A N 
 
 E S S A Y 
 
 O N 
 
 HISTORY; 
 
 IN THREE EPISTLES TO EDWARD GIBBON, ESQ, 
 
 WITH 
 
 N O T E S, 
 
 T»ic ig-opidi oiMiov aiici. Kxt Xi^m'tJiov f^fTa^fffScj. 
 
 PoLYBius, Lib. ii. 
 
 By W I L L I A M H A Y L E Y, E 
 
 SO: 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY IN PALL-MALL. 
 
 M.DCC.LXXXI. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Research Library, The Getty Research Institute 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/essayonhistoryinOOhayl 
 
EPISTLE 
 
 THE FIRST. 
 
 B 
 
ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 JntroduSiion. — Relation between Hijiory and Poetry — De- 
 cline of the latter. — SubjcEi of the prefent Poem Jlightly 
 touched by the Ancie?its. — Dionysius — Lucian. — hn- 
 fortance and advantage of HiJlory — its origin — fubfequent 
 to that of Poetry — difguifed in its infancy by Prieflcraft 
 and Superflition — brought from Egypt into Greece.—— 
 Scarcity of great Hifiorians — PerfeSi compoftion not to 
 he expelled. — Addrefs to HiJlory^ and CharaSlers of 
 many ancient Hifiorians — Herodotus — Thucydides 
 — Xenophon — PoLYBius — Sallust — LivY — Ta- 
 citus. — Biography — Plutarch. — Baleful influence of 
 defpotic power — Ammianus Marcellinus — Anna 
 Comnena. 
 
EPISTLE I. 
 
 HI G H in the world of Letters, and of Wit, 
 Enthroned like Jove, behold Opinion fit I 
 As fymbols of her fway, on either hand 
 Th' unfailing urns of Praife and Cenfure (land *; 
 Their mingled ftreams her motley fervants fhed 5 
 
 On each bold Author's felf-devoted head. 
 
 On thee, O Gibbon ! in whofe fplendid page 
 Rome fhines majeftic 'mid the woes of age, 
 Miftaken Zeal, wrapt in a pricftly pall, 
 Has from the bafer urn pour'd darkeft gall : lO 
 
 Thefe ilains to Learning would a Bard efface 
 With tides of glory from the golden vafe. 
 But that he feels this nobler tafk require 
 A fpirit glowing with congenial fire — 
 
 * Ver. 4. See N O T E I. 
 
 B 2 A Virgil 
 
[ 4 ] 
 
 A Virgil only may uncenfur'd aim 15 
 
 To fing in equal verfe a Livy's fame: 
 
 Yet while Polemics, in fierce league combin'd. 
 
 With fai^''age difcord vex thy feeling mind; 
 
 And raflily (lain Religion's juft defence, 
 
 By grofs dctradlion and pprverted fenfe ; 2.0- 
 
 Thy wounded eat ;iT^a}v haply not refufc 
 
 The foothing acceius oFan humbler Mufe. 
 The lovely Science, whofc attractive air 
 
 Derives new charms from thy devoted care, 
 
 Is near ally'd to that enchanting Art, 25" 
 
 Which reigns the idol of the Poet's heart. 
 
 Tho' fifter GoddciTes, thy guardian maid 
 
 Shines in the robe of freflicr youth array'd, 
 
 Like Pallas recent from the brain of Jove, 
 
 When Strength with Beauty in her features drove j 30 
 
 While elder FotCy, in every clime 
 
 The flower of earlicfl: fall, has paft her prime : 
 
 The bloom, which her autumnal cheeks fupply, 
 
 Palls on the Public's philofophic eye. 
 
 What! tho' no more with Fancy's ftrong controul 35 
 
 Her Epic wonders fafcinate the foul j 
 
 With 
 
[■5^ I 
 
 With humbler hopes, flie vviilies ftill to pleafe 
 
 By moral elegaace, and labour'd eafe : 
 
 Like other Prudes, leaves Beauty's loft pretence, 
 
 A'nd drives to charm' by Sentiment and Senfe. 40 
 
 Yet deaf to Envy's voice,, and Pride's alarms, 
 
 She loves the rival, who eclips'dr. her charms ;- 
 
 Safe in thy favour, fhe would fondly?' ftiw 
 
 Round the wide realm, which owns that Sifter's fvvay. 
 
 Sing the juft fav'rites of hiftoric fame, a^ 
 
 And mark their pureft laws and nobleft aim.. 
 
 My eye& witb joy this pathlefs field explore, - 
 Crofs'd by no Roman Bard, no Greeks of vore-. 
 Thofe mighty Lords of literary fway 
 
 H-ave pafs'd this province with a flight furvey : c^) 
 
 E'en He, whofe bold and comprehenfive mind- 
 Immortal rules to Poefy affign'd. 
 High Prieft of Learning ! has not fix'd apart 
 The laws and limits of hiftoric Art : 
 
 Yet one excelling * Greek in later days, r*: 
 
 The happy teacher of harmonious phrafe, 
 
 * Ver. 5S' See NOTE 11. 
 
 Whofe 
 
[ 6 ] 
 
 V/hofc patient fingers all the threads untwine, 
 
 Which in the myftic chain of Mufic join ; 
 
 Strict DioNYsius, of fevereft Tafte, 
 
 Has juftly fome hiftoric duties trac'd, 6o 
 
 And fome pure precepts into pradlice brought, 
 
 Th' Hiftorian proving what the Critic taught. 
 
 And * LuciAN ! thou, of Humour's fons fupremef 
 
 Haft touch'd with livelieft art this tempting theme. 
 
 When in the Roman world, corrupt and vain, 65 
 
 Hiftoric Fury madden'd every brain ; 
 
 When each bafe Greek indulg'd his frantic dream. 
 
 And rofe a f Xenophon in felf-efteem ; 
 
 Thy Genius fatyriz'd the fcribbling flave, 
 
 And to the liberal pen juft leflbns gave : 70 
 
 O fkiird to feafon, in proportion fit, 
 
 Severer wifdom with thy fportive wit ! 
 
 Breathe thy ftrong power ! thy fprightly grace infufe 
 
 In the bold efforts of no fervile Mufe, 
 
 If fhe tranfplant fome lively flower, that throws 75 
 
 Immortal fweetnefs o'er thy Attic Profe I 
 
 * Ver. 6j. See NOTE III. 
 t Vcr. 68. See NOTE IV. 
 
 In 
 
E 7 ] 
 
 In Egypt * once a dread tribunal flood ; 
 OiFspring of Wifdom ! fource of Public Good 1 
 Before this Seat, by holy Juftice rear'd, 
 The mighty Dead, in folemn pomp, appear'd ; 8q 
 
 For 'till its fentence had their rights expos'd, 
 The hallovv'd portals of the tomb were clos'd ; 
 A fculptur'd form of Truth the Judges wore, 
 A facred emblem of the charge they bore I 
 The claims of Virtue their pure voice expreft, 85: 
 
 And bade the opening grave receive its honor'd guefl. 
 Thus awefully array 'd in Judgment's robe, 
 With powers extenfive as the peopled Globe ; 
 To her juft bar impartial Hift'ry brings 
 The gorgeous group of Statefmen, Heroes, Kings ; 90 
 With all whofe minds, out-lliining fplendid birth, 
 Attrad the notice of th' enlighten'd earth. 
 From artful Pomp fhe ftrips the proud difguife 
 That flafh'd delulion in admiring eyes ; 
 To injur'd Worth gives Glory's wiOi'd reward, 95 
 
 And blazons Virtue in her bright record : 
 
 * Vcr, yy. See NOTE V, 
 
 3: Nature's 
 
[-. 8 ] 
 
 Nature's clear Mirror ! Life's iaftrudive Guide ! 
 
 Her Wifdora four'd by no preceptive Pride ! 
 
 Age from her lefibn forms its wifeft aim, 
 
 And youthful Emulation fprings to Fame. loo 
 
 Yet thus adorn'd with noblefl powers, defign'd 
 To charm, corred, and elevate mankind. 
 From darkeil Time her humble Birth fhe drew, 
 And flowly into Strength and Beauty grew ; 
 As mighty ftreams, that roll with gather'd force, 105 
 Spring feebly forth from fome fequefter'd fource. 
 
 The fond deiire to pafs the namcjefs crowd. 
 Swept from the earth in dark Oblivion's cloud ; 
 Of tranlient life to leave fome little trace. 
 And win remembrance from the rifmg race, no 
 
 Led early Chiefs to make their prowefs known 
 By the rude fymbol on the artlcfs ftone : 
 And, long ere man the wondrous fccret found, 
 To paint the voice, and fix the fleeting found, 
 The infant Mufe, ambitious at her birth, * 115 
 
 Rofe the young herald of heroic vi'orth. 
 
 • Ver. 115. See NOTE VI. 
 
 10 The 
 
[ 9 I 
 
 The tuneful record of her oral praife, 
 
 The Sire's atchievements to the Son conveys : 
 
 Keen Emulation, wrapt in trance fu'olime, 
 
 Drinks with retentive ear the potent rhyme ; 120 
 
 And faithful Memory, from afFedion ftrong. 
 
 Spreads the rich torrent of her martial fong. 
 
 Letters at length arife ; but envious Niaht 
 
 Conceals their blefl: Inventor from our figrht. 
 
 O'er the wide earth his fpreading bounty flew, 125 
 
 And fwift thofe precious feeds of Science grew ; 
 
 Thence quickly fprung the Annal's artlefs frame. 
 
 Time its chief boafl ! and brevity its aim ! 
 
 The Temple- wall preferv'd a fimple date, 
 
 And mark'd in plainefl: form the Monarch's fate. 130 
 
 But in the center of thofe vaft abodes, * 
 Whofe mighty mafs the land of Egypt loads ; 
 Where, in rude triumph over years unknown, 
 Gigantic Grandeur, from his fpiry throne, 
 Seems to look down difdainful, and deride 135 
 
 The poor, the pigmy toils of modern Pride ; 
 
 * Ver. 131. See NOTE VII. 
 
 C- In 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 In the clofe covert of thofe gloomy cells, 
 
 Where early Magic fram'd her venal fpells, 
 
 Combining priefts, from many an ancient tale. 
 
 Wove for their hallow'd ufe Religion's veil ; 140 
 
 A wondrous texture ! fupple, rich, and broad, 
 
 To dazzle Folly, and to fhelter Fraud I 
 
 This, as her caeftus, Superftition wore ; 
 
 And faw th' enchanted world its powers adore : 
 
 For in the myftic web was every charm 145 
 
 To lure the timid, and the bold difarm ; 
 
 To win from eafy Faith a blind efteem, 
 
 And lull Devotion in a laftins dream. 
 
 The Sorcerefs, to fpread her empire, dreft 
 
 Hiftory's young form in this illufive veft, 150 
 
 Whofe infant voice repeated, as fhe taught, 
 
 The motley fables on her mantle wrought ; 
 
 Till Attic Freedom brought the Foundling home 
 
 From the dark cells of her Egyptian dome ; 
 
 Drew by degrees th' oppreilive veil afldc, 15 c; 
 
 And, fhewing the fair Nymph in nature's pride, 
 
 Taught her to fpcak, with all the fire of youth, 
 
 The words of Wifdom in the tone of Truth ; 
 
 10 To 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
[ " ] 
 
 To catch the paffing fhew of public life, 
 And paint immortal fcenes of Grecian ftrife. i6o 
 
 Inchanting Athens ! oft as Learning calls 
 Our fond attention to thy fofl'ring walls, 
 Still with freOi joy thy glories we explore, 
 With new idolatry thy charms adore. 
 Bred in thy bofom, the Hiftorian caught 165 
 
 The warmeft glow of elevated thought. 
 Yet while thy triumphs to his eye difplay, 
 The noblefl: fcene his pencil can portray ; 
 While thy rich language, grac'd by every Mufe, 
 Supplies the brighteft tints, his hand can ufe ; 1 70 
 
 How fmall their band, who, in thy happier days, 
 Reach the bright fummit of hiftoric praife 1 
 'Tis thus with every Art, in every age. 
 From the mechanic to the moral fage : 
 Excelling merit is by nature rare : 17 r 
 
 Millions contend for crowns they cannot wear. 
 Coy Science, in her fcene of vi^ide command, 
 Beftows her honours with a fparing hand. 
 Like Charlemain's proud hofl, her vafial crew 
 No tongue can count — Her paladins are few. 180 
 
 C 2 Pure, 
 
[ la ] 
 
 Pure, fauklefs writing, like tranfnnited gold, 
 Mortals may wifli, but never iliall behold: 
 Let Genius flill this glorious objecft own, 
 And fcek Perfedion's philofophic Hone ! 
 For while the mind, in ftudy's toilfome hours, 185 
 
 Tries on the long refcarch her latent powers, 
 New wonders rife, to pay her patient thought. 
 Inferior only to the prize flie fought. 
 
 But idle Pride no arduous labor fees. 
 And deems th' Hiflorian's toil a tafk of eafe : igo 
 
 Yet, if furvey'd by Judgment's fteady lamp. 
 How ^cw are juftly grac'd with Glory's ftamp I 
 Tho' more thefe volumes, than the ruthlefs mind 
 Of the fierce Omar to the flames conlian'd, * 
 When Learning fiw the favage with a fmile 19^5. 
 
 Devote her offspring to the blazing pile ! 
 
 O Hiftory ! wliofe pregnant mi^es impart 
 Unfailingtreafures to poetic art ; 
 The Epic gem, and thofe of darker hues,, 
 Whofe trembling luftre decks the tragic Mufe j 20a 
 
 ♦ Ver. 104. See NOTE VIII. 
 
 IT, 
 
' [ 13 ] 
 
 If, juftly conlcious of thy pov/ers, I raife 
 
 A votive tablet to record thy praife,. 
 
 That ancient temple to my view unfold. 
 
 Where thy lirfl Sons,, on Glory's lift enroU'd, 
 
 To Fancy's eye, in living forms, appear, 205. 
 
 And fill with Freedom's notes the raptur'd ear ! — 
 
 The dome expands I — Behold th' Hiftoric Sire 1 * 
 
 Ionic rofes mark his foft attire ; 
 
 Bold in his air, but graceful in his mien- 
 
 As the fair figure ot his favour' d Queen, f 210; 
 
 When her proud galley fham'd the Perfian van, , 
 
 And grateful Xerxes own'd her more than man ! 
 
 Soft as the ftream, whofe dimpling waters play, t 
 And wind in lucid lapfe their pleafing wav, 
 His. rich, Homeric elocution flows,. 21 5 
 
 For all the Mufes modulate his profe : 
 Tho' blind Credulity his ftep mifleads 
 Thro' the dark mifl: of her Egyptian meads, 
 Yet when return'd, with patriot paffions warnij. 
 He paints the progrefs of the Periian ftorm, 220 
 
 * Vcr. 207. Sfe NOTE IX. 
 f Ver. 210. See NOTE X. 
 j Ver. 213. See NOTE XI. 
 
 In 
 
111 Truth's illumin'd field, his labours rear 
 
 A trophy worthy of the S.partan fpear : 
 
 His eager country, in th' Olympic vale, 
 
 Throngs with proud joy to catch the martial tale. 
 
 Behold! where Valour, refting on his lance, 225 
 
 Drinks the fweet found in rapture's filent trance, 
 
 Then, with a grateful fliout of fond acclaim. 
 
 Hails the juft herald of his country's fame ! — 
 
 But mark the Youth, in dumb delight immers'd ! * 
 
 See the proud tear of emulation burft ! 230 
 
 O faithful fign of a fuperior foul I 
 
 Thy prayer is heard : — 'tis thine to reach the goal. 
 
