes to such an immoderate length,
+that they could not walk till they were fastened to their knees with
+chains. Luxury improving on this ridiculous mode, these chains the
+English beau of the fourteenth century had made of gold and silver; but
+the grotesque fashion did not finish here, for the tops of their shoes
+were carved in the manner of a church window. The ladies of that period
+were not less fantastical.
+
+The wild variety of dresses worn in the reign of Henry VIII. is alluded
+to in a print of a naked Englishman holding a piece of cloth hanging on
+his right arm, and a pair of shears in his left hand. It was invented by
+Andrew Borde, a learned wit of those days. The print bears the following
+inscription:--
+
+    I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here,
+    Musing in my mind, what rayment I shall were;
+    For now I will were this, and now I will were that,
+    And now I will were what I cannot tell what.
+
+At a lower period, about the reign of Elizabeth, we are presented with a
+curious picture of a man of fashion by Puttenham, in his "Arte of
+Poetry," p. 250. This author was a travelled courtier, and has
+interspersed his curious work with many lively anecdotes of the times.
+This is his fantastical beau in the reign of Elizabeth. "May it not
+seeme enough for a courtier to know how to _weare a feather_ and _set
+his cappe_ aflaunt; his _chain en echarpe_; a straight _buskin, al
+Inglese_; a loose _a la Turquesque_; the cape _alla Spaniola_; the
+breech _a la Francoise_, and, by twentie maner of new-fashioned
+garments, to disguise his body and his face with as many countenances,
+whereof it seems there be many that make a very arte and studie, who
+can shewe himselfe most fine, I will not say most foolish or
+ridiculous." So that a beau of those times wore in the same dress a
+grotesque mixture of all the fashions in the world. About the same
+period the _ton_ ran in a different course in France. There, fashion
+consisted in an affected negligence of dress; for Montaigne honestly
+laments, in Book i. Cap. 25--"I have never yet been apt to imitate the
+_negligent garb_ which is yet observable among the _young men_ of our
+time; to wear my _cloak on one shoulder_, my _bonnet on one side_, and
+_one stocking_ in something _more disorder than the other_, meant to
+express a manly disdain of such exotic ornaments, and a contempt of
+art."
+
+The fashions of the Elizabethan age have been chronicled by honest John
+Stowe. Stowe was originally a _tailor_, and when he laid down the
+shears, and took up the pen, the taste and curiosity for _dress_ was
+still retained. He is the grave chronicler of matters not grave. The
+chronology of ruffs, and tufted taffetas; the revolution of steel
+poking-sticks, instead of bone or wood, used by the laundresses; the
+invasion of shoe-buckles, and the total rout of shoe-roses; that grand
+adventure of a certain Flemish lady, who introduced the art of starching
+the ruffs with a yellow tinge into Britain: while Mrs. Montague emulated
+her in the royal favour, by presenting her highness the queen with a
+pair of black silk stockings, instead of her cloth hose, which her
+majesty now for ever rejected; the heroic achievements of the Right
+Honourable Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who first brought from Italy
+the whole mystery and craft of perfumery, and costly washes; and among
+other pleasant things besides, a perfumed jerkin, a pair of perfumed
+gloves trimmed with roses, in which the queen took such delight, that
+she was actually pictured with those gloves on her royal hands, and for
+many years after the scent was called the Earl of Oxford's Perfume.
+These, and occurrences as memorable, receive a pleasant kind of
+historical pomp in the important, and not incurious, narrative of the
+antiquary and the tailor. The toilet of Elizabeth was indeed an altar of
+devotion, of which she was the idol, and all her ministers were her
+votaries: it was the reign of coquetry, and the golden age of millinery!
+But for grace and elegance they had not the slightest feeling! There is
+a print by Vertue, of Queen Elizabeth going in a procession to Lord
+Hunsdon. This procession is led by Lady Hunsdon, who no doubt was the
+leader likewise of the fashion; but it is impossible, with our ideas of
+grace and comfort, not to commiserate this unfortunate lady; whose
+standing-up wire ruff, rising above her head; whose stays, or bodice, so
+long-waisted as to reach to her knees; and the circumference of her
+large hoop farthingale, which seems to enclose her in a capacious tub;
+mark her out as one of the most pitiable martyrs of ancient modes. The
+amorous Sir Walter Raleigh must have found some of the maids of honour
+the most impregnable fortification his gallant spirit ever assailed: a
+_coup de main_ was impossible.
+
+I shall transcribe from old Stowe a few extracts, which may amuse the
+reader:--
+
+"In the second yeere of Queen Elizabeth, 1560, her _silke woman_,
+Mistris Montague, presented her majestie for a new yeere's gift, a
+_paire of black knit silk stockings_, the which, after a few days'
+wearing, pleased her highness so well, that she sent for Mistris
+Montague, and asked her where she had them, and if she could help her to
+any more; who answered, saying, 'I made them very carefully of purpose
+only for your majestie, and seeing these please you so well, I will
+presently set more in hand.' 'Do so (quoth the queene), for _indeed I
+like silk stockings so well, because they are pleasant, fine, and
+delicate, that henceforth I will wear no more_ CLOTH STOCKINGS'--and
+from that time unto her death the queene never wore any more _cloth
+hose_, but only silke stockings; for you shall understand that King
+Henry the Eight did weare onely cloath hose, or hose cut out of
+ell-broade taffety, or that by great chance there came a pair of
+_Spanish silk stockings_ from Spain. King Edward the Sixt had a _payre
+of long Spanish silk stockings_ sent him for a _great present_.--Dukes'
+daughters then wore gownes of satten of Bridges (Bruges) upon solemn
+dayes. Cushens, and window pillows of velvet and damaske, formerly only
+princely furniture, now be very plenteous in most citizens' houses."
+
+"Milloners or haberdashers had not then any _gloves imbroydered_, or
+trimmed with gold, or silke; neither gold nor imbroydered girdles and
+hangers, neither could they _make any costly wash_ or _perfume_, until
+about the fifteenth yeere of the queene, the Right Honourable Edward de
+Vere, Earl of Oxford, came from _Italy_, and brought with him gloves,
+sweete bagges, a perfumed leather jerkin, and other _pleasant things_;
+and that yeere the queene had a _pair of perfumed gloves_ trimmed only
+with four tuffes, or _roses of coloured silk_. The queene took such
+pleasure in those gloves, that she was pictured with those gloves upon
+her handes, and for many years after it was called '_The Earl of
+Oxford's perfume_.'"
+
+In such a chronology of fashions, an event not less important surely was
+the origin of _starching_; and here we find it treated with the utmost
+historical dignity.
+
+"In the year 1564, Mistris Dinghen Van den Plasse, borne at Taenen in
+Flaunders, daughter to a worshipfull knight of that province, with her
+husband, came to London for their better safeties and there professed
+herself a _starcher_, wherein she excelled, unto whom her owne nation
+presently repaired, and payed her very liberally for her worke. Some
+very few of the best and most curious wives of that time, observing the
+_neatness and delicacy of the Dutch for whitenesse and fine wearing of
+linen_, made them _cambricke ruffs_, and sent them to Mistris Dinghen to
+_starch_, and after awhile they made them _ruffes of lawn_, which was at
+that time a stuff most strange, and wonderfull, and thereupon rose a
+_general scoffe_ or _by-word_, that shortly they would make _ruffs of a
+spider's web_; and then they began to send their daughters and nearest
+kinswomen to Mistris Dinghen to _learn how to starche_; her usuall price
+was at that time, foure or five pound, to teach them how _to starch_,
+and twenty shillings how to _seeth starch_."
+
+Thus Italy, Holland, and France supplied us with fashions and
+refinements. But in those days there were, as I have shown from
+Puttenham, as _extravagant dressers_ as any of their present supposed
+degenerate descendants. Stowe affords us another curious extract.
+"Divers noble personages made them _ruffes, a full quarter of a yeard
+deepe_, and two lengthe in one ruffe. This _fashion_ in _London_ was
+called the _French fashion_; but when Englishmen came to _Paris_, the
+_French_ knew it not, and in derision called it _the English monster_."
+An exact parallel this of many of our own Parisian modes in the present
+day.
+
+This was the golden period of cosmetics. The beaux of that day, it is
+evident, used the abominable art of painting their faces as well as the
+women. Our old comedies abound with perpetual allusions to oils,
+tinctures, quintessences, pomatums, perfumes, paint white and red, &c.
+One of their prime cosmetics was a frequent use of the _bath_, and the
+application of _wine_. Strutt quotes from an old MS. a recipe to make
+the face of a beautiful red colour. The person was to be in a bath that
+he might perspire, and afterwards wash his face with wine, and "so
+should be both faire and roddy." In Mr. Lodge's "Illustrations of
+British History," the Earl of Shrewsbury, who had the keeping of the
+unfortunate Queen of Scots, complains of the expenses of the queen for
+_bathing in wine_, and requires a further allowance. A learned Scotch
+professor informed me that _white wine_ was used for these purposes.
+They also made a bath of _milk_. Elder beauties _bathed in wine_, to get
+rid of their wrinkles; and perhaps not without reason, wine being a
+great astringent. Unwrinkled beauties _bathed in milk_, to preserve the
+softness and sleekness of the skin. Our venerable beauties of the
+Elizabethan age were initiated coquettes; and the mysteries of their
+toilet might be worth unveiling.
+
+The reign of Charles II. was the dominion of French fashions. In some
+respects the taste was a little lighter, but the moral effect of dress,
+and which no doubt it has, was much worse. The dress was very
+inflammatory; and the nudity of the beauties of the portrait-painter,
+Sir Peter Lely, has been observed. The queen of Charles II. exposed her
+breast and shoulders without even the gloss of the lightest gauze; and
+the tucker, instead of standing up on her bosom, is with licentious
+boldness turned down, and lies upon her stays. This custom of baring the
+bosom was much exclaimed against by the authors of that age. That honest
+divine, Richard Baxter, wrote a preface to a book, entitled, "A just and
+seasonable reprehension of _naked breasts and shoulders_." In 1672 a
+book was published, entitled, "New instructions unto youth for their
+behaviour, and also a discourse upon some innovations of habits and
+dressing; _against powdering of hair_, _naked breasts_, _black spots_
+(or patches), and other unseemly customs."A whimsical fashion now
+prevailed among the ladies, of strangely ornamenting their faces with
+abundance of black patches cut into grotesque forms, such as a coach and
+horses, owls, rings, suns, moons, crowns, cross and crosslets. The
+author has prefixed _two ladies' heads_; the one representing _Virtue_,
+and the other _Vice_. _Virtue_ is a lady modestly habited, with a black
+velvet hood, and a plain white kerchief on her neck, with a border.
+_Vice_ wears no handkerchief; her stays cut low, so that they display
+great part of the breasts; and a variety of fantastical patches on her
+face.
+
+The innovations of fashions in the reign of Charles II. were watched
+with a jealous eye by the remains of those strict puritans, who now
+could only pour out their bile in such solemn admonitions. They affected
+all possible plainness and sanctity. When courtiers wore monstrous wigs,
+they cut their hair short; when they adopted hats with broad plumes,
+they clapped on round black caps, and screwed up their pale religious
+faces; and when shoe-buckles were revived, they wore strings. The
+sublime Milton, perhaps, exulted in his intrepidity of still wearing
+latchets! The Tatler ridicules Sir William Whitelocke for his
+singularity in still affecting them. "Thou dear _Will Shoestring_, how
+shall I draw thee? Thou dear outside, will you be _combing your wig_,
+playing with your _box_, or picking your teeth?" &c. _Wigs_ and
+_snuff-boxes_ were then the rage. Steele's own wig, it is recorded, made
+at one time a considerable part of his annual expenditure. His large
+black periwig cost him, even at that day, no less than forty
+guineas!--We wear nothing at present in this degree of extravagance. But
+such a wig was the idol of fashion, and they were performing perpetually
+their worship with infinite self-complacency; combing their wigs in
+public was then the very spirit of gallantry and rank. The hero of
+Richardson, youthful and elegant as he wished him to be, is represented
+waiting at an assignation, and describing his sufferings in bad weather
+by lamenting that "his _wig_ and his linen were dripping with the hoar
+frost dissolving on them." Even Betty, Clarissa's lady's-maid, is
+described as "tapping on her _snuff-box_," and frequently taking
+_snuff_. At this time nothing was so monstrous as the head-dresses of
+the ladies in Queen Anne's reign: they formed a kind of edifice of three
+stories high; and a fashionable lady of that day much resembles the
+mythological figure of Cybele, the mother of the gods, with three towers
+on her head.[66]
+
+It is not worth noticing the changes in fashion, unless to ridicule
+them. However, there are some who find amusement in these records of
+luxurious idleness; these thousand and one follies! Modern fashions,
+till, very lately, a purer taste has obtained among our females, were
+generally mere copies of obsolete ones, and rarely originally
+fantastical. The dress of _some_ of our _beaux_ will only be known in a
+few years hence by their _caricatures_. In 1751 the dress of a _dandy_
+is described in the Inspector. A _black_ velvet coat, a _green_ and
+silver waistcoat, _yellow_ velvet breeches, and _blue_ stockings. This
+too was the aera of _black silk breeches_; an extraordinary novelty
+against which "some frowsy people attempted to raise up _worsted_ in
+emulation." A satirical writer has described a buck about forty years
+ago;[67] one could hardly have suspected such a gentleman to have been
+one of our contemporaries. "A coat of light green, with sleeves too
+small for the arms, and buttons too big for the sleeves; a pair of
+Manchester fine stuff breeches, without money in the pockets; clouded
+silk stockings, but no legs; a club of hair behind larger than the head
+that carries it; a hat of the size of sixpence on a block not worth a
+farthing."
+
+As this article may probably arrest the volatile eyes of my fair
+readers, let me be permitted to felicitate them on their improvement in
+elegance in the forms of their dress; and the taste and knowledge of art
+which they frequently exhibit. But let me remind them that there are
+universal principles of beauty in dress independent of all fashions.
+Tacitus remarks of Poppea, the consort of Nero, that she concealed _a
+part of her face_; to the end that, the imagination having fuller play
+by irritating curiosity, they might think higher of her beauty than if
+the whole of her face had been exposed. The sentiment is beautifully
+expressed by Tasso, and it will not be difficult to remember it:--
+
+    "Non copre sue bellezze, e non l'espose."
+
+I conclude by a poem, written in my youth, not only because the late Sir
+Walter Scott once repeated some of the lines, from memory, to remind me
+of it, and has preserved it in "The English Minstrelsy," but also as a
+memorial of some fashions which have become extinct in my own days.
+
+
+STANZAS
+
+ADDRESSED TO LAURA, ENTREATING HER NOT TO PAINT, TO POWDER, OR TO GAME,
+BUT TO RETREAT INTO THE COUNTRY.
+
+    AH, LAURA! quit the noisy town,
+      And FASHION'S persecuting reign:
+    Health wanders on the breezy down,
+      And Science on the silent plain.
+
+
+    How long from Art's reflected hues
+      Shalt thou a mimic charm receive?
+    Believe, my fair! the faithful muse,
+      They spoil the blush they cannot give.
+
+    Must ruthless art, with tortuous steel,
+      Thy artless locks of gold deface,
+    In serpent folds their charms conceal,
+      And spoil, at every touch, a grace.
+
+    Too sweet thy youth's enchanting bloom
+      To waste on midnight's sordid crews:
+    Let wrinkled age the night consume,
+      For age has but its hoards to lose.
+
+    Sacred to love and sweet repose,
+      Behold that trellis'd bower is nigh!
+    That bower the verdant walls enclose,
+      Safe from pursuing Scandal's eye.
+
+    There, as in every lock of gold
+      Some flower of pleasing hue I weave,
+    A goddess shall the muse behold,
+      And many a votive sigh shall heave.
+
+    So the rude Tartar's holy rite
+      A feeble MORTAL once array'd;
+    Then trembled in that mortal's sight,
+      And own'd DIVINE the power he MADE.[68]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 66: It consisted of three borders of lace of different depths,
+set one above the other, and was called a _Fontange_, from its inventor,
+Mademoiselle Font-Ange, a lady of the Court of Louis XIV.]
+
+[Footnote 67: This was written in 1790.]
+
+
+
+
+A SENATE OF JESUITS.
+
+
+In a book entitled "Interets et Maximes des Princes et des Etats
+Souverains, par M. le duc de Rohan; Cologne, 1666," an anecdote is
+recorded concerning the Jesuits, which neither Puffendorf nor Vertot has
+noticed in his history.
+
+When Sigismond, king of Sweden, was elected king of Poland, he made a
+treaty with the states of Sweden, by which he obliged himself to pass
+every fifth year in that kingdom. By his wars with the Ottoman court,
+with Muscovy, and Tartary, compelled to remain in Poland to encounter
+these powerful enemies, during fifteen years he failed in accomplishing
+his promise. To remedy this in some shape, by the advice of the Jesuits,
+who had gained an ascendancy over him, he created a senate to reside at
+Stockholm, composed of forty chosen Jesuits. He presented them with
+letters-patent, and invested them with the royal authority.
+
+While this senate of Jesuits was at Dantzic, waiting for a fair wind to
+set sail for Stockholm, he published an edict, that the Swedes should
+receive them as his own royal person. A public council was immediately
+held. Charles, the uncle of Sigismond, the prelates, and the lords,
+resolved to prepare for them a splendid and magnificent entry.
+
+But in a private council, they came to very contrary resolutions: for
+the prince said, he could not bear that a senate of priests should
+command, in preference to all the princes and lords, natives of the
+country. All the others agreed with him in rejecting this holy senate.
+The archbishop rose, and said, "Since Sigismond has disdained to be our
+king, we also must not acknowledge him as such; and from this moment we
+should no longer consider ourselves as his subjects. His authority is
+_in suspenso_, because he has bestowed it on the Jesuits who form this
+senate. The people have not yet acknowledged them. In this interval of
+resignation on the one side, and assumption on the other, I absolve you
+all of the fidelity the king may claim from you as his Swedish
+subjects." The prince of Bithynia addressing himself to Prince Charles,
+uncle of the king, said, "I own no other king than you; and I believe
+you are now obliged to receive us as your affectionate subjects, and to
+assist us to hunt these vermin from the state." All the others joined
+him, and acknowledged Charles as their lawful monarch.
+
+Having resolved to keep their declaration for some time secret, they
+deliberated in what manner they were to receive and to precede this
+senate in their entry into the harbour, who were now on board a great
+galleon, which had anchored two leagues from Stockholm, that they might
+enter more magnificently in the night, when the fireworks they had
+prepared would appear to the greatest advantage. About the time of their
+reception, Prince Charles, accompanied by twenty-five or thirty vessels,
+appeared before this senate. Wheeling about, and forming a caracol of
+ships, they discharged a volley, and emptied all their cannon on the
+galleon bearing this senate, which had its sides pierced through with
+the balls. The galleon immediately filled with water and sunk, without
+one of the unfortunate Jesuits being assisted: on the contrary, their
+assailants cried to them that this was the time to perform some miracle,
+such as they were accustomed to do in India and Japan; and if they
+chose, they could walk on the waters!
+
+The report of the cannon, and the smoke which the powder occasioned,
+prevented either the cries or the submersion of the holy fathers from
+being observed: and as if they were conducting the senate to the town,
+Charles entered triumphantly; went into the church, where they sung _Te
+Deum_; and to conclude the night, he partook of the entertainment which
+had been prepared for this ill-fated senate.
+
+The Jesuits of the city of Stockholm having come, about midnight, to pay
+their respects to the Fathers, perceived their loss. They directly
+posted up _placards_ of excommunication against Charles and his
+adherents, who had caused the senate of Jesuits to perish. They urged
+the people to rebel; but they were soon expelled the city, and Charles
+made a public profession of Lutheranism.
+
+Sigismond, King of Poland, began a war with Charles in 1604, which
+lasted two years. Disturbed by the invasions of the Tartars, the
+Muscovites, and the Cossacs, a truce was concluded; but Sigismond lost
+both his crowns, by his bigoted attachment to Roman Catholicism.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 68: The _Lama_, or God of the Tartars, is composed of such
+frail materials as mere mortality; contrived, however, by the power of
+priestcraft, to appear immortal; the _succession of Lamas_ never
+failing!]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOVER'S HEART.
+
+
+The following tale, recorded in the Historical Memoirs of Champagne, by
+Bougier, has been a favourite narrative with the old romance writers;
+and the principal incident, however objectionable, has been displayed in
+several modern poems.
+
+Howell, in his "Familiar Letters," in one addressed to Ben Jonson,
+recommends it to him as a subject "which peradventure you may make use
+of in your way;" and concludes by saying, "in my opinion, which vails to
+yours, this is choice and rich stuff for you to put upon your loom, and
+make a curious web of."
+
+The Lord de Coucy, vassal to the Count de Champagne, was one of the most
+accomplished youths of his time. He loved, with an excess of passion,
+the lady of the Lord du Fayel, who felt a reciprocal affection. With the
+most poignant grief this lady heard from her lover, that he had resolved
+to accompany the king and the Count de Champagne to the wars of the Holy
+Land; but she would not oppose his wishes, because she hoped that his
+absence might dissipate the jealousy of her husband. The time of
+departure having come, these two lovers parted with sorrows of the most
+lively tenderness. The lady, in quitting her lover, presented him with
+some rings, some diamonds, and with a string that she had woven herself
+of his own hair, intermixed with silk and buttons of large pearls, to
+serve him, according to the fashion of those days, to tie a magnificent
+hood which covered his helmet. This he gratefully accepted.
+
+In Palestine, at the siege of Acre, in 1191, in gloriously ascending the
+ramparts, he received a wound, which was declared mortal. He employed
+the few moments he had to live in writing to the Lady du Fayel; and he
+poured forth the fervour of his soul. He ordered his squire to embalm
+his heart after his death, and to convey it to his beloved mistress,
+with the presents he had received from her hands in quitting her.
+
+The squire, faithful to the dying injunction of his master, returned to
+France, to present the heart and the gifts to the lady of Du Fayel. But
+when he approached the castle of this lady, he concealed himself in the
+neighbouring wood, watching some favourable moment to complete his
+promise. He had the misfortune to be observed by the husband of this
+lady, who recognised him, and who immediately suspected he came in
+search of his wife with some message from his master. He threatened to
+deprive him of his life if he did not divulge the occasion of his
+return. The squire assured him that his master was dead; but Du Fayel
+not believing it, drew his sword on him. This man, frightened at the
+peril in which he found himself, confessed everything; and put into his
+hands the heart and letter of his master. Du Fayel was maddened by the
+fellest passions, and he took a wild and horrid revenge. He ordered his
+cook to mince the heart; and having mixed it with meat, he caused a
+favourite ragout, which he knew pleased the taste of his wife, to be
+made, and had it served to her. The lady ate heartily of the dish. After
+the repast, Du Fayel inquired of his wife if she had found the ragout
+according to her taste: she answered him that she had found it
+excellent. "It is for this reason that I caused it to be served to you,
+for it is a kind of meat which you very much liked. You have, Madame,"
+the savage Du Fayel continued, "eaten the heart of the Lord de Coucy."
+But this the lady would not believe, till he showed her the letter of
+her lover, with the string of his hair, and the diamonds she had given
+him. Shuddering in the anguish of her sensations, and urged by the
+utmost despair, she told him--"It is true that I loved that heart,
+because it merited to be loved: for never could it find its superior;
+and since I have eaten of so noble a meat, and that my stomach is the
+tomb of so precious a heart, I will take care that nothing of inferior
+worth shall ever be mixed with it." Grief and passion choked her
+utterance. She retired to her chamber: she closed the door for ever; and
+refusing to accept of consolation or food, the amiable victim expired on
+the fourth day.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF GLOVES.
+
+
+The present learned and curious dissertation is compiled from the papers
+of an ingenious antiquary, from the "Present State of the Republic of
+Letters," vol. x. p. 289.[69]
+
+The antiquity of this part of dress will form our first inquiry; and we
+shall then show its various uses in the several ages of the world.
+
+It has been imagined that gloves are noticed in the 108th Psalm, where
+the royal prophet declares, he will cast his _shoe_ over Edom; and still
+farther back, supposing them to be used in the times of the Judges, Ruth
+iv. 7, where the custom is noticed of a man taking off his _shoe_ and
+giving it to his neighbour, as a pledge for redeeming or exchanging
+anything. The word in these two texts, usually translated _shoe_ by the
+Chaldee paraphrast, in the latter is rendered _glove_. Casaubon is of
+opinion that _gloves_ were worn by the Chaldeans, from the word here
+mentioned being explained in the Talmud Lexicon, _the clothing of the
+hand_.
+
+_Xenophon_ gives a clear and distinct account of _gloves_. Speaking of
+the manners of the Persians, as a proof of their effeminacy, he
+observes, that, not satisfied with covering their head and their feet,
+they also guarded their hands against the cold with _thick gloves_.
+_Homer_, describing Laertes at work in his garden, represents him with
+_gloves on his hands, to secure them from the thorns_. _Varro_, an
+ancient writer, is an evidence in favour of their antiquity among the
+Romans. In lib. ii. cap. 55, _De Re Rustica_, he says, that olives
+gathered by the naked hand are preferable to those gathered with
+_gloves_. _Athenaeus_ speaks of a celebrated glutton who always came to
+table with _gloves_ on his hands, that he might be able to handle and
+eat the meat while hot, and devour more than the rest of the company.
+
+These authorities show that the ancients were not strangers to the use
+of _gloves_, though their use was not common. In a hot climate to wear
+gloves implies a considerable degree of effeminacy. We can more clearly
+trace the early use of gloves in northern than in southern nations. When
+the ancient severity of manners declined, the use of _gloves_ prevailed
+among the Romans; but not without some opposition from the philosophers.
+_Musonius_, a philosopher, who lived at the close of the first century
+of Christianity, among other invectives against the corruption of the
+age, says, _It is shameful that persons in perfect health should clothe
+their hands and feet with soft and hairy coverings_. Their convenience,
+however, soon made the use general. _Pliny_ the younger informs us, in
+his account of his uncle's journey to Vesuvius, that his secretary sat
+by him ready to write down whatever occurred remarkable; and that he had
+_gloves_ on his hands, that the coldness of the weather might not impede
+his business.
+
+In the beginning of the ninth century, the use of _gloves_ was become so
+universal, that even the church thought a regulation in that part of
+dress necessary. In the reign of _Louis le Debonair_, the council of Aix
+ordered that the monks should only wear _gloves_ made of sheep-skin.
+
+That time has made alterations in the form of this, as in all other
+apparel, appears from the old pictures and monuments.
+
+_Gloves_, beside their original design for a covering of the hand, have
+been employed on several great and solemn occasions; as in the ceremony
+of _investitures_, in bestowing lands, or in conferring _dignities_.
+Giving possession by the delivery of a _glove_, prevailed in several
+parts of Christendom in later ages. In the year 1002, the bishops of
+Paderborn and Moncerco were put into possession of their sees by
+receiving a _glove_. It was thought so essential a part of the episcopal
+habit, that some abbots in France presuming to wear _gloves_, the
+council of Poitiers interposed in the affair, and forbad them the use,
+on the same principle as the ring and sandals; these being peculiar to
+bishops, who frequently wore them richly adorned with jewels.
+
+Favin observes, that the custom of blessing _gloves_ at the coronation
+of the kings of France, which still subsists, is a remain of the eastern
+practice of investiture by _a glove_. A remarkable instance of this
+ceremony is recorded. The unfortunate _Conradin_ was deprived of his
+crown and his life by the usurper _Mainfroy_. When having ascended the
+scaffold, the injured prince lamenting his hard fate, asserted his right
+to the crown, and, as a token of investiture, threw his _glove_ among
+the crowd, intreating it might be conveyed to some of his relations, who
+would revenge his death,--it was taken up by a knight, and brought to
+Peter, king of Aragon, who in virtue of this glove was afterwards
+crowned at Palermo.
+
+As the delivery of _gloves_ was once a part of the ceremony used in
+giving possession, so the depriving a person of them was a mark of
+divesting him of his office, and of degradation. The Earl of Carlisle,
+in the reign of Edward the Second, impeached of holding a correspondence
+with the Scots, was condemned to die as a traitor. Walsingham, relating
+other circumstances of his degradation, says, "His spurs were cut off
+with a hatchet; and his _gloves_ and shoes were taken off," &c.
+
+Another use of _gloves_ was in a duel; he who threw one down was by this
+act understood to give defiance, and he who took it up to accept the
+challenge.[70]
+
+The use of single combat, at first designed only for a trial of
+innocence, like the ordeals of fire and water, was in succeeding ages
+practised for deciding rights and property. Challenging by the _glove_
+was continued down to the reign of Elizabeth, as appears by an account
+given by Spelman of a duel appointed to be fought in Tothill Fields, in
+the year 1571. The dispute was concerning some lands in the county of
+Kent. The plaintiffs appeared in court, and demanded single combat. One
+of them threw down his _glove_, which the other immediately taking up,
+carried off on the point of his sword, and the day of fighting was
+appointed; this affair was, however, adjusted by the queen's judicious
+interference.
+
+The ceremony is still practised of challenging by a _glove_ at the
+coronations of the kings of England, by his majesty's champion entering
+Westminster Hall completely armed and mounted.
+
+Challenging by the _glove_ is still in use in some parts of the world.
+In Germany, on receiving an affront, to send a _glove_ to the offending
+party is a challenge to a duel.
+
+The last use of _gloves_ was for carrying the _hawk_. In former times,
+princes and other great men took so much pleasure in carrying the hawk
+on their hand, that some of them have chosen to be represented in this
+attitude. There is a monument of Philip the First of France, on which he
+is represented at length, on his tomb, holding a _glove_ in his hand.
+
+Chambers says that, formerly, judges were forbid to wear _gloves_ on the
+bench. No reason is assigned for this prohibition. Our judges lie under
+no such restraint; for both they and the rest of the court make no
+difficulty of receiving _gloves_ from the sheriffs, whenever the session
+or assize concludes without any one receiving sentence of death, which
+is called a _maiden assize_; a custom of great antiquity.
+
+Our curious antiquary has preserved a singular anecdote concerning
+_gloves_. Chambers informs us, that it is not safe at present to enter
+the stables of princes without pulling off our _gloves_. He does not
+tell us in what the danger consists; but it is an ancient established
+custom in Germany, that whoever enters the stables of a prince, or great
+man, with his _gloves_ on his hands, is obliged to forfeit them, or
+redeem them by a fee to the servants. The same custom is observed in
+some places at the death of the stag; in which case, if the _gloves_ are
+not taken off, they are redeemed by money given to the huntsmen and
+keepers. The French king never failed of pulling off one of his _gloves_
+on that occasion. The reason of this ceremony seems to be lost.
+
+We meet with the term _glove-money_ in our old records; by which is
+meant, money given to servants to buy _gloves_. This, probably, is the
+origin of the phrase _giving a pair of gloves_, to signify making a
+present for some favour or service.
+
+Gough, in his "Sepulchral Monuments," informs us that gloves formed no
+part of the female dress till after the Reformation.[71] I have seen
+some as late as the time of Anne richly worked and embroidered.
+
+There must exist in the Denny family some of the oldest gloves extant,
+as appears by the following glove anecdote.
+
+At the sale of the Earl of Arran's goods, April 6th, 1759, the gloves
+given by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny were sold for 38_l._ 17_s._;
+those given by James I. to his son Edward Denny for 22_l._ 4_s._; the
+mittens given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Denny's lady, 25_l._
+4_s._; all which were bought for Sir Thomas Denny, of Ireland, who was
+descended in a direct line from the great Sir Anthony Denny, one of the
+executors of the will of Henry VIII.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 69: In 1834 was published a curious little volume by William
+Hull, "The History of the Glove Trade, with the Customs connected with
+the Glove," which adds some interesting information to the present
+article.]
+
+[Footnote 70: A still more curious use for gloves was proposed by the
+Marquis of Worcester, in his "Century of Inventions," 1659; it was to
+make them with "knotted silk strings, to signify any letter," or "pinked
+with the alphabet," that they might by this means be subservient to the
+practice of secret correspondence.]
+
+[Footnote 71: This is an extraordinary mistake for so accurate an
+antiquary to make. They occur on monumental effigies, or brasses; also
+in illuminated manuscripts, continually from the Saxon era; as may be
+seen in Strutt's plates to any of his books.]
+
+
+
+
+RELICS OF SAINTS.
+
+
+When relics of saints were first introduced, the relique-mania was
+universal; they bought and they sold, and, like other collectors, made
+no scruple to _steal_ them. It is entertaining to observe the singular
+ardour and grasping avidity of some, to enrich themselves with these
+religious morsels; their little discernment, the curious impositions of
+the vendor, and the good faith and sincerity of the purchaser. The
+prelate of the place sometimes ordained a fast to implore God that they
+might not be cheated with the relics of saints, which he sometimes
+purchased for the holy benefit of the village or town.
+
+Guibert de Nogent wrote a treatise on the relics of saints;
+acknowledging that there were many false ones, as well as false legends,
+he reprobates the inventors of these lying miracles. He wrote his
+treatise on the occasion of _a tooth_ of our Lord's, by which the monks
+of St. Medard de Soissons pretended to operate miracles. He asserts that
+this pretension is as chimerical as that of several persons, who
+believed they possessed the navel, and other parts less decent, of--the
+body of Christ!
+
+A monk of Bergsvinck has given a history of the translation of St.
+Lewin, a virgin and a martyr: her relics were brought from England to
+Bergs. He collected with religious care the facts from his brethren,
+especially from the conductor of these relics from England. After the
+history of the translation, and a panegyric of the saint, he relates the
+miracles performed in Flanders since the arrival of her relics. The
+prevailing passion of the times to possess fragments of saints is well
+marked, when the author particularises with a certain complacency all
+the knavish modes they used to carry off those in question. None then
+objected to this sort of robbery; because the gratification of the
+reigning passion had made it worth while to supply the demand.
+
+A monk of Cluny has given a history of the translation of the body of
+St. Indalece, one of the earliest Spanish bishops, written by order of
+the abbot of St. Juan de la Penna. He protests he advances nothing but
+facts: having himself seen, or learnt from other witnesses, all he
+relates. It was not difficult for him to be well informed, since it was
+to the monastery of St. Juan de la Penna that the holy relics were
+transported, and those who brought them were two monks of that house. He
+has authenticated his minute detail of circumstances by giving the names
+of persons and places. His account was written for the great festival
+immediately instituted in honour of this translation. He informs us of
+the miraculous manner by which they were so fortunate as to discover the
+body of this bishop, and the different plans they concerted to carry it
+off. He gives the itinerary of the two monks who accompanied the holy
+remains. They were not a little cheered in their long journey by visions
+and miracles.
+
+Another has written a history of what he calls the translation of the
+relics of St. Majean to the monastery of Villemagne. _Translation_ is,
+in fact, only a softened expression for the robbery of the relics of the
+saint committed by two monks, who carried them off secretly to enrich
+their monastery; and they did not hesitate at any artifice or lie to
+complete their design. They thought everything was permitted to acquire
+these fragments of mortality, which had now become a branch of commerce.
+They even regarded their possessors with an hostile eye. Such was the
+religious opinion from the ninth to the twelfth century. Our Canute
+commissioned his agent at Rome to purchase _St. Augustin's arm_ for one
+hundred talents of silver and one of gold; a much greater sum, observes
+Granger, than the finest statue of antiquity would have then sold for.
+
+Another monk describes a strange act of devotion, attested by several
+contemporary writers. When the saints did not readily comply with the
+prayers of their votaries, they flogged their relics with rods, in a
+spirit of impatience which they conceived was necessary to make them
+bend into compliance.
+
+Theofroy, abbot of Epternac, to raise our admiration, relates the daily
+miracles performed by the relics of saints, their ashes, their clothes,
+or other mortal spoils, and even by the instruments of their martyrdom.
+He inveighs against that luxury of ornaments which was indulged under
+religious pretext: "It is not to be supposed that the saints are
+desirous of such a profusion of gold and silver. They care not that we
+should raise to them such magnificent churches, to exhibit that
+ingenious order of pillars which shine with gold, nor those rich
+ceilings, nor those altars sparkling with jewels. They desire not the
+purple parchment of price for their writings, the liquid gold to
+embellish the letters, nor the precious stones to decorate their covers,
+while you have such little care for the ministers of the altar." The
+pious writer has not forgotten _himself_ in this copartnership with _the
+saints_.
+
+The Roman church not being able to deny, says Bayle, that there have
+been false relics, which have operated miracles, they reply that the
+good intentions of those believers who have recourse to them obtained
+from God this reward for their good faith! In the same spirit, when it
+was shown that two or three bodies of the same saint was said to exist
+in different places, and that therefore they all could not be authentic,
+it was answered that they were all genuine; for God had multiplied and
+miraculously reproduced them for the comfort of the faithful! A curious
+specimen of the intolerance of good sense.
+
+When the Reformation was spread in Lithuania, Prince Radzivil was so
+affected by it, that he went in person to pay the pope all possible
+honours. His holiness on this occasion presented him with a precious box
+of relics. The prince having returned home, some monks entreated
+permission to try the effects of these relics on a demoniac, who had
+hitherto resisted every kind of exorcism. They were brought into the
+church with solemn pomp, and deposited on the altar, accompanied by an
+innumerable crowd. After the usual conjurations, which were
+unsuccessful, they applied the relics. The demoniac instantly recovered.
+The people called out "_a miracle!_" and the prince, lifting his hands
+and eyes to heaven, felt his faith confirmed. In this transport of pious
+joy, he observed that a young gentleman, who was keeper of this treasure
+of relics, smiled, and by his motions ridiculed the miracle. The prince
+indignantly took our young keeper of the relics to task; who, on promise
+of pardon, gave the following _secret intelligence_ concerning them. In
+travelling from Rome he had lost the box of relics; and not daring to
+mention it, he had procured a similar one, which he had filled with the
+small bones of dogs and cats, and other trifles similar to what were
+lost. He hoped he might be forgiven for smiling, when he found that such
+a collection of rubbish was idolized with such pomp, and had even the
+virtue of expelling demons. It was by the assistance of this box that
+the prince discovered the gross impositions of the monks and the
+demoniacs, and Radzivil afterwards became a zealous Lutheran.
+
+The elector Frederic, surnamed _the Wise_, was an indefatigable
+collector of relics. After his death, one of the monks employed by him
+solicited payment for several parcels he had purchased for our _wise_
+elector; but the times had changed! He was advised to give over this
+business; the relics for which he desired payment they were willing _to
+return_; that the price had fallen considerably since the reformation of
+Luther; and that they would find a _better market_ in Italy than in
+Germany!
+
+Our Henry III., who was deeply tainted with the superstition of the age,
+summoned all the great in the kingdom to meet in London. This summons
+excited the most general curiosity, and multitudes appeared. The king
+then acquainted them that the great master of the Knights Templars had
+sent him a phial containing _a small portion of the precious blood of
+Christ_ which he had shed upon the _cross_; and _attested to be genuine_
+by the seals of the patriarch of Jerusalem and others! He commanded a
+procession the following day; and the historian adds, that though the
+road between St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey was very deep and miry,
+the king kept his eyes constantly fixed on the phial. Two monks received
+it, and deposited the phial in the abbey, "which made all England shine
+with glory, dedicating it to God and St. Edward."
+
+Lord Herbert, in his Life of Henry VIII., notices the _great fall of the
+price of relics_ at the dissolution of the monasteries. "The respect
+given to relics, and some pretended miracles, fell; insomuch, as I find
+by our records, that _a piece of St. Andrew's finger_ (covered only with
+an ounce of silver), being laid to pledge by a monastery for forty
+pounds, was left unredeemed at the dissolution of the house; the king's
+commissioners, who upon surrender of any foundation undertook to pay the
+debts, refusing to return the price again." That is, they did not
+choose to repay the _forty pounds_, to receive _apiece of the finger of
+St. Andrew_.
+
+About this time the property of relics suddenly sunk to a South-sea
+bubble; for shortly after the artifice of the Rood of Grace, at Boxley,
+in Kent, was fully opened to the eye of the populace; and a far-famed
+relic at Hales, in Gloucestershire, of the blood of Christ, was at the
+same time exhibited. It was shown in a phial, and it was believed that
+none could see it who were in mortal sin; and after many trials usually
+repeated to the same person, the deluded pilgrims at length went away
+fully satisfied. This relic was the _blood of a duck_, renewed every
+week, and put in a phial; one side was _opaque_, and the other
+_transparent_; the monk turned either side to the pilgrim, as he thought
+proper. The success of the pilgrim depended on the oblations he made;
+those who were scanty in their offerings were the longest to get a sight
+of the blood: when a man was in despair, he usually became generous!
+
+
+
+
+PERPETUAL LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS.
+
+
+No. 379 of the Spectator relates an anecdote of a person who had opened
+the sepulchre of the famous Rosicrucius. He discovered a lamp burning,
+which a statue of clock-work struck into pieces. Hence, the disciples of
+this visionary said that he made use of this method to show "that he had
+re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients."
+
+Many writers have made mention of these wonderful lamps.
+
+It has happened frequently that inquisitive men examining with a
+flambeau ancient sepulchres which had been just opened, the fat and
+gross vapours kindled as the flambeau approached them, to the great
+astonishment of the spectators, who frequently cried out "_a miracle!_"
+This sudden inflammation, although very natural, has given room to
+believe that these flames proceeded from _perpetual lamps_, which some
+have thought were placed in the tombs of the ancients, and which, they
+said, were extinguished at the moment that these tombs opened, and were
+penetrated by the exterior air.
+
+The accounts of the perpetual lamps which ancient writers give have
+occasioned several ingenious men to search after their composition.
+Licetus, who possessed more erudition than love of truth, has given two
+receipts for making this eternal fire by a preparation of certain
+minerals. More credible writers maintain that it is possible to make
+lamps perpetually burning, and an oil at once inflammable and
+inconsumable; but Boyle, assisted by several experiments made on the
+air-pump, found that these lights, which have been viewed in opening
+tombs, proceeded from the collision of fresh air. This reasonable
+observation conciliates all, and does not compel us to deny the
+accounts.
+
+The story of the lamp of Rosicrucius, even if it ever had the slightest
+foundation, only owes its origin to the spirit of party, which at the
+time would have persuaded the world that Rosicrucius had at least
+discovered something.
+
+It was reserved for modern discoveries in chemistry to prove that air
+was not only necessary for a medium to the existence of the flame, which
+indeed the air-pump had already shown; but also as a constituent part of
+the inflammation, and without which a body, otherwise very inflammable
+in all its parts, cannot, however, burn but in its superficies, which
+alone is in contact with the ambient air.
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL PRODUCTIONS RESEMBLING ARTIFICIAL COMPOSITIONS.
+
+
+Some stones are preserved by the curious, for representing distinctly
+figures traced by nature alone, and without the aid of art.
+
+Pliny mentions an agate, in which appeared, formed by the hand of
+nature, Apollo amidst the Nine Muses holding a harp. At Venice another
+may be seen, in which is naturally formed the perfect figure of a man.
+At Pisa, in the church of St. John, there is a similar natural
+production, which represents an old hermit in a desert, seated by the
+side of a stream, and who holds in his hands a small bell, as St.
+Anthony is commonly painted. In the temple of St. Sophia, at
+Constantinople, there was formerly on a white marble the image of St.
+John the Baptist covered with the skin of a camel; with this only
+imperfection, that nature had given but one leg. At Ravenna, in the
+church of St. Vital, a cordelier is seen on a dusky stone. They found in
+Italy a marble, in which a crucifix was so elaborately finished, that
+there appeared the nails, the drops of blood, and the wounds, as
+perfectly as the most excellent painter could have performed. At
+Sneilberg, in Germany, they found in a mine a certain rough metal, on
+which was seen the figure of a man, who carried a child on his back. In
+Provence they found in a mine a quantity of natural figures of birds,
+trees, rats, and serpents; and in some places of the western parts of
+Tartary, are seen on divers rocks the figures of camels, horses, and
+sheep. Pancirollus, in his Lost Antiquities, attests, that in a church
+at Rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest celebrating mass, and
+raising the host. Paul III. conceiving that art had been used, scraped
+the marble to discover whether any painting had been employed: but
+nothing of the kind was discovered. "I have seen," writes a friend,
+"many of these curiosities. They are _always helped out_ by art. In my
+father's house was a gray marble chimney-piece, which abounded in
+portraits, landscapes, &c., the greatest part of which was made by
+myself." I have myself seen a large collection, many certainly untouched
+by art. One stone appears like a perfect cameo of a Minerva's head;
+another shows an old man's head, beautiful as if the hand of Raffaelle
+had designed it. Both these stones are transparent. Some exhibit
+portraits.
+
+There is preserved in the British Museum a black stone, on which nature
+has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer.[72] Stones of
+this kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; but
+art appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort of
+resemblance. There is a species of the orchis, where Nature has formed a
+bee, apparently feeding in the breast of the flower, with so much
+exactness, that it is impossible at a very small distance to distinguish
+the imposition. Hence the plant derives its name, and is called the
+BEE-FLOWER. Langhorne elegantly notices its appearance:--
+
+        See on that flow'ret's velvet breast,
+          How close the busy vagrant lies!
+        His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast,
+           The ambrosial gold that swells his thighs.
+
+        Perhaps his fragrant load may bind
+           His limbs;--we'll set the captive free--
+        I sought the LIVING BEE to find,
+           And found the PICTURE of a BEE.
+
+The late Mr. Jackson, of Exeter, wrote to me on this subject: "This
+orchis is common near our sea-coasts; but instead of being exactly like
+a BEE, _it is not like it at all_. It has a general resemblance to a
+_fly_, and by the help of imagination may be supposed to be a fly
+pitched upon the flower. The mandrake very frequently has a forked root,
+which may be fancied to resemble thighs and legs. I have seen it helped
+out with nails on the toes."
+
+An ingenious botanist, after reading this article, was so kind as to
+send me specimens of the _fly_ orchis, _ophrys muscifera_, and of the
+_bee_ orchis, _ophrys apifera_. Their resemblance to these insects when
+in full flower is the most perfect conceivable: they are distinct
+plants. The poetical eye of Langhorne was equally correct and fanciful;
+and that too of Jackson, who differed so positively. Many controversies
+have been carried on, from a want of a little more knowledge; like that
+of the BEE _orchis_ and the FLY _orchis_, both parties prove to be
+right.
+
+Another curious specimen of the playful operations of nature is the
+mandrake; a plant, indeed, when it is bare of leaves, perfectly
+resembling that of the human form. The ginseng tree is noticed for the
+same appearance. This object the same poet has noticed:--
+
+    Mark how that rooted mandrake wears
+       His human feet, his human hands;
+    Oft, as his shapely form he rears,
+       Aghast the frighted ploughman stands.
+
+He closes this beautiful fable with the following stanza not inapposite
+to the curious subject of this article:
+
+    Helvetia's rocks, Sabrina's waves,
+       Still many a shining pebble bear:
+    Where nature's studious hand engraves
+       The PERFECT FORM, and leaves it there.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 72: One of the most curious of these natural portraits is the
+enormous rock in Wales, known as the Pitt Stone. It is an immense
+fragment, the outline bearing a perfect resemblance to the profile of
+the great statesman. The frontispiece to Brace's "Visit to Norway and
+Sweden" represents an island popularly known as "The Horseman's Island,"
+that takes the form of a gigantic mounted horseman wading through the
+deep. W.B. Cooke, the late eminent engraver, amused himself by depicting
+a landscape with waterfalls and ruins, which, when turned on one side,
+formed a perfect human face.]
+
+
+
+
+THE POETICAL GARLAND OF JULIA.
+
+
+Huet has given a charming description of a present made by a lover to
+his mistress; a gift which romance has seldom equalled for its
+gallantry, ingenuity, and novelty. It was called the garland of Julia.
+To understand the nature of this gift, it will be necessary to give the
+history of the parties.
+
+The beautiful Julia d'Angennes was in the flower of her youth and fame,
+when the celebrated Gustavus, king of Sweden, was making war in Germany
+with the most splendid success. Julia expressed her warm admiration of
+this hero. She had his portrait placed on her toilet, and took pleasure
+in declaring that she would have no other lover than Gustavus. The Duke
+de Montausier was, however, her avowed and ardent admirer. A short time
+after the death of Gustavus, he sent her, as a new-year's gift, the
+POETICAL GARLAND of which the following is a description.
+
+The most beautiful flowers were painted in miniature by an eminent
+artist, one Robert, on pieces of vellum, all of equal dimensions. Under
+every flower a space was left open for a madrigal on the subject of the
+flower there painted. The duke solicited the wits of the time to assist
+in the composition of these little poems, reserving a considerable
+number for the effusions of his own amorous muse. Under every flower he
+had its madrigal written by N. Du Jarry, celebrated for his beautiful
+caligraphy. A decorated frontispiece offered a splendid garland composed
+of all these twenty-nine flowers; and on turning the page a cupid is
+painted to the life. These were magnificently bound, and enclosed in a
+bag of rich Spanish leather. When Julia awoke on new-year's day, she
+found this lover's gift lying on her toilet; it was one quite to her
+taste, and successful to the donor's hopes.
+
+Of this Poetical Garland, thus formed by the hands of Wit and Love, Huet
+says, "As I had long heard of it, I frequently expressed a wish to see
+it: at length the Duchess of Usez gratified me with the sight. She
+locked me in her cabinet one afternoon with this garland: she then went
+to the queen, and at the close of the evening liberated me. I never
+passed a more agreeable afternoon."
+
+One of the prettiest inscriptions of these flowers is the following,
+composed for
+
+    THE VIOLET.
+
+    Modeste en ma couleur, modeste en mon sejour,
+    Franche d'ambition, je me cache sous l'herbe;
+    Mais, si sur votre front je puis me voir un jour,
+    La plus humble des fleurs sera la plus superbe.
+
+    Modest my colour, modest is my place,
+    Pleased in the grass my lowly form to hide;
+    But mid your tresses might I wind with grace,
+    The humblest flower would feel the loftiest pride.
+
+The following is some additional information respecting "the Poetical
+Garland of Julia."
+
+At the sale of the library of the Duke de la Valliere, in 1784, among
+its numerous literary curiosities this garland appeared. It was actually
+sold for the extravagant sum of 14,510 livres! though in 1770, at
+Gaignat's sale, it only cost 780 livres. It is described to be "a
+manuscript on vellum, composed of twenty-nine flowers painted by one
+Robert, under which are inserted madrigals by various authors." But the
+Abbe Rive, the superintendent of the Valliere library, published in 1779
+an inflammatory notice of this garland; and as he and the duke had the
+art of appreciating, and it has been said _making_ spurious literary
+curiosities, this notice was no doubt the occasion of the maniacal
+price.
+
+In the great French Revolution, this literary curiosity found its
+passage into this country. A bookseller offered it for sale at the
+enormous price of 500_l._ sterling! No curious collector has been
+discovered to have purchased this unique; which is most remarkable for
+the extreme folly of the purchaser who gave the 14,510 livres for poetry
+and painting not always exquisite. The history of the Garland of Julia
+is a child's lesson for certain rash and inexperienced collectors, who
+may here
+
+    Learn to do well by others harm.
+
+
+
+
+TRAGIC ACTORS.
+
+
+Montfleury, a French player, was one of the greatest actors of his time
+for characters highly tragic. He died of the violent efforts he made in
+representing Orestes in the Andromache of Racine. The author of the
+"Parnasse Reforme" makes him thus express himself in the shades. There
+is something extremely droll in his lamentations, with a severe
+raillery on the inconveniences to which tragic actors are liable.
+
+"Ah! how sincerely do I wish that tragedies had never been invented! I
+might then have been yet in a state capable of appearing on the stage;
+and if I should not have attained the glory of sustaining sublime
+characters, I should at least have trifled agreeably, and have worked
+off my spleen in laughing! I have wasted my lungs in the violent
+emotions of jealousy, love, and ambition. A thousand times have I been
+obliged to force myself to represent more passions than Le Brun ever
+painted or conceived. I saw myself frequently obliged to dart terrible
+glances; to roll my eyes furiously in my head, like a man insane; to
+frighten others by extravagant grimaces; to imprint on my countenance
+the redness of indignation and hatred; to make the paleness of fear and
+surprise succeed each other by turns; to express the transports of rage
+and despair; to cry out like a demoniac: and consequently to strain all
+the parts of my body to render my gestures fitter to accompany these
+different impressions. The man then who would know of what I died, let
+him not ask if it were of the fever, the dropsy, or the gout; but let
+him know that it was of _the Andromache_!"
+
+The Jesuit Rapin informs us, that when Mondory acted Herod in the
+Mariamne of Tristan, the spectators quitted the theatre mournful and
+thoughtful; so tenderly were they penetrated with the sorrows of the
+unfortunate heroine. In this melancholy pleasure, he says, we have a
+rude picture of the strong impressions which were made by the Grecian
+tragedians. Mondory indeed felt so powerfully the character he assumed,
+that it cost him his life.
+
+Some readers may recollect the death of Bond, who felt so exquisitely
+the character of Lusignan in Zara, which he personated when an old man,
+that Zara, when she addressed him, found him _dead_ in his chair.
+
+The assumption of a variety of characters by a person of irritable and
+delicate nerves, has often a tragical effect on the mental faculties. We
+might draw up a list of ACTORS, who have fallen martyrs to their tragic
+characters. Several have died on the stage, and, like Palmer, usually in
+the midst of some agitated appeal to the feelings.[73]
+
+Baron, who was the French Garrick, had a most elevated notion of his
+profession: he used to say, that tragic actors should be nursed on the
+lap of queens! Nor was his vanity inferior to his enthusiasm for his
+profession; for, according to him, the world might see once in a century
+a _Caesar_, but that it required a thousand years to produce a _Baron_! A
+variety of anecdotes testify the admirable talents he displayed.
+Whenever he meant to compliment the talents or merits of distinguished
+characters, he always delivered in a pointed manner the striking
+passages of the play, fixing his eye on them. An observation of his
+respecting actors, is not less applicable to poets and to painters.
+"RULES," said this sublime actor, "may teach us not to raise the arms
+above the head; but if PASSION carries them, it will be well done;
+PASSION KNOWS MORE THAN ART."
+
+Betterton, although his countenance was ruddy and sanguine, when he
+performed Hamlet, through the violent and sudden emotion of amazement
+and horror at the presence of his father's spectre, instantly turned as
+white as his neckcloth, while his whole body seemed to be affected with
+a strong tremor: had his father's apparition actually risen before him,
+he could not have been seized with more real agonies. This struck the
+spectators so forcibly, that they felt a shuddering in their veins, and
+participated in the astonishment and the horror so apparent in the
+actor. Davies in his Dramatic Miscellanies records this fact; and in the
+Richardsoniana, we find that the first time Booth attempted the ghost
+when Betterton acted Hamlet, that actor's look at him struck him with
+such horror that he became disconcerted to such a degree, that he could
+not speak his part. Here seems no want of evidence of the force of the
+ideal presence in this marvellous acting: these facts might deserve a
+philosophical investigation.
+
+Le Kain, the French actor, who retired from the Parisian stage, like our
+Garrick, covered with glory and gold, was one day congratulated by a
+company on the retirement which he was preparing to enjoy. "As to
+glory," modestly replied this actor, "I do not flatter myself to have
+acquired much. This kind of reward is always disputed by many, and you
+yourselves would not allow it, were I to assume it. As to the money, I
+have not so much reason to be satisfied; at the Italian Theatre, their
+share is far more considerable than mine; an actor there may get twenty
+to twenty-five thousand livres, and my share amounts at the most to ten
+or twelve thousand." "How! the devil!" exclaimed a rude chevalier of the
+order of St. Louis, who was present, "How! the devil! a vile stroller is
+not content with twelve thousand livres annually, and I, who am in the
+king's service, who sleep upon a cannon and lavish my blood for my
+country, I must consider myself as fortunate in having obtained a
+pension of one thousand livres." "And do you account as nothing, sir,
+the liberty of addressing me thus?" replied Le Kain, with all the
+sublimity and conciseness of an irritated Orosmane.
+
+The memoirs of Mademoiselle Clairon display her exalted feeling of the
+character of a sublime actress; she was of opinion, that in common life
+the truly sublime actor should be a hero, or heroine off the stage. "If
+I am only a vulgar and ordinary woman during twenty hours of the day,
+whatever effort I may make, I shall only be an ordinary and vulgar woman
+in Agrippina or Semiramis, during the remaining four." In society she
+was nicknamed the Queen of Carthage, from her admirable personification
+of Dido in a tragedy of that name.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 73: Palmer's death took place on the Liverpool stage, August
+2, 1798; he was in the fifty-seventh year of his age. The death of his
+wife and his son had some time before thrown him into a profound
+melancholy, and on this occasion he was unfortunately "cast" for the
+agitating part of "the Stranger." He appeared unusually moved on
+uttering the words "there is another and a better world," in the third
+act. In the first scene of the following act, when he was asked "Why did
+you not keep your children with you? they would have amused you in many
+a dreary hour," he turned to reply--and "for the space of about ten
+seconds, he paused as if waiting for the prompter to give him the
+word"--says Mr. Whitfield the actor, who was then with him upon the
+stage--"then put out his right hand, as if going to take hold of mine.
+It dropt, as if to support his fall, but it had no power; in that
+instant he fell, but not at full length, he crouched in falling, so that
+his head did not strike the stage with great violence. He never breathed
+after. I think I may venture to say he died without a pang." It is one
+of the most melancholy incidents connected with theatrical history.]
+
+
+
+
+JOCULAR PREACHERS.
+
+
+These preachers, whose works are excessively rare, form a race unknown
+to the general reader. I shall sketch the characters of these pious
+buffoons, before I introduce them to his acquaintance. They, as it has
+been said of Sterne, seemed to have wished, every now and then, to have
+thrown their wigs into the faces of their auditors.
+
+These preachers flourished in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
+centuries; we are therefore to ascribe their extravagant mixture of
+grave admonition with facetious illustration, comic tales which have
+been occasionally adopted by the most licentious writers, and minute and
+lively descriptions, to the great simplicity of the times, when the
+grossest indecency was never concealed under a gentle periphrasis, but
+everything was called by its name. All this was enforced by the most
+daring personalities, and seasoned by those temporary allusions which
+neither spared, nor feared even the throne. These ancient sermons
+therefore are singularly precious, to those whose inquisitive pleasures
+are gratified by tracing the _manners_ of former ages. When Henry
+Stephens, in his apology for Herodotus, describes the irregularities of
+the age, and the minutiae of national manners, he effects this chiefly by
+extracts from these sermons. Their wit is not always the brightest, nor
+their satire the most poignant; but there is always that prevailing
+_naivete_ of the age running through their rude eloquence, which
+interests the reflecting mind. In a word, these sermons were addressed
+to the multitude; and therefore they show good sense and absurdity;
+fancy and puerility; satire and insipidity; extravagance and truth.
+
+Oliver Maillard, a famous cordelier, died in 1502. This preacher having
+pointed some keen traits in his sermons at Louis XI., the irritated
+monarch had our cordelier informed that he would throw him into the
+river. He replied undaunted, and not forgetting his satire: "The king
+may do as he chooses; but tell him that I shall sooner get to paradise
+by water, than he will arrive by all his post-horses." He alluded to
+travelling by post, which this monarch had lately introduced into
+France. This bold answer, it is said, intimidated Louis: it is certain
+that Maillard continued as courageous and satirical as ever in his
+pulpit.
+
+The following extracts are descriptive of the manners of the times.
+
+In attacking rapine and robbery, under the first head he describes a
+kind of usury, which was practised in the days of Ben Jonson, and I am
+told in the present, as well as in the times of Maillard. "This," says
+he, "is called a palliated usury. It is thus. When a person is in want
+of money, he goes to a treasurer (a kind of banker or merchant), on whom
+he has an order for 1000 crowns; the treasurer tells him that he will
+pay him in a fortnight's time, when he is to receive the money. The
+poor man cannot wait. Our good treasurer tells him, I will give you half
+in money and half in goods. So he passes his goods that are worth 100
+crowns for 200." He then touches on the bribes which these treasurers
+and clerks in office took, excusing themselves by alleging the little
+pay they otherwise received. "All these practices be sent to the
+devils!" cries Maillard, in thus addressing himself to the _ladies_: "it
+is for _you_ all this damnation ensues. Yes! yes! you must have rich
+satins, and girdles of gold out of this accursed money. When any one has
+anything to receive from the husband, he must make a present to the wife
+of some fine gown, or girdle, or ring. If you ladies and gentlemen who
+are battening on your pleasures, and wear scarlet clothes, I believe if
+you were closely put in a good press, we should see the blood of the
+poor gush out, with which your scarlet is dyed."
+
+Maillard notices the following curious particulars of the mode of
+_cheating in trade_ in his times.
+
+He is violent against the apothecaries for their cheats. "They mix
+ginger with cinnamon, which they sell for real spices: they put their
+bags of ginger, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, and other drugs in damp
+cellars, that they may weigh heavier; they mix oil with saffron, to give
+it a colour, and to make it weightier." He does not forget those
+tradesmen who put water in their wool, and moisten their cloth that it
+may stretch; tavern-keepers, who sophisticate and mingle wines; the
+butchers, who blow up their meat, and who mix hog's lard with the fat of
+their meat. He terribly declaims against those who buy with a great
+allowance of measure and weight, and then sell with a small measure and
+weight; and curses those who, when they weigh, press the scales down
+with their finger. But it is time to conclude with Master Oliver! His
+catalogue is, however, by no means exhausted; and it may not be amiss to
+observe, that the present age has retained every one of the sins.
+
+The following extracts are from Menot's sermons, which are written, like
+Maillard's, in a barbarous Latin, mixed with old French.
+
+Michael Menot died in 1518. I think he has more wit than Maillard, and
+occasionally displays a brilliant imagination; with the same singular
+mixture of grave declamation and farcical absurdities. He is called in
+the title-page the _golden-tongued_. It runs thus, _Predicatoris qui
+lingua aurea, sua tempestate nuncupatus est, Sermones quadragesimales,
+ab ipso olim Turonis declamati_. _Paris, 1525_, 8vo.
+
+When he compares the church with a vine, he says, "There were once some
+Britons and Englishmen who would have carried away all France into their
+country, because they found our wine better than their beer; but as they
+well knew that they could not always remain in France, nor carry away
+France into their country, they would at least carry with them several
+stocks of vines; they planted some in England; but these stocks soon
+degenerated, because the soil was not adapted to them." Notwithstanding
+what Menot said in 1500, and that we have tried so often, we have often
+flattered ourselves that if we plant vineyards, we may have English
+wine.
+
+The following beautiful figure describes those who live neglectful of
+their aged parents, who had cherished them into prosperity. "See the
+trees flourish and recover their leaves; it is their root that has
+produced all; but when the branches are loaded with flowers and with
+fruits, they yield nothing to the root. This is an image of those
+children who prefer their own amusements, and to game away their
+fortunes, than to give to their old parents that which they want."
+
+He acquaints us with the following circumstances of the immorality of
+that age: "Who has not got a mistress besides his wife? The poor wife
+eats the fruits of bitterness, and even makes the bed for the mistress."
+Oaths were not unfashionable in his day. "Since the world has been
+world, this crime was never greater. There were once pillories for these
+swearers; but now this crime is so common, that the child of five years
+can swear; and even the old dotard of eighty, who has only two teeth
+remaining, can fling out an oath."
+
+On the power of the fair sex of his day, he observes--"A father says, my
+son studies; he must have a bishopric, or an abbey of 500 livres. Then
+he will have dogs, horses, and mistresses, like others. Another says, I
+will have my son placed at court, and have many honourable dignities. To
+succeed well, both employ the mediation of women; unhappily the church
+and the law are entirely at their disposal. We have artful Dalilahs who
+shear us close. For twelve crowns and an ell of velvet given to a woman,
+you gain the worst lawsuit, and the best living."
+
+In his last sermon, Menot recapitulates the various topics he had
+touched on during Lent. This extract presents a curious picture, and a
+just notion of the versatile talents of these preachers.