 Seel bleft Olorus ! fee the palm is won ! 
 
 Sublimity and Wifdom crown thy Son : 
 
 His the rich prize, that caught his early gaze, 235 
 
 Tir eternal treafure of increafing praife ! 
 
 Pure from the ftain of favor, or of hate. 
 
 His nervous line unfolds the deep Debate ; 
 
 Explores the feeds of War ; with matchlefs force 
 
 Draws Difcord, fpringing from Ambition's fourcc, 240 
 
 * Ver. 229. See NOTE XII. 
 
 With 
 
r '5 I 
 
 With all her Demagogues, who murder Peace, 
 
 In the fierce ftruggles of contentious Greece. 
 
 Stript by Ingratitude of jufl command — 
 
 Above refentment to a thanklefs land, 
 
 Above all envy, rancour, pride, and fpleen, 245 
 
 In exile patient, in difgrace ferene, 
 
 And proud to celebrate, as Truth infpires, 
 
 Each patriot Hero, that his foul admires — 
 
 The deep-toa'd trumpet of renown he blows. 
 
 In fage retirement 'mid the Thracian fnows. 250 
 
 But to untimely {ilence Fate devotes 
 
 Thofe lips, yet trembling with imperfect notes-,. 
 
 And bafe Oblivion threatens to devour 
 
 Ev'n this firft oiFspring of hiftoric power.. 
 
 A generous guardian of a rival's fame, * 25 c 
 
 Mars the dark Fiend in this malignant aim : 
 
 Accomplifh'd Xenophon ! thy truth has jQiewn 
 
 A brother's glory facred as thy own : 
 
 O rich in all the blended gifts, that grace 
 
 Minerva's darling fons of Attic face ! 260 
 
 • Ver.255. See NOTE XIII. 
 
 The 
 
[ i6 ] 
 
 The Sage's olive, the Hillorlan's palm, 
 
 The Vigor's laurel, all thy name embalm ! 
 
 Thy iimplc didion, free from glaring art. 
 
 With fweet allurement ileals upon the heart ; 
 
 Pure, as the rill, that Nature's hand refines, 265 
 
 A cloudlefs mirror of thy foul it (liines. 
 
 Two pafllons there by Toft contention pleafe. 
 
 The love of martial Fame, and learned Eafe : 
 
 Thefe friendly colours, exquifitely join'd, 
 
 Form the enchanting piclure of thy mind. 270 
 
 Thine was the praiie, bright models to afford 
 
 To Cesar's rival pen, and rival fword : 
 
 Blcil, had Ambition not deftroy'd his claim 
 
 To the mild luftre of thy purer fame ! 
 
 Thou pride of Greece I in thee her triumphs end : 275 
 
 And Roman chiefs in borrowed pomp afcend. 
 
 Rome's haughty genius, who enflav'd the Greek, * 
 
 In Grecian language deigns at hrH: to fpeak : 
 
 By flow degrees her ruder tongue fhe taught 
 
 To tell the wonders that her valour wrought ; 280 
 
 * Vcr. 277. See NOTE XIV. 
 
 And 
 
[ '7 3 
 
 And her hiftoric hoft, with envious eye, 
 View in their glittering van a Greek ally. 
 Thou Friend of SciPio ! vers'd in War's alarms ! * 
 Torn from thy wounded country's ftruggling arms ! 
 And doom'd in Latian bofoms to inftill 285 
 
 Thy moral virtue, and thy martial (kill ! 
 Pleas'd, in refearches of elaborate length, 
 To trace the fibres of the Roman flrength ! 
 O highly perfed in each nobler part, 
 The Sage's wifdom, and the Soldier's art I 290 
 
 This richer half of Grecian praife is thine : 
 But o'er thy ftyle the flighted Graces pine, 
 And tir'd Attention toils thro' many a maze. 
 To reach the purport of thy doubtful phrafe : 
 Yet large are his rewards, whofe toils engage 295 
 
 To clear the fpirit of thy cloudy page ; 
 Like Indian fruit, its rugged rind contains 
 Thofe milky fweets that pay the fearcher's pains. 
 Rome's haughty Genius, with exulting claim, 
 Points to her rivals of the Grecian name ! 300 
 
 * Ver. 283. See NOTE XV. 
 
 D Sententious 
 
[ '8 ] 
 
 Sententious Sallust leads her lofty train ; * 
 
 Clear, tho' concile, elaborately plain, 
 
 Foiling his fcale of words with frugal care. 
 
 Nor leaving one fuperfluous atom there 1 
 
 Yet well difplaying, in a narrow fpace, 305 
 
 Truth's native ftrength, and Nature's eafy grace ;, 
 
 Skill'd to deted, in tracing Anion's courfe, 
 
 The hidden motive, and the human fource. 
 
 His lucid brevity the palm has won. 
 
 By Rome's deciiion, from Olorus' Son. 3^10 
 
 Of mightier fpirit, of majeftic frame. 
 With powers proportion'd to the Roman fame, 
 When Rome's fierce Eagle his broad wings unfurl'd, 
 And fnadow'd with his plumes the fubjecl: v/orld, 
 In bright pre-eminence, that Greece might own, 315 
 Sublimer Livy claims th' Hiftoric throne; f 
 With that rich Eloquence, whofe golden light 
 Brings the full fcene diftindly to the fight ; 
 That Zeal for Truth, which Intereft cannot bend, 
 That Fire, which Freedom ever gives her friend. 320 
 
 • Vtr. 301. See NOTE XVI. 
 tVcr. 316. See NOTE XVH. 
 
 7 Immortal 
 
[ 19 ] 
 
 Immortal artift of a work fupreme ! 
 
 Delighted Rome beheld, with proud efteem, 
 
 Her own bright image, of ColoiTal fize, 
 
 From thj long toils in pureft marble rife. 
 
 But envious Time, with a malignant ftroke, 325 
 
 This facred ftatue into frao;ments broke ; 
 
 In Lethe's flream its nobler portions funk, 
 
 And left Futurity the wounded trunk. 
 
 Yet, like the matchlefs, mutilated frame, * 
 
 To which great Angelo bequeath'd his name, 330 
 
 This glorious ruin, in whofe ftrength we find 
 
 The fplendid vigour of the Sculptor's mind, 
 
 In the fond eye of Admiration ftill 
 
 Rivals the finifli'd forms of modern Hall. 
 
 Next, but, O LivY ! as unlike to thee, 3315 
 
 As the pent river to th' expanding fea, 
 Sarcaftic Tacitus, abrupt and dark, f 
 In moral angler forms the keen remark : 
 Searching the foul with microfcopic power. 
 To mark the latent worm that mars the flower. 340 
 
 * Ver. 329. See NOTE XVIII. 
 fVer. 337. See NOTE XIX. 
 
 D 2 His 
 
[ 2° ] 
 
 His Roman voice, in bafe degenerate days, : 
 
 Spoke to Imperial Pride in Freedom's praife ;. 
 
 And with indignant hate, feverely warm, 
 
 Shew'd to gigantic Guilt his ghaftly form ! 
 
 There are, whofe cenfures to his Style aiTign 34.5: 
 
 A fubtle fpirir, rigid and malign ; 
 
 Which magnified each monfter that he drew, 
 
 And gave to darkefl vice a deeper hue :. 
 
 Yet his ftrong pencil {hews the gentlefl heart, 
 
 In one fweet fketch of Biographic art, 350 
 
 Whofe fofteft tints, by filial love combin'd. 
 
 Form the pure image of his Father's mind. 
 
 O bleft Biography ! thy charms of yore 
 Hiftoric Truth to ftrong Affedlion bore. 
 And fofl'ring Virtue gave thee as thy dower, 355 
 
 Of both thy Parents the attractive power ; 
 To win the heart, the wavering thought to fix, 
 And fond delight with wife inftrudtion mix. 
 Firft of thy votaries, peerlefs, and alone. 
 Thy Plutarch fliines, by moral beauty known: * 360 
 
 « V, 
 
 Ver. 360. See NOTE XX. 
 JO Enclianting 
 
Enchanting Sage ! whofe living leflbns teach, 
 
 What heights of Virtue human eiForts reach. 
 
 Tho' oft thy Pen, eccentrically wild, 
 
 Ramble, in Learning's various maze beguil'd ; 
 
 Tho' in thy Style no brilliant graces fhine, 365 
 
 Nor the clear conduct of correal Deiign, 
 
 Thy every page is uniformly bright 
 
 With mild Philanthropy's diviner light. 
 
 Of gentleft manners, as of mind elate, 
 
 Thy happy Genius had the glorious fate 370 
 
 To regulate, with Wifdom's foft controul, 
 
 The ftrong ambition of a Trajan's foul. 
 
 But O ! how rare benignant Virtue fprings. 
 
 In the blank bofom of defpotic kings ! 
 
 Thou bane of liberal Knowledge ! Nature's curfe! 375: 
 Parent of Mifery ! pamper'd Vice's nurfe ! 
 Thou who canft bind, by thy petrific breath, 
 The foul of Genius in the trance of death ! 
 Unbounded Power ! beneath thy baleful fway. 
 The voice of Hift'ry finks in dumb decay. 380 
 
 Still in thy gloomy reign one martial Greek, 
 In Rome's corrupted language dares to fpeak ; 
 
 Mild 
 
I " ] 
 
 Mild MARCiiLLiNus ! free from fervile awe I * 
 
 A faithrul painter of the woes he faw ; 
 
 Forc'd by the meannefs of his age to join , 385 
 
 Adulterate Colours with his juft Defign I 
 
 The flighted Attic Mufe no more fupplies 
 
 Her pencil, dipt in Nature's pureft dies ; 
 
 And Roman Emulation, at a ftand. 
 
 Drops the blurr'd pallet from her palfy'd hand. 390 
 
 But while Monadic Night, with gathering fhades, 
 The ruin'd realm of Hiftory invades ; 
 While, pent in Constantine's ill-fated walls, 
 The mancrled form of Roman Grandeur falls ; 
 And, like a Gladiator on the fand, 395 
 
 Props his faint body with a dying hand ; 
 While favage Turks, or the fierce Sons of Thor, 
 Warrc on the Arts a wild Titanian war ; 
 While manly Knowledge hides his radiant head, 
 As Jove in terror from the Titans fled ; 400 
 
 See ! in the lovely charms of female youth, 
 A fecond Pallas p-uards the throne of Truth ! 
 
 * Vcr. 383. See NOTE XXI. 
 
 And, 
 
[ *3 ] 
 
 And, with Comnena's royal name impreft, '^ 
 
 The zone of Beauty binds her Attic ve&.i 
 
 Fair ftar of \7ifdom 1 whofe unrival'd light 405 
 
 Breaks thro* the fiormy cloud of thickeft night ; 
 
 Tho' in the purple of proud mifery nurfl, 
 
 From thofe oppreffive bands thy fpirit burft ; 
 
 Pleas'd, in thy public labours, to forget 
 
 The keen domeftic pangs of fond regret ! 410 
 
 Pleas'd to preferve, from Time's deftruAive rage, 
 
 A Father's virtues in thy faithful page ! 
 
 Too pure of foul to violate, or hide 
 
 Th''Hifl:orian's duty in the Daughter's pride ! 
 
 Tho' bafe Oblivion long with envious hand 415 
 
 Hid the fair volume which thy virtue plann'd,. 
 
 It iliines, redeem'd trom Ruin's darkeft hour, 
 
 A wond'rous monument oi Female power ; 
 
 While confcious Hift'ry, careful of thy fame, 
 
 Ranks in her Attic band thy filial name, 420 
 
 And fees, on Glory's Rage, thy graceful mien 
 
 Clofe the long triumph or her ancient fccne ■ 
 * Yen 403. See NOTE XXII. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
•rr.: 
 
EPISTLE 
 
 THE SECOND. 
 
 Sunt et alii Scriptores boni : fed nos genera deguflamus, noii 
 bibliothecas excutimus. Quintil. Lib. x. 
 
 E 
 
ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 Defe&s of the Monkijh Hijiorians — our obligations to the 
 heji of them. — Co?itrafi between two of the mof fabulous y 
 and two of the mof rational. — hidulgence due to Writers 
 of the dark Ages. — Arabians — Abulfeda — Bohaddin, 
 — Slow Progrefs of the huma7i Mind. — Chivalry. — 
 Froissart. — Revival of ancient Learning under Leo X. 
 
 ii/y/?Or/^«j/«//^/j;,MACHIAVEL,GuiCCIARDINjDAVILA, 
 
 and Father Paul — in Portugal^ Osorius — in Spain^ 
 Mariana — in Holland^ Grotius — in France^ Thuanus. 
 — Praife of Toleration. — Voltaire. — Addrefs to Eng- 
 land. — Clarendon — Burnet — Rapin — Hume — Lyt- 
 TELTON. — Reafon for not ottempti7ig to defcribe any 
 livi?2g Hifloria?t. 
 
EPISTLE II. 
 
 AS eager Foililifts with ardour pore 
 On the flat margin of the pebbled fliorc, 
 Hoping fome curious Shell, or Coral-root, 
 Will pay the labours of their long purfuit ; 
 And yield their hand the pleafure to difplay 5 
 
 Nature's neglected Gems in nice array : 
 So, Gibbon ! toils the mind, whofe labour wades 
 Thro' the dull Chronicle's monaftic fhades, 
 To pick from that drear coaft, with learned care, 
 New fliells of Knowledge, thinly fcatter'd there ; lo 
 
 Who patient hears, while cloifter'd Dullnefs tells 
 The lying legend of her murky cells j 
 Or ftrangely mingles, in her phrafe uncouth, 
 Difguiling; Lies with unimportant Truth : 
 
 E 2 How 
 
[ =8 ] 
 
 How Bidiops give (each tort'ring Fiend o'erconie) 15 
 
 X-ife to the faint, and language to the dumb : 
 
 How Tainted Kings renounce, with holy dread, * 
 
 The chafte endearments ot their marriage-bed : 
 
 How Nuns, entranc'd, to joys celeftial mount, -j- 
 
 Frantic with rapture from a facred fount : 20 
 
 How cunning Priefts their dying Lord cajole, 
 
 And take his riches to enfure his foul : 
 
 While he endows them, in his pious will. 
 
 With thofe choice gifts, the Meadow and the Mill, % 
 
 They wifely chronicle his Spirit's health, 25 
 
 And o-ive him Virtue in return for Wealth. 
 
 So Hifl'ry finks, by Hypocrites depreft. 
 
 In the coarfc habit of the cloifter drefl ; 
 
 When her weak Sons that noxious air imbibe. 
 
 Such are the tales of their monaftic tribe ! 30 
 
 But let not Pride, with blind contempt, arraign 
 Each early Writer in that humble train ! 
 No ! let the Mufe, a friend to every claim. 
 That marks the Candidate for honeft fame, 
 
 » Vcr. 17. See NOTE I. 
 + Ver. 19. See NOTE IF. 
 X Vcr. 24. See NOTE 111. 
 
[ 29 ] 
 
 Be juft to patient Worth, feverely funk, 35 
 
 And paint the merits of the modeft Monk ! 
 
 Ye purer minds ! who ftopt, with native force, 
 Blind Ignorance in his barbarian courfe ; 
 Who, in the field of Hifl'ry, dark and wafte, 
 Your fimple path with fteady patience trac'd ; 40 
 
 Bleft be your labours ! and your virtues bleft ! 
 Tho' paid with infult, and with fcorn oppreft. 
 Ye refcu'd Learning's lamp from total night. 
 And fav'd with anxious toil the tremblino- licrht. 
 In the wild ftorm of that tempefluous time, 45 
 
 When Superftition cherifn'd every crime; 
 When meaner Prielts pronounc'd with falt'ring tongue. 
 Nor knew to read the jargon which they fung ; 
 When Nobles, traiii'd like blood-hounds to deftroy. 
 In ruthlefs rapine plac'd their fivage joy ; 50 
 
 And Monarchs wanted ev'n the {kill to frame 
 The letters that compos'd their mighty name. 
 How ftrong the mind, that, try'd by ills like thefe, 
 Could write untainted with the Time's difcafe ! 
 That, free from Folly's lie, and Fraud's pretence, 55 
 Could rife to fimple Truth, and fober Senfe ! 
 