+
+"I have told _ecclesiastics_ how they should conduct themselves; not
+that they are ignorant of their duties; but I must ever repeat to girls,
+not to suffer themselves to be duped by them. I have told these
+ecclesiastics that they should imitate the lark; if she has a grain she
+does not remain idle, but feels her pleasure in singing, and in singing
+always is ascending towards heaven. So they should not amass; but
+elevate the hearts of all to God; and not do as the frogs who are crying
+out day and night, and think they have a fine throat, but always remain
+fixed in the mud.
+
+"I have told the _men of the law_ that they should have the qualities of
+the eagle. The first is, that this bird when it flies fixes its eye on
+the sun; so all judges, counsellors, and attorneys, in judging, writing,
+and signing, should always have God before their eyes. And secondly,
+this bird is never greedy; it willingly shares its prey with others; so
+all lawyers, who are rich in crowns after having had their bills paid,
+should distribute some to the poor, particularly when they are conscious
+that their money arises from their prey.
+
+"I have spoken of the _marriage state_, but all that I have said has
+been disregarded. See those wretches who break the hymeneal chains, and
+abandon their wives! they pass their holidays out of their parishes,
+because if they remained at home they must have joined their wives at
+church; they liked their prostitutes better; and it will be so every day
+in the year! I would as well dine with a Jew or a heretic, as with them.
+What an infected place is this! Mistress Lubricity has taken possession
+of the whole city; look in every corner, and you'll be convinced.
+
+"For you _married women_! If you have heard the nightingale's song, you
+must know that she sings during three months, and that she is silent
+when she has young ones. So there is a time in which you may sing and
+take your pleasures in the marriage state, and another to watch your
+children. Don't damn yourselves for them; and remember it would be
+better to see them drowned than damned.
+
+"As to _widows_, I observe, that the turtle withdraws and sighs in the
+woods, whenever she has lost her companion; so must they retire into the
+wood of the cross, and having lost their temporal husband, take no other
+but Jesus Christ.
+
+"And, to close all I have told _girls_ that they must fly from the
+company of men, and not permit them to embrace, nor even touch them.
+Look on the rose; it has a delightful odour; it embalms the place in
+which it is placed; but if you grasp it underneath, it will prick you
+till the blood issues. The beauty of the rose is the beauty of the girl.
+The beauty and perfume of the first invite to smell and to handle it,
+but when it is touched underneath it pricks sharply; the beauty of a
+girl likewise invites the hand; but you, my young ladies, you must never
+suffer this, for I tell you that every man who does this designs to make
+you harlots."
+
+These ample extracts may convey the same pleasure to the reader which I
+have received by collecting them from their scarce originals, little
+known even to the curious. Menot, it cannot be denied, displays a poetic
+imagination, and a fertility of conception which distinguishes him among
+his rivals. The same taste and popular manner came into our country, and
+were suited to the simplicity of the age. In 1527, our Bishop Latimer
+preached a sermon,[74] in which he expresses himself thus:--"Now, ye
+have heard what is meant by this _first card_, and how ye ought to
+_play_. I purpose again to _deal_ unto you another _card of the same
+suit_; for they be so nigh affinity, that one cannot be well played
+without the other."[75] It is curious to observe about a century
+afterwards, as Fuller informs us, that when a country clergyman imitated
+these familiar allusions, the taste of the congregation had so changed
+that he was interrupted by peals of laughter!
+
+Even in more modern times have Menot and Maillard found an imitator in
+little Father Andre, as well as others. His character has been variously
+drawn. He is by some represented as a kind of buffoon in the pulpit; but
+others more judiciously observe, that he only indulged his natural
+genius, and uttered humorous and lively things, as the good Father
+observes himself, to keep the attention of his audience awake. He was
+not always laughing. "He told many a bold truth," says the author of
+_Guerre des Auteurs anciens et modernes_, "that sent bishops to their
+dioceses, and made many a coquette blush. He possessed the art of biting
+when he smiled; and more ably combated vice by his ingenious satire than
+by those vague apostrophes which no one takes to himself. While others
+were straining their minds to catch at sublime thoughts which no one
+understood, he lowered his talents to the most humble situations, and to
+the minutest things. From them he drew his examples and his comparisons;
+and the one and the other never failed of success." Marville says, that
+"his expressions were full of shrewd simplicity. He made very free use
+of the most popular proverbs. His comparisons and figures were always
+borrowed from the most familiar and lowest things." To ridicule
+effectually the reigning vices, he would prefer quirks or puns to
+sublime thoughts; and he was little solicitous of his choice of
+expression, so the things came home. Gozzi, in Italy, had the same power
+in drawing unexpected inferences from vulgar and familiar occurrences.
+It was by this art Whitfield obtained so many followers. In Piozzi's
+British Synonymes, vol. ii. p. 205, we have an instance of Gozzi's
+manner. In the time of Charles II. it became fashionable to introduce
+humour into sermons. Sterne seems to have revived it in his: South's
+sparkle perpetually with wit and pun.
+
+Far different, however, are the characters of the sublime preachers, of
+whom the French have preserved the following descriptions.
+
+We have not any more Bourdaloue, La Rue, and Massillon; but the idea
+which still exists of their manner of addressing their auditors may
+serve instead of lessons. Each had his own peculiar mode, always adapted
+to place, time, circumstance; to their auditors, their style, and their
+subject.
+
+Bourdaloue, with a collected air, had little action; with eyes generally
+half closed he penetrated the hearts of the people by the sound of a
+voice uniform and solemn. The tone with which a sacred orator pronounced
+the words, _Tu est ille vir!_ "Thou art the man!" in suddenly addressing
+them to one of the kings of France, struck more forcibly than their
+application. Madame de Sevigne describes our preacher, by saying,
+"Father Bourdaloue thunders at Notre Dame."
+
+La Rue appeared with the air of a prophet. His manner was irresistible,
+full of fire, intelligence, and force. He had strokes perfectly
+original. Several old men, his contemporaries, still shuddered at the
+recollection of the expression which he employed in an apostrophe to the
+God of vengeance, _Evaginare gladium tuum!_
+
+The person of Massillon affected his admirers. He was seen in the pulpit
+with that air of simplicity, that modest demeanour, those eyes humbly
+declining, those unstudied gestures, that passionate tone, that mild
+countenance of a man penetrated with his subject, conveying to the mind
+the most luminous ideas, and to the heart the most tender emotions.
+Baron, the tragedian, coming out from one of his sermons, truth forced
+from his lips a confession humiliating to his profession; "My friend,"
+said he to one of his companions, "this is an _orator!_ and we are _only
+actors!_"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 74: In it he likens Christianity to a game at cards.]
+
+[Footnote 75: In his "Sermon of the Plough," preached at Paul's Cross,
+1548, we meet the same quaint imagery. "Preaching of the Gospel is one
+of God's plough works, and the preacher is one of God's ploughmen--and
+well may the preacher and the ploughman be likened together: first, for
+their labour at all seasons of the year; for there is no time of the
+year in which the ploughman hath not some special work to do." He says
+that Satan "is ever busy in following his plough;" and he winds up his
+peroration by the somewhat startling words, "the devil shall go for my
+money, for he applieth to his business. Therefore, ye unpreaching
+prelates, learn of the devil: to be diligent in doing your office learn
+of the devil: and if you will not learn of God, nor good men, for shame
+learn of the devil."]
+
+
+
+
+MASTERLY IMITATORS.
+
+
+There have been found occasionally some artists who could so perfectly
+imitate the spirit, the taste, the character, and the peculiarities of
+great masters, that they have not unfrequently deceived the most skilful
+connoisseurs. Michael Angelo sculptured a sleeping Cupid, of which
+having broken off an arm, he buried the statue in a place where he knew
+it would soon be found. The critics were never tired of admiring it, as
+one of the most precious relics of antiquity. It was sold to the
+Cardinal of St. George, to whom Michael Angelo discovered the whole
+mystery, by joining to the Cupid the arm which he had reserved.
+
+An anecdote of Peter Mignard is more singular. This great artist painted
+a Magdalen on a canvas fabricated at Rome. A broker, in concert with
+Mignard, went to the Chevalier de Clairville, and told him as a secret
+that he was to receive from Italy a Magdalen of Guido, and his
+masterpiece. The chevalier caught the bait, begged the preference, and
+purchased the picture at a very high price.
+
+He was informed that he had been imposed upon, and that the Magdalen was
+painted by Mignard. Mignard himself caused the alarm to be given, but
+the amateur would not believe it; all the connoisseurs agreed it was a
+Guido, and the famous Le Brun corroborated this opinion.
+
+The chevalier came to Mignard:--"Some persons assure me that my Magdalen
+is your work!"--"Mine! they do me great honour. I am sure that Le Brun
+is not of this opinion." "Le Brun swears it can be no other than a
+Guido. You shall dine with me, and meet several of the first
+connoisseurs."
+
+On the day of meeting, the picture was again more closely inspected.
+Mignard hinted his doubts whether the piece was the work of that great
+master; he insinuated that it was possible to be deceived; and added,
+that if it was Guido's, he did not think it in his best manner. "It is a
+Guido, sir, and in his very best manner," replied Le Brun, with warmth;
+and all the critics were unanimous. Mignard then spoke in a firm tone of
+voice: "And I, gentlemen, will wager three hundred louis that it is not
+a Guido." The dispute now became violent: Le Brun was desirous of
+accepting the wager. In a word, the affair became such that it could add
+nothing more to the glory of Mignard. "No, sir," replied the latter, "I
+am too honest to bet when I am certain to win. Monsieur le Chevalier,
+this piece cost you two thousand crowns: the money must be
+returned,--the painting is _mine_." Le Brun would not believe it. "The
+proof," Mignard continued, "is easy. On this canvas, which is a Roman
+one, was the portrait of a cardinal; I will show you his cap."--The
+chevalier did not know which of the rival artists to credit. The
+proposition alarmed him. "He who painted the picture shall repair it,"
+said Mignard. He took a pencil dipped in oil, and rubbing the hair of
+the Magdalen, discovered the cap of the cardinal. The honour of the
+ingenious painter could no longer be disputed; Le Brun, vexed,
+sarcastically exclaimed, "Always paint Guido, but never Mignard."
+
+There is a collection of engravings by that ingenious artist Bernard
+Picart, which has been published under the title of _The Innocent
+Impostors_. Picart had long been vexed at the taste of his day, which
+ran wholly in favour of antiquity, and no one would look at, much less
+admire, a modern master. He published a pretended collection, or a set
+of prints, from the designs of the great painters; in which he imitated
+the etchings and engravings of the various masters, and much were these
+prints admired as the works of Guido, Rembrandt, and others. Having had
+his joke, they were published under the title of _Imposteurs
+Innocentes_. The connoisseurs, however, are strangely divided in their
+opinion of the merit of this collection. Gilpin classes these "Innocent
+Impostors" among the most entertaining of his works, and is delighted by
+the happiness with which he has outdone in their own excellences the
+artists whom he copied; but Strutt, too grave to admit of jokes that
+twitch the connoisseurs, declares that they could never have deceived an
+experienced judge, and reprobates such kinds of ingenuity, played off at
+the cost of the venerable brotherhood of the cognoscenti.
+
+The same thing was, however, done by Goltzius, who being disgusted at
+the preference given to the works of Albert Durer, Lucas of Leyden, and
+others of that school, and having attempted to introduce a better taste,
+which was not immediately relished, he published what were afterwards
+called his _masterpieces_. These are six prints in the style of these
+masters, merely to prove that Goltzius could imitate their works, if he
+thought proper. One of these, the Circumcision, he had printed on soiled
+paper; and to give it the brown tint of antiquity had carefully smoked
+it, by which means it was sold as a curious performance, and deceived
+some of the most capital connoisseurs of the day, one of whom bought it
+as one of the finest engravings of Albert Durer: even Strutt
+acknowledges the merit of Goltzius's _masterpieces_!
+
+To these instances of artists I will add others of celebrated authors.
+Muretus rendered Joseph Scaliger, a great stickler for the ancients,
+highly ridiculous by an artifice which he practised. He sent some verses
+which he pretended were copied from an old manuscript. The verses were
+excellent, and Scaliger was credulous. After having read them, he
+exclaimed they were admirable, and affirmed that they were written by an
+old comic poet, Trabeus. He quoted them, in his commentary on Varro _De
+Re Rustica_, as one of the most precious fragments of antiquity. It was
+then, when he had fixed his foot firmly in the trap, that Muretus
+informed the world of the little dependence to be placed on the critical
+sagacity of one so prejudiced in favour of the ancients, and who
+considered his judgment as infallible.
+
+The Abbe Regnier Desmarais, having written an ode or, as the Italians
+call it, canzone, sent it to the Abbe Strozzi at Florence, who used it
+to impose on three or four academicians of Della Crusca. He gave out
+that Leo Allatius, librarian of the Vatican, in examining carefully the
+MSS. of Petrarch preserved there, had found two pages slightly glued,
+which having separated, he had discovered this ode. The fact was not at
+first easily credited; but afterwards the similarity of style and manner
+rendered it highly probable. When Strozzi undeceived the public, it
+procured the Abbe Regnier a place in the academy, as an honourable
+testimony of his ingenuity.
+
+Pere Commire, when Louis XIV. resolved on the conquest of Holland,
+composed a Latin fable, entitled "The Sun and the Frogs," in which he
+assumed with such felicity the style and character of Phaedrus, that the
+learned Wolfius was deceived, and innocently inserted it in his edition
+of that fabulist.
+
+Flaminius Strada would have deceived most of the critics of his age, if
+he had given as the remains of antiquity the different pieces of history
+and poetry which he composed on the model of the ancients, in his
+_Prolusiones Academicae_. To preserve probability he might have given out
+that he had drawn them, from some old and neglected library; he had then
+only to have added a good commentary, tending to display the conformity
+of the style and manner of these fragments with the works of those
+authors to whom he ascribed them.
+
+Sigonius was a great master of the style of Cicero, and ventured to
+publish a treatise _De Consolatione_, as a composition of Cicero
+recently discovered; many were deceived by the counterfeit, which was
+performed with great dexterity, and was long received as genuine; but he
+could not deceive Lipsius, who, after reading only ten lines, threw it
+away, exclaiming, "_Vah! non est Ciceronis_." The late Mr. Burke
+succeeded more skilfully in his "Vindication of Natural Society," which
+for a long time passed as the composition of Lord Bolingbroke; so
+perfect is this ingenious imposture of the spirit, manner, and course of
+thinking of the noble author. I believe it was written for a wager, and
+fairly won.
+
+
+
+
+EDWARD THE FOURTH.
+
+
+Our Edward the Fourth was dissipated and voluptuous; and probably owed
+his crown to his handsomeness, his enormous debts, and passion for the
+fair sex. He had many Jane Shores. Honest Philip de Comines, his
+contemporary, says, "That what greatly contributed to his entering
+London as soon as he appeared at its gates was the great debts this
+prince had contracted, which made his creditors gladly assist him; and
+the high favour in which he was held by the _bourgeoises_, into whose
+good graces he had frequently glided, and who gained over to him their
+husbands, who, for the tranquillity of their lives, were glad to depose
+or to raise monarchs. Many ladies and rich citizens' wives, of whom
+formerly he had great privacies and familiar acquaintance, gained over
+to him their husbands and relations."
+
+This is the description of his voluptuous life; we must recollect that
+the writer had been an eye-witness, and was an honest man.
+
+"He had been during the last twelve years more accustomed to his ease
+and pleasure than any other prince who lived in his time. He had nothing
+in his thoughts but _les dames_, and of them more than was _reasonable_;
+and hunting-matches, good eating, and great care of his person. When he
+went in their seasons to these hunting-matches, he always had carried
+with him great pavilions for _les dames_, and at the same time gave
+splendid entertainments; so that it is not surprising that his person
+was as jolly as any one I ever saw. He was then young, and as handsome
+as any man of his age; but he has since become enormously fat."
+
+Since I have got old Philip in my hand, the reader will not, perhaps, be
+displeased, if he attends to a little more of his _naivete_, which will
+appear in the form of a _conversazione_ of the times. He relates what
+passed between the English and the French Monarch.
+
+"When the ceremony of the oath was concluded, our king, who was desirous
+of being friendly, began to say to the king of England, in a laughing
+way, that he must come to Paris, and be jovial amongst our ladies; and
+that he would give him the Cardinal de Bourbon for his confessor, who
+would very willingly absolve him of any _sin_ which perchance he might
+commit. The king of England seemed well pleased at the invitation, and
+laughed heartily; for he knew that the said cardinal was _un fort bon
+compagnon_. When the king was returning, he spoke on the road to me; and
+said that he did not like to find the king of England so much inclined
+to come to Paris. 'He is,' said he, 'a very _handsome_ king; he likes
+the women too much. He may probably find one at Paris that may make him
+like to come too often, or stay too long. His predecessors have already
+been too much at Paris and in Normandy;' and that 'his company was not
+agreeable _this side of the sea_; but that, beyond the sea, he wished
+to be _bon frere et amy_.'"
+
+I have called Philip de Comines _honest_. The old writers, from the
+simplicity of their style, usually receive this honourable epithet; but
+sometimes they deserve it as little as most modern memoir writers. No
+enemy is indeed so terrible as a man of genius. Comines's violent enmity
+to the Duke of Burgundy, which appears in these memoirs, has been traced
+by the minute researchers of anecdotes; and the cause is not honourable
+to the memoir-writer, whose resentment was implacable. De Comines was
+born a subject of the Duke of Burgundy, and for seven years had been a
+favourite; but one day returning from hunting with the Duke, then Count
+de Charolois, in familiar jocularity he sat himself down before the
+prince, ordering the prince to pull off his boots. The count laughed,
+and did this; but in return for Comines's princely amusement, dashed the
+boot in his face, and gave Comines a bloody nose, From that time he was
+mortified in the court of Burgundy by the nickname of the _booted head_.
+Comines long felt a rankling wound in his mind; and after this domestic
+quarrel, for it was nothing more, he went over to the king of France,
+and wrote off his bile against the Duke of Burgundy in these "Memoirs,"
+which give posterity a caricature likeness of that prince, whom he is
+ever censuring for presumption, obstinacy, pride, and cruelty. This Duke
+of Burgundy, however, it is said, with many virtues, had but one great
+vice, the vice of sovereigns, that of ambition!
+
+The impertinence of Comines had not been chastised with great severity;
+but the nickname was never forgiven: unfortunately for the duke, Comines
+was a man of genius. When we are versed in the history of the times, we
+often discover that memoir-writers have some secret poison in their
+hearts. Many, like Comines, have had the boot dashed on their nose.
+Personal rancour wonderfully enlivens the style of Lord Orford and
+Cardinal de Retz. Memoirs are often dictated by its fiercest spirit; and
+then histories are composed from memoirs. Where is TRUTH? Not always in
+histories and memoirs!
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH.
+
+
+This great queen passionately admired handsome persons, and he was
+already far advanced in her favour who approached her with beauty and
+grace. She had so unconquerable an aversion for men who had been treated
+unfortunately by nature, that she could not endure their presence.
+
+When she issued from her palace, her guards were careful to disperse
+from before her eyes hideous and deformed people, the lame, the
+hunchbacked, &c.; in a word, all those whose appearance might shock her
+fastidious sensations.
+
+"There is this singular and admirable in the conduct of Elizabeth that
+she made her pleasures subservient to her policy, and she maintained her
+affairs by what in general occasions the ruin of princes. So secret were
+her amours, that even to the present day their mysteries cannot be
+penetrated; but the utility she drew from them is public, and always
+operated for the good of her people. Her lovers were her ministers, and
+her ministers were her lovers. Love commanded, love was obeyed; and the
+reign of this princess was happy, because it was the reign of _Love_, in
+which its chains and its slavery are liked!"
+
+The origin of Raleigh's advancement in the queen's graces was by an act
+of gallantry. Raleigh spoiled a new plush cloak, while the queen,
+stepping cautiously on this prodigal's footcloth, shot forth a smile, in
+which he read promotion. Captain Raleigh soon became Sir Walter, and
+rapidly advanced in the queen's favour.
+
+Hume has furnished us with ample proofs of the _passion_ which her
+courtiers feigned for her, and it remains a question whether it ever
+went further than boisterous or romantic gallantry. The secrecy of her
+amours is not so wonderful as it seems, if there were impediments to any
+but exterior gallantries. Hume has preserved in his notes a letter
+written by Raleigh. It is a perfect amorous composition. After having
+exerted his poetic talents to exalt _her charms_ and _his affection_, he
+concludes, by comparing her majesty, who was then _sixty_, to Venus and
+Diana. Sir Walter was not her only courtier who wrote in this style.
+Even in her old age she affected a strange fondness for music and
+dancing, with a kind of childish simplicity; her court seemed a court of
+love, and she the sovereign. Secretary Cecil, the youngest son of Lord
+Burleigh, seems to have perfectly entered into her character. Lady Derby
+wore about her neck and in her bosom a portrait; the queen inquired
+about it, but her ladyship was anxious to conceal it. The queen insisted
+on having it; and discovering it to be the portrait of young Cecil, she
+snatched it away, tying it upon her shoe, and walked with it; afterwards
+she pinned it on her elbow, and wore it some time there. Secretary Cecil
+hearing of this, composed some verses and got them set to music; this
+music the queen insisted on hearing. In his verses Cecil said that he
+repined not, though her majesty was pleased to grace others; he
+contented himself with the favour she had given him by wearing his
+portrait on her feet and on her arms! The writer of the letter who
+relates this anecdote, adds, "All these things are very secret." In this
+manner she contrived to lay the fastest hold on her able servants, and
+her servants on her.
+
+Those who are intimately acquainted with the private anecdotes of those
+times, know what encouragement this royal coquette gave to most who were
+near her person. Dodd, in his Church History, says, that the Earls of
+Arran and Arundel, and Sir William Pickering, "were not out of hopes of
+gaining Queen Elizabeth's affections in a matrimonial way."
+
+She encouraged every person of eminence: she even went so far, on the
+anniversary of her coronation, as publicly to take a ring from her
+finger, and put it on the Duke of Alecnon's hand. She also ranked
+amongst her suitors Henry the Third of France, and Henry the Great.
+
+She never forgave Buzenval for ridiculing her bad pronunciation of the
+French language; and when Henry IV. sent him over on an embassy, she
+would not receive him. So nice was the irritable pride of this great
+queen, that she made her private injuries matters of state.
+
+"This queen," writes Du Maurier, in his _Memoires pour servir a
+l'Histoire de la Hollande_, "who displayed so many heroic
+accomplishments, had this foible, of wishing to be thought beautiful by
+all the world. I heard from my father, that at every audience he had
+with her majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hundred times to
+display her hands, which indeed were very beautiful and very white."
+
+A not less curious anecdote relates to the affair of the Duke of Anjou
+and our Elizabeth; it is one more proof of her partiality for handsome
+men. The writer was Lewis Guyon, a contemporary.
+
+"Francis Duke of Anjou, being desirous of marrying a crowned head,
+caused proposals of marriage to be made to Elizabeth, queen of England.
+Letters passed betwixt them, and their portraits were exchanged. At
+length her majesty informed him, that she would never contract a
+marriage with any one who sought her, if she did not first _see his
+person_. If he would not come, nothing more should be said on the
+subject. This prince, over-pressed by his young friends (who were as
+little able of judging as himself), paid no attention to the counsels of
+men of maturer judgment. He passed over to England without a splendid
+train. The said lady contemplated his _person_: she found him _ugly_,
+disfigured by deep sears of the _small-pox_, and that he also had an
+_ill-shaped nose_, with _swellings in the neck_! All these were so many
+reasons with her, that he could never be admitted into her good graces."
+
+Puttenham, in his very rare book of the "Art of Poesie," p. 248, notices
+the grace and majesty of Elizabeth's demeanour: "Her stately manner of
+walk, with a certaine granditie rather than gravietie, marching with
+leysure, which our sovereign ladye and mistresse is accustomed to doe
+generally, unless it be when she walketh apace for her pleasure, or to
+catch her a heate in the cold mornings."
+
+By the following extract from a letter from one of her gentlemen, we
+discover that her usual habits, though studious, were not of the
+gentlest kind, and that the service she exacted from her attendants was
+not borne without concealed murmurs. The writer groans in secrecy to his
+friend. Sir John Stanhope writes to Sir Robert Cecil in 1598: "I was all
+the afternowne with her majestie, _at my booke_; and then thinking to
+rest me, went in agayne with your letter. She was pleased with the
+Filosofer's stone, and hath ben _all this daye reasonably quyett_. Mr.
+Grevell is absent, and I am tyed so as I cannot styrr, but shall be _at
+the wourse_ for yt, these two dayes!"[76]
+
+Puttenham, p. 249, has also recorded an honourable anecdote of
+Elizabeth, and characteristic of that high majesty which was in her
+thoughts, as well as in her actions. When she came to the crown, a
+knight of the realm, who had insolently behaved to her when Lady
+Elizabeth, fell upon his knees and besought her pardon, expecting to be
+sent to the Tower: she replied mildly, "Do you not know that we are
+descended of the _lion_, whose nature is not to harme or prey upon the
+mouse, or any other such small vermin?"
+
+Queen Elizabeth was taught to write by the celebrated _Roger Ascham_.
+Her writing is extremely beautiful and correct, as may be seen by
+examining a little manuscript book of prayers, preserved in the British
+Museum. I have seen her first writing book, preserved at Oxford in the
+Bodleian Library: the gradual improvement in her majesty's handwriting
+is very honourable to her diligence; but the most curious thing is the
+paper on which she tried her pens; this she usually did by writing the
+name of her beloved brother Edward; a proof of the early and ardent
+attachment she formed to that amiable prince.
+
+The education of Elizabeth had been severely classical; she thought and
+she wrote in all the spirit of the characters of antiquity; and her
+speeches and her letters are studded with apophthegms, and a terseness
+of ideas and language, that give an exalted idea of her mind. In her
+evasive answers to the Commons, in reply to their petitions to her
+majesty to marry, she has employed an energetic word: "Were I to tell
+you that I do not mean to marry, I might say less than I did intend; and
+were I to tell you that I do mean to marry, I might say more than it is
+proper for you to know; therefore I give you an _answer_, ANSWERLESS!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 76: Sir Robert Cecil, in a letter to Sir John Harrington,
+happily characterized her Majesty as occasionally "being more than a
+man, and, in truth, sometimes less than a woman."]
+
+
+
+
+THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.
+
+
+The Chinese language is like no other on the globe; it is said to
+contain not more than about three hundred and thirty words, but it is by
+no means monotonous, for it has four accents; the even, the raised, the
+lessened, and the returning, which multiply every word into four; as
+difficult, says Mr. Astle, for an European to understand, as it is for a
+Chinese to comprehend the six pronunciations of the French E. In fact,
+they can so diversify their monosyllabic words by the different _tones_
+which they give them, that the same character differently accented
+signifies sometimes ten or more different things.
+
+P. Bourgeois, one of the missionaries, attempted, after ten months'
+residence at Pekin, to preach in the Chinese language. These are the
+words of the good father: "God knows how much this first Chinese sermon
+cost me! I can assure you this language resembles no other. The same
+word has never but one termination; and then adieu to all that in our
+declensions distinguishes the gender, and the number of things we would
+speak: adieu, in the verbs, to all which might explain the active
+person, how and in what time it acts, if it acts alone or with others:
+in a word, with the Chinese, the same word is substantive, adjective,
+verb, singular, plural, masculine, feminine, &c. It is the person who
+hears who must arrange the circumstances, and guess them. Add to all
+this, that all the words of this language are reduced to three hundred
+and a few more; that they are pronounced in so many different ways, that
+they signify eighty thousand different things, which are expressed by as
+many different characters. This is not all: the arrangement of all these
+monosyllables appears to be under no general rule; so that to know the
+language after having learnt the words, we must learn every particular
+phrase: the least inversion would make you unintelligible to three parts
+of the Chinese.
+
+"I will give you an example of their words. They told me _chou_
+signifies a _book_: so that I thought whenever the word _chou_ was
+pronounced, a _book_ was the subject. Not at all! _Chou_, the next time
+I heard it, I found signified a _tree_. Now I was to recollect; _chou_
+was a _book_ or a _tree_. But this amounted to nothing; _chou_, I found,
+expressed also _great heats_; _chou_ is to _relate_; _chou_ is the
+_Aurora_; _chou_ means to be _accustomed_; _chou_ expresses the _loss of
+a wager_, &c. I should not finish, were I to attempt to give you all its
+significations.
+
+"Notwithstanding these singular difficulties, could one but find a help
+in the perusal of their books, I should not complain. But this is
+impossible! Their language is quite different from that of simple
+conversation. What will ever be an insurmountable difficulty to every
+European is the pronunciation; every word may be pronounced in five
+different tones, yet every tone is not so distinct that an unpractised
+ear can easily distinguish it. These monosyllables fly with amazing
+rapidity; then they are continually disguised by elisions, which
+sometimes hardly leave anything of two monosyllables. From an aspirated
+tone you must pass immediately to an even one; from a whistling note to
+an inward one: sometimes your voice must proceed from the palate;
+sometimes it must be guttural, and almost always nasal. I recited my
+sermon at least fifty times to my servant before I spoke it in public;
+and yet I am told, though he continually corrected me, that of the ten
+parts of the sermon (as the Chinese express themselves), they hardly
+understood three. Fortunately the Chinese are wonderfully patient; and
+they are astonished that any ignorant stranger should be able to learn
+two words of their language."
+
+It has been said that "Satires are often composed in China, which, if
+you attend to the _characters_, their import is pure and sublime; but if
+you regard the _tone_ only, they contain a meaning ludicrous or obscene.
+In the Chinese _one word_ sometimes corresponds to three or four
+thousand characters; a property quite opposite to that of our language,
+in which _myriads_ of different _words_ are expressed by the _same
+letters_."
+
+
+
+
+MEDICAL MUSIC.
+
+
+In the Philosophical Magazine for May, 1806, we find that "several of
+the medical literati on the continent are at present engaged in making
+inquiries and experiments upon the _influence of music in the cure of
+diseases_." The learned Dusaux is said to lead the band of this new
+tribe of _amateurs_ and _cognoscenti_.
+
+The subject excited my curiosity, though I since have found that it is
+no new discovery.
+
+There is a curious article in Dr. Burney's History of Music, "On the
+Medicinal Powers attributed to Music by the Ancients," which he derived
+from the learned labours of a modern physician, M. Burette, who
+doubtless could play a tune to, as well as prescribe one to, his
+patient. He conceives that music can relieve the pains of the sciatica;
+and that, independent of the greater or less skill of the musician, by
+flattering the ear, and diverting the attention, and occasioning certain
+vibrations of the nerves, it can remove those obstructions which
+occasion this disorder. M. Burette, and many modern physicians and
+philosophers, have believed that music has the power of affecting the
+mind, and the whole nervous system, so as to give a temporary relief in
+certain diseases, and even a radical cure. De Mairan, Bianchini, and
+other respectable names, have pursued the same career. But the ancients
+recorded miracles!
+
+The Rev. Dr. Mitchell, of Brighthelmstone, wrote a dissertation, "_De
+Arte Medendi apud Priscos, Musices ope atque Carminum_," printed for J.
+Nichols, 1783. He writes under the assumed name of Michael Gaspar; but
+whether this learned dissertator be grave or jocular, more than one
+critic has not been able to resolve me. I suspect it to be a satire on
+the parade of Germanic erudition, by which they often prove a point by
+the weakest analogies and most fanciful conceits.
+
+Amongst half-civilized nations, diseases have been generally attributed
+to the influence of evil spirits. The depression of mind which is
+generally attendant on sickness, and the delirium accompanying certain
+stages of disease, seem to have been considered as especially denoting
+the immediate influence of a demon. The effect of music in raising the
+energies of the mind, or what we commonly call animal spirits, was
+obvious to early observation. Its power of attracting strong attention
+may in some cases have appeared to affect even those who laboured under
+a considerable degree of mental disorder. The accompanying depression of
+mind was considered as a part of the disease, perhaps rightly enough,
+and music was prescribed as a remedy to remove the symptom, when
+experience had not ascertained the probable cause. Homer, whose heroes
+exhibit high passions, but not refined manners, represents the Grecian
+army as employing music to stay the raging of the plague. The Jewish
+nation, in the time of King David, appear not to have been much further
+advanced in civilization; accordingly we find David employed in his
+youth to remove the mental derangement of Saul by his harp. The method
+of cure was suggested as a common one in those days, by Saul's servants;
+and the success is not mentioned as a miracle. Pindar, with poetic
+licence, speaks of AEsculapius healing acute disorders with soothing
+songs; but AEsculapius, whether man or deity, or between both, is a
+physician of the days of barbarism and fable. Pliny scouts the idea that
+music could affect real bodily injury, but quotes Homer on the subject;
+mentions Theophrastus as suggesting a tune for the cure of the hip gout,
+and Cato as entertaining a fancy that it had a good effect when limbs
+were out of joint, and likewise that Varro thought it good for the gout.
+Aulus Gellius cites a work of Theophrastus, which recommends music as a
+specific for the bite of a viper. Boyle and Shakspeare mention the
+effects of music _super vesicam_. Kircher's "Musurgia," and Swinburne's
+Travels, relate the effects of music on those who are bitten by the
+tarantula. Sir W. Temple seems to have given credit to the stories of
+the power of music over diseases.
+
+The ancients, indeed, record miracles in the tales they relate of the
+medicinal powers of music. A fever is removed by a song, and deafness is
+cured by a trumpet, and the pestilence is chased away by the sweetness
+of an harmonious lyre. That deaf people can hear best in a great noise,
+is a fact alleged by some moderns, in favour of the ancient story of
+curing deafness by a trumpet. Dr. Willis tells us, says Dr. Burney, of a
+lady who could _hear_ only while _a drum was beating_, insomuch, that
+her husband, the account says, hired a drummer as her servant, in order
+to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation.
+
+Music and the sounds of instruments, says the lively Vigneul de
+Marville, contribute to the health of the body and the mind; they
+quicken the circulation of the blood, they dissipate vapours, and open
+the vessels, so that the action of perspiration is freer. He tells a
+story of a person of distinction, who assured him, that once being
+suddenly seized by violent illness, instead of a consultation of
+physicians, he immediately called a band of musicians; and their
+violins-played so well in his inside, that his bowels became perfectly
+in tune, and in a few hours were harmoniously becalmed. I once heard a
+story of Farinelli, the famous singer, who was sent for to Madrid, to
+try the effect of his magical voice on the king of Spain. His majesty
+was buried in the profoundest melancholy; nothing could raise an emotion
+in him; he lived in a total oblivion of life; he sate in a darkened
+chamber, entirely given up to the most distressing kind of madness. The
+physicians ordered Farinelli at first to sing in an outer room; and for
+the first day or two this was done, without any effect, on the royal
+patient. At length, it was observed, that the king, awakening from his
+stupor, seemed to listen; on the next day tears were seen starting in
+his eyes; the day after he ordered the door of his chamber to be left
+open--and at length the perturbed spirit entirely left our modern Saul,
+and the _medicinal voice_ of Farinelli effected what no other medicine
+could.
+
+I now prepare to give the reader some _facts_, which he may consider as
+a trial of credulity.--Their authorities are, however, not
+contemptible.--Naturalists assert that animals and birds, as well as
+"knotted oaks," as Congreve informs us, are sensible to the charms of
+music. This may serve as an instance:--An officer was confined in the
+Bastile; he begged the governor to permit him the use of his lute, to
+soften, by the harmonies of his instrument, the rigours of his prison.
+At the end of a few days, this modern Orpheus, playing on his lute, was
+greatly astonished to see frisking out of their holes great numbers of
+mice, and descending from their woven habitations crowds of spiders, who
+formed a circle about him, while he continued breathing his
+soul-subduing instrument. He was petrified with astonishment. Having
+ceased to play, the assembly, who did not come to see his person, but to
+hear his instrument, immediately broke up. As he had a great dislike to
+spiders, it was two days before he ventured again to touch his
+instrument. At length, having overcome, for the novelty of his company,
+his dislike of them, he recommenced his concert, when the assembly was
+by far more numerous than at first; and in the course of farther time,
+he found himself surrounded by a hundred _musical amateurs_. Having thus
+succeeded in attracting this company, he treacherously contrived to get
+rid of them at his will. For this purpose he begged the keeper to give
+him a cat, which he put in a cage, and let loose at the very instant
+when the little hairy people were most entranced by the Orphean skill he
+displayed.
+
+The Abbe Olivet has described an amusement of Pelisson during his
+confinement in the Bastile, which consisted in feeding a spider, which
+he had discovered forming its web in the corner of a small window. For
+some time he placed his flies at the edge, while his valet, who was with
+him, played on a bagpipe: little by little, the spider used itself to
+distinguish the sound of the instrument, and issued from its hole to run
+and catch its prey. Thus calling it always by the same sound, and
+placing the flies at a still greater distance, he succeeded, after
+several months, to drill the spider by regular exercise, so that at
+length it never failed appearing at the first sound to seize on the fly
+provided for it, even on the knees of the prisoner.
+
+Marville has given us the following curious anecdote on this subject. He
+says, that doubting the truth of those who say that the love of music
+is a natural taste, especially the sound of instruments, and that beasts
+themselves are touched by it, being one day in the country I tried an
+experiment. While a man was playing on the trump marine, I made my
+observations on a cat, a dog, a horse, an ass, a hind, cows, small
+birds, and a cock and hens, who were in a yard, under a window on which
+I was leaning. I did not perceive that the cat was the least affected,
+and I even judged, by her air, that she would have given all the
+instruments in the world for a mouse, sleeping in the sun all the time;
+the horse stopped short from time to time before the window, raising his
+head up now and then, as he was feeding on the grass; the dog continued
+for above an hour seated on his hind legs, looking steadfastly at the
+player; the ass did not discover the least indication of his being
+touched, eating his thistles peaceably; the hind lifted up her large
+wide ears, and seemed very attentive; the cows slept a little, and after
+gazing, as though they had been acquainted with us, went forward; some
+little birds who were in an aviary, and others on the trees and bushes,
+almost tore their little throats with singing; but the cock, who minded
+only his hens, and the hens, who were solely employed in scraping a
+neighbouring dunghill, did not show in any manner that they took the
+least pleasure in hearing the trump marine.
+
+A modern traveller assures us, that he has repeatedly observed in the
+island of Madeira, that the lizards are attracted by the notes of music,
+and that he has assembled a number of them by the powers of his
+instrument. When the negroes catch them for food, they accompany the
+chase by whistling some tune, which has always the effect of drawing
+great numbers towards them. Stedman, in his Expedition to Surinam,
+describes certain sibyls among the negroes, who, among several singular
+practices, can charm or conjure down from the tree certain serpents, who
+will wreath about the arms, neck, and breast of the pretended sorceress,
+listening to her voice. The sacred writers speak of the charming of
+adders and serpents; and nothing, says he, is more notorious than that
+the eastern Indians will rid the houses of the most venomous snakes, by
+charming them with the sound of a flute, which calls them out of their
+holes. These anecdotes seem fully confirmed by Sir William Jones, in his
+dissertation on the musical modes of the Hindus.
+
+"After food, when the operations of digestion and absorption give so
+much employment to the vessels, that a temporary state of mental repose
+must be found, especially in hot climates, essential to health, it seems
+reasonable to believe that a few agreeable airs, either heard or played
+without effort, must have all the good effects of sleep, and none of its
+disadvantages; _putting the soul in tune_, as Milton says, for any
+subsequent exertion; an experiment often successfully made by myself. I
+have been assured by a credible eye-witness, that two wild antelopes
+used often to come from their woods to the place where a more savage
+beast, Sirajuddaulah, entertained himself with concerts, and that they
+listened to the strains with an appearance of pleasure, till the
+monster, in whose soul there was no music, shot one of them to display
+his archery. A learned native told me that he had frequently seen the
+most venomous and malignant snakes leave their holes upon hearing tunes
+on a flute, which, as he supposed, gave them peculiar delight. An
+intelligent Persian declared he had more than once been present, when a
+celebrated lutenist, surnamed Bulbul (i.e., the nightingale), was
+playing to a large company, in a grove near Shiraz, where he distinctly
+saw the nightingales trying to vie with the musician, sometimes warbling
+on the trees, sometimes fluttering from branch to branch, as if they
+wished to approach the instrument, and at length dropping on the ground
+in a kind of ecstacy, from which they were soon raised, he assured me,
+by a change in the mode."
+
+Jackson of Exeter, in reply to a question of Dryden, "What passion
+cannot music raise or quell?" sarcastically returns, "What passion _can_
+music raise or quell?" Would not a savage, who had never listened to a
+musical instrument, feel certain emotions at listening to one for the
+first time? But civilized man is, no doubt, particularly affected by
+_association of ideas_, as all pieces of national music evidently prove.
+
+THE RANZ DES VACHES, mentioned by Rousseau in his Dictionary of Music,
+though without anything striking in the composition, has such a powerful
+influence over the Swiss, and impresses them with so violent a desire to
+return to their own country, that it is forbidden to be played in the
+Swiss regiments, in the French service, on pain of death. There is also
+a Scotch tune, which has the same effect on some of our North Britons.
+In one of our battles in Calabria, a bagpiper of the 78th Highland
+regiment, when the light infantry charged the French, posted himself on
+the right, and remained in his solitary situation during the whole of
+the battle, encouraging the men with a famous Highland charging tune;
+and actually upon the retreat and complete rout of the French changed it
+to another, equally celebrated in Scotland, upon the retreat of and
+victory over an enemy. His next-hand neighbour guarded him so well that
+he escaped unhurt. This was the spirit of the "Last Minstrel," who
+infused courage among his countrymen, by possessing it in so animated a
+degree, and in so venerable a character.
+
+
+
+
+MINUTE WRITING.
+
+
+The Iliad of Homer in a nutshell, which Pliny says that Cicero once saw,
+it is pretended might have been a fact, however to some it may appear
+impossible. AElian notices an artist who wrote a distich in letters of
+gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn.
+
+Antiquity and modern times record many such penmen, whose glory
+consisted in writing in so small a hand that the writing could not be
+legible to the naked eye. Menage mentions, he saw whole sentences which
+were not perceptible to the eye without the microscope; pictures and
+portraits which appeared at first to be lines and scratches thrown down
+at random; one formed the face of the Dauphiness with the most correct
+resemblance. He read an Italian poem, in praise of this princess,
+containing some thousand verses, written by an officer, in a space of a
+foot and a half. This species of curious idleness has not been lost in
+our own country, where this minute writing has equalled any on record.
+Peter Bales, a celebrated caligrapher in the reign of Elizabeth,
+astonished the eyes of beholders by showing them what they could not
+see; for in the Harleian MSS. 530, we have a narrative of "a rare piece
+of work brought to pass by Peter Bales, an Englishman, and a clerk of
+the chancery;" it seems by the description to have been the whole Bible
+"in an English walnut no bigger than a hen's egg. The nut holdeth the
+book: there are as many leaves in his little book as the great Bible,
+and he hath written as much in one of his little leaves as a great leaf
+of the Bible." We are told that this wonderfully unreadable copy of the
+Bible was "seen by many thousands." There is a drawing of the head of
+Charles I. in the library of St. John's College, at Oxford, wholly
+composed of minute written characters, which, at a small distance,
+resemble the lines of an engraving. The lines of the head, and the ruff,
+are said to contain the book of Psalms, the Creed, and the Lord's
+Prayer. In the British Museum we find a drawing representing the
+portrait of Queen Anne, not much above the size of the hand. On this
+drawing appears a number of lines and scratches, which the librarian
+assures the marvelling spectator includes the entire contents of a thin
+_folio_, which on this occasion is carried in the hand.
+
+The learned Huet asserts that, like the rest of the world, he considered
+as a fiction the story of that indefatigable trifler who is said to have
+enclosed the Iliad in a nutshell. Examining the matter more closely, he
+thought it possible. One day this learned man trifled half an hour in
+demonstrating it. A piece of vellum, about ten inches in length and
+eight in width, pliant and firm, can be folded up, and enclosed in the
+shell of a large walnut. It can hold in its breadth one line, which can
+contain 30 verses, and in its length 250 lines. With a crow-quill the
+writing can be perfect. A page of this piece of vellum will then contain
+7500 verses, and the reverse as much; the whole 15,000 verses of the
+Iliad. And this he proved by using a piece of paper, and with a common
+pen. The thing is possible to be effected; and if on any occasion paper
+should be most excessively rare, it may be useful to know that a volume
+of matter may be contained in a single leaf.
+
+
+
+
+NUMERICAL FIGURES.
+
+
+The learned, after many contests, have at length agreed that the
+numerical figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, usually called _Arabic_,
+are of _Indian_ origin. The Arabians do not pretend to have been the
+inventors of them, but borrowed them from the Indian nations. The
+numeral characters of the Bramins, the Persians, the Arabians, and other
+eastern nations, are similar. They appear afterwards to have been
+introduced into several European nations by their respective travellers,
+who returned from the East. They were admitted into calendars and
+chronicles, but they were not introduced into charters, says Mr. Astle,
+before the sixteenth century. The Spaniards, no doubt, derived their use
+from the Moors who invaded them. In 1210, the Alphonsean astronomical
+tables were made by the order of Alphonsus X. by a Jew, and an Arabian;
+they used these numerals, from whence the Spaniards contend that they
+were first introduced by them.
+
+They were not generally used in Germany until the beginning of the
+fourteenth century; but in general the forms of the ciphers were not
+permanently fixed there till after the year 1531. The Russians were
+strangers to them, before Peter the Great had finished his travels in
+the beginning of the last century.
+
+The origin of these useful characters with the Indians and Arabians is
+attributed to their great skill in the arts of astronomy and of
+arithmetic, which required more convenient characters than alphabetic
+letters for the expressing of numbers.
+
+Before the introduction into Europe of these Arabic numerals, they used
+alphabetical characters, or _Roman numerals_. The learned authors of the
+Nouveau Traite Diplomatique, the most valuable work on everything
+concerning the arts and progress of writing, have given some curious
+notices on the origin of the Roman numerals. Originally men counted by
+their fingers; thus, to mark the first four numbers they used an I,
+which naturally represents them. To mark the fifth, they chose a V,
+which is made out by bending inwards the three middle fingers, and
+stretching out only the thumb and the little finger; and for the tenth
+they used an X, which is a double V, one placed topsy-turvy under the
+other. From this the progression of these numbers is always from one to
+five, and from five to ten. The hundred was signified by the capital
+letter of that word in Latin, C--centum. The other letters, D for 500,
+and M for a 1000, were afterwards added. They subsequently abbreviated
+their characters, by placing one of these figures before another; and
+the figure of less value before a higher number, denotes that so much
+may be deducted from a greater number; for instance, IV signifies five
+less one, that is four; IX ten less one, that is nine; but these
+abbreviations are not found amongst the ancient monuments.[77] These
+numerical letters are still continued by us in the accounts of our
+Exchequer.
+
+That men counted originally by their fingers, is no improbable
+supposition; it is still naturally practised by the people. In
+semi-civilized states small stones have been used, and the etymologists
+derive the words _calculate_ and _calculations_ from _calculus_, the
+Latin term for a pebble-stone, and by which they denominated their
+counters used for arithmetical computations.
+
+Professor Ward, in a learned dissertation on this subject in the
+Philosophical Transactions, concludes that it is easier to falsify the
+Arabic ciphers than the Roman alphabetical numerals; when 1375 is dated
+in Arabic ciphers, if the 3 is only changed into an 0, three centuries
+are taken away; if the 3 is made into a 9 and take away the 1, four
+hundred years are lost. Such accidents have assuredly produced much
+confusion among our ancient manuscripts, and still do in our printed
+books; which is the reason that Dr. Robertson in his histories has also
+preferred writing his dates in _words_, rather than confide them to the
+care of a negligent printer. Gibbon observes, that some remarkable
+mistakes have happened by the word _mil._ in MSS., which is an
+abbreviation for _soldiers_, or for _thousands_; and to this blunder he
+attributes the incredible numbers of martyrdoms, which cannot otherwise
+be accounted for by historical records.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 77: A peculiar arrangement of letters was in use by the German
+and Flemish printers of the 16th century. Thus cI[R 'c'] denoted
+1000, and I[R 'c'], 500. The date 1619 would therefore be thus
+printed:--cI[R 'c']. I[R 'c']cxx.]
+
+
+
+
+ENGLISH ASTROLOGERS.
+
+
+A belief in judicial astrology can now only exist in the people, who may
+be said to have no belief at all; for mere traditional sentiments can
+hardly be said to amount to a _belief_. But a faith in this ridiculous
+system in our country is of late existence; and was a favourite
+superstition with the learned.
+
+When Charles the First was confined, Lilly the astrologer was consulted
+for the hour which would favour his escape.
+
+A story, which strongly proves how greatly Charles the Second was
+bigoted to judicial astrology, is recorded is Burnet's History of his
+Own Times.
+
+The most respectable characters of the age, Sir William Dugdale, Ellas
+Ashmole, Dr. Grew, and others, were members of an astrological club.
+Congreve's character of Foresight, in Love for Love, was then no
+uncommon person, though the humour now is scarcely intelligible.
+
+Dryden cast the nativities of his sons; and, what is remarkable, his
+prediction relating to his son Charles took place. This incident is of
+so late a date, one might hope it would have been cleared up.
+
+In 1670, the passion for horoscopes and expounding the stars prevailed
+in France among the first rank. The new-born child was usually presented
+naked to the astrologer, who read the first lineaments in his forehead,
+and the transverse lines in its hand, and thence wrote down its future
+destiny. Catherine de Medicis brought Henry IV., then a child, to old
+Nostradamus, whom antiquaries esteem more for his chronicle of Provence
+than his vaticinating powers. The sight of the reverend seer, with a
+beard which "streamed like a meteor in the air," terrified the future
+hero, who dreaded a whipping from so grave a personage. One of these
+magicians having assured Charles IX. that he would live as many days as
+he should turn about on his heels in an hour, standing on one leg, his
+majesty every morning performed that solemn gyration; the principal
+officers of the court, the judges, the chancellors, and generals,
+likewise, in compliment, standing on one leg and turning round!
+
+It has been reported of several famous for their astrologic skill, that
+they have suffered a voluntary death merely to verify their own
+predictions; this has been reported of _Cardan_, and _Burton_, the
+author of the Anatomy of Melancholy.
+
+It is curious to observe the shifts to which astrologers are put when
+their predictions are not verified. Great _winds_ were predicted, by a
+famous adept, about the year 1586. No unusual storms, however, happened.
+Bodin, to save the reputation of the art, applied it as _figure_ to some
+_revolutions_ in the _state_, and of which there were instances enough
+at that moment. Among their lucky and unlucky days, they pretend to give
+those of various illustrious persons and of families. One is very
+striking.--Thursday was the unlucky day of our Henry VIII. He, his son
+Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, all died on a Thursday!
+This fact had, no doubt, great weight in this controversy of the
+astrologers with their adversaries.[78]
+
+Lilly, the astrologer, is the Sidrophel of Butler. His Life, written by
+himself, contains so much artless narrative, and so much palpable
+imposture, that it is difficult to know when he is speaking what he
+really believes to be the truth. In a sketch of the state of astrology
+in his day, those adepts, whose characters he has drawn, were the lowest
+miscreants of the town. They all speak of each other as rogues and
+impostors. Such were Booker, Backhouse, Gadbury; men who gained a
+livelihood by practising on the credulity of even men of learning so
+late as in 1650, nor were they much out of date in the eighteenth
+century. In Ashmole's Life an account of these artful impostors may be
+found. Most of them had taken the air in the pillory, and others had
+conjured themselves up to the gallows. This seems a true statement of
+facts. But Lilly informs us, that in his various conferences with
+_angels_, their voices resembled that of the _Irish_!
+
+The work contains anecdotes of the times. The amours of Lilly with his
+mistress are characteristic. He was a very artful man, and admirably
+managed matters which required deception and invention.
+
+Astrology greatly flourished in the time of the civil wars. The
+royalists and the rebels had their _astrologers_, as well as their
+_soldiers!_ and the predictions of the former had a great influence over
+the latter.
+
+On this subject, it may gratify curiosity to notice three or four works,
+which hear an excessive price. The price cannot entirely be occasioned
+by their rarity, and I am induced to suppose that we have still adepts,
+whose faith must be strong, or whose scepticism but weak.
+
+The Chaldean sages were nearly put to the rout by a quarto park of
+artillery, fired on them by Mr. John Chamber, in 1601. Apollo did not
+use Marsyas more inhumanly than his scourging pen this mystical race,
+and his personalities made them feel more sore. However, a Norwich
+knight, the very Quixote of astrology, arrayed in the enchanted armour
+of his occult authors, encountered this pagan in a most stately
+carousal. He came forth with "A Defence of Judiciall Astrologye, in
+answer to a treatise lately published by Mr. John Chamber. By Sir
+Christopher Heydon, Knight; printed at Cambridge, 1603." This is a
+handsome quarto of about 500 pages. Sir Christopher is a learned writer,
+and a knight worthy to defend a better cause. But his Dulcinea had
+wrought most wonderfully on his imagination. This defence of this
+fanciful science, if science it may be called, demonstrates nothing,
+while it defends everything. It confutes, according to the knight's own
+ideas: it alleges a few scattered facts in favour of astrological
+predictions, which may be picked up in that immensity of fabling which
+disgraces history. He strenuously denies, or ridicules, what the
+greatest writers have said against this fanciful art, while he lays
+great stress on some passages from authors of no authority. The most
+pleasant part is at the close, where he defends the art from the
+objections of Mr. Chamber by recrimination. Chamber had enriched himself
+by medical practice; and when he charges the astrologers with merely
+aiming to gain a few beggarly pence, Sir Christopher catches fire, and
+shows by his quotations, that if we are to despise an art, by its
+professors attempting to subsist on it, or for the objections which may
+be raised against its vital principles, we ought by this argument most
+heartily to despise the medical science and medical men! He gives here
+all he can collect against physic and physicians; and from the
+confessions of Hippocrates and Galen, Avicenna and Agrippa, medicine
+appears to be a vainer science than even astrology! Sir Christopher is a
+shrewd and ingenious adversary; but when he says he means only to give
+Mr. Chamber oil for his vinegar, he has totally mistaken its quality.
+
+The defence was answered by Thomas Vicars, in his "Madnesse of
+Astrologers."
+
+But the great work is by Lilly; and entirely devoted to the adepts. He
+defends nothing; for this oracle delivers his dictum, and details every
+event as matters not questionable. He sits on the tripod; and every page
+is embellished by a horoscope, which he explains with the utmost
+facility. This voluminous monument of the folly of the age is a quarto
+valued at some guineas! It is entitled, "Christian Astrology, modestly
+treated of in three books, by William Lilly, student in Astrology, 2nd
+edition, 1659." The most curious part of this work is "a Catalogue of
+most astrological authors." There is also a portrait of this arch rogue,
+and astrologer: an admirable illustration for Lavater![79]
+
+Lilly's opinions, and his pretended science, were such favourites with
+the age, that the learned Gataker wrote professedly against this popular
+delusion. Lilly, at the head of his star-expounding friends, not only
+formally replied to, but persecuted Gataker annually in his predictions,
+and even struck at his ghost, when beyond the grave. Gataker died in
+July, 1654; and Lilly having written in his almanac of that year for the
+month of August this barbarous Latin verse:--
+
+    _Hoc in tumbo jacet presbyter et nebulo!_
+    Here in this tomb lies a presbyter and a knave!
+
+he had the impudence to assert that he had predicted Gataker's death!
+But the truth is, it was an epitaph like lodgings to let; it stood empty
+ready for the first passenger to inhabit. Had any other of that party of
+any eminence died in that month, it would have been as appositely
+applied to him. But Lilly was an exquisite rogue, and never at fault.
+Having prophesied in his almanac for 1650, that the parliament stood
+upon a tottering foundation, when taken up by a messenger, during the
+night he was confined, he contrived to cancel the page, printed off
+another, and showed his copies before the committee, assuring them that
+the others were none of his own, but forged by his enemies.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 78: "Day fatality" was especially insisted on by these
+students, and is curiously noted in a folio tract, published in 1687,
+particularly devoted to "Remarques on the 14th of October, being the
+auspicious birth-day of his present Majesty James II.," whose author
+speaks of having seen in the hands of "that genera scholar, and great
+astrologer, E. Ashmole," a manuscript in which the following barbarous
+monkish rhymes were inserted, noting the unlucky days of each month:--
+
+    JANUARY      Prima dies menses, et septima truncat ut ensis.
+    FEBRUARY     Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia fortem.
+    MARCH        Primus mandentem, disrumpit quarta bibentem.
+    APRIL        Denus et undenus est mortis vulnere plenus.
+    MAY          Tertius occidit, et septimus ora relidit.
+    JUNE         Denus pallescit, quindenus foedra nescit.
+    JULY         Ter-decimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat.
+    AUGUST       Prima necat fortem prosternit secunda cohortem.
+    SEPTEMBER    Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala membris.
+    OCTOBER      Tertius et denus, est sicut mors alienus.
+    NOVEMBER     Scorpius est quintus, et tertius e nece cinctus.
+    DECEMBER     Septimus exanguis, virosus denus et anguis.
+
+The author of this strange book fortifies his notions on "day fatality"
+by printing a letter from Sir Winstan Churchill, who says, "I have made
+great experience of the truth of it, and have set down Fryday as my own
+lucky day; the day on which I was born, christened, married, and I
+believe will be the day of my death. The day whereon I have had sundry
+deliverances from perils by sea and land, perils by false brethren,
+perils of lawsuits, &c. I was knighted (by chance unexpected of myself)
+on the same day, and have several good accidents happened to me on that
+day; and am so superstitious in the belief of its good omen, that I
+choose to begin any considerable action that concerns me on the same
+day."]
+
+[Footnote 79: Lilly was at one time a staunch adherent of the
+Roundheads, and "read in the stars" all kinds of successes for them. His
+great feat was a prediction made for the month of June, 1645--"If now we
+fight, a victory stealeth upon us." A fight did occur at Naseby, and
+concluded the overthrow of the unfortunate Charles the First. The words
+are sufficiently ambiguous; but not so much so, as many other
+"prophecies" of the same notable quack, happily constructed to shift
+with changes in events, and so be made to fit them. Lilly was opposed by
+Wharton, who saw in the stars as many good signs for the Royal Army; and
+Lilly himself began to see differently as the power of Cromwell waned.
+Among the hundreds of pamphlets poured from the press in the excited
+days of the great civil wars in England, few are more curious than these
+"strange and remarkable predictions," "Signs in the Sky," and "Warnings
+to England," the productions of star-gazing knaves, which "terrified our
+isle from its propriety."]
+
+
+
+
+ALCHYMY.
+
+
+Mrs. Thomas, the Corinna of Dryden, in her Life, has recorded one of the
+delusions of alchymy.
+
+An infatuated lover of this delusive art met with one who pretended to
+have the power of transmuting lead to gold; that is, in their language,
+the _imperfect_ metals to the _perfect one_. The hermetic philosopher
+required only the materials, and time, to perform his golden operations.
+He was taken, to the country residence of his patroness. A long
+laboratory was built, and that his labours might not be impeded by any
+disturbance, no one was permitted to enter into it. His door was
+contrived to turn on a pivot; so that, unseen and unseeing, his meals
+were conveyed to him without distracting the sublime meditations of the
+sage.
+
+During a residence of two years, he never condescended to speak but two
+or three times in a year to his infatuated patroness. When she was
+admitted into the laboratory, she saw, with pleasing astonishment,
+stills, cauldrons, long flues, and three or four Vulcanian fires blazing
+at different corners of this magical mine; nor did she behold with less
+reverence the venerable figure of the dusty philosopher. Pale and
+emaciated with daily operations and nightly vigils, he revealed to her,
+in unintelligible jargon, his progresses; and having sometimes
+condescended to explain the mysteries of the arcana, she beheld, or
+seemed to behold, streams of fluid and heaps of solid ore scattered
+around the laboratory. Sometimes he required a new still, and sometimes
+vast quantities of lead. Already this unfortunate lady had expended the
+half of her fortune in supplying the demands of the philosopher. She
+began now to lower her imagination to the standard of reason. Two years
+had now elapsed, vast quantities of lead had gone in, and nothing but
+lead had come out. She disclosed her sentiments to the philosopher. He
+candidly confessed he was himself surprised at his tardy processes; but
+that now he would exert himself to the utmost, and that he would venture
+to perform a laborious operation, which hitherto he had hoped not to
+have been necessitated to employ. His patroness retired, and the golden
+visions resumed all their lustre.
+
+One day, as they sat at dinner, a terrible shriek, and one crack
+followed by another, loud as the report of cannon, assailed their ears.
+They hastened to the laboratory; two of the greatest stills had burst,
+and one part of the laboratory and the house were in flames. We are told
+that, after another adventure of this kind, this victim to alchymy,
+after ruining another patron, in despair swallowed poison.
+
+Even more recently we have a history of an alchymist in the life of
+Romney, the painter. This alchymist, after bestowing much time and money
+on preparations for the grand projection, and being near the decisive
+hour, was induced, by the too earnest request of his wife, to quit his
+furnace one evening, to attend some of her company at the tea-table.
+While the projector was attending the ladies, his furnace blew up! In
+consequence of this event, he conceived such an antipathy against his
+wife, that he could not endure the idea of living with her again.[80]
+
+Henry VI., Evelyn observes in his Numismata, endeavoured to recruit his
+empty coffers by _alchymy_. The _record_ of this singular proposition
+contains "the most solemn and serious account of the feasibility and
+virtues of the _philosopher's stone_, encouraging the search after it,
+and dispensing with all statutes and prohibitions to the contrary." This
+record was probably communicated by Mr. Selden to his beloved friend Ben
+Jonson, when the poet was writing his comedy of the Alchymist.
+
+After this patent was published, many promised to answer the king's
+expectations so effectually, that the next year he published _another
+patent_; wherein he tells his subjects, that the _happy hour_ was
+drawing nigh, and by means of THE STONE, which he should soon be master
+of, he would pay all the debts of the nation in real _gold and silver_.
+The persons picked out for his new operators were as remarkable as the
+patent itself, being a most "miscellaneous rabble" of friars, grocers,
+mercers, and fishmongers!
+
+This patent was likewise granted _authoritate Parliamenti_; and is given
+by Prynne in his _Aurum Reginae_, p. 135.
+
+Alchymists were formerly called _multipliers_, although they never could
+_multiply_; as appears from a statute of Henry IV. repealed in the
+preceding record.
+
+"None from henceforth shall use to _multiply_ gold or silver, or use the
+_craft of multiplication_; and if any the same do, he shall incur the
+pain of felony." Among the articles charged on the Protector Somerset is
+this extraordinary one:--"You commanded _multiplication_ and
+_alcumestry_ to be practised, thereby _to abate the king's coin_."
+Stowe, p. 601. What are we to understand? Did they believe that alchymy
+would be so productive of the precious metals as to _abate_ the value of
+the coin; or does _multiplication_ refer to an arbitrary rise in the
+currency by order of the government?
+
+Every philosophical mind must be convinced that alchymy is not an art,
+which some have fancifully traced to the _remotest times_; it may be
+rather regarded, when opposed to such a distance of time, as a modern
+imposture. Caesar commanded the treatises of alchymy to be burnt
+throughout the Roman dominions: Caesar, who is not less to be admired as
+a philosopher than as a monarch.
+
+Gibbon has this succinct passage relative to alchymy:--"The ancient
+books of alchymy, so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon, or to
+Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were
+inattentive either to the use or the abuse of chemistry. In that immense
+register where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts, and the
+errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutations
+of metals; and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic
+event in the history of alchymy. The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs
+diffused that vain science over the globe. Congenial to the avarice of
+the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal
+eagerness and equal success. The darkness of the middle ages ensured a
+favourable reception to every tale of wonder; and the revival of
+learning gave new vigour to hope, and suggested more specious arts to
+deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length
+banished the study of alchymy; and the present age, however desirous of
+riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and
+industry."