 9 Such 
 
( 30 ] 
 
 Such minds exiftcd in the darkeft hour 
 Of blind Barbarity's debafing power. 
 
 If mitred Turpin told, in wiideft drain, * 
 Of giant-feats atchiev'd by Charlemajn ; 60 
 
 Of fpears, that bloffom'd like the flowery thorn, 
 Of Roland's magic fvvord, and ivory horn, 
 Whofe found was wafted by an angel's wing, 
 In notes of anguifh, to his diftant king ; 
 Yet modcft ^ginhard, with grateful care, f 65 
 
 In purer colours, and with Nature's air, 
 Has drawn diftindly, in his clear record, 
 Ajufter portrait of this mighty Lord, 
 Whofe forceful lance, againft the Pagan hurl'd. 
 Shone the bright terror of a barbarous world. 70 
 
 Nor on his mafter does he idly fhower 
 The prieftly gifts of fupcrnat'ral Power : 
 This candid Scribe of Gratitude and Truth, 
 Corredly paints the Patron of his youth, 
 Th' imperial Savage, whofe unletter'd mind 75 
 
 Was adtive, ftrong, beneficent, and kind ; 
 
 • Vcr. 59. See NOTE IV. 
 i" Ver. 65. See NOTE V. 
 
 Who, 
 
[ 31 ] 
 
 Who, tho' he lov'd the Learned to requite, 
 Knew not that fimpleft art, the art to write. 
 
 If Britifh Geffrey fiU'd his motley page * 
 With Merlin's fpells, and Uther's amorous rage ; So 
 With fables from the field of Magic glean'd, 
 Giant and Dragon, Incubus and Fiend ; 
 Yet Life's great drama, and the Deeds of men. 
 Sage Monk of Malm'fbury ! engag'd thy pen. f 
 Nor vainly doft thou plead, in modeft phrafe, 85 
 
 Thy manly paffion for ingenuous praife : 
 'Twas thine the labours of thy Sires to clear 
 From Fidion's harden'd fpots, with toil fevere -y 
 To form, with eyes intent on public life. 
 Thy bolder fketches- of internal ftrife ; 9'-^ 
 
 And warmly celebrate, with love refin'd. 
 The rich endowments of thy Glo'ster's mind ; 
 May this, thy Praife, the Monkiih pen exempt 
 From the ungenerous blame of blind Contempt ! 
 
 Tho' Truth appear to niake thy works her care, 95 
 The lurking Prodigy ftill lingers there : 
 
 * Ver. 79. See NOTE VI. 
 tVer. 84. See NOTE VIL 
 iO 
 
 But 
 
[ 32 ] 
 
 But let not ccnfure on tKy name be thrown 
 
 For errors, fpringing from thy age alone ! 
 
 Shame on the Critic ! who, with idle fcorn, 
 
 Depreciates Authors, in dark periods born, lOO 
 
 Who chance to want, irregularly bright, 
 
 That equal Knowledge, and that fteadier Light, 
 
 Which Learning, in its full meridian power, 
 
 Has richly lavifli'd on his happier hour ! 
 
 Where martial tribes a warlike Defpot own, 105 
 
 And civil Freedom is a blifs unknown, 
 Ln cafual iits of intermitted ftrife. 
 The Arts are fummon'd into tranlient life : 
 The royal mind fupplies the quick'ning ray, 
 And Science feems the infe(5t of a day. no 
 
 Mark the fierce fons of many a flivage horde, 
 That from her fertile wilds Arabia pour'd ! 
 Behold them, as they range the fubject earth, 
 Now fcifle Knowledge, and now give it birth ! 
 In Syrian Harrjah, lo ! a Prince prefides, 115 
 
 Wi of. faithful hand the pen of Hi ft' ry guides: 
 Mild Ap.ui.Fr.DA ! whoic rich merits claim * 
 No fin'j^lc wreath of literary Fame : 
 
 * Vcr. 11;. See NOTE VIII. 
 
 The 
 
[ 33 ] 
 
 The regions he defcrib'd, his talents boaft, 
 
 And Eaftern Poets rank him in their hoft. 120 
 
 In different climes behold an Arab Lord 
 
 Crufh the fair Art his brutal foul abhorr'd ! 
 
 And with that vidlim's blood his fabre ftain, * 
 
 Who dar'd to write the annals of his reign ! 
 
 Yet in the land, that faw this favage deed, 125 
 
 Arabian Science gain'd her richeft meed : 
 
 There Corduba, in hours of happier fate, f 
 
 Sublimely rofe in academic flate, 
 
 Alike for Gallantry and Learning known, 
 
 Afylum of the Arts, and Valour's throne ! J 30 
 
 Ye turrets crefcent-crown'd ! the prey of Time 1 
 
 Brio-ht fcenes ! that ecchoed with Arabian rhyme ; 
 
 Ere yet Oblivion's hateful curtain falls 
 
 On the faint fplendor of your proftrate walls. 
 
 May fome juft hand your hidden wealth explore, 135 
 
 The laurel to your lettcr'd Chiefs reftore. 
 
 To all your pomp a new exiftence give, 
 
 A.nd bid your glories in defcription live 1 
 
 * Ver. 123. See NOTE IX. 
 tVer. 127. See NOTE X. 
 
 F The 
 
C 34 ] 
 
 The daring Moor, tho' robb'd of Freedom's rays, 
 Glow'd with the noble avarice of praife ; 14.® 
 
 Keen as an Attic mind in Fame's purfuit, 
 He fliook, from Labour's tree, that golden fruit. 
 
 Of all the heroes of the Moflem line, 
 Triumphant Saladin 1 'twas chiefly thine 
 To cherifli, in thy fcenes of bloody ftrife, 145 
 
 A juft Encomiaft of thy fplendid life ; 
 Thy warm Bohaddin, with that generous zeal, * 
 Which no bafe fons of Adulation feel. 
 At large delineates, with hiftoric Art, 
 Thy bold, intrepid mind, thy gentle heart. 15a 
 
 Tho' in his portrait, which reveals the Friend, 
 The tints of Truth with thofe of Fondnefs blend. 
 The pidure, finifh'd on no fervile plan. 
 Gives to our view the hero, and the man. 
 Afflidion fpeaks, all abjed: aims above ; 135 
 
 The tender Servant in the Scribe we love. 
 Who fhrinks, difabled by the gufhing tear, 
 From his laft duty to a Lord fo dear. 
 
 * V, 
 
 Ver. 147. Sec NOTE XI. 
 
 Yot, 
 
I 35 1 
 
 Yet, tho' his bofom, touch'd with manly grie^ 
 
 Shar'd the mild virtue of his feeling Chief, i6o 
 
 His page betrays the bigot of the Eaft, 
 
 And lavifli execrations mark the Prieft. 
 In all its various paths, the human Mind 
 
 Feels the firft efforts of its ftrength confin'd ; 
 
 And in the field, where Hiftory's laurels grow, 165 
 
 Winds its long march with lingering ftep and flow : 
 
 Like Fruit, whofe tafte to fweet luxuriance runs 
 
 By conftant fuccour from autumnal funs, 
 
 This lovely Science ripens by degrees. 
 
 And late is faftiion'd into graceful eafe» 170 
 
 In thofe enlivening days, when Europe rofe 
 From the long preiTure of lethargic woes ; 
 When the Provencal lyre, with rofes dreft, 
 By ardent Love's extatic fingers preft, 
 Wak'd into life the Genius of the Weft; ^75j 
 
 When Chivalry, her banners all unfurl'd, 
 Fiird with heroic fire the fplendid world ; 
 In high-plum'd grandeur held her gorgeous reign, 
 And rank'd each brilliant Virtue in her train ; 
 When fhe imparted, by her magic glove, 180 
 
 To Honour ftrength, and purity to Love ; 
 
 F 2 New- 
 
I 36 ] 
 
 New-moiilded Nature on her nobleft plan, 
 
 And gave frefh finews to the foul of man : 
 
 When the chief model of her forming hand, 
 
 Our fable Edward, on the Gallic ftrand, 185 
 
 Difplay'd that fpirit which her laws beftow, 
 
 And fhone the idol of his captive foe : 
 
 Unbleft with Arts, th' unletter'd age could yield 
 
 No fkilful hand, to paint from Glory's field 
 
 Scenes, that Humanity with pride muft hear, 190 
 
 And Admiration honour with a tear. 
 
 Yet Courtefy, with generous Valour joinM, 
 Fair Twins of Chivalry ! rejoic'd to find 
 A faithful Chronicler in plain Froissart ; * 
 More rich in honefty than void of art. 195 
 
 As the young Peafant, led by fpirits keen 
 To fome great city's gay and gorgeous fcene, 
 Returning, with increafe of proud delight, 
 Dwells on the various fplendor of the fight ; 
 And gives his tale, tho' told in terms uncouth, 200 
 
 The charm of Nature, and the force of Truth, 
 Tho' rude engaging j fuch thy fimplc page 
 
 Seems, O Froissart ! to this enlighten'd age. 
 
 * Ver. 194. See NOTE XII. 
 
 Proud 
 
'[ 37 ] 
 
 Proud of their fpirit, in thy writings ihevvn, 
 
 Fair Faith and Honour mark thee for their own ; 205 
 
 Tho' oft the dupe of thofe delufive times, 
 
 Thy Genius, fofter'd with romantic rhymes, 
 
 Appears to play the legendary Bard, 
 
 And trefpafs on the Truth it meant to guard. 
 
 Still fhall thy Name, with lafting glory, ftand 210 
 
 High on the lift of that advent'rous band. 
 
 Who, bidding Hiftory fpeak a modern Tongue, 
 
 From her cramp'd hand the MonkiOi fetters fluno-; 
 
 While yet deprtfs'd in Gothic night £he lay, 
 
 Nor faw th' a^^proaching dawn of Attic day. 215 
 
 On the bieft banks of Tiber's honour'd ftream 
 Shone the firft glance of that reviving beam ; 
 Enlighten'd Pontiffs, on the frgnal fpot 
 Where Science was profcrib'd, and Senfe forgot ; 
 Bade Learning ftart from out her mould'ring tomb, 220 
 And taught new laurels on her brow to bloom ; 
 Their Magic voice invok'd all Arts, and all 
 Sprung into glory at the potent call. 
 
 As in Arabia's wafte, where Horror rcio-ns. 
 Gigantic tyrant of the burning plains !. 225 
 
 The 
 
[ 38 ] 
 
 The glorious bounty of fome Royal mind, 
 
 By Heaven, infpir'd, and friend to human kind, 
 
 Bids the rich Strudure of refrelnment rife, 
 
 To chear the Traveller's defpairing eyes ; 
 
 Who fees with rapture the new fountains burft, 23Q 
 
 And, as he flakes his foul-fubduing thirft, 
 
 Blcffes the hand which all his pains beguil'd. 
 
 And rais'd an Eden in the dreary wild : 
 
 Such praifes, Leo ! to thy name are due, 
 
 From all who Learning's cultur'd field review, 235 
 
 And to its Fountain, in thy liberal heart, 
 
 Trace the diffuiive Stream of modern Art. 
 
 'Twas not thy praife to animate alone 
 
 The fpeaking Canvafs, and the breathing Stona, 
 
 Or tides of Bounty round Parnaflus roll, 240 
 
 To quicken Genius in the Poet's foul ; 
 
 Thy Favour, like the Sun's prolific ray, 
 
 Brought the keen Scribe of Florence into Day ; * 
 
 Whofe fubtle Wit difcharg'd a dubious fliaft. 
 
 At once the Friend and Foe of Kingly Craft. 245 
 
 Ver. 243. Sec NOTE XIII, 
 
 Tho', 
 
[ 39 ] 
 
 Tho', in his maze of Politics perplext, 
 Great Names have differ'd on that doubtful text ; 
 Here crovvn'd with praife, as true to Virtue's fide, 
 There view'd with horror, as th' Aflaffin's guide 3 
 High in a purer fphere, he fhines afar, 253 
 
 And Hift'ry hails him as her Morning-ftar. 
 
 Nor lefsj O Leo ! was it thine to raife 
 The great Hiftoric Chief of modern days, * 
 The folemn Guicciardin, whofe pen fevere, 
 Unfway'd by favour, nor reftrain'd by fear, 255 
 
 Mark'd in his clofe of life, with keen difdain, 
 Each fatal blemiih in thy motley reign ; 
 Who, like Olorus' Son, of fpirit chafte, 
 And form'd to martial toils, minutely trac'd 
 The woes he faw his bleeding country bear, 260 
 
 And wars, in which he claim'd no trivial fhare. 
 
 With equal wreaths let Davila be crown'd, f 
 Alike in letters and in arms renown'd ! 
 Who, from his country driv'n by dire mifchance, 
 Plungxl in the civil broils of bleeding France, 265 
 
 » Vcr. 253. See NOTE XIV. 
 t Ver. 262. See NOTE XV. 
 
 Maintaining 
 
[; 40 3 
 
 Maintaining flill, in Party's raging fea, 
 
 His judgment fteady, and his fpirit free,; 
 
 Save when the lierce religion of his Sires 
 
 DrownM the foft zeal Humanity infpires : 
 
 Who boldly wrote, with fuch a faithful hand, 270 
 
 The tragic ftory of that foreign land. 
 
 The hoary Gallic Chief, whofe tranquil age 
 
 Liften'd with joy to his recording page. 
 
 Tracing the fcenes familiar to his youth. 
 
 Gave his ftrong fandion to th' Hiftorian's truth. 275 
 
 Oh Italy ! tho' drench'd with civil blood, 
 Tho' drown'd in Bigotry's foul-quenching flood, 
 Hifloric Genius, in thy troubles nurft, 
 Ev'n from the darknefs of the Convent burft, 
 Venice may boaft eternal Honour, won 280 
 
 By the bright labours of her dauntlefs Son, 
 Whofe hand the curtains of the Conclave drew, 
 And gave each prieftly art to public view. 
 
 Sarpi, bleft name! from every foible clear, * 
 Not more to Science than to Virtue dear. 28c 
 
 * Ver. 284. See N O T E XVI. 
 
 Thy 
 
[ 41 ] 
 
 Thy pen, thy life, of equal praife fecure ! 
 
 Both wifely bold, and both fublimely pure ! 
 
 That Freedom bids me on thy merits dwell, 
 
 Whofe radiant form illum'd thy letter'd cell ; 
 
 Who to thy hand the nobleft talk affign'd, 290 
 
 That earth can offer to a heavenly mind : 
 
 With Reafon's arms to guard invaded laws. 
 
 And guide the pen of Truth in Freedom's caufe. 
 
 Too firm of heart at Danger's cry to ftoop, 
 
 Nor Lucre's flave, nor vain Ambition's dupe, 295 
 
 Thro' length of days invariably the fame. 
 
 Thy Country's liberty thy conftant aim ! 
 
 For this thy fpirit dar'd th' AflafTrn's knife, 
 
 That with repeated guilt purfu'd thy life ; 
 
 For this thy fervent and unweary'd care 300 
 
 Form'd, ev'n in death, thy patriotic prayer, 
 
 And, while his fhadows on thine eye-lids hung, 
 
 " Be it immortal !" trembled on thy tongue. 
 