+
+Elias Ashmole writes in his diary--"May 13, 1653. My father Backhouse
+(an astrologer who had adopted him for his son, a common practice with
+these men) lying sick in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstan's
+church, and not knowing whether he should live or die, about eleven of
+the clock, told me in _syllables_ the true matter of the _philosopher's
+stone_, which he bequeathed to me as a _legacy_." By this we learn that
+a miserable wretch knew the art of _making gold_, yet always lived a
+beggar; and that Ashmole really imagined he was in possession of the
+_syllables of a secret_! He has, however, built a curious monument of
+the learned follies of the last age, in his "Theatrum Chemicum
+Britannicum." Though Ashmole is rather the historian of this vain
+science than an adept, it may amuse literary leisure to turn over this
+quarto volume, in which he has collected the works of several English
+alchymists, subjoining his commentary. It affords a curious specimen of
+Rosicrucian mysteries; and Ashmole relates several miraculous stories.
+Of the philosopher's stone, he says he knows enough to hold his tongue,
+but not enough to speak. This stone has not only the power of
+transmuting any imperfect earthy matter into its utmost degree of
+perfection, and can convert the basest metals into gold, flints into
+stone, &c.; but it has still more occult virtues, when the arcana have
+been entered into by the choice fathers of hermetic mysteries. The
+vegetable stone has power over the natures of man, beast, fowls, fishes,
+and all kinds of trees and plants, to make them flourish and bear fruit
+at any time. The magical stone discovers any person wherever he is
+concealed; while the angelical stone gives the apparitions of angels,
+and a power of conversing with them. These great mysteries are supported
+by occasional facts, and illustrated by prints of the most divine and
+incomprehensible designs, which we would hope were intelligible to the
+initiated. It may be worth showing, however, how liable even the latter
+were to blunder on these mysterious hieroglyphics. Ashmole, in one of
+his chemical works, prefixed a frontispiece, which, in several
+compartments, exhibited Phoebus on a lion, and opposite to him a lady,
+who represented Diana, with the moon in one hand and an arrow in the
+other, sitting on a crab; Mercury on a tripod, with the scheme of the
+heavens in one hand, and his caduccus in the other. These were intended
+to express the materials of the stone, and the season for the process.
+Upon the altar is the bust of a man, his head covered by an astrological
+scheme dropped from the clouds; and on the altar are these words,
+"Mercuriophilus Anglicus," _i.e._, the English lover of hermetic
+philosophy. There is a tree, and a little creature gnawing the root, a
+pillar adorned with musical and mathematical instruments, and another
+with military ensigns. This strange composition created great inquiry
+among the chemical sages. Deep mysteries were conjectured to be veiled
+by it. Verses were written in the highest strain of the Rosicrucian
+language. _Ashmole_ confessed he meant nothing more than a kind of _pun_
+on his own name, for the tree was the _ash_, and the creature was a
+_mole_. One pillar tells his love of music and freemasonry, and the
+other his military preferment and astrological studies! He afterwards
+regretted that no one added a second volume to his work, from which he
+himself had been hindered, for the honour of the family of Hermes, and
+"to show the world what excellent men we had once of our nation, famous
+for this kind of philosophy, and masters of so transcendant a secret."
+
+Modern chemistry is not without a _hope_, not to say a _certainty_, of
+verifying the golden visions of the alchymists. Dr. Girtanner, of
+Gottingen, not long ago adventured the following prophecy: "In the
+_nineteenth century_ the transmutation of metals will be generally known
+and practised. Every chemist and every artist will _make gold_; kitchen
+utensils will be of silver, and even gold, which will contribute more
+than anything else to _prolong life_, poisoned at present by the oxides
+of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily swallow with our food." Phil.
+Mag. vol. vi., p. 383. This sublime chemist, though he does not venture
+to predict that universal _elixir_, which is to prolong life at
+pleasure, yet approximates to it. A chemical friend writes to me, that
+"The _metals_ seem to be _composite bodies_, which nature is perpetually
+preparing; and it may be reserved for the future researches of science
+to trace, and perhaps to imitate, some of these curious operations." Sir
+Humphry Davy told me that he did not consider this undiscovered art an
+impossible thing, but which, should it ever be discovered, would
+certainly be useless.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 80: He was assisted in the art by one Williamson, a
+watchmaker, of Dalton, Lancashire, with whom Romney lived in constant
+companionship. They were partners in a furnace, and had kept the fire
+burning for nine months, when the contents of the crucible began to
+assume the yellow hue which excited all their hopes; a few moments of
+neglect led to the catastrophe narrated above.]
+
+
+
+
+TITLES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+Were it inquired of an ingenious writer what page of his work had
+occasioned him most perplexity, he would often point to the
+_title-page_. The curiosity which we there would excite, is, however,
+most fastidious to gratify.
+
+Among those who appear to have felt this irksome situation, are most of
+our periodical writers. The "Tatler" and the "Spectator," enjoying
+priority of conception, have adopted titles with characteristic
+felicity; but perhaps the invention of the authors begins to fail in the
+"Reader," the "Lover," and the "Theatre!" Succeeding writers were as
+unfortunate in their titles, as their works; such are the "Universal
+Spectator," and the "Lay Monastery." The copious mind of Johnson could
+not discover an appropriate title, and indeed in the first "Idler"
+acknowledged his despair. The "Rambler" was so little understood, at the
+time of its appearance, that a French journalist has translated it as
+"_Le Chevalier Errant_;" and when it was corrected to _L'Errant_, a
+foreigner drank Johnson's health one day, by innocently addressing him
+by the appellation of Mr. "Vagabond!" The "Adventurer" cannot be
+considered as a fortunate title; it is not appropriate to those pleasing
+miscellanies, for any writer is an adventurer. The "Lounger," the
+"Mirror," and even the "Connoisseur," if examined accurately, present
+nothing in the titles descriptive of the works. As for the "World," it
+could only have been given by the fashionable egotism of its authors,
+who considered the world as merely a circuit round St. James's Street.
+When the celebrated father of reviews, _Le Journal des Scavans_, was
+first published, the very title repulsed the public. The author was
+obliged in his succeeding volumes to soften it down, by explaining its
+general tendency. He there assures the curious, that not only men of
+learning and taste, but the humblest mechanic, may find a profitable
+amusement. An English novel, published with the title of "The Champion
+of Virtue," could find no readers; but afterwards passed through several
+editions under the happier invitation of "The Old English Baron." "The
+Concubine," a poem by Mickle, could never find purchasers, till it
+assumed the more delicate title of "Sir Martyn."
+
+As a subject of literary curiosity, some amusement may be gathered from
+a glance at what has been doing in the world, concerning this important
+portion of every book.
+
+The Jewish and many oriental authors were fond of allegorical titles,
+which always indicate the most puerile age of taste. The titles were
+usually adapted to their obscure works. It might exercise an able
+enigmatist to explain their allusions; for we must understand by "The
+Heart of Aaron," that it is a commentary on several of the prophets.
+"The Bones of Joseph" is an introduction to the Talmud. "The Garden of
+Nuts," and "The Golden Apples," are theological questions; and "The
+Pomegranate with its Flower," is a treatise of ceremonies, not any more
+practised. Jortin gives a title, which he says of all the fantastical
+titles he can recollect is one of the prettiest. A rabbin published a
+catalogue of rabbinical writers, and called it _Labia Dormientium_, from
+Cantic. vii. 9. "Like the best wine of my beloved that goeth down
+sweetly, causing _the lips of those that are asleep to speak_." It hath
+a double meaning, of which he was not aware, for most of his rabbinical
+brethren talk very much like _men in their sleep_.
+
+Almost all their works bear such titles as
+bread--gold--silver--roses--eyes, &c.; in a word, anything that
+signifies nothing.
+
+Affected title-pages were not peculiar to the orientals: the Greeks and
+the Romans have shown a finer taste. They had their Cornucopias, or
+horns of abundance--Limones, or meadows--Pinakidions, or
+tablets--Pancarpes, or all sorts of fruits; titles not unhappily adapted
+for the miscellanists. The nine books of Herodotus, and the nine
+epistles of AEschines, were respectively honoured by the name of a Muse;
+and three orations of the latter, by those of the Graces.
+
+The modern fanatics have had a most barbarous taste for titles. We could
+produce numbers from abroad, and at home. Some works have been called,
+"Matches lighted at the Divine Fire,"--and one "The Gun of Penitence:" a
+collection of passages from the fathers is called "The Shop of the
+Spiritual Apothecary:" we have "The Bank of Faith," and "The
+Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit:" one of these works bears the following
+elaborate title: "Some fine Biscuits baked in the Oven of Charity,
+carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the
+Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation." Sometimes their quaintness
+has some humour. Sir Humphrey Lind, a zealous puritan, published a work
+which a Jesuit answered by another, entitled "A Pair of Spectacles for
+Sir Humphrey Lind." The doughty knight retorted, by "A Case for Sir
+Humphrey Lind's Spectacles."
+
+Some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity; as "The
+Three Daughters of Job," which is a treatise on the three virtues of
+patience, fortitude, and pain. "The Innocent Love, or the Holy Knight,"
+is a description of the ardours of a saint for the Virgin. "The Sound of
+the Trumpet," is a work on the day of judgment; and "A Fan to drive away
+Flies," is a theological treatise on purgatory.
+
+We must not write to the utter neglect of our title; and a fair author
+should have the literary piety of ever having "the fear of his
+title-page before his eyes." The following are improper titles. Don
+Matthews, chief huntsman to Philip IV. of Spain, entitled his book "The
+Origin and Dignity of the Royal House," but the entire work relates only
+to hunting. De Chantereine composed several moral essays, which being at
+a loss how to entitle, he called "The Education of a Prince." He would
+persuade the reader in his preface, that though they were not composed
+with a view to this subject, they should not, however, be censured for
+the title, as they partly related to the education of a prince. The
+world was too sagacious to be duped, and the author in his second
+edition acknowledges the absurdity, drops "the magnificent title," and
+calls his work "Moral Essays." Montaigne's immortal history of his own
+mind, for such are his "Essays," has assumed perhaps too modest a title,
+and not sufficiently discriminative. Sorlin equivocally entitled a
+collection of essays, "The Walks of Richelieu," because they were
+composed at that place; "The Attic Nights" of Aulus Gellius were so
+called, because they were written in Attica. Mr. Tooke, in his
+grammatical "Diversions of Purley," must have deceived many.
+
+A rhodomontade title-page was once a great favourite. There was a time
+when the republic of letters was over-built with "Palaces of Pleasure,"
+"Palaces of Honour," and "Palaces of Eloquence;" with "Temples of
+Memory," and "Theatres of Human Life," and "Amphitheatres of
+Providence;" "Pharoses, Gardens, Pictures, Treasures." The epistles of
+Guevara dazzled the public eye with their splendid title, for they were
+called "Golden Epistles;" and the "Golden Legend" of Voragine had been
+more appropriately entitled leaden.
+
+They were once so fond of novelty, that every book recommended itself by
+such titles as "A new Method; new Elements of Geometry; the new Letter
+Writer, and the new Art of Cookery."
+
+To excite the curiosity of the pious, some writers employed artifices of
+a very ludicrous nature. Some made their titles rhyming echoes; as this
+one of a father, who has given his works under the title of _Scalae Alae
+animi_; and _Jesus esus novus Orbis_. Some have distributed them
+according to the measure of time, as one Father Nadasi, the greater part
+of whose works are _years_, _months_, _weeks_, _days_, and _hours_. Some
+have borrowed their titles from the parts of the body; and others have
+used quaint expressions, such as--_Think before you leap_--_We must all
+die_--_Compel them to enter_. Some of our pious authors appear not to
+have been aware that they were burlesquing religion. One Massieu having
+written a moral explanation of the solemn anthems sung in Advent, which
+begin with the letter O, published this work under the punning title of
+_La douce Moelle, et la Sauce friande des os Savoureux de l'Avent_.[81]
+
+The Marquis of Carraccioli assumed the ambiguous title of _La Jouissance
+de soi-meme_. Seduced by the epicurean title of self-enjoyment, the sale
+of the work was continual with the libertines, who, however, found
+nothing but very tedious essays on religion and morality. In the sixth
+edition the marquis greatly exults in his successful contrivance; by
+which means he had punished the vicious curiosity of certain persons,
+and perhaps had persuaded some, whom otherwise his book might never have
+reached.
+
+If a title be obscure, it raises a prejudice against the author; we are
+apt to suppose that an ambiguous title is the effect of an intricate or
+confused mind. Baillet censures the Ocean Macromicrocosmic of one Sachs.
+To understand this title, a grammarian would send an inquirer to a
+geographer, and he to a natural philosopher; neither would probably
+think of recurring to a physician, to inform one that this ambiguous
+title signifies the connexion which exists between the motion of the
+waters with that of the blood. He censures Leo Allatius for a title
+which appears to me not inelegantly conceived. This writer has entitled
+one of his books the _Urban Bees_; it is an account of those illustrious
+writers who flourished during the pontificate of one of the Barberinis.
+The allusion refers to the _bees_ which were the arms of this family,
+and Urban VIII. is the Pope designed.
+
+The false idea which a title conveys is alike prejudicial to the author
+and the reader. Titles are generally too prodigal of their promises, and
+their authors are contemned; but the works of modest authors, though
+they present more than they promise, may fail of attracting notice by
+their extreme simplicity. In either case, a collector of books is
+prejudiced; he is induced to collect what merits no attention, or he
+passes over those valuable works whose titles may not happen to be
+interesting. It is related of Pinelli, the celebrated collector of
+books, that the booksellers permitted him to remain hours, and sometimes
+days, in their shops to examine books before he purchased. He was
+desirous of not injuring his precious collection by useless
+acquisitions; but he confessed that he sometimes could not help being
+dazzled by magnificent titles, nor being mistaken by the simplicity of
+others, which had been chosen by the modesty of their authors. After
+all, many authors are really neither so vain, nor so honest, as they
+appear; for magnificent, or simple titles, have often been given from
+the difficulty of forming any others.
+
+It is too often with the Titles of Books, as with those painted
+representations exhibited by the keepers of wild beasts; where, in
+general, the picture itself is made more striking and inviting to the
+eye, than the inclosed animal is always found to be.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 81: Religious parody seems to have carried no sense of
+impropriety with it to the minds of the men of the 15th and 16th
+centuries. Luther was an adept in this art, and the preachers who
+followed him continued the practice. The sermons of divines in the
+following century often sought an attraction by quaint titles, such
+as--"Heaven ravished"--"The Blacksmith, a sermon preached at Whitehall
+before the King," 1606. Beloe, in his _Anecdotes of Literature_, vol. 6,
+has recorded many of these quaint titles, among them the
+following:--"_The Nail hit on the head_, and driven into the city and
+cathedral wall of Norwich. By John Carter, 1644." "_The Wheel turned_ by
+a voice from the throne of glory. By John Carter, 1647." "_Two Sticks
+made one_, or the excellence of Unity. By Matthew Mead, 1691." "_Peter's
+Net let downe_, or the Fisher and the Fish, both prepared towards a
+blessed haven. By R. Matthew, 1634." In the middle of the last century
+two religious tracts were published, one bearing the alarming title,
+"Die and be Damned," the other being termed, "A sure Guide to Hell." The
+first was levelled against the preaching of the Methodists, and the
+title obtained from what the author asserts to be the words of
+condemnation then frequently applied by them to all who differed from
+their creed. The second is a satirical attack on the prevalent follies
+and vices of the day, which form the surest "guide," in the opinion of
+the author, to the bottomless pit.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY FOLLIES.
+
+
+The Greeks composed lipogrammatic works; works in which one letter of
+the alphabet is omitted. A lipogrammatist is a letter-dropper. In this
+manner Tryphiodorus wrote his Odyssey; he had not [Greek: alpha] in his
+first book, nor [Greek: beta] in his second; and so on with the
+subsequent letters one after another. This Odyssey was an imitation of
+the lipogrammatic Iliad of Nestor. Among other works of this kind,
+Athenaeus mentions an ode by Pindar, in which he had purposely omitted
+the letter S; so that this inept ingenuity appears to have been one of
+those literary fashions which are sometimes encouraged even by those who
+should first oppose such progresses into the realms of nonsense.
+
+There is in Latin a little prose work of Fulgentius, which the author
+divides into twenty-three chapters, according to the order of the
+twenty-three letters of the Latin alphabet. From A to O are still
+remaining. The first chapter is with out A; the second without B; the
+third without C; and so with the rest. There are five novels in prose of
+Lopes de Vega; the first without A, the second without E, the third
+without I, &c. Who will attempt to verify them?
+
+The Orientalists are not without this literary folly. A Persian poet
+read to the celebrated Jami a gazel of his own composition, which Jami
+did not like: but the writer replied, it was notwithstanding a very
+curious sonnet, for the _letter Aliff_ was not to be found in any one of
+the words! Jami sarcastically replied, "You can do a better thing yet;
+take away _all the letters_ from every word you have written."
+
+To these works may be added the _Ecloga de Calvis_, by Hugbald the monk.
+All the words of this silly work begin with a C. It is printed in
+Dornavius. _Pugna Porcorum_; all the words beginning with a P, in the
+Nugae Venales. _Canum cum cattis certamen_; the words beginning with a C:
+a performance of the same kind in the same work. Gregorio Leti presented
+a discourse to the Academy of the Humorists at Rome, throughout which he
+had purposely omitted the letter R, and he entitled it the exiled R. A
+friend having requested a copy, as a literary curiosity, for so he
+considered this idle performance, Leti, to show that this affair was not
+so difficult, replied by a copious answer of seven pages, in which he
+had observed the same severe ostracism against the letter R! Lord
+North, in the court of James, I., has written a set of Sonnets, each of
+which begins with a successive letter of the alphabet. The Earl of
+Rivers, in the reign of Edward IV., translated the Moral Proverbs of
+Christiana of Pisa, a poem of about two hundred lines, the greatest part
+of which he contrived to conclude with the letter E; an instance of his
+lordship's hard application, and the bad taste of an age which, Lord
+Orford observes, had witticisms and whims to struggle with, as well as
+ignorance.
+
+It has been well observed of these minute triflers, that extreme
+exactness is the sublime of fools, whose labours may be well called, in
+the language of Dryden,
+
+    Pangs without birth, and fruitless industry.
+
+And Martial says,
+
+    Turpe est difficiles habere nugas,
+    Et stultus labor est ineptiarum.
+
+Which we may translate,
+
+    'Tis a folly to sweat o'er a difficult trifle,
+    And for silly devices invention to rifle.
+
+I shall not dwell on the wits who composed verses in the forms of
+hearts, wings, altars, and true-love knots; or as Ben Jonson describes
+their grotesque shapes,
+
+    A pair of scissors and a comb in verse.
+
+Tom Nash, who loved to push the ludicrous to its extreme, in his amusing
+invective against the classical Gabriel Harvey, tells us that "he had
+writ verses in all kinds; in form of a pair of gloves, a pair of
+spectacles, and a pair of pot-hooks," &c. They are not less absurd, who
+expose to public ridicule the name of their mistress by employing it to
+form their acrostics. I have seen some of the latter where, _both sides_
+and _crossways_, the name of the mistress or the patron has been sent
+down to posterity with eternal torture. When _one name_ is made out
+_four times_ in the same acrostic, the great difficulty must have been
+to have found words by which the letters forming the name should be
+forced to stand in their particular places. It might be incredible that
+so great a genius as Boccaccio could have lent himself to these literary
+fashions; yet one of the most gigantic of acrostics may be seen in his
+works; it is a poem of fifty cantos! Ginguene has preserved a specimen
+in his Literary History of Italy, vol. iii. p.54. Puttenham, in "The Art
+of Poesie," p. 75, gives several odd specimens of poems in the forms of
+lozenges, rhomboids, pillars, &c. Puttenham has contrived to form a
+defence for describing and making such trifling devices. He has done
+more: he has erected two pillars himself to the honour of Queen
+Elizabeth; every pillar consists of a base of eight syllables, the shaft
+or middle of four, and the capital is equal with the base. The only
+difference between the two pillars consists in this; in the one "ye must
+read upwards," and in the other the reverse. These pillars,
+notwithstanding this fortunate device and variation, may be fixed as two
+columns in the porch of the vast temple of literary folly.
+
+It was at this period, when _words_ or _verse_ were tortured into such
+fantastic forms, that the trees in gardens were twisted and sheared into
+obelisks and giants, peacocks, or flower-pots. In a copy of verses, "To
+a hair of my mistress's eye-lash," the merit, next to the choice of the
+subject, must have been the arrangement, or the disarrangement, of the
+whole poem into the form of a heart. With a pair of wings many a sonnet
+fluttered, and a sacred hymn was expressed by the mystical triangle.
+_Acrostics_ are formed from the initial letters of every verse; but a
+different conceit regulated _chronograms_, which were used to describe
+_dates_--the _numeral letters_, in whatever part of the word they stood,
+were distinguished from other letters by being written in capitals. In
+the following chronogram from Horace,
+
+    --_feriam sidera vertice_,
+
+by a strange elevation of CAPITALS the _chronogrammatist_ compels even
+Horace to give the year of our Lord thus,
+
+    --feriaM siDera VertIce. MDVI.
+
+The Acrostic and the Chronogram are both ingeniously described in the
+mock epic of the Scribleriad.[82] The _initial letters_ of the
+acrostics are thus alluded to in the literary wars:--
+
+    Firm and compact, in three fair columns wove,
+    O'er the smooth plain, the bold _acrostics_ move;
+    _High_ o'er the rest, the TOWERING LEADERS rise
+    With _limbs gigantic_, and _superior size_.[83]
+
+But the looser character of the _chronograms_, and the disorder in which
+they are found, are ingeniously sung thus:--
+
+    Not thus the _looser chronograms_ prepare
+    Careless their troops, undisciplined to war;
+    With _rank irregular, confused_ they stand,
+    The CHIEFTAINS MINGLING with the vulgar band.
+
+He afterwards adds others of the illegitimate race of wit:--
+
+    To join these squadrons, o'er the champaign came
+    A numerous race of no ignoble name;
+    _Riddle_ and _Rebus_, Riddle's dearest son,
+    And _false Conundrum_ and _insidious Pun_.
+    _Fustian_, who scarcely deigns to tread the ground,
+    And _Rondeau_, wheeling in repeated round.
+    On their fair standards, by the wind display'd,
+    _Eggs_, _altars_, _wings_, _pipes_, _axes_, were pourtray'd.
+
+I find the origin of _Bouts-rimes_, or "Rhyming Ends," in Goujet's Bib.
+Fr. xvi. p. 181. One Dulot, a foolish poet, when sonnets were in demand,
+had a singular custom of preparing the rhymes of these poems to be
+filled up at his leisure. Having been robbed of his papers, he was
+regretting most the loss of three hundred sonnets: his friends were
+astonished that he had written so many which they had never heard. "They
+were _blank sonnets_," he replied; and explained the mystery by
+describing his _Bouts-rimes_. The idea appeared ridiculously amusing;
+and it soon became fashionable to collect the most difficult rhymes, and
+fill up the lines.
+
+The _Charade_ is of recent birth, and I cannot discover the origin of
+this species of logogriphes. It was not known in France so late as in
+1771; in the great Dictionnaire de Trevoux, the term appears only as the
+name of an Indian sect of a military character. Its mystical conceits
+have occasionally displayed singular felicity.
+
+_Anagrams_ were another whimsical invention; with the _letters_ of any
+_name_ they contrived to make out some entire word, descriptive of the
+character of the person who bore the name. These anagrams, therefore,
+were either satirical or complimentary. When in fashion, lovers made use
+of them continually: I have read of one, whose mistress's name was
+Magdalen, for whom he composed, not only an epic under that name, but as
+a proof of his passion, one day he sent her three dozen of anagrams all
+on her lovely name. Scioppius imagined himself fortunate that his
+adversary _Scaliger_ was perfectly _Sacrilege_ in all the oblique cases
+of the Latin language; on this principle Sir John _Wiat_ was made out,
+to his own satisfaction--_a wit_. They were not always correct when a
+great compliment was required; the poet _John Cleveland_ was strained
+hard to make _Heliconian dew_. This literary trifle has, however, in our
+own times produced several, equally ingenious and caustic.
+
+Verses of grotesque shapes have sometimes been contrived to convey
+ingenious thoughts. Pannard, a modern French poet, has tortured his
+agreeable vein of poetry into such forms. He has made some of his
+Bacchanalian songs to take the figures of _bottles_, and others of
+_glasses_. These objects are perfectly drawn by the various measures of
+the verses which form the songs. He has also introduced an _echo_ in his
+verses which he contrives so as not to injure their sense. This was
+practised by the old French bards in the age of Marot, and this poetical
+whim is ridiculed by Butler in his Hudibras, Part I. Canto 3, Verse 190.
+I give an example of these poetical echoes. The following ones are
+ingenious, lively, and satirical:--
+
+        Pour nous plaire, un pl_umet_
+
+        _Met_
+
+        Tout en usage:
+
+        Mais on trouve sou_vent_
+
+        _Vent_
+
+        Dans son langage.
+
+        On y voit des Com_mis_
+
+        _Mis_
+
+        Comme des Princes,
+
+        Apres etre ve_nus_
+
+        _Nuds_
+
+        De leurs Provinces.
+
+The poetical whim of Cretin, a French poet, brought into fashion punning
+or equivocal rhymes. Maret thus addressed him in his own way:--
+
+    L'homme, sotart, et _non scavant_
+    Comme un rotisseur, _qui lave oye_,
+    La faute d'autrui, _nonce avant_,
+    Qu'il la cognoisse, ou _qu'il la voye_, &c.
+
+In these lines of Du Bartas, this poet imagined that he imitated the
+harmonious notes of the lark: "the sound" is here, however, _not_ "an
+echo to the sense."
+
+    La gentille aloueette, avec son tirelire,
+    Tirelire, a lire, et tireliran, tire
+    Vers la voute du ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu,
+    Vire et desire dire adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu.
+
+The French have an ingenious kind of Nonsense Verses called
+_Amphigouries_. This word is composed of a Greek adverb signifying
+_about_, and of a substantive signifying _a circle_. The following is a
+specimen, elegant in the selection of words, and what the French called
+richly rhymed, but in fact they are fine verses without any meaning
+whatever. Pope's Stanzas, said to be written by a _person of quality_,
+to ridicule the tuneful nonsense of certain bards, and which Gilbert
+Wakefield mistook for a serious composition, and wrote two pages of
+Commentary to prove this song was disjointed, obscure, and absurd, is an
+excellent specimen of these _Amphigouries_.
+
+        AMPHIGOURIE.
+
+        Qu'il est heureux de se defendre
+        Quand le coeur ne s'est pas rendu!
+        Mais qu'il est facheux de se rendre
+        Quand le bonheur est suspendu!
+
+        Par un discours sans suite et tendre,
+        Egarez un coeur eperdu;
+        Souvent par un mal-entendu
+        L'amant adroit se fait entendre.
+
+        IMITATED.
+
+        How happy to defend our heart,
+        When Love has never thrown a dart!
+        But ah! unhappy when it bends,
+        If pleasure her soft bliss suspends!
+        Sweet in a wild disordered strain,
+        A lost and wandering heart to gain!
+        Oft in mistaken language wooed,
+        The skilful lover's understood.
+
+These verses have such a resemblance to meaning, that Fontenelle, having
+listened to the song, imagined that he had a glimpse of sense, and
+requested to have it repeated. "Don't you perceive," said Madame Tencin,
+"that they are _nonsense verses_?" The malicious wit retorted, "They are
+so much like the fine verses I have heard here, that it is not
+surprising I should be for once mistaken."
+
+In the "Scribleriad" we find a good account of _the Cento_. A Cento
+primarily signifies a cloak made of patches. In poetry it denotes a work
+wholly composed of verses, or passages promiscuously taken from other
+authors, only disposed in a new form or order, so as to compose a new
+work and a new meaning. Ausonius has laid down the rules to be observed
+in composing _Cento's_. The pieces may be taken either from the same
+poet, or from several; and the verses may be either taken entire, or
+divided into two; one half to be connected with another half taken
+elsewhere; but two verses are never to be taken together. Agreeable to
+these rules, he has made a pleasant nuptial _Cento_ from Virgil.[84]
+
+The Empress Eudoxia wrote the life of Jesus Christ, in centos taken from
+Homer; Proba Falconia from Virgil. Among these grave triflers may be
+mentioned Alexander Ross, who published "Virgilius Evangelizans, sive
+Historia Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi Virgilianis verbis et
+versibus descripta." It was republished in 1769.
+
+A more difficult whim is that of "_Reciprocal Verses_," which give the
+same words whether read backwards or forwards. The following lines by
+Sidonius Apollinaris were once infinitely admired:--
+
+    _Signa te signa temere me tangis et angis.
+    Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor._
+
+The reader has only to take the pains of reading the lines backwards,
+and he will find himself just where he was after all his fatigue.[85]
+
+Capitaine Lasphrise, a French self-taught poet, boasts of his
+inventions; among other singularities, one has at least the merit of _la
+difficulte vaincue_. He asserts this novelty to be entirely his own; the
+last word of every verse forms the first word of the following verse:
+
+    Falloit-il que le ciel me rendit amoureux
+    Amoureux, jouissant d'une beaute craintive,
+    Craintive a recevoir la douceur excessive,
+    Excessive au plaisir qui rend l'amant heureux;
+    Heureux si nous avions quelques paisibles lieux,
+    Lieux ou plus surement l'ami fidele arrive,
+    Arrive sans soupcon de quelque ami attentive,
+    Attentive a vouloir nous surprendre tous deux.
+
+Francis Colonna, an Italian Monk, is the author of a singular book
+entitled "The Dream of Poliphilus," in which he relates his amours with
+a lady of the name of Polia. It was considered improper to prefix his
+name to the work; but being desirous of marking it by some peculiarity,
+that he might claim it at any distant day, he contrived that the initial
+letters of every chapter should be formed of those of his name, and of
+the subject he treats. This strange invention was not discovered till
+many years afterwards: when the wits employed themselves in deciphering
+it, unfortunately it became a source of literary altercation, being
+susceptible of various readings. The correct appears thus:--POLIAM
+FRATER FRANCISCUS COLUMNA PERAMAVIT. "Brother Francis Colonna
+passionately loved Polia." This gallant monk, like another Petrarch,
+made the name of his mistress the subject of his amatorial meditations;
+and as the first called his Laura, his Laurel, this called his Polia,
+his Polita.
+
+A few years afterwards, Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus employed a
+similar artifice in his ZODIACUS VITAE, "The Zodiac of Life:" the initial
+letters of the first twenty-nine verses of the first book of this poem
+forming his name, which curious particular was probably unknown to
+Warton in his account of this work.--The performance is divided into
+twelve books, but has no reference to astronomy, which we might
+naturally expect. He distinguished his twelve books by the twelve names
+of the celestial signs, and probably extended or confined them purposely
+to that number, to humour his fancy. Warton, however, observes, "This
+strange pedantic title is not totally without a _conceit_, as the author
+was born at _Stellada_ or _Stellata_, a province of Ferrara, and from
+whence he called himself Marcellus Palingenius Stellatus." The work
+itself is a curious satire on the Pope and the Church of Rome. It
+occasioned Bayle to commit a remarkable _literary blunder_, which I
+shall record in its place. Of Italian conceit in those times, of which
+Petrarch was the father, with his perpetual play on words and on his
+_Laurel_, or his mistress _Laura_, he has himself afforded a remarkable
+example. Our poet lost his mother, who died in her thirty-eighth year:
+he has commemorated her death by a sonnet composed of thirty-eight
+lines. He seems to have conceived that the exactness of the number was
+equally natural and tender.
+
+Are we not to class among _literary follies_ the strange researches
+which writers, even of the present day, have made in _Antediluvian_
+times? Forgeries of the grossest nature have been alluded to, or quoted
+as authorities. A _Book of Enoch_ once attracted considerable attention;
+this curious forgery has been recently translated. The Sabeans pretend
+they possess a work written by _Adam_! and this work has been _recently_
+appealed to in favour of a visionary theory![86] Astle gravely observes,
+that "with respect to _Writings_ attributed to the _Antediluvians_, it
+seems not only decent but rational to say that we know nothing
+concerning them." Without alluding to living writers, Dr. Parsons, in
+his erudite "Remains of Japhet," tracing the origin of the alphabetical
+character, supposes that _letters_ were known to _Adam_! Some, too, have
+noticed astronomical libraries in the Ark of Noah! Such historical
+memorials are the deliriums of learning, or are founded on forgeries.
+
+Hugh Broughton, a writer of controversy in the reign of James the First,
+shows us, in a tedious discussion on Scripture chronology, that Rahab
+was a harlot at _ten_ years of age; and enters into many grave
+discussions concerning the _colour_ of Aaron's _ephod_, and the language
+which _Eve_ first spoke. This writer is ridiculed in Ben Jonson's
+Comedies:--he is not without rivals even in the present day!
+Covarruvias, after others of his school, discovers that when male
+children are born they cry out with an A, being the first vowel of the
+word _Adam_, while the female infants prefer the letter E, in allusion
+to _Eve_; and we may add that, by the pinch of a negligent nurse, they
+may probably learn all their vowels. Of the pedantic triflings of
+commentators, a controversy among the Portuguese on the works of Camoens
+is not the least. Some of these profound critics, who affected great
+delicacy in the laws of epic poetry, pretended to be doubtful whether
+the poet had fixed on the right time for a _king's dream_; whether, said
+they, a king should have a propitious dream on his _first going to bed_
+or at the _dawn of the following morning_? No one seemed to be quite
+certain; they puzzled each other till the controversy closed in this
+felicitous manner, and satisfied both the night and the dawn critics.
+Barreto discovered that an _accent_ on one of the words alluded to in
+the controversy would answer the purpose, and by making king Manuel's
+dream to take place at the dawn would restore Camoens to their good
+opinion, and preserve the dignity of the poet.
+
+Chevreau begins his History of the World in these words:--"Several
+learned men have examined in _what season_ God created the world, though
+there could hardly be any season then, since there was no sun, no moon,
+nor stars. But as the world must have been created in one of the four
+seasons, this question has exercised the talents of the most curious,
+and opinions are various. Some say it was in the month of _Nisan_, that
+is, in the spring: others maintain that it was in the month of _Tisri_,
+which begins the civil year of the Jews, and that it was on the _sixth
+day_ of this month, which answers to our _September_, that _Adam_ and
+_Eve_ were created, and that it was on a _Friday_, a little after four
+o'clock in the afternoon!" This is according to the Rabbinical notion
+of the eve of the Sabbath.
+
+The Irish antiquaries mention _public libraries_ that were before the
+flood; and Paul Christian Ilsker, with profounder erudition, has given
+an exact catalogue of _Adam's_. Messieurs O'Flaherty, O'Connor, and
+O'Halloran, have most gravely recorded as authentic narrations the
+wildest legendary traditions; and more recently, to make confusion
+doubly confounded, others have built up what they call theoretical
+histories on these nursery tales. By which species of black art they
+contrive to prove that an Irishman is an Indian, and a Peruvian may be a
+Welshman, from certain emigrations which took place many centuries
+before Christ, and some about two centuries after the flood! Keating, in
+his "History of Ireland," starts a favourite hero in the giant
+Partholanus, who was descended from Japhet, and landed on the coast of
+Munster 14th May, in the year of the world 1987. This giant succeeded in
+his enterprise, but a domestic misfortune attended him among his Irish
+friends:--his wife exposed him to their laughter by her loose behaviour,
+and provoked him to such a degree that he killed two favourite
+greyhounds; and this the learned historian assures us was the _first_
+instance of female infidelity ever known in Ireland!
+
+The learned, not contented with Homer's poetical pre-eminence, make him
+the most authentic historian and most accurate geographer of antiquity,
+besides endowing him with all the arts and sciences to be found in our
+Encyclopaedia. Even in surgery, a treatise has been written to show, by
+the variety of the _wounds_ of his heroes, that he was a most scientific
+anatomist; and a military scholar has lately told us, that from him is
+derived all the science of the modern adjutant and quarter-master
+general; all the knowledge of _tactics_ which we now possess; and that
+Xenophon, Epaminondas, Philip, and Alexander, owed all their warlike
+reputation to Homer!
+
+To return to pleasanter follies. Des Fontaines, the journalist, who had
+wit and malice, inserted the fragment of a letter which the poet
+Rousseau wrote to the younger Racine whilst he was at the Hague. These
+were the words: "I enjoy the conversation within these few days of my
+associates in Parnassus. Mr. Piron is an excellent antidote against
+melancholy; _but_"--&c. Des Fontaines maliciously stopped at this _but_.
+In the letter of Rousseau it was, "but unfortunately he departs soon."
+Piron was very sensibly affected at this equivocal _but_, and resolved
+to revenge himself by composing one hundred epigrams against the
+malignant critic. He had written sixty before Des Fontaines died: but of
+these only two attracted any notice.
+
+Towards the conclusion of the fifteenth century, Antonio Cornezano wrote
+a hundred different sonnets on one subject, "the eyes of his mistress!"
+to which possibly Shakspeare may allude, when Jaques describes a lover,
+with his
+
+                    Woeful ballad,
+    Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
+
+Not inferior to this ingenious trifler is Nicholas Franco, well known in
+Italian literature, who employed himself in writing two hundred and
+eighteen satiric sonnets, chiefly on the famous Peter Aretin. This
+lampooner had the honour of being hanged at Rome for his defamatory
+publications. In the same class are to be placed two other writers.
+Brebeuf, who wrote one hundred and fifty epigrams against a painted
+lady. Another wit, desirous of emulating him, and for a literary
+bravado, _continued_ the same subject, and pointed at this unfortunate
+fair three hundred more, without once repeating the thoughts of Brebeuf!
+There is a collection of poems called "_La_ PUCE _des grands jours de
+Poitiers_." "The FLEA of the carnival of Poietiers." These poems were
+begun by the learned Pasquier, who edited the collection, upon a FLEA
+which was found one morning in the bosom of the famous Catherine des
+Roches!
+
+Not long ago, a Mr. and Mrs. Bilderdyk, in Flanders, published poems
+under the whimsical title of "White and Red."--His own poems were called
+white, from the colour of his hair; and those of his lady red, in
+allusion to the colour of the rose. The idea must be Flemish!
+
+Gildon, in his "Laws of Poetry," commenting on this line of the Duke of
+Buckingham's "Essay on Poetry,"
+
+    Nature's chief masterpiece is _writing well_:
+
+very profoundly informs his readers "That what is here said has not the
+least regard to the _penmanship_, that is, to the fairness or badness of
+the handwriting," and proceeds throughout a whole page, with a panegyric
+on a _fine handwriting_! The stupidity of dulness seems to have at times
+great claims to originality!
+
+Littleton, the author of the Latin and English Dictionary, seems to
+have indulged his favourite propensity to punning so far as even to
+introduce a pun in the grave and elaborate work of a Lexicon. A story
+has been raised to account for it, and it has been ascribed to the
+impatient interjection of the lexicographer to his scribe, who, taking
+no offence at the peevishness of his master, put it down in the
+Dictionary. The article alluded to is, "CONCURRO, to run with others; to
+run together; to come together; to fall foul of one another; to
+CON-_cur,_ to CON-_dog_."
+
+Mr. Todd, in his Dictionary, has laboured to show the "inaccuracy of
+this pretended narrative." Yet a similar blunder appears to have
+happened to Ash. Johnson, while composing his Dictionary, sent a note to
+the Gentleman's Magazine to inquire the etymology of the word
+_curmudgeon_. Having obtained the information, he records in his work
+the obligation to an anonymous letter-writer. "Curmudgeon, a vicious way
+of pronouncing _coeur mechant_. An unknown correspondent." Ash copied
+the word into his dictionary in this manner: "Curmudgeon: from the
+French _coeur_ unknown; and _mechant_, a correspondent." This singular
+negligence ought to be placed in the class of our _literary blunders_;
+these form a pair of lexicographical anecdotes.
+
+Two singular literary follies have been practised on Milton. There is a
+_prose version_ of his "Paradise Lost," which was innocently
+_translated_ from the French version of his epic! One Green published a
+specimen of a _new version_ of the "Paradise Lost" into _blank verse_!
+For this purpose he has utterly ruined the harmony of Milton's cadences,
+by what he conceived to be "bringing that amazing work somewhat _nearer
+the summit of perfection_."
+
+A French author, when his book had been received by the French Academy,
+had the portrait of Cardinal Richelieu engraved on his title-page,
+encircled by a crown of _forty rays_, in each of which was written the
+name of the celebrated _forty academicians_.
+
+The self-exaltation frequently employed by injudicious writers,
+sometimes places them in ridiculous attitudes. A writer of a bad
+dictionary, which he intended for a Cyclopaedia, formed such an opinion
+of its extensive sale, that he put on the title-page the words "_first
+edition_," a hint to the gentle reader that it would not be the last.
+Desmarest was so delighted with his "Clovis," an epic poem, that he
+solemnly concludes his preface with a thanksgiving to God, to whom he
+attributes all its glory! This is like that conceited member of a French
+Parliament, who was overheard, after his tedious harangue, muttering
+most devoutly to himself, "_Non nobis Domine_."
+
+Several works have been produced from some odd coincidence with the
+_name of their authors_. Thus, De Saussay has written a folio volume,
+consisting of panegyrics of persons of eminence whose Christian names
+were _Andrew_; because _Andrew_ was his own name. Two Jesuits made a
+similar collection of illustrious men whose Christian names were
+_Theophilus_ and _Philip_, being their own. _Anthony Saunderus_ has also
+composed a treatise of illustrious _Anthonies_! And we have one
+_Buchanan_, who has written the lives of those persons who were so
+fortunate as to have been his namesakes.
+
+Several forgotten writers have frequently been intruded on the public
+eye, merely through such trifling coincidences as being members of some
+particular society, or natives of some particular country. Cordeliers
+have stood forward to revive the writings of Duns Scotus, because he had
+been a cordelier; and a Jesuit compiled a folio on the antiquities of a
+province, merely from the circumstance that the founder of his order,
+Ignatius Loyola, had been born there. Several of the classics are
+violently extolled above others, merely from the accidental circumstance
+of their editors having collected a vast number of notes, which they
+resolved to discharge on the public. County histories have been
+frequently compiled, and provincial writers have received a temporary
+existence, from the accident of some obscure individual being an
+inhabitant of some obscure town.
+
+On such literary follies Malebranche has made this refined observation.
+The _critics_, standing in some way connected with _the author_, their
+_self-love_ inspires them, and abundantly furnishes eulogiums which the
+author never merited, that they may thus obliquely reflect some praise
+on themselves. This is made so adroitly, so delicately, and so
+concealed, that it is not perceived.
+
+The following are strange inventions, originating in the wilful bad
+taste of the authors. OTTO VENIUS, the master of Rubens, is the designer
+of _Le Theatre moral de la Vie humaine_. In this emblematical history of
+human life, he has taken his subjects from Horace; but certainly his
+conceptions are not Horatian. He takes every image in a _literal_
+sense. If Horace says, "_Misce stultitiam_ CONSILIIS BREVEM," behold,
+Venius takes _brevis_ personally, and represents Folly as a _little
+short child_! of not above three or four years old! In the emblem which
+answers Horace's "_Raro antecedentem scelestum deseruit_ PEDE POENA
+CLAUDO," we find Punishment with _a wooden leg_.--And for "PULVIS ET
+UMBRA SUMUS," we have a dark burying vault, with _dust_ sprinkled about
+the floor, and a _shadow_ walking upright between two ranges of urns.
+For "_Virtus est vitium fugere, et sapientia prima stultitia caruisse_,"
+most flatly he gives seven or eight Vices pursuing Virtue, and Folly
+just at the heels of Wisdom. I saw in an English Bible printed in
+Holland an instance of the same taste: the artist, to illustrate "Thou
+seest the _mote_ in thy neighbour's eye, but not the _beam_ in thine
+own," has actually placed an immense beam which projects from the eye of
+the cavalier to the ground![87]
+
+As a contrast to the too obvious taste of VENIUS, may be placed CESARE
+DI RIPA, who is the author of an Italian work, translated into most
+European languages, the _Iconologia_; the favourite book of the age, and
+the fertile parent of the most absurd offspring which Taste has known.
+Ripa is as darkly subtle as Venius is obvious; and as far-fetched in his
+conceits as the other is literal. Ripa represents Beauty by a naked
+lady, with her head in a cloud; because the true idea of beauty is hard
+to be conceived! Flattery, by a lady with a flute in her hand, and a
+stag at her feet; because stags are said to love music so much, that
+they suffer themselves to be taken, if you play to them on a flute.
+Fraud, with two hearts in one hand, and a mask in the other;--his
+collection is too numerous to point out more instances. Ripa also
+describes how the allegorical figures are to be coloured; Hope is to
+have a sky-blue robe, because she always looks towards heaven. Enough of
+these _capriccios_!
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 82: The Scribleriad is a poem now scarcely known. It was a
+partial imitation of the Dunciad written by Richard Owen Cambridge, a
+scholar and man of fortune, who, in his residence at Twickenham,
+surrounded by friends of congenial tastes, enjoyed a life of literary
+ease. The Scribleriad is an attack on pseudo-science, the hero being a
+virtuoso of the most Quixotic kind, who travels far to discover
+rarities, loves a lady with the _plica Polonica_, waits three years at
+Naples to see the eruption of Vesuvius; and plays all kinds of fantastic
+tricks, as if in continual ridicule of _The Philosophical Transactions_,
+which are especially aimed at in the notes which accompany the poem. It
+achieved considerable notoriety in its own day, and is not without
+merit. It was published by Dodsley, in 1751, in a handsome quarto, with
+some good engravings by Boitard.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Thomas Jordan, a poet of the time of Charles II., has the
+following specimen of a double acrostic, which must have occupied a
+large amount of labour. He calls it "a cross acrostick on two crost
+lovers." The man's name running through from top to bottom, and the
+female's the contrary way of the poem.
+
+    Though crost in our affections, still the flames
+    Of Honour shall secure our noble Names;
+    Nor shall Our fate divorce our faith, Or cause
+    The least Mislike of love's Diviner lawes.
+    Crosses sometimes Are cures, Now let us prove,
+    That no strength Shall Abate the power of love:
+    Honour, wit, beauty, Riches, wise men call
+    Frail fortune's Badges, In true love lies all.
+    Therefore to him we Yield, our Vowes shall be
+    Paid--Read, and written in Eternity:
+    That All may know when men grant no Redress,
+    Much love can sweeten the unhappinesS.]
+
+[Footnote 84: The following example, barbarously made up in this way
+from passages in the AEneid and the Georgics, is by Stephen de Pleurre,
+and describes the adoration of the Magi. The references to each half
+line of the originals are given, the central cross marks the length of
+each quotation.
+
+                  Tum Reges----
+    7 AE . 98. Externi veniunt x quae cuiq; est copia laeti. 5 AE . 100.
+    11 AE . 333. Munera portantes x molles sua tura Sabaei. 1 G . 57.
+    3 AE . 464. Dona dehinc auro gravia x Myrrhaque madentes.  12 AE . 100.
+    9 AE . 659. Agnovere Deum Regum x Regumque parentum. 6 AE . 548.
+    1 G . 418. Mutavere vias x perfectis ordine votis. 10 AE . 548.]
+
+[Footnote 85: The old Poet, Gascoigne, composed one of the longest
+English specimens, which he says gave him infinite trouble. It is as
+follows:--
+
+    "Lewd did I live, evil I did dwel."]
+
+[Footnote 86: We need feel little wonder at this when "The Book of
+Mormon" could be fabricated in our own time, and, with abundant evidence
+of that fact, yet become the Gospel of a very large number of persons.]
+
+[Footnote 87: There are several instances of this ludicrous literal
+representation. Daniel Hopfer, a German engraver of the 16th century,
+published a large print of this subject; the scene is laid in the
+interior of a Gothic church, and _the beam_ is a solid squared piece of
+timber, reaching from the eye of the man to the walls of the building.
+This peculiar mode of treating the subject may be traced to the earliest
+picture-books--thus the _Ars Memorandi_, a block-book of the early part
+of the 15th century, represents this figure of speech by a piece of
+timber transfixing a human eye.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY CONTROVERSY.
+
+
+In the article MILTON, I had occasion to give some strictures on the
+asperity of literary controversy, drawn from his own and Salmasius's
+writings. If to some the subject has appeared exceptionable, to me, I
+confess, it seems useful, and I shall therefore add some other
+particulars; for this topic has many branches. Of the following
+specimens the grossness and malignity are extreme; yet they were
+employed by the first scholars in Europe.
+
+Martin Luther was not destitute of genius, of learning, or of eloquence;
+but his violence disfigured his works with singularities of abuse. The
+great reformer of superstition had himself all the vulgar ones of his
+day; he believed that flies were devils; and that he had had a buffeting
+with Satan, when his left ear felt the prodigious beating. Hear him
+express himself on the Catholic divines: "The Papists are all asses, and
+will always remain asses. Put them in whatever sauce you choose, boiled,
+roasted, baked, fried, skinned, beat, hashed, they are always the same
+asses."
+
+Gentle and moderate, compared with a salute to his holiness:--"The Pope
+was born out of the Devil's posteriors. He is full of devils, lies,
+blasphemies, and idolatries; he is anti-Christ; the robber of churches;
+the ravisher of virgins; the greatest of pimps; the governor of Sodom,
+&c. If the Turks lay hold of us, then we shall be in the hands of the
+Devil; but if we remain with the Pope, we shall be in hell.--What a
+pleasing sight would it be to see the Pope and the Cardinals hanging on
+one gallows in exact order, like the seals which dangle from the bulls
+of the Pope! What an excellent council would they hold under the
+gallows!"[88]
+
+Sometimes, desirous of catching the attention of the vulgar, Luther
+attempts to enliven his style by the grossest buffooneries: "Take care,
+my little Popa! my little ass! Go on slowly: the times are slippery:
+this year is dangerous: if them fallest, they will exclaim, See! how
+our little Pope is spoilt!" It was fortunate for the cause of the
+Reformation that the violence of Luther was softened in a considerable
+degree by the meek Melancthon, who often poured honey on the sting
+inflicted by the angry wasp. Luther was no respecter of kings; he was so
+fortunate, indeed, as to find among his antagonists a crowned head; a
+great good fortune for an obscure controversialist, and the very
+_punctum saliens_ of controversy. Our Henry VIII. wrote his book against
+the new doctrine: then warm from scholastic studies, Henry presented Leo
+X. with a work highly creditable to his abilities, according to the
+genius of the age. Collier, in his Ecclesiastical History, has analysed
+the book, and does not ill describe its spirit: "Henry seems superior to
+his adversary in the vigour and propriety of his style, in the force of
+his reasoning, and the learning of his citations. It is true he leans
+_too much_ upon his character, argues in his _garter-robes_, and writes
+as 'twere with his _sceptre_." But Luther in reply abandons his pen to
+all kinds of railing and abuse. He addresses Henry VIII. in the
+following style: "It is hard to say if folly can be more foolish, or
+stupidity more stupid, than is the head of Henry. He has not attacked me
+with the heart of a king, but with the impudence of a knave. This rotten
+worm of the earth having blasphemed the majesty of my king, I have a
+just right to bespatter his English majesty with his own dirt and
+ordure. This Henry has lied." Some of his original expressions to our
+Henry VIII. are these: "Stulta, ridicula, et verissime _Henricicana_ et
+_Thomastica_ sunt haec--Regem Angliae Henricum istum plane mentiri,
+&c.--Hoc agit inquietus Satan, ut nos a Scripturis avocet per
+_sceleratos Henricos_," &c.--He was repaid with capital and interest by
+an anonymous reply, said to have been written by Sir Thomas More, who
+concludes his arguments by leaving Luther in language not necessary to
+translate: "cum suis furiis et furoribus, cum suis merdis et stercoribus
+cacantem cacatumque." Such were the vigorous elegancies of a controversy
+on the Seven Sacraments! Long after, the court of Rome had not lost the
+taste of these "bitter herbs:" for in the bull of the canonization of
+Ignatius Loyola in August, 1623, Luther is called _monstrum teterrimum
+et detestabilis pestis_.
+
+Calvin was less tolerant, for he had no Melancthon! His adversaries are
+never others than knaves, lunatics, drunkards and assassins! Sometimes
+they are characterised by the familiar appellatives of bulls, asses,
+cats, and hogs! By him Catholic and Lutheran are alike hated. Yet, after
+having given vent to this virulent humour, he frequently boasts of his
+mildness. When he reads over his writings, he tells us, that he is
+astonished at his forbearance; but this, he adds, is the duty of every
+Christian! at the same time, he generally finishes a period with--"Do
+you hear, you dog?" "Do you hear, madman?"
+
+Beza, the disciple of Calvin, sometimes imitates the luxuriant abuse of
+his master. When he writes against Tillemont, a Lutheran minister, he
+bestows on him the following titles of honour:--"Polyphemus; an ape; a
+great ass, who is distinguished from other asses by wearing a hat; an
+ass on two feet; a monster composed of part of an ape and wild ass; a
+villain who merits hanging on the first tree we find." And Beza was, no
+doubt, desirous of the office of executioner!
+
+The Catholic party is by no means inferior in the felicities of their
+style. The Jesuit Raynaud calls Erasmus the "Batavian buffoon," and
+accuses him of nourishing the egg which Luther hatched. These men were
+alike supposed by their friends to be the inspired regulators of
+religion![89]
+
+Bishop Bedell, a great and good man, respected even by his adversaries,
+in an address to his clergy, observes, "Our calling is to deal with
+errors, not to disgrace the man with scolding words. It is said of
+Alexander, I think, when he overheard one of his soldiers railing
+lustily against Darius his enemy, that he reproved him, and added,
+"Friend, I entertain thee to fight against Darius, not to revile him;"
+and my sentiments of treating the Catholics," concludes Bedell, "are
+not conformable to the practice of Luther and Calvin; but they were but
+men, and perhaps we must confess they suffered themselves to yield to
+the violence of passion."
+
+The Fathers of the Church were proficients in the art of abuse, and very
+ingeniously defended it. St. Austin affirms that the most caustic
+personality may produce a wonderful effect, in opening a man's eyes to
+his own follies. He illustrates his position with a story, given with
+great simplicity, of his mother Saint Monica with her maid. Saint Monica
+certainly would have been a confirmed drunkard, had not her maid
+timelily and outrageously abused her. The story will amuse.--"My mother
+had by little and little accustomed herself to relish wine. They used to
+send her to the cellar, as being one of the soberest in the family: she
+first sipped from the jug and tasted a few drops, for she abhorred wine,
+and did not care to drink. However, she gradually accustomed herself,
+and from sipping it on her lips she swallowed a draught. As people from
+the smallest faults insensibly increase, she at length liked wine, and
+drank bumpers. But one day being alone with the maid who usually
+attended her to the cellar, they quarrelled, and the maid bitterly
+reproached her with being a _drunkard_! That _single word_ struck her so
+poignantly that it opened her understanding; and reflecting on the
+deformity of the vice, she desisted for ever from its use."
+
+To jeer and play the droll, or, in his own words, _de bouffonner_, was a
+mode of controversy the great Arnauld defended, as permitted by the
+writings of the holy fathers. It is still more singular, when he not
+only brings forward as an example of this ribaldry, Elijah _mocking_ at
+the false divinities, but _God_ himself _bantering_ the first man after
+his fall. He justifies the injurious epithets which he has so liberally
+bestowed on his adversaries by the example of Jesus Christ and the
+apostles! It was on these grounds also that the celebrated Pascal
+apologised for the invectives with which he has occasionally disfigured
+his Provincial Letters. A Jesuit has collected "An Alphabetical
+Catalogue of the Names of _Beasts_ by which the Fathers characterised
+the Heretics!" It may be found in _Erotemata de malis ac bonis Libris_,
+p. 93, 4to. 1653, of Father Kaynaud. This list of brutes and insects,
+among which are a vast variety of serpents, is accompanied by the names
+of the heretics designated!
+
+Henry Fitzsermon, an Irish Jesuit, was imprisoned for his papistical
+designs and seditious preaching. During his confinement he proved
+himself to be a great amateur of controversy. He said, "he felt like a
+_bear_ tied to a stake, and wanted somebody to _bait_ him." A kind
+office, zealously undertaken by the learned _Usher_, then a young man.
+He _engaged to dispute_ with him _once a week_ on the subject of
+_antichrist_! They met several times. It appears that _our bear_ was
+out-worried, and declined any further _dog-baiting_. This spread an
+universal joy through the Protestants in Dublin. At the early period of
+the Reformation, Dr. Smith of Oxford abjured papistry, with the hope of
+retaining his professorship, but it was given to Peter Martyr. On this
+our Doctor recants, and writes several controversial works against Peter
+Martyr; the most curious part of which is the singular mode adopted of
+attacking others, as well as Peter Martyr. In his margin he frequently
+breaks out thus: "Let Hooper read this!"--"Here, Ponet, open your eyes
+and see your errors!"--"Ergo, Cox, thou art damned!" In this manner,
+without expressly writing against these persons, the stirring polemic
+contrived to keep up a sharp bush-fighting in his margins. Such was the
+spirit of those times, very different from our own. When a modern bishop
+was just advanced to a mitre, his bookseller begged to re-publish a
+popular theological tract of his against another bishop, because he
+might now meet him on equal terms. My lord answered--"Mr.----, no more
+controversy now!" Our good bishop resembled Baldwin, who from a simple
+monk, arrived to the honour of the see of Canterbury. The successive
+honours successively changed his manners. Urban the Second inscribed his
+brief to him in this concise description--_Balduino Monastico
+ferventissimo, Abbati calido, Episcopo tepido, Archiepiscopo remisso_!
+
+On the subject of literary controversies, we cannot pass over the
+various sects of the scholastics: a volume might be compiled of their
+ferocious wars, which in more than one instance were accompanied by
+stones and daggers. The most memorable, on account of the extent, the
+violence, and duration of their contests, are those of the NOMINALISTS
+and the REALISTS.
+
+It was a most subtle question assuredly, and the world thought for a
+long while that their happiness depended on deciding, whether
+universals, that is _genera_, have a real essence, and exist
+independent of particulars, that is _species_:--whether, for instance,
+we could form an idea of asses, prior to individual asses? Roscelinus,
+in the eleventh century, adopted the opinion that universals have no
+real existence, either before or in individuals, but are mere names and
+words by which the kind of individuals is expressed; a tenet propagated
+by Abelard, which produced the sect of _Nominalists_. But the _Realists_
+asserted that universals existed independent of individuals,--though
+they were somewhat divided between the various opinions of Plato and
+Aristotle. Of the Realists the most famous were Thomas Aquinas and Duns
+Scotus. The cause of the Nominalists was almost desperate, till Occam in
+the fourteenth century revived the dying embers. Louis XI. adopted the
+Nominalists, and the Nominalists flourished at large in France and
+Germany; but unfortunately Pope John XXIII. patronised the Realists, and
+throughout Italy it was dangerous for a Nominalist to open his lips. The
+French King wavered, and the Pope triumphed; his majesty published an
+edict in 1474, in which he silenced for ever the Nominalists, and
+ordered their books to be fastened up in their libraries with iron
+chains, that they might not be read by young students! The leaders of
+that sect fled into England and Germany, where they united their forces
+with Luther and the first Reformers.
+
+Nothing could exceed the violence with which these disputes were
+conducted. Vives himself, who witnessed the contests, says that, "when
+the contending parties had exhausted their stock of verbal abuse, they
+often came to blows; and it was not uncommon in these quarrels about
+_universals_, to see the combatants engaging not only with their fists,
+but with clubs and swords, so that many have been wounded and some
+killed."
+
+On this war of words, and all this terrifying nonsense John of Salisbury
+observes, "that there had been more time consumed than the Caesars had
+employed in making themselves masters of the world; that the riches of
+Croesus were inferior to the treasures that had been exhausted in this
+controversy; and that the contending parties, after having spent their
+whole lives in this single point, had neither been so happy as to
+determine it to their satisfaction, nor to find in the labyrinths of
+science where they had been groping any discovery that was worth the
+pains they had taken." It may be added that Ramus having attacked
+Aristotle, for "teaching us chimeras," all his scholars revolted; the
+parliament put a stop to his lectures, and at length having brought the
+matter into a law court, he was declared "to be insolent and
+daring"--the king proscribed his works, he was ridiculed on the stage,
+and hissed at by his scholars. When at length, during the plague, he
+opened again his schools, he drew on himself a fresh storm by reforming
+the pronunciation of the letter Q, which they then pronounced like
+K--Kiskis for Quisquis, and Kamkam for Quamquam. This innovation Was
+once more laid to his charge: a new rebellion! and a new ejection of the
+Anti-Aristotelian! The brother of that Gabriel Harvey who was the friend
+of Spenser, and with Gabriel had been the whetstone of the town-wits of
+his time, distinguished himself by his wrath against the Stagyrite.
+After having with Gabriel predicted an earthquake, and alarmed the
+kingdom, which never took place (that is the earthquake, not the alarm),
+the wits buffeted him. Nash says of him, that "Tarlton at the theatre
+made jests of him, and Elderton consumed his ale-crammed nose to
+nothing, in bear-baiting him with whole bundles of ballads." Marlow
+declared him to be "an ass fit only to preach of the iron age." Stung to
+madness by this lively nest of hornets, he avenged himself in a very
+cowardly manner--he attacked Aristotle himself! for he set _Aristotle_
+with his _heels upwards_ on the school gates at Cambridge, and with
+_asses' ears_ on his head!
+
+But this controversy concerning Aristotle and the school divinity was
+even prolonged. A professor in the College at Naples published in 1688
+four volumes of peripatetic philosophy, to establish the principles of
+Aristotle. The work was exploded, and he wrote an abusive treatise under
+the _nom de guerre_ of Benedetto Aletino. A man of letters, Constantino
+Grimaldi, replied. Aletino rejoined; he wrote letters, an apology for
+the letters, and would have written more for Aristotle than Aristotle
+himself perhaps would have done. However, Grimaldi was no ordinary
+antagonist, and not to be outwearied. He had not only the best of the
+argument, but he was resolved to tell the world so, as long as the world
+would listen. Whether he killed off Father Benedictus, the first author,
+is not affirmed; but the latter died during the controversy. Grimaldi,
+however, afterwards pursued his ghost, and buffeted the father in his
+grave. This enraged the University of Naples; and the Jesuits, to a man,
+denounced Grimaldi to Pope Benedict XIII. and to the Viceroy of Naples.
+On this the Pope issued a bull prohibiting the reading of Grimaldi's
+works, or keeping them, under pain of excommunication; and the viceroy,
+more active than the bull, caused all the copies which were found in the
+author's house to be thrown _into the sea_! The author with tears in his
+eyes beheld his expatriated volumes, hopeless that their voyage would
+have been successful. However, all the little family of the Grimaldis
+were not drowned--for a storm arose, and happily drove ashore many of
+the floating copies, and these falling into charitable hands, the
+heretical opinions of poor Grimaldi against Aristotle and school
+divinity were still read by those who were not out-terrified by the
+Pope's bulls. The _salted_ passages were still at hand, and quoted with
+a double zest against the Jesuits!
+
+We now turn to writers whose controversy was kindled only by subjects of
+polite literature. The particulars form a curious picture of the taste
+of the age.
+
+"There is," says Joseph Scaliger, that great critic and reviler, "an art
+of abuse or slandering, of which those that are ignorant may be said to
+defame others much less than they show a willingness to defame."
+
+"Literary wars," says Bayle, "are sometimes as lasting as they are
+terrible." A disputation between two great scholars was so interminably
+violent, that it lasted thirty years! He humorously compares its
+duration to the German war which lasted as long.