 'But not reftricled, by the partial Fates, 
 To the bright clufter of Italian States, 305 
 
 The light of Learning, and of liberal Tafte, 
 Diffufely llione o'er Europe's Gothic wafte. 
 
 G On 
 
[ 42 ] 
 
 On Tagus' fliore, from whofe admiring ftrand 
 Great Gam a fail'd, when his advcnt'rous hand 
 The flag of glorious enterprize unfurl'd, 310 
 
 To purchafe with his toils the Eaftern world, 
 The clear Osorius, in his claffic phrafc, * 
 Portray' d the Heroes of thofe happier days, 
 When Lufitania, once a mighty name, 
 Outftripp'd each rival in the chace of Fame : 315 
 
 Mild and majeftic, her Hiftorian's page 
 Shares in the glory of her brightefl: age. 
 Iberia's Genius bids jufh Fame allow 
 As bright a wreath to Mariana's brow : f 
 Skill'd to illuminate the diftant fcene, 320 
 
 In didion graceful, and of fpirit keen. 
 His labour, by his country's love endear'd, 
 The gloomy chaos of her Story clear'd. 
 He firft afpir'd its fcatter'd parts to clafs,. 
 And bring to jufter form the mighty mafs ;, 325 
 
 As the nice hand of Geographic art 
 Draws the vaft globe on a contraded chart, 
 
 * Ver. 312. See NOTE XVII. 
 t Ver. 319. See NOTE XVIII.. 
 
 Where 
 
t 43 ] 
 
 Where Truth iminjur'd fees, with ghid furprize, 
 
 Her fhape flill perfedl, tho' of fmaller fize. 
 
 Exalted Mind ! who felt the People's right, 330 
 
 In climes, where fouls are crufli'd by Kingly might ; 
 
 And dar'd, unaw'd before a tyrant's throne, 
 
 To make the fanftity of Freedom known ! 
 
 But (hort, O Genius ! is thy tranfient hour, 
 In the dark regions of defpotic Power. 335 
 
 As the faint ftruggle of the folar beam. 
 When vapours intercept the golden ftream. 
 Pouring thro' parted clouds a glancing fire, 
 Plays, in fhort triumph, on fome glittering fpire ; 
 But while the eye admires the partial ray, 340 
 
 The pale and watery luftre melts away : 
 Thus gleams of literary fplendor play'd, 
 And thus on Spain's o'erclouded realm decay'd : 
 While Holland, Liberty's immediate care, 
 Defy'd the prefTure of Boeotian air, 345 
 
 Burft the oppreffive gloom around her hurl'd, 
 And drew attention from th' admiring world. 
 When, by long toils, her dauntlefs warriors broke 
 Their Spanifli bonds, and fpurn'd a bloody yoke, 
 
 G 2 In 
 
[ 4+ ] 
 
 In the bright moments of that blefled hour, 350 
 
 With talents equal to his Country's power, 
 
 The fervid Grotius to her glory rais'd * 
 
 A column, fplendid as the feats he prais'd ; 
 
 Stifled his juft refentment, to beftow 
 
 A clear encomium on his private foe, 355 
 
 And honour'd in the Chief, who fav'd the State, 
 
 The rafli oppreflbr, who provok'd his hate. 
 
 Thou all-accomplifli'd Youth ! whofe early page 
 Charm'd the aftonilli'd eye of learned Age, 
 Let admiration of thy worth infpire 360 
 
 Such liberal praife, as echoed from thy lyre. 
 When Honour crown'd, by thy poetic hand, 
 The far-fam'd Scholar of thy native land ! 
 Learning ne'er faw, in all her numerous race, 
 A fon more worthy of her fond embrace : 365 
 
 Thy mind expanded to her empire's bound ; 
 There every Science a jEirm ftation found ; 
 There gay and grave, in rare aficmblage, flione ;, 
 A wonder, equall'd by thy heart alone ! 
 
 *Ver. 352. See NOTE XIX. 
 
 For,. 
 
[ +5 J 
 
 For, by enlighten'd Faith's preiiding care, 370 
 
 The rival Virtues were all marfliaird there. 
 
 Worth fo tranfcendent, Heaven with fmiles furvey'd, 
 
 And with the choiceft of its gifts repaid ; 
 
 Gave thee a Partner of thy chequer'd fate, 
 
 Pure as thy Genius, and as firmly great ; 375 
 
 With equal love, with equal courage warm, 
 
 A kindred Spirit in a fofter form : 
 
 Thy dear Maria fhar'd thy captive hour, 
 
 She brav'd the vengeance of offended power; 
 
 And, with the fondnefs of Admetus' wife, 380 
 
 Reftor'd thy freedom at the rifk of life : 
 
 Her days were guarded by the Powers above ; 
 
 And thy juft lyre immortaliz'd her love. 
 
 Ye peerlefs Couple ! tho' with wrongs oppreft, 
 
 In virtue happy, and by union bleft, 385 
 
 From Fame's fond lips your blended praife {hall flow, 
 
 While Excellence can find a friend below ; 
 
 While Love's chafte fires thro' human bofoms roll ; 
 
 While Liberty and Truth delight the foul! 
 
 Your names, applauded by the fpacious earth, 390 
 
 Still dignify the land that boafls your birth ; 
 
 3 Tho' 
 
t 46 ] 
 
 Tho' her tame Genius, Wealth's more willing flave, 
 Soon loft that mental fire, which Freedom gave, 
 Whofe brilliant flame in fickly languor dies, 
 Where'er the damps of Avarice arife : 395 
 
 Hence, tho' lefs free, yet true to Honour's aim, 
 France is more opulent in letter'd fame. 
 
 There, in the dignity of virtuous Pride, 
 Thro' painful fcenes of public fervice try'd, 
 
 And keenly confcious of his Country's woes, 4C0 
 
 The liberal fplrit of Thuanus rofe : * 
 
 O'er Earth's wide ftage a curious eye he caft, 
 
 And caught the living pageant as it paft : 
 
 With patriot care moft eager to advance 
 
 The rights of Nature, and the weal of France ! 405 
 
 His language noble, as his temper clear 
 
 From Faction's rage, and Superftition's fear I 
 
 In Wealth laborious ! amid Wrongs fedate ! 
 
 His Virtue lovely, as his Genius great ! 
 
 Ting'd with fome marks, that from his climate fpring, 
 
 He priz'd his Country, but ador'd his King; 411 
 
 • Ver. 401. See NOTE XX. 
 
 Yet 
 
[ 47 ] 
 
 Yet with a zeal from ilavifli awe refin'd. 
 
 Shone the clear model of a Gallic mind. 
 
 Thou friend of Science ! 'twas thy fignal praife, 
 
 A juft memorial of her Sons to raife ; 41^5 
 
 To blazon firft, on Hift'ry's brighter leaf, 
 
 The laurel'd Writer with the laurel'd Chief! 
 
 But O ! pure Spirit ! what a fate was thine ! 
 How Truth and Reafon at thy wrongs repine ! 
 How blame thy King, tho' rob'd in Honour's ray, 420 
 Who left thy Fame to fubtle Priefts a prey. 
 And tamely faw their murky wiles o'er whelm 
 Thy works, the light of his reviving realm ! 
 
 Tho' Pontiffs execrate, and Kings betray, 
 Let not this fate your generous warmth allay, 425; 
 
 Ye kindred Worthies ! who ftill dare to wield 
 Reafon's keen fword, and Toleration's (hield, 
 In climes where Perfecution's iron mace 
 Is rais'd to maiTacre the human race !. 
 The heart of Nature will your virtue feel, 430 
 
 And her immortal voice reward your zeal :. 
 Firft in her praife her fearlefs champions live, 
 Crown'd with the nobleit palms that earth can give. 
 
 Firm 
 
[ 48 ] 
 
 Firm in this band, who to her aid advance, 
 
 And high amid th' Hiftoric fons of France, 435 
 
 Delighted Nature favv, with partial care. 
 
 The lively vigour of the gay Voltaire ; 
 
 And fondly gave him, with Anacreon's fire, 
 
 To throw the hand of Age acrofs the lyre : 
 
 But mute that vary'd voice, which pleas'd fo long! 440 
 
 Th' Hiftorian's tale is clos'd, the Poet's fong ! 
 
 Within the narrow tomb behold him lie, 
 
 Who fill'd fo large a fpace in Learning's eye ! 
 
 Thou Mind unweary'd ! thy long toils are o'er ; 
 
 Cenfure and Praife can touch thy ear no more : 445 
 
 Still let me breathe with juft regret thy name. 
 
 Lament thy foibles, and thy powers proclaim ! 
 
 On the wide fea of Letters 'twas thy boaft 
 
 To croud each fail, and touch at every coaft : 
 
 From that rich deep how often haft thou brought 450 
 
 The pure and precious pearls of fplendid Thought ! 
 
 How didft thou triumph on that fubjed-tide. 
 
 Till Vanity's wild guft, and ftormy Pride, 
 
 Drove thy ftrong bark, in evil hour, to fplit 
 
 L^pon the fatal rock of impious Wit ! 455 
 
 But 
 
[ 49 ] 
 
 But be thy fallings cover'd by thy tomb ! 
 And guardian laurels o'er thy aflies bloom ! 
 
 From the long annals of the world thy art, 
 With chemic procefs, drew the richer part j 
 To Hift'ry gave a philofophic air, 460 
 
 And made the intereft of mankind her care ; 
 Pleas'd her grave brow with garlands to adorn, 
 And from the rofe of Knowledge ftrip the thorn. 
 
 Thy lively Eloquence, in profe, in verfe, 
 Still keenly bright, and elegantly terfe, 465 
 
 Flames with bold fpirit ; yet is idly rafli : 
 Thy promis'd light is oft a dazzling flarti ; 
 Thy Wifdom verges to farcaftic fport, 
 Satire thy joy ! and ridicule th.j fort I 
 But the gay Genius of the Gallic foil, 470 
 
 Shrinking from folemn tafks of ferious toil. 
 Thro' every fcene his playful air maintains. 
 And in the light Memoir unrival'd reigns. 
 Thy Wits, O France ! (as e'en thy Critics own) * 
 Support not Hiftory's majeftic tone; 4'7£ 
 
 * Vcr, 474. See NOTE XXI. 
 
 H They, 
 
[ 50 ] 
 
 They, like thy Soldiers, want, in feats of length, 
 The perfcvering foul of Britifh flrength. 
 
 Hail to thee, Britain ! hail ! delightful land ! 
 I fpring with filial joy to reach thy ftrand : 
 And thou ! bleft nouriflier of Souls, fublime 4S& 
 
 As e'er immortaliz'd their native clime, 
 Rich in Poetic treafures, yet excufe 
 The trivial offering of an humble Mufe,. 
 Who pants to add, with fears by love overcome, 
 Her mite of Glory to thy countlefs fum ! 4S5 
 
 With vary'd colours, of the richeft die,. 
 Fame's brilliant banners o'er thy Offspring fly ; 
 In native Vigour bold, by Freedom led, 
 No path of Honour have they failM to tread r 
 But while they wifely plan, and bravely dare, 490, 
 
 Their own atchievements are their lateft care. 
 
 Tho' Camden, rich in Learning's various ftore,. 
 
 Sought in Tradition's mine Truth's genuine ore. 
 
 The wafte of Hift'ry lay in lifelefs fhade, 
 
 Tho' Rawleigh's piercing eye that world furvey'd. 495 
 
 Tho' mightier Names there cafi: a cafual glance, 
 
 They feem'd to faunter round the field by chance, 
 
 Till 
 
[ SI ] 
 
 Till Clarendon arofe, and in the hour 
 
 When civil Difcord wak'd each mental Power, 
 
 With brave defire to reach this diftant Goal, 500 
 
 Strain'd all the vigour of his manly foul. 
 
 Nor Truth, nor Freedom's injur'd Powers, allow 
 
 A wreath unfpotted to his haughty brow : 
 
 Friendfhip's firm fpirit ftill his fame exalts, 
 
 With fweet atonement for his lefTer faults. 505 
 
 His Pomp of Phrafe, his Period of a mile, 
 
 And all the maze of his bewilder'd Style, 
 
 Illum'd by Warmth of Heart, no more offend : 
 
 What cannot Tafte forgive, in Falkland's friend ? 
 
 Nor flow his praifes from this Angle fource ; 510 
 
 One province of his art difplays his force : 
 
 His Portraits boafl:, with features ftrongly like. 
 
 The foft precifion of the clear Vandyke : 
 
 Tho', like the Painter, his faint talents yield. 
 
 And fink embarrafs'd in the Epic field. 515 
 
 Yet fhall his labours long adorn our Ille, 
 
 Like the proud glories of fome Gothic pile : 
 
 They, tho' conftrudled by a Bigot's hand. 
 
 Nor nicely finifli'd, nor corredly plan'd, 
 
 H 2 With 
 
[ 52 ] 
 
 With folemu Majefty, and pious Gloom, 520 
 
 An awful influence o'er the mind afliime ; 
 And from the alien eyes of every Sed 
 Attract obfcrvance, and command refpeft. 
 
 In following years, when thy great name, Nassau \ 
 Stampt the bleft deed of Liberty and Law ; 525 
 
 When clear, and guiltlefs of Oppreflion's rage, 
 There rofe in Britain an Auguftan age. 
 And clufler'd Wits, by emulation bright, 
 Diffus'd o'er Anna's reign their mental light ; 
 That Conftellation feem'd, tho' ftrong its flame, 530 
 To want the fplendor of Hiftoric fame : 
 Yet Burnet's page may lafl:ing glory hope, 
 Howe'er infulted by the fpleen of Pope. 
 Tho' his rough Language hafte and warmth denote. 
 With ardent Honcfty of Soul he wrote ; 535 
 
 Tho' critic cenfures on his work may fliower, 
 Like Faith, his Freedom has a faving power. 
 
 Nor flialt thou want, Rapin ! thy well-earn'd praife ; 
 The fage Polybius thou of modern days ! 
 Thy Sword, thy Pen, have both thy name endear'd ; 54.0 
 This join'd our i\rms, and that our Story clear'd : 
 
 Thy 
 
[ 53 ] 
 
 Thy foreign hand difcharg'd th' Hiflorian's truft, 
 
 Unfway'd by Party, and to Freedom juft. 
 
 To lettered Fame we own thy fair pretence, 
 
 From patient Labour, and from candid Senfe. 545 
 
 Yet Public Favour, ever hard to fix. 
 
 Flew from thy page, as heavy and prolix. 
 
 For K>on, emerging from the Sophifts' fchool, 
 
 With Spirit eager, yet with Judgment cool, 
 
 With fubtle fkill to fteal upon applaufe, 550 
 
 And give falfe vigour to the weaker caufe ; 
 
 To paint a fpecious fcene with niceft art, 
 
 Retouch the whole, and varnifli every part ; 
 
 Graceful in Style, in Argument acute ; 
 
 MaPcer of every trick in keen Difpute ! rrr 
 
 With thefe ftrong powers to form a winning tale, 
 
 And hide Deceit in Moderation's veil. 
 
 High on the pinacle of Falhion plac'd, 
 
 Hume fhone the idol of Hiiloric Tafte. 
 
 Already, pierc'd by Freedom's fearching rays, cQo 
 
 The waxen fabric of his fame decays. - — 
 
 Think not, keen Spirit ! that thefe hands prefume 
 
 To tear each, leaf of laurel from thy, tomb 1 
 
 Thefe 
 
[ 5+ ] 
 
 Thefe hands ! which, if a heart of human frame 
 
 Could ftoop to harbour that ungenerous aim, 565 
 
 Would fhield thy Grave, and give, with guardian care, 
 
 Each type of Eloquence to flourifli there ! 
 
 But Public Love commands the painful tafk. 
 
 From the pretended Sage to ftrip the mafk, 
 
 When his falfe tongue, averfe to Freedom's caufe, 570 
 
 Profanes the fpirit of her antient laws. 
 
 As Afiia's foothing opiate Drugs, by ftealth, 
 
 Shake every flacken'd nerve, and fap the health ; 
 
 Thy Writings thus, with noxious charms refin'd, 
 
 Seeming to foothe its ills, unnerve the Mind. 575 
 
 While the keen cunning of thy hand pretends 
 
 To ftrike alone at Party's abjedl ends. 
 
 Our hearts more free from Fadtion's Weeds we feel, 
 
 But they have loft the Flower of Patriot Zeal. 
 
 Wild as thy feeble Metaphyfic page, 580 
 
 Thy Hift'ry rambles into Sceptic rage ; 
 
 Whofe giddy and fantaftic dreams abufe 
 
 A Hampden's Virtue, and a Shakespear's Mufe. 
 
 With purer Spirit, free from Party ftrife. 
 To foothe his evening hour of honour'd life, 585 
 
 3 See 
 
[ 55 ] 
 
 See candid Lyttelton at length unfold 
 
 The deeds of Liberty in days of old ! 
 
 Fond of the theme, and narrative with age, 
 
 He winds the lengthen'd tale thro' many a page ; 
 
 But there the beams of Patriot Virtue fhine ; 590 
 
 There Truth and Freedom fandify the line, 
 
 And laurels, due to Civil Wifdom, fhield 
 
 This noble Ncftor of th' Hifioric field. 
 
 The living Names, who there difplay their power, 
 And give its glory to the prefent hour, ' ' 595 
 
 I pafs with mute regard ; in fear to fail, 
 Weighing their worth in a fufpeded fcale : 
 Thy right, Pofterity ! I facred hold. 
 To fix the fiamp on literary Gold ; 
 
 Bleft ! if this lighter Ore, which I prepare 6co 
 
 For thy fupreme AfTay, with anxious care. 
 Thy current fanftion unimpeach'd enjoy, ' 
 As only tindur'd with a flight alloy !. 
 
 JEND OF THE SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
EPISTLE 
 
 THE THIRD. 
 
 Ventum eft ad partem operis deftinati longe graviffimam - - - - nunc 
 quoque, licet major quam unquam moles premat, tamen profpi- 
 cienti finem mihi conftitutum eft vel deficere potius, quam dcf- 
 
 perare noftra temeritas etiani mores ei conabitur dare, et 
 
 affignabit officia. Quintil. Lib. xii. 
 
ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE THIRD EPISTLE. 
 
 The four ces of the chief defeSis in Hifory — Vanity^ natio7tat 
 
 afid private — Flattery^ and her various arts — Party- 
 
 fpirit, Superftition^ and falfe Philofophy. — CharaSier 
 
 of the accomplifj d Hiftorian. — The haws of Hifioiy — 
 
 Style — Importance of the fubjeSi — Failure o/"Knolles 
 
 from a fubjcEi ill chofen — Danger of dwelling on the 
 
 difant and minute parts of a fuhjeSi really inter efling — 
 
 Failure f?/* Milton in this particular. — The worfl defeSi 
 
 of an Hiflorian^ afyfiem ofTyranjiy — Jnflance /« Br ad v.— ' 
 
 Want ofaGeneralHiflory ofE7igland: Wijhfor its accom- 
 
 plifj?nent. — life and Delight of other Hifories — of Rome, 
 
 Labour of the Hifiorian — Cavils againfl him. — Concer?i 
 
 for Gibbon's irreligious fpirit — The idle cenfure of his 
 
 pajfon for Fame — Defc?ice of that pajjion, — Conclufton, 
 
EPISTLE III. 
 
 SAY thou ! whofe eye has, like the Lynx's beam, 
 Pierc'd the deep windings of this mazy ftream. 
 Say, from what fource the various Poifons glide, 
 That darken Hiftory's difcolour'd tide ; 
 Whofe purer waters to the mind difpenfe 5 
 
 The wealth of Virtue, and the fruits of Senfe ! 
 Thefe Poifons flow, colledive and apart, 
 From Public Vanity, and Private Art. 
 At firfl Delufion built her fafe retreat 
 On the broad bafe of National Conceit : 10 
 
 Nations, like Men, in Flattery confide, 
 The flaves of Fancy, and the dupes of Pride. 
 Each petty region of the peopled earth, 
 Howe'er debas'd by intelledual dearth, 
 
 I 2 Still 
 
[ (>o ] 
 
 Stiil proudly boaftcd of her claiins to fliare 15 
 
 Tlie liclied portion of cclcftial care : 
 
 VoT her flie f.iw the rival Gods engage, 
 
 And Heaven convuls'd with elemental rage. 
 
 To her the thunder's roar, the lightning's fire, 
 
 Confirm'd their favour, or denounc'd their ire. 20 
 
 To feize this foible," daring Hift'ry threw 
 
 Illufive terrors o'er each fcene One drew ; 
 
 Nor would her fpirit, in the heat of youth. 
 
 Watch, with a Veflal's care, the lamp of Truth ; 
 
 But, wildly mounting in a Witch's form, 25 
 
 Her voice delighted to condenfe the ftorm ; 
 
 With fhovvers of blood th' af^oniOi'd earth to drench,. 
 
 The frame of Nature from its bafe to wrench ; 
 
 In Horror's veil involve her plain events, 
 
 And fhake th' affrighted world with dire portents. * 3a 
 
 Still fofter arts her fubtle fpirit try'd. 
 
 To win the eafy faith of Public Pride : 
 
 She told what Powers, in times of early date, 
 
 Gave confecration to the infant State ; 
 
 * Ver. 30. See NOTE I. 
 
 Mark'd 
 
[ 6. ] 
 
 Mark'd the bleft fpot by facred Founders trod, 35 
 
 And all th' atchievements of the guardian God. 
 
 Thus while, like Fame, flie refts upon the land, 
 
 Her figure grows j her magic limbs expand ; 
 
 Her tow'ring head, to high Olympus toft, 
 
 Pierces the fky, and in that blaze is loft. 40 
 
 Yet bold Philofophy at length deftroy'd 
 The brilliant phantoms of th' Hiftoric void ; 
 Her fcrutinizing eye, whofe fearch fevere 
 Rivals the prefTure of Ithuriel's fpear. 
 Permits no fraudful femblance to efcape, 45 
 
 But turns each Marvel to its real ftiape. 
 The blazing meteors fall from Hift'ry's fphere j 
 Her darling Demi-gods no more appear ; 
 No more the Nations, with heroic joy, 
 Boaft their defcent from Heaven-defcended Troy : 50 
 On Francio now the Gallic page is mute, * 
 And Britifti Story drops the name of Brute. 
 What other failings from this fountain ftow'dj 
 Ill-meafur'd fame on martial feats beftow'd, 
 
 * Ver. 51. See NOTE II, 
 
 And 
 
[ 62 ] 
 
 And heaps, enlarg'd to mountains of the flain, 55 
 
 The miracles of valour, ftill remain. 
 But of all faults, that injured Truth may blame, 
 Thofc proud miftakes the firft indulgence claim. 
 Where Public Zeal the ardent Pen betrays, 
 And Patriot PafTions fvvell the partial praife. 60 
 
 Ev'n private Vanity may pardon find, 
 When built on Worth, and with InftrujElion join'd: 
 In Britifli Annalifts more rarely found. 
 This venial foible fprings on foreign ground ; 
 'Tis theirs, who fcribble near the Seine or Loire, 65 
 
 Thofe lively Heroes of the light Memoir ! 
 jDefe<9:s more hateful to ingenuous eyes. 
 In Adulation's fervile arts arife : 
 Mean Child of Int'reft ! as her Parent bafe ! 
 Her charms Deformity ! her wealth Difgrace ! 70 
 
 Dimm'd by her breath, the light of Learning fades ; 
 Her breath the wifcfi; of mankind degrades, 
 And Bacon's felf, for mental glory born, * 
 Meets, as her ilave, our pity, or our fcorn. 
 
 « Ver. 72' See NOTE III. 
 
 Unhappy 
 
C 63 ] 
 
 Unhappy Genius ! in whofe vvond'rous mind 75 
 
 The fordid Reptile and the Seraph join'd ; 
 
 Now traverfinpr the world on Wifdom's wincrs. 
 
 Now bafely crouching to the laft of Kings : 
 
 Thy fault, which Freedom with regret furveysy 
 
 This ufeful Truth, in ftrongeft light, difplays ; 80 
 
 That not fufficient are thofe fhining parts, 
 
 Which fhcd new radiance o'er concenter'd arts j 
 
 To reach with glory the Hiftoric goal 
 
 Demands a firm, an independent foul. 
 
 An eagle-eye, that with undazzled gaze 85 
 
 Can look on Majefty's meridian blaze. 
 
 But Adulation, in the worft of times,. 
 
 Throws her broad mantle o'er imperial criaies -, 
 
 In Hifl'ry's field, her abjed: toils delight 
 
 To {hut the fcenes of Nature from our fight, go 
 
 Each human Virtue in one mafs to flin"-. 
 
 And of that mountain make the ftatue of a Kino-. ^ 
 
 Yet oft her labours, flighted or abhorr'd, 
 
 Receive in prefent fcorn their jufl: reward ; 
 
 * T", 
 
 Ver. 92. See NOTE IV. 
 
 Scorn 
 
C 6+ ] 
 
 Scorn from that Idol, at wliofe feet Hie lays 95 
 
 The fordid offering of her venal praife. 
 
 As crown'd with Indian laurels, nobly won, * 
 His conqueft ended, Philip's warlike Son 
 Sail'd down th' Hydafpes in a voyage of fport, 
 The chief Hiftorian of his fumptuous court 100 
 
 Read his defcription of the fingle iight, 
 Where Porus yielded to young Amnion's might ; 
 And, like a Scribe in courtly arts adroit, 
 Moft largely magnity'd his Lord's exploit 1 
 Tho' ever on the ftretch to Glory's goal, 105 
 
 Fame the lirfl paflion of his fiery foul I 
 Fierce from his feat the indignant Hero fprung, 
 And o'er the vciTcl's fide the volume flung ; 
 Then, as he fiw the fawning Scribler flirink, 
 ** Thus fliould the Author with his Writing fink, no 
 " Who fiifles Truth in Flattery's difguife, 
 " And buries honeft Fame beneath a load of Lies." 
 
 But modern Princes, having lefs to lofe. 
 Rarely thcfe infults on their name accufe : 
 
 * Ver. 97. See N O T E V, 
 
 In 
 
[ 65 j 
 
 In Dedications quietly inurn'd, * ur 
 
 They take more lying Pralfe than Amnion fpurnM ; 
 
 And Learning's pliant Sons, to flattery prone, 
 
 Bend with fuch blind obeifance to the throne, 
 
 The bafeft King that ever curft the earth, 
 
 Finds many a witnefs to atteft his worth: 120 
 
 Tho' dead, flill flatter'd by Tome abjed (lave, 
 
 He fpreads contagious poifon from his grave, 
 
 While fordid hopes th' Hiftorian's hand entice 
 
 To varnifh ev'n the tomb of Royal Vice. 
 
 Tho' Nature wept with defolated Spain, 125 
 
 In tears of blood, the fecond Philip's reign ; 
 
 Tho' fuch deep fins deform'd his fullen mind, 
 
 As merit execration from mankind : 
 
 A mighty empire by his crimes undone ; 
 
 A people maflacred ; a murder'd fon : 130 
 
 Tho' Heaven's difpleafure ftopt his parting breath, 
 
 To bear long loathfomc pangs of hideous death ; 
 
 Flattery can ftill the Ruffian's praife repeat. 
 
 And call this Wafter of the earth difcreet : 
 
 * Ver. 115. See NOTE VI. 
 
 K Still 
 
[ 06 ] 
 
 Still Cvin Herrera, mourning o'er his urn, * 135 
 
 His dying pangs to blifsful rapture turn, 
 
 And paint the King, from earth by curfes driven, 
 
 A Saint, accepted by approving Heaven ! 
 
 But arts of deeper guile, and bafer wrong. 
 To Adulation's fubtle Scribes belong : 140 
 
 They oft, their prefent idols to exalt, 
 Profanely burft the confecrated vault ; 
 Steal from the buried Chief bright Honour's plume, 
 Or ftain with Slander's gall the Statefman's tomb : 
 Stay, facrilegious flaves ! with reverence tread 145 
 
 O'er the bleft afhcs of the worthy dead I 
 See ! where, uninjur'd by the charnel's damp. 
 The Veftal, Virtue, with undying lamp. 
 Fond of her toil, and jealous of her truft. 
 Sits the keen Guardian of their facred duft, 150 
 
 And thus indignant, from the depth of earth. 
 Checks your vile aim, and vindicates their worth t 
 " Hence ye 1 who buried excellence belied, 
 " To footh the fordid fplccn of living Pride j 
 
 *_Ver. 135. See NOTE YIL 
 
 " Go! 
 
[ &7 ] 
 
 " Go! gild with Adulation's feeble ray i-p 
 
 " Th' imperial pageant of your paiTing day ! 
 
 " Nor hope to ftain, on bafe Detraction's fcroll, 
 
 '' A Tully's morals, or a Sidney's foul !" — • * 
 
 Juft Nature will abhor, and Virtue fcorn, 
 
 That Pen, tho' eloquence its page adorn, iGo 
 
 Which, brib'd by Intereft, or from vain pretence 
 
 To fubtler Wit, and deep-difcerning Senfe, 
 
 Would blot the praife on public toils beftow'd, 
 
 And Patriot pafTions, as a jeft, explode. 
 
 Lefs abjed failings fpring from Party-rage, 165 
 
 The peft moft frequent in th' Hiftoric page ; 
 That common jaundice of the turbid brain, 
 Which leaves the heart unconfcious of a ftain, 
 Yet fulFers not the clouded mind to view 
 ' Or men, or adlions, in their native hue : 1 70 
 
 For Party mingles, in her feverifh dreams, 
 Credulity and Doubt's moft wild extremes : 
 She gazes thro' a glafs, whofe different ends 
 Reduce her foes, and magnify her friends : 
 
 * Ver. 153. See NOTE VIII. 
 
 K 2 Deludon 
 
[ 68 J 
 
 Delufion ever on her fpirit dwells ; 175 
 
 And to tlie worfl exccfs its fury fwells. 
 When Supcrftition's raging pafTions roll 
 Their favage frenzy thro' the Bigot's foul'. 
 
 Nor Icfs the blemifli, tho' of different kind, * 
 From falfe Phiiofophy's conceits refin'd ! i-So- 
 
 Her fubtle iniluen-ce, on Hiftory fliedy 
 Strikes the fine nerve of Admiration dead,. 
 (That nerve defpis'd by fceptic fons of earth-, 
 Yet ftill a vital fpring of human worth.) 
 This artful juggler, with a fkill fo nice,. 185 
 
 Shifts the light forms of Virtue and of Vice, 
 That, ere they wake abhorrence or delight. 
 Behold ! they both are vanifh'd from the fight ; 
 And Nature's warm affediion^ thus deftroy'd, 
 Leave in the puzzled mind a lifelefs void. 190 
 
 Far other views the liberal Genius fire, 
 Whofe toils to pure Hiftoric praife afpire j 
 Nor Moderation's dupe, nor Faction's brave. 
 Nor Guilt's apologift, nor Flattery's ilave : 
 
 * Ver. 179. See NOTE IX. 
 