+
+Baillet, when he refuted the sentiments of a certain author always did
+it without naming him; but when he found any observation which, he
+deemed commendable, he quoted his name. Bayle observes, that "this is an
+excess of politeness, prejudicial to that freedom which should ever
+exist in the republic of letters; that it should be allowed always to
+name those whom we refute; and that it is sufficient for this purpose
+that we banish asperity, malice, and indecency."
+
+After these preliminary observations, I shall bring forward various
+examples where this excellent advice is by no means regarded.
+
+Erasmus produced a dialogue, in which he ridiculed those scholars who
+were servile imitators of Cicero; so servile, that they would employ no
+expression but what was found in the works of that writer; everything
+with them was Ciceronianised. This dialogue is written with great
+humour. Julius Caesar Scaliger, the father, who was then unknown to the
+world, had been long looking for some occasion to distinguish himself;
+he now wrote a defence of Cicero, but which in fact was one continued
+invective against Erasmus: he there treats the latter as illiterate, a
+drunkard, an impostor, an apostate, a hangman, a demon hot from hell!
+The same Scaliger, acting on the same principle of distinguishing
+himself at the cost of others, attacked Cardan's best work _De
+Subtilitate_: his criticism did not appear till seven years after the
+first edition of the work, and then he obstinately stuck to that
+edition, though Cardan had corrected it in subsequent ones; but this
+Scaliger chose, that he might have a wider field for his attack. After
+this, a rumour spread that Cardan had died of vexation from Julius
+Caesar's invincible pen; then Scaliger pretended to feel all the regret
+possible for a man he had killed, and whom he now praised: however, his
+regret had as little foundation as his triumph; for Cardan outlived
+Scaliger many years, and valued his criticisms too cheaply to have
+suffered them to have disturbed his quiet. All this does not exceed the
+_Invectives_ of Poggius, who has thus entitled several literary libels
+composed against some of his adversaries, Laurentius Valla, Philelphus,
+&c., who returned the poisoned chalice to his own lips; declamations of
+scurrility, obscenity, and calumny!
+
+Scioppius was a worthy successor of the Scaligers: his favourite
+expression was, that he had trodden down his adversary.
+
+Scioppius was a critic, as skilful as Salmasius or Scaliger, but still
+more learned in the language of abuse. This cynic was the Attila of
+authors. He boasted that he had occasioned the deaths of Casaubon and
+Scaliger. Detested and dreaded as the public scourge, Scioppius, at the
+close of his life, was fearful he should find no retreat in which he
+might be secure.
+
+The great Casaubon employs the dialect of St. Giles's in his furious
+attacks on the learned Dalechamps, the Latin translator of Athenaeus. To
+this great physician he stood more deeply indebted than he chose to
+confess; and to conceal the claims of this literary creditor, he called
+out _Vesanum!_ _Insanum!_ _Tiresiam!_ &c. It was the fashion of that day
+with the ferocious heroes of the literary republic, to overwhelm each
+other with invectives, and to consider that their own grandeur
+consisted in the magnitude of their volumes; and their triumphs in
+reducing their brother giants into puny dwarfs. In science, Linnaeus had
+a dread of controversy--conqueror or conquered we cannot escape without
+disgrace! Mathiolus would have been the great man of his day, had he not
+meddled with such matters. Who is gratified by "the mad Cornarus," or
+"the flayed Fox?" titles which Fuchsius and Cornarus, two eminent
+botanists, have bestowed on each other. Some who were too fond of
+controversy, as they grew wiser, have refused to take up the gauntlet.
+
+The heat and acrimony of verbal critics have exceeded description. Their
+stigmas and anathemas have been long known to bear no proportion to the
+offences against which they have been directed. "God confound you,"
+cried one grammarian to another, "for your theory of impersonal verbs!"
+There was a long and terrible controversy formerly, whether the
+Florentine dialect was to prevail over the others. The academy was put
+to great trouble, and the Anti-Cruscans were often on the point of
+annulling this supremacy; _una mordace scritura_ was applied to one of
+these literary canons; and in a letter of those times the following
+paragraph appears:--"Pescetti is preparing to give a second answer to
+Beni, which will not please him; I now believe the prophecy of Cavalier
+Tedeschi will be verified, and that this controversy, begun with pens,
+will end with poniards!"
+
+Fabretti, an Italian, wrote furiously against Gronovius, whom he calls
+_Grunnovius_: he compared him to all those animals whose voice was
+expressed by the word _Grunnire, to grunt_. Gronovius was so malevolent
+a critic, that he was distinguished by the title of the "Grammatical
+Cur."
+
+When critics venture to attack the person as well as the performance of
+an author, I recommend the salutary proceedings of Huberus, the writer
+of an esteemed Universal History. He had been so roughly handled by
+Perizonius, that he obliged him to make the _amende honorable_ in a
+court of justice; where, however, I fear an English jury would give the
+smallest damages.
+
+Certain authors may be distinguished by the title of LITERARY BOBADILS,
+or fighting authors. One of our own celebrated writers drew his sword on
+a reviewer; and another, when his farce was condemned, offered to fight
+any one of the audience who hissed. Scudery, brother of the celebrated
+Mademoiselle Scudery, was a true Parnassian bully. The first
+publication which brought him into notice was his edition of the works
+of his friend Theophile. He concludes the preface with these singular
+expressions--"I do not hesitate to declare, that, amongst all the dead,
+and all the living, there is no person who has anything to show that
+approaches the force of this vigorous genius; but if amongst the latter,
+any one were so extravagant as to consider that I detract from his
+imaginary glory, to show him that I fear as little as I esteem him, this
+is to inform him that my name is
+                                                    "DE SCUDERY."
+
+A similar rhodomontade is that of Claude Trellon, a poetical soldier,
+who begins his poems by challenging the critics, assuring them that if
+any one attempts to censure him, he will only condescend to answer sword
+in hand. Father Macedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, having written against
+Cardinal Noris, on the monkery of St. Austin, it was deemed necessary to
+silence both parties. Macedo, compelled to relinquish the pen, sent his
+adversary a challenge, and according to the laws of chivalry, appointed
+a place for meeting in the wood of Boulogne. Another edict forbad the
+duel! Macedo then murmured at his hard fate, which would not suffer him,
+for the sake of St. Austin, for whom he had a particular regard, to
+spill either his _ink_ or his _blood_.
+
+ANTI, prefixed to the name of the person attacked, was once a favourite
+title to books of literary controversy. With a critical review of such
+books Baillet has filled a quarto volume; yet such was the abundant
+harvest, that he left considerable gleanings for posterior industry.
+
+Anti-Gronovius was a book published against Gronovius, by Kuster.
+Perizonius, another pugilist of literature, entered into this dispute on
+the subject of the AEs grave of the ancients, to which Kuster had just
+adverted at the close of his volume. What was the consequence?
+Dreadful!--Answers and rejoinders from both, in which they bespattered
+each other with the foulest abuse. A journalist pleasantly blames this
+acrimonious controversy. He says, "To read the pamphlets of a Perizonius
+and a Kuster on the AEs grave of the ancients, who would not renounce all
+commerce with antiquity? It seems as if an Agamemnon and an Achilles
+were railing at each other. Who can refrain from laughter, when one of
+these commentators even points his attacks at the very name of his
+adversary? According to Kuster, the name of Perizonius signifies a
+_certain part_ of the human body. How is it possible, that with such a
+name he could be right concerning the AEs grave? But does that of Kuster
+promise a better thing, since it signifies a beadle; a man who drives
+dogs out of churches?--What madness is this!"
+
+Corneille, like our Dryden, felt the acrimony of literary irritation. To
+the critical strictures of D'Aubignac it is acknowledged he paid the
+greatest attention, for, after this critic's _Pratique du Theatre_
+appeared, his tragedies were more artfully conducted. But instead of
+mentioning the critic with due praise, he preserved an ungrateful
+silence. This occasioned a quarrel between the poet and the critic, in
+which the former exhaled his bile in several abusive epigrams, which
+have, fortunately for his credit, not been preserved in his works.
+
+The lively Voltaire could not resist the charm of abusing his
+adversaries. We may smile when he calls a blockhead, a blockhead; a
+dotard, a dotard; but when he attacks, for a difference of opinion, the
+_morals_ of another man, our sensibility is alarmed. A higher tribunal
+than that of criticism is to decide on the _actions_ of men.
+
+There is a certain disguised malice, which some writers have most
+unfairly employed in characterising a contemporary. Burnet called Prior,
+_one Prior_. In Bishop Parker's History of his Own Times, an innocent
+reader may start at seeing the celebrated Marvell described as an
+outcast of society; an infamous libeller; and one whose talents were
+even more despicable than his person. To such lengths did the hatred of
+party, united with personal rancour, carry this bishop, who was himself
+the worst of time-servers. He was, however, amply paid by the keen wit
+of Marvell in "The Rehearsal Transposed," which may still be read with
+delight, as an admirable effusion of banter, wit, and satire. Le Clerc,
+a cool ponderous Greek critic, quarrelled with Boileau about a passage
+in Longinus, and several years afterwards, in revising Moreri's
+Dictionary, gave a short sarcastic notice of the poet's brother; in
+which he calls him the elder brother of _him who has written the book
+entitled, "Satires of Mr. Boileau Despreaux_!"--the works of the modern
+Horace, which were then delighting Europe, he calls, with simple
+impudence, "a book entitled Satires!"
+
+The works of Homer produced a controversy, both long and virulent,
+amongst the wits of France. This literary quarrel is of some note in
+the annals of literature, since it has produced two valuable books; La
+Motte's "Reflexions sur la Critique," and Madame Dacier's "Des Causes de
+la Corruption du Gout." La Motte wrote with feminine delicacy, and
+Madame Dacier like a University pedant. "At length, by the efforts of
+Valincour, the friend of art, of artists, and of peace, the contest was
+terminated." Both parties were formidable in number, and to each he made
+remonstrances, and applied reproaches. La Motte and Madame Dacier, the
+opposite leaders, were convinced by his arguments, made reciprocal
+concessions, and concluded a peace. The treaty was formally ratified at
+a dinner, given on the occasion by a Madame De Stael, who represented
+"Neutrality." Libations were poured to the memory of old Homer, and the
+parties were reconciled.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 88: Caricaturists were employed on both sides of the question,
+and by pictures as well as words the war of polemics was vigorously
+carried on. In one instance, the head of Luther is represented as the
+Devil's Bagpipe; he blows into his ear, and uses his nose as a chanter.
+Cocleus, in one of his tracts, represents Luther as a monster with seven
+heads, indicative of his follies; the first is that of a disputatious
+doctor, the last that of Barabbas! Luther replied in other pamphlets,
+adorned with equally gross delineations levelled at his opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Bishop Percy's _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_ will
+furnish an example of the coarseness of invective used by both parties
+during the era of the Reformation; in such rhymes as "Plain Truth and
+Blind Ignorance"--"A Ballad of Luther and the Pope," &c. The old
+interlude of "Newe Custome," printed in Dodsley's _Old Plays_; and that
+of "Lusty Juventus," in Hawkins's _English Drama_, are choice specimens
+of the vulgarest abuse. Bishop Bale in his play of _King John_
+(published in 1838 by the Camden Society), indulges in a levity and
+coarseness that would not now be tolerated in an alehouse--"stynkyng
+heretic" on one side, and "vile popysh swyne" on the other, are among
+the mildest epithets used in these religious satires. One of the most
+curious is a dialogue between John Bon, a husbandman, and "Master
+Parson" of his parish, on the subject of transubstantiation; it was so
+violent in its style as to threaten great trouble to author and printer
+(see Strype's _Ecclesiastical Memorials_). It may be seen in vol. xxx.
+of the Percy Society's publications.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY BLUNDERS.
+
+
+When Dante published his "Inferno," the simplicity of the age accepted
+it as a true narrative of his descent into hell.
+
+When the Utopia of Sir Thomas More was first published, it occasioned a
+pleasant mistake. This political romance represents a perfect, but
+visionary republic, in an island supposed to have been newly discovered
+in America. "As this was the age of discovery," says Granger, "the
+learned Budaeus, and others, took it for a genuine history; and
+considered it as highly expedient, that missionaries should be sent
+thither, in order to convert so wise a nation to Christianity."
+
+It was a long while after publication that many readers were convinced
+that Gulliver's Travels were fictitious.[90]
+
+But the most singular blunder was produced by the ingenious "Hermippus
+Redivivus" of Dr. Campbell, a curious banter on the hermetic philosophy,
+and the universal medicine; but the grave irony is so closely kept up,
+that it deceived for a length of time the most learned. His notion of
+the art of prolonging life, by inhaling the breath of young women, was
+eagerly credited. A physician, who himself had composed a treatise on
+health, was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings at a
+female boarding-school, that he might never be without a constant supply
+of the breath of young ladies. Mr. Thicknesse seriously adopted the
+project. Dr. Kippis acknowledged that after he had read the work in his
+youth, the reasonings and the facts left him several days in a kind of
+fairy land. I have a copy with manuscript notes by a learned physician,
+who seems to have had no doubts of its veracity. After all, the
+intention of the work was long doubtful; till Dr. Campbell assured a
+friend it was a mere jeu-d'esprit; that Bayle was considered as standing
+without a rival in the art of treating at large a difficult subject,
+without discovering to which side his own sentiments leaned: Campbell
+had read more uncommon books than most men, and wished to rival Bayle,
+and at the same time to give many curious matters little known.
+
+Palavicini, in his History of the Council of Trent, to confer an honour
+on M. Lansac, ambassador of Charles IX. to that council, bestows on him
+a collar of the order of Saint Esprit; but which order was not
+instituted till several years afterwards by Henry III. A similar
+voluntary blunder is that of Surita, in his _Annales de la Corona de
+Aragon_. This writer represents, in the battles he describes, many
+persons who were not present; and this, merely to confer honour on some
+particular families.
+
+Fabiana, quoting a French narrative of travels in Italy, took for the
+name of the author the words, found at the end of the title-page,
+_Enrichi de deux Listes_; that is, "Enriched with two lists:" on this he
+observes, "that Mr. Enriched with two lists has not failed to do that
+justice to Ciampini which he merited."[91] The abridgers of Gesner's
+Bibliotheca ascribe the romance of Amadis to one _Acuerdo Olvido_;
+Remembrance, Oblivion; mistaking the French translator's Spanish motto
+on the title-page for the name of the author.
+
+D'Aquin, the French king's physician, in his Memoir on the Preparation
+of Bark, takes _Mantissa_, which is the title of the Appendix to the
+History of Plants, by Johnstone, for the name of an author, and who, he
+says, is so extremely rare, that he only knows him by name.
+
+Lord Bolingbroke imagined, that in those famous verses, beginning with
+_Excudent alii_, &c., Virgil attributed to the Romans the glory of
+having surpassed the Greeks in historical composition: according to his
+idea, those Roman historians whom Virgil preferred to the Grecians were
+Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. But Virgil died before Livy had written his
+history, or Tacitus was born.
+
+An honest friar, who compiled a church history, has placed in the class
+of ecclesiastical writers Guarini, the Italian poet, on the faith of the
+title of his celebrated amorous pastoral, _Il Pastor Fido_, "The
+Faithful Shepherd;" our good father imagined that the character of a
+curate, vicar, or bishop, was represented in this work.
+
+A blunder has been recorded of the monks in the dark ages, which was
+likely enough to happen when their ignorance was so dense. A rector of a
+parish going to law with his parishioners about paving the church,
+quoted this authority from St. Peter--_Paveant illi, non paveam ego_;
+which he construed, _They are to pave the church, not I_. This was
+allowed to be good law by a judge, himself an ecclesiastic too.
+
+One of the grossest literary blunders of modern times is that of the
+late Gilbert Wakefield, in his edition of Pope. He there takes the
+well-known "Song by a Person of Quality," which is a piece of ridicule
+on the glittering tuneful nonsense of certain poets, as a serious
+composition. In a most copious commentary, he proves that every line
+seems unconnected with its brothers, and that the whole reflects
+disgrace on its author! A circumstance which too evidently shows how
+necessary the knowledge of modern literary history is to a modern
+commentator, and that those who are profound in verbal Greek are not the
+best critics on English writers.
+
+The Abbe Bizot, the author of the medallic history of Holland, fell into
+a droll mistake. There is a medal, struck when Philip II. set forth his
+_invincible Armada_, on which are represented the King of Spain, the
+Emperor, the Pope, Electors, Cardinals, &c., with their eyes covered
+with a bandage, and bearing for inscription this fine verse of
+Lucretius:--
+
+    O caecas hominum menteis! O pectora caeca!
+
+The Abbe, prepossessed with the prejudice that a nation persecuted by
+the Pope and his adherents could not represent them without some insult,
+did not examine with sufficient care the ends of the bandages which
+covered the eyes and waved about the heads of the personages represented
+on this medal: he rashly took them for _asses' ears_, and as such they
+are engraved!
+
+Mabillon has preserved a curious literary blunder of some pious
+Spaniards, who applied to the Pope for consecrating a day in honour of
+_Saint Viar_. His holiness, in the voluminous catalogue of his saints,
+was ignorant of this one. The only proof brought forward for his
+existence was this inscription:--
+
+    S. VIAR.
+
+An antiquary, however, hindered one more festival in the Catholic
+calendar, by convincing them that these letters were only the remains of
+an inscription erected for an ancient surveyor of the roads; and he read
+their saintship thus:--
+
+    PRAEFECTUS VIARUM.
+
+Maffei, in his comparison between Medals and Inscriptions, detects a
+literary blunder in Spon, who, meeting with this inscription,
+
+    Maximo VI Consule
+
+takes the letters VI for numerals, which occasions a strange
+anachronism. They are only contractions of _Viro Illustri_--V I.
+
+As absurd a blunder was this of Dr. Stukeley on the coins of Carausius;
+finding a battered one with a defaced inscription of
+
+    FORTVNA AVG.
+
+he read it
+
+    ORIVNA AVG.
+
+And sagaciously interpreting this to be the _wife_ of Carausius, makes
+a new personage start up in history; he contrives even to give some
+_theoretical Memoirs_ of the _August Oriuna_.[92]
+
+Father Sirmond was of opinion that St. Ursula and her eleven thousand
+Virgins were all created out of a blunder. In some ancient MS. they
+found _St. Ursula et Undecimilla V. M._ meaning St. Ursula and
+_Undecimilla_, Virgin Martyrs; imagining that _Undecimilla_ with the
+_V._ and _M._ which followed, was an abbreviation for _Undecem Millia
+Martyrum Virginum_, they made out of _Two Virgins_ the whole _Eleven
+Thousand_!
+
+Pope, in a note on Measure for Measure, informs us, that its story was
+taken from Cinthio's Novels, _Dec._ 8. _Nov._ 5. That is, _Decade 8,
+Novel 5._ The critical Warburton, in his edition of Shakspeare, puts the
+words in full length thus, _December_ 8, _November 5._
+
+When the fragments of Petronius made a great noise in the literary
+world, Meibomius, an erudit of Lubeck, read in a letter from another
+learned scholar from Bologna, "We have here _an entire Petronius_; I saw
+it with mine own eyes, and with admiration." Meibomius in post-haste is
+on the road, arrives at Bologna, and immediately inquires for the
+librarian Capponi. He inquires if it were true that they had at Bologna
+_an entire Petronius_? Capponi assures him that it was a thing which had
+long been public. "Can I see this Petronius? Let me examine
+it!"--"Certainly," replies Capponi, and leads our erudit of Lubeck to
+the church where reposes _the body of St. Petronius_. Meibomius bites
+his lips, calls for his chaise, and takes his flight.
+
+A French translator, when he came to a passage of Swift, in which it is
+said that the Duke of Marlborough _broke_ an officer; not being
+acquainted with this Anglicism, he translated it _roue_, broke on a
+wheel!
+
+Cibber's play of "_Love's Last Shift_" was entitled "_La Derniere
+Chemise de l'Amour_." A French writer of Congreve's life has taken his
+_Mourning_ for a _Morning_ Bride, and translated it _L'Espouse du
+Matin_.
+
+Sir John Pringle mentions his having cured a soldier by the use of two
+quarts of _Dog and Duck water_ daily: a French translator specifies it
+as an excellent _broth_ made of a duck and a dog! In a recent catalogue
+compiled by a French writer of _Works on Natural History_, he has
+inserted the well-known "Essay on _Irish Bulls_" by the Edgeworths. The
+proof, if it required any, that a Frenchman cannot understand the
+idiomatic style of Shakspeare appears in a French translator, who prided
+himself on giving a verbal translation of our great poet, not approving
+of Le Tourneur's paraphrastical version. He found in the celebrated
+speech of Northumberland in Henry IV.
+
+    Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
+    So dull, so dead in look, so _woe-begone_--
+
+which he renders "_Ainsi douleur! va-t'en!"_
+
+The Abbe Gregoire affords another striking proof of the errors to which
+foreigners are liable when they decide on the _language_ and _customs_
+of another country. The Abbe, in the excess of his philanthropy, to show
+to what dishonourable offices human nature is degraded, acquaints us
+that at London he observed a sign-board, proclaiming the master as
+_tueur des punaises de sa majeste_! Bug-destroyer to his majesty! This
+is, no doubt, the honest Mr. Tiffin, in the Strand; and the idea which
+must have occurred to the good Abbe was, that his majesty's bugs were
+hunted by the said destroyer, and taken by hand--and thus human nature
+was degraded!
+
+A French writer translates the Latin title of a treatise of Philo-Judaeus
+_Omnis bonus liber est_, Every good man is a free man, by _Tout livre
+est bon_. It was well for him, observes Jortin, that he did not live
+within the reach of the Inquisition, which might have taken this as a
+reflection on the _Index Expurgatorius_.
+
+An English translator turned "Dieu _defend_ l'adultere" into "God
+_defends_ adultery."--Guthrie, in his translation of Du Halde, has "the
+twenty-sixth day of the _new_ moon." The whole age of the moon is but
+twenty-eight days. The blunder arose from his mistaking the word
+_neuvieme_ (ninth) for _nouvelle_ or _neuve_ (new).
+
+The facetious Tom Brown committed a strange blunder in his translation
+of Gelli's Circe. The word _Starne_, not aware of its signification, he
+boldly rendered _stares_, probably from the similitude of sound; the
+succeeding translator more correctly discovered _Starne_ to be
+red-legged partridges!
+
+In Charles II.'s reign a new collect was drawn, in which a new epithet
+was added to the king's title, that gave great offence, and occasioned
+great raillery. He was styled _our most religious king_. Whatever the
+signification of _religious_ might be in the _Latin_ word, as importing
+the sacredness of the king's person, yet in the _English language_ it
+bore a signification that was no way applicable to the king. And he was
+asked by his familiar courtiers, what must the nation think when they
+heard him prayed for as their _most religious king_?--Literary blunders
+of this nature are frequently discovered in the versions of good
+classical scholars, who would make the _English_ servilely bend to the
+Latin and Greek. Even Milton has been justly censured for his free use
+of Latinisms and Grecisms.
+
+The blunders of modern antiquaries on sepulchral monuments are numerous.
+One mistakes _a lion_ at a knight's feet for a _curled water dog_;
+another could not distinguish _censers_ in the hands of angels from
+_fishing-nets_; _two angels_ at a lady's feet were counted as her two
+cherub-like _babes_; and another has mistaken a _leopard_ and a
+_hedgehog_ for a _cat_ and a _rat!_ In some of these cases, are the
+antiquaries or the sculptors most to be blamed?[93]
+
+A literary blunder of Thomas Warton is a specimen of the manner in which
+a man of genius may continue to blunder with infinite ingenuity. In an
+old romance he finds these lines, describing the duel of Saladin with
+Richard Coeur de Lion:--
+
+    A _Faucon brode_ in hande he bare,
+    For he thought he wolde thare
+    Have slayne Richard.
+
+He imagines this _Faucon brode_ means a _falcon bird_, or a hawk, and
+that Saladin is represented with this bird on his fist to express his
+contempt of his adversary. He supports his conjecture by noticing a
+Gothic picture, supposed to be the subject of this duel, and also some
+old tapestry of heroes on horseback with hawks on their fists; he
+plunges into feudal times, when no gentleman appeared on horseback
+without his hawk. After all this curious erudition, the rough but
+skilful Ritson inhumanly triumphed by dissolving the magical fancies of
+the more elegant Warton, by explaining a _Faucon brode_ to be nothing
+more than a _broad faulchion_, which, in a duel, was certainly more
+useful than a _bird_. The editor of the private reprint of Hentzner, on
+that writer's tradition respecting "the Kings of Denmark who reigned in
+England" buried in the Temple Church, metamorphosed the two Inns of
+Court, _Gray's Inn_ and _Lincoln's Inn_, into the names of the Danish
+kings, _Gresin_ and _Lyconin_.[94]
+
+Bayle supposes that Marcellus Palingenius, who wrote the poem entitled
+the _Zodiac_, the twelve books bearing the names of the signs, from this
+circumstance assumed the title of _Poeta Stellatus_. But it appears that
+this writer was an Italian and a native of _Stellada_, a town in the
+Ferrarese. It is probable that his birthplace originally produced the
+conceit of the title of his poem: it is a curious instance how critical
+conjecture may be led astray by its own ingenuity, when ignorant of the
+real fact.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 90: The first edition had all the external appearance of
+truth: a portrait of "Captain Lemuel Gulliver, of Redriff, aetat. suae
+lviii." faces the title; and maps of all the places, he only, visited,
+are carefully laid down in connexion with the realities of geography.
+Thus "Lilliput, discovered A.D. 1699," lies between Sumatra and Van
+Dieman's Land. "Brobdignag, discovered A.D. 1703," is a peninsula of
+North America. One Richard Sympson vouches for the veracity of his
+"antient and intimate friend," in a Preface detailing some "facts" of
+Gulliver's Life. Arbuthnot says he "lent the book to an old gentleman,
+who went immediately to his map to search for Lilliput."]
+
+[Footnote 91: In Nagler's _Kunstler-Lexicon_ is a whimsical error
+concerning a living English artist--George Cruikshank. Some years ago
+the relative merits of himself and brother were contrasted in an English
+review, and George was spoken of as "The real Simon Pure"--the first who
+had illustrated scenes of "Life in London." Unaware of the real
+significance of a quotation which has become proverbial among us, the
+German editor begins his Memoir of Cruikshank, by gravely informing us
+that he is an English artist, "whose real name is Simon Pure!" Turning
+to the artists under the letter P, we accordingly read:--"PURE (Simon),
+the real name of the celebrated caricaturist, George Cruikshank."]
+
+[Footnote 92: The whole of Dr. Stukeley's tract is a most curious
+instance of learned perversity and obstinacy. The coin is broken away
+where the letter F should be, and Stukeley himself allows that the upper
+part of the T might be worn away, and so the inscription really be
+_Fortuna Aug_; but he cast all such evidence aside, to construct an
+imaginary life of an imaginary empress; "that we have no history of this
+lady," he says, "is not to be wondered at," and he forthwith imagines
+one; that she was of a martial disposition, and "signalized herself in
+battle, and obtained a victory," as he guesses from the laurel wreath
+around her bust on the coin; her name he believes to be Gaulish, and
+"equivalent to what we now call Lucia," and that a regiment of soldiers
+was under her command, after the fashion of "the present Czarina," the
+celebrated Catherine of Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 93: One of the most curious pictorial and antiquarian blunders
+may be seen in Vallancey's _Collectanea_. He found upon one of the
+ancient stones on the Hill of Tara an inscription which he read _Beli
+Divose_, "to Belus, God of Fire;" but which ultimately proved to be the
+work of some idler who, lying on the stone, cut upside down his name and
+the date of the year, E. Conid, 1731; upon turning this engraving, the
+fact is apparent.]
+
+
+
+
+A LITERARY WIFE.
+
+
+    Marriage is such a rabble rout;
+    That those that are out, would fain get in;
+    And those that are in, would fain get out.
+
+                                      CHAUCER.
+
+Having examined some _literary blunders_, we will now proceed to the
+subject of a _literary wife_, which may happen to prove one. A learned
+lady is to the taste of few. It is however matter of surprise, that
+several literary men should have felt such a want of taste in respect to
+"their soul's far dearer part," as Hector calls his Andromache. The
+wives of many men of letters have been dissolute, ill-humoured,
+slatternly, and have run into all the frivolities of the age. The wife
+of the learned Budaeus was of a different character.
+
+How delightful is it when the mind of the female is so happily disposed,
+and so richly cultivated, as to participate in the literary avocations
+of her husband! It is then truly that the intercourse of the sexes
+becomes the most refined pleasure. What delight, for instance, must the
+great Budaeus have tasted, even in those works which must have been for
+others a most dreadful labour! His wife left him nothing to desire. The
+frequent companion of his studies, she brought him the books he required
+to his desk; she collated passages, and transcribed quotations; the same
+genius, the same inclination, and the same ardour for literature,
+eminently appeared in those two fortunate persons. Far from withdrawing
+her husband from his studies, she was sedulous to animate him when he
+languished. Ever at his side, and ever assiduous; ever with some useful
+book in her hand, she acknowledged herself to be a most happy woman. Yet
+she did not neglect the education of eleven children. She and Budaeus
+shared in the mutual cares they owed their progeny. Budaeus was not
+insensible of his singular felicity. In one of his letters, he
+represents himself as married to two _ladies_; one of whom gave him boys
+and girls, the other was Philosophy, who produced books. He says that in
+his twelve first years, Philosophy had been less fruitful than marriage;
+he had produced less books than children; he had laboured more
+corporally than intellectually; but he hoped to make more books than
+men. "The soul (says he) will be productive in its turn; it will rise on
+the ruins of the body; a prolific virtue is not given at the same time
+to the bodily organs and the pen."
+
+The lady of Evelyn designed herself the frontispiece to his translation
+of Lucretius. She felt the same passion in her own breast which animated
+her husband's, who has written, with such various ingenuity. Of Baron
+Haller it is recorded that he inspired his wife and family with a taste
+for his different pursuits. They were usually employed in assisting his
+literary occupations; they transcribed manuscripts, consulted authors,
+gathered plants, and designed and coloured under his eye. What a
+delightful family picture has the younger Pliny given posterity in his
+letters! Of Calphurnia, his wife, he says, "Her affection to me has
+given her a turn to books; and my compositions, which she takes a
+pleasure in reading, and even getting by heart, are continually in her
+hands. How full of tender solicitude is she when I am entering upon any
+cause! How kindly does she rejoice with me when it is over! While I am
+pleading, she places persons to inform her from time to time how I am
+heard, what applauses I receive, and what success attends the cause.
+When at any time I recite my works, she conceals herself behind some
+curtain, and with secret rapture enjoys my praises. She sings my verses
+to her lyre, with no other master but love, the best instructor, for her
+guide. Her passion will increase with our days, for it is not my youth
+nor my person, which time gradually impairs, but my reputation and my
+glory, of which, she is enamoured."
+
+On the subject of a literary wife, I must introduce to the acquaintance
+of the reader Margaret Duchess of Newcastle. She is known, at least by
+her name, as a voluminous writer; for she extended her literary
+productions to the number of twelve folio volumes.
+
+Her labours have been ridiculed by some wits; but had her studies been
+regulated, she would have displayed no ordinary genius. The
+_Connoisseur_ has quoted her poems, and her verses have been imitated by
+Milton.
+
+The duke, her husband, was also an author; his book on horsemanship
+still preserves his name. He has likewise written comedies, and his
+contemporaries have not been, penurious in their eulogiums. It is true
+he was a duke. Shadwell says of him, "That he was the greatest master of
+wit, the most exact observer of mankind, and the most accurate judge of
+humour that ever he knew." The life of the duke is written "by the hand
+of his incomparable duchess." It was published in his lifetime. This
+curious piece of biography is a folio of 197 pages, and is entitled "The
+Life of the Thrice Noble, High, and Puissant Prince, William Cavendish."
+His titles then follow:--"Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and
+Excellent Princess, Margaret Duchess of Newcastle, his wife. London,
+1667." This Life is dedicated to Charles the Second; and there is also
+prefixed a copious epistle to her husband the duke.
+
+In this epistle the character of our Literary Wife is described with all
+its peculiarities.
+
+"Certainly, my lord, you have had as many enemies and as many friends as
+ever any one particular person had; nor do I so much wonder at it,
+since I, a woman, cannot be exempt from the malice and aspersions of
+spiteful tongues, which they cast upon my poor writings, some denying me
+to be the true authoress of them; for your grace remembers well, that
+those books I put out first to the judgment of this censorious age were
+accounted not to be written by a woman, but that somebody else had writ
+and published them in my name; by which your lordship was moved to
+prefix an epistle before one of them in my vindication, wherein you
+assure the world, upon your honour, that what was written and printed in
+my name was my own; and I have also made known that your lordship was my
+only tutor, in declaring to me what you had found and observed by your
+own experience; for I being young when your lordship married me, could
+not have much knowledge of the world; but it pleased God to command his
+servant Nature to endue me with a poetical and philosophical genius,
+even from my birth; for I did write some books in that kind before I was
+twelve years of age, which for want of good method and order I would
+never divulge. But though the world would not believe that those
+conceptions and fancies which I writ were my own, but transcended my
+capacity, yet they found fault, that they were defective for want of
+learning, and on the other side, they said I had pluckt feathers out of
+the universities; which was a very preposterous judgment. Truly, my
+lord, I confess that for want of scholarship, I could not express myself
+so well as otherwise I might have done in those philosophical writings I
+published first; but after I was returned with your lordship into my
+native country, and led a retired country life, I applied myself to the
+reading of philosophical authors, on purpose to learn those names and
+words of art that are used in schools; which at first were so hard to
+me, that I could not understand them, but was fain to guess at the sense
+of them by the whole context, and so writ them down, as I found them in
+those authors; at which my readers did wonder, and thought it impossible
+that a woman could have so much learning and understanding in terms of
+art and scholastical expressions; so that I and my books are like the
+old apologue mentioned in AEsop, of a father and his son who rid on an
+ass." Here follows a long narrative of this fable, which she applies to
+herself in these words--"The old man seeing he could not please mankind
+in any manner, and having received so many blemishes and aspersions for
+the sake of his ass, was at last resolved to drown him when he came to
+the next bridge. But I am not so passionate to burn my writings for the
+various humours of mankind, and for their finding fault; since there is
+nothing in this world, be it the noblest and most commendable action
+whatsoever, that shall escape blameless. As for my being the true and
+only authoress of them, your lordship knows best; and my attending
+servants are witness that I have had none but my own thoughts, fancies,
+and speculations, to assist me; and as soon as I set them down I send
+them to those that are to transcribe them, and fit them for the press;
+whereof, since there have been several, and amongst them such as only
+could write a good hand, but neither understood orthography, nor had any
+learning, (I being then in banishment, with your lordship, and not able
+to maintain learned secretaries,) which hath been a great disadvantage
+to my poor works, and the cause that they have been printed so false and
+so full of errors; for besides that I want also skill in scholarship and
+true writing, I did many times not peruse the copies that were
+transcribed, lest they should disturb my following conceptions; by which
+neglect, as I said, many errors are slipt into my works, which, yet I
+hope, learned and impartial men will soon rectify, and look more upon
+the sense than carp at words. I have been a student even from childhood;
+and since I have been your lordship's wife I have lived for the most
+part a strict and retired life, as is best known to your lordship; and
+therefore my censurers cannot know much of me, since they have little or
+no acquaintance with me. 'Tis true I have been a traveller both before
+and after I was married to your lordship, and some times shown myself at
+your lordship's command in public places or assemblies, but yet I
+converse with few. Indeed, my lord, I matter not the censures of this
+age, but am rather proud of them; for it shows that my actions are more
+than ordinary, and according to the old proverb, it is better to be
+envied than pitied; for I know well that it is merely out of spite and
+malice, whereof this present age is so full that none can escape them,
+and they'll make no doubt to stain even your lordship's loyal, noble,
+and heroic actions, as well as they do mine; though yours have been of
+war and fighting, mine of contemplating and writing: yours were
+performed publicly in the field, mine privately in my closet; yours had
+many thousand eye-witnesses; mine none but my waiting-maids. But the
+great God, that hitherto bless'd both your grace and me, will, I
+question not, preserve both our fames to after-ages.
+
+                "Your grace's honest wife,
+                    "and humble servant,
+                        "M. NEWCASTLE."
+
+The last portion of this life, which consists of the observations and
+good things which she had gathered from the conversations of her
+husband, forms an excellent Ana; and shows that when Lord Orford, in his
+"Catalogue of Noble Authors," says, that "this stately poetic couple was
+a picture of foolish nobility," he writes, as he does too often, with
+extreme levity. But we must now attend to the reverse of our medal.
+
+Many chagrins may corrode the nuptial state of literary men. Females
+who, prompted by vanity, but not by taste, unite themselves to scholars,
+must ever complain of neglect. The inexhaustible occupations of a
+library will only present to such a most dreary solitude. Such a lady
+declared of her learned husband, that she was more jealous of his books
+than his mistresses. It was probably while Glover was composing his
+"Leonidas," that his lady avenged herself for this _Homeric_ inattention
+to her, and took her flight with a lover. It was peculiar to the learned
+Dacier to be united to woman, his equal in erudition and his superior in
+taste. When she wrote in the album of a German traveller a verse from
+Sophocles as an apology for her unwillingness to place herself among his
+learned friends, that "Silence is the female's ornament," it was a trait
+of her modesty. The learned Pasquier was coupled to a female of a
+different character, since he tells us in one of his Epigrams that to
+manage the vociferations of his lady, he was compelled himself to become
+a vociferator.--"Unfortunate wretch that I am, I who am a lover of
+universal peace! But to have peace I am obliged ever to be at war."
+
+Sir Thomas More was united to a woman of the harshest temper and the
+most sordid manners. To soften the moroseness of her disposition, "he
+persuaded her to play on the lute, viol, and other instruments, every
+day." Whether it was that she had no ear for music, she herself never
+became harmonious as the instrument she touched. All these ladies may be
+considered as rather too alert in thought, and too spirited in action;
+but a tame cuckoo bird who is always repeating the same note must be
+very fatiguing. The lady of Samuel Clarke, the great compiler of books
+in 1680, whose name was anagrammatised to "_suck all cream_," alluding
+to his indefatigable labours in sucking all the cream of every other
+author, without having any cream himself, is described by her husband as
+entertaining the most sublime conceptions of his illustrious
+compilations. This appears by her behaviour. He says, "that she never
+rose from table without making him a curtsey, nor drank to him without
+bowing, and that his word was a law to her."
+
+I was much surprised in looking over a correspondence of the times, that
+in 1590 the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, writing to the Earl of
+Shrewsbury on the subject of his living separate from his countess, uses
+as one of his arguments for their union the following curious one, which
+surely shows the gross and cynical feeling which the fair sex excited
+even among the higher classes of society. The language of this good
+bishop is neither that of truth, we hope, nor certainly that of
+religion.
+
+"But some will saye in your Lordship's behalfe that the Countesse is a
+sharpe and bitter shrewe, and therefore licke enough to shorten your
+lief, if shee should kepe yow company, Indeede, my good Lord, I have
+heard some say so; but if shrewdnesse or sharpnesse may be a juste cause
+of separation between a man and wiefe, I thinck fewe men in Englande
+would keepe their wives longe; for it is a common jeste, yet trewe in
+some sense, that there is but one shrewe in all the worlde, and everee
+man hath her: and so everee man must be ridd of his wiefe that wolde be
+ridd of a shrewe." It is wonderful this good bishop did not use another
+argument as cogent, and which would in those times be allowed as
+something; the name of his lordship, _Shrewsbury_, would have afforded a
+consolatory _pun_!
+
+The entertaining Marville says that the generality of ladies married to
+literary men are so vain of the abilities and merit of their husbands,
+that they are frequently insufferable.
+
+The wife of Barclay, author of "The Argenis," considered herself as the
+wife of a demigod. This appeared glaringly after his death; for Cardinal
+Barberini having erected a monument to the memory of his tutor, next to
+the tomb of Barclay, Mrs. Barclay was so irritated at this that she
+demolished his monument, brought home his bust, and declared that the
+ashes of so great a genius as her husband should never be placed beside
+a pedagogue.
+
+Salmasius's wife was a termagant; Christina said she admired his
+patience more than his erudition. Mrs. Salmasius indeed considered
+herself as the queen of science, because her husband was acknowledged as
+sovereign among the critics. She boasted that she had for her husband
+the most learned of all the nobles, and the most noble of all the
+learned. Our good lady always joined the learned conferences which he
+held in his study. She spoke loud, and decided with a tone of majesty.
+Salmasius was mild in conversation, but the reverse in his writings, for
+our proud Xantippe considered him as acting beneath himself if he did
+not magisterially call every one names!
+
+The wife of Rohault, when her husband gave lectures on the philosophy of
+Descartes, used to seat herself on these days at the door, and refused
+admittance to every one shabbily dressed, or who did not discover a
+genteel air. So convinced was she that, to be worthy of hearing the
+lectures of her husband, it was proper to appear fashionable. In vain
+our good lecturer exhausted himself in telling her, that fortune does
+not always give fine clothes to philosophers.
+
+The ladies of Albert Durer and Berghem were both shrews. The wife of
+Durer compelled that great genius to the hourly drudgery of his
+profession, merely to gratify her own sordid passion: in despair, Albert
+ran away from his Tisiphone; she wheedled him back, and not long
+afterwards this great artist fell a victim to her furious
+disposition.[95] Berghem's wife would never allow that excellent artist
+to quit his occupations; and she contrived an odd expedient to detect
+his indolence. The artist worked in a room above her; ever and anon she
+roused him by thumping a long stick against the ceiling, while the
+obedient Berghem answered by stamping his foot, to satisfy Mrs. Berghem
+that he was not napping.
+
+AElian had an aversion to the married state. Sigonius, a learned and
+well-known scholar, would never marry, and alleged no inelegant reason;
+"Minerva and Venus could not live together."
+
+Matrimony has been considered by some writers as a condition not so well
+suited to the circumstances of philosophers and men of learning. There
+is a little tract which professes to investigate the subject. It has for
+title, _De Matrimonio Literati, an coelibem esse, an vero nubere
+conveniat_, i.e., of the Marriage of a Man of Letters, with an inquiry
+whether it is most proper for him to continue a bachelor, or to marry?
+
+The author alleges the great merit of some women; particularly that of
+Gonzaga the consort of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino; a lady of such
+distinguished accomplishments, that Peter Bembus said, none but a stupid
+man would not prefer one of her conversations to all the formal meetings
+and disputations of the philosophers.
+
+The ladies perhaps will be surprised to find that it is a question among
+the learned, _Whether they ought to marry?_ and will think it an
+unaccountable property of learning that it should lay the professors of
+it under an obligation to disregard the sex. But it is very questionable
+whether, in return for this want of complaisance in them, the generality
+of ladies would not prefer the beau, and the man of fashion. However,
+let there be Gonzagas, they will find converts enough to their charms.
+
+The sentiments of Sir Thomas Browne on the consequences of marriage are
+very curious, in the second part of his Religio Medici, sect, 9. When he
+wrote that work, he said, "I was never yet once, and commend their
+resolutions, who never marry twice." He calls woman "the rib and crooked
+piece of man." He adds, "I could be content that we might procreate like
+trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to procreate the
+world without this trivial and vulgar way." He means the union of sexes,
+which he declares, "is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his
+life; nor is there anything that will more deject his cooled
+imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of
+folly he hath committed." He afterwards declares he is not averse to
+that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful: "I could
+look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but
+of a horse." He afterwards disserts very profoundly on the music there
+is in beauty, "and the silent note which Cupid strikes is far sweeter
+than the sound of an instrument." Such were his sentiments when
+youthful, and residing at Leyden; Dutch philosophy had at first chilled
+his passion; it is probable that passion afterwards inflamed his
+philosophy--for he married, and had sons and daughters!
+
+Dr. Cocchi, a modern Italian writer, but apparently a cynic as old as
+Diogenes, has taken the pains of composing a treatise on the present
+subject enough to terrify the boldest _Bachelor_ of Arts! He has
+conjured up every chimera against the marriage of a literary man. He
+seems, however, to have drawn his disgusting portrait from his own
+country; and the chaste beauty of Britain only looks the more lovely
+beside this Florentine wife.
+
+I shall not retain the cynicism which has coloured such revolting
+features. When at length the doctor finds a woman as all women ought to
+be, he opens a new string of misfortunes which must attend her husband.
+He dreads one of the probable consequences of matrimony--progeny, in
+which we must maintain the children we beget! He thinks the father gains
+nothing in his old age from the tender offices administered by his own
+children: he asserts these are much better performed by menials and
+strangers! The more children he has, the less he can afford to have
+servants! The maintenance of his children will greatly diminish his
+property! Another alarming object in marriage is that, by affinity, you
+become connected with the relations of the wife. The envious and
+ill-bred insinuations of the mother, the family quarrels, their poverty
+or their pride, all disturb the unhappy sage who falls into the trap of
+connubial felicity! But if a sage has resolved to marry, he impresses on
+him the prudential principle of increasing his fortune by it, and to
+remember his "additional expenses!" Dr. Cocchi seems to have thought
+that a human being is only to live for himself; he had neither heart to
+feel, a head to conceive, nor a pen that could have written one
+harmonious period, or one beautiful image! Bayle, in his article
+_Raphelengius_, note B, gives a singular specimen of logical subtlety,
+in "a reflection on the consequence of marriage." This learned man was
+imagined to have died of grief, for having lost his wife, and passed
+three years in protracted despair. What therefore must we think of an
+unhappy marriage, since a happy one is exposed to such evils? He then
+shows that an unhappy marriage is attended by beneficial consequences to
+the survivor. In this dilemma, in the one case, the husband lives afraid
+his wife will die, in the other that she will not! If you love her, you
+will always be afraid of losing her; if you do not love her, you will
+always be afraid of not losing her. Our satirical _celibataire_ is gored
+by the horns of the dilemma he has conjured up.
+
+James Petiver, a famous botanist, then a bachelor, the friend of Sir
+Hans Sloane, in an album signs his name with this designation:--
+
+    "From the Goat tavern in the Strand, London,
+    Nov. 27. In the 34th year of my _freedom_,
+    A.D. 1697."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 94: Erroneous proper names of places occur continually in
+early writers, particularly French ones. There are some in Froissart
+that cannot be at all understood. Bassompierre is equally erroneous.
+_Jorchaux_ is intended by him for _York House_; and, more wonderful
+still, _Inhimthort_, proves by the context to be _Kensington_!]
+
+[Footnote 95: Leopold Schefer, the German novelist, has composed an
+excellent sketch of Durer's married life. It is an admirably philosophic
+narrative of an intellectual man's wretchedness.]
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATIONS.
+
+
+Some authors excelled in this species of literary artifice. The Italian
+Doni dedicated each of his letters in a book called _La Libraria_, to
+persons whose name began with the first letter of the epistle, and
+dedicated the whole collection in another epistle; so that the book,
+which only consisted of forty-five pages, was dedicated to above twenty
+persons. This is carrying literary mendicity pretty high. Politi, the
+editor of the _Martyrologium Romanum_, published at Rome in 1751, has
+improved on the idea of Doni; for to the 365 days of the year of this
+Martyrology he has prefixed to each an epistle dedicatory. It is
+fortunate to have a large circle of acquaintance, though they should not
+be worthy of being saints. Galland, the translator of the Arabian
+Nights, prefixed a dedication to each tale which he gave; had he
+finished the "one thousand and one," he would have surpassed even the
+Martyrologist.
+
+Mademoiselle Scudery tells a remarkable expedient of an ingenious trader
+in this line--One Rangouze made a collection of letters which he printed
+without numbering them. By this means the bookbinder put that letter
+which the author ordered him first; so that all the persons to whom he
+presented this book, seeing their names at the head, considered they had
+received a particular compliment. An Italian physician, having written
+on Hippocrates's Aphorisms, dedicated each book of his Commentaries to
+one of his friends, and the index to another!
+
+More than one of our own authors have dedications in the same spirit. It
+was an expedient to procure dedicatory fees: for publishing books by
+subscription was then an art undiscovered. One prefixed a different
+dedication to a certain number of printed copies, and addressed them to
+every great man he knew, who he thought relished a morsel of flattery,
+and would pay handsomely for a coarse luxury. Sir Balthazar Gerbier, in
+his "Counsel to Builders," has made up half the work with forty-two
+dedications, which he excuses by the example of Antonio Perez; but in
+these dedications Perez scatters a heap of curious things, for he was a
+very universal genius. Perez, once secretary of state to Philip II. of
+Spain, dedicates his "Obras," first to "Nuestro sanctissimo Padre," and
+"Al Sacro Collegio," then follows one to "Henry IV.," and then one still
+more embracing, "A Todos." Fuller, in his "Church History," has with
+admirable contrivance introduced twelve title-pages, besides the general
+one, and as many particular dedications, and no less than fifty or sixty
+of those by inscriptions which are addressed to his benefactors; a
+circumstance which Heylin in his severity did not overlook; for "making
+his work bigger by forty sheets at the least; and he was so ambitious of
+the number of his patrons, that having but four leaves at the end of his
+History, he discovers a particular benefactress to inscribe them to!"
+This unlucky lady, the patroness of four leaves, Heylin compares to
+Roscius Regulus, who accepted the consular dignity for that part of the
+day on which Cecina by a decree of the senate was degraded from it,
+which occasioned Regulus to be ridiculed by the people all his life
+after, as the consul of half a day.
+
+The price for the dedication of a play was at length fixed, from five to
+ten guineas from the Revolution to the time of George I., when it rose
+to twenty; but sometimes a bargain was to be struck when the author and
+the play were alike indifferent. Sometimes the party haggled about the
+price, or the statue while stepping into his niche would turn round on
+the author to assist his invention. A patron of Peter Motteux,
+dissatisfied with Peter's colder temperament, actually composed the
+superlative dedication to himself, and completed the misery of the
+apparent author by subscribing it with his name. This circumstance was
+so notorious at the time, that it occasioned a satirical dialogue
+between Motteux and his patron Heveningham. The patron, in his zeal to
+omit no possible distinction that might attach to him, had given one
+circumstance which no one but himself could have known.
+
+        PATRON.
+
+        I must confess I was to blame,
+        That one particular to name;
+        The rest could never have been known
+        _I made the style so like thy own_.
+
+        POET.
+
+        I beg your pardon, Sir, for that.
+
+        PATRON.
+
+        Why d----e what would you be at?
+        I _writ below myself_, you sot!
+        Avoiding figures, tropes, what not;
+        For fear I should my fancy raise
+        _Above the level of thy plays_!
+
+Warton notices the common practice, about the reign of Elizabeth, of an
+author's dedicating a work at once to a number of the nobility.
+Chapman's Translation of Homer has sixteen sonnets addressed to lords
+and ladies. Henry Lock, in a collection of two hundred religious
+sonnets, mingles with such heavenly works the terrestrial composition of
+a number of sonnets to his noble patrons; and not to multiply more
+instances, our great poet Spenser, in compliance with this disgraceful
+custom, or rather in obedience to the established tyranny of patronage,
+has prefixed to the Faery Queen fifteen of these adulatory pieces, which
+in every respect are the meanest of his compositions. At this period all
+men, as well as writers, looked up to the peers as if they were beings
+on whose smiles or frowns all sublunary good and evil depended. At a
+much later period, Elkanah Settle sent copies round to the chief party,
+for he wrote for both parties, accompanied by addresses to extort
+pecuniary presents in return. He had latterly one standard _Elegy_, and
+one _Epithalamium_, printed off with blanks, which by ingeniously
+filling up with the printed names of any great person who died or was
+married; no one who was going out of life, or was entering into it,
+could pass scot-free.
+
+One of the most singular anecdotes respecting DEDICATIONS in English
+bibliography is that of the Polyglot Bible of Dr. Castell. Cromwell,
+much to his honour, patronized that great labour, and allowed the paper
+to be imported free of all duties, both of excise and custom. It was
+published under the protectorate, but many copies had not been disposed
+of ere Charles II. ascended the throne. Dr. Castell had dedicated the
+work gratefully to Oliver, by mentioning him with peculiar respect in
+the preface, but he wavered with Richard Cromwell. At the Restoration,
+he cancelled the two last leaves, and supplied their places with three
+others, which softened down the republican strains, and blotted
+Oliver's name out of the book of life! The differences in what are now
+called the _republican_ and the _loyal_ copies have amused the curious
+collectors; and the former being very scarce, are most sought after. I
+have seen the republican. In the _loyal_ copies the patrons of the work
+are mentioned, but their _titles_ are essentially changed;
+_Serenissimus_, _Illustrissimus_, and _Honoratissimus_, were epithets
+that dared not shew themselves under the _levelling_ influence of the
+great fanatic republican.
+
+It is a curious literary folly, not of an individual but of the Spanish
+nation, who, when the laws of Castile were reduced into a code under the
+reign of Alfonso X. surnamed the Wise, divided the work into _seven
+volumes_; that they might be dedicated to the _seven letters_ which
+formed the name of his majesty!
+
+Never was a gigantic baby of adulation so crammed with the soft pap of
+_Dedications_ as Cardinal Richelieu. French flattery even exceeded
+itself.--Among the vast number of very extraordinary dedications to this
+man, in which the Divinity itself is disrobed of its attributes to
+bestow them on this miserable creature of vanity, I suspect that even
+the following one is not the most blasphemous he received. "Who has seen
+your face without being seized by those softened terrors which made the
+prophets shudder when God showed the beams of his glory! But as He whom
+they dared not to approach in the burning bush, and in the noise of
+thunders, appeared to them sometimes in the freshness of the zephyrs, so
+the softness of your august countenance dissipates at the same time, and
+changes into dew, the small vapours which cover its majesty." One of
+these herd of dedicators, after the death of Richelieu, suppressed in a
+second edition his hyperbolical panegyric, and as a punishment to
+himself, dedicated the work to Jesus Christ!
+
+The same taste characterises our own dedications in the reigns of
+Charles II. and James II. The great Dryden has carried it to an
+excessive height; and nothing is more usual than to compare the _patron_
+with the _Divinity_--and at times a fair inference may be drawn that the
+former was more in the author's mind than God himself! A Welsh bishop
+made an _apology_ to James I. for _preferring_ the Deity--to his
+Majesty! Dryden's extravagant dedications were the vices of the time
+more than of the man; they were loaded with flattery, and no disgrace
+was annexed to such an exercise of men's talents; the contest being who
+should go farthest in the most graceful way, and with the best turns of
+expression.
+
+An ingenious dedication was contrived by Sir Simon Degge, who dedicated
+"the Parson's Counsellor" to Woods, Bishop of Lichfield. Degge highly
+complimented the bishop on having most nobly restored the church, which
+had been demolished in the civil wars, and was rebuilt but left
+unfinished by Bishop Hacket. At the time he wrote the dedication, Woods
+had not turned a single stone, and it is said, that much against his
+will he did something, from having been so publicly reminded of it by
+this ironical dedication.
+
+
+
+
+PHILOSOPHICAL DESCRIPTIVE POEMS.
+
+
+The "BOTANIC GARDEN" once appeared to open a new route through the
+trodden groves of Parnassus. The poet, to a prodigality of IMAGINATION,
+united all the minute accuracy of SCIENCE. It is a highly-repolished
+labour, and was in the mind and in the hand of its author for twenty
+years before its first publication. The excessive polish of the verse
+has appeared too high to be endured throughout a long composition; it is
+certain that, in poems of length, a versification, which is not too
+florid for lyrical composition, will weary by its brilliance. Darwin,
+inasmuch as a rich philosophical fancy constitutes a poet, possesses the
+entire art of poetry; no one has carried the curious mechanism of verse
+and the artificial magic of poetical diction to a higher perfection. His
+volcanic head flamed with imagination, but his torpid heart slept
+unawakened by passion. His standard of poetry is by much too limited; he
+supposes that the essence of poetry is something of which a painter can
+make a picture. A picturesque verse was with him a verse completely
+poetical. But the language of the passions has no connexion with this
+principle; in truth, what he delineates as poetry itself, is but one of
+its provinces. Deceived by his illusive standard, he has composed a poem
+which is perpetually fancy, and never passion. Hence his processional
+splendour fatigues, and his descriptive ingenuity comes at length to be
+deficient in novelty, and all the miracles of art cannot supply us with
+one touch of nature.
+
+Descriptive poetry should be relieved by a skilful intermixture of
+passages addressed to the heart as well as to the imagination: uniform
+description satiates; and has been considered as one of the inferior
+branches of poetry. Of this both Thomson and Goldsmith were sensible. In
+their beautiful descriptive poems they knew the art of animating the
+pictures of FANCY with the glow of SENTIMENT.
+
+Whatever may be thought of the originality of Darwin's poem, it had been
+preceded by others of a congenial disposition. Brookes's poem on
+"Universal Beauty," published about 1735, presents us with the very
+model of Darwin's versification: and the Latin poem of De la Croix, in
+1727, entitled "_Connubia Florum_," with his subject. There also exists
+a race of poems which have hitherto been confined to _one subject_,
+which the poet selected from the works of nature, to embellish with all
+the splendour of poetic imagination. I have collected some titles.
+
+Perhaps it is Homer, in his battle of the _Frogs and Mice_, and Virgil
+in the poem on a _Gnat_, attributed to him, who have given birth to
+these lusory poems. The Jesuits, particularly when they composed in
+Latin verse, were partial to such subjects. There is a little poem on
+_Gold_, by P. Le Fevre, distinguished for its elegance; and Brumoy has
+given the _Art of making Glass_; in which he has described its various
+productions with equal felicity and knowledge. P. Vaniere has written on
+_Pigeons_, Du Cerceau on _Butterflies_. The success which attended these
+productions produced numerous imitations, of which several were
+favourably received. Vaniere composed three on the _Grape_, the
+_Vintage_, and the _Kitchen Garden_. Another poet selected _Oranges_ for
+his theme; others have chosen for their subjects, _Paper, Birds_, and
+fresh-water _Fish_. Tarillon has inflamed his imagination with
+_gunpowder_; a milder genius, delighted with the oaten pipe, sang of
+_Sheep_; one who was more pleased with another kind of pipe, has written
+on _Tobacco_; and a droll genius wrote a poem on _Asses_. Two writers
+have formed didactic poems on the _Art of Enigmas_, and on _Ships_.
+
+Others have written on moral subjects. Brumoy has painted the
+_Passions_, with a variety of imagery and vivacity of description; P.
+Meyer has disserted on _Anger_; Tarillon, like our Stillingfleet, on the
+_Art of Conversation_; and a lively writer has discussed the subjects of
+_Humour and Wit_.
+
+Giannetazzi, an Italian Jesuit, celebrated for his Latin poetry, has
+composed two volumes of poems on _Fishing_ and _Navigation_. Fracastor
+has written delicately on an indelicate subject, his _Syphilis_. Le Brun
+wrote a delectable poem on _Sweetmeats_; another writer on _Mineral
+Waters_, and a third on _Printing_. Vida pleases with his _Silk-worms_,
+and his _Chess_; Buchanan is ingenious with the _Sphere_. Malapert has
+aspired to catch the _Winds_; the philosophic Huet amused himself with
+_Salt_ and again with _Tea_. The _Gardens_ of Rapin is a finer poem than
+critics generally can write; Quillet's _Callipedia_, or Art of getting
+handsome Children, has been translated by Rowe; and Du Fresnoy at length
+gratifies the connoisseur with his poem on _Painting_, by the
+embellishments which his verses have received from the poetic diction of
+Mason, and the commentary of Reynolds.
+
+This list might be augmented with a few of our own poets, and there
+still remain some virgin themes which only require to be touched by the
+hand of a true poet. In the "Memoirs of Trevoux," they observe, in their
+review of the poem on _Gold_, "That poems of this kind have the
+advantage of instructing us very agreeably. All that has been most
+remarkably said on the subject is united, compressed in a luminous
+order, and dressed in all the agreeable graces of poetry. Such writers
+have no little difficulties to encounter: the style and expression cost
+dear; and still more to give to an arid topic an agreeable form, and to
+elevate the subject without falling into another extreme.--In the other
+kinds of poetry the matter assists and prompts genius; here we must
+possess an abundance to display it."
+
+
+
+
+PAMPHLETS.
+
+
+Myles Davis's "ICON LIBELLORUM, or a Critical History Pamphlets,"
+affords some curious information; and as this is a _pamphlet_-reading
+age, I shall give a sketch of its contents.
+
+The author observes: "From PAMPHLETS may be learned the genius of the
+age, the debates of the learned, the follies of the ignorant, the
+_bevues_ of government, and the mistakes of the courtiers. Pamphlets
+furnish beaus with their airs, coquettes with their charms. Pamphlets
+are as modish ornaments to gentlewomen's toilets as to gentlemen's
+pockets; they carry reputation of wit and learning to all that make them
+their companions; the poor find their account in stall-keeping and in
+hawking them; the rich find in them their shortest way to the secrets of
+church and state. There is scarce any class of people but may think
+themselves interested enough to be concerned with what is published in
+pamphlets, either as to their private instruction, curiosity, and
+reputation, or to the public advantage and credit; with all which both
+ancient and modern pamphlets are too often over familiar and free.--In
+short, with pamphlets the booksellers and stationers adorn the gaiety of
+shop-gazing. Hence accrues to grocers, apothecaries, and chandlers, good
+furniture, and supplies to necessary retreats and natural occasions. In
+pamphlets lawyers will meet with their chicanery, physicians with their
+cant, divines with their Shibboleth. Pamphlets become more and more
+daily amusements to the curious, idle, and inquisitive; pastime to
+gallants and coquettes; chat to the talkative; catch-words to informers;
+fuel to the envious; poison to the unfortunate; balsam to the wounded;
+employ to the lazy; and fabulous materials to romancers and novelists."
+
+This author sketches the origin and rise of pamphlets. He deduces them
+from the short writings published by the Jewish Rabbins; various little
+pieces at the time of the first propagation of Christianity; and notices
+a certain pamphlet which was pretended to have been the composition of
+Jesus Christ, thrown from heaven, and picked up by the archangel Michael
+at the entrance of Jerusalem. It was copied by the priest Leora, and
+sent about from priest to priest, till Pope Zachary ventured to
+pronounce it a _forgery_. He notices several such extraordinary
+publications, many of which produced as extraordinary effects.
+
+He proceeds in noticing the first Arian and Popish pamphlets, or rather
+_libels_, i. e. little books, as he distinguishes them. He relates a
+curious anecdote respecting the forgeries of the monks. Archbishop Usher
+detected in a manuscript of St. Patrick's life, pretended to have been
+found at Louvain, as an original of a very remote date, several passages
+taken, with little alteration, from his own writings.
+
+The following notice of our immortal Pope I cannot pass over: "Another
+class of pamphlets writ by Roman Catholics is that of _Poems_, written
+chiefly by a Pope himself, a gentleman of that name. He passed always
+amongst most of his acquaintance for what is commonly called a Whig; for
+it seems the Roman politics are divided as well as popish missionaries.
+However, one _Esdras_, an apothecary, as he qualifies himself, has
+published a piping-hot pamphlet against Mr. Pope's '_Rape of the Lock_,'
+which he entitles '_A Key to the Lock_,' wherewith he pretends to unlock
+nothing less than a _plot_ carried on by Mr. Pope in that poem against
+the last and this present ministry and government."
+
+He observes on _Sermons_,--"'Tis not much to be questioned, but of all
+modern pamphlets what or wheresoever, the _English stitched Sermons_ be
+the most edifying, useful, and instructive, yet they could not escape
+the critical Mr. Bayle's sarcasm. He says, 'Republique des Lettres,'
+March, 1710, in this article _London_, 'We see here sermons swarm daily
+from the press. Our eyes only behold manna: are you desirous of knowing
+the reason? It is, that the ministers being allowed to _read_ their
+sermons in the pulpit, _buy all they meet with_, and take no other
+trouble than to read them, and thus pass for very able scholars at a
+very cheap rate!'"
+
+He now begins more directly the history of pamphlets, which he branches
+out from four different etymologies. He says, "However foreign the word
+_Pamphlet_ may appear, it is a genuine English word, rarely known or
+adopted in any other language: its pedigree cannot well be traced higher
+than the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. In its first state
+wretched must have been its appearance, since the great linguist John
+Minshew, in his '_Guide into Tongues_,' printed in 1617, gives it the
+most miserable character of which any libel can be capable. Mr. Minshew
+says (and his words were quoted by Lord Chief Justice Holt), 'A
+PAMPHLET, that is _Opusculum Stolidorum_, the diminutive performance of
+fools; from [Greek: pan], _all_, and [Greek: pletho], I _fill_, to wit,
+_all_ places. According to the vulgar saying, all things are full of
+fools, or foolish things; for such multitudes of pamphlets, unworthy of
+the very names of libels, being more vile than common shores and the
+filth of beggars, and being flying papers daubed over and besmeared with
+the foams of drunkards, are tossed far and near into the mouths and
+hands of scoundrels; neither will the sham oracles of Apollo be esteemed
+so mercenary as a Pamphlet.'"
+
+Those who will have the word to be derived from PAM, the famous knave of
+LOO, do not differ much from Minshew; for the derivation of the word
+_Pam_ is in all probability from [Greek: pan], _all_; or the _whole_ or
+the _chief_ of the game.
+
+Under this _first_ etymological notion of Pamphlets may be comprehended
+the _vulgar stories_ of the Nine Worthies of the World, of the Seven
+Champions of Christendom, Tom Thumb, Valentine and Orson, &c., as also
+most of apocryphal lucubrations. The greatest collection of this first
+sort of Pamphlets are the Rabbinic traditions in the Talmud, consisting
+of fourteen volumes in folio, and the Popish legends of the Lives of the
+Saints, which, though not finished, form fifty folio volumes, all which
+tracts were originally in pamphlet forms.
+
+The _second_ idea of the _radix_ of the word _Pamphlet_ is, that it
+takes its derivations from [Greek: pan], _all_, and [Greek: phileo], _I
+love_, signifying a thing beloved by all; for a pamphlet being of a
+small portable bulk, and of no great price, is adapted to every one's
+understanding and reading. In this class may be placed all stitched
+books on serious subjects, the best of which fugitive pieces have been
+generally preserved, and even reprinted in collections of some tracts,
+miscellanies, sermons, poems, &c.; and, on the contrary, bulky volumes
+have been reduced, for the convenience of the public, into the familiar
+shapes of stitched pamphlets. Both these methods have been thus censured
+by the majority of the lower house of convocation 1711. These abuses are
+thus represented: "They have republished, and collected into volumes,
+pieces written long ago on the side of infidelity. They have reprinted
+together in the most contracted manner, many loose and licentious
+pieces, in order to their being purchased more cheaply, and dispersed
+more easily."
+
+The _third_ original interpretation of the word Pamphlet may be that of
+the learned Dr. Skinner, in his _Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae_, that it
+is derived from the Belgic word _Pampier_, signifying a little paper, or
+libel. To this third set of Pamphlets may be reduced all sorts of
+printed single sheets, or half sheets, or any other quantity of single
+paper prints, such as Declarations, Remonstrances, Proclamations,
+Edicts, Orders, Injunctions, Memorials, Addresses, Newspapers, &c.
+
+The _fourth_ radical signification of the word Pamphlet is that
+homogeneal acceptation of it, viz., as it imports any little book, or
+small volume whatever, whether stitched or bound, whether good or bad,
+whether serious or ludicrous. The only proper Latin term for a Pamphlet
+is _Libellus_, or little book. This word indeed signifies in English an
+_abusive_ paper or little book, and is generally taken in the worst
+sense.
+
+After all this display of curious literature, the reader may smile at
+the guesses of Etymologists; particularly when he is reminded that the
+derivation of _Pamphlet_ is drawn from quite another meaning to any of
+the present, by Johnson, which I shall give for his immediate
+gratification.
+
+PAMPHLET [_par un filet_, Fr. Whence this word is written anciently, and
+by Caxton, _paunflet_] a small book; properly a book sold unbound, and
+only stitched.
+
+The French have borrowed the word _Pamphlet_ from us, and have the
+goodness of not disfiguring its orthography. _Roast Beef_ is also in the
+same predicament. I conclude that _Pamphlets_ and _Roast Beef_ have
+therefore their origin in our country.
+
+Pinkerton favoured me with the following curious notice concerning
+pamphlets:--
+
+"Of the etymon of _pamphlet_ I know nothing; but that the word is far
+more ancient than is commonly believed, take the following proof from
+the celebrated _Philobiblon_, ascribed to Richard de Buri, bishop of
+Durham, but written by Robert Holkot, at his desire, as Fabricius says,
+about the year 1344, (Fabr. Bibl. Medii AEvi, vol. i.); it is in the
+eighth chapter.
+
+"Sed, revera, libros non libras maluimus; codicesque plus dileximus quam
+florenos: ac PANFLETOS exiguos phaleratis praetulimus palescedis."
+
+"But, indeed, we prefer books to pounds; and we love manuscripts better
+than florins; and we prefer small _pamphlets_ to war horses."
+
+This word is as old as Lydgate's time: among his works, quoted by
+Warton, is a poem "translated from a _pamflete_ in Frenshe."
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOOKS.
+
+
+Myles Davies has given an opinion of the advantages of Little Books,
+with some humour.
+
+"The smallness of the size of a book was always its own commendation;
+as, on the contrary, the largeness of a book is its own disadvantage, as
+well as the terror of learning. In short, a big book is a scare-crow to
+the head and pocket of the author, student, buyer, and seller, as well
+as a harbour of ignorance; hence the inaccessible masteries of the
+inexpugnable ignorance and superstition of the ancient heathens,
+degenerate Jews, and of the popish scholasters and canonists,
+entrenched under the frightful bulk of huge, vast, and innumerable
+volumes; such as the great folio that the Jewish rabbins fancied in a
+dream was given by the angel Raziel to his pupil Adam, containing all
+the celestial sciences. And the volumes writ by Zoroaster, entitled The
+Similitude, which is said to have taken up no more space than 1260 hides
+of cattle: as also the 25,000, or, as some say, 36,000 volumes, besides
+525 lesser MSS. of his. The grossness and multitude of Aristotle and
+Varro's books were both a prejudice to the authors, and an hindrance to
+learning, and an occasion of the greatest part of them being lost. The
+largeness of Plutarch's treatises is a great cause of his being
+neglected, while Longinus and Epictetus, in their pamphlet Remains, are
+every one's companions. Origen's 6000 volumes (as Epiphanius will have
+it) were not only the occasion of his venting more numerous errors, but
+also for the most part of their perdition.--Were it not for Euclid's
+Elements, Hippocrates' Aphorisms, Justinian's Institutes, and
+Littleton's Tenures, in small pamphlet volumes, young mathematicians,
+fresh-water physicians, civilian novices, and _les apprentices en la ley
+d'Angleterre_, would be at a loss and stand, and total disencouragement.
+One of the greatest advantages the _Dispensary_ has over _King Arthur_
+is its pamphlet size. So Boileau's Lutrin, and his other pamphlet poems,
+in respect of Perrault's and Chapelain's St. Paulin and la Pucelle.
+_These_ seem to pay a deference to the reader's quick and great
+understanding; _those_ to mistrust his capacity, and to confine his time
+as well as his intellect."
+
+Notwithstanding so much may be alleged in favour of books of a small
+size, yet the scholars of a former age regarded them with contempt.
+Scaliger, says Baillet, cavils with Drusius for the smallness of his
+books; and one of the great printers of the time (Moret, the successor
+of Plantin) complaining to the learned Puteanus, who was considered as
+the rival of Lipsius, that his books were too small for sale, and that
+purchasers turned away, frightened at their diminutive size; Puteanus
+referred him to Plutarch, whose works consist of small treatises; but
+the printer took fire at the comparison, and turned him out of his shop,
+for his vanity at pretending that he wrote in any manner like Plutarch!
+a specimen this of the politeness and reverence of the early printers
+for their learned authors; Jurieu reproaches Calomies that he is _a
+great author of little books_!
+
+At least, if a man is the author only of little books, he will escape
+the sarcastic observation of Cicero on a voluminous writer--that "his
+body might be burned with his writings," of which we have had several,
+eminent for the worthlessness and magnitude of their labours.
+
+It was the literary humour of a certain Maecenas, who cheered the lustre
+of his patronage with the steams of a good dinner, to place his guests
+according to the size and thickness of the books they had printed. At
+the head of the table sat those who had published in _folio,
+foliissimo_; next the authors in _quarto_; then those in _octavo_. At
+that table Blackmore would have had the precedence of Gray. Addison, who
+found this anecdote in one of the Anas, has seized this idea, and
+applied it with his felicity of humour in No. 529 of the Spectator.
+
+Montaigne's Works have been called by a Cardinal, "The Breviary of
+Idlers." It is therefore the book for many men. Francis Osborne has a
+ludicrous image in favour of such opuscula. "Huge volumes, like the ox
+roasted whole at Bartholomew fair, may proclaim plenty of labour, but
+afford less of what is _delicate_, _savoury_, and _well-concocted_, than
+SMALLER PIECES."
+
+In the list of titles of minor works, which Aulus Gellius has preserved,
+the lightness and beauty of such compositions are charmingly expressed.
+Among these we find--a Basket of Flowers; an Embroidered Mantle; and a
+Variegated Meadow.
+
+
+
+
+A CATHOLIC'S REFUTATION.
+
+
+In a religious book published by a fellow of the Society of Jesus,
+entitled, "The Faith of a Catholic," the author examines what concerns
+the incredulous Jews and other infidels. He would show that Jesus
+Christ, author of the religion which bears his name, did not impose on
+or deceive the Apostles whom he taught; that the Apostles who preached
+it did not deceive those who were converted; and that those who were
+converted did not deceive us. In proving these three not difficult
+propositions, he says, he confounds "the _Atheist_, who does not believe
+in God; the _Pagan_, who adores several; the _Deist_, who believes in
+one God, but who rejects a particular Providence; the _Freethinker_, who
+presumes to serve God according to his fancy, without being attached to
+any religion; the _Philosopher_, who takes reason and not revelation for
+the rule of his belief; the _Gentile_, who, never having regarded the
+Jewish people as a chosen nation, does not believe God promised them a
+Messiah; and finally, the _Jew_, who refuses to adore the Messiah in the
+person of Christ."
+
+I have given this sketch, as it serves for a singular Catalogue of
+_Heretics_.
+
+It is rather singular that so late as in the year 1765, a work should
+have appeared in Paris, which bears the title I translate, "The
+Christian Religion _proved_ by a _single fact_; or a dissertation in
+which is shown that those _Catholics_ of whom Huneric, King of the
+Vandals, cut the tongues, _spoke miraculously_ all the remainder of
+their days; from whence is deduced the _consequences of this miracle_
+against the Arians, the Socinians, and the Deists, and particularly
+against the author of Emilius, by solving their difficulties." It bears
+this Epigraph, "_Ecce Ego admirationem faciam populo huic, miraculo
+grandi et stupendo_." There needs no further account of this book than
+the title.
+
+
+
+
+THE GOOD ADVICE OF AN OLD LITERARY SINNER.
+
+
+Authors of moderate capacity have unceasingly harassed the public; and
+have at length been remembered only by the number of wretched volumes
+their unhappy industry has produced. Such an author was the Abbe de
+Marolles, otherwise a most estimable and ingenious man, and the
+patriarch of print-collectors.
+
+This Abbe was a most egregious scribbler; and so tormented with violent
+fits of printing, that he even printed lists and catalogues of his
+friends. I have even seen at the end of one of his works a list of names
+of those persons who had given him books. He printed his works at his
+own expense, as the booksellers had unanimously decreed this. Menage
+used to say of his works, "The reason why I esteem the productions of
+the Abbe is, for the singular neatness of their bindings; he embellishes
+them so beautifully, that the eye finds pleasure in them." On a book of
+his versions of the Epigrams of Martial, this critic wrote, _Epigrams
+against Martial._ Latterly, for want of employment, our Abbe began a
+translation of the Bible; but having inserted the notes of the
+visionary Isaac de la Peyrere, the work was burnt by order of the
+ecclesiastical court. He was also an abundant writer in verse, and
+exultingly told a poet, that his verses cost him little: "They cost you
+what they are worth," replied the sarcastic critic. De Marolles in his
+_Memoirs_ bitterly complains of the injustice done to him by his
+contemporaries; and says, that in spite of the little favour shown to
+him by the public, he has nevertheless published, by an accurate
+calculation, one hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and
+twenty-four verses! Yet this was not the heaviest of his literary sins.
+He is a proof that a translator may perfectly understand the language of
+his original, and yet produce an unreadable translation.
+
+In the early part of his life this unlucky author had not been without
+ambition; it was only when disappointed in his political projects that
+he resolved to devote himself to literature. As he was incapable of
+attempting original composition, he became known by his detestable
+versions. He wrote above eighty volumes, which have never found favour
+in the eyes of the critics; yet his translations are not without their
+use, though they never retain by any chance a single passage of the
+spirit of their originals.
+
+The most remarkable anecdote respecting these translations is, that
+whenever this honest translator came to a difficult passage, he wrote in
+the margin, "I have not translated this passage, because it is very
+difficult, and in truth I could never understand it." He persisted to
+the last in his uninterrupted amusement of printing books; and his
+readers having long ceased, he was compelled to present them to his
+friends, who, probably, were not his readers. After a literary existence
+of forty years, he gave the public a work not destitute of entertainment
+in his own Memoirs, which he dedicated to his relations and all his
+illustrious friends. The singular postscript to his Epistle Dedicatory
+contains excellent advice for authors.
+
+"I have omitted to tell you, that I do not advise any one of my
+relatives or friends to apply himself as I have done to study, and
+particularly to the composition of books, if he thinks that will add to
+his fame or fortune. I am persuaded that of all persons in the kingdom,
+none are more neglected than those who devote themselves entirely to
+literature. The small, number of successful persons in that class (at
+present I do not recollect more than two or three) should not impose on
+one's understanding, nor any consequences from them be drawn in favour
+of others. I know how it is by my own experience, and by that of several
+amongst you, as well as by many who are now no more, and with whom I was
+acquainted. Believe me, gentlemen! to pretend to the favours of fortune
+it is only necessary to render one's self useful, and to be supple and
+obsequious to those who are in possession of credit and authority; to be
+handsome in one's person; to adulate the powerful; to smile, while you
+suffer from them every kind of ridicule and contempt whenever they shall
+do you the honour to amuse themselves with you; never to be frightened
+at a thousand obstacles which may be opposed to one; have a face of
+brass and a heart of stone; insult worthy men who are persecuted; rarely
+venture to speak the truth; appear devout, with every nice scruple of
+religion, while at the same time every duty must be abandoned when it
+clashes with your interest. After these any other accomplishment is
+indeed superfluous."
+
+
+
+
+MYSTERIES, MORALITIES, FARCES, AND SOTTIES.
+
+
+The origin of the theatrical representations of the ancients has been
+traced back to a Grecian stroller singing in a cart to the honour of
+Bacchus. Our European exhibitions, perhaps as rude in their
+commencement, were likewise for a long time devoted to pious purposes,
+under the titles of Mysteries and Moralities. Of these primeval
+compositions of the drama of modern Europe, I have collected some
+anecdotes and some specimens.[96]
+
+It appears that pilgrims introduced these devout spectacles. Those who
+returned from the Holy Land or other consecrated places composed
+canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by
+interweaving scenes of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of
+devotion, served as the themes. Menestrier informs us that these
+pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where
+they recited their poems, with their staff in hand; while their chaplets
+and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours formed a
+picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the
+citizens to erect occasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground.
+These spectacles served as the amusements and instruction of the people.
+So attractive were these gross exhibitions in the middle ages, that they
+formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception of princes on
+their public entrances.
+
+When the Mysteries were performed at a more improved period, the actors
+were distinguished characters, and frequently consisted of the
+ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages, who incorporated themselves
+under the title of _Confreres de la Passion_. Their productions were
+divided, not into acts, but into different days of performance, and they
+were performed in the open plain. This was at least conformable to the
+critical precept of that mad knight whose opinion is noticed by Pope. It
+appears by a MS. in the Harleian library, that they were thought to
+contribute so much to the information and instruction of the people,
+that one of the Popes granted a pardon of one thousand days to every
+person who resorted peaceably to the plays performed in the Whitsun week
+at Chester, beginning with "The Creation," and ending with the "General
+Judgment." These were performed at the expense of the different
+corporations of that city, and the reader may smile at the ludicrous
+combinations. "The Creation" was performed by the Drapers; the "Deluge"
+by the Dyers; "Abraham, Melchisedech, and Lot," by the Barbers; "The
+Purification" by the Blacksmiths; "The Last Supper" by the Bakers; the
+"Resurrection" by the Skinners; and the "Ascension" by the Tailors. In
+these pieces the actors represented the person of the Almighty without
+being sensible of the gross impiety. So unskilful were they in this
+infancy of the theatrical art, that very serious consequences were
+produced by their ridiculous blunders and ill-managed machinery. The
+following singular anecdotes are preserved, concerning a Mystery which
+took up several days in the performance.
+
+"In the year 1437, when Conrad Bayer, Bishop of Metz, caused the Mystery
+of 'The Passion' to be represented on the plain of Veximel near that
+city, _God_ was _an old gentleman_, named Mr. Nicholas Neufchatel, of
+Touraine, curate of Saint Victory, of Metz, and who was very near
+expiring on the cross had he not been timely assisted. He was so
+enfeebled, that it was agreed another priest should be placed on the
+cross the next day, to finish the representation of the person
+crucified, and which was done; at the same time Mr. Nicholas undertook
+to perform 'The Resurrection,' which being a less difficult task, he did
+it admirably well."--Another priest, whose name was Mr. John de Nicey,
+curate of Metrange, personated Judas, and he had like to have been
+stifled while he hung on the tree, for his neck slipped; this being at
+length luckily perceived, he was quickly cut down and recovered.
+
+John Bouchet, in his "Annales d'Aquitaine," a work which contains many
+curious circumstances of the times, written with that agreeable
+simplicity which characterises the old writers, informs us, that in 1486
+he saw played and exhibited in Mysteries by persons of Poitiers, "The
+Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ," in great triumph and
+splendour; there were assembled on this occasion most of the ladies and
+gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.
+
+We will now examine the Mysteries themselves. I prefer for this purpose
+to give a specimen from the French, which are livelier than our own. It
+is necessary to premise to the reader, that my versions being in prose
+will probably lose much of that quaint expression and vulgar _naivete_
+which prevail through the originals, written in octo-syllabic verses.
+
+One of these Mysteries has for its subject the election of an apostle to
+supply the place of the traitor Judas. A dignity so awful is conferred
+in the meanest manner; it is done by drawing straws, of which he who
+gets the longest becomes the apostle. Louis Chocquet was a favourite
+composer of these religious performances: when he attempts the
+pathetic, he has constantly recourse to devils; but, as these characters
+are sustained with little propriety, his pathos succeeds in raising a
+laugh. In the following dialogue Annas and Caiaphas are introduced
+conversing about St. Peter and St. John:----
+
+    ANNAS.
+    I remember them once very honest people. They have often brought
+    their fish to my house to sell.
+
+    CAIAPHAS.
+    Is this true?
+
+    ANNAS.
+    By God, it is true; my servants remember them very well. To live
+    more at their ease they have left off business; or perhaps they were in
+    want of customers. Since that time they have followed Jesus, that
+    wicked heretic, who has taught them magic; the fellow understands
+    necromancy, and is the greatest magician alive, as far as Rome itself.
+
+St. John, attacked by the satellites of Domitian, amongst whom the
+author has placed Longinus and Patroclus, gives regular answers to their
+insulting interrogatories. Some of these I shall transcribe; but leave
+to the reader's conjectures the replies of the Saint, which are not
+difficult to anticipate.
+
+     PARTHEMIA.
+
+     You tell us strange things, to say there is but one God in three
+     persons.
+
+     LONGINUS.
+
+     Is it any where said that we must believe your old prophets (with
+     whom your memory seems overburdened) to be more perfect than our
+     gods?
+
+     PATHOCLUS. You must be very cunning to maintain impossibilities.
+     Now listen to me: Is it possible that a virgin can bring forth a
+     child without ceasing to be a virgin?
+
+     DOMITIAN.
+
+     Will you not change these foolish sentiments? Would you pervert us?
+     Will you not convert yourself? Lords! you perceive now very clearly
+     what an obstinate fellow this is! Therefore let him be stripped and
+     put into a great caldron of boiling oil. Let him die at the Latin
+     Gate.
+
+     PESART.
+
+     The great devil of hell fetch me if I don't Latinise him well.
+     Never shall they hear at the Latin Gate any one sing so well as he
+     shall sing.
+
+     TORNEAU.
+
+     I dare venture to say he won't complain of being frozen.
+
+     PATROCLUS.
+
+     Frita, run quick; bring wood and coals, and make the caldron ready.
+
+     FRITA.
+
+     I promise him, if he has the gout or the itch, he will soon get rid
+     of them.
+
+St. John dies a perfect martyr, resigned to the boiling oil and gross
+jests of Patroclus and Longinus. One is astonished in the present times
+at the excessive absurdity, and indeed blasphemy, which the writers of
+these Moralities permitted themselves, and, what is more extraordinary,
+were permitted by an audience consisting of a whole town. An extract
+from the "Mystery of St. Dennis" is in the Duke de la Valliere's
+"Bibliotheque du Theatre Francois depuis son Origine: Dresde, 1768."
+
+The emperor Domitian, irritated against the Christians, persecutes them,
+and thus addresses one of his courtiers:----
+
+    Seigneurs Romains, j'ai entendu
+    Que d'un crucifix d'un pendu,
+    On fait un Dieu par notre empire,
+    Sans ce qu'on le nous daigne dire.
+
+    Roman lords, I understand
+    That of a crucified hanged man
+    They make a God in our kingdom,
+    Without even deigning to ask our permission.
+
+He then orders an officer to seize on Dennis in France. When this
+officer arrives at Paris, the inhabitants acquaint him of the rapid and
+grotesque progress of this future saint:----
+
+        Sire, il preche un Dieu a Paris
+        Qui fait tout les mouls et les vauls.
+        Il va a cheval sans chevauls.
+        Il fait et defait tout ensemble.
+        Il vit, il meurt, il sue, il tremble.
+        Il pleure, il rit, il veille, et dort.
+        Il est jeune et vieux, foible et fort.
+        Il fait d'un coq une poulette.
+        Il joue des arts de roulette,
+        Ou je ne Scais que ce peut etre.
+
+        Sir, he preaches a God at Paris
+        Who has made mountain and valley.
+        He goes a horseback without horses.
+        He does and undoes at once.
+        He lives, he dies, he sweats, he trembles.
+        He weeps, he laughs, he wakes, and sleeps.
+        He is young and old, weak and strong.
+        He turns a cock into a hen.
+        He knows how to conjure with cup and ball,
+        Or I do not know who this can be.
+
+Another of these admirers says, evidently alluding to the rite of
+baptism,----
+
+    Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:
+    Il prend de l'yaue en une escuele,
+    Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,
+    Et dit que partants sont sauves!
+
+    Sir, hear what this mad priest does:
+    He takes water out of a ladle,
+    And, throwing it at people's heads,
+    He says that when they depart they are saved!
+
+This piece then proceeds to entertain the spectators with the tortures
+of St. Dennis, and at length, when more than dead, they mercifully
+behead him: the Saint, after his decapitation, rises very quietly, takes
+his head under his arm, and walks off the stage in all the dignity of
+martyrdom.
+
+It is justly observed by Bayle on these wretched representations, that
+while they prohibited the people from meditating on the sacred history
+in the book which contains it in all its purity and truth, they
+permitted them to see it on the theatre sullied with a thousand gross
+inventions, which were expressed in the most vulgar manner and in a
+farcical style. Warton, with his usual elegance, observes, "To those who
+are accustomed to contemplate the great picture of human follies which
+the unpolished ages of Europe hold up to our view, it will not appear
+surprising that the people who were forbidden to read the events of the
+sacred history in the Bible, in which they are faithfully and
+beautifully related, should at the same time be permitted to see them
+represented on the stage disgraced with the grossest improprieties,
+corrupted with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous kind,
+sullied with impurities, and expressed in the language and
+gesticulations of the lowest farce." Elsewhere he philosophically
+observes that, however, they had their use, "not only teaching the great
+truths of scripture to men who could not read the Bible, but in
+abolishing the barbarous attachment to military games and the bloody
+contentions of the tournament, which had so long prevailed as the sole
+species of popular amusement. Rude, and even ridiculous as they were,
+they softened the manners of the people, by diverting the public
+attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by creating
+a regard for other arts than those of bodily strength and savage
+valour."
+
+_Mysteries_ are to be distinguished from _Moralities_, and _Farces_, and
+_Sotties_. _Moralities_ are dialogues where the interlocutors
+represented feigned or allegorical personages. _Farces_ were more
+exactly what their title indicates--obscene, gross, and dissolute
+representations, where both the actions and words are alike
+reprehensible.
+
+The _Sotties_ were more farcical than farce, and frequently had the
+licentiousness of pasquinades. I shall give an ingenious specimen of one
+of the MORALITIES. This Morality is entitled, "The Condemnation of
+Feasts, to the Praise of Diet and Sobriety for the Benefit of the Human
+Body."
+
+The perils of gormandising form the present subject. Towards the close
+is a trial between _Feasting_ and _Supper_. They are summoned before
+_Experience_, the Lord Chief Justice! _Feasting_ and _Supper_ are
+accused of having murdered four persons by force of gorging them.
+_Experience_ condemns _Feasting_ to the gallows; and his executioner is
+_Diet_. _Feasting_ asks for a father-confessor, and makes a public
+confession of so many crimes, such numerous convulsions, apoplexies,
+head-aches, and stomach-qualms, &c., which he has occasioned, that his
+executioner _Diet_ in a rage stops his mouth, puts the cord about his
+neck, and strangles him. _Supper_ is only condemned to load his hands
+with a certain quantity of lead, to hinder him from putting too many
+dishes on table: he is also bound over to remain at the distance of six
+hours' walking from _Dinner_ upon pain of death. _Supper_ felicitates
+himself on his escape, and swears to observe the mitigated sentence.[97]
+
+The MORALITIES were allegorical dramas, whose tediousness seems to have
+delighted a barbarous people not yet accustomed to perceive that what
+was obvious might be omitted to great advantage: like children,
+everything must be told in such an age; their own unexercised
+imagination cannot supply anything.
+
+Of the FARCES the licentiousness is extreme, but their pleasantry and
+their humour are not contemptible. The "Village Lawyer," which is never
+exhibited on our stage without producing the broadest mirth, originates
+among these ancient drolleries. The humorous incident of the shepherd,
+who having stolen his master's sheep, is advised by his lawyer only to
+reply to his judge by mimicking the bleating of a sheep, and when the
+lawyer in return claims his fee, pays him by no other coin, is
+discovered in these ancient farces. Brueys got up the ancient farce of
+the "_Patelin_" in 1702, and we borrowed it from him.
+
+They had another species of drama still broader than Farce, and more
+strongly featured by the grossness, the severity, and personality of
+satire:--these were called _Sotties_, of which the following one I find
+in the Duke de la Valliere's "Bibliotheque du Theatre Francois."[98]
+
+The actors come on the stage with their fools'-caps each wanting the
+right ear, and begin with stringing satirical proverbs, till, after
+drinking freely, they discover that their fools'-caps want the right
+ear. They call on their old grandmother _Sottie_ (or Folly), who advises
+them to take up some trade. She introduces this progeny of her fools to
+the _World_, who takes them into his service. The _World_ tries their
+skill, and is much displeased with their work. The _Cobbler_-fool
+pinches his feet by making the shoes too small; the _Tailor_-fool hangs
+his coat too loose or too tight about him; the _Priest_-fool says his
+masses either too short or too tedious. They all agree that the _World_
+does not know what he wants, and must be sick, and prevail upon him to
+consult a physician. The _World_ obligingly sends what is required to a
+Urine-doctor, who instantly pronounces that "the _World_ is as mad as a
+March hare!" He comes to visit his patient, and puts a great many
+questions on his unhappy state. The _World_ replies, "that what most
+troubles his head is the idea of a new deluge by fire, which must one
+day consume him to a powder;" on which the physician gives this
+answer:----
+
+    Et te troubles-tu pour cela?
+    Monde, tu ne te troubles pas
+    De voir ce larrons attrapars
+    Vendre et acheter benefices;
+    Les enfans en bras des Nourices
+    Estre Abbes, Eveques, Prieurs,
+    Chevaucher tres bien les deux soeurs,
+    Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,
+    Jouer le leur, l'autrui saisir,
+    Donner aux flatteurs audience,
+    Faire la guerre a toute outrance
+    Pour un rien entre les chrestiens!
+
+    And you really trouble yourself about this?
+    Oh, _World!_ you do not trouble yourself about
+    Seeing those impudent rascals
+    Selling and buying livings;
+    Children in the arms of their nurses
+    Made Abbots, Bishops, and Priors,
+    Intriguing with girls,
+    Killing people for their pleasures,
+    Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs to another,
+    Lending their ears to flatterers,
+    Making war, exterminating war,
+    For a bubble, among Christians!
+
+The _World_ takes leave of his physician, but retains his advice; and to
+cure his fits of melancholy gives himself up entirely to the direction
+of his fools. In a word, the _World_ dresses himself in the coat and cap
+of _Folly_, and he becomes as gay and ridiculous as the rest of the
+fools.
+
+This _Sottie_ was represented in the year 1524.
+
+Such was the rage for Mysteries, that Rene d'Anjou, king of Naples and
+Sicily, and Count of Provence, had them magnificently represented and
+made them a serious concern. Being in Provence, and having received
+letters from his son the Prince of Calabria, who asked him for an
+immediate aid of men, he replied, that "he had a very different matter
+in hand, for he was fully employed in settling the order of a
+Mystery--_in honour of God_."[99]
+
+Strutt, in his "Manners and Customs of the English," has given a
+description of the stage in England when Mysteries were the only
+theatrical performances. Vol. iii, p. 130.
+
+"In the early dawn of literature, and when the sacred Mysteries were the
+only theatrical performances, what is now called the stage did then
+consist of three several platforms, or stages raised one above another.
+On the uppermost sat the _Pater Coelestis_, surrounded with his Angels;
+on the second appeared the Holy Saints, and glorified men; and the last
+and lowest was occupied by mere men who had not yet passed from this
+transitory life to the regions of eternity. On one side of this lowest
+platform was the resemblance of a dark pitchy cavern, from whence issued
+appearance of fire and flames; and, when it was necessary, the audience
+were treated with hideous yellings and noises as imitative of the
+howlings and cries of the wretched souls tormented by the relentless
+demons. From this yawning cave the devils themselves constantly ascended
+to delight and to instruct the spectators:--to delight, because they
+were usually the greatest jesters and buffoons that then appeared; and
+to instruct, for that they treated the wretched mortals who were
+delivered to them with the utmost cruelty, warning thereby all men
+carefully to avoid the falling into the clutches of such hardened and
+remorseless spirits." An anecdote relating to an English Mystery
+presents a curious specimen of the manners of our country, which then
+could admit of such a representation; the simplicity, if not the
+libertinism, of the age was great. A play was acted in one of the
+principal cities of England, under the direction of the trading
+companies of that city, before a numerous assembly of both sexes,
+wherein _Adam_ and _Eve_ appeared on the stage entirely naked, performed
+their whole part in the representation of Eden, to the serpent's
+temptation, to the eating of the forbidden fruit, the perceiving of, and
+conversing about, their nakedness, and to the supplying of fig-leaves to
+cover it. Warton observes they had the authority of scripture for such a
+representation, and they gave matters just as they found them in the
+third chapter of Genesis. The following article will afford the reader a
+specimen of an _Elegant Morality_.
+
+
+
+
+LOVE AND FOLLY, AN ANCIENT MORALITY.
+
+
+One of the most elegant Moralities was composed by Louise L'Abe; the
+Aspasia of Lyons in 1550, adored by her contemporaries. With no
+extraordinary beauty, she however displayed the fascination of classical
+learning, and a vein of vernacular poetry refined and fanciful. To
+accomplishments so various she added the singular one of distinguishing
+herself by a military spirit, and was nicknamed Captain Louise. She was
+a fine rider and a fine lutanist. She presided in the assemblies of
+persons of literature and distinction. Married to a rope-manufacturer,
+she was called _La belle Cordiere_, and her name is still perpetuated by
+that of the street she lived in. Her anagram was _Belle a Soy_.--But she
+was _belle_ also for others. Her _Morals_ in one point were not correct,
+but her taste was never gross: the ashes of her perishable graces may
+preserve themselves sacred from our severity; but the productions of her
+genius may still delight.
+
+Her Morality, entitled "Debat de Folie et d'Amour--the Contest of _Love_
+and _Folly_," is divided into five parts, and contains six mythological
+or allegorical personages. This division resembles our five acts, which,
+soon after the publication of this Morality, became generally practised.
+
+In the first part, _Love_ and _Folly_ arrive at the same moment at the
+gate of Jupiter's palace, to join a festival to which he had invited the
+gods. _Folly_ observing _Love_ just going to step in at the hall, pushes
+him aside and enters first. _Love_ is enraged, but _Folly_ insists on
+her precedency. _Love_, perceiving there was no reasoning with _Folly_,
+bends his bow and shoots an arrow; but she baffled his attempt by
+rendering herself invisible. She in her turn becomes furious, falls on
+the boy, tearing out his eyes, and then covers them with a bandage which
+could not be taken off.
+
+In the second part, _Love_, in despair for having lost his sight,
+implores the assistance of his mother; she tries in vain to undo the
+magic fillet; the knots are never to be unloosed.
+
+In the third part, Venus presents herself at the foot of the throne of
+Jupiter to complain of the outrage committed by _Folly_ on her son.
+Jupiter commands _Folly_ to appear.--She replies, that though she has
+reason to justify herself, she will not venture to plead her cause, as
+she is apt to speak too much, or to omit what should be said. _Folly_
+asks for a counsellor, and chooses Mercury; Apollo is selected by
+Venus. The fourth part consists of a long dissertation between Jupiter
+and _Love_, on the manner of loving. _Love_ advises Jupiter, if he
+wishes to taste of truest happiness, to descend on earth, to lay down
+all his majesty, and, in the figure of a mere mortal, to please some
+beautiful maiden: "Then wilt thou feel quite another contentment than
+that thou hast hitherto enjoyed: instead of a single pleasure it will be
+doubled; for there is as much pleasure to be loved as to love." Jupiter
+agrees that this may be true, but he thinks that to attain this it
+requires too much time, too much trouble, too many attentions,--and
+that, after all, it is not worth them.
+
+In the fifth part, Apollo, the advocate for Venus, in a long pleading
+demands justice against _Folly_. The Gods, seduced by his eloquence,
+show by their indignation that they would condemn _Folly_ without
+hearing her advocate Mercury. But Jupiter commands silence, and Mercury
+replies. His pleading is as long as the adverse party's, and his
+arguments in favour of _Folly_ are so plausible, that, when he concludes
+his address, the gods are divided in opinion; some espouse the cause of
+_Love_, and some, that of _Folly_. Jupiter, after trying in vain to make
+them agree together, pronounces this award:----
+
+"On account of the difficulty and importance of your disputes and the
+diversity of your opinions, we have suspended your contest from this day
+to three times seven times nine centuries. In the mean time we command
+you to live amicably together without injuring one another. _Folly_
+shall lead _Love,_ and take him whithersoever he pleases, and when
+restored to his sight, the Fates may pronounce sentence."
+
+Many beautiful conceptions are scattered in this elegant Morality. It
+has given birth to subsequent imitations; it was too original and
+playful an idea not to be appropriated by the poets. To this Morality we
+perhaps owe the panegyric of _Folly_ by Erasmus, and the _Love and
+Folly_ of La Fontaine.
+
+
+
+
+RELIGIOUS NOUVELLETTES.
+
+
+I shall notice a class of very singular works, in which the spirit of
+romance has been called in to render religion more attractive to certain
+heated imaginations.
+
+In the fifteenth century was published a little book of _prayers_,
+accompanied by _figures_, both of a very uncommon nature for a religious
+publication. It is entitled _Hortulus Animae, cum Oratiunculis aliquibus
+superadditis quae in prioribus Libris non habentur_.
+
+It is a small octavo _en lettres gothiques_, printed by John Grunninger,
+1500. "A garden," says the author, "which abounds with flowers for the
+pleasure of the soul;" but they are full of poison. In spite of his fine
+promises, the chief part of these meditations are as puerile as they are
+superstitious. This we might excuse, because the ignorance and
+superstition of the times allowed such things: but the _figures_ which
+accompany this work are to be condemned in all ages; one represents
+Saint Ursula and some of her eleven thousand virgins, with all the
+licentious inventions of an Aretine. What strikes the ear does not so
+much irritate the senses, observes the sage Horace, as what is presented
+in all its nudity to the eye. One of these designs is only ridiculous:
+David is represented as examining Bathsheba bathing, while Cupid
+hovering throws his dart, and with a malicious smile triumphs in his
+success. We have had many gross anachronisms in similar designs. There
+is a laughable picture in a village in Holland, in which Abraham appears
+ready to sacrifice his son Isaac by a loaded blunderbuss; but his pious
+intention is entirely frustrated by an angel urining in the pan. In
+another painting, the Virgin receives the annunciation of the angel
+Gabriel with a huge chaplet of beads tied round her waist, reading her
+own offices, and kneeling before a crucifix; another happy invention, to
+be seen on an altar-piece at Worms, is that in which the Virgin throws
+Jesus into the hopper of a mill, while from the other side he issues
+changed into little morsels of bread, with which the priests feast the
+people. Matthison, a modern traveller, describes a picture in a church
+at Constance, called the Conception of the Holy Virgin. An old man lies
+on a cloud, whence he darts out a vast beam, which passes through a dove
+hovering just below; at the end of a beam appears a large transparent
+egg, in which egg is seen a child in swaddling clothes with a glory
+round it. Mary sits leaning in an arm chair, and opens her mouth to
+receive the egg.
+
+I must not pass unnoticed in this article a production as extravagant in
+its design, in which the author prided himself in discussing three
+thousand questions concerning the Virgin Mary.
+
+The publication now adverted to was not presented to the world in a
+barbarous age and in a barbarous country, but printed at Paris in 1668.
+It bears for title, _Devote Salutation des Membres sacres du Corps de la
+Glorieuse Vierge, Mere de Dieu_. That is, "A Devout Salutation of the
+Holy Members of the Body of the glorious Virgin, Mother of God." It was
+printed and published with an approbation and privilege, which is more
+strange than the work itself. Valois reprobates it in these just terms:
+"What would Innocent XI. have done, after having abolished the shameful
+_Office of the Conception, Indulgences, &c._ if he had seen a volume in
+which the impertinent devotion of that visionary monk caused to be
+printed, with permission of his superiors, Meditations on all the Parts
+of the Body of the Holy Virgin? Religion, decency, and good sense, are
+equally struck at by such an extravagance." I give a specimen of the
+most decent of these _salutations_.
+
+_Salutation to the Hair._
+
+"I salute you, charming hair of Maria! Rays of the mystical sun! Lines
+of the centre and circumference of all created perfection! Veins of gold
+of the mine of love! Chains of the prison of God! Roots of the tree of
+life! Rivulets of the fountain of Paradise! Strings of the bow of
+charity! Nets that caught Jesus, and shall be used in the hunting-day of
+souls!"
+
+_Salutation to the Ears._
+
+"I salute ye, intelligent ears of Maria! ye presidents of the princes of
+the poor! Tribunal for their petitions; salvation at the audience of the
+miserable! University of all divine wisdom! Receivers general of all
+wards! Ye are pierced with the rings of our chains; ye are impearled
+with our necessities!"
+
+The images, prints, and miniatures, with which the catholic religion has
+occasion to decorate its splendid ceremonies, have frequently been
+consecrated to the purposes of love: they have been so many votive
+offerings worthy to have been suspended in the temple of Idalia. Pope
+Alexander VI. had the images of the Virgin made to represent some of his
+mistresses; the famous Vanozza, his favourite, was placed on the altar
+of Santa, Maria del Popolo; and Julia Farnese furnished a subject for
+another Virgin. The same genius of pious gallantry also visited our
+country. The statuaries made the queen of Henry III. a model for the
+face of the Virgin Mary. Hearne elsewhere affirms, that the Virgin Mary
+was generally made to bear a resemblance to the queens of the age,
+which, no doubt, produced some real devotion among the courtiers.
+
+The prayer-books of certain pious libertines were decorated with the
+portraits of their favourite minions and ladies in the characters of
+saints, and even of the Virgin and Jesus. This scandalous practice was
+particularly prevalent in that reign of debauchery in France, when Henry
+III. held the reins of government with a loose hand. In a missal once
+appertaining to the queen of Louis XII. may be seen a mitred ape, giving
+its benediction to a man prostrate before it; a keen reproach to the
+clergy of that day. Charles V., however pious that emperor affected to
+be, had a missal painted for his mistress by the great Albert Durer, the
+borders of which are crowded with extravagant grotesques, consisting of
+apes, who were sometimes elegantly sportive, giving clysters to one
+another, and in more offensive attitudes, not adapted to heighten the
+piety of the Royal Mistress. This missal has two French verses written
+by the Emperor himself, who does not seem to have been ashamed of his
+present. The Italians carried this taste to excess. The manners of our
+country were more rarely tainted with this deplorable licentiousness,
+although I have observed an innocent tendency towards it, by examining
+the illuminated manuscripts of our ancient metrical romances: while we
+admire the vivid colouring of these splendid manuscripts, the curious
+observer will perceive that almost every heroine is represented in a
+state which appears incompatible with her reputation. Most of these
+works are, I believe, by French artists.
+
+A supplement might be formed to religious indecencies from the Golden
+Legend, which abounds in them. Henry Stephens's Apology for Herodotus
+might be likewise consulted with effect for the same purpose. There is a
+story of St. Mary the Egyptian, who was perhaps a looser liver than Mary
+Magdalen; for not being able to pay for her passage to Jerusalem,
+whither she was going to adore the holy cross and sepulchre, in despair
+she thought of an expedient in lieu of payment to the ferryman, which
+required at least going twice, instead of once, to Jerusalem as a
+penitential pilgrimage. This anecdote presents the genuine character of
+certain _devotees_.
+
+Melchior Inchoffer, a Jesuit, published a book to vindicate the miracle
+of a _Letter_ which the Virgin Mary had addressed to the citizens of
+Messina: when Naude brought him positive proofs of its evident forgery,
+Inchoffer ingenuously confessed the imposture, but pleaded that it was
+done by the _orders_ of his _superiors_.
+
+This same _letter_ of the Virgin Mary was like a _donation_ made to her
+by Louis the Eleventh of the _whole county_ of Boulogne, retaining,
+however, for _his own use the revenues_! This solemn act bears the date
+of the year 1478, and is entitled, "Conveyance of Louis the Eleventh to
+the Virgin of Boulogne, of the right and title of the fief and homage of
+the county of Boulogne, which is held by the Count of Saint Pol, to
+render a faithful account before the image of the said lady."
+
+Maria Agreda, a religious visionary, wrote _The Life of the Virgin_. She
+informs us that she resisted the commands of God and the holy Mary till
+the year 1637, when she began to compose this curious rhapsody. When she
+had finished this _original_ production, her confessor advised her to
+_burn_ it; she obeyed. Her friends, however, who did not think her less
+inspired than she informed them she was, advised her to re-write the
+work. When printed it spread rapidly from country to country: new
+editions appeared at Lisbon, Madrid, Perpignan, and Antwerp. It was the
+rose of Sharon for those climates. There are so many pious absurdities
+in this book, which were found to give such pleasure to the devout, that
+it was solemnly honoured with the censure of the Sorbonne; and it spread
+the more.
+
+The head of this lady was quite turned by her religion. In the first six
+chapters she relates the visions of the Virgin, which induced her to
+write her life. She begins the history _ab ovo_, as it may be expressed;
+for she has formed a narrative of what passed during the nine months in
+which the Virgin was confined in the womb of her mother St. Anne. After
+the birth of Mary, she received an augmentation of angelic guards; we
+have several conversations which God held with the Virgin during the
+first eighteen months after her birth. And it is in this manner she
+formed a _circulating novel_, which delighted the female devotees of the
+seventeenth century.
+
+The worship paid to the Virgin Mary in Spain and Italy exceeds that
+which is given to the Son or the Father. When they pray to Mary, their
+imagination pictures a beautiful woman, they really feel a _passion_;
+while Jesus is only regarded as a _Bambino_, or infant at the breast,
+and the _Father_ is hardly ever recollected: but the _Madonna la
+Senhora, la Maria Santa_, while she inspires their religious
+inclinations, is a mistress to those who have none.
+
+Of similar works there exists an entire race, and the libraries of the
+curious may yet preserve a shelf of these religious _nouvellettes_. The
+Jesuits were the usual authors of these rhapsodies. I find an account of
+a book which pretends to describe what passes in Paradise. A Spanish
+Jesuit published at Salamanca a volume in folio, 1652, entitled
+_Empyreologia_. He dwells with great complacency on the joys of the
+celestial abode; there always will be music in heaven with material
+instruments as our ears are already accustomed to; otherwise he thinks
+the celestial music would not be music for us! But another Jesuit is
+more particular in his accounts. He positively assures us that we shall
+experience a supreme pleasure in kissing and embracing the bodies of the
+blessed; they will bathe in the presence of each other, and for this
+purpose there are most agreeable baths in which we shall swim like fish;
+that we shall all warble as sweetly as larks and nightingales; that the
+angels will dress themselves in female habits, their hair curled;
+wearing petticoats and fardingales, and with the finest linen; that men
+and women will amuse themselves in masquerades, feasts, and
+balls.--Women will sing more agreeably than men to heighten these
+entertainments, and at the resurrection will have more luxuriant
+tresses, ornamented with ribands and head-dresses as in this life!
+
+Such were the books once so devoutly studied, and which doubtless were
+often literally understood. How very bold must the minds of the Jesuits
+have been, and how very humble those of their readers, that such
+extravagances should ever be published! And yet, even to the time in
+which I am now writing,--even at this day,--the same picturesque and
+impassioned pencil is employed by the modern Apostles of Mysticism--the
+Swedenborgians, the Moravians, the Methodists!
+
+I find an account of another book of this class, ridiculous enough to be
+noticed. It has for title, "The Spiritual Kalendar, composed of as many
+Madrigals or Sonnets and Epigrams as there are days in the year;
+written for the consolation of the pious and the curious. By Father G.
+Cortade, Austin Preacher at Bayonne, 1665." To give a notion of this
+singular collection take an Epigram addressed to a Jesuit, who, young as
+he was, used to _put spurs under his shirt_ to mortify the outer man!
+The Kalendar-poet thus gives a point to these spurs:--
+
+    Il ne pourra done plus ni ruer ni hennir
+    Sous le rude Eperon dont tu fais son supplice;
+    Qui vit jamais tel artifice,
+    De piquer un cheval pour le mieux retenir!
+
+    HUMBLY INTIMATED.
+
+    Your body no more will neigh and will kick,
+    The point of the spur must eternally prick;
+    Whoever contrived a thing with such skill,
+    To keep spurring a horse to make him stand still!
+
+One of the most extravagant works projected on the subject of the Virgin
+Mary was the following:--The prior of a convent in Paris had
+reiteratedly entreated Varillas the historian to examine a work composed
+by one of the monks; and of which--not being himself addicted to
+letters--he wished to be governed by his opinion. Varillas at length
+yielded to the entreaties of the prior; and to regale the critic, they
+laid on two tables for his inspection seven enormous volumes in folio.
+
+This rather disheartened our reviewer: but greater was his astonishment,
+when, having opened the first volume, he found its title to be _Summa
+Dei-parae_; and as Saint Thomas had made a _Sum_, or System of Theology,
+so our monk had formed a _System_ of the _Virgin_! He immediately
+comprehended the design of our good father, who had laboured on this
+work full thirty years, and who boasted he had treated _Three Thousand_
+Questions concerning the Virgin! of which he flattered himself not a
+single one had ever yet been imagined by any one but himself!
+
+Perhaps a more extraordinary design was never known. Varillas, pressed
+to give his judgment on this work, advised the prior with great prudence
+and good-nature to amuse the honest old monk with the hope of printing
+these seven folios, but always to start some new difficulties; for it
+would be inhuman to occasion so deep a chagrin to a man who had reached
+his seventy-fourth year, as to inform him of the nature of his favourite
+occupations; and that after his death he should throw the seven folios
+into the fire.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 96: Since this article was written, many of these ancient
+Mysteries and Moralities have been printed at home and abroad. Hone, in
+his "Ancient Mysteries Described," 1825, first gave a summary of the
+_Ludus Coventriae,_ the famous mysteries performed by the trading
+companies of Coventry; the entire series have been since printed by the
+Shakspeare Society, under the editorship of Mr. Halliwell, and consist
+of forty-two dramas, founded on incidents in the Old and New Testaments.
+The equally famous _Chester Mysteries_ were also printed by the same
+society under the editorship of Mr. Wright, and consist of twenty-five
+long dramas, commencing with "The Fall of Lucifer," and ending with
+"Doomsday." In 1834, the Abbotsford Club published some others from the
+Digby MS., in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. In 1825, Mr. Sharp, of
+Coventry, published a dissertation on the Mysteries once performed
+there, and printed the Pageant of the Sheremen and Taylor's Company; and
+in 1836 the Abbotsford Club printed the Pageant played by the Weavers of
+that city. In 1836, the Surtees Society published the series known as
+_The Towneley Mysteries,_ consisting of thirty-two dramas; in 1838, Dr.
+Marriott published in English, at Basle, a selection of the most curious
+of these dramas. In 1837, M. Achille Jubinal published two octavo
+volumes of French "Mysteres inedits du Quinzieme Siecle." This list
+might be swelled by other notes of such books, printed within the last
+thirty years, in illustration of these early religious dramas.]
+
+[Footnote 97: In Jubinal's _Tapisseries Anciennes_ is engraved that
+found in the tent of Charles the Bold, at Nancy, and still preserved in
+that city. It is particularly curious, inasmuch as it depicts the
+incidents described in the Morality above-named.]
+
+[Footnote 98: The British Museum library was enriched in 1845 by a very
+curions collection of these old comic plays, which was formed about
+1560. It consists of sixty-four dramas, of which number only five or six
+were known before. They are exceedingly curious as pictures of early
+manners and amusements; very simple in construction, and containing few
+characters. One is a comic dialogue between two persons as to the best
+way of managing a wife. Another has for its plot the adventure of a
+husband sent from home by the seigneur of the village, that he may
+obtain access to his wife; and who is checkmated by the peasant, who
+repairs to the neglected lady of the seigneur. Some are entirely
+composed of allegorical characters; all are broadly comic, in language
+equally broad. They were played by a jocular society, whose chief was
+termed Prince des Sots; hence the name Sotties given to the farces.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The peasants of the Ober-Ammergau, a village in the
+Bavarian Alps, still perform, at intervals of ten years, a long miracle
+play, detailing the chief incidents of the Passion of our Saviour from
+his entrance into Jerusalem to his ascension. It is done in fulfilment
+of a vow made during a pestilence in 1633. The performance lasted twelve
+hours in 1850, when it was last performed. The actors were all of the
+peasant class.]
+
+
+
+
+"CRITICAL SAGACITY," AND "HAPPY CONJECTURE;" OR, BENTLEY'S MILTON.
+
+
+    ----BENTLEY, long to wrangling schools confined,
+    And but by books acquainted with mankind----
+    To MILTON lending sense, to HORACE wit,
+    He makes them write, what never poet writ.
+
+DR. BENTLEY'S edition of our English Homer is sufficiently known by
+name. As it stands a terrifying beacon to conjectural criticism, I shall
+just notice some of those violations which the learned critic ventured
+to commit, with all the arrogance of a Scaliger. This man, so deeply
+versed in ancient learning, it will appear, was destitute of taste and
+genius in his native language.
+
+Our critic, to persuade the world of the necessity of his edition,
+imagined a fictitious editor of Milton's Poems: and it was this
+ingenuity which produced all his absurdities. As it is certain that the
+blind bard employed an amanuensis, it was not improbable that many words
+of similar sound, but very different signification, might have
+disfigured the poem; but our Doctor was bold enough to conjecture that
+this amanuensis _interpolated_ whole verses of his own composition in
+the "Paradise Lost!" Having laid down this fatal position, all the
+consequences of his folly naturally followed it. Yet if there needs any
+conjecture, the more probable one will be, that Milton, who was never
+careless of his future fame, had his poem _read_ to him after it had
+been published. The first edition appeared in 1667, and the second in
+1674, in which all the faults of the former edition are continued. By
+these _faults_, the Doctor means what _he_ considers to be such: for we
+shall soon see that his "Canons of Criticism" are apocryphal.
+
+Bentley says that he will _supply_ the want of manuscripts to collate
+(to use his own words) by his own "SAGACITY," and "HAPPY CONJECTURE."
+
+Milton, after the conclusion of Satan's speech to the fallen angels,
+proceeds thus:--
+
+    1. He spake: and to confirm his words out flew
+    2. Millions of flaming _swords_, drawn from the thighs
+    3. Of mighty cherubim: the sudden blaze
+    4. Far round illumin'd hell; highly they rag'd
+    5. Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped _arms_
+    6. Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war,
+    7. Hurling defiance tow'rd the _Vault_ of heaven.
+
+In this passage, which is as perfect as human wit can make, the Doctor
+alters three words. In the second line he puts _blades_ instead of
+_swords_; in the fifth he puts _swords_ instead of _arms_; and in the
+last line he prefers _walls_ to _vault_. All these changes are so many
+defoedations of the poem. The word _swords_ is far more poetical than
+_blades_, which may as well be understood of _knives_ as _swords_. The
+word _arms_, the generic for the specific term, is still stronger and
+nobler than _swords_; and the beautiful conception of _vault_, which is
+always indefinite to the eye, while the solidity of _walls_ would but
+meanly describe the highest Heaven, gives an idea of grandeur and
+modesty.
+
+Milton writes, book i. v. 63--
+
+    No light, but rather DARKNESS VISIBLE
+    Served only to discover sights of woe.
+
+Perhaps borrowed from Spenser:--
+
+    A little glooming light, much like a shade.
+            _Faery Queene_, b. i. c. 2. st. 14.
+
+This fine expression of "DARKNESS VISIBLE" the Doctor's critical
+sagacity has thus rendered clearer:--
+
+    No light, but rather A TRANSPICIUOUS GLOOM.
+
+Again, our learned critic distinguishes the 74th line of the first
+book--
+
+    As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole,
+
+as "a vicious verse," and therefore with "happy conjecture," and no
+taste, thrusts in an entire verse of his own composition--
+
+    DISTANCE WHICH TO EXPRESS ALL MEASURE FAILS.
+
+Milton _writes_,
+
+    Our torments, also, may in length of time
+    Become our elements.    B. ii. ver. 274.
+
+Bentley _corrects_--
+
+    _Then, AS WAS WELL OBSERV'D_ our torments may
+    Become our elements.
+
+A curious instance how the insertion of a single prosaic expression
+turns a fine verse into something worse than the vilest prose.
+
+To conclude with one more instance of critical emendation: Milton says,
+with an agreeable turn of expression--
+
+    So parted they; the angel up to heaven,
+    From the thick shade; and Adam to his bower.
+
+Bentley "conjectures" these two verses to be inaccurate, and in lieu of
+the last writes--
+
+    ADAM, TO RUMINATE ON PAST DISCOURSE.
+
+And then our erudite critic reasons! as thus:--
+
+After the conversation between the Angel and Adam in the bower, it may
+be well presumed that our first parent waited on his heavenly guest at
+his departure to some little distance from it, till he began to take his
+flight towards heaven; and therefore "sagaciously" thinks that the poet
+could not with propriety say that the angel parted from the _thick
+shade_, that is, the _bower_, to go to heaven. But if Adam attended the
+Angel no farther than the door or entrance of the bower, then he
+shrewdly asks, "How Adam could return to his bower if he was never out
+of it?"
+
+Our editor has made a thousand similar corrections in his edition of
+Milton! Some have suspected that the same kind intention which prompted
+Dryden to persuade Creech to undertake a translation of Horace
+influenced those who encouraged our Doctor, in thus exercising his
+"sagacity" and "happy conjecture" on the epic of Milton. He is one of
+those learned critics who have happily "elucidated their author into
+obscurity," and comes nearest to that "true conjectural critic" whose
+practice a Portuguese satirist so greatly admired: by which means, if he
+be only followed up by future editors, we might have that immaculate
+edition, in which little or nothing should be found of the original!
+
+I have collected these few instances as not uninteresting to men of
+taste; they may convince us that a scholar may be familiarized to Greek
+and Latin, though a stranger to his vernacular literature; and that a
+verbal critic may sometimes be successful in his attempts on a _single
+word_, though he may be incapable of tasting an _entire sentence_. Let
+it also remain as a gibbet on the high roads of literature; that
+"conjectural critics" as they pass may not forget the unhappy fate of
+Bentley.
+
+The following epigram appeared on this occasion:--
+
+    ON MILTON'S EXECUTIONER.
+
+    Did MILTON'S PROSE, O CHARLES! thy death defend?
+    A furious foe, unconscious, proves a friend;
+    On MILTON'S VERSE does BENTLEY comment? know,
+    A weak officious friend becomes a foe.
+    While he would seem his author's fame to farther,
+    The MURTHEROUS critic has avenged thy MURTHER.
+
+The classical learning of Bentley was singular and acute; but the
+erudition of words is frequently found not to be allied to the
+sensibility of taste.[100]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 100: An amusing instance of his classical emendations occurs
+in the text of Shakspeare. [King Henry IV. pt. 2, act 1, sc. 1.] The
+poet speaks of one who
+
+         "----woebegone
+    Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
+    And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd."
+
+Bentley alters the first word of the sentence to a proper name, which is
+given in the third book of the Iliad, and the second of the AEneid; and
+reads the passage thus:--
+
+         "----Ucaligon
+    Drew Priam's curtain," &c.!]
+
+
+
+
+A JANSENIST DICTIONARY.
+
+
+When L'Advocat published his concise Biographical Dictionary, the
+Jansenists, the methodists of France, considered it as having been
+written with a view to depreciate the merit of _their_ friends. The
+spirit of party is too soon alarmed. The Abbe Barral undertook a
+dictionary devoted to their cause. In this labour, assisted by his good
+friends the Jansenists, he indulged all the impetuosity and acerbity of
+a splenetic adversary. The Abbe was, however, an able writer; his
+anecdotes are numerous and well chosen; and his style is rapid and
+glowing. The work bears for title, "Dictionnaire Historique, Litteraire,
+et Critique, des Hommes Celebres," 6 vols. 8vo. 1719. It is no unuseful
+speculation to observe in what manner a faction represents those who
+have not been its favourites: for this purpose I select the characters
+of Fenelon, Cranmer, and Luther.
+
+Of Fenelon they write, "He composed for the instruction of the Dukes of
+Burgundy, Anjou, and Berri, several works; amongst others, the
+Telemachus--a singular book, which partakes at once of the character of
+a romance and of a poem, and which substitutes a prosaic cadence for
+versification."
+
+But several luscious pictures would not lead us to suspect that this
+book issued from the pen of a sacred minister for the education of a
+prince; and what we are told by a famous poet is not improbable, that
+Fenelon did not compose it at court, but that it is the fruits of his
+retreat in his diocese. And indeed the amours of Calypso and Eucharis
+should not be the first lessons that a minister ought to give his
+scholars; and, besides, the fine moral maxims which the author
+attributes to the Pagan divinities are not well placed in their mouth.
+Is not this rendering homage to the demons of the great truths which we
+receive from the Gospel, and to despoil J. C. to render respectable the
+annihilated gods of paganism? This prelate was a wretched divine, more
+familiar with the light of profane authors than with that of the fathers
+of the church. Phelipeaux has given us, in his narrative of Quietism,
+the portrait of the friend of Madame Guyon. This archbishop has a lively
+genius, artful and supple, which can flatter and dissimulate, if ever
+any could. Seduced by a woman, he was solicitous to spread his
+seduction. He joined to the politeness and elegance of conversation a
+modest air, which rendered him amiable. He spoke of spirituality with
+the expression and the enthusiasm of a prophet; with such talents he
+flattered himself that everything would yield to him.
+
+In this work the Protestants, particularly the first Reformers, find no
+quarter; and thus virulently their rabid catholicism exults over the
+hapless end of Cranmer, the first Protestant archbishop:--
+
+"Thomas Cranmer married the sister of Osiander. As Henry VIII. detested
+married priests, Cranmer kept this second marriage in profound secrecy.
+This action serves to show the character of this great reformer, who is
+the hero of Burnet, whose history is so much esteemed in England. What
+blindness to suppose him an Athanasius, who was at once a Lutheran
+secretly married, a consecrated archbishop under the Roman pontiff whose
+power he detested, saying the mass in which he did not believe, and
+granting a power to say it! The divine vengeance burst on this
+sycophantic courtier, who had always prostituted his conscience to his
+fortune."
+
+Their character of Luther is quite Lutheran in one sense, for Luther was
+himself a stranger to moderate strictures:--
+
+"The furious Luther, perceiving himself assisted by the credit of
+several princes, broke loose against the church with the most
+inveterate rage, and rung the most terrible alarum against the pope.
+According to him we should have set fire to everything, and reduced to
+one heap of ashes the pope and the princes who supported him. Nothing
+equals the rage of this phrenetic man, who was not satisfied with
+exhaling his fury in horrid declamations, but who was for putting all in
+practice. He raised his excesses to the height by inveighing against the
+vow of chastity, and in marrying publicly Catherine de Bore, a nun, whom
+he enticed, with eight others, from their convents. He had prepared the
+minds of the people for this infamous proceeding by a treatise which he
+entitled 'Examples of the Papistical Doctrine and Theology,' in which he
+condemns the praises which all the saints had given to continence. He
+died at length quietly enough, in 1546, at Eisleben, his country
+place--God reserving the terrible effects of his vengeance to another
+life."
+
+Cranmer, who perished at the stake, these fanatic religionists proclaim
+as an example of "divine vengeance;" but Luther, the true parent of the
+Reformation, "died quietly at Eisleben:" this must have puzzled their
+mode of reasoning; but they extricate themselves out of the dilemma by
+the usual way. Their curses are never what the lawyers call "lapsed
+legacies."
+
+
+
+
+MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS.
+
+
+It would be no uninteresting literary speculation to describe the
+difficulties which some of our most favourite works encountered in their
+manuscript state, and even after they had passed through the press.
+Sterne, when he had finished his first and second volumes of Tristram
+Shandy, offered them to a bookseller at York for fifty pounds; but was
+refused: he came to town with his MSS.; and he and Robert Dodsley agreed
+in a manner of which neither repented.
+
+The Rosciad, with all its merit, lay for a considerable time in a
+dormant state, till Churchill and his publisher became impatient, and
+almost hopeless of success.--Burn's Justice was disposed of by its
+author, who was weary of soliciting booksellers to purchase the MS., for
+a trifle, and it now yields an annual income. Collins burnt his odes
+after indemnifying his publisher. The publication of Dr. Blair's Sermons
+was refused by Strahan, and the "Essay on the Immutability of Truth,"
+by Dr. Beattie, could find no publisher, and was printed by two friends
+of the author, at their joint expense.
+
+"The sermon in Tristram Shandy" (says Sterne, in his preface to his
+Sermons) "was printed by itself some years ago, but could find neither
+purchasers nor readers." When it was inserted in his eccentric work, it
+met with a most favourable reception, and occasioned the others to be
+collected.