 Wife, 
 
[ 6^ J 
 
 Wife, but not cunning; temperate, not cold; 195- 
 
 Servant of Trutli, and in that fervice bold ; 
 
 Free from all biafs, fave that jufl: controul 
 
 By which mild Nature fways the manly foul^ 
 
 And Reafon's philanthropic fplrit draws 
 
 To Virtue's intereft, and Freedom's caufe ; 200 
 
 Thofe great ennoblers of the human name, 
 
 Pure fprings of Power, of Happinefs, and Fame ! 
 
 To teach their influence, and fpread their fway,. 
 
 The juft Hiflorian winds his toilfome way ; 
 
 From filent darknefs, creeping o'er the earth,. 2-05 
 
 Redeems the finking trace of ufeful worth ;. 
 
 In Vice's bofom marks the latent thorn^ 
 
 And brands that public pcfl with public fcorn. 
 
 A lively teacher in a moral fchool ! 
 
 In that great office fteady^ clear, and cool !. 210 
 
 Pieas'd to promote the welfare of mankind, 
 
 And by intorming meliorate the mind ! 
 
 Such the bright tafis: committed to his care I 
 
 Boundlefs its ufe ; but its completion rare. 
 
 Critics havefaid " Tho' high th' Hiftorian's charoe, 2 1 - 
 His Laws are fimple tho' his Province laro-e • 
 
 Tw'o 
 
[ 70 ] 
 Two obvious rules enfure his full fuccefs — 
 To fpcak no Falfehood \ and no Truth fupprefs ; * 
 Art mufl to other works a luftre lend, 
 But Hiftory pleafes, howfoe'er it's penn'd." 220 
 
 Perchance in ruder periods ; but in thofe. 
 Where all the luxury of Learning flows, 
 To Truth's plain fare no palate will fubmit, 
 Each reader grows an Epicure in Wit ; 
 And Knowledge mufl: his nicer tafte beguile 225 
 
 With all the poignant charms of Attic ftyle. 
 The curious Scholar, in his judgment choice, 
 Expedts no common Notes from Hiflory's voice ; 
 But all the tones, that all the pafTions fuit, 
 From the bold Trumpet to the tender Lute : 230 
 
 Yet if thro' Muiic's fcalc her voice fhould range. 
 Now high, now low, with many a pleafmg chancre, 
 Grace muft thro' every variation glide. 
 In every movement Majefty prefide : 
 With eafe not carelefs, tho' correal not cold ; 235 
 
 Soft without languor, without harfhnefs bold. 
 
 Vcr. 218. See NOTE X. 
 
 Tho' 
 
[ 71 3 
 
 Tho' Affedlation can all works debafe, 
 In Language, as in Life, the bane of Grace { 
 Regarded ever with a fcornful fmile, 
 
 She moft is cenfur'd in .th' Hifl:oric {\.yle : 240 
 
 Yet her iniinuating power is fucb, 
 Not ev'n the Greeks efcap'd her baleful touch ; 
 Hence the fidlitious Speech, and long Harangue, 
 Too oft, like weights, on ancient Story hang. 
 Lefs fond of labour, modern Pens devife 245 
 
 Affedled beauties of inferior fize : 
 They in a narrower compafs boldly ftrike 
 The fancied Portrait, with no feature like ; 
 And Nature's fimple colouring vainly quit. 
 To boaft the brilliant glare of fading Wit. 250 
 
 Thofe works alone may that blef!; fate ex'pedl 
 To live thro' time, unconfcious of negle6l. 
 That catch, in fpringing from no fordid fource. 
 The eafe of Nature, and of Truth the force. 
 
 But not ev'n Truth, with bright Expreilion grac'd, 255 
 Nor all Defcription^s powers, in lucid order plac'd,. 
 Not even thefe a fond regard engage. 
 Or bind attention to th' Hiftoric page, 
 
 9 If 
 
[ r~ 3 
 
 li diftant tribes conpofe th' ill-cliofca Tlieme, 
 
 Whofe favage virtues wake no warm eilccm ; 260 
 
 V/liere Faith and Valour Spring horn Honour's grave, 
 
 OnJy to form tli' Affaffin and the Slave. 
 
 From Turkiili tyrants, ftain'd with fervile gore. 
 
 Enquiry turns ; and Learning's figlis deplore, 
 
 While o'er his name Negled's cold lliadow rolls, 265 
 
 A wafte of Genius in the toil of Knolles. * 
 
 There are, we own, whofe magic power is fuch, 
 
 Their hands cmbellilh whatfoe'er they touch : 
 
 Their bright Mofaic fo enchants our eyes, 
 
 By nice Arrangement, and contrafted Dies, 270 
 
 What mean materials in the texture lurk, 
 
 Serve but to raife the wonder ot the work. 
 
 Yet from th' Hiftorian (as fuch powej is rare) 
 
 The choice of Matter claims no trifling care. 
 
 'Tis not alone colle<fled Wealth's difplay, 275 
 
 Nor the proud fabric of extended Sway, 
 That mark (tho' both th« eye of Wonder fill) 
 The happy Subjcdl for Hiftoric (kill : 
 
 •Vcr. 266. See NOTE XL 
 
 ^ Wherever 
 
t 73 ] 
 
 Wherever Nature, tho' in narrow fpace, 
 
 Foflers, by Freedom's aid, a liberal race; 280 
 
 Sees Virtue fave them from Oppreflion's den, 
 
 And cries with exultation, " Thefe are Men ;" 
 
 Tho' in Boeotia or Batavia born. 
 
 Their deeds the Story of the World adorn. 
 
 The Subjed fix'd, with force and beauty fraught, 285 
 Juft Difpolition claims yet deeper thought ; 
 To caft enlivening Order's lucid grace 
 O'er all the crouded fields of Time and Space ; 
 To fhew each wheel of Power in all its force. 
 And trace the ftreams of Adion from their fource ; 290 
 To catch, with fpirit and precifion join'd. 
 The varying features of the human Mind ; 
 The Grace, the Strength, that Nature's children draw 
 From Arts, from Science, Policy, and Law ; 
 Opinion's fafhion, Wifdom's firmer plan, 295 
 
 And all that marks the charadler of Man. 
 Of all the parts, that Hifiory's volume fill, 
 The juft Digrefiion claims the niccft fkill ; 
 As the fwift Hero, in the Olympic race, 
 Ran with lefs toil along the open fpace ; 300 
 
 L But 
 
[ 74 ] 
 
 But round the Goal to form the narrow curve, 
 Caird forth his utmoft ftrength from every nerve. 
 
 The Subjedl's various powers let Study tell ! 
 And teach th' Hiftorian on wliat points to dwell ! 
 How in due fhades to link each meaner part, 305, 
 
 And pour on nobler forms the radiance of his art ! 
 Tho' Patriot Love the curious fpirit fires 
 With third to hear th' atchievements of his Sires ; 
 And Britilh ftory wins the Britifh mind 
 With all the charms that fond attention bind ; 310 
 
 Its early periods, barbarous and remote, 
 Pleafe not, tho' drawn by Pens of nobleft note : 
 O'er thofe rude fcenes Confufion's fhadows dwell, 
 Beyond the power of Genius to difpell ; 
 Mifts ! which ev'n Milton's fplendid mind enfliroud ; 
 Loft in the darknefs of the Saxon cloud ! 316^ 
 
 Negled: alone repays their flight offence, 
 Whofe wand'ring wearies our bewilder'd fenfe : 
 But juft Abhorrence brands his guilty name, 
 Who dares to vilify his Country's fame ; 320 
 
 With Slander's rage the pen of Hiftory grafp. 
 And pour from thence the poifon of the Afp ; 
 
 3 The 
 
[ 75 ] 
 
 The murd'rous falfehood, fliiling Honour's breath I 
 
 The flavifli tenet, Public Virtue's death ! 
 
 With all that undermines a Nation's health, 325 
 
 And robs the People of their richeft wealth I 
 
 Ye tools of Tyranny ! vvhofe fervile guile 
 
 Would thus pollute the records of our ifle. 
 
 Behold your Leader curft with public hate, 
 
 And read your jull reward in Brady's fate ! * 33a 
 
 O facred Liberty ! fhall Fadlion's train 
 Pervert the reverend archives of thy reign ? 
 Shall flaves traduce the blood thy votaries fpilt, 
 Blafpheming Glory with the name of Guilt ? 
 And fhall no Son of thine their wiles o'erwhelm, 335 
 And clear the ftory of thy injur'd realm ? 
 To this bright tafk fome Britidi fpirit raife, 
 With powers furpafllng ev'n a Livv's praife ! 
 Thro' this long wildernefs his march infpire, 
 And make thy temperate flame his leading fire f 346 
 Teach his keen eye, and comprehenlive foul, 
 To pierce each darker part, and grafp the whole ! 
 
 * Ver. 330. Sec NOTE XII. 
 
 L 2 Let 
 
[ 76 ] 
 
 Let Truth's undoubted fignet feal his page, 
 
 And Glory guard the work from age to age ! 
 
 That Britifn minds from this pure fource may draw 345 
 
 Senfe of thy Rights, and paflion for thy Law, 
 
 W idiom to prize, and Honour, that afpircs 
 
 To reach that virtue which adorn'd our Sires ! 
 
 But not alone our native land attrads ; 
 Far different Nations boaft their fplcndid fadls : 350 
 
 In ancient Story the rich fruits unite- 
 Of civil Wifdom and fublime Delight : 
 At Rome's proud name Attention's fpirits rife, 
 Rome, the firft idol of our infant eyes 1 
 Ufe and Importance mark the vaft defign, 355 
 
 Clearly to trace her periods of Decline. 
 Yet here, O Gibbon ! what long toils enfue ? 
 How winds the labyrinth ? how fails the clue ? 
 Tho' rude materials Time's deep trenches fill, 
 A radiant flrudlure rifes from thy fkill ; 360 
 
 Whofc fplendor, fpringing from a dreary wafte, 
 Enchants the wondering eye of Public Tafte. 
 Thus to the ancient traveller, whofe way 
 Acrofs the hideous fands of Syria lay. 
 
 The 
 
[ 77 ] 
 
 The Defart blaz'd with fudden glory bright ; 365 
 
 And rich Pahnyra rufh'd upon his fight. 
 
 But O ! what foes befet each honour'd Name,- 
 
 Advancing in the path of letter'd fame ! 
 
 To ftop thy progrefsj and infult thy pen, 
 
 The fierce Polemic iffues from his den. 370 
 
 Think not my Verfe means blindly to engage 
 
 In rafh defence of thy profaner page !' 
 
 Tho' keen her fpirit, her attrachment fond, 
 
 Bafe fervice cannot fuit with Friendfliip's bond ; 
 
 Too firm from Duty's facred path to turn, 375 
 
 She breathes an honeft figh of deep concern, 
 
 And pities Genius, when his wild career 
 
 Gives Faith a wound, or Innocence a fear. 
 
 Humility herfelf, divinely mild. 
 
 Sublime Religion^s meek and modeft child, 380 
 
 Like the dumb Son of Croesus, in the ftrife, * 
 
 Where Force aflail'd his Father's ficred life. 
 
 Breaks filence, and, with filial duty warm. 
 
 Bids thee revere her Parent's hallow'd form ! 
 
 Yer. 381. See NOTE XIIL. 
 
 FaE 
 
[ 78 ] 
 
 Far other founds the ear of Learning ftun, 385 
 
 From proud Theology's contentious Son ; 
 Lefs eager to corred, than to revile, * 
 Rage in his voice ! and Rancour in his ftyle ! 
 His idle feoffs with coarfe reproof deride 
 Thy generous thirft of Praife, and liberal Pride ; 390 
 
 Since thy frank fpirit dares that wifh avow, 
 Which Nature owns, and Wifdom muft allow 1 
 The noble Inftina, Love of lafling Fame, f 
 Was wifely planted in the human frame : 
 From hence the brighteft rays of Hiftory flow ; 395 
 
 To this their Vigour and their Ufe they owe. 
 Nor fcorns fair Virtue this untainted fource, 
 From hence fhe often draws her lovely force : 
 For Heaven this paffion with our life combin'd, 
 Which, like a central power, impels the languid mind. 400 
 When, clear from Envy's cloud, that general peft ! 
 It burns moft brightly in the Author's breaft, 
 Its foothing hopes his various pains beguile. 
 And give to Learning's face her fweetcft fmile : 
 
 • Ver. 387. See NOTE XlVj 
 f Vcr. 393. See NOTE XV. 
 
 What 
 
40S 
 
 4i(> 
 
 [ 79 J 
 
 What joy, to think his Genius may create 
 Exiftence far beyond the common date I 
 His Wealth of Mind to lateft ages give, 
 And in Futurity's alFedion live ! 
 From unborn beauty, flill to Fancy dear, 
 Draw with foft magic the delightful tear ; 
 Or thro' the bofom of far diltant Youth, 
 Spread the warm glow of Liberty and Truth ! 
 
 O Gibbon ! by thy frank ambition taught, 
 Let me like thee maintain th' enlivening thought^ 
 That, from Oblivion's killing cloud fecure. 
 My Hope may profper and my Verfe endure : 
 While thy bright Name, on Hiftory's car fublime. 
 Rolls in juft triumph o'er the field of Time, 
 May I, unfaltering, thy long march attend, 
 No flattering Slave I but an applauding Friend I 42a 
 
 Difplay th' imperfed: fketch I fondly drew. 
 Of that wide province, where thy laurels grew ; 
 And, honour'd with a wreath of humbler bays,. 
 Join the loud Pasan of thy lafting praife ! 
 
 NOTES 
 
 415 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Indodli difcant et ament meminifle periti. 
 
 M 
 
[ 8j ] 
 
 NOTE 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 NOTE I. Verse 4. 
 'T^H' unfailing urns of Praife and CenfureJiandJ] 
 
 
 ^OlOt yXp TS TTl&Ol y.XTXK£l'a.TXl iv A/Cf 8 J« 
 
 Aupcov, oix ^i^xffi, HfiCJtcov fVfpof Xf ixuV 
 
 Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever flood. 
 The fource of evil one, and one of good. 
 
 Pope's Iliad xxiv. v. SS^. 
 
 NOTE II. Verse s5- 
 
 Tet one excelling Greek, &c.] Dionyfius of H.dicarnaflus, the 
 celebrated hiftorian and critic of the Auguftan ase, who fettled in 
 Italy, as he himfelf informs us, on the clofe of the civil war. He 
 has addreffed a little treatife, containing a critique on the elder 
 hiftorians, to his friend Cnsus Pompeius, whom the French cri- 
 tics fuppofe to be Pompey the Great; but Reiike, the laft editor 
 
 M 2 of 
 
8^ NOTESTOTHE 
 
 of Dionyfuis, has funk him into a petty Greek grammarian, the 
 client or frcedman of that iHuftrious Roman. 
 