+
+Joseph Warton writes, "When Gray published his exquisite Ode on Eton
+College, his first publication, little notice was taken of it." The
+Polyeucte of Corneille, which is now accounted to be his masterpiece,
+when he read it to the literary assembly held at the Hotel de
+Rambouillet, was not approved. Voiture came the next day, and in gentle
+terms acquainted him with the unfavourable opinion of the critics. Such
+ill judges were then the most fashionable wits of France!
+
+It was with great difficulty that Mrs. Centlivre could get her "Busy
+Body" performed. Wilks threw down his part with an oath of
+detestation--our comic authoress fell on her knees and wept.--Her tears,
+and not her wit, prevailed.
+
+A pamphlet published in the year 1738, entitled "A Letter to the Society
+of Booksellers, on the Method of forming a true Judgment of the
+Manuscripts of Authors," contains some curious literary intelligence.
+
+"We have known books, that in the MS. have been damned, as well as
+others which seem to be so, since, after their appearance in the world,
+they have often lain by neglected. Witness the 'Paradise Lost' of the
+famous Milton, and the Optics of Sir Isaac Newton, which last, 'tis
+said, had no character or credit here till noticed in France. 'The
+Historical Connection of the Old and New Testament,' by Shuckford, is
+also reported to have been seldom inquired after for about a
+twelvemonth's time; however, it made a shift, though not without some
+difficulty, to creep up to a second edition, and afterwards even to a
+third. And which is another remarkable instance, the manuscript of Dr.
+Prideaux's 'Connection' is well known to have been bandied about from
+hand to hand among several, at least five or six, of the most eminent
+booksellers, during the space of at least two years, to no purpose, none
+of them undertaking to print that excellent work. It lay in obscurity,
+till Archdeacon Echard, the author's friend, strongly recommended it to
+Tonson. It was purchased, and the publication was very successful.
+Robinson Crusoe in manuscript also ran through the whole trade, nor
+would any one print it, though the writer, De Foe, was in good repute as
+an author. One bookseller at last, not remarkable for his discernment,
+but for his speculative turn, engaged in this publication. _This_
+bookseller got above a thousand guineas by it; and the booksellers are
+accumulating money every hour by editions of this work in all shapes.
+The undertaker of the translation of Rapin, after a very considerable
+part of the work had been published, was not a little dubious of its
+success, and was strongly inclined to drop the design. It proved at last
+to be a most profitable literary adventure." It is, perhaps, useful to
+record, that while the fine compositions of genius and the elaborate
+labours of erudition are doomed to encounter these obstacles to fame,
+and never are but slightly remunerated, works of another description are
+rewarded in the most princely manner; at the recent sale of a
+bookseller, the copyright of "Vyse's Spelling-book" was sold at the
+enormous price of L2200, with an annuity of 50 guineas to the author!
+
+
+
+
+THE TURKISH SPY.
+
+
+Whatever may be the defects of the "Turkish Spy," the author has shown
+one uncommon merit, by having opened a new species of composition, which
+has been pursued by other writers with inferior success, if we except
+the charming "Persian Letters" of Montesquieu. The "Turkish Spy" is a
+book which has delighted our childhood, and to which we can still recur
+with pleasure. But its ingenious author is unknown to three parts of his
+admirers.
+
+In Boswell's "Life of Johnson" is this dialogue concerning the writer of
+the "Turkish Spy." "B.--Pray, Sir, is the 'Turkish Spy' a genuine book?
+J.--No, Sir. Mrs. Mauley, in her 'Life' says, that _her father wrote the
+two first volumes_; and in another book--'Dunton's Life and Errours,' we
+find that the rest was _written_ by _one Sault_, at two guineas a sheet,
+under the direction of Dr. Midgeley."
+
+I do not know on what authority Mrs. Manley advances that her father was
+the author; but this lady was never nice in detailing facts. Dunton,
+indeed, gives some information in a very loose manner. He tells us, p.
+242, that it is probable, by reasons which he insinuates, that _one
+Bradshaw_, a hackney author, was the writer of the "Turkish Spy." This
+man probably was engaged by Dr. Midgeley to translate the volumes as
+they appeared, at the rate of 40s. per sheet. On the whole, all this
+proves, at least, how little the author was known while the volumes were
+publishing, and that he is as little known at present by the extract
+from Boswell.
+
+The ingenious writer of the Turkish Spy is John Paul Marana, an Italian;
+so that the Turkish Spy is just as real a personage as Cid Hamet, from
+whom Cervantes says he had his "History of Don Quixote." Marana had been
+imprisoned for a political conspiracy; after his release he retired to
+Monaco, where he wrote the "History of the Plot," which is said to be
+valuable for many curious particulars. Marana was at once a man of
+letters and of the world. He had long wished to reside at Paris; in that
+emporium of taste and luxury his talents procured him patrons. It was
+during his residence there that he produced his "Turkish Spy." By this
+ingenious contrivance he gave the history of the last age. He displays a
+rich memory, and a lively imagination; but critics have said that he
+touches everything, and penetrates nothing. His first three volumes
+greatly pleased: the rest are inferior. Plutarch, Seneca, and Pliny,
+were his favourite authors. He lived in philosophical mediocrity; and in
+the last years of his life retired to his native country, where he died
+in 1693.
+
+Charpentier gave the first particulars of this ingenious man. Even in
+his time the volumes were read as they came out, while its author
+remained unknown. Charpentier's proof of the author is indisputable; for
+he preserved the following curious certificate, written in Marana's own
+handwriting.
+
+"I, the under-written John Paul Marana, author of a manuscript Italian
+volume, entitled '_L'Esploratore Turco, tomo terzo_,' acknowledge that
+Mr. Charpentier, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to revise the said
+manuscript, has not granted me his certificate for printing the said
+manuscript, but on condition to rescind four passages. The first
+beginning, &c. By this I promise to suppress from the said manuscript
+the places above marked, so that there shall remain no vestige; since,
+without agreeing to this, the said certificate would not have been
+granted to me by the said Mr. Charpentier; and for surety of the above,
+which I acknowledge to be true, and which I promise punctually to
+execute, I have signed the present writing. Paris, 28th September, 1686.
+
+    "JOHN PAUL MARANA."
+
+This paper serves as a curious instance in what manner the censors of
+books clipped the wings of genius when it was found too daring or
+excursive.
+
+These rescindings of the Censor appear to be marked by Marana in the
+printed work. We find more than once chasms, with these words: "the
+beginning of _this_ letter is wanting in the Italian translation; the
+_original_ paper _being torn_."
+
+No one has yet taken the pains to observe the date of the first editions
+of the French and the English Turkish Spies, which would settle the
+disputed origin. It appears by the document before us, to have been
+originally _written_ in Italian, but probably was first _published_ in
+French. Does the English Turkish Spy differ from the French one?[101]
+
+
+
+
+SPENSER, JONSON, AND SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The characters of these three great masters of English poetry are
+sketched by Fuller, in his "Worthies of England." It is a literary
+morsel that must not be passed by. The criticisms of those who lived in
+or near the times when authors flourished merit our observation. They
+sometimes elicit a ray of intelligence, which later opinions do not
+always give.
+
+He observes on SPENSER--"The many _Chaucerisms_ used (for I will not say
+affected by him) are thought by the ignorant to be _blemishes_, known by
+the learned to be _beauties_, to his book; which, notwithstanding, had
+been more SALEABLE, if more conformed to our modern language."
+
+On JONSON.--"His parts were not so ready _to run of themselves_, as able
+to answer the spur; so that it may be truly said of him, that he had an
+_elaborate wit_, wrought out by his own industry.--He would _sit silent_
+in learned company, and suck in (_besides wine_) their several humours
+into his observation. What was _ore_ in _others_, he was able to
+_refine_ himself.
+
+"He was paramount in the dramatic part of poetry, and taught the stage
+an exact conformity to the laws of comedians. His comedies were above
+the _Volge_ (which are only tickled with downright obscenity), and took
+not so well at the _first stroke_ as at the _rebound_, when beheld the
+second time; yea, they will endure reading so long as either ingenuity
+or learning are fashionable in our nation. If his latter be not so
+spriteful and vigorous as his first pieces, all that are old will, and
+all who desire to be old should, excuse him therein."
+
+On SHAKSPEARE.--"He was an eminent instance of the truth of that rule,
+_poeta non fit, sed nascitur_; one is not made, but born a poet. Indeed
+his _learning_ was but very little; so that as _Cornish diamonds_ are
+not polished by any lapidary, but are pointed and smooth, even as they
+are taken out of the earth, so _Nature_ itself was all the _art_ which
+was used upon him.
+
+"Many were the _wit-combats_ betwixt him and Ben Jonson, which two I
+beheld like a _Spanish great galleon_ and an _English man of war_.
+Master _Jonson_ (like the former) was built far higher in learning;
+_solid_, but _slow_ in his performances. _Shakspeare_, with an English
+man of war, lesser in _bulk_, but lighter in _sailing_, could _turn with
+all tides_, and take advantage of _all winds_, by the quickness of his
+wit and invention."
+
+Had these "Wit-combats," between Shakspeare and Jonson, which Fuller
+notices, been chronicled by some faithful _Boswell_ of the age, our
+literary history would have received an interesting accession. A letter
+has been published by Dr. Berkenhout relating to an evening's
+conversation between our great rival bards, and Alleyn the actor. Peele,
+a dramatic poet, writes to his friend Marlow, another poet. The Doctor
+unfortunately in giving this copy did not recollect his authority.
+
+
+  "FRIEND MARLOW,
+
+"I never longed for thy companye more than last night: we were all very
+merrye at the Globe, where Ned Alleyn did not scruple to affirme
+pleasantly to thy friend WILL, that he had stolen his speech about the
+qualityes of an actor's excellencye in Hamlet his Tragedye, from
+conversations manyfold which had passed between them, and opinyons given
+by Alleyn touchinge this subject. SHAKSPEARE did not take this talk in
+good sorte; but JONSON put an end to the strife, by wittylie
+remarking,--this affaire needeth no contention: you stole it from NED,
+no doubt, do not marvel; have you not seen him act times out of number?"
+
+This letter is one of those ingenious forgeries which the late George
+Steevens practised on the literary antiquary; they were not always of
+this innocent cast. The present has been frequently quoted as an
+original document. I have preserved it as an example of _Literary
+Forgeries_, and the danger which literary historians incur by such
+nefarious practices.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 101: Marana appears to have carelessly deserted his literary
+offspring. It is not improbable that his English translators continued
+his plan, and that their volumes were translated; so that what appears
+the French original may be, for the greater part, of our own home
+manufacture. The superiority of the first part was early perceived. The
+history of our ancient Grub-street is enveloped in the obscurity of its
+members, and there are more claimants than one for the honour of this
+continuation. We know too little of Marana to account for his silence;
+Cervantes was indignant at the impudent genius who dared to continue the
+immortal Quixote.
+
+The tale remains imperfectly told.
+
+See a correspondence on this subject in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1840
+and 1841.]
+
+
+
+
+BEN JONSON, FELTHAM, AND RANDOLPH.
+
+
+Ben Jonson, like most celebrated wits, was very unfortunate in
+conciliating the affections of his brother writers. He certainly
+possessed a great share of arrogance, and was desirous of ruling the
+realms of Parnassus with a despotic sceptre. That he was not always
+successful in his theatrical compositions is evident from his abusing,
+in their title-page, the actors and the public. In this he has been
+imitated by Fielding. I have collected the following three satiric odes,
+written when the reception of his "_New Inn_, or _The Light Heart_,"
+warmly exasperated the irritable disposition of our poet.
+
+He printed the title in the following manner:--
+
+"_The New Inn_, or _The Light Heart_; a Comedy never acted, but most
+negligently played by some, the King's servants; and more squeamishly
+beheld and censured by others, the King's subjects, 1629. Now at last
+set at liberty to the readers, his Majesty's servants and subjects, to
+be judged, 1631."
+
+At the end of this play he published the following Ode, in which he
+threatens to quit the stage for ever; and turn at once a Horace, an
+Anacreon, and a Pindar.
+
+"The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of his play,
+begat this following Ode to himself:--
+
+          Come, leave the loathed stage,
+          And the more loathsome age;
+      Where pride and impudence (in faction knit,)
+          Usurp the chair of wit;
+      Inditing and arraigning every day
+          Something they call a play.
+        Let their fastidious, vaine
+        Commission of braine
+    Run on, and rage, sweat, censure, and condemn;
+    They were not made for thee,--less thou for them.
+
+          Say that thou pour'st them wheat,
+          And they will acorns eat;
+      'Twere simple fury, still, thyself to waste
+          On such as have no taste!
+      To offer them a surfeit of pure bread,
+          Whose appetites are dead!
+        No, give them graines their fill,
+        Husks, draff, to drink and swill.
+    If they love lees, and leave the lusty wine,
+    Envy them not their palate with the swine.
+
+          No doubt some mouldy tale
+          Like PERICLES,[102] and stale
+      As the shrieve's crusts, and nasty as his fish--
+          Scraps, out of every dish
+      Thrown forth, and rak't into the common-tub,
+          May keep up the play-club:
+        There sweepings do as well
+        As the best order'd meale,
+    For who the relish of these guests will fit,
+    Needs set them but the almes-basket of wit.
+
+          And much good do't you then,
+          Brave plush and velvet men
+      Can feed on orts, and safe in your stage clothes,
+          Dare quit, upon your oathes,
+      The stagers, and the stage-wrights too (your peers),
+          Of larding your large ears
+        With their foul comic socks,
+        Wrought upon twenty blocks:
+    Which if they're torn, and turn'd, and patch'd enough
+    The gamesters share your gilt and you their stuff.
+
+          Leave things so prostitute,
+          And take the Alcaeick lute,
+      Or thine own Horace, or Anacreon's lyre;
+        Warm thee by Pindar's fire;
+      And, tho' thy nerves be shrunk, and blood be cold,
+        Ere years have made thee old,
+      Strike that disdainful heat
+      Throughout, to their defeat;
+    As curious fools, and envious of thy strain,
+    May, blushing, swear no palsy's in thy brain.[103]
+
+            But when they hear thee sing
+            The glories of thy King,
+          His zeal to God, and his just awe o'er men,
+    They may blood-shaken then,
+      Feel such a flesh-quake to possess their powers,
+          As they shall cry 'like ours,
+        In sound of peace, or wars,
+        No harp ere hit the stars,
+    In tuning forth the acts of his sweet raign,
+    And raising Charles his chariot 'bove his wain.'"
+
+This Magisterial Ode, as Langbaine calls it, was answered by _Owen
+Feltham_, author of the admirable "Resolves," who has written with great
+satiric acerbity the retort courteous. His character of this poet should
+be attended to:--
+
+AN ANSWER TO THE ODE, COME LEAVE THE LOATHED STAGE, &C.
+
+              Come leave this sawcy way
+              Of baiting those that pay
+          Dear for the sight of your declining wit:
+              'Tis known it is not fit
+            That a sale poet, just contempt once thrown,
+              Should cry up thus his own.
+            I wonder by what dower,
+            Or patent, you had power
+        From all to rape a judgment. Let't suffice,
+        Had you been modest, y'ad been granted wise.
+
+              'Tis known you can do well,
+              And that you do excell
+          As a translator; but when things require
+              A genius, and fire,
+          Not kindled heretofore by other pains,
+              As oft y'ave wanted brains
+            And art to strike the white,
+            As you have levell'd right:
+        Yet if men vouch not things apocryphal,
+        You bellow, rave, and spatter round your gall.
+
+              Jug, Pierce, Peek, Fly,[104] and all
+              Your jests so nominal,
+          Are things so far beneath an able brain,
+              As they do throw a stain
+          Thro' all th' unlikely plot, and do displease
+              As deep as PERICLES.
+            Where yet there is not laid
+            Before a chamber-maid
+        Discourse so weigh'd,[105] as might have serv'd of old
+        For schools, when they of love and valour told.
+
+              Why rage, then? when the show
+              Should judgment be, and know-[106]
+          ledge, there are plush who scorn to drudge
+              For stages, yet can judge
+          Not only poet's looser lines, but wits,
+              And all their perquisits;
+            A gift as rich as high
+            Is noble poesie:
+        Yet, tho' in sport it be for Kings to play,
+        'Tis next mechanicks' when it works for pay.
+
+              Alcaeus lute had none,
+              Nor loose Anacreon
+          E'er taught so bold assuming of the bays
+              When they deserv'd no praise.
+          To rail men into approbation
+              Is new to your's alone:
+            And prospers not: for known,
+            Fame is as coy, as you
+        Can be disdainful; and who dares to prove
+        A rape on her shall gather scorn--not love.
+
+              Leave then this humour vain,
+              And this more humourous strain,
+          Where self-conceit, and choler of the blood,
+              Eclipse what else is good:
+          Then, if you please those raptures high to touch,
+              Whereof you boast so much:
+            And but forbear your crown
+            Till the world puts it on:
+        No doubt, from all you may amazement draw,
+        Since braver theme no Phoebus ever saw.
+
+To console dejected Ben for this just reprimand, Randolph, of the
+adopted poetical sons of Jonson, addressed him with all that warmth of
+grateful affection which a man of genius should have felt on the
+occasion.
+
+AN ANSWER TO MR. BEN JONSON'S ODE, TO PERSUADE HIM NOT TO LEAVE THE
+STAGE.
+
+                    I.
+
+          Ben, do not leave the stage
+          Cause 'tis a loathsome age;
+      For pride and impudence will grow too bold,
+        When they shall hear it told
+      They frighted thee; Stand high, as is thy cause;
+          Their hiss is thy applause:
+        More just were thy disdain,
+        Had they approved thy vein:
+    So thou for them, and they for thee were born;
+    They to incense, and thou as much to scorn.
+
+                     II.
+
+          Wilt thou engross thy store
+          Of wheat, and pour no more,
+      Because their bacon-brains had such a taste
+        As more delight in mast:
+      No! set them forth a board of dainties, full
+          As thy best muse can cull
+        Whilst they the while do pine
+        And thirst, midst all their wine.
+    What greater plague can hell itself devise,
+    Than to be willing thus to tantalise?
+
+                     III.
+
+          Thou canst not find them stuff,
+          That will be bad enough
+      To please their palates: let 'em them refuse,
+        For some Pye-corner muse;
+      She is too fair an hostess, 'twere a sin
+          For them to like thine Inn:
+        'Twas made to entertain
+        Guests of a nobler strain;
+    Yet, if they will have any of the store,
+    Give them some scraps, and send them from thy dore.
+
+                      IV.
+
+          And let those things in plush
+          Till they be taught to blush,
+      Like what they will, and more contented be
+        With what Broome[107] swept from thee.
+      I know thy worth, and that thy lofty strains
+          Write not to cloaths, but brains:
+        But thy great spleen doth rise,
+        'Cause moles will have no eyes;
+    This only in my Ben I faulty find,
+    He's angry they'll not see him that are blind.
+
+                      V.
+
+          Why shou'd the scene be mute
+          'Cause thou canst touch the lute
+      And string thy Horace! Let each Muse of nine
+        Claim thee, and say, th'art mine.
+      'Twere fond, to let all other flames expire,
+          To sit by Pindar's fire:
+        For by so strange neglect
+        I should myself suspect
+    Thy palsie were as well thy brain's disease,
+    If they could shake thy muse which way they please.
+
+                     VI.
+
+          And tho' thou well canst sing
+          The glories of thy King,
+      And on the wings of verse his chariot bear
+        To heaven, and fix it there;
+      Yet let thy muse as well some raptures raise
+          To please him, as to praise.
+        I would not have thee chuse
+        Only a treble muse;
+    But have this envious, ignorant age to know,
+    Thou that canst sing so high, canst reach as low.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 102: This play, Langbaine says, is written by Shakspeare.]
+
+[Footnote 103: He had the palsy at that time.]
+
+[Footnote 104: The names of several of Jonson's dramatis personae.]
+
+[Footnote 105: New Inn, Act iii. Scene 2.--Act iv. Scene 4.]
+
+[Footnote 106: This break was purposely designed by the poet, to expose
+that singular one in Ben's third stanza.]
+
+[Footnote 107: His man, Richard Broome, wrote with success several
+comedies. He had been the amanuensis or attendant of Jonson. The epigram
+made against Pope for the assistance W. Broome gave him appears to have
+been borrowed from this pun. Johnson has inserted it in "Broome's
+Life."]
+
+
+
+
+ARIOSTO AND TASSO.
+
+
+It surprises one to find among the literary Italians the merits of
+Ariosto most keenly disputed: slaves to classical authority, they bend
+down to the majestic regularity of Tasso. Yet the father of Tasso,
+before his son had rivalled the romantic Ariosto, describes in a letter
+the effect of the "Orlando" on the people:--"There is no man of
+learning, no mechanic, no lad, no girl, no old man, who is satisfied to
+read the 'Orlando Furioso' once. This poem serves as the solace of the
+traveller, who fatigued on his journey deceives his lassitude by
+chanting some octaves of this poem. You may hear them sing these stanzas
+in the streets and in the fields every day." One would have expected
+that Ariosto would have been the favourite of the people, and Tasso of
+the critics. But in Venice the gondoliers, and others, sing passages
+which are generally taken from Tasso, and rarely from Ariosto. A
+different fate, I imagined, would have attended the poet who has been
+distinguished by the epithet of "_The Divine_." I have been told by an
+Italian man of letters, that this circumstance arose from the relation
+which Tasso's poem bears to Turkish affairs; as many of the common
+people have passed into Turkey either by chance or by war. Besides, the
+long antipathy existing between the Venetians and the Turks gave
+additional force to the patriotic poetry of Tasso. We cannot boast of
+any similar poems. Thus it was that the people of Greece and Ionia sang
+the poems of Homer.
+
+The Accademia della Crusca gave a public preference to Ariosto. This
+irritated certain critics, and none more than Chapelain, who could
+_taste_ the regularity of Tasso, but not _feel_ the "brave disorder" of
+Ariosto. He could not approve of those writers,
+
+    Who snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.
+
+"I thank you," he writes, "for the sonnet which your indignation
+dictated, at the Academy's preference of Ariosto to Tasso. This judgment
+is overthrown by the confessions of many of the _Cruscanti_, my
+associates. It would be tedious to enter into its discussion; but it was
+passion and not equity that prompted that decision. We confess, that, as
+to what concerns invention and purity of language, Ariosto has eminently
+the advantage over Tasso; but majesty, pomp, numbers, and a style truly
+sublime, united to regularity of design, raise the latter so much above
+the other that no comparison can fairly exist."
+
+The decision of Chapelain is not unjust; though I did not know that
+Ariosto's language was purer than Tasso's.
+
+Dr. Cocchi, the great Italian critic, compared "Ariosto's poem to the
+richer kind of harlequin's habit, made up of pieces of the very best
+silk, and of the liveliest colours. The parts of it are, many of them,
+_more beautiful_ than in Tasso's poem, but the whole in Tasso is without
+comparison more of a piece and better made." The critic was extricating
+himself as safely as he could out of this critical dilemma; for the
+disputes were then so violent, that I think one of the disputants took
+to his bed, and was said to have died of Ariosto and Tasso.
+
+It is the conceit of an Italian to give the name of _April_ to
+_Ariosto_, because it is the season of _flowers_; and that of
+_September_ to _Tasso_, which is that of _fruits_. Tiraboschi
+judiciously observes that no comparison ought to be made between these
+great rivals. It is comparing "Ovid's Metamorphoses" with "Virgil's
+AEneid;" they are quite different things. In his characters of the two
+poets, he distinguishes between a romantic poem and a regular epic.
+Their designs required distinct perfections. But an English reader is
+not enabled by the wretched versions of Hoole to echo the verse of La
+Fontaine, "JE CHERIS L'Arioste et J'ESTIME le Tasse."
+
+Boileau, some time before his death, was asked by a critic if he had
+repented of his celebrated decision concerning the merits of Tasso,
+which some Italians had compared with those of Virgil? Boileau had
+hurled his bolts at these violators of classical majesty. It is supposed
+that he was ignorant of the Italian language, but some expressions in
+his answer may induce us to think that he was not.
+
+"I have so little changed my opinion, that, on a _re-perusal_ lately of
+Tasso, I was sorry that I had not more amply explained myself on this
+subject in some of my reflections on 'Longinus.' I should have begun by
+acknowledging that Tasso had a sublime genius, of great compass, with
+happy dispositions for the higher poetry. But when I came to the use he
+made of his talents, I should have shown that judicious discernment
+rarely prevailed in his works. That in the greater portion of his
+narrations he attached himself to the agreeable, oftener than to the
+just. That his descriptions are almost always overcharged with
+superfluous ornaments. That in painting the strongest passions, and in
+the midst of the agitations they excite, frequently he degenerates into
+witticisms, which abruptly destroy the pathetic. That he abounds with
+images of too florid a kind; affected turns; conceits and frivolous
+thoughts; which, far from being adapted to his Jerusalem, could hardly
+be supportable in his 'Aminta.' So that all this, opposed to the
+gravity, the sobriety, the majesty of Virgil, what is it but tinsel
+compared with gold?"
+
+The merits of Tasso seem here precisely discriminated; and this
+criticism must be valuable to the lovers of poetry. The errors of Tasso
+were national.
+
+In Venice the gondoliers know by heart long passages from Ariosto and
+Tasso, and often chant them with a peculiar melody. Goldoni, in his
+life, notices the gondolier returning with him to the city: "He turned
+the prow of the gondola towards the city, singing all the way the
+twenty-sixth stanza of the sixteenth canto of the Jerusalem Delivered."
+The late Mr. Barry once chanted to me a passage of Tasso in the manner
+of the gondoliers; and I have listened to such from one who in his youth
+had himself been a gondolier. An anonymous gentleman has greatly obliged
+me with his account of the recitation of these poets by the gondoliers
+of Venice.
+
+There are always two concerned, who alternately sing the strophes. We
+know the melody eventually by Rousseau, to whose songs it is printed; it
+has properly no melodious movement, and is a sort of medium between the
+canto fermo and the canto figurato; it approaches to the former by
+recitativical declamation, and to the latter by passages and course, by
+which one syllable is detained and embellished.
+
+I entered a gondola by moonlight: one singer placed himself forwards,
+and the other aft, and thus proceeded to Saint Giorgio. One began the
+song: when he had ended his strophe the other took up the lay, and so
+continued the song alternately. Throughout the whole of it, the same
+notes invariably returned; but, according to the subject matter of the
+strophe, they laid a greater or a smaller stress, sometimes on one, and
+sometimes on another note, and indeed changed the enunciation of the
+whole strophe, as the object of the poem altered.
+
+On the whole, however, their sounds were hoarse and screaming: they
+seemed, in the manner of all rude uncivilised men, to make the
+excellency of their singing consist in the force of their voice: one
+seemed desirous of conquering the other by the strength of his lungs,
+and so far from receiving delight from this scene (shut up as I was in
+the box of the gondola), I found myself in a very unpleasant situation.
+
+My companion, to whom I communicated this circumstance, being very
+desirous to keep up the credit of his countrymen, assured me that this
+singing was very delightful when heard at a distance. Accordingly we got
+out upon the shore, leaving one of the singers in the gondola, while the
+other went to the distance of some hundred paces. They now began to sing
+against one another; and I kept walking up and down between them both,
+so as always to leave him who was to begin his part. I frequently stood
+still, and hearkened to the one and to the other.
+
+Here the scene was properly introduced. The strong declamatory, and, as
+it were, shrieking sound, met the ear from far, and called forth the
+attention; the quickly succeeding transitions, which necessarily
+required to be sung in a lower tone, seemed like plaintive strains
+succeeding the vociferations of emotion or of pain. The other, who
+listened attentively, immediately began where the former left off,
+answering him in milder or more vehement notes, according as the purport
+of the strophe required. The sleepy canals, the lofty buildings, the
+splendour of the moon, the deep shadows of the few gondolas that moved
+like spirits hither and thither, increased the striking peculiarity of
+the scene, and amidst all these circumstances it was easy to confess the
+character of this wonderful harmony.
+
+It suits perfectly well with an idle solitary mariner, lying at length
+in his vessel at rest on one of these canals, waiting for his company or
+for a fare; the tiresomeness of which situation is somewhat alleviated
+by the songs and poetical stories he has in memory. He often raises his
+voice as loud as he can, which extends itself to a vast distance over
+the tranquil mirror; and, as all is still around, he is as it were in a
+solitude in the midst of a large and populous town. Here is no rattling
+of carriages, no noise of foot passengers; a silent gondola glides now
+and then by him, of which the splashing of the oars is scarcely to be
+heard.
+
+At a distance he hears another, perhaps utterly unknown to him. Melody
+and verse immediately attach the two strangers; he becomes the
+responsive echo to the former, and exerts himself to be heard as he had
+heard the other. By a tacit convention they alternate verse for verse;
+though the song should last the whole night through, they entertain,
+themselves without fatigue; the hearers, who are passing between the
+two, take part in the amusement.
+
+This vocal performance sounds best at a great distance, and is then
+inexpressibly charming, as it only fulfils its design in the sentiment
+of remoteness. It is plaintive, but not dismal in its sound; and at
+times it is scarcely possible to refrain from tears. My companion, who
+otherwise was not a very delicately organised person, said quite
+unexpectedly, "E singolare come quel canto intenerisce, e molto piu
+quando la cantano meglio."
+
+I was told that the women of Lido, the long row of islands that divides
+the Adriatic from the Lagouns, particularly the women of the extreme
+districts of Malamocca and Palestrina, sing in like manner the works of
+Tasso to these and similar tunes.
+
+They have the custom, when their husbands are fishing out at sea, to sit
+along the shore in the evenings and vociferate these songs, and continue
+to do so with great violence, till each of them can distinguish the
+responses of her own husband at a distance.
+
+How much more delightful and more appropriate does this song show itself
+here, than the call of a solitary person uttered far and wide, till
+another equally disposed shall hear and answer him! It is the expression
+of a vehement and hearty longing, which yet is every moment nearer to
+the happiness of satisfaction.
+
+Lord Byron has told us that with the independence of Venice the song of
+the gondolier has died away--
+
+    In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more.
+
+If this be not more poetical than true, it must have occurred at a
+moment when their last political change may have occasioned this silence
+on the waters. My servant _Tita_, who was formerly the servant of his
+lordship, and whose name has been immortalised in the "Italy" of Mr.
+Rogers, was himself a gondolier. He assures me that every night on the
+river the chant may be heard. Many who cannot even read have acquired
+the whole of Tasso, and some chant the stanzas of Ariosto. It is a sort
+of poetical challenge, and he who cannot take up the subject by
+continuing it is held as vanquished, and which occasions him no slight
+vexation. In a note in Lord Byron's works, this article is quoted by
+mistake as written by me, though I had mentioned it as the contribution
+of a stranger. We find by that note that there are two kinds of Tasso;
+the original, and another called the "_Canta alla Barcarola_," a
+spurious Tasso in the Venetian dialect: this latter, however, is rarely
+used. In the same note, a printer's error has been perpetuated through
+all the editions of Byron; the name of _Barry_, the painter, has been
+printed _Berry_.
+
+
+
+
+BAYLE.
+
+
+Few philosophers were more deserving of the title than, Bayle. His last
+hour exhibits the Socratic intrepidity with which he encountered the
+formidable approach of death. I have seen the original letter of the
+bookseller Leers, where he describes the death of our philosopher. "On
+the evening preceding his decease, having studied all day, he gave my
+corrector some copy of his 'Answer to Jacquelot,' and told him that he
+was very ill. At nine in the morning his laundress entered his chamber;
+he asked her, with a dying voice, if his fire was kindled? and a few
+moments after he died." His disease was an hereditary consumption, and
+his decline must have been gradual; speaking had become with him a great
+pain, but he laboured with the same tranquillity of mind to his last
+hour; and, with Bayle, it was death alone which, could interrupt the
+printer.
+
+The irritability of genius is forcibly characterised by this
+circumstance in his literary life. When a close friendship had united
+him to Jurieu, he lavished on him the most flattering eulogiums: he is
+the hero of his "Republic of Letters." Enmity succeeded to friendship;
+Jurieu is then continually quoted in his "Critical Dictionary," whenever
+an occasion offers to give instances of gross blunders, palpable
+contradictions, and inconclusive arguments. These inconsistent opinions
+may be sanctioned by the similar conduct of a _Saint_! St. Jerome
+praised Rufinus as the most learned man of his age, while his friend;
+but when the same Rufinus joined his adversary Origen, he called him one
+of the most ignorant!
+
+As a logician Bayle had no superior; the best logician will, however,
+frequently deceive himself. Bayle made long and close arguments to show
+that La Motte le Vayer never could have been a preceptor to the king;
+but all his reasonings are overturned by the fact being given in the
+"History of the Academy," by Pelisson.
+
+Basnage said of Bayle, that _he read much by his fingers_. He meant that
+he ran over a book more than he read it; and that he had the art of
+always falling upon that which was most essential and curious in the
+book he examined.
+
+There are heavy hours in which the mind of a man of letters is unhinged;
+when the intellectual faculties lose all their elasticity, and when
+nothing but the simplest actions are adapted to their enfeebled state.
+At such hours it is recorded of the Jewish Socrates, Moses Mendelssohn,
+that he would stand at his window, and count the tiles of his
+neighbour's house. An anonymous writer has told of Bayle, that he would
+frequently wrap himself in his cloak, and hasten to places where
+mountebanks resorted; and that this was one of his chief amusements. He
+is surprised that so great a philosopher should delight in so trifling
+an object. This objection is not injurious to the character of Bayle;
+it only proves that the writer himself was no philosopher.
+
+The "Monthly Reviewer," in noticing this article, has continued the
+speculation by giving two interesting anecdotes. "The observation
+concerning 'heavy hours,' and the want of elasticity in the intellectual
+faculties of men of letters, when the mind is fatigued and the attention
+blunted by incessant labour, reminds us of what is related by persons
+who were acquainted with the late sagacious magistrate Sir John
+Fielding; who, when fatigued with attending to complicated cases, and
+perplexed with discordant depositions, used to retire to a little closet
+in a remote and tranquil part of the house, to rest his mental powers
+and sharpen perception. He told a great physician, now living, who
+complained of the distance of places, as caused by the great extension
+of London, that 'he (the physician) would not have been able to visit
+many patients to any purpose, if they had resided nearer to each other;
+as he could have had no time either to think or to rest his mind.'"
+
+Our excellent logician was little accustomed to a mixed society: his
+life was passed in study. He had such an infantine simplicity in his
+nature, that he would speak on anatomical subjects before the ladies
+with as much freedom as before surgeons. When they inclined their eyes
+to the ground, and while some even blushed, he would then inquire if
+what he spoke was indecent; and, when told so, he smiled, and stopped.
+His habits of life were, however, extremely pure; he probably left
+himself little leisure "_to fall into temptation_."
+
+Bayle knew nothing of geometry; and, as Le Clerc informs us,
+acknowledged that he could never comprehend the demonstration of the
+first problem in Euclid. Le Clerc, however, was a rival to Bayle; with
+greater industry and more accurate learning, but with very inferior
+powers of reasoning and philosophy. Both of these great scholars, like
+our Locke, were destitute of fine taste and poetical discernment.
+
+When Fagon, an eminent physician, was consulted on the illness of our
+student, he only prescribed a particular regimen, without the use of
+medicine. He closed his consultation by a compliment remarkable for its
+felicity. "I ardently wish one could spare this great man all this
+constraint, and that it were possible to find a remedy as singular as
+the merit of him for whom it is asked."
+
+Voltaire has said that Bayle confessed he would not have made his
+Dictionary exceed a folio volume, had he written only for himself, and
+not for the booksellers. This Dictionary, with all its human faults, is
+a stupendous work, which must last with literature itself. I take an
+enlarged view of BAYLE and his DICTIONARY, in a subsequent article.
+
+
+
+
+CERVANTES.
+
+
+M. Du Boulay accompanied the French ambassador to Spain, when Cervantes
+was yet living. He told Segrais that the ambassador one day complimented
+Cervantes on the great reputation he had acquired by his Don Quixote;
+and that Cervantes whispered in his ear, "Had it not been for the
+Inquisition, I should have made my book much more entertaining."
+
+Cervantes, at the battle of Lepanto, was wounded, and enslaved. He has
+given his own history in Don Quixote, as indeed every great writer of
+fictitious narratives has usually done. Cervantes was known at the court
+of Spain, but he did not receive those favours which might have been
+expected; he was neglected. His first volume is the finest; and his
+design was to have finished there: but he could not resist the
+importunities of his friends, who engaged him to make a second, which
+has not the same force, although it has many splendid passages.
+
+We have lost many good things of Cervantes, and other writers, through
+the tribunal of religion and dulness. One Aonius Palearius was sensible
+of this; and said, "that the Inquisition was a poniard aimed at the
+throat of literature." The image is striking, and the observation just;
+but this victim of genius was soon led to the stake!
+
+
+
+
+MAGLIABECHI.
+
+
+Anthony Magliabechi, who died at the age of eighty, was celebrated for
+his great knowledge of books. He has been called the _Helluo_, or the
+Glutton of Literature, as Peter _Comestor_ received his nickname from
+his amazing voracity for food he could never digest; which appeared when
+having fallen sick of so much false learning, he threw it all up in his
+"_Sea of Histories_," which proved to be the history of all things, and
+a bad history of everything. Magliabechi's character is singular; for
+though his life was wholly passed in libraries, being librarian to the
+Duke of Tuscany, he never _wrote_ himself. There is a medal which
+represents him sitting, with a book in one hand, and a great number of
+books scattered on the ground. The candid inscription signifies, that
+"it is not sufficient to become learned to have read much, if we read
+without reflection." This is the only remains we have of his own
+composition that can be of service to posterity. A simple truth, which
+may, however, be inscribed in the study of every man of letters.
+
+His habits of life were uniform. Ever among his books, he troubled
+himself with no other concern whatever; and the only interest he
+appeared to take for any living thing was his spiders. While sitting
+among his literary piles, he affected great sympathy for these weavers
+of webs, and perhaps in contempt of those whose curiosity appeared
+impertinent, he frequently cried out, "to take care not to hurt his
+spiders!" Although he lost no time in writing himself, he gave
+considerable assistance to authors who consulted him. He was himself an
+universal index to all authors; the late literary antiquary, Isaac Reed,
+resembled him.[108] He had one book, among many others, dedicated to
+him, and this dedication consisted of a collection of titles of works
+which he had had at different times dedicated to him, with all the
+eulogiums addressed to him in prose and verse. When he died, he left his
+vast collection for the public use; they now compose the public library
+of Florence.
+
+Heyman, a celebrated Dutch professor, visited this erudite librarian,
+who was considered as the ornament of Florence. He found him amongst his
+books, of which the number was prodigious. Two or three rooms in the
+first story were crowded with them, not only along their sides, but
+piled in heaps on the floor; so that it was difficult to sit, and more
+so to walk. A narrow space was contrived, indeed, so that by walking
+sideways you might extricate yourself from one room to another. This was
+not all; the passage below stairs was full of books, and the staircase
+from the top to the bottom was lined with them. When you reached the
+second story, you saw with astonishment three rooms, similar to those
+below, equally so crowded, that two good beds in these chambers were
+also crammed with books.
+
+This apparent confusion did not, however, hinder Magliabechi from
+immediately finding the books he wanted. He knew them all so well, that
+even to the least of them it was sufficient to see its outside, to say
+what it was; he knew his flock, as shepherds are said, by their faces;
+and indeed he read them day and night, and never lost sight of any.[109]
+He ate on his books, he slept on his books, and quitted them as rarely
+as possible. During his whole life he only went twice from Florence;
+once to see Fiesoli, which is not above two leagues distant, and once
+ten miles further by order of the Grand Duke. Nothing could be more
+simple than his mode of life; a few eggs, a little bread, and some
+water, were his ordinary food. A drawer of his desk being open, Mr.
+Heyman saw there several eggs, and some money which Magliabechi had
+placed there for his daily use. But as this drawer was generally open,
+it frequently happened that the servants of his friends, or strangers
+who came to see him, pilfered some of these things; the money or the
+eggs.
+
+His dress was as cynical as his repasts. A black doublet, which
+descended to his knees; large and long breeches; an old patched black
+cloak; an amorphous hat, very much worn, and the edges ragged; a large
+neckcloth of coarse cloth, begrimed with snuff; a dirty shirt, which he
+always wore as long as it lasted, and which the broken elbows of his
+doublet did not conceal; and, to finish this inventory, a pair of
+ruffles which did not belong to the shirt. Such was the brilliant dress
+of our learned Florentine; and in such did he appear in the public
+streets, as well as in his own house. Let me not forget another
+circumstance; to warm his hands, he generally had a stove with fire
+fastened to his arms, so that his clothes were generally singed and
+burnt, and his hands scorched. He had nothing otherwise remarkable about
+him. To literary men he was extremely affable, and a cynic only to the
+eye; anecdotes almost incredible are related of his memory. It is
+somewhat uncommon that as he was so fond of literary _food_, he did not
+occasionally dress some dishes of his own invention, or at least some
+sandwiches to his own relish. He indeed should have written CURIOSITIES
+OF LITERATURE. He was a living Cyclopaedia, though a dark lantern.[110]
+
+Of such reading men, Hobbes entertained a very contemptible, if not a
+rash opinion. His own reading was inconsiderable; and he used to say,
+that if he had spent as much time in _reading_ as other men of learning,
+he should have been as _ignorant_ as they. He put little value on a
+_large library_, for he considered all _books_ to be merely _extracts_
+and _copies_, for that most authors were like sheep, never deviating
+from the beaten path. History he treated lightly, and thought there were
+more lies than truths in it. But let us recollect after all this, that
+Hobbes was a mere metaphysician, idolising his own vain and empty
+hypotheses. It is true enough that weak heads carrying in them too much
+reading may be staggered. Le Clerc observes of two learned men, De
+Marcilly and Barthius, that they would have composed more useful works
+had they _read_ less numerous authors, and digested the better writers.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 108: He was remarkable for his memory of all that he read, not
+only the matter but the form, the contents of each page and the peculiar
+spelling of every word. It is said he was once tested by the pretended
+destruction of a manuscript, which he reproduced without a variation of
+word or line.]
+
+[Footnote 109: He used to lie in a sort of lounging-chair in the midst
+of his study, surrounded by heaps of dusty volumes, never allowed to be
+removed, and forming a colony for the spiders whose society he so highly
+valued.]
+
+
+
+
+ABRIDGERS.
+
+
+Abridgers are a kind of literary men to whom the indolence of modern
+readers, and indeed the multiplicity of authors, give ample employment.
+
+It would be difficult, observed the learned Benedictines, the authors of
+the Literary History of France, to relate all the unhappy consequences
+which ignorance introduced, and the causes which produced that
+ignorance. But we must not forget to place in this number the mode of
+reducing, by way of abridgment, what the ancients had written in bulky
+volumes. Examples of this practice may be observed in preceding
+centuries, but in the fifth century it began to be in general use. As
+the number of students and readers diminished, authors neglected
+literature, and were disgusted with composition; for to write is seldom
+done, but when the writer entertains the hope of finding readers.
+Instead of original authors, there suddenly arose numbers of Abridgers.
+These men, amidst the prevailing disgust for literature, imagined they
+should gratify the public by introducing a mode of reading works in a
+few hours, which otherwise could not be done in many months; and,
+observing that the bulky volumes of the ancients lay buried in dust,
+without any one condescending to examine them, necessity inspired them
+with an invention that might bring those works and themselves into
+public notice, by the care they took of renovating them. This they
+imagined to effect by forming abridgments of these ponderous tomes.
+
+All these Abridgers, however, did not follow the same mode. Some
+contented themselves with making a mere abridgment of their authors, by
+employing their own expressions, or by inconsiderable alterations.
+Others formed abridgments in drawing them from various authors, but from
+whose works they only took what appeared to them most worthy of
+observation, and embellished them in their own style. Others again,
+having before them several authors who wrote on the same subject, took
+passages from each, united them, and thus combined a new work; they
+executed their design by digesting in commonplaces, and under various
+titles, the most valuable parts they could collect, from the best
+authors they read. To these last ingenious scholars we owe the rescue of
+many valuable fragments of antiquity. They fortunately preserved the
+best maxims, characters, descriptions, and curious matters which they
+had found interesting in their studies.
+
+Some learned men have censured these Abridgers as the cause of our
+having lost so many excellent entire works of the ancients; for
+posterity becoming less studious was satisfied with these extracts, and
+neglected to preserve the originals, whose voluminous size was less
+attractive. Others, on the contrary, say that these Abridgers have not
+been so prejudicial to literature; and that had it not been for their
+care, which snatched many a perishable fragment from that shipwreck of
+letters which the barbarians occasioned, we should perhaps have had no
+works of the ancients remaining. Many voluminous works have been greatly
+improved by their Abridgers. The vast history of Trogus Pompeius was
+soon forgotten and finally perished, after the excellent epitome of it
+by Justin, who winnowed the abundant chaff from the grain.
+
+Bayle gives very excellent advice to an Abridger, Xiphilin, in his
+"Abridgment of Dion," takes no notice of a circumstance very material
+for entering into the character of Domitian:--the recalling the empress
+Domitia after having turned her away for her intrigues with a player. By
+omitting this fact in the abridgment, and which is discovered through
+Suetonius, Xiphilin has evinced, he says, a deficient judgment; for
+Domitian's ill qualities are much better exposed, when it is known that
+he was mean-spirited enough to restore to the dignity of Empress the
+prostitute of a player.
+
+Abridgers, Compilers, and Translators, are now slightly regarded; yet to
+form their works with skill requires an exertion of judgment, and
+frequently of taste, of which their contemners appear to have no due
+conception. Such literary labours it is thought the learned will not be
+found to want; and the unlearned cannot discern the value. But to such
+Abridgers as Monsieur Le Grand, in his "Tales of the Minstrels," and Mr.
+Ellis, in his "English Metrical Romances," we owe much; and such writers
+must bring to their task a congeniality of genius, and even more taste
+than their original possessed. I must compare such to fine etchers after
+great masters:--very few give the feeling touches in the right place.
+
+It is an uncommon circumstance to quote the Scriptures on subjects of
+_modern literature_! but on the present topic the elegant writer of the
+books of the Maccabees has delivered, in a kind of preface to that
+history, very pleasing and useful instructions to an _Abridger_. I shall
+transcribe the passages, being concise, from Book ii. Chap. ii. v. 23,
+that the reader may have them at hand:--
+
+"All these things, I say, being declared by Jason of Cyrene, in _five
+books_, we will assay to _abridge_ in one volume. We will be careful
+that they that will read may have _delight_, and that they that are
+desirous to commit to memory might have _ease_, and that all into whose
+hands it comes might have _profit_." How concise and Horatian! He then
+describes his literary labours with no insensibility:--"To us that have
+taken upon us this painful labour of _abridging_, it was not easy, but a
+matter of _sweat_ and _watching_."--And the writer employs an elegant
+illustration: "Even as it is no ease unto him that prepareth a banquet,
+and seeketh the benefit of others; yet for the pleasuring of many, we
+will undertake gladly this great pain; leaving to the author the exact
+handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the _rules of an
+abridgment_." He now embellishes his critical account with a sublime
+metaphor to distinguish the original from the copier:--"For as the
+master builder of a new house must care for the whole building; but he
+that undertaketh to set it out, and paint it, must seek out fit things
+for the adorning thereof; even so I think it is with us. To stand upon
+_every point_, and _go over things at large_, and to be _curious_ in
+_particulars_, belonging to the _first author_ of the story; but to use
+_brevity_, and avoid _much labouring_ of the work, is to be granted to
+him that will make an Abridgment."
+
+Quintilian has not a passage more elegantly composed, nor more
+judiciously conceived.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 110: His comparatively useless life was quietly satirized by
+the Rev. Mr. Spence, in "a parallel after the manner of Plutarch,"
+between Magliabechi and Hill, a self-taught tailor of Buckinghamshire.
+It is published in Dodsley's _Fugitive Pieces_, 2 vols., 12mo, 1774.]
+
+
+
+
+PROFESSORS OF PLAGIARISM AND OBSCURITY.
+
+
+Among the most singular characters in literature may be ranked those who
+do not blush to profess publicly its most dishonourable practices. The
+first vender of printed sermons imitating manuscript, was, I think, Dr.
+Trusler. He to whom the following anecdotes relate had superior
+ingenuity. Like the famous orator, Henley, he formed a school of his
+own. The present lecturer openly taught not to _imitate_ the best
+authors, but to _steal_ from them!
+
+Richesource, a miserable declaimer, called himself "Moderator of the
+Academy of Philosophical Orators." He taught how a person destitute of
+literary talents might become eminent for literature; and published the
+principles of his art under the title of "The Mask of Orators; or the
+manner of disguising all kinds of composition; briefs, sermons,
+panegyrics, funeral orations, dedications, speeches, letters, passages,"
+&c. I will give a notion of the work:--
+
+The author very truly observes, that all who apply themselves to polite
+literature do not always find from their own funds a sufficient supply
+to insure success. For such he labours; and teaches to gather, in the
+gardens of others, those fruits of which their own sterile grounds are
+destitute; but so artfully to gather, that the public shall not perceive
+their depredations. He dignifies this fine art by the title of
+PLAGIANISM, and thus explains it:--
+
+"The Plagianism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode,
+which some adroitly employ, to change, or disguise, all sorts of
+speeches of their own composition, or that of other authors, for their
+pleasure or their utility; in such a manner that it becomes impossible,
+even for the author himself to recognise his own work, his own genius,
+and his own style, so skilfully shall the whole be disguised."
+
+Our professor proceeds to reveal the manner of managing the whole
+economy of the piece which is to be copied or disguised; and which
+consists in giving a new order to the parts, changing the phrases, the
+words, &c. An orator, for instance, having said that a plenipotentiary
+should possess three qualities,--_probity_, _capacity_, and _courage_;
+the plagiarist, on the contrary, may employ, _courage_, _capacity_, and
+_probity_. This is only for a general rule, for it is too simple to
+practise frequently. To render the part perfect we must make it more
+complex, by changing the whole of the expressions. The plagiarist in
+place of _courage_, will put _force_, _constancy_, or _vigour_. For
+_probity_ he may say _religion_, _virtue_, or _sincerity_. Instead of
+_capacity_, he may substitute _erudition_, _ability_, or _science_. Or
+he may disguise the whole by saying, that the _plenipotentiary should be
+firm, virtuous_, and _able_.
+
+The rest of this uncommon work is composed of passages extracted from
+celebrated writers, which are turned into the new manner of the
+plagiarist; their beauties, however, are never improved by their dress.
+Several celebrated writers when young, particularly the famous Flechier,
+who addressed verses to him, frequented the lectures of this professor!
+
+Richesource became so zealous in this course of literature, that he
+published a volume, entitled, "The Art of Writing and Speaking; or, a
+Method of composing all sorts of Letters, and holding a polite
+Conversation." He concludes his preface by advertising his readers, that
+authors who may be in want of essays, sermons, letters of all kinds,
+written pleadings and verses, may be accommodated on application to him.
+
+Our professor was extremely fond of copious title-pages, which I suppose
+to be very attractive to certain readers; for it is a custom which the
+Richesources of the day fail not to employ. Are there persons who value
+_books_ by the length of their titles, as formerly the ability of a
+physician was judged by the dimensions of his wig?
+
+To this article may be added an account of another singular school,
+where the professor taught _obscurity_ in literary composition!
+
+I do not believe that those who are unintelligible are very
+intelligent. Quintilian has justly observed, that the obscurity of a
+writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity. However, as there
+is hardly a defect which does not find partisans, the same author
+informs us of a rhetorician, who was so great an admirer of obscurity,
+that he always exhorted his scholars to preserve it; and made them
+correct, as blemishes, those passages of their works which appeared to
+him too intelligible. Quintilian adds, that the greatest panegyric they
+could give to a composition in that school was to declare, "I understand
+nothing of this piece." Lycophron possessed this taste, and he protested
+that he would hang himself if he found a person who should understand
+his poem, called the "Prophecy of Cassandra." He succeeded so well, that
+this piece has been the stumbling-block of all the grammarians,
+scholiasts, and commentators; and remains inexplicable to the present
+day. Such works Charpentier admirably compares to those subterraneous
+places, where the air is so thick and suffocating, that it extinguishes
+all torches. A most sophistical dilemma, on the subject of _obscurity_,
+was made by Thomas Anglus, or White, an English Catholic priest, the
+friend of Sir Kenelm Digby. This learned man frequently wandered in the
+mazes of metaphysical subtilties; and became perfectly unintelligible to
+his readers. When accused of this obscurity, he replied, "Either the
+learned understand me, or they do not. If they understand me, and find
+me in an error, it is easy for them to refute me; if they do not
+understand me, it is very unreasonable for them to exclaim against my
+doctrines."
+
+This is saying all that the wit of man can suggest in favour of
+_obscurity_! Many, however, will agree with an observation made by
+Gravina on the over-refinement of modern composition, that "we do not
+think we have attained genius, till others must possess as much
+themselves to understand us." Fontenelle, in France, followed by
+Marivaux, Thomas, and others, first introduced that subtilised manner of
+writing, which tastes more natural and simple reject; one source of such
+bitter complaints of obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+LITERARY DUTCH.
+
+
+Pere Bohours seriously asks if a German _can be a_ BEL ESPRIT? This
+concise query was answered by Kramer, in a ponderous volume which bears
+for title, _Vindiciae nominis Germanici_. This mode of refutation does
+not prove that the question was _then_ so ridiculous as it was
+considered. The Germans of the present day, although greatly superior to
+their ancestors, there are who opine are still distant from the _acme_
+of TASTE, which characterises the finished compositions of the French
+and the English authors. Nations display _genius_ before they form
+_taste_.
+
+It was the mode with English and French writers to dishonour the Germans
+with the epithets of heavy, dull, and phlegmatic compilers, without
+taste, spirit, or genius; genuine descendants of the ancient Boeotians,
+
+    Crassoque sub aeere nati.
+
+Many imaginative and many philosophical performances have lately shown
+that this censure has now become unjust; and much more forcibly answers
+the sarcastic question of Bohours than the thick quarto of Kramer.
+
+Churchill finely says of genius that it is independent of situation,
+
+    And may hereafter even in HOLLAND rise.
+
+Vondel, whom, as Marchand observes, the Dutch regard as their AEschylus,
+Sophocles, and Euripides, had a strange defective taste; the poet
+himself knew none of these originals, but he wrote on patriotic
+subjects, the sure way to obtain popularity; many of his tragedies are
+also drawn from the Scriptures; all badly chosen and unhappily executed.
+In his _Deliverance of the Children of Israel_, one of his principal
+characters is the _Divinity_! In his _Jerusalem Destroyed_ we are
+disgusted with a tedious oration by the angel Gabriel, who proves
+theologically, and his proofs extend through nine closely printed pages
+in quarto, that this destruction has been predicted by the prophets;
+and, in the _Lucifer_ of the same author, the subject is grossly
+scandalised by this haughty spirit becoming stupidly in love with Eve,
+and it is for her he causes the rebellion of the evil angels, and the
+fall of our first parents. Poor Vondel kept a hosier's shop, which he
+left to the care of his wife, while he indulged his poetical genius.
+His stocking-shop failed, and his poems produced him more chagrin than
+glory; for in Holland, even a patriotic poet, if a bankrupt, would, no
+doubt, be accounted by his fellow-citizens as a madman. Vondel had no
+other master but his genius, which, with his uncongenial situation,
+occasioned all his errors.
+
+Another Dutch poet is even less tolerable. Having written a long
+rhapsody concerning Pyramus and Thisbe, he concludes it by a ridiculous
+parallel between the death of these unfortunate victims of love, and the
+passion of Jesus Christ. He says:--
+
+    Om t'concluderem van onsen begrypt,
+    Dees Historie moraliserende,
+    Is in den verstande wel accorderende,
+    By der Passie van Christus gebenedyt.
+
+And upon this, after having turned Pyramus into the Son of God, and
+Thisbe into the Christian soul, he proceeds with a number of
+comparisons; the latter always more impertinent than the former.
+
+I believe it is well known that the actors on the Dutch theatre are
+generally tradesmen, who quit their aprons at the hour of public
+representation. This was the fact when I was in Holland more than forty
+years ago. Their comedies are offensive by the grossness of their
+buffooneries. One of their comic incidents was a miller appearing in
+distress for want of wind to turn his mill; he had recourse to the novel
+scheme of placing his back against it, and by certain imitative sounds
+behind the scenes the mill is soon set a-going. It is hard to rival such
+a depravity of taste.
+
+I saw two of their most celebrated tragedies. The one was Gysbert Van
+Amstel, by Vondel; that is Gysbrecht of Amsterdam, a warrior, who in the
+civil wars preserved this city by his heroism. It is a patriotic
+historical play, and never fails to crowd the theatre towards Christmas,
+when it is usually performed successively. One of the acts concludes
+with the scene of a convent; the sound of warlike instruments is heard;
+the abbey is stormed; the nuns and fathers are slaughtered; with the aid
+of "blunderbuss and thunder," every Dutchman appears sensible of the
+pathos of the poet. But it does not here conclude. After this terrible
+slaughter, the conquerors and the vanquished remain for _ten minutes_ on
+the stage, silent and motionless, in the attitudes in which the groups
+happened to fall! and this pantomimic pathos commands loud bursts of
+applause.[111]
+
+The other was the Ahasuerus of Schubart, or the Fall of Haman. In the
+triumphal entry the Batavian Mordecai was mounted on a genuine Flanders
+mare, that, fortunately, quietly received _her_ applause with a lumpish
+majesty resembling her rider. I have seen an English ass once introduced
+on our stage which did not act with this decorum. Our late actors have
+frequently been beasts;--a Dutch taste![112]
+
+Some few specimens of the best Dutch poetry which we have had, yield no
+evidence in favour of the national poetical taste. The Dutch poet Katz
+has a poem on the "Games of Children," where all the games are
+moralised; I suspect the taste of the poet as well as his subject is
+puerile. When a nation has produced no works above mediocrity, with them
+a certain mediocrity is excellence, and their masterpieces, with a
+people who have made a greater progress in refinement, can never be
+accepted as the works of a master.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 111: The Dutch are not, however, to be entirely blamed for
+repulsive scenes on the stage. Shakspeare's Titus Andronicus, and many
+of the dramas of our Elizabethan writers, exhibit cruelties very
+repulsive to modern ideas. The French stage has occasionally exhibited
+in modern times scenes that have been afterwards condemned by the
+censors; and in Italy the "people's theatre" occasionally panders to
+popular tastes by execution scenes, where the criminal is merely taken
+off the stage; the blow struck on a wooden block, to give reality to the
+action; and the executioner re-enters flourishing a bloody axe.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Ned Shuter was the comedian who first introduced a donkey
+on the stage. Seated on the beast he delivered a prologue written on the
+occasion of his benefit. Sometimes the donkey wore a great tie-wig.
+Animals educated to play certain parts are a later invention. Horses,
+dogs, and elephants have been thus trained in the present century, and
+plays written expressly to show their proficiency.]
+
+
+
+
+THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE MIND NOT SEIZABLE BY CREDITORS.
+
+
+When Crebillon, the French tragic poet, published his Catiline, it was
+attended with an honour to literature, which though it is probably
+forgotten, for it was only registered, I think, as the news of the day,
+it becomes one zealous in the cause of literature to preserve. I give
+the circumstance, the petition, and the decree.
+
+At the time Catiline was given to the public, the creditors of the poet
+had the cruelty to attach the produce of this piece, as well at the
+bookseller's, who had printed the tragedy, as at the theatre where it
+was performed. The poet, irritated at these proceedings, addressed a
+petition to the king, in which he showed "that it was a thing yet
+unknown, that it should be allowed to class amongst seizable effects the
+productions of the human mind; that if such a practice was permitted,
+those who had consecrated their vigils to the studies of literature, and
+who had made the greatest efforts to render themselves, by this means,
+useful to their country, would see themselves placed in the cruel
+predicament of not venturing to publish works, often precious and
+interesting to the state; that the greater part of those who devote
+themselves to literature require for the first wants of life those aids
+which they have a right to expect from their labours; and that it never
+has been suffered in France to seize the fees of lawyers, and other
+persons of liberal professions."
+
+In answer to this petition, a decree immediately issued from the King's
+council, commanding a replevy of the arrests and seizures of which the
+petitioner complained. This honourable decree was dated 21st of May,
+1749, and bore the following title:--"Decree of the Council of his
+Majesty, in favour of M. Crebillon, author of the tragedy of Catiline,
+which declares that the productions of the mind are not amongst seizable
+effects."
+
+Louis XV. exhibits the noble example of bestowing a mark of
+consideration to the remains of a man of letters. This King not only
+testified his esteem of Crebillon by having his works printed at the
+Louvre, but also by consecrating to his glory a tomb of marble.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICS.
+
+
+Writers who have been unsuccessful in original composition have their
+other productions immediately decried, whatever merit they might once
+have been allowed to possess. Yet this is very unjust; an author who has
+given a wrong direction to his literary powers may perceive, at length,
+where he can more securely point them. Experience is as excellent a
+mistress in the school of literature as in the school of human life.
+Blackmore's epics are insufferable; yet neither Addison nor Johnson
+erred when they considered his philosophical poem as a valuable
+composition. An indifferent poet may exert the art of criticism in a
+very high degree; and if he cannot himself produce an original work, he
+may yet be of great service in regulating the happier genius of another.
+This observation I shall illustrate by the characters of two French
+critics; the one is the Abbe d'Aubignac, and the other Chapelain.
+
+Boileau opens his Art of Poetry by a precept which though it be common
+is always important; this critical poet declares, that "It is in vain a
+daring author thinks of attaining to the height of Parnassus if he does
+not feel the secret influence of heaven, and if his natal star has not
+formed him to be a poet." This observation he founded on the character
+of our Abbe; who had excellently written on the economy of dramatic
+composition. His _Pratique du Theatre_ gained him an extensive
+reputation. When he produced a tragedy, the world expected a finished
+piece; it was acted, and reprobated. The author, however, did not
+acutely feel its bad reception; he everywhere boasted that he, of all
+the dramatists, had most scrupulously observed the _rules_ of Aristotle.
+The Prince de Guemene, famous for his repartees, sarcastically observed,
+"I do not quarrel with the Abbe d'Aubignac for having so closely
+followed the precepts of Aristotle; but I cannot pardon the precepts of
+Aristotle, that occasioned the Abbe d'Aubignac to write so wretched a
+tragedy."
+
+The _Pratique du Theatre_ is not, however, to be despised, because the
+_Tragedy_ of its author is despicable.
+
+Chapelain's unfortunate epic has rendered him notorious. He had gained,
+and not undeservedly, great reputation for his critical powers. After a
+retention of above thirty years, his _Pucelle_ appeared. He immediately
+became the butt of every unfledged wit, and his former works were
+eternally condemned; insomuch that when Camusat published, after the
+death of our author, a little volume of extracts from his manuscript
+letters, it is curious to observe the awkward situation in which he
+finds himself. In his preface he seems afraid that the very name of
+Chapelain will be sufficient to repel the reader.
+
+Camusat observes of Chapelain, that "he found flatterers, who assured
+him his _Pucelle_ ranked above the AEneid; and this Chapelain but feebly
+denied. However this may be, it would be difficult to make the bad
+taste which reigns throughout this poem agree with that sound and exact
+criticism with which he decided on the works of others. So true is it,
+that _genius_ is very superior to a justness of mind which is
+_sufficient to judge_ and to advise others." Chapelain was ordered to
+draw up a critical list of the chief living authors and men of letters
+in France, for the king. It is extremely impartial, and performed with
+an analytical skill of their literary characters which could not have
+been surpassed by an Aristotle or a Boileau.
+
+The _talent of judging_ may exist separately from the _power of
+execution_. An amateur may not be an artist, though an artist should be
+an amateur; and it is for this reason that young authors are not to
+contemn the precepts of such critics as even the Abbe d'Aubignac and
+Chapelain. It is to Walsh, a miserable versifier, that Pope stands
+indebted for the hint of our poetry then being deficient in correctness
+and polish; and it is from this fortunate hint that Pope derived his
+poetical excellence. Dionysius Halicarnassensis has composed a lifeless
+history; yet, as Gibbon observes, how admirably has _he_ judged the
+masters, and defined the rules, of historical composition! Gravina, with
+great taste and spirit, has written on poetry and poets, but he composed
+tragedies which give him no title to be ranked among them.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES OF CENSURED AUTHORS.
+
+
+It is an ingenious observation made by a journalist of Trevoux, on
+perusing a criticism not ill written, which pretended to detect several
+faults in the compositions of Bruyere, that in ancient Rome the great
+men who triumphed amidst the applauses of those who celebrated their
+virtues, were at the same time compelled to listen to those who
+reproached them with their vices. This custom is not less necessary to
+the republic of letters than it was formerly to the republic of Rome.
+Without this it is probable that authors would be intoxicated with
+success, and would then relax in their accustomed vigour; and the
+multitude who took them for models would, for want of judgment, imitate
+their defects.
+
+Sterne and Churchill were continually abusing the Reviewers, because
+they honestly told the one that obscenity was not wit, and obscurity was
+not sense; and the other that dissonance in poetry did not excel
+harmony, and that his rhymes were frequently prose lines of ten
+syllables cut into verse. They applauded their happier efforts.
+Notwithstanding all this, it is certain that so little discernment
+exists among common writers and common readers, that the obscenity and
+flippancy of Sterne, and the bald verse and prosaic poetry of Churchill,
+were precisely the portion which they selected for imitation. The
+blemishes of great men are not the less blemishes, but they are,
+unfortunately, the easiest parts for imitation.
+
+Yet criticism may be too rigorous, and genius too sensible to its direst
+attacks. Sir John Marsham, having published the first part of his
+"Chronology," suffered so much chagrin at the endless controversies
+which it raised--and some of his critics went so far as to affirm it was
+designed to be detrimental to revelation--that he burned the second
+part, which was ready for the press. Pope was observed to writhe with
+anguish in his chair on hearing mentioned the letter of Cibber, with
+other temporary attacks; and it is said of Montesquieu, that he was so
+much affected by the criticisms, true and false, which he daily
+experienced, that they contributed to hasten his death. Ritson's extreme
+irritability closed in lunacy, while ignorant Reviewers, in the shapes
+of assassins, were haunting his death-bed. In the preface to his
+"Metrical Romances," he describes himself as "brought to an end in ill
+health and low spirits--certain to be insulted by a base and prostitute
+gang of lurking assassins who stab in the dark, and whose poisoned
+daggers he has already experienced." Scott, of Amwell, never recovered
+from a ludicrous criticism, which I discovered had been written by a
+physician who never pretended to poetical taste.
+
+Pelisson has recorded a literary anecdote, which forcibly shows the
+danger of caustic criticism. A young man from a remote province came to
+Paris with a play, which he considered as a masterpiece. M. L'Etoile was
+more than just in his merciless criticism. He showed the youthful bard a
+thousand glaring defects in his chef-d'oeuvre. The humbled country
+author burnt his tragedy, returned home, took to his chamber, and died
+of vexation and grief. Of all unfortunate men, one of the unhappiest is
+a middling author endowed with too lively a sensibility for criticism.
+Athenaeus, in his tenth book, has given us a lively portrait of this
+melancholy being. Anaxandrides appeared one day on horseback in the
+public assembly at Athens, to recite a dithyrambic poem, of which he
+read a portion. He was a man of fine stature, and wore a purple robe
+edged with golden fringe. But his complexion was saturnine and
+melancholy, which was the cause that he never spared his own writings.
+Whenever he was vanquished by a rival, he immediately gave his
+compositions to the druggists to be cut into pieces to wrap their
+articles in, without ever caring to revise his writings. It is owing to
+this that he destroyed a number of pleasing compositions; age increased
+his sourness, and every day he became more and more dissatisfied with
+the awards of his auditors. Hence his "Tereus," because it failed to
+obtain the prize, has not reached us, which, with other of his
+productions, deserved preservation, though they had missed the crown
+awarded by the public.
+
+Batteux having been chosen by the French government for the compilation
+of elementary hooks for the Military School, is said to have felt their
+unfavourable reception so acutely, that he became a prey to excessive
+grief. The lamentable death of Dr. Hawkesworth was occasioned by a
+similar circumstance. Government had consigned to his care the
+compilation of the voyages that pass under his name: how he succeeded is
+well known. He felt the public reception so sensibly, that he preferred
+the oblivion of death to the mortifying recollections of life.[113]
+
+On this interesting subject Fontenelle, in his "Eloge sur Newton," has
+made the following observation:--"Newton was more desirous of remaining
+unknown than of having the calm of life disturbed by those literary
+storms which genius and science attract about those who rise to
+eminence." In one of his letters we learn that his "Treatise on Optics"
+being ready for the press, several premature objections which appeared
+made him abandon its publication. "I should reproach myself," he said,
+"for my imprudence, if I were to lose a thing so real as my ease to run
+after a shadow." But this shadow he did not miss: it did not cost him
+the ease he so much loved, and it had for him as much reality as ease
+itself. I refer to Bayle, in his curious article, "Hipponax," note F. To
+these instances we may add the fate of the Abbe Cassagne, a man of
+learning, and not destitute of talents. He was intended for one of the
+preachers at court; but he had hardly made himself known in the pulpit,
+when he was struck by the lightning of Boileau's muse. He felt so
+acutely the caustic verses, that they rendered him almost incapable of
+literary exertion; in the prime of life he became melancholy, and
+shortly afterwards died insane. A modern painter, it is known, never
+recovered from the biting ridicule of a popular, but malignant wit.
+Cummyns, a celebrated quaker, confessed he died of an anonymous letter
+in a public paper, which, said he, "fastened on my heart, and threw me
+into this slow fever." Racine, who died of his extreme sensibility to a
+royal rebuke, confessed that the pain which one severe criticism
+inflicted outweighed all the applause he could receive. The feathered
+arrow of an epigram has sometimes been wet with the heart's blood of its
+victim. Fortune has been lost, reputation destroyed, and every charity
+of life extinguished, by the inhumanity of inconsiderate wit.
+
+Literary history, even of our own days, records the fate of several who
+may be said to have _died of Criticism_.[114] But there is more sense
+and infinite humour in the mode which Phaedrus adopted to answer the
+cavillers of his age. When he first published his Fables, the taste for
+conciseness and simplicity were so much on the decline, that they were
+both objected to him as faults. He used his critics as they deserved. To
+those who objected against the _conciseness_ of his style, he tells a
+long _tedious story_ (Lib. iii. Fab. 10, ver. 59), and treats those who
+condemned the _simplicity_ of his style with a run of _bombast verses_,
+that have a great many noisy elevated words in them, without any sense
+at the bottom--this in Lib. iv. Fab. 6.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 113: The doctor was paid 6000_l._ to prepare the narrative of
+the Voyages of Captain Cook from the rough notes. He indulged in much
+pruriency of description, and occasional remarks savouring of
+infidelity. They were loudly and generally condemned, and he died soon
+afterwards.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Keats is the most melancholy instance. The effect of the
+severe criticism in the Quarterly Review upon his writings, is said by
+Shelley to have "appeared like madness, and he was with difficulty
+prevented from suicide." He never recovered its baneful effect; and when
+he died in Rome, desired his epitaph might be, "Here lies one whose name
+was writ in water." The tombstone in the Protestant cemetery is
+nameless, and simply records that "A young English poet" lies there.]
+
+
+
+
+VIRGINITY.
+
+
+The writings of the Fathers once formed the studies of the learned.
+These labours abound with that subtilty of argument which will repay the
+industry of the inquisitive, and the antiquary may turn them over for
+pictures of the manners of the age. A favourite subject with Saint
+Ambrose was that of Virginity, on which he has several works; and
+perhaps he wished to revive the order of the vestals of ancient Rome,
+which afterwards produced the institution of Nuns. From his "Treatise on
+Virgins," written in the fourth century, we learn the lively impressions
+his exhortations had made on the minds and hearts of girls, not less in
+the most distant provinces, than in the neighbourhood of Milan, where he
+resided. The Virgins of Bologna, amounting only, it appears, to the
+number of twenty, performed all kinds of needlework, not merely to gain
+their livelihood, but also to be enabled to perform acts of liberality,
+and exerted their industry to allure other girls to join the holy
+profession of VIRGINITY. He exhorts daughters, in spite of their
+parents, and even their lovers, to consecrate themselves. "I do not
+blame marriage," he says, "I only show the advantages of VIRGINITY."
+
+He composed this book in so florid a style, that he considered it
+required some apology. A Religious of the Benedictines published a
+translation in 1689.
+
+So sensible was St. Ambrose of the _rarity_ of the profession he would
+establish, that he thus combats his adversaries: "They complain that
+human nature will be exhausted; but I ask, who has ever sought to marry
+without finding women enough from amongst whom he might choose? What
+murder, or what war, has ever been occasioned for a virgin? It is one of
+the consequences of marriage to kill the adulterer, and to war with the
+ravisher."
+
+He wrote another treatise _On the perpetual Virginity of the Mother of
+God_. He attacks Bonosius on this subject, and defends her virginity,
+which was indeed greatly suspected by Bonosius, who, however, incurred
+by this bold suspicion the anathema of _Heresy_. A third treatise was
+entitled _Exhortation to Virginity_; a fourth, _On the Fate of a
+Virgin_, is more curious. He relates the misfortunes of one _Susannah_,
+who was by no means a companion for her namesake; for having made a vow
+of virginity, and taken the veil, she afterwards endeavoured to conceal
+her shame, but the precaution only tended to render her more culpable.
+Her behaviour, indeed, had long afforded ample food for the sarcasms of
+the Jews and Pagans. Saint Ambrose compelled her to perform public
+penance, and after having declaimed on her double crime, gave her hopes
+of pardon, if, like "Soeur Jeanne," this early nun would sincerely
+repent: to complete her chastisement, he ordered her every day to recite
+the fiftieth psalm.
+
+
+
+
+A GLANCE INTO THE FRENCH ACADEMY.
+
+
+In the republic of letters the establishment of an academy has been a
+favourite project; yet perhaps it is little more than an Utopian scheme.
+The united efforts of men of letters in Academies have produced little.
+It would seem that no man likes to bestow his great labours on a small
+community, for whose members he himself does not feel, probably, the
+most flattering partiality. The French Academy made a splendid
+appearance in Europe; yet when this society published their Dictionary,
+that of Furetiere's became a formidable rival; and Johnson did as much
+as the _forty_ themselves. Voltaire confesses that the great characters
+of the literary republic were formed without the aid of academies.--"For
+what then," he asks, "are they necessary?--To preserve and nourish the
+fire which great geniuses have kindled." By observing the _Junto_ at
+their meetings we may form some opinion of the indolent manner in which
+they trifled away their time. We are fortunately enabled to do this, by
+a letter in which Patru describes, in a very amusing manner, the visit
+which Christina of Sweden took a sudden fancy to pay to the Academy.
+
+The Queen of Sweden suddenly resolved to visit the French Academy, and
+gave so short a notice of her design, that it was impossible to inform
+the majority of the members of her intention. About four o'clock fifteen
+or sixteen academicians were assembled. M. Gombaut, who had never
+forgiven her majesty, because she did not relish his verses, thought
+proper to show his resentment by quitting the assembly.
+
+She was received in a spacious hall. In the middle was a table covered
+with rich blue velvet, ornamented with a broad border of gold and
+silver. At its head was placed an armchair of black velvet embroidered
+with gold, and round the table were placed chairs with tapestry backs.
+The chancellor had forgotten to hang in the hall the portrait of the
+queen, which she had presented to the Academy, and which was considered
+as a great omission. About five, a footman belonging to the queen
+inquired if the company were assembled. Soon after, a servant of the
+king informed the chancellor that the queen was at the end of the
+street; and immediately her carriage drew up in the court-yard. The
+chancellor, followed by the rest of the members, went to receive her as
+she stepped out of her chariot; but the crowd was so great, that few of
+them could reach her majesty. Accompanied by the chancellor, she passed
+through the first hall, followed by one of her ladies, the captain of
+her guards, and one or two of her suite.
+
+When she entered the Academy she approached the fire, and spoke in a low
+voice to the chancellor. She then asked why M. Menage was not there? and
+when she was told that he did not belong to the Academy, she asked why
+he did not? She was answered, that, however he might merit the honour,
+he had rendered himself unworthy of it by several disputes he had had
+with its members. She then inquired aside of the chancellor whether the
+academicians were to sit or stand before her? On this the chancellor
+consulted with a member, who observed that in the time of Ronsard, there
+was held an assembly of men of letters before Charles IX. several times,
+and that they were always seated. The queen conversed with M. Bourdelot;
+and suddenly turning to Madame de Bregis, told her that she believed she
+must not be present at the assembly; but it was agreed that this lady
+deserved the honour. As the queen was talking with a member she abruptly
+quitted him, as was her custom, and in her quick way sat down in the
+arm-chair; and at the same time the members seated themselves. The queen
+observing that they did not, out of respect to her, approach the table,
+desired them to come near; and they accordingly approached it.
+
+During these ceremonious preparations several officers of state had
+entered the hall, and stood behind the academicians. The chancellor sat
+at the queen's left hand by the fire-side; and at the right was placed
+M. de la Chambre, the director; then Boisrobert, Patru, Pelisson, Cotin,
+the Abbe Tallemant, and others. M. de Mezeray sat at the bottom of the
+table facing the queen, with an inkstand, paper, and the portfolio of
+the company lying before him: he occupied the place of the secretary.
+When they were all seated the director rose, and the academicians
+followed him, all but the chancellor, who remained in his seat. The
+director made his complimentary address in a low voice, his body was
+quite bent, and no person but the queen and the chancellor could hear
+him. She received his address with great satisfaction.
+
+All compliments concluded, they returned to their seats. The director
+then told the queen that he had composed a treatise on Pain, to add to
+his character of the Passions, and if it was agreeable to her majesty,
+he would read the first chapter.--"Very willingly," she answered. Having
+read it, he said to her majesty, that he would read no more lest he
+should fatigue her. "Not at all," she replied, "for I suppose what
+follows is like what I have heard."
+
+M. de Mezeray observed that M. Cotin had some verses, which her majesty
+would doubtless find beautiful, and if it was agreeable they should be
+read. M. Cotin read them: they were versions of two passages from
+Lucretius: the one in which he attacks a Providence, and the other,
+where he gives the origin of the world according to the Epicurean
+system: to these he added twenty lines of his own, in which he
+maintained the existence of a Providence. This done, an abbe rose, and,
+without being desired or ordered, read two sonnets, which by courtesy
+were allowed to be tolerable. It is remarkable that both the _poets_
+read their verses standing, while the rest read their compositions
+seated.
+
+After these readings, the director informed the queen that the ordinary
+exercise of the company was to labour on the dictionary; and that if her
+majesty should not find it disagreeable, they would read a _cahier_.
+"Very willingly," she answered. M. de Mezeray then read what related to
+the word _Jeu; Game_. Amongst other proverbial expressions was this:
+_Game of Princes, which only pleases the player_, to express a malicious
+violence committed by one in power. At this the queen laughed heartily;
+and they continued reading all that was fairly written. This lasted
+about an hour, when the queen observing that nothing more remained,
+arose, made a bow to the company, and returned in the manner she
+entered.
+
+Furetiere, who was himself an academician, has described the miserable
+manner in which time was consumed at their assemblies. I confess he was
+a satirist, and had quarrelled with the Academy; there must have been,
+notwithstanding, sufficient resemblance for the following picture,
+however it may be overcharged. He has been blamed for thus exposing the
+Eleusinian mysteries of literature to the uninitiated.
+
+"He who is most clamorous, is he whom they suppose has most reason. They
+all have the art of making long orations upon a trifle. The second
+repeats like an echo what the first said; but generally three or four
+speak together. When there is a bench of five or six members, one reads,
+another decides, two converse, one sleeps, and another amuses himself
+with reading some dictionary which happens to lie before him. When a
+second member is to deliver his opinion, they are obliged to read again
+the article, which at the first perusal he had been too much engaged to
+hear. This is a happy manner of finishing their work. They can hardly
+get over two lines without long digressions; without some one telling a
+pleasant story, or the news of the day; or talking of affairs of state,
+and reforming the government."
+
+That the French Academy were generally frivolously employed appears also
+from an epistle to Balzac, by Boisrobert, the amusing companion of
+Cardinal Richelieu. "Every one separately," says he, "promises great
+things; when they meet they do nothing. They have been _six years_
+employed on the letter F; and I should be happy if I were certain of
+living till they got through G."
+
+The following anecdote concerns the _forty arm-chairs_ of the
+academicians.[115] Those cardinals who were academicians for a long time
+had not attended the meetings of the Academy, because they thought that
+_arm-chairs_ were indispensable to their dignity, and the Academy had
+then only common chairs. These cardinals were desirous of being present
+at the election of M. Monnoie, that they might give him a distinguished
+mark of their esteem. "The king," says D'Alembert, "to satisfy at once
+the delicacy of their friendship, and that of their cardinalship, and to
+preserve at the same time that academical equality, of which this
+enlightened monarch (Louis XIV.) well knew the advantage, sent to the
+Academy forty arm-chairs for the forty academicians, the same chairs
+which we now occupy; and the motive to which we owe them is sufficient
+to render the memory of Louis XIV. precious to the republic of letters,
+to whom it owes so many more important obligations!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 115: A very clever satire has been concocted in an imaginary
+history of "a forty-first chair" of the Academy which has been occupied
+by the great men of literature who have not been recognised members of
+the official body, and whose "existence there has been unaccountably
+forgotten" in the annals of its members.]
+
+
+
+
+POETICAL AND GRAMMATICAL DEATHS.
+
+
+It will appear by the following anecdotes, that some men may be said to
+have died _poetically_ and even _grammatically_.
+
+There must be some attraction existing in poetry which is not merely
+fictitious, for often have its genuine votaries felt all its powers on
+the most trying occasions. They have displayed the energy of their mind
+by composing or repeating verses, even with death on their lips.
+
+The Emperor Adrian, dying, made that celebrated address to his soul,
+which is so happily translated by Pope. Lucan, when he had his veins
+opened by order of Nero, expired reciting a passage from his Pharsalia,
+in which he had described the wound of a dying soldier. Petronius did
+the same thing on the same occasion.
+
+Patris, a poet of Caen, perceiving himself expiring, composed some
+verses which are justly admired. In this little poem he relates a dream,
+in which he appeared to be placed next to a beggar, when, having
+addressed him in the haughty strain he would probably have employed on
+this side of the grave, he receives the following reprimand:--
+
+    Ici tous sont egaux; je ne te dois plus rien;
+    Je suis sur mon fumier comme toi sur le tien.
+
+    Here all are equal! now thy lot is mine!
+    I on my dunghill, as thou art on thine.
+
+Des Barreaux, it is said, wrote on his death-bed that well-known sonnet
+which is translated in the "Spectator."
+
+Margaret of Austria, when she was nearly perishing in a storm at sea,
+composed her epitaph in verse. Had she perished, what would have become
+of the epitaph? And if she escaped, of what use was it? She should
+rather have said her prayers. The verses however have all the _naivete_
+of the times. They are--
+
+    Cy gist Margot, la gente demoiselle,
+    Qu'eut deux maris, et si mourut pucelle.
+
+    Beneath this tomb is high-born Margaret laid,
+    Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid.
+
+She was betrothed to Charles VIII. of France, who forsook her; and being
+next intended for the Spanish infant, in her voyage to Spain, she wrote
+these lines in a storm.
+
+Mademoiselle de Serment was surnamed the philosopher. She was celebrated
+for her knowledge and taste in polite literature. She died of a cancer
+in her breast, and suffered her misfortune with exemplary patience. She
+expired in finishing these verses, which she addressed to Death:--
+
+                      Nectare clausa suo,
+    Dignum tantorum pretium tulit illa laborum.
+
+It was after Cervantes had received extreme unction that he wrote the
+dedication of his Persiles.
+
+Roscommon, at the moment he expired, with an energy of voice that
+expressed the most fervent devotion, uttered two lines of his own
+version of "Dies Irae!" Waller, in his last moments, repeated some lines
+from Virgil; and Chaucer seems to have taken his farewell of all human
+vanities by a moral ode, entitled, "A balade made by Geffrey Chaucyer
+upon his dethe-bedde lying in his grete anguysse."[116]
+
+Cornelius de Witt fell an innocent victim to popular prejudice. His
+death is thus noticed by Hume:--"This man, who had bravely served his
+country in war, and who had been invested with the highest dignities,
+was delivered into the hands of the executioner, and torn in pieces by
+the most inhuman torments. Amidst the severe agonies which he endured he
+frequently repeated an ode of Horace, which contained sentiments suited
+to his deplorable condition." It was the third ode of the third book
+which this illustrious philosopher and statesman then repeated.
+
+Metastasio, after receiving the sacrament, a very short time before his
+last moments, broke out with all the enthusiasm of poetry and religion
+in these stanzas:--
+
+        T' offro il tuo proprio Figlio,
+          Che gia d'amore in pegno,
+          Racchiuso in picciol segno
+          Si volle a noi donar.
+
+        A lui rivolgi il ciglio.
+          Guardo chi t' offro, e poi
+          Lasci, Signor, se vuoi,
+          Lascia di perdonar.
+
+     "I offer to thee, O Lord, thine own Son, who already has given the
+     pledge of love, enclosed in this thin emblem. Turn on him thine
+     eyes: ah! behold whom I offer to thee, and then desist, O Lord! if
+     thou canst desist from mercy."
+
+"The muse that has attended my course," says the dying Gleim in a letter
+to Klopstock, "still hovers round my steps to the very verge of the
+grave." A collection of lyrical poems, entitled "Last Hours," composed
+by old Gleim on his death-bed, was intended to be published. The death
+of Klopstock was one of the most poetical: in this poet's "Messiah," he
+had made the death of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, a picture
+of the death of the Just; and on his own death-bed he was heard
+repeating, with an expiring voice, his own verses on Mary; he was
+exhorting himself to die by the accents of his own harp, the sublimities
+of his own muse! The same song of Mary was read at the public funeral of
+Klopstock.
+
+Chatelar, a French gentleman, beheaded in Scotland for having loved the
+queen, and even for having attempted her honour, Brantome says, would
+not have any other viaticum than a poem of Ronsard. When he ascended the
+scaffold he took the hymns of this poet, and for his consolation read
+that on death, which our old critic says is well adapted to conquer its
+fear.
+
+When the Marquis of Montrose was condemned by his judges to have his
+limbs nailed to the gates of four cities, the brave soldier said that
+"he was sorry he had not limbs sufficient to be nailed to all the gates
+of the cities in Europe, as monuments of his loyalty." As he proceeded
+to his execution, he put this thought into verse.
+
+Philip Strozzi, imprisoned by Cosmo the First, Great Duke of Tuscany,
+was apprehensive of the danger to which he might expose his friends who
+had joined in his conspiracy against the duke, from the confessions
+which the rack might extort from him. Having attempted every exertion
+for the liberty of his country, he considered it as no crime therefore
+to die. He resolved on suicide. With the point of the sword, with which
+he killed himself, he cut out on the mantel-piece of the chimney this
+verse of Virgil:--
+
+    Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.
+    Rise some avenger from our blood!
+
+I can never repeat without a strong emotion the following stanzas, begun
+by Andre Chenier, in the dreadful period of the French revolution. He
+was waiting for his turn to be dragged to the guillotine, when he
+commenced this poem:--
+
+    Comme un dernier rayon, comme un dernier zephyre
+        Anime la fin d'un beau jour;
+    Au pied de l'echafaud j'essaie encore ma lyre,
+        Peut-etre est ce bientot mon tour;
+
+    Peut-etre avant que l'heure en cercle promenee
+        Ait pose sur l'email brillant,
+    Dans les soixante pas ou sa route est bornee
+        Son pied sonore et vigilant,
+
+    Le sommeil du tombeau pressera ma paupiere--
+
+Here, at this pathetic line, was Andre Chenier summoned to the
+guillotine! Never was a more beautiful effusion of grief interrupted by
+a more affecting incident!
+
+Several men of science have died in a scientific manner. Haller, the
+poet, philosopher, and physician, beheld his end approach with the
+utmost composure. He kept feeling his pulse to the last moment, and when
+he found that life was almost gone, he turned to his brother physician,
+observing, "My friend, the artery ceases to beat," and almost instantly
+expired. The same remarkable circumstance had occurred to the great
+Harvey: he kept making observations on the state of his pulse, when life
+was drawing to its close, "as if," says Dr. Wilson, in the oration
+spoken a few days after the event, "that he who had taught us the
+beginning of life might himself, at his departing from it, become
+acquainted with those of death."
+
+De Lagny, who was intended by his friends for the study of the law,
+having fallen on an Euclid, found it so congenial to his dispositions,
+that he devoted himself to mathematics. In his last moments, when he
+retained no further recollection of the friends who surrounded his bed,
+one of them, perhaps to make a philosophical experiment, thought proper
+to ask him the square of twelve: our dying mathematician instantly, and
+perhaps without knowing that he answered, replied, "One hundred and
+forty-four."
+
+The following anecdotes are of a different complexion, and may excite a
+smile.
+
+Pere Bohours was a French grammarian, who had been justly accused of
+paying too scrupulous an attention to the minutiae of letters. He was
+more solicitous of his _words_ than his _thoughts_. It is said, that
+when he was dying, he called out to his friends (a correct grammarian to
+the last), "_Je_ VAS _ou je_ VAIS _mourir; l'un ou l'autre se dit_!"
+
+When Malherbe was dying, he reprimanded his nurse for making use of a
+solecism in her language; and when his confessor represented to him the
+felicities of a future state in low and trite expressions, the dying
+critic interrupted him:--"Hold your tongue," he said; "your wretched
+style only makes me out of conceit with them!"
+
+The favourite studies and amusements of the learned La Mothe le Vayer
+consisted in accounts of the most distant countries. He gave a striking
+proof of the influence of this master-passion, when death hung upon his
+lips. Bernier, the celebrated traveller, entering and drawing the
+curtains of his bed to take his eternal farewell, the dying man turning
+to him, with a faint voice inquired, "Well, my friend, what news from
+the Great Mogul?"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 116: Barham, the author of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, wrote a
+similar death-bed lay in imitation of the older poets. It is termed "As
+I laye a-thinkynge." Bewick, the wood-engraver, was last employed upon,
+and left unfinished at his death, a cut, the subject of which was "The
+old Horse waiting for Death."]
+
+
+
+
+SCARRON.
+
+
+Scarron, as a burlesque poet, but no other comparison exists, had his
+merit, but is now little read; for the uniformity of the burlesque style
+is as intolerable as the uniformity of the serious. From various sources
+we may collect some uncommon anecdotes, although he was a mere author.
+
+His father, a counsellor, having married a second wife, the lively
+Scarron became the object of her hatred.
+
+He studied, and travelled, and took the clerical tonsure; but discovered
+dispositions more suitable to the pleasures of his age than to the
+gravity of his profession. He formed an acquaintance with the wits of
+the times; and in the carnival of 1638 committed a youthful
+extravagance, for which his remaining days formed a continual
+punishment. He disguised himself as a savage; the singularity of a naked
+man attracted crowds. After having been hunted by the mob, he was forced
+to escape from his pursuers; and concealed himself in a marsh. A
+freezing cold seized him, and threw him, at the age of twenty-seven
+years, into a kind of palsy; a cruel disorder which tormented him all
+his life. "It was thus," he says, "that pleasure deprived me suddenly of
+legs which had danced with elegance, and of hands, which could manage
+the pencil and the lute."
+
+Goujet, without stating this anecdote, describes his disorder as an
+acrid humour, distilling itself on his nerves, and baffling the skill of
+his physicians; the sciatica, rheumatism, in a word, a complication of
+maladies attacked him, sometimes successively, sometimes together, and
+made of our poor Abbe a sad spectacle. He thus describes himself in one
+of his letters; and who could be in better humour?
+
+"I have lived to thirty: if I reach forty, I shall only add many
+miseries to those which I have endured these last eight or nine years.
+My person was well made, though short; my disorder has shortened it
+still more by a foot. My head is a little broad for my shape; my face is
+full enough for my body to appear very meagre; I have hair enough to
+render a wig unnecessary; I have got many white hairs, in spite of the
+proverb. My teeth, formerly square pearls, are now of the colour of
+wood, and will soon be of slate. My legs and thighs first formed an
+obtuse angle, afterwards an equilateral angle, and at length, an acute
+one. My thighs and body form another; and my head, always dropping on my
+breast, makes me not ill represent a Z. I have got my arms shortened as
+well as my legs, and my fingers as well as my arms. In a word, I am an
+abridgment of human miseries."
+
+He had the free use of nothing but his tongue and his hands; and he
+wrote on a portfolio placed on his knees.
+
+Balzac said of Scarron, that he had gone further in insensibility than
+the Stoics, who were satisfied in appearing insensible to pain; but
+Scarron was gay, and amused all the world with his sufferings.
+
+He pourtrays himself thus humorously in his address to the queen:--
+
+           Je ne regard plus qu'en bas,
+       Je suis torticolis, j'ai la tete penchante;
+           Ma mine devient si plaisante
+    Que quand on en riroit, je ne m'en plaindrois pas.
+
+     "I can only see under me; I am wry-necked; my head hangs down; my
+     appearance is so droll, that if people laugh, I shall not
+     complain."
+
+He says elsewhere,
+
+    Parmi les torticolis
+    Je passe pour un des plus jolis.
+
+     "Among your wry-necked people I pass for one of the handsomest."
+
+After having suffered this distortion of shape, and these acute pains
+for four years, he quitted his usual residence, the quarter du Marais,
+for the baths of the Fauxbourg Saint Germain. He took leave of his
+friends, by addressing some verses to them, entitled, _Adieu aux
+Marais_; in which he describes several celebrated persons. When he was
+brought into the street in a chair, the pleasure of seeing himself there
+once more overcame the pains which the motion occasioned, and he has
+celebrated the transport by an ode, which has for title, "The Way from
+le Marais to the Fauxbourg Saint Germain."
+
+The baths he tried had no effect on his miserable disorder. But a new
+affliction was added to the catalogue of his griefs.
+
+His father, who had hitherto contributed to his necessities, having
+joined a party against Cardinal Richelieu, was exiled. This affair was
+rendered still more unfortunate by his mother-in-law with her children
+at Paris, in the absence of her husband, appropriating the property of
+the family to her own use.
+
+Hitherto Scarron had had no connexion with Cardinal Richelieu. The
+conduct of his father had even rendered his name disagreeable to the
+minister, who was by no means prone to forgiveness. Scarron, however,
+when he thought his passion moderated, ventured to present a petition,
+which is considered by the critics as one of his happiest productions.
+Richelieu permitted it to be read to him, and acknowledged that it
+afforded him much pleasure, and that it was _pleasantly dated_. This
+_pleasant date_ is thus given by Scarron:--
+
+    Fait a Paris dernier jour d'Octobre,
+    Par moi, Scarron, qui malgre moi suis sobre,
+    L'an que l'on prit le fameux Perpignan,
+    Et, sans canon, la ville de Sedan.
+
+    At Paris done, the last day of October,
+    By me, Scarron, who wanting wine am sober,
+    The year they took fam'd Perpignan,
+    And, without cannon-ball, Sedan.
+
+This was flattering the minister adroitly in two points very agreeable
+to him. The poet augured well of the dispositions of the cardinal, and
+lost no time to return to the charge, by addressing an ode to him, to
+which he gave the title of THANKS, as if he had already received the
+favours which he hoped he should receive! Thus Ronsard dedicated to
+Catherine of Medicis, who was prodigal of promises, his hymn to
+PROMISE. But all was lost for Scarron by the death of the Cardinal.
+
+When Scarron's father died, he brought his mother-in-law into court;
+and, to complete his misfortunes, lost his suit. The cases which he drew
+up for the occasion were so extremely burlesque, that the world could
+not easily conceive how a man could amuse himself so pleasantly on a
+subject on which his existence depended.
+
+The successor of Richelieu, the Cardinal Mazarin, was insensible to his
+applications. He did nothing for him, although the poet dedicated to him
+his _Typhon_, a burlesque poem, in which the author describes the wars
+of the giants with the gods. Our bard was so irritated at this neglect,
+that he suppressed a sonnet he had written in his favour, and aimed at
+him several satirical bullets. Scarron, however, consoled himself for
+this kind of disgrace with those select friends who were not inconstant
+in their visits to him. The Bishop of Mans also, solicited by a friend,
+gave him a living in his diocese. When Scarron had taken possession of
+it, he began his _Roman Comique_, ill translated into English by
+_Comical Romance_. He made friends by his dedications. Such resources
+were indeed necessary, for he not only lived well, but had made his
+house an asylum for his two sisters, who there found refuge from an
+unfeeling step-mother.
+
+It was about this time that the beautiful and accomplished Mademoiselle
+d'Aubigne, afterwards so well known by the name of Madame de Maintenon,
+she who was to be one day the mistress, if not the queen of France,
+formed with Scarron the most romantic connexion. She united herself in
+marriage with one whom she well knew could only be a lover. It was
+indeed amidst that literary society she formed her taste and embellished
+with her presence his little residence, where assembled the most
+polished courtiers and some of the finest geniuses of Paris of that
+famous party, called _La Fronde_, formed against Mazarin. Such was the
+influence this marriage had over Scarron, that after this period his
+writings became more correct and more agreeable than those which he had
+previously composed. Scarron, on his side, gave a proof of his
+attachment to Madame de Maintenon; for by marrying her he lost his
+living of Mans. But though without wealth, he was accustomed to say that
+"his wife and he would not live uncomfortable by the produce of his
+estate and the _Marquisate of Quinet_." Thus he called the revenue which
+his compositions produced, and _Quinet_ was his bookseller.
+
+Scarron addressed one of his dedications to his dog, to ridicule those
+writers who dedicate their works indiscriminately, though no author has
+been more liberal of dedications than himself; but, as he confessed, he
+made dedication a kind of business. When he was low in cash he always
+dedicated to some lord, whom he praised as warmly as his dog, but whom
+probably he did not esteem as much.
+
+When Scarron was visited, previous to general conversation his friends
+were taxed with a perusal of what he had written since he saw them last.
+Segrais and a friend calling on him, "Take a chair," said our author,
+"and let me _try on you_ my 'Roman Comique.'" He took his manuscript,
+read several pages, and when he observed that they laughed, he said,
+"Good, this goes well; my book can't fail of success, since it obliges
+such able persons as yourselves to laugh;" and then remained silent to
+receive their compliments. He used to call this _trying on his romance_,
+as a tailor _tries_ his _coat_. He was agreeable and diverting in all
+things, even in his complaints and passions. Whatever he conceived he
+immediately too freely expressed; but his amiable lady corrected him of
+this in three months after marriage.
+
+He petitioned the queen, in his droll manner, to be permitted the honour
+of being her _Sick-Man by right of office_. These verses form a part of
+his address to her majesty:
+
+    Scarron, par la grace de Dieu,
+    Malade indigne de la reine,
+    Homme n'ayant ni feu, ni lieu,
+    Mais bien du mal et de la peine;
+    Hopital allant et venant,
+    Des jambes d'autrui cheminant,
+    Des sieunes n'ayant plus l'usage,
+    Souffrant beaucoup, dormant bien pen,
+    Et pourtant faisant par courage
+    Bonne mine et fort mauvais jeu.
+
+    "Scarron, by the grace of God, the unworthy Sick-Man of the Queen;
+    a man without a house, though a moving hospital of disorders;
+    walking only with other people's legs, with great sufferings, but
+    little sleep; and yet, in spite of all, very courageously showing a
+    hearty countenance, though indeed he plays a losing game."
+
+She smiled, granted the title, and, what was better, added a small
+pension, which losing, by lampooning the minister Mazarin, Fouquet
+generously granted him a more considerable one.
+
+The termination of the miseries of this facetious genius was now
+approaching. To one of his friends, who was taking leave of him for some
+time, Scarron said, "I shall soon die; the only regret I have in dying
+is not to be enabled to leave some property to my wife, who is possessed
+of infinite merit, and whom I have every reason imaginable to admire and
+to praise."
+
+One day he was seized with so violent a fit of the hiccough, that his
+friends now considered his prediction would soon be verified. When it
+was over, "If ever I recover," cried Scarron, "I will write a bitter
+satire against the hiccough." The satire, however, was never written,
+for he died soon after. A little before his death, when he observed his
+relations and domestics weeping and groaning, he was not much affected,
+but humorously told them, "My children, you will never weep for me so
+much as I have made you laugh." A few moments before he died, he said,
+that "he never thought that it was so easy a matter to laugh at the
+approach of death."
+
+The burlesque compositions of Scarron are now neglected by the French.
+This species of writing was much in vogue till attacked by the critical
+Boileau, who annihilated such puny writers as D'Assoucy and Dulot, with
+their stupid admirers. It is said he spared Scarron because his merit,
+though it appeared but at intervals, was uncommon. Yet so much were
+burlesque verses the fashion after Scarron's works, that the booksellers
+would not publish poems, but with the word "Burlesque" in the
+title-page. In 1649 appeared a poem, which shocked the pious, entitled,
+"The Passion of our Lord, in _burlesque Verses_."
+
+Swift, in his dotage, appears to have been gratified by such puerilities
+as Scarron frequently wrote. An ode which Swift calls "A Lilliputian
+Ode," consisting of verses of three syllables, probably originated in a
+long epistle in verses of three syllables, which Scarron addressed to
+Sarrazin. It is pleasant, and the following lines will serve as a
+specimen:--
+
+_Epitre a M. Sarrazin._
+
+        Sarrazin
+        Mon voisin,
+        Cher ami,
+        Qu'a demi,
+        Je ne voi,
+        Dont ma foi
+        J'ai depit
+        Un petit.
+        N'es-tu pas
+        Barrabas,
+        Busiris,
+        Phalaris,
+        Ganelon,
+        Le Felon?
+
+He describes himself--
+
+    Un pauvret,
+    Tres maigret;
+    Au col tors,
+    Dont le corps
+    Tout tortu,
+    Tout bossu,
+    Suranne,
+    Decharne,
+    Est reduit,
+    Jour et nuit,
+    A souffrir
+    Sans guerir
+    Des tourmens
+    Vehemens.
+
+He complains of Sarrazin's not visiting him, threatens to reduce him
+into powder if he comes not quickly; and concludes,
+
+    Mais pourtant,
+    Repentant
+    Si tu viens
+    Et tu tiens
+    Settlement
+    Un moment
+    Avec nous,
+    Mon courroux
+    Finira,
+    ET CAETERA.
+
+The Roman Comique of our author abounds with pleasantry, with wit and
+character. His "Virgile Travestie" it is impossible to read long: this
+we likewise feel in "Cotton's Virgil travestied," which has
+notwithstanding considerable merit. Buffoonery after a certain time
+exhausts our patience. It is the chaste actor only who can keep the
+attention awake for a length of time. It is said that Scarron intended
+to write a tragedy; this perhaps would not have been the least facetious
+of his burlesques.
+
+
+
+
+PETER CORNEILLE.
+
+    Exact Racine and Corneille's noble fire
+    Show'd us that France had something to admire.
+
+                                          POPE.
+
+The great Corneille having finished his studies, devoted himself to the
+bar; but this was not the stage on which his abilities were to be
+displayed. He followed the occupation of a lawyer for some time, without
+taste and without success. A trifling circumstance discovered to the
+world and to himself a different genius. A young man who was in love
+with a girl of the same town, having solicited him to be his companion
+in one of those secret visits which he paid to the lady, it happened
+that the stranger pleased infinitely more than his introducer. The
+pleasure arising from this adventure excited in Corneille a talent which
+had hitherto been unknown to him, and he attempted, as if it were by
+inspiration, dramatic poetry. On this little subject he wrote his comedy
+of Melite, in 1625. At that moment the French drama was at a low ebb:
+the most favourable ideas were formed of our juvenile poet, and comedy,
+it was expected, would now reach its perfection. After the tumult of
+approbation had ceased, the critics thought that Melite was too simple
+and barren of incident. Roused by this criticism, our poet wrote his
+Clitandre, and in that piece has scattered incidents and adventures with
+such a licentious profusion, that the critics say he wrote it rather to
+expose the public taste than to accommodate himself to it. In this piece
+the persons combat on the theatre; there are murders and assassinations;
+heroines fight; officers appear in search of murderers, and women are
+disguised as men. There is matter sufficient for a romance of ten
+volumes; "And yet," says a French critic, "nothing can be more cold and
+tiresome." He afterwards indulged his natural genius in various other
+performances; but began to display more forcibly his tragic powers in
+Medea. A comedy which he afterwards wrote was a very indifferent
+composition. He regained his full lustre in the famous Cid, a tragedy,
+of which he preserved in his closet translations in all the European
+languages, except the Sclavonian and the Turkish. He pursued his
+poetical career with uncommon splendour in the Horaces, Cinna, and at
+length in Polyeucte; which productions, the French critics say, can
+never be surpassed.
+
+At length the tragedy of "Pertharite" appeared, and proved unsuccessful.
+This so much disgusted our veteran bard, that, like Ben Jonson, he could
+not conceal his chagrin in the preface. There the poet tells us that he
+renounces the theatre for ever! and indeed this _eternity_ lasted for
+_several years_!
+
+Disgusted by the fate of his unfortunate tragedy, he directed his
+poetical pursuits to a different species of composition. He now finished
+his translation in verse, of the "Imitation of Jesus Christ," by Thomas
+a Kempis. This work, perhaps from the singularity of its dramatic author
+becoming a religious writer, was attended with astonishing success. Yet
+Fontenelle did not find in this translation the prevailing charm of the
+original, which consists in that simplicity and _naivete_ which are lost
+in the pomp of versification so natural to Corneille. "This book," he
+continues, "the finest that ever proceeded from the hand of man (since
+the gospel does not come from man) would not go so direct to the heart,
+and would not seize on it with such force, if it had not a natural and
+tender air, to which even that negligence which prevails in the style
+greatly contributes." Voltaire appears to confirm the opinion of our
+critic, in respect to the translation: "It is reported that Corneille's
+translation of the Imitation of Jesus Christ has been printed thirty-two
+times; it is as difficult to believe this as it is to _read the book
+once_!"
+
+Corneille seems not to have been ignorant of the truth of this
+criticism. In his dedication to the Pope, he says, "The translation
+which I have chosen, by the simplicity of its style, precludes all the
+rich ornaments of poetry, and far from increasing my reputation, must be
+considered rather as a sacrifice made to the glory of the Sovereign
+Author of all, which I may have acquired by my poetical productions."
+This is an excellent elucidation of the truth of that precept of Johnson
+which respects religious poetry; but of which the author of "Calvary"
+seemed not to have been sensible. The merit of religious compositions
+appears, like this "Imitation of Jesus Christ," to consist in a
+simplicity inimical to the higher poetical embellishments; these are too
+human!
+
+When Racine, the son, published a long poem on "Grace," taken in its
+holy sense, a most unhappy subject at least for poetry; it was said that
+he had written on _Grace_ without _grace_.
+
+During the space of six years Corneille rigorously kept his promise of
+not writing for the theatre. At length, overpowered by the persuasions
+of his friends, and probably by his own inclinations, he once more
+directed his studies to the drama. He recommenced in 1659, and finished
+in 1675. During this time he wrote ten new pieces, and published a
+variety of little religious poems, which, although they do not attract
+the attention of posterity, were then read with delight, and probably
+preferred to the finest tragedies by the good catholics of the day.
+
+In 1675 he terminated his career. In the last year of his life his mind
+became so enfeebled as to be incapable of thinking, and he died in
+extreme poverty. It is true that his uncommon genius had been amply
+rewarded; but amongst his talents that of preserving the favours of
+fortune he had not acquired.
+
+Fontenelle, his nephew, presents a minute and interesting description of
+this great man. Vigneul Marville says, that when he saw Corneille he had
+the appearance of a country tradesman, and he could not conceive how a
+man of so rustic an appearance could put into the mouths of his Romans
+such heroic sentiments. Corneille was sufficiently large and full in his
+person; his air simple and vulgar; always negligent; and very little
+solicitous of pleasing by his exterior. His face had something
+agreeable, his nose large, his mouth not unhandsome, his eyes full of
+fire, his physiognomy lively, with strong features, well adapted to be
+transmitted to posterity on a medal or bust. His pronunciation was not
+very distinct: and he read his verses with force, but without grace.
+
+He was acquainted with polite literature, with history, and politics;
+but he generally knew them best as they related to the stage. For other
+knowledge he had neither leisure, curiosity, nor much esteem. He spoke
+little, even on subjects which he perfectly understood. He did not
+embellish what he said, and to discover the great Corneille it became
+necessary to read him.
+
+He was of a melancholy disposition, had something blunt in his manner,
+and sometimes he appeared rude; but in fact he was no disagreeable
+companion, and made a good father and husband. He was tender, and his
+soul was very susceptible of friendship. His constitution was very
+favourable to love, but never to debauchery, and rarely to violent
+attachment. His soul was fierce and independent: it could never be
+managed, for it would never bend. This, indeed, rendered him very
+capable of portraying Roman virtue, but incapable of improving his
+fortune. Nothing equalled his incapacity for business but his aversion:
+the slightest troubles of this kind occasioned him alarm and terror. He
+was never satiated with praise, although he was continually receiving
+it; but if he was sensible to fame, he was far removed from vanity.
+
+What Fontenelle observes of Corneille's love of fame is strongly proved
+by our great poet himself, in an epistle to a friend, in which we find
+the following remarkable description of himself; an instance that what
+the world calls vanity, at least interests in a great genius.
+
+    Nous nous aimons un peu, c'est notre foible a tous;
+    Le prix que nous valons que le scait mieux que nous?
+    Et puis la mode en est, et la cour l'autorise,
+    Nous parlons de nous-memes avec toute franchise,
+    La fausse humilite ne met plus en credit.
+    Je scais ce que je vaux, et crois ce qu'on m'en dit,
+    Pour me faire admirer je ne fais point de ligue;
+    J'ai peu de voix pour moi, mais je les ai sans brigue;
+    Et mon ambition, pour faire plus de bruit
+    Ne les va point queter de reduit en reduit.
+    Mon travail sans appui monte sur le theatre,
+    Chacun en liberte l'y blame ou idolatre;
+    La, sans que mes amis prechent leurs sentimens,
+    J'arrache quelquefois leurs applaudissemens;
+    La, content da succes que le merite donne,
+    Par d'illustres avis je n'eblouis personne;
+    Je satisfais ensemble et peuple et courtisans;
+    Et mes vers en tous lieux sent mes seuls partisans;
+    Par leur seule beaute ma plume est estimee;
+    Je ne dois qu'a moi seul toute ma renommee;
+    Et pense toutefois n'avoir point de rival,
+    A qui je fasse tort, en le traitant d'egal.
+
+I give his sentiments in English verse.
+
+        Self-love prevails too much in every state;
+        Who, like ourselves, our secret worth can rate?
+        Since 'tis a fashion authorised at court,
+        Frankly our merits we ourselves report.
+        A proud humility will not deceive;
+        I know my worth; what others say, believe.
+        To be admired I form no petty league;
+        Few are my friends, but gain'd without intrigue.
+        My bold ambition, destitute of grace,
+        Scorns still to beg their votes from place to place.
+        On the fair stage my scenic toils I raise,
+        While each is free to censure or to praise;
+        And there, unaided by inferior arts,
+        I snatch the applause that rushes from their hearts.
+        Content by Merit still to win the crown,
+        With no illustrious names I cheat the town.
+        The galleries thunder, and the pit commends;
+        My verses, everywhere, my only friends!
+        'Tis from their charms alone my praise I claim;
+        'Tis to myself alone, I owe my fame;
+        And know no rival whom I fear to meet,
+        Or injure, when I grant an equal seat.
+
+Voltaire censures Corneille for making his heroes say continually they
+are great men. But in drawing the character of a hero he draws his own.
+All his heroes are only so many Corneilles in different situations.
+
+Thomas Corneille attempted the same career as his brother; perhaps his
+name was unfortunate, for it naturally excited a comparison which could
+not be favourable to him. Gacon, the Dennis of his day, wrote the
+following smart impromptu under his portrait:--
+
+    Voyant le portrait de Corneille,
+    Gardez-vous de crier merveille;
+    Et dans vos transports n'allez pas
+    Prendre ici _Pierre_ pour _Thomas_.
+
+
+
+
+POETS.
+
+
+In all ages there has existed an anti-poetical party. This faction
+consists of those frigid intellects incapable of that glowing expansion
+so necessary to feel the charms of an art, which only addresses itself
+to the imagination; or of writers who, having proved unsuccessful in
+their court to the muses, revenge themselves by reviling them; and also
+of those religious minds who consider the ardent effusions of poetry as
+dangerous to the morals and peace of society.
+
+Plato, amongst the ancients, is the model of those moderns who profess
+themselves to be ANTI-POETICAL.
+
+This writer, in his ideal republic, characterises a man who occupies
+himself with composing verses as a very dangerous member of society,
+from the inflammatory tendency of his writings. It is by arguing from
+its abuse, that he decries this enchanting talent. At the same time it
+is to be recollected, that no head was more finely organised for the
+visions of the muse than Plato's: he was a true poet, and had addicted
+himself in his prime of life to the cultivation of the art, but
+perceiving that he could not surpass his inimitable original, Homer, he
+employed this insidious manner of depreciating his works. In the Phaedon
+he describes the feelings of a genuine Poet. To become such, he says, it
+will never be sufficient to be guided by the rules of art, unless we
+also feel the ecstasies of that _furor_, almost divine, which in this
+kind of composition is the most palpable and least ambiguous character
+of a true inspiration. Cold minds, ever tranquil and ever in possession
+of themselves, are incapable of producing exalted poetry; their verses
+must always be feeble, diffusive, and leave no impression; the verses of
+those who are endowed with a strong and lively imagination, and who,
+like Homer's personification of Discord, have their heads incessantly in
+the skies, and their feet on the earth, will agitate you, burn in your
+heart, and drag you along with them; breaking like an impetuous torrent,
+and swelling your breast with that enthusiasm with which they are
+themselves possessed.
+
+Such is the character of a _poet_ in a _poetical age_!--The tuneful race
+have many corporate bodies of mechanics; Pontypool manufacturers,
+inlayers, burnishers, gilders, and filers!
+
+Men of taste are sometimes disgusted in turning over the works of the
+anti-poetical, by meeting with gross railleries and false judgments
+concerning poetry and poets. Locke has expressed a marked contempt of
+poets; but we see what ideas he formed of poetry by his warm panegyric
+of one of Blackmore's epics! and besides he was himself a most unhappy
+poet! Selden, a scholar of profound erudition, has given us _his_
+opinion concerning poets. "It is ridiculous for a _lord_ to print
+verses; he may make them to please himself. If a man in a private
+chamber twirls his band-strings, or plays with a rush to please himself,
+it is well enough; but if he should go into Fleet-street, and sit upon a
+stall and twirl a band-string, or play with a rush, then all the boys in
+the street would laugh at him."--As if "the sublime and the beautiful"
+can endure a comparison with the twirling of a band-string or playing
+with a rush!--A poet, related to an illustrious family, and who did not
+write unpoetically, entertained a far different notion concerning poets.
+So persuaded was he that to be a true poet required an elevated mind,
+that it was a maxim with him that no writer could be an excellent poet
+who was not descended from a noble family. This opinion is as absurd as
+that of Selden:--but when one party will not grant enough, the other
+always assumes too much. The great Pascal, whose extraordinary genius
+was discovered in the sciences, knew little of the nature of poetical
+beauty. He said "Poetry has no settled object." This was the decision of
+a geometrician, not of a poet. "Why should he speak of what he did not
+understand?" asked the lively Voltaire. Poetry is not an object which
+comes under the cognizance of philosophy or wit.
+
+Longuerue had profound erudition; but he decided on poetry in the same
+manner as those learned men. Nothing so strongly characterises such
+literary men as the following observations in the Longueruana, p. 170.
+
+"There are two _books on Homer_, which I prefer to _Homer himself_. The
+first is _Antiquitates Homericae_ of Feithius, where he has extracted
+everything relative to the usages and customs of the Greeks; the other
+is, _Homeri Gnomologia per Duportum_, printed at Cambridge. In these two
+books is found everything valuable in Homer, without being obliged to
+get through his _Contes a dormir debout_!" Thus men of _science_ decide
+on men of _taste_! There are who study Homer and Virgil as the blind
+travel through a fine country, merely to get to the end of their
+journey. It was observed at the death of Longuerue that in his immense
+library not a volume of poetry was to be found. He had formerly read
+poetry, for indeed he had read everything. Racine tells us, that when
+young he paid him a visit; the conversation turned on _poets_; our
+_erudit_ reviewed them all with the most ineffable contempt of the
+poetical talent, from which he said we learn nothing. He seemed a little
+charitable towards Ariosto.--"As for that _madman_," said he, "he has
+amused me sometimes." Dacier, a poetical pedant after all, was asked who
+was the greater poet, Homer or Virgil? he honestly answered, "Homer by a
+thousand years!"
+
+But it is mortifying to find among the _anti-poetical_ even _poets_
+themselves! Malherbe, the first poet in France in his day, appears
+little to have esteemed the art. He used to say that "a good poet was
+not more useful to the state than a skilful player of nine-pins!"
+Malherbe wrote with costive labour. When a poem was shown to him which
+had been highly commended, he sarcastically asked if it would "lower the
+price of bread?" In these instances he maliciously confounded the
+_useful_ with the _agreeable_ arts. Be it remembered, that Malherbe had
+a cynical heart, cold and unfeeling; his character may be traced in his
+poetry; labour and correctness, without one ray of enthusiasm.
+
+Le Clerc was a scholar not entirely unworthy to be ranked amongst the
+Lockes, the Seldens, and the Longuerues; and his opinions are as just
+concerning poets. In the Parhasiana he has written a treatise on poets
+in a very unpoetical manner. I shall notice his coarse railleries
+relating to what he calls "the personal defects of poets." In vol. i. p.
+33, he says, "In the Scaligerana we have Joseph Scaliger's opinion
+concerning poets. 'There never was a man who was a poet, or addicted to
+the study of poetry, but his heart was puffed up with his
+greatness.'--This is very true. The poetical enthusiasm persuades those
+gentlemen that they have something in them superior to others, because
+they employ a language peculiar to themselves. When the poetic furor
+seizes them, its traces frequently remain on their faces, which make
+connoisseurs say with Horace,
+
+    Aut insanit homo, ant versus facit.
+
+    There goes a madman or a bard!
+
+"Their thoughtful air and melancholy gait make them appear insane; for,
+accustomed to versify while they walk, and to bite their nails in
+apparent agonies, their steps are measured and slow, and they look as if
+they were reflecting on something of consequence, although they are only
+thinking, as the phrase runs, of nothing!" I have only transcribed the
+above description of our jocular scholar, with an intention of
+describing those exterior marks of that fine enthusiasm, of which the
+poet is peculiarly susceptible, and which have exposed many an elevated
+genius to the ridicule of the vulgar.
+
+I find this admirably defended by Charpentier: "Men may ridicule as much
+as they please those gesticulations and contortions which poets are apt
+to make in the act of composing; it is certain, however, that they
+greatly assist in putting the imagination into motion. These kinds of
+agitation do not always show a mind which labours with its sterility;
+they frequently proceed from a mind which excites and animates itself.
+Quintilian has nobly compared them to those lashings of his tail which a
+lion gives himself when he is preparing to combat. Persius, when he
+would give us an idea of a cold and languishing oration, says that its
+author did not strike his desk nor bite his nails."
+
+    Nec pluteum caedit, nec demorsos sapit ungues.
+
+These exterior marks of enthusiasm may be illustrated by the following
+curious anecdote:--Domenichino, the painter, was accustomed to act the
+characters of all the figures he would represent on his canvas, and to
+speak aloud whatever the passion he meant to describe could prompt.
+Painting the martyrdom of St. Andrew, Carracci one day caught him in a
+violent passion, speaking in a terrible and menacing tone. He was at
+that moment employed on a soldier who was threatening the saint. When
+this fit of enthusiastic abstraction had passed, Carracci ran and
+embraced him, acknowledging that Domenichino had been that day his
+master; and that he had learnt from him the true manner to succeed in
+catching the expression--that great pride of the painter's art.
+
+Thus different are the sentiments of the intelligent and the
+unintelligent on the same subject. A Carracci embraced a kindred genius
+for what a Le Clerc or a Selden would have ridiculed.
+
+Poets, I confess, frequently indulge _reveries_, which, though they
+offer no charms to their friends, are too delicious to forego. In the
+ideal world, peopled with all its fairy inhabitants, and ever open to
+their contemplation, they travel with an unwearied foot. Crebillon, the
+celebrated tragic poet, was enamoured of solitude, that he might there
+indulge, without interruption, in those fine romances with which his
+imagination teemed. One day when he was in a deep reverie, a friend
+entered hastily: "Don't disturb me," cried the poet; "I am enjoying a
+moment of happiness: I am going to hang a villain of a minister, and
+banish another who is an idiot."
+
+Amongst the anti-poetical may be placed the father of the great monarch
+of Prussia. George the Second was not more the avowed enemy of the
+muses. Frederic would not suffer the prince to read verses; and when he
+was desirous of study, or of the conversation of literary men, he was
+obliged to do it secretly. Every poet was odious to his majesty. One
+day, having observed some lines written on one of the doors of the
+palace, he asked a courtier their signification. They were explained to
+him; they were Latin verses composed by Wachter, a man of letters, then
+resident at Berlin. The king immediately sent for the bard, who came
+warm with the hope of receiving a reward for his ingenuity. He was
+astonished, however, to hear the king, in a violent passion, accost him,
+"I order you immediately to quit this city and my kingdom." Wachter
+took refuge in Hanover. As little indeed was this anti-poetical monarch
+a friend to philosophers. Two or three such kings might perhaps renovate
+the ancient barbarism of Europe. Barratier, the celebrated child, was
+presented to his majesty of Prussia as a prodigy of erudition; the king,
+to mortify our ingenious youth, coldly asked him, "If he knew the law?"
+The learned boy was constrained to acknowledge that he knew nothing of
+the law. "Go," was the reply of this Augustus, "go, and study it before
+you give yourself out as a scholar." Poor Barratier renounced for this
+pursuit his other studies, and persevered with such ardour that he
+became an excellent lawyer at the end of fifteen months; but his
+exertions cost him at the same time his life!
+
+Every monarch, however, has not proved so destitute of poetic
+sensibility as this Prussian. Francis I. gave repeated marks of his
+attachment to the favourites of the muses, by composing several
+occasional sonnets, which are dedicated to their eulogy. Andrelin, a
+French poet, enjoyed the happy fate of Oppian, to whom the emperor
+Caracalla counted as many pieces of gold as there were verses in one of
+his poems; and with great propriety they have been called "golden
+verses." Andrelin, when he recited his poem on the Conquest of Naples
+before Charles VIII., received a sack of silver coin, which with
+difficulty he carried home. Charles IX., says Brantome, loved verses,
+and recompensed poets, not indeed immediately, but gradually, that they
+might always be stimulated to excel. He used to say, that poets
+resembled race-horses, that must be fed but not fattened, for then they
+were good for nothing. Marot was so much esteemed by kings, that he was
+called the poet of princes, and the prince of poets.
+
+In the early state of poetry what honours were paid to its votaries!
+Ronsard, the French Chaucer, was the first who carried away the prize at
+the Floral Games. This meed of poetic honour was an eglantine composed
+of silver. The reward did not appear equal to the merit of the work and
+the reputation of the poet; and on this occasion the city of Toulouse
+had a Minerva of solid silver struck, of considerable value. This image
+was sent to Ronsard, accompanied by a decree, in which he was declared,
+by way of eminence, "The French Poet."
+
+It is a curious anecdote to add, that when, at a later period, a similar
+Minerva was adjudged to Maynard for his verses, the Capitouls, of
+Toulouse, who were the executors of the Floral gifts, to their shame,
+out of covetousness, never obeyed the decision of the poetical judges.
+This circumstance is noticed by Maynard in an epigram, which bears this
+title: _On a Minerva of silver, promised but not given_.
+
+The anecdote of Margaret of Scotland, wife of the Dauphin of France, and
+Alain the poet, is generally known. Who is not charmed with that fine
+expression of her poetical sensibility? The person of Alain was
+repulsive, but his poetry had attracted her affections. Passing through
+one of the halls of the palace, she saw him sleeping on a bench; she
+approached and kissed him. Some of her attendants could not conceal
+their astonishment that she should press with her lips those of a man so
+frightfully ugly. The amiable princess answered, smiling, "I did not
+kiss the man, but the mouth which has uttered so many fine things."
+
+The great Colbert paid a pretty compliment to Boileau and Racine. This
+minister, at his villa, was enjoying the conversation of our two poets,
+when the arrival of a prelate was announced: turning quickly to the
+servant, he said, "Let him be shown everything except myself!"
+
+To such attentions from this great minister, Boileau alludes in these
+verses:--
+
+    Plus d'un grand m'aima jusqnes a la tendresse;
+    Et ma vue a Colbert inspiroit l'allegresse.
+
+Several pious persons have considered it as highly meritable to abstain
+from the reading of poetry! A good father, in his account of the last
+hours of Madame Racine, the lady of the celebrated tragic poet, pays
+high compliments to her religious disposition, which, he says, was so
+austere, that she would not allow herself to read poetry, as she
+considered it to be a dangerous pleasure; and he highly commends her for
+never having read the tragedies of her husband! Arnauld, though so
+intimately connected with Racine for many years, had not read his
+compositions. When at length he was persuaded to read Phaedra, he
+declared himself to be delighted, but complained that the poet had set a
+dangerous example, in making the manly Hippolytus dwindle to an
+effeminate lover. As a critic, Arnauld was right; but Racine had his
+nation to please. Such persons entertain notions of poetry similar to
+that of an ancient father, who calls poetry the wine of Satan; or to
+that of the religious and austere Nicole, who was so ably answered by
+Racine: he said, that dramatic poets were public poisoners, not of
+bodies, but of souls.
+
+Poets, it is acknowledged, have foibles peculiar to themselves. They
+sometimes act in the daily commerce of life as if every one was
+concerned in the success of their productions. Poets are too frequently
+merely poets. Segrais has recorded that the following maxim of
+Rochefoucault was occasioned by reflecting on the characters of Boileau
+and Racine. "It displays," he writes, "a great poverty of mind to have
+only one kind of genius." On this Segrais observes, and Segrais knew
+them intimately, that their conversation only turned on poetry; take
+them from that, and they knew nothing. It was thus with one Du Perrier,
+a good poet, but very poor. When he was introduced to Pelisson, who
+wished to be serviceable to him, the minister said, "In what can he be
+employed? He is only occupied by his verses."
+
+All these complaints are not unfounded; yet, perhaps, it is unjust to
+expect from an excelling artist all the petty accomplishments of
+frivolous persons, who have studied no art but that of practising on the
+weaknesses of their friends. The enthusiastic votary, who devotes his
+days and nights to meditations on his favourite art, will rarely be
+found that despicable thing, a mere man of the world. Du Bos has justly
+observed, that men of genius, born for a particular profession, appear
+inferior to others when they apply themselves to other occupations. That
+absence of mind which arises from their continued attention to their
+ideas, renders them awkward in their manners. Such defects are even a
+proof of the activity of genius.
+
+It is a common foible with poets to read their verses to friends.