 In this treatife of Dionyfius, and in one dill longer, on the 
 charadler of Thucydides, tiicrc are fomc excellent hiftorical pre- 
 cepts, which Mr. Spelman has judicioufly thrown together in the 
 preface to his admirable tranflation of the Roman Antiquities. — 
 He introduces them by the following obfervation, which may 
 ferve perhaps to recommend the fubjedl of the prefent poem. — 
 " So much has been faid, both by the antients and the moderns, in 
 praife of the advantages refulting from the fludy of Hillory, parti- 
 cularly by Diodorus Siculus among the former, in the noble pre- 
 face to his Hiftorical Colledlions ; and by the late Lord Bolingbroke, 
 among the moderns, in his admirable letter on that fubjed: ; that I 
 am aftoniflied no treatife has ever yet appeared in any age, or any 
 language, profciledly written to prefcribe rules for writing Hiftory ;. 
 a work allowed to be of the greatell: advantage of all others to 
 m-inkind, the rcpofitory of truth, fraught with Icflbns both of pub- 
 lic and private virtue, and enforced by ftronger motives than pre- 
 cepts — by examples. Rules for Poetry and Rhetoric have been writ- 
 ten by many authors, both antien-t and modern, as if delight and 
 eloquence were of greater confcquence than inftrudlion : however. 
 Rhetoric was a part of Hiftory, as treated by the antients i not the 
 principal part indeed, but fubfervient to the principal ; and calcu- 
 lated to apply the fads exhibited by the narration. I know it 
 may be faid, that many antient hiftories are ftill preferved, and 
 that thefe models are fufBcient guides for modern Hiftorians, with- 
 out particular rules : {o had the Greeks Poets of all denominations 
 in their hands, and yet Ariftotle thought it necefiary to prefcribe 
 particular rules to his countrymen for applying thofe examples to 
 every branch of Poetry : I wifli he had done the fame in Hiftory; 
 if he had, it is very probable that his precepts would have rendered 
 the beft of our modern Hiftories more perfect, and the worft, lefs 
 abominable.— Since the refurreftiou of letters, the want of fuch a 
 guide has been complained of by many authors, and particularly 
 9 by 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 8-j 
 
 by Rapin, in the preface to his Hiftory of England." — Spelman, 
 page 15. But this ingenious and learned writer fpeaks a little too 
 ilrongly, in faying no treatife has ever appeared in any age or lan- 
 guage, containing rules for Hiftory. There is one in Latin by the 
 celebrated Voffius, entitled Ars Hiftorica ; another by Hubertus 
 Folieta, an elegant Latin writer, of the i6th century, on whom 
 Thuanus beftows the higheft commendation ; and Mafcardi, an 
 Italian critic, patronifed by Cardinal Mazarine, has written alfo 
 dell Arte Hiflorica. The curious reader may find, a fmgular anec- 
 dote relating to the publication of this work in Bayle, under the 
 article Mafcardi. — But to return to Dionyfius. In comparing He- 
 rodotus and Thucydides, he cenfures the latter with a degree of 
 feverity unwarranted by truth and reafon : indeed this feverity ap- 
 peared fo ftriking to the learned Fabricius, that he feems to confi- 
 der it as a Idnd of proof, that the critical works of Dionyfius wer» 
 compofcd in the hafty fervor of youth. They are however in gene- 
 ral, to ufe the words of the fame ingenious author, eximia & ledhi 
 dignaj, and a valuable critic of our own country, who refembles 
 Dionyfius in elegance of compofition, and perhaps in feverity of 
 judgment, has fpoken yet more warmly in their fiwour. — See 
 Warton's Ellay on Pope, 3d edit, page 175. 
 
 NOTE III. Verse 63. 
 
 ^d Liician ! thou., of Humour s fons. fupreme !"] The little treatiler 
 of Lucian " How Hiftory (hould be written," may be confidered as 
 one of the mofl valuable produdions of that lively author ; it is 
 not only written with great vivacity and v^'it,. but is entitled to the 
 fuperior praife of breathing moft exalted fentiments of liberty and 
 virtue. There is a peculiar kind of fublimity in his defcription 
 of an accomplifiied Hiftorian. 
 
 Tc/sT<?f o'jv fJi3i avyypxpsvcscTu:), c^o^oq, ahuxsToc, ihsv^spo?, -Trit-pp-^ricii 
 
So NOTESTOTHE 
 
 It is a piece ofjuftice due to our own country to remark, that in 
 the 3d volume of the World, there is a ludicrous effay on Hiftory 
 by Mr. Cambridge, which is written with all the Ipirit and all 
 the humour of Lucian. 
 
 NOTE IV. Verse 63. 
 Androfe a Xenophon infelf-ejieem.'] Oi'S"eif a tic ax iCTopixv s-jyyfV.l^ei' 
 
 Lucian. edit. Riollay, p. 6. 
 
 NOTE V. V E R s E 77. 
 
 lu Egypf once a dread tribunal Jiood.'\ This fingular inftitution, 
 which is alluded to by many of our late authors, is related at large 
 in the Firft Book of Diodorus Siculusj and as the paflage is cu- 
 rious, the following free tranflation of it may afford entertainment 
 to the Englilh reader — " Thofe who prepare to bury a relation, 
 give notice of the day intended for the ceremony to the judges, 
 and to all the friends of the deceafed ; informing them, that the 
 body will pafs over the lake of that diilridl to which the dead be- 
 longed : when, on the judges being aflembled, to the number of 
 more than forty, and ranging themfelves in a femicircle on the 
 farther fide of the lake, the veffel is fet afloat, which thofe who 
 fupcrintend the funeral have prepared for this purpofe. This veflel 
 is managed by a pilot, called in the Egyptian language Charon ; and 
 hence they fay, that Orpheus, travelling in old times into Egypt, 
 and feeing this ceremony, formed his fable of the infernal regions, 
 10 partly 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 67 
 
 partly from what he faw, and partly from invention. The vefiel 
 beins launched on the lake, before the coffin which contains the 
 body is put on board, the law permits all, who are fo inclined, to 
 produce an accuf^ition againft it. — If any one fheps forth, and proves, 
 that the deceafed has led an evil life, the judges pronounce f^^ntence, 
 and the body is precluded from burial j but if the accufer is con- 
 vidled of injuftice in his charge, he falls himfelf under a confi- 
 derable penalty. When no accufer appears, or when the accufer is 
 proved to be an unfair one, the relations, who are aflenibled, 
 change their expreffions of forrow into encomiums on the dead: 
 yet they do not, like the Greeks, fpeak in honour of his family, 
 becaufe they confider all Egyptians as equally well-born ; but they 
 fet forth the education and manners of his youth, his piety and 
 juftice in maturer life, his moderation and every virtue by which 
 he was diftinguifhed ; and they fupplicate the infernal Deities to 
 receive him as an aflbciate among the bleft. The multitude join 
 their acclamations of applaufe in this celebration of the dead, whom 
 they confider as going to pafs an eternity among the jufi: below *."— 
 Such is the defcription which Diodorus gives of this funereal 
 judicature, to which even the kings of Egypt were fubjedt. The 
 fame author afferts, that many fovereigns had been thus judicially 
 deprived of the honours of burial by the indignation of their people : 
 and that the terrors of fuch a fate had a moft falutary influence on 
 the virtue of their kings. 
 
 The Abbe TerrafTon has drawn a fublime pidure of this fepul- 
 chral procefs, and indeed of many Egyptian Myfleries, in his very 
 learned and ingenious romance. The Life of Sethos. 
 
 NOTE VI. Verse 115. 
 
 'T&e infant Mufe, ambitions at her birth, 
 
 Rofe the young herald of heroic ivorth.'] " Not only the Greek 
 
 * Diodor. Siculi Lib. i. T« /« [AiWovra Gatti^^ai, &c. 
 
 writers 
 
ti NOTESTOTHE 
 
 writers give a concurrent teflimony concerning the priority of 
 hiftorical Verfe to Profej but the records of all nations unite 
 in confirming it. The oldeft compofitions among the Arabs are 
 in Rythm or rude Verfe; and are otten cited as proofs of the 
 truth of their fubfequent Hiftory, The accounts we have of 
 the Peruvian ftory confirm the lame fadt j for Garcilaflb tells us, 
 tliat he compiled a part of his Commentaries from the antient 
 fongs of the country — Nay all the American tribes, who have any 
 compofitions, are found to eftablifli the fame truth — Northern 
 Europe contributes its fhare of teftimony : for there too we find 
 the Scythian or Runic fongs (many of them hiftorical) to be the 
 oldeft: compofitions among thefe barbarous nations." 
 
 Browne's DiftTertation on Poetry, &c. Page 50, 
 
 NOTE VII. Verse 131. 
 
 Buf ill the center of thofe vaft abodes, 
 
 Wbofe mighty majs the land of Egypt loads. ^ This account of the 
 Pyramids I have adopted from the very learned Mr. Bryant, part 
 of whofe ingenious obfervation upon them I fliall here prefent to 
 the reader. 
 
 One great purpofe in all eminent and expenftve flruftures is to 
 pleafe the fcranger and traveller, and to win their admiration. This 
 is elfefted fometimes by a mixture of magnificence and beauty : 
 at other times folely by immcnfity and grandeur. The latter 
 fcems to have been the objedl in the ereding of thofe celebrated 
 buildings in Egypt: and they certainly have anfwered the defign. 
 For not only the vaftnefs of their ftrudture, and the area which they 
 occupy, but the ages they have endured, and the very uncertainty 
 of their hiftory, which runs fo fur back into the depths of antiquity, 
 produce altogether a wonderful veneration; to which buildings 
 DK)re exquifite and embclliflied are feldom entitled. Many have 
 luppofeJ, that they were defigncd for places of fcpulture : and it 
 has bc:;n Alfirmed by Herodotus^, and other ancient writers. But 
 
 they 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 89 
 
 they fpokc by guefs : and I have fliewn by many Inftances, how 
 ufual it was for the Grecians to miftake temples for tombs. If the 
 chief Pyramid, were defigned for a phce of burial, what occafion 
 was there for a well, and for pa%es of communication which led 
 to other buildings ? Near the Pyramids are apartments of a wonder- 
 ful fabric, which extend in length one thouilind four hundred feet, 
 and about thirty in depth. They have been cut out of the hard rock, 
 and brought to a perpendicular by the artift's chizel ; and through 
 dint of labour fafhioned as they now appear. They were undoubt- 
 edly defigned for the reception of priefls ; and confeq-uently were 
 
 not appendages to a tomb, but to a temple of the Deity 
 
 The priefts of Egypt -delighted in obfcurity; and they probably 
 came by the fubteri-aneous paffages of the building to the dark 
 chambers within ; where they performed their luftrations, and other 
 nodturnal rites. Many of the ancient temples in this country were 
 caverns in the rock, enlarged by art, and cut out into numberlefs 
 dreary apartments : for no nation upon earth was £0 addided to 
 gloom and melancholy as the Egyptians. 
 
 Bryant's Analyfis, Vol. III. Page 529. 
 The royal geographer Abulfeda feems to confirm the idea of this 
 ingenious author ^ or at leaft to have been equally perfuaded, 
 that the Pyramids were riot places of burial ; for, fpeaking of them', 
 in his defcription of Egypt, he fays : " funt autem, ut narratur, fe- 
 pulcra veterum : ohe vero quam narranturmulta, quorum non certa 
 ^es.!" Abul. Egypt. Edit. Michadis, Page 10. 
 
 NOTE VIII. Verse 194. 
 
 Of the fierce Omar, &c,] The number of volumes deflroyed 
 yi the plunder of Alexandria is faid to have been fo great, that al- 
 though they were diftributed to heat four thoufand baths in that 
 city, i* was fix months before they were confumed. When a pe- 
 tition was lent to_ the Chaliph Omar for the prefervation of this 
 
 N mao;nificent 
 
 -a* 
 
go N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 magnificent library, he replied, in the true fpirit of bigotry, " What 
 is contained in thefe books you mention, is either agreeable to what 
 is written in the book of God (meaning the Alcoran) or it is not : 
 if it be, then the Alcoran is futficient without them : if otherwife, 
 'tis fit they (hould be deflroyed." 
 
 Ockley's Hillory of the Saracens, Vol. I.. Page 313. 
 
 NOTE IX. Verse" 207. 
 
 Tie dome expands! — Behold tU Hijioric Sire!] Herodotus, to 
 whom Cicero has given the honourable appellation of The Father 
 of Hiftory, was born in Halicarnaffus, a city of Caria, four years 
 before the invafion of Xerxes, in the year 484 before Chrift. The 
 time and place of his death are uncertain ; but his countrymaa 
 Dionyfius informs us, that he lived to the beginning of the Pelo- 
 ponnefian war ; and Marcellinus, the Greek author who wrote a 
 life of Thucydides, affirms there was a monument eredted to thefe 
 two great Hiftorians in a burial-place belonging to the family of 
 Miltiades. 
 
 There is hardly any author, antient or modern, who has been 
 more warmly commended, or more vehemently cenfured, than this 
 eminent Hiftorian. But even the fevere Dionyfius declares, he is 
 one of thofe enchanting writers, whom you perufe to the laft fyl- 
 lable with plcafure, and ftill wi(h for more. — Plutarch himfelf, who 
 has made the moft violent attack on his veracity, allows him all 
 the merit of beautiful compofition. From the heavy charges 
 brought againfl: him by the anticnts, the famous Henry Stephens, 
 and his learned friend Camerarius, have defended their favourite 
 Hiftorian with great fpirit. But Herodotus has found a more for- 
 midable antagonift in a learned and animated writer of our own 
 times, to whom the public have been lately indebted for his having 
 opened to them new mines of Oriental learning. — If the ingenious 
 Mr. Richardfon could efi^eilually fupport his Perfian fyftem, the 
 great Father of the Grecian ftory mull fink into a fabulifl as low in 
 
 point 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 91 
 
 point of veracity as Geoffrey of Monmouth. It mufl: be owned, 
 that feveral eminent Writers of our country have treated him as 
 fuch. Another Orientalift, who, in his elegant Preface to the Life 
 of Nader Shaw, has drawn a fpirited and judicious fketch of many 
 capital Hiftorians, declares, in paffing judgment on Herodotus, that 
 *' his accounts of the Perfian affairs are at leaft doubtful, if not 
 fabulous." — Hume, I think, goes ftill farther, and fays, in one of 
 his effays — " The firft page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the 
 commencement of real Hiftory." For my own part, I confefs my- 
 felf more credulous : the relation, which Herodotus has given of 
 the repulfe of Xerxes from Greece, is fo delightful to the mind, 
 and fo animating to public virtue, that I fhould be forry to num- 
 ber it among the Grecian fables. 
 
 — — Et madidis can tat quas Soflratus alis. 
 
 NOTE X. Verse 210. 
 
 As the fair figure of his favour d ^leen."] Artemifia of Halicar- 
 naffus, who commanded in perfon the five veffels, which ih^ con- 
 tributed to the expedition of Xerxes. On hearing that flie had 
 funk a Grecian galley in the fea-fight at Salamis, he exclaimed, 
 that his men had proved women, and his women men. 
 
 Herod. Lib. VIII. p. 660. Edit. Weff. 
 
 NOT E XI. Verse 213. 
 
 Soft as the fir earn, whofe dimpling waters play J\ Sine ullis fale- 
 bris quafi fedatus amnis fluit. 
 
 Cicero in Oratore. 
 
 NOTE XII. Verse 229. 
 
 But mark the Youth, in dumb delight immers'd !] Thucydides, 
 the fon of Olorus, was born at Athens in the year 47 1 before 
 
 N 2 Chnfl, 
 
^2 NOTESTOTHE 
 
 Chrift, and is faid, at the age of 15, to have heard Herodotus 
 recite his Hiftory at the Olympic games. — The generous youth 
 was charmed even to tears, and the HiAorian congratulated 
 Olorus on thefe marks of genius, which he difcovered in his fon. 
 —Being inverted with a military command, he was banilhed from 
 Athens at the age of 48, by the injuftice of faction, becaufe he 
 had unfortunately failed in the defence of Amphipolis. — He retired 
 into Thrace, and is reported to have married a Thracian lady pof- 
 fefled of valuable mines in that country. — At the end of 20 years 
 his fentence of baniHiment was revoked. Some authors affirm 
 that he returned into Athens, and was treacheroufly killed in that 
 city. But others alTert that he died in Thrace, at the advanced age 
 of 80, leaving his Hiftory unfiniilied. 
 