+Segrais has ingeniously observed, to use his own words, "When young I
+used to please myself in reciting my verses indifferently to all
+persons; but I perceived when Scarron, who was my intimate friend, used
+to take his portfolio and read his verses to me, although they were
+good, I frequently became weary. I then reflected, that those to whom I
+read mine, and who, for the greater part, had no taste for poetry, must
+experience the same disagreeable sensation. I resolved for the future to
+read my verses only to those who entreated me, and to read but a few at
+a time. We flatter ourselves too much; we conclude that what please us
+must please others. We will have persons indulgent to us, and frequently
+we will have no indulgence for those who are in want of it." An
+excellent hint for young poets, and for those old ones who carry odes
+and elegies in their pockets, to inflict the pains of the torture on
+their friends.
+
+The affection which a poet feels for his verses has been frequently
+extravagant. Bayle, ridiculing that parental tenderness which writers
+evince for their poetical compositions, tells us, that many having
+written epitaphs on friends whom they believed on report to have died,
+could not determine to keep them in their closet, but suffered them to
+appear in the lifetime of those very friends whose death they
+celebrated. In another place he says, such is their infatuation for
+their productions, that they prefer giving to the public their
+panegyrics of persons whom afterwards they satirized, rather than
+suppress the verses which contain those panegyrics. We have many
+examples of this in the poems, and even in the epistolary correspondence
+of modern writers. It is customary with most authors, when they quarrel
+with a person after the first edition of their work, to cancel his
+eulogies in the next. But poets and letter-writers frequently do not do
+this; because they are so charmed with the happy turn of their
+expressions, and other elegancies of composition, that they perfer the
+praise which they may acquire for their style to the censure which may
+follow from their inconsistency.
+
+After having given a hint to _young_ poets, I shall offer one to
+_veterans_. It is a common defect with them that they do not know when
+to quit the muses in their advanced age. Bayle says, "Poets and orators
+should be mindful to retire from their occupations, which so peculiarly
+require the fire of imagination; yet it is but too common to see them in
+their career, even in the decline of life. It seems as if they would
+condemn the public to drink even the lees of their nectar." Afer and
+Daurat were both poets who had acquired considerable reputation, but
+which they overturned when they persisted to write in their old age
+without vigour and without fancy.
+
+    What crowds of these impenitently bold,
+    In sounds and jingling syllables grown old,
+    They run on poets, in a raging rein,
+    E'en to the dregs and squeezings of the brain:
+    Strain out the last dull droppings of their sense,
+    And rhyme with all the rage of impotence.
+
+                                      POPE.
+
+It is probable he had Wycherley in his eye when he wrote this. The
+veteran bard latterly scribbled much indifferent verse; and Pope had
+freely given his opinion, by which he lost his friendship!
+
+It is still worse when aged poets devote their exhausted talents to
+_divine poems_, as did Waller; and Milton in his second epic. Such
+poems, observes Voltaire, are frequently entitled "_sacred poems_;" and
+_sacred_ they are, for no one touches them. From a soil so arid what can
+be expected but insipid fruits? Corneille told Chevreau several years
+before his death, that he had taken leave of the theatre, for he had
+lost his poetical powers with his teeth.
+
+Poets have sometimes displayed an obliquity of taste in their female
+favourites. As if conscious of the power of ennobling others, some have
+selected them from the lowest classes, whom, having elevated into
+divinities, they have addressed in the language of poetical devotion.
+The Chloe of Prior, after all his raptures, was a plump barmaid. Ronsard
+addressed many of his verses to Miss Cassandra, who followed the same
+occupation: in one of his sonnets to her, he fills it with a crowd of
+personages taken from the Iliad, which to the honest girl must have all
+been extremely mysterious. Colletet, a French bard, married three of his
+servants. His last lady was called _la belle Claudine_. Ashamed of such
+menial alliances, he attempted to persuade the world that he had married
+the tenth muse; and for this purpose published verses in her name. When
+he died, the vein of Claudine became suddenly dry. She indeed published
+her "Adieux to the Muses;" but it was soon discovered that all the
+verses of this lady, including her "Adieux," were the compositions of
+her husband.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, the ostensible mistresses of poets have no existence;
+and a slight occasion is sufficient to give birth to one. Racan and
+Malherbe were one day conversing on their amours; that is, of selecting
+a lady who should be the object of their verses. Racan named one, and
+Malherbe another. It happening that both had the same name, Catherine,
+they passed the whole afternoon in forming it into an anagram. They
+found three: Arthenice, Eracinthe, and Charinte. The first was
+preferred, and many a fine ode was written in praise of the beautiful
+Arthenice!
+
+Poets change their opinions of their own productions wonderfully at
+different periods of life. Baron Haller was in his youth warmly attached
+to poetic composition. His house was on fire, and to rescue his poems
+he rushed through the flames. He was so fortunate as to escape with his
+beloved manuscripts in his hand. Ten years afterwards he condemned to
+the flames those very poems which he had ventured his life to preserve.
+
+Satirists, if they escape the scourges of the law, have reason to dread
+the cane of the satirised. Of this kind we have many anecdotes on
+record; but none more poignant than the following:--Benserade was caned
+for lampooning the Duc d'Epernon. Some days afterwards he appeared at
+court, but being still lame from the rough treatment he had received, he
+was forced to support himself by a cane. A wit, who knew what had
+passed, whispered the affair to the queen. She, dissembling, asked him
+if he had the gout? "Yes, madam," replied our lame satirist, "and
+therefore I make use of a cane." "Not so," interrupted the malignant
+Bautru, "Benserade in this imitates those holy martyrs who are always
+represented with the instrument which occasioned their sufferings."
+
+
+
+
+ROMANCES.
+
+
+Romance has been elegantly defined as the offspring of FICTION and LOVE.
+Men of learning have amused themselves with tracing the epocha of
+romances; but the erudition is desperate which would fix on the inventor
+of the first romance: for what originates in nature, who shall hope to
+detect the shadowy outlines of its beginnings? The Theagenes and
+Chariclea of Heliodorus appeared in the fourth century; and this elegant
+prelate was the Grecian Fenelon. It has been prettily said, that
+posterior romances seem to be the children of the marriage of Theagenes
+and Chariclea. The Romance of "The Golden Ass," by Apuleius, which
+contains the beautiful tale of "Cupid and Psyche," remains unrivalled;
+while the "Daephne and Chloe" of Longus, in the old version of Amyot, is
+inexpressibly delicate, simple, and inartificial, but sometimes offends
+us, for nature there "plays her virgin fancies."
+
+Beautiful as these compositions are, when the imagination of the writer
+is sufficiently stored with accurate observations on human nature, in
+their birth, like many of the fine arts, the zealots of an ascetic
+religion opposed their progress. However Heliodorus may have delighted
+those who were not insensible to the felicities of a fine imagination,
+and to the enchanting elegancies of style, he raised himself, among his
+brother ecclesiastics, enemies, who at length so far prevailed, that, in
+a synod, it was declared that his performance was dangerous to young
+persons, and that if the author did not suppress it, he must resign his
+bishopric. We are told he preferred his romance to his bishopric. Even
+so late as in Racine's time it was held a crime to peruse these
+unhallowed pages. He informs us that the first effusions of his muse
+were in consequence of studying that ancient romance, which, his tutor
+observing him to devour with the keenness of a famished man, snatched
+from his hands and flung it in the fire. A second copy experienced the
+same fate. What could Racine do? He bought a third, and took the
+precaution of devouring it secretly till he got it by heart: after which
+he offered it to the pedagogue with a smile, to burn like the others.
+
+The decision of these ascetic bigots was founded in their opinion of the
+immorality of such works. They alleged that the writers paint too warmly
+to the imagination, address themselves too forcibly to the passions, and
+in general, by the freedom of their representations, hover on the
+borders of indecency. Let it be sufficient, however, to observe, that
+those who condemned the liberties which these writers take with the
+imagination could indulge themselves with the Anacreontic voluptuousness
+of the wise _Solomon_, when sanctioned by the authority of the church.
+
+The marvellous power of romance over the human mind is exemplified in
+this curious anecdote of oriental literature.
+
+Mahomet found they had such an influence over the imaginations of his
+followers, that he has expressly forbidden them in his Koran; and the
+reason is given in the following anecdote:--An Arabian merchant having
+long resided in Persia, returned to his own country while the prophet
+was publishing his Koran. The merchant, among his other riches, had a
+treasure of romances concerning the Persian heroes. These he related to
+his delighted countrymen, who considered them to be so excellent, that
+the legends of the Koran were neglected, and they plainly told the
+prophet that the "Persian Tales" were superior to his. Alarmed, he
+immediately had a visitation from the angel Gabriel, declaring them
+impious and pernicious, hateful to God and Mahomet. This checked their
+currency; and all true believers yielded up the exquisite delight of
+poetic fictions for the insipidity of religious ones. Yet these romances
+may be said to have outlived the Koran itself; for they have spread into
+regions which the Koran could never penetrate. Even to this day Colonel
+Capper, in his travels across the Desert, saw "Arabians sitting round a
+fire, listening to their tales with such attention and pleasure, as
+totally to forget the fatigue and hardship with which an instant before
+they were entirely overcome." And Wood, in his journey to Palmyra:--"At
+night the Arabs sat in a circle drinking coffee, while one of the
+company diverted the rest by relating a piece of history on the subject
+of love or war, or with an extempore tale."
+
+Mr. Ellis has given us "Specimens of the Early English Metrical
+Romances," and Ritson and Weber have printed two collections of them
+entire, valued by the poetical antiquary. Learned inquirers have traced
+the origin of romantic fiction to various sources.[117] From Scandinavia
+issued forth the giants, dragons, witches, and enchanters. The curious
+reader will be gratified by "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities," a
+volume in quarto; where he will find extracts from "The Book of Heroes"
+and "The Nibelungen Lay,"[118] with many other metrical tales from the
+old German, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic languages. In the East,
+Arabian fancy bent her iris of many softened hues over a delightful land
+of fiction: while the Welsh, in their emigration to Britanny, are
+believed to have brought with them their national fables. That
+subsequent race of minstrels, known by the name of _Troubadours_ in the
+South of France, composed their erotic or sentimental poems; and those
+romancers called _Troveurs_, or finders, in the North of France, culled
+and compiled their domestic tales or _Fabliaux_, _Dits_, _Conte_, or
+_Lai_. Millot, Sainte Palaye, and Le Grand, have preserved, in their
+"Histories of the Troubadours," their literary compositions. They were a
+romantic race of ambulatory poets, military and religious subjects their
+favourite themes, yet bold and satirical on princes, and even on
+priests; severe moralisers, though libertines in their verse; so refined
+and chaste in their manners, that few husbands were alarmed at the
+enthusiastic language they addressed to their wives. The most romantic
+incidents are told of their loves. But love and its grosser passion were
+clearly distinguished from each other in their singular intercourse with
+their "Dames." The object of their mind was separated from the object of
+their senses; the virtuous lady to whom they vowed their hearts was in
+their language styled "_la dame de ses pensees_," a very distinct being
+from their other mistress! Such was the Platonic chimera that charmed in
+the age of chivalry; the Laura of Petrarch might have been no other than
+"the lady of his thoughts."
+
+From such productions in their improved state poets of all nations have
+drawn their richest inventions. The agreeable wildness of that fancy
+which characterised the Eastern nations was often caught by the
+crusaders. When they returned home, they mingled in their own the
+customs of each country. The Saracens, being of another religion, brave,
+desperate, and fighting for their fatherland, were enlarged to their
+fears, under the tremendous form of _Paynim Giants_, while the reader of
+that day followed with trembling sympathy the _Redcross Knight_. Thus
+fiction embellished religion, and religion invigorated fiction; and such
+incidents have enlivened the cantos of Ariosto, and adorned the epic of
+Tasso. Spenser is the child of their creation; and it is certain that we
+are indebted to them for some of the bold and strong touches of Milton.
+Our great poet marks his affection for "these lofty Fables and Romances,
+among which his young feet wandered." Collins was bewildered among their
+magical seductions; and Dr. Johnson was enthusiastically delighted by
+the old Spanish folio romance of "Felixmarte of Hircania," and similar
+works. The most ancient romances were originally composed in verse
+before they were converted into prose: no wonder that the lacerated
+members of the poet have been cherished by the sympathy of poetical
+souls. Don Quixote's was a very agreeable insanity.
+
+The most voluminous of these ancient romances is "Le Roman de
+Perceforest." I have seen an edition in six small folio volumes, and its
+author has been called the French Homer by the writers of his age. In
+the class of romances of chivalry, we have several translations in the
+black letter. These books are very rare, and their price is as
+voluminous. It is extraordinary that these writers were so unconscious
+of their future fame, that not one of their names has travelled down to
+us. There were eager readers in their days, but not a solitary
+bibliographer! All these romances now require some indulgence for their
+prolixity, and their Platonic amours; but they have not been surpassed
+in the wildness of their inventions, the ingenuity of their incidents,
+the simplicity of their style, and their curious manners. Many a Homer
+lies hid among them; but a celebrated Italian critic suggested to me
+that many of the fables of Homer are only disguised and degraded in the
+romances of chivalry. Those who vilify them as only barbarous imitations
+of classical fancy condemn them as some do Gothic architecture, as mere
+corruptions of a purer style: such critics form their decision by
+preconceived notions; they are but indifferent philosophers, and to us
+seem to be deficient in imagination.
+
+As a specimen I select two romantic adventures:--
+
+The title of the extensive romance of Perceforest is, "The most elegant,
+delicious, mellifluous, and delightful history of Perceforest, King of
+Great Britain, &c." The most ancient edition is that of 1528. The
+writers of these Gothic fables, lest they should be considered as mere
+triflers, pretended to an allegorical meaning concealed under the
+texture of their fable. From the following adventure we learn the power
+of beauty in making _ten days_ appear as _yesterday_! Alexander the
+Great in search of Perceforest, parts with his knights in an enchanted
+wood, and each vows they will not remain longer than one night in one
+place. Alexander, accompanied by a page, arrives at Sebilla's castle,
+who is a sorceress. He is taken by her witcheries and beauty, and the
+page, by the lady's maid, falls into the same mistake as his master, who
+thinks he is there only one night. They enter the castle with deep
+wounds, and issue perfectly recovered. I transcribe the latter part as a
+specimen of the manner. When they were once out of the castle, the king
+said, "Truly, Floridas, I know not how it has been with me; but
+certainly Sebilla is a very honourable lady, and very beautiful, and
+very charming in conversation. Sire (said Floridas), it is true; but one
+thing surprises me:--how is it that our wounds have healed in one night?
+I thought at least ten or fifteen days were necessary. Truly, said the
+king, that is astonishing! Now king Alexander met Gadiffer, king of
+Scotland, and the valiant knight Le Tors. Well, said the king, have ye
+news of the king of England? Ten days we have hunted him, and cannot
+find him out. How, said Alexander, did we not separate _yesterday_ from
+each other? In God's name, said Gadiffer, what means your majesty? It is
+_ten days_! Have a care what you say, cried the king. Sire, replied
+Gadiffer, it is so; ask Le Tors. On my honour, said Le Tors, the king of
+Scotland speaks truth. Then, said the king, some of us are enchanted;
+Floridas, didst thou not think we separated _yesterday_? Truly, truly,
+your majesty, I thought so! But when I saw our wounds healed in one
+night, I had some suspicion that WE were _enchanted_."
+
+In the old romance of Melusina, this lovely fairy (though to the world
+unknown as such), enamoured of Count Raymond, marries him, but first
+extorts a solemn promise that he will never disturb her on Saturdays. On
+those days the inferior parts of her body are metamorphosed to that of a
+mermaid, as a punishment for a former error. Agitated by the malicious
+insinuations of a friend, his curiosity and his jealousy one day conduct
+him to the spot she retired to at those times. It was a darkened passage
+in the dungeon of the fortress. His hand gropes its way till it feels an
+iron gate oppose it; nor can he discover a single chink, but at length
+perceives by his touch a loose nail; he places his sword in its head and
+screws it out. Through this cranny he sees Melusina in the horrid form
+she is compelled to assume. That tender mistress, transformed into a
+monster bathing in a fount, flashing the spray of the water from a scaly
+tail! He repents of his fatal curiosity: she reproaches him, and their
+mutual happiness is for ever lost. The moral design of the tale
+evidently warns the lover to revere a _Woman's Secret_!
+
+Such are the works which were the favourite amusements of our English
+court, and which doubtless had a due effect in refining the manners of
+the age, in diffusing that splendid military genius, and that tender
+devotion to the fair sex, which dazzle us in the reign of Edward III.,
+and through that enchanting labyrinth of History constructed by the
+gallant Froissart. In one of the revenue rolls of Henry III. there is an
+entry of "Silver clasps and studs for his majesty's _great book of
+Romances_." Dr. Moore observes that the enthusiastic admiration of
+chivalry which Edward III. manifested during the whole course of his
+reign, was probably, in some measure, owing to his having studied the
+_clasped book_ in his great grandfather's library.
+
+The Italian romances of the fourteenth century were spread abroad in
+great numbers. They formed the polite literature of the day. But if it
+is not permitted to authors freely to express their ideas, and give full
+play to the imagination, these works must never be placed in the study
+of the rigid moralist. They, indeed, pushed their indelicacy to the
+verge of grossness, and seemed rather to seek than to avoid scenes,
+which a modern would blush to describe. They, to employ the expression
+of one of their authors, were not ashamed to name what God had created.
+Cinthio, Bandello, and others, but chiefly Boccaccio, rendered
+libertinism agreeable by the fascinating charms of a polished style and
+a luxuriant imagination.
+
+This, however, must not be admitted as an apology for immoral works; for
+poison is not the less poison, even when delicious. Such works were, and
+still continue to be, the favourites of a nation stigmatized for being
+prone to impure amours. They are still curious in their editions, and
+are not parsimonious in their price for what they call an uncastrated
+copy. There are many Italians, not literary men, who are in possession
+of an ample library of these old novelists.
+
+If we pass over the moral irregularities of these romances, we may
+discover a rich vein of invention, which only requires to be released
+from that rubbish which disfigures it, to become of an invaluable price.
+The _Decamerones_, the _Hecatommiti_, and the _Novellas_ of these
+writers, translated into English, made no inconsiderable figure in the
+little library of our Shakspeare.[119] Chaucer had been a notorious
+imitator and lover of them. His "Knight's Tale" is little more than a
+paraphrase of "Boccaccio's Teseoide." Fontaine has caught all their
+charms with all their licentiousness. From such works these great poets,
+and many of their contemporaries, frequently borrowed their plots; not
+uncommonly kindled at their flame the ardour of their genius; but
+bending too submissively to the taste of their age, in extracting the
+ore they have not purified it of the alloy. The origin of these tales
+must be traced to the inventions of the Troveurs, who doubtless often
+adopted them from various nations. Of these tales, Le Grand has printed
+a curious collection; and of the writers Mr. Ellis observes, in his
+preface to "Way's Fabliaux," that the authors of the "Cento Novelle
+Antiche," Boccaccio, Bandello, Chaucer, Gower,--in short, the writers of
+all Europe have probably made use of the inventions of the elder
+fablers. They have borrowed their general outlines, which they have
+filled up with colours of their own, and have exercised their ingenuity
+in varying the drapery, in combining the groups, and in forming them
+into more regular and animated pictures.
+
+We now turn to the French romances of the last century, called heroic,
+from the circumstance of their authors adopting the name of some hero.
+The manners are the modern antique; and the characters are a sort of
+beings made out of the old epical, the Arcadian pastoral, and the
+Parisian sentimentality and affectation of the days of Voiture.[120] The
+Astrea of D'Urfe greatly contributed to their perfection. As this work
+is founded on several curious circumstances, it shall be the subject of
+the following article; for it may be considered as a literary curiosity.
+The Astrea was followed by the illustrious Bassa, Artamene, or the Great
+Cyrus, Clelia, &c., which, though not adapted to the present age, once
+gave celebrity to their authors; and the Great Cyrus, in ten volumes,
+passed through five or six editions. Their style, as well as that of the
+Astrea, is diffuse and languid; yet Zaide, and the Princess of Cleves,
+are masterpieces of the kind. Such works formed the first studies of
+Rousseau, who, with his father, would sit up all night, till warned by
+the chirping of the swallows how foolishly they had spent it! Some
+incidents in his Nouvelle Heloise have been retraced to these sources;
+and they certainly entered greatly into the formation of his character.
+
+Such romances at length were regarded as pernicious to good sense,
+taste, and literature. It was in this light they were considered by
+Boileau, after he had indulged in them in his youth.
+
+A celebrated Jesuit pronounced an oration against these works. The
+rhetorician exaggerates and hurls his thunders on flowers. He entreats
+the magistrates not to suffer foreign romances to be scattered amongst
+the people, but to lay on them heavy penalties, as on prohibited goods;
+and represents this prevailing taste as being more pestilential than the
+plague itself. He has drawn a striking picture of a family devoted to
+romance-reading; he there describes women occupied day and night with
+their perusal; children just escaped from the lap of their nurse
+grasping in their little hands the fairy tales; and a country squire
+seated in an old arm-chair, reading to his family the most wonderful
+passages of the ancient works of chivalry.
+
+These romances went out of fashion with our square-cocked hats: they had
+exhausted the patience of the public, and from them sprung NOVELS. They
+attempted to allure attention by this inviting title, and reducing their
+works from ten to two volumes. The name of romance, including imaginary
+heroes and extravagant passions, disgusted; and they substituted scenes
+of domestic life, and touched our common feelings by pictures of real
+nature. Heroes were not now taken from the throne: they were sometimes
+even sought after amongst the lowest ranks of the people. Scarron seems
+to allude sarcastically to this degradation of the heroes of Fiction:
+for in hinting at a new comic history he had projected, he tells us that
+he gave it up suddenly because he had "heard that his hero had just been
+hanged at Mans."
+
+NOVELS, as they were long _manufactured_, form a library of illiterate
+authors for illiterate readers; but as they are _created_ by genius, are
+precious to the philosopher. They paint the character of an individual
+or the manners of the age more perfectly than any other species of
+composition: it is in novels we observe as it were passing under our
+eyes the refined frivolity of the French; the gloomy and disordered
+sensibility of the German; and the petty intrigues of the modern Italian
+in some Venetian Novels. We have shown the world that we possess writers
+of the first order in this delightful province of Fiction and of Truth;
+for every Fiction invented naturally, must be true. After the abundant
+invective poured on this class of books, it is time to settle for ever
+the controversy, by asserting that these works of fiction are among the
+most instructive of every polished nation, and must contain all the
+useful truths of human life, if composed with genius. They are pictures
+of the passions, useful to our youth to contemplate. That acute
+philosopher, Adam Smith, has given an opinion most favourable to
+NOVELS. "The poets and romance writers who best paint the refinements
+and delicacies of love and friendship, and of all other private and
+domestic affections, Racine and Voltaire, Richardson Marivaux, and
+Riccoboni, are in this case much better instructors than Zeno,
+Chrysippus, or Epictetus."
+
+The history of romances has been recently given by Mr. Dunlop, with many
+pleasing details; but this work should be accompanied by the learned
+Lenglet du Fresnoy's "Bibliotheque des Romans," published under the name
+of M. le C. Gordon de Percel; which will be found useful for immediate
+reference for titles, dates, and a copious catalogue of romances and
+novels to the year 1734.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 117: Since the above was written, many other volumes have been
+published illustrative of this branch of literature. The Bannatyne and
+Maitland Club and the Camden and Percy Societies have printed Metrical
+Romances entire.]
+
+[Footnote 118: This famed lay has been magnificently published in
+Germany, where it is now considered as the native epic of the ancient
+kingdom. Its scenes have been delineated by the greatest of their
+artists, who have thus given a world-wide reputation to a poem
+comparatively unknown when the first edition of this work was printed.]
+
+[Footnote 119: These early novels have been collected and published by
+Mr. J. P. Collier, under the title of _Shakespeare's Library_. They form
+the foundation of some of the great Poet's best dramas.]
+
+[Footnote 120: They were ridiculed in a French burlesque Romance of the
+Shepherd Lysis, translated by Davis, and published 1660. Don Quixote,
+when dying, made up his mind, if he recovered, to turn shepherd, in
+imitation of some of the romance-heroes, who thus finished their career.
+This old "anti-romance" works out this notion by a mad reader of
+pastorals, who assumes the shepherd habit and tends a few wretched sheep
+at St. Cloud.]
+
+
+
+
+THE ASTREA.
+
+
+I bring the Astrea forward to point out the ingenious manner by which a
+fine imagination can veil the common incidents of life, and turn
+whatever it touches into gold.
+
+Honore D'Urfe was the descendant of an illustrious family. His brother
+Anne married Diana of Chateaumorand, the wealthy heiress of another
+great house. After a marriage of no less duration than twenty-two years,
+this union was broken by the desire of Anne himself, for a cause which
+the delicacy of Diana had never revealed. Anne then became an
+ecclesiastic. Some time afterwards, Honore, desirous of retaining the
+great wealth of Diana in the family, addressed this lady, and married
+her. This union, however, did not prove fortunate. Diana, like the
+goddess of that name, was a huntress, continually surrounded by her
+dogs:--they dined with her at table, and slept with her in bed. This
+insupportable nuisance could not be patiently endured by the elegant
+Honore. He was also disgusted with the barrenness of the huntress Diana,
+who was only delivered every year of abortions. He separated from her,
+and retired to Piedmont, where he passed his remaining days in peace,
+without feeling the thorns of marriage and ambition rankling in his
+heart. In this retreat he composed his Astrea; a pastoral romance, which
+was the admiration of Europe during half a century. It forms a striking
+picture of human life, for the incidents are facts beautifully
+concealed. They relate the amours and gallantries of the court of Henry
+the Fourth. The personages in the Astrea display a rich invention; and
+the work might be still read, were it not for those wire-drawn
+conversations, or rather disputations, which were then introduced into
+romances. In a modern edition, the Abbe Souchai has _curtailed_ these
+tiresome dialogues; the work still consists of ten duodecimos.
+
+In this romance, Celidee, to cure the unfortunate Celadon, and to
+deprive Thamire at the same time of every reason for jealousy, tears her
+face with a pointed diamond, and disfigures it in so cruel a manner,
+that she excites horror in the breast of Thamire; but he so ardently
+admires this exertion of virtue, that he loves her, hideous as she is
+represented, still more than when she was most beautiful. Heaven, to be
+just to these two lovers, restores the beauty of Celidee; which is
+effected by a sympathetic powder. This romantic incident is thus
+explained:--One of the French princes (Thamire), when he returned from
+Italy, treated with coldness his amiable princess (Celidee); this was
+the effect of his violent passion, which had become jealousy. The
+coolness subsisted till the prince was imprisoned, for state affairs, in
+the wood of Vincennes. The princess, with the permission of the court,
+followed him into his confinement. This proof of her love soon brought
+back the wandering heart and affections of the prince. The small-pox
+seized her; which is the pointed diamond, and the dreadful disfigurement
+of her face. She was so fortunate as to escape being marked by this
+disease; which is meant by the sympathetic powder. This trivial incident
+is happily turned into the marvellous: that a wife should choose to be
+imprisoned with her husband is not singular; to escape being marked by
+the small-pox happens every day; but to romance, as he has done, on such
+common circumstances, is beautiful and ingenious.
+
+D'Urfe, when a boy, is said to have been enamoured of Diana; this indeed
+has been questioned. D'Urfe, however, was sent to the island of Malta to
+enter into that order of knighthood; and in his absence Diana was
+married to Anne. What an affliction for Honore on his return to see her
+married, and to his brother! His affection did not diminish, but he
+concealed it in respectful silence. He had some knowledge of his
+brother's unhappiness, and on this probably founded his hopes. After
+several years, during which the modest Diana had uttered no complaint,
+Anne declared himself; and shortly afterwards Honore, as we have
+noticed, married Diana.
+
+Our author has described the parties under this false appearance of
+marriage. He assumes the names of Celadon and Sylvander, and gives Diana
+those of Astrea and Diana. He is Sylvander and she Astrea while she is
+married to Anne; and he Celadon and she Diana when the marriage is
+dissolved. Sylvander is represented always as a lover who sighs
+secretly; nor does Diana declare her passion till overcome by the long
+sufferings of her faithful shepherd. For this reason Astrea and Diana,
+as well as Sylvander and Celadon, go together, prompted by the same
+despair, to the FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE.
+
+Sylvander is called an unknown shepherd, who has no other wealth than
+his flock; because our author was the youngest of his family, or rather
+a knight of Malta who possessed nothing but honour.
+
+Celadon in despair throws himself into a river; this refers to his
+voyage to Malta. Under the name of Alexis he displays the friendship of
+Astrea for him, and all those innocent freedoms which passed between
+them as relatives; from this circumstance he has contrived a difficulty
+inimitably delicate.
+
+Something of passion is to be discovered in these expressions of
+friendship. When Alexis assumes the name of Celadon, he calls that love
+which Astrea had mistaken for fraternal affection. This was the trying
+moment. For though she loved him, she is rigorous in her duty and
+honour. She says, "what will they think of me if I unite myself to him,
+after permitting, for so many years, those familiarities which a brother
+may have taken with a sister, with me, who knew that in fact I remained
+unmarried?"
+
+How she got over this nice scruple does not appear; it was, however, for
+a long time a great obstacle to the felicity of our author. There is an
+incident which shows the purity of this married virgin, who was fearful
+the liberties she allowed Celadon might be ill construed. Phillis tells
+the druid Adamas that Astrea was seen sleeping by the fountain of the
+Truth of Love, and that the unicorns which guarded those waters were
+observed to approach her, and lay their heads on her lap. According to
+fable, it is one of the properties of these animals never to approach
+any female but a maiden: at this strange difficulty our druid remains
+surprised; while Astrea has thus given an incontrovertible proof of her
+purity.
+
+The history of Philander is that of the elder D'Urfe. None but boys
+disguised as girls, and girls as boys, appear in the history. In this
+manner he concealed, without offending modesty, the defect of his
+brother. To mark the truth of this history, when Philander is disguised
+as a woman, while he converses with Astrea of his love, he frequently
+alludes to his misfortune, although in another sense.
+
+Philander, ready to expire, will die with the glorious name of the
+husband of Astrea. He entreats her to grant him this favour; she accords
+it to him, and swears before the gods that she receives him in her heart
+for her husband. The truth is, he enjoyed nothing but the name.
+Philander dies too, in combating with a hideous Moor, which is the
+personification of his conscience, and which at length compelled him to
+quit so beautiful an object, and one so worthy of being eternally
+beloved.
+
+The gratitude of Sylvander, on the point of being sacrificed, represents
+the consent of Honore's parents to dissolve his vow of celibacy, and
+unite him to Diana; and the druid Adamas represents ecclesiastical
+power. The FOUNTAIN of the TRUTH OF LOVE is that of marriage; the
+unicorns are the symbols of that purity which should ever guard it; and
+the flaming eyes of the lions, which are also there, represent those
+inconveniences attending marriage, but over which a faithful passion
+easily triumphs.
+
+In this manner has our author disguised his own private history; and
+blended in his works a number of little amours which passed at the court
+of Henry the Great. These particulars were confided to Patru, on
+visiting the author in his retirement.
+
+
+
+
+POETS LAUREAT.
+
+
+The present article is a sketch of the history of POETS LAUREAT, from a
+memoir of the French Academy, by the Abbe Resnel.
+
+The custom of crowning poets is as ancient as poetry itself; it has,
+indeed, frequently varied; it existed, however, as late as the reign of
+Theodosius, when it was abolished as a remain of paganism.
+
+When the barbarians overspread Europe, few appeared to merit this
+honour, and fewer who could have read their works. It was about the time
+of PETRARCH that POETRY resumed its ancient lustre; he was publicly
+honoured with the LAUREL CROWN. It was in this century (the thirteenth)
+that the establishment of Bachelor and Doctor was fixed in the
+universities. Those who were found worthy of the honour, obtained the
+_laurel of Bachelor_, or the _laurel of Doctor_; _Laurea
+Baccalaureatus_; _Laurea Doctoratus_. At their reception they not only
+assumed this _title_ but they also had a _crown of laurel_ placed on
+their heads.
+
+To this ceremony the ingenious writer attributes the revival of the
+custom. The _poets_ were not slow in putting in their claims to what
+they had most a right; and their patrons sought to encourage them by
+these honourable distinctions.
+
+The following _formula_ is the exact style of those which are yet
+employed in the universities to confer the degree of Bachelor and
+Doctor, and serves to confirm the conjecture of Resnel:--
+
+"We, count and senator," (Count d'Anguillara, who bestowed the laurel on
+Petrarch,) "for us and our College, declare FRANCIS PETRARCH great poet
+and historian, and for a special mark of his quality of poet we have
+placed with our hands on his head a _crown of laurel_, granting to him,
+by the tenor of these presents, and by the authority of King Robert, of
+the senate and the people of Rome, in the poetic, as well as in the
+historic art, and generally in whatever relates to the said arts, as
+well in this holy city as elsewhere, the free and entire power of
+reading, disputing, and interpreting all ancient books, to make new
+ones, and compose poems, which, God assisting, shall endure from age to
+age."
+
+In Italy, these honours did not long flourish; although Tasso dignified
+the laurel crown by his acceptance of it. Many got crowned who were
+unworthy of the distinction. The laurel was even bestowed on QUERNO,
+whose character is given in the Dunciad:--
+
+    Not with more glee, by hands pontific crown'd,
+    With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round,
+    Rome in her capitol saw _Querno_ sit,
+    Thron'd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.
+
+                                      CANTO II.
+
+This man was made laureat, for the joke's sake; his poetry was inspired
+by his cups, a kind of poet who came in with the dessert; and he recited
+twenty thousand verses. He was rather the _arch-buffoon_ than the
+_arch-poet_ of Leo. X. though honoured with the latter title. They
+invented for him a new kind of laureated honour, and in the intermixture
+of the foliage raised to Apollo, slily inserted the vine and the cabbage
+leaves, which he evidently deserved, from his extreme dexterity in
+clearing the pontiff's dishes and emptying his goblets.
+
+Urban VIII. had a juster and more elevated idea of the children of
+Fancy. It appears that he possessed much poetic sensibility. Of him it
+is recorded, that he wrote a letter to Chiabrera to felicitate him on
+the success of his poetry: letters written by a pope were then an honour
+only paid to crowned heads. One is pleased also with another testimony
+of his elegant dispositions. Charmed with a poem which Bracciolini
+presented to him, he gave him the surname of DELLE-APE, of the bees,
+which were the arms of this amiable pope. He, however, never crowned
+these favourite bards with the laurel, which, probably, he deemed
+unworthy of them.
+
+In Germany, the laureat honours flourished under the reign of Maximilian
+the First. He founded, in 1504, a Poetical College at Vienna; reserving
+to himself and the regent the power of bestowing the laurel. But the
+institution, notwithstanding this well-concerted scheme, fell into
+disrepute, owing to a cloud of claimants who were fired with the rage of
+versifying, and who, though destitute of poetic talents, had the laurel
+bestowed on them. Thus it became a prostituted honour; and satires were
+incessantly levelled against the usurpers of the crown of Apollo: it
+seems, notwithstanding, always to have had charms in the eyes of the
+Germans, who did not reflect, as the Abbe elegantly expresses himself,
+that it faded when it passed over so many heads.
+
+The Emperor of Germany retains the laureatship in all its splendour. The
+selected bard is called _Il Poeta Cesareo_. APOSTOLO ZENO, as celebrated
+for his erudition as for his poetic powers, was succeeded by that most
+enchanting poet, METASTASIO.
+
+The French never had a _Poet Laureat_, though they had _Regal Poets_;
+for none were ever solemnly crowned. The Spanish nation, always desirous
+of titles of honour, seem to have known that of the _Laureat_; but
+little information concerning it can be gathered from their authors.
+
+Respecting our own country little can be added to the information of
+Selden. John Kay, who dedicated a History of Rhodes to Edward IV., takes
+the title of his _humble Poet Laureat_. Gower and Chaucer were laureats;
+so was likewise Skelton to Henry VIII. In the Acts of Rymer, there is a
+charter of Henry VII. with the title of _pro Poeta Laureato_, t hat is,
+perhaps, only _a Poet laureated at the university_, in the king's
+household.
+
+Our poets were never solemnly crowned as in other countries. Selden,
+after all his recondite researches, is satisfied with saying, that some
+trace of this distinction is to be found in our nation. Our kings from
+time immemorial have placed a miserable dependent in their household
+appointment, who was sometimes called the _King's poet_, and the _King's
+versificator_. It is probable that at length the selected bard assumed
+the title of _Poet Laureat_, without receiving the honours of the
+ceremony; or, at the most, the _crown of laurel_ was a mere obscure
+custom practised at our universities, and not attended with great public
+distinction. It was oftener placed on the skull of a pedant than
+wreathed on the head of a man of genius. Shadwell united the offices
+both of Poet Laureat and Historiographer; and by a MS. account of the
+public revenue, it appears that for two years' salary he received six
+hundred pounds. At his death Rymer became the Historiographer and Tate
+the Laureat: both offices seem equally useless, but, if united, will not
+prove so to the Poet Laureat.
+
+
+
+
+ANGELO POLITIAN.
+
+
+Angelo Politian, an Italian, was one of the most polished writers of the
+fifteenth century. Baillet has placed him amongst his celebrated
+children; for he was a writer at twelve years of age. The Muses indeed
+cherished him in his cradle, and the Graces hung round it their wreaths.
+When he became professor of the Greek language, such were the charms of
+his lectures, that Chalcondylas, a native of Greece, saw himself
+abandoned by his pupils, who resorted to the delightful disquisitions of
+the elegant Politian. Critics of various nations have acknowledged that
+his poetical versions have frequently excelled the originals. This happy
+genius was lodged in a most unhappy form; nor were his morals untainted:
+it is only in his literary compositions that he appears perfect.
+
+As a specimen of his Epistles, here is one, which serves as prefatory
+and dedicatory. The letter is replete with literature, though void of
+pedantry; a barren subject is embellished by its happy turns. Perhaps no
+author has more playfully defended himself from the incertitude of
+criticism and the fastidiousness of critics.
+
+
+MY LORD,
+
+You have frequently urged me to collect my letters, to revise and to
+publish them in a volume. I have now gathered them, that I might not
+omit any mark of that obedience which I owe to him, on whom I rest all
+my hopes, and all my prosperity. I have not, however, collected them
+all, because that would have been a more laborious task than to have
+gathered the scattered leaves of the Sibyl. It was never, indeed, with
+an intention of forming my letters into one body that I wrote them, but
+merely as occasion prompted, and as the subjects presented themselves
+without seeking for them. I never retained copies except of a few,
+which, less fortunate, I think, than the others, were thus favoured for
+the sake of the verses they contained. To form, however, a tolerable
+volume, I have also inserted some written by others, but only those with
+which several ingenious scholars favoured me, and which, perhaps, may
+put the reader in good humour with my own.
+
+There is one thing for which some will be inclined to censure me; the
+style of my letters is very unequal; and, to confess the truth, I did
+not find myself always in the same humour, and the same modes of
+expression were not adapted to every person and every topic. They will
+not fail then to observe, when they read such a diversity of letters (I
+mean if they do read them), that I have composed not epistles, but (once
+more) miscellanies.
+
+I hope, my Lord, notwithstanding this, that amongst such a variety of
+opinions, of those who write letters, and of those who give precepts how
+letters should be written, I shall find some apology. Some, probably,
+will deny that they are Ciceronian. I can answer such, and not without
+good authority, that in epistolary composition we must not regard Cicero
+as a model. Another perhaps will say that I imitate Cicero. And him I
+will answer by observing, that I wish nothing better than to be capable
+of grasping something of this great man, were it but his shadow!
+
+Another will wish that I had borrowed a little from the manner of Pliny
+the orator, because his profound sense and accuracy were greatly
+esteemed. I shall oppose him by expressing my contempt of all writers of
+the age of Pliny. If it should be observed, that I have imitated the
+manner of Pliny, I shall then screen myself by what Sidonius
+Apollinaris, an author who is by no means disreputable, says in
+commendation of his epistolary style. Do I resemble Symmachus? I shall
+not be sorry, for they distinguish his openness and conciseness. Am I
+considered in nowise resembling him? I shall confess that I am not
+pleased with his dry manner.
+
+Will my letters be condemned for their length? Plato, Aristotle,
+Thucydides, and Cicero, have all written long ones. Will some of them be
+criticised for their brevity? I allege in my favour the examples of
+Dion, Brutus, Apollonius, Philostratus, Marcus Antoninus, Alciphron,
+Julian, Symmachus, and also Lucian, who vulgarly, but falsely, is
+believed to have been Phalaris.
+
+I shall be censured for having treated of topics which are not generally
+considered as proper for epistolary composition. I admit this censure,
+provided, while I am condemned, Seneca also shares in the condemnation.
+Another will not allow of a sententious manner in my letters; I will
+still justify myself by Seneca. Another, on the contrary, desires abrupt
+sententious periods; Dionysius shall answer him for me, who maintains
+that pointed sentences should not be admitted into letters.
+
+Is my style too perspicuous? It is precisely that which Philostratus
+admires. Is it obscure? Such is that of Cicero to Attica. Negligent? An
+agreeable negligence in letters is more graceful than elaborate
+ornaments. Laboured? Nothing can be more proper, since we send epistles
+to our friends as a kind of presents. If they display too nice an
+arrangement, the Halicarnassian shall vindicate me. If there is none;
+Artemon says there should be none.
+
+Now as a good and pure Latinity has its peculiar taste, its manners,
+and, to express myself thus, its Atticisms; if in this sense a letter
+shall be found not sufficiently Attic, so much the better; for what was
+Herod the sophist censured? but that having been born an Athenian, he
+affected too much to appear one in his language. Should a letter seem
+too Attical; still better, since it was by discovering Theophrastus, who
+was no Athenian, that a good old woman of Athens laid hold of a word,
+and shamed him.
+
+Shall one letter be found not sufficiently serious? I love to jest. Or
+is it too grave? I am pleased with gravity. Is another full of figures?
+Letters being the images of discourse, figures have the effect of
+graceful action in conversation. Are they deficient in figures? This is
+just what characterises a letter, this want of figure! Does it discover
+the genius of the writer? This frankness is recommended. Does it conceal
+it? The writer did not think proper to paint himself; and it is one
+requisite in a letter, that it should be void of ostentation. You
+express yourself, some one will observe, in common terms on common
+topics, and in new terms on new topics. The style is thus adapted to the
+subject. No, no, he will answer; it is in common terms you express new
+ideas, and in new terms common ideas. Very well! It is because I have
+not forgotten an ancient Greek precept which expressly recommends this.
+
+It is thus by attempting to be ambidextrous, I try to ward off attacks.
+My critics, however, will criticise me as they please. It will be
+sufficient for me, my Lord, to be assured of having satisfied you, by my
+letters, if they are good; or by my obedience, if they are not so.
+
+    Florence, 1494.
+
+
+
+
+ORIGINAL LETTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
+
+
+In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian, F. III. is preserved a letter
+written by Queen Elizabeth, then Princess. Her brother, Edward the
+Sixth, had desired to have her picture; and in gratifying the wishes of
+his majesty, Elizabeth accompanies the present with an elaborate letter.
+It bears no date of the _year_ in which it was written; but her place of
+residence was at Hatfield. There she had retired to enjoy the silent
+pleasures of a studious life, and to be distant from the dangerous
+politics of the time. When Mary died, Elizabeth was still at Hatfield.
+At the time of its composition she was in habitual intercourse with the
+most excellent writers of antiquity: her letter displays this in every
+part of it; but it is too rhetorical. It is here now first published.
+
+
+LETTER.
+
+"Like as the riche man that dayly gathereth riches to riches, and to one
+bag of money layeth a greate sort til it come to infinit, so me thinkes,
+your Majestie not beinge suffised with many benefits and gentilnes
+shewed to me afore this time, dothe now increase them in askinge and
+desiring wher you may bid and comaunde, requiring a thinge not worthy
+the desiringe for it selfe, but made worthy for your highness request.
+My pictur I mene, in wiche if the inward good mynde towarde your grace
+might as wel be declared as the outwarde face and countenance shal be
+seen, I wold nor haue taried the comandement but prevent it, nor haue
+bine the last to graunt but the first to offer it. For the face, I
+graunt, I might wel blusche to offer, but the mynde I shall neur be
+ashamed to present. For thogth from the grace of the pictur, the coulers
+may fade by time, may giue by wether, may be spotted by chance, yet the
+other nor time with her swift winges shall ouertake, nor the mistie
+cloudes with their loweringes may darken, nor chance with her slipery
+fote may ouerthrow. Of this althogth yet the profe could not be greate
+because the occasions hath bine but smal, notwithstandinge as a dog
+hathe a day, so may I perchaunce haue time to declare it in dides wher
+now I do write them but in wordes. And further I shal most humbly
+beseche your Maiestie that whan you shal loke on my pictur you wil
+witsafe to thinke that as you haue but the outwarde shadow of the body
+afore you, so my inwarde minde wischeth, that the body it selfe wer
+oftener in your presence; howbeit bicause bothe my so beinge I thinke
+coulde do your Maiestie litel pleasure thogth my selfe great good, and
+againe bicause I se as yet not the time agreing ther[=u]to, I shal lerne
+to folow this saing of Orace, Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest.
+And thus I wil (troblinge your Maiestie I fere) end with my most humble
+thankes, beseching God long to preserue you to his honour, to your
+c[=o]fort, to the realmes profit, and to my joy. From Hatfilde this 1
+day of May.
+
+               "Your Maiesties most humbly Sistar
+                        "and Seruante
+                              "ELIZABETH."
+
+
+
+
+ANNE BULLEN.
+
+
+That minute detail of circumstances frequently found in writers of the
+history of their own times is more interesting than the elegant and
+general narratives of later, and probably of more philosophical
+historians. It is in the artless recitals of memoir-writers, that the
+imagination is struck with a lively impression, and fastens on petty
+circumstances, which must be passed over by the classical historian. The
+writings of Brantome, Comines, Froissart, and others, are dictated by
+their natural feelings: while the passions of modern writers are
+temperate with dispassionate philosophy, or inflamed by the virulence of
+faction. History instructs, but Memoirs delight. These prefatory
+observations may serve as an apology for Anecdotes which are gathered
+from obscure corners, on which the dignity of the historian must not
+dwell.
+
+In Houssaie's _Memoirs_, Vol. I. p. 435, a little circumstance is
+recorded concerning the decapitation of the unfortunate Anne Bullen,
+which illustrates an observation of Hume. Our historian notices that her
+executioner was a Frenchman of Calais, who was supposed to have uncommon
+skill. It is probable that the following incident might have been
+preserved by tradition in France, from the account of the executioner
+himself:--Anne Bullen being on the scaffold, would not consent to have
+her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had no fear of death.
+All that the divine who assisted at her execution could obtain from her
+was, that she would shut her eyes. But as she was opening them at every
+moment, the executioner could not bear their tender and mild glances;
+fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to invent an expedient to
+behead the queen. He drew off his shoes, and approached her silently;
+while he was at her left hand, another person advanced at her right, who
+made a great noise in walking, so that this circumstance drawing the
+attention of Anne, she turned her face from the executioner, who was
+enabled by this artifice to strike the fatal blow, without being
+disarmed by that spirit of affecting resignation which shone in the eyes
+of the lovely Anne Bullen.
+
+            The Common Executioner,
+    Whose heart th' accustom'd sight of death makes hard,
+    Falls not the axe upon the humble neck
+    But first begs pardon.
+
+                SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+JAMES THE FIRST.
+
+
+It was usual, in the reign of James the First, when they compared it
+with the preceding glorious one, to distinguish him by the title of
+_Queen James_, and his illustrious predecessor by that of _King
+Elizabeth_! Sir Anthony Weldon informs us, "That when James the First
+sent Sir Roger Aston as his messenger to Elizabeth, Sir Roger was always
+placed in the lobby: the hangings being turned so that he might see the
+Queen dancing to a little fiddle, which was to no other end than that he
+should tell his master, by her youthful disposition, how likely he was
+to come to the crown he so much thirsted after;"--and, indeed, when at
+her death this same knight, whose origin was low, and whose language was
+suitable to that origin, appeared before the English council, he could
+not conceal his Scottish rapture, for, asked how the king did? he
+replied, "Even, my lords, like a poore man wandering about forty years
+in a wildernesse and barren soyle, and now arrived at the _Land of
+Promise_." A curious anecdote, respecting the economy of the court in
+these reigns, is noticed in some manuscript memoirs written in James's
+reign, preserved in a family of distinction. The lady, who wrote these
+memoirs, tells us that a great change had taken place in _cleanliness_,
+since the last reign; for, having rose from her chair, she found, on her
+departure, that she had the honour of carrying _upon_ her some
+companions who must have been inhabitants of the palace. The court of
+Elizabeth was celebrated occasionally for its magnificence, and always
+for its nicety. James was singularly effeminate; he could not behold a
+drawn sword without shuddering; was much too partial to handsome men;
+and appears to merit the bitter satire of Churchill. If wanting other
+proofs, we should only read the second volume of "Royal Letters," 6987,
+in the Harleian collections, which contains Stenie's correspondence with
+James. The gross familiarity of Buckingham's address is couched in such
+terms as these:--he calls his majesty "Dere dad and Gossope!" and
+concludes his letters with "your humble slaue and dogge, Stenie."[121]
+He was a most weak, but not quite a vicious man; yet his expertness in
+the art of dissimulation was very great indeed. He called this
+_King-Craft_. Sir Anthony Weldon gives a lively anecdote of this
+dissimulation in the king's behaviour to the Earl of Somerset at the
+very moment he had prepared to disgrace him. The earl accompanied the
+king to Royston, and, to his apprehension, never parted from him with
+more seeming affection, though the king well knew he should never see
+him more. "The earl, when he kissed his hand, the king hung about his
+neck, slabbering his cheeks, saying--'For God's sake, when shall I see
+thee again? On my soul I shall neither eat nor sleep until you come
+again.' The earl told him on Monday (this being on the Friday). 'For
+God's sake let me,' said the king:--'Shall I, shall I?'--then lolled
+about his neck; 'then for God's sake give thy lady this kisse for me, in
+the same manner at the stayre's head, at the middle of the stayres, and
+at the stayre's foot.' The earl was not in his coach when the king used
+these very words (in the hearing of four servants, one of whom reported
+it instantly to the author of this history), 'I shall never see his face
+more.'"
+
+He displayed great imbecility in his amusements, which are characterised
+by the following one, related by Arthur Wilson:--When James became
+melancholy in consequence of various disappointments in state matters,
+Buckingham and his mother used several means of diverting him. Amongst
+the most ludicrous was the present. They had a young lady, who brought a
+pig in the dress of a new-born infant: the countess carried it to the
+king, wrapped in a rich mantle. One Turpin, on this occasion, was
+dressed like a bishop in all his pontifical ornaments. He began the
+rites of baptism with the common prayer-book in his hand; a silver ewer
+with water was held by another. The marquis stood as godfather. When
+James turned to look at the infant, the pig squeaked: an animal which he
+greatly abhorred. At this, highly displeased, he exclaimed,--"Out! Away
+for shame! What blasphemy is this!"
+
+This ridiculous joke did not accord with the feelings of James at that
+moment; he was not "i' the vein." Yet we may observe, that had not such
+artful politicians as Buckingham and his mother been strongly persuaded
+of the success of this puerile fancy, they would not have ventured on
+such "blasphemies." They certainly had witnessed amusements heretofore
+not less trivial which had gratified his majesty. The account which Sir
+Anthony Weldon gives, in his Court of King James, exhibits a curious
+scene of James's amusements. "After the king supped, he would come
+forth to see pastimes and fooleries; in which Sir Ed. Zouch, Sir George
+Goring, and Sir John Finit, were the chiefe and master fools, and surely
+this fooling got them more than any others wisdome; Zouch's part was to
+sing bawdy songs, and tell bawdy tales; Finit's to compose these songs:
+there was a set of fiddlers brought to court on purpose for this
+fooling, and Goring was master of the game for fooleries, sometimes
+presenting David Droman and Archee Armstrong, the kings foole, on the
+back of the other fools, to tilt one at another, till they fell together
+by the eares; sometimes they performed antick dances. But Sir John
+Millicent (who was never known before) was commended for notable
+fooling; and was indeed the best _extemporary foole_ of them all."
+Weldon's "Court of James" is a scandalous chronicle of the times.
+
+His dispositions were, however, generally grave and studious. He seems
+to have possessed a real love of letters, but attended with that
+mediocrity of talent which in a private person had never raised him into
+notice. "While there was a chance," writes the author of the Catalogue
+of Noble Authors, "that the dyer's son, Vorstius, might be
+divinity-professor at Leyden, instead of being burnt, as his majesty
+hinted _to the Christian prudence_ of the Dutch that he deserved to be,
+our ambassadors could not receive instructions, and consequently could
+not treat on any other business. The king, who did not resent the
+massacre at Amboyna, was on the point of breaking with the States for
+supporting a man who professed the heresies of Enjedius, Ostodorus, &c.,
+points of extreme consequence to Great Britain! Sir Dudley Carleton was
+forced to threaten the Dutch, not only with the hatred of King James,
+but also with his pen."
+
+This royal pedant is forcibly characterised by the following
+observations of the same writer:--
+
+"Among his majesty's works is a small collection of poetry. Like several
+of his subjects, our royal author has condescended to apologise for its
+imperfections, as having been written in his youth, and his maturer age
+being otherwise occupied. So that (to employ his own language) 'when his
+ingyne and age could, his affaires and fascherie would not permit him to
+correct them, scarslie but at stolen moments, he having the leisure to
+blenk upon any paper.' When James sent a present of his harangues,
+turned into Latin, to the Protestant princes in Europe, it is not
+unentertaining to observe in their answers of compliments and thanks,
+how each endeavoured to insinuate that he had read them, without
+positively asserting it! Buchanan, when asked how he came to make a
+pedant of his royal pupil, answered that it was the best he could make
+of him. Sir George Mackenzie relates a story of his tutelage, which
+shows Buchanan's humour, and the veneration of others for royalty. The
+young king being one day at play with his fellow-pupil, the master of
+Erskine, Buchanan was reading, and desired them to make less noise. As
+they disregarded his admonition, he told his majesty, if he did not hold
+his tongue, he would certainly whip his breech. The king replied, he
+would be glad to see who would _bell the cat_, alluding to the fable.
+Buchanan lost his temper, and throwing his book from him, gave his
+majesty a sound flogging. The old countess of Mar rushed into the room,
+and taking the king in her arms, asked how he dared to lay his hands on
+the Lord's anointed? Madam, replied the elegant and immortal historian,
+I have whipped his a----, you may kiss it if you please!"
+
+Many years after this was published, I discovered a curious
+anecdote:--Even so late as when James I. was seated on the throne of
+England, once the appearance of his _frowning tutor in a dream_ greatly
+agitated the king, who in vain attempted to pacify his illustrious
+pedagogue in this portentous vision. Such was the terror which the
+remembrance of this inexorable republican tutor had left on the
+imagination of his royal pupil.
+
+James I. was certainly a zealous votary of literature; his wish was
+sincere, when at viewing the Bodleian Library at Oxford, he exclaimed,
+"Were I not a king I would be an university man; and if it were so that
+I must be a prisoner, if I might have my wish, I would have no other
+prison than this library, and be chained together with these good
+authors."
+
+Hume has informed us, that "his death was decent." The following are the
+minute particulars: I have drawn them from an imperfect manuscript
+collection, made by the celebrated Sir Thomas Browne.
+
+"The lord keeper, on March 22, received a letter from the court, that it
+was feared his majesty's sickness was dangerous to death; which fear was
+more confirmed, for he, meeting Dr. Harvey in the road, was told by him
+that the king used to have a beneficial evacuation of nature, a
+sweating in his left arm, as helpful to him as any fontenel could be,
+which of late failed.
+
+"When the lord keeper presented himself before him, he moved to cheerful
+discourse, but it would not do. He stayed by his bedside until midnight.
+Upon the consultations of the physicians in the morning he was out of
+comfort, and by the prince's leave told him, kneeling by his pallet,
+that his days to come would be but few in this world. '_I am
+satisfied_,' said the king; 'but pray you assist me to make me ready for
+the next world, to go away hence for Christ, whose mercies I call for,
+and hope to find.'
+
+"From that time the keeper never left him, or put off his clothes to go
+to bed. The king took the communion, and professed he died in the bosom
+of the Church of England, whose doctrine he had defended with his pen,
+being persuaded it was according to the mind of Christ, as he should
+shortly answer it before him.
+
+"He stayed in the chamber to take notice of everything the king said,
+and to repulse those who crept much about the chamber door, and into the
+chamber; they were for the most addicted to the Church of Rome. Being
+rid of them, he continued in prayer, while the king lingered on, and at
+last _shut his eyes with his own hands_."
+
+Thus, in the full power of his faculties, a timorous prince
+
+encountered the horrors of dissolution. _Religion_ rendered cheerful the
+abrupt night of futurity; and what can _philosophy_ do more, or rather,
+can philosophy do as much?
+
+I proposed to have examined with some care the works of James I.; but
+that uninviting task has been now postponed till it is too late. As a
+writer, his works may not be valuable, and are infected with the
+pedantry and the superstition of the age; yet I _suspect_ that James was
+not that degraded and feeble character in which he ranks by the
+contagious voice of criticism. He has had more critics than readers.
+After a great number of acute observations and witty allusions, made
+extempore, which we find continually recorded of him by contemporary
+writers, and some not friendly to him, I conclude that he possessed a
+great promptness of wit, and much solid judgment and acute ingenuity. It
+requires only a little labour to prove this.
+
+That labour I have since zealously performed. This article, composed
+_more than thirty years_ ago, displays the effects of first impressions
+and popular clamours. About _ten_ years I _suspected_ that his character
+was grossly injured, and _lately_ I found how it has suffered from a
+variety of causes. That monarch preserved for us a peace of more than
+twenty years; and his talents were of a higher order than the calumnies
+of the party who have remorselessly degraded him have allowed a common
+inquirer to discover. For the rest I must refer the reader to "An
+Inquiry into the Literary and Political Character of James I.;" in which
+he may find many correctives for this article. I shall in a future work
+enter into further explanations of this ambiguous royal author.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 121: Buckingham's style was even stronger and coarser than the
+text leads one to suppose. "Your sowship" is the beginning of one
+letter, and "I kiss your dirty hands" the conclusion of another. The
+king had encouraged this by his own extraordinary familiarity. "My own
+sweet and dear child," "Sweet hearty," "My sweet Steenie and gossip,"
+are the commencements of the royal epistles to Buckingham; and in one
+instance, where he proposes a hunting party and invites the ladies of
+his family, he does it in words of perfect obscenity.]
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL MONK AND HIS WIFE.
+
+
+From the MS. collection of Sir Thomas Browne, I shall rescue an
+anecdote, which has a tendency to show that it is not advisable to
+permit ladies to remain at home, when political plots are to be secretly
+discussed. And while it displays the treachery of Monk's wife, it will
+also appear that, like other great revolutionists, it was ambition that
+first induced him to become the reformer he pretended to be.
+
+"Monk gave fair promises to the Rump, but last agreed with the French
+Ambassador to take the government on himself; by whom he had a promise
+from Mazarin of assistance from France. This bargain was struck late at
+night: but not so secretly but that Monk's wife, who had posted herself
+conveniently behind the hangings, finding what was resolved upon, sent
+her brother Clarges away immediately with notice of it to Sir A.A. She
+had promised to watch her husband, and inform Sir A. how matters went.
+Sir A. caused the council of state, whereof he was a member, to be
+summoned, and charged Monk that he was playing false. The general
+insisted that he was true to his principles, and firm to what he had
+promised, and that he was ready to give them all satisfaction. Sir A.
+told him if he were sincere he might remove all scruples, and should
+instantly take away their commissions from such and such men in his
+army, and appoint others, and that before he left the room. Monk
+consented; a great part of the commissions of his officers were changed,
+and Sir Edward Harley, a member of the council, and then present was
+made governor of Dunkirk, in the room of Sir William Lockhart; the army
+ceased to be at Monk's devotion; the ambassador was recalled, and broke
+his heart."
+
+Such were the effects of the infidelity of the wife of General Monk!
+
+
+
+
+PHILIP AND MARY.
+
+
+Houssaie, in his Memoires, vol. i. p. 261, has given the following
+curious particulars of this singular union:--
+
+     "The second wife of Philip was Mary Queen of England; a virtuous
+     princess (Houssaie was a good catholic), but who had neither youth
+     nor beauty. This marriage was as little happy for the one as for
+     the other. The husband did not like his wife, although she doted on
+     him; and the English hated Philip still more than he hated them.
+     Silhon says, that the rigour which he exercised in England against
+     heretics partly hindered Prince Carlos from succeeding to that
+     crown, and for _which purpose_ Mary had invited him in case she
+     died childless!"--But no historian speaks of this pretended
+     inclination, and is it probable that Mary ever thought proper to
+     call to the succession of the English throne the son of the Spanish
+     Monarch? This marriage had made her nation detest her, and in the
+     last years of her life she could be little satisfied with him, from
+     his marked indifference for her. She well knew that the Parliament
+     would never consent to exclude her sister Elizabeth, whom the
+     nobility loved for being more friendly to the new religion, and
+     more hostile to the house of Austria.
+
+     In the Cottonian Library, Vespasian F. III. is preserved a note of
+     instructions in the handwriting of Queen Mary, of which the
+     following is a copy. It was, probably, written when Philip was just
+     seated on the English throne.
+
+     "Instructions for my lorde Previsel.
+
+     "Firste, to tell the Kinge the whole state of this realme, wt all
+     things appartaynyng to the same, as myche as ye knowe to be trewe.
+
+     "Seconde, to obey his commandment in all thyngs.
+
+     "Thyrdly, in all things he shall aske your aduyse to declare your
+     opinion as becometh a faythfull conceyllour to do.
+
+                                         "MARY the Quene."
+
+Houssaie proceeds: "After the death of Mary, Philip sought Elizabeth in
+marriage; and she, who was yet unfixed at the beginning of her reign,
+amused him at first with hopes. But as soon as she unmasked herself to
+the pope, she laughed at Philip, telling the Duke of Feria, his
+ambassador, that her conscience would not permit her to marry the
+husband of her sister."
+
+This monarch, however, had no such scruples. Incest appears to have had
+in his eyes peculiar charms; for he offered himself three times to three
+different sisters-in-law. He seems also to have known the secret of
+getting quit of his wives when they became inconvenient. In state
+matters he spared no one whom he feared; to them he sacrificed his only
+son, his brother, and a great number of princes and ministers.
+
+It is said of Philip, that before he died he advised his son to make
+peace with England, and war with the other powers. _Pacem cum Anglo,
+bellum cum reliquis_. Queen Elizabeth, and the ruin of his invincible
+fleet, physicked his frenzy into health, and taught him to fear and
+respect that country which he thought he could have made a province of
+Spain.
+
+On his death-bed he did everything he could for _salvation_. The
+following protestation, a curious morsel of bigotry, he sent to his
+confessor a few days before he died:--
+
+"Father confessor! as you occupy the place of God, I protest to you that
+I will do everything you shall say to be necessary for my being saved;
+so that what I omit doing will be placed to your account, as I am ready
+to acquit myself of all that shall be ordered to me."
+
+Is there, in the records of history, a more glaring instance of the idea
+which a good Catholic attaches to the power of a confessor, than the
+present authentic example? The most licentious philosophy seems not more
+dangerous than a religion whose votary believes that the accumulation of
+crimes can be dissipated by the breath of a few orisons, and which,
+considering a venal priest to "occupy the place of God," can traffic
+with the divine power at a very moderate price.
+
+After his death a Spanish grandee wrote with a coal on the
+chimney-piece of his chamber the following epitaph, which ingeniously
+paints his character in four verses:--
+
+    Siendo moco luxurioso;
+    Siendo hombre, fue cruel;
+    Siendo viejo, codicioso:
+    Que se puede esperar del?
+
+    In youth he was luxurious;
+    In manhood he was cruel;
+    In old age he was avaricious:
+    What could be hoped from him?
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of
+3), by Isaac  D'Israeli
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