 Marcellinus ; and Dodwell. Annales Thucydid. 
 
 • NOTE Xlil. Verse 255. 
 
 A generous guardian of a rival's fame.'\ It is faid by Diogenes 
 Laertius, that Xenophon firft brought the Hiftory of Thucydides 
 into public reputation, though he had it in his power to af- 
 fume to himfelf all the glory of that work. This amiable Phi- 
 lofopher and Hillorian was born at Athens, and became early a 
 difciple of Socrates, who is faid by Strabo to have faved his life 
 in battle. About the 50th year of his age, according to the con- 
 jecfture of his admirable tranflator Mr. Spelman, he engaged in 
 the expedition of Cyius, and accomplifhed his immortal retreat 
 in the fpace of i 5 months. — The jcaloufy of the Athenians ba- 
 rifhed him from his native city, for engaging in the fervice of 
 Sparta and of Cyrus. — On his return therefore he retired to Scillus, 
 a town of Elis, where he built a temple to Diana, which he men- 
 tions in his Epiftles, and devoted his leifure to philofophy and 
 rural fports. — But commotions arifing in that country, he removed 
 to Corinth, where he is fuppoftd to have written his Grecian 
 Hiftory, and to have died at the age of ninety, in the year 360 
 
 9 before 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 93 
 
 before Chrift. By his wife Philefia he had two fons, Diodorus and 
 Gryllus. The latter rendered himfelf immortal by killing Epa- 
 minondas in the famous battle of Mantinea, but perifhed in that 
 exploit, which his father lived to record. 
 
 NOTE XIV. Verse 277. 
 
 Homes haughty genius, who enjlavd the Greek, 
 
 In Grecian la?iguage deigns at Jirji to fpeak.\ Some of the moft 
 illuftrious Romans are known to have written Hiftories in 
 Greek. The luxuriant Lucullus, when he was very young, 
 compofed. in that language a Hiftory of the Marli, which, Plu- 
 tarch fays, was extant in his time — Cicero wrote a Greek Com- 
 mentary on his own confulfliip — and the elegant Atticus produced 
 a fimilar work on the fame fubjedt, that did not perfectly fatisfy 
 the nice ear of his friend, as we learn from the following curious 
 paflage in a letter concerning the Hiftory in queftion: — " Quanquam 
 tua ilia (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta vifa 
 funt : fed tamen erant ornata hoc ipfo, quod ornamenta neglexe- 
 rant, et ut mulieres, ideo bene olere, quia nihil olebant, vide- 
 bantur." Epift. ad Atticum. Lib. II. Ep. i. 
 
 NOTE XV. Verse 283.. 
 
 Thou friend of Scipio ! vers'd in IVar's alarms.'\ Polybius, born 
 at Megalopolis in Arcadia, 205 years before Chrift. — He was 
 trained to arms under the celebrated Philopoemen, and is de- 
 fcribed by Plutarch carrying the urn of that great but unfortu- 
 nate General in his funeral proceflion. He rofe to conliderable 
 honours in his own country, but was compelled to vifit Rome 
 with other principal Achseans, who were detained there as 
 pledges for the fubmiffion of their ftate. — From hence he became 
 intimate with tlie fecond Seipio Africanus, and was prefent with 
 him at the demolition of Carthage. — He law Corinth alfo plun- 
 dered 
 
94 NOTES TOT HE 
 
 dered by Mummius, and thence pafling through the cities of Achaia, 
 reconciled them to Rome. — He extended his travels into Egypt, 
 France, and Spain, that he might avoid fuch geographical errors 
 as he has cenfured in other writers of Hiftory. He lived to the age 
 of 82, and died of an illnefs occafioned by a fall from his horfe. 
 
 Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grajca. 
 
 In clofing this concife account of the capital Greek Hiftorians, 
 I cannot help oblerving, that our language has been greatly en- 
 riched, in the courfe of the prefent century, by fuch tranflations of 
 thefe Authors as do great honour to our country, and are at leaft 
 equal to any which other nations have produced. 
 
 In the chief Roman Hiftorians we feem to have been lefs fortu- 
 nate ; but from the fpecimen which Mr. Aikin has lately given the 
 public in the fmaller pieces of Tacitus, we may hope to fee an 
 excellent verfion of that valuable author, who has been hitherto 
 ill treated in our language, and among all the antients there is 
 none perhaps whom it is more difficult to tranflate with fidelity 
 and fpirit. 
 
 NOTE XVI. Verse 301. 
 
 Sententious Salluji leads her lofty train.'] This celebrated Hifto- 
 rian,- who from the irregularity of his life, and the beauty of 
 his writings, has been called, not unhappily, the Bolingbrokc 
 of Rome, was born at Amiternum, a town of the Sabines. — 
 For thfe profligacy of his early life he was expelled the fenate, 
 but reftored by the intereft of Julius Ca^fir, who gave him 
 the command of Numidia, which province he is faid to have 
 plundered by the mofli: infamous extortion, purchafing with part 
 of this treafure thofe rich and extenfive pofTelfions on the Quirinal 
 Hill, fo celebrated by the name of the Horti Salluftiani. — He died 
 in the 70th year of his age, four years before the battle of Adlium, 
 and ■^^ before the Chrillian aera. His enmity to Cicero is well 
 
 known, 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 95 
 
 known, and perhaps it had fome influence on the peculiarity of his 
 didiion — perfonal animofity might make him endeavour to form a 
 ftyle as remote as poflible from the redundant language of the im- 
 mortal Orator, whofe turbulent wife, Terentia, he is faid to have 
 married after her divorce. This extraordinary woman is reported 
 to have lived to the age of lo?, to have married MelTala, her third 
 hufband, and Vibius Rufus her fourth. — The latter boafted, with 
 the joy of an Antiquarian, that he poiTefled two of the greaiefl cu- 
 riofities in the world, namely Terentia, who had been Cicero's wife, 
 and the chair in which Ca;far was killed. ^ — St. Jerom; and Dio 
 Cassius, quoted by Middleton in his life of Cicero. But to re- 
 turn to Salluft. — His Roman Hiftory, in iix books, from the death 
 of Sylla to the confpiracy of Catiline, the great work from which 
 he chiefly derived his glory among the Antients, is unfortunately 
 lofl:, excepting a few fragments ; — but his two detached pieces of 
 Hiftory, which happily remain entire, are fufficient to juftify the 
 great encomiums he has received as a writer. — He has had the fin- 
 gular honour to be twice tranflated by a royal hand — firft by our 
 Elizabeth, according to Camden ; and fecondly by the Infant Don 
 Gaoriel, whofe Spanifli verfion of this elegant Hiftorian, lately 
 printed in folio, is one of the moft beautiful books that any coun- 
 try has produced iince the invention of printing. 
 
 NOTE XVII. Verse 316. 
 
 In bright pre-emhie?ice, that Greece might own, 
 
 Sublimer Livy claims th' Hijioric throne.'] All the little per- 
 fonal account, that can be coUeded of Livy, amounts only to 
 this — that he was born at Patavium, the modern Padua ^ that he 
 was chofen by Auguftus to fuperintend the education of the ftupid 
 Claudius; that he was rallied by the Emperor for his attachment 
 to the caufe of the Republic ; and that he died in his own coun- 
 try in the 4th year of Tiberius, at the age of 76. — There is a paffage 
 in one of Pliny's letters, which, as it fhev/s the high and ex- 
 
 10 tenfive 
 
96 NOTES TO THE 
 
 tenfive reputation of our Hiftorlaii during his life, I fliall prefent 
 to the reader in the words of Piiny'.s moil elegant tranflator. — " Do 
 you remember to have read of a certain inhabitant of the city of 
 Cadiz, who was fo ftruck with the illuftrious charadler of Livy, 
 that he travelled to Rome on purpofe to fee that great Genius; 
 and as foon as he had fatisfied his curiofitv, returned home 
 
 again?" — Melmoth's Pliny, Vol. I. Page 71. A veneration 
 
 ilill more extraordinary was paid to this great author by Alphonfo 
 King of Naples, who in 1451 font Panormita as his Ambaflador to 
 the Venetians, in whofe dominion the bones of Livy had been 
 lately difcovered, to beg a relic of this celebrated Hiftorian— • 
 They prefented him with an arm-bone, and the prefent is recorded 
 in an infcription preferved at Padua, which the curious reader may 
 find in Voflius de Hiftoricis Latinis. This Angular anecdote is 
 alfo related in Bayle, under the article Panormita. Learning per- 
 haps never fuftained a greater lofs, in any fingle author, than by 
 the deftrudlion of the latter and more interefling part of Livy. — ' 
 Several eminent moderns have indulged the pleating expedtation that 
 the entire work of this noble Hiftorian might yet be recovered. — 
 It has been faid to exift in an Arabic verfion : and even a compleat 
 copy of the original is fuppofed to have been extant as late as the 
 year 163 1, and to have perifhed at that time in the plunder of Mag- 
 deburgh. — That munificent patron of learning, Leo the Xth, ex- 
 erted the moll: generous zeal to refcuc from oblivion the valuable 
 treafure, which one of his mofl: bigotted prcdeceflbrs, Gregory the 
 Great, had expelled from every Chriftian library. — Bayle has pre- 
 ferved, under the article Leo, tv\'o curious original letters of that 
 Pontiff, concerning his hopes of recovering Livy; which afford 
 moft honourable proofs of his liberality in the caufe of letters. 
 
 NOTE 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 97 
 
 NOTE XVIII. Verse 329. 
 
 Yet, like the matchlefs, 7mit Hated frame, 
 
 I'd ■which great Angela bequeath' d his nawe.] The trunk of a 
 ftatue of Hercules by Apollonius the Athenian, univerfally 
 called the Torfo of Michael Angelo, from its having been the 
 favourite fludy of that divine Artift.— He is faid to have made 
 out the com pleat figure in a little model of wax, ftill preferved 
 at Florence, and reprefenting Hercules repofing after his labours.— 
 The figure is fitting in a penfive pofture, with an elbow refling 
 on the knee. 
 
 NOTE XIX. Verse 337. 
 
 Sarcajlic Tacitus, abrupt and dark.'] Tacitus was born, according 
 to the conjedlure of Lipfius, in the clofe of the reign of Claudius : 
 paffing through various public honours, he rofe at length to the 
 confular dignity, under Nerva, in the year of Chrift 97. The date 
 of his death is unknown, but he is faid to have lived happily to 
 an advanced age with his wife, the amiable daughter of the vir- 
 tuous Agricola, whofe life he has fo beautifully written. By this 
 lady he is fuppoled to have left children ; and the emperor Tacitus 
 is conjedured to have been a remote defcendant from the Hiftorian, 
 to whofe works and memory he paid the higheft regard. It is re- 
 ported by Sidonius Apollinaris, that Tacitus recommended the 
 province of writing Hiftory to Pliny the Younger, and that he did 
 not himfelf engage in that employment, till his friend had declined 
 it. This is not mentioned, indeed, in any of the beautiful letters 
 ftill remaining from Pliny to Tacitus; but it is an inftance of 
 delicacy not unparallel'd among the Antients, as will appear from 
 the following remark by one of the moft elegant and liberal of mo- 
 dern critics.—" The Roman Poet, who was not more eminent 
 by his genius than amiable in his moral charafler, affords perhaps 
 
 O the 
 
98 NOTES TO THE 
 
 the moft remarkable inftance that any where occurs, of the con- 
 cefTions which a mind ftrongly impregnated with fentiments of 
 genuine amity, is capable of making. Virgil's fuperior talents 
 rendered him qualified to excel in all the nobler fpecies of poetical 
 compofition : neverthelefs, from the moft uncommon delicacy of 
 friendfhip, he facrificed to his intimacy with Horace, the unrivall'd 
 reputation he might have acquired by indulging his lyric vein ; as 
 from the fame refined motive he forbore to exercife his dramatic 
 powers, that he might not obfcure the glory of his friend Va- 
 rius. 
 
 Aurum et opes et rura, frequens donabit amicus :• 
 Qui velit inge?jio cedere, rarus crit." 
 
 Mart. VIII. 18. 
 M£lmoth's Remarks on L^lius, Page 292; 
 
 As to Tacitus, it is clear, I think, from the Letters of Pliny,, 
 as well as from his own moft pleafing Life of Agricola, that he pof- 
 fefled all the refined and affecflionate feelings of the heart in a very 
 high degree, though the general caft of his hiftorical works might 
 lead us to imagine, that aufterity was his chief charadler.ftic. — It 
 would be eafy to fill a volume in tranicribing the greut encomiums, 
 and the violent cenfures, which have been lavifhed by modern 
 writers of almoft every country on this profound Hiftorian. — The 
 laft critic of eminence, who has written againft him, in Britain, is, 
 I believe, the learned Author of The Origin and Progrefs of Lan- 
 guage } wJio, in his 3d volume of that work, has made many cu- - 
 
 rious remarks on the compofition of the antient Hiftorians, and is ■ 
 
 particularly fevere on the didlion of Tacitus. He rcprefents him 
 as the defedive model, from which modern writers have copied, 
 
 what he is pleafed to call, " the fiort and priggl/Jj cut of Jlyle Jo 
 
 much in ufe now," 
 
 NOTE XX. Verse 360. 
 
 Thy Plutarch Jliines, by moral beauty known.] It is to be wiftied, 
 
 that 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 99 
 
 •t'liat this moft: amiable Moralill: and Biographer had added a Life of 
 himfelf, to thofe which , he has gi.ento the world: as the particu- 
 lars, which other Writers have preserved of his perfonal Hiflory, 
 are very doubtful and imperfe6t According to the learned Fabri- 
 cius, he was born under Claudius, ijo yea;: after the Chriftian zera, 
 raifed to the confular dignity ..umier Tr-'dj.aa, -whofe preceptor he 
 is fiid to have been, and made. Prx3curator of Greece in his old age 
 by the Emperor Adrian — in the 5th year of whofe reign he is fup- 
 pofed to have died, at the age of 70. He was married to a mofl; 
 amiable woman of his own i.ilivq town Chreronea, whofe name 
 was Timoxena, and to whole fenfe pnd virtue he has borne the moll 
 affedtionate teftimony in his m- '. s ; of which it may be re- 
 
 gretted that we have no elegant trandation Indeed even the Lives 
 of Plutarch, the mofi: popular of all the antient hiflorical compo- ' 
 fitions, were chiefly known to the Englifli reader by a motley and 
 miferable verlion, till a new one, executed with fidelity and fpirit, 
 was prefented to the public by the Langhornes in 1770. 
 
 NOTE XXL Verse 383. 
 
 Mild MarcelUnus ! free from fertile awe /] Ammianus Marcellin us, 
 a Grecian and a Soldier, as he calls himfelf, flourifhed under Con- 
 ftantius and the fucceeding emperors, as late as Theodoiius. He 
 ferved under Julian in the EaiT:, and wrote a Hiftory from the 
 reign of Nerva to the death of Valens, in 31 books, of which 18 
 only remain. — The time and circumftances of his own death are 
 unknown. — Bayle has an article on Marcellinus, in which he ob- 
 ferves, that he has introduced a moft bitter invective againft the 
 Practitioners of Law into his Hiftory. — He fhould have added, that 
 the Hiftorian beflows great encomiums on fome illuftrious charac- 
 ters of that profeffion, and even mentions the peculiar hardlhip to 
 which Advocates are themfelves expofed. — The curious reader may 
 iind this paffage. Lib. xxx. £^ap. 4. 
 
 Q 2 NOTE 
 
loo NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE XXII. Verse 403. 
 
 And, ivitb Comnena's royal name imprejl.'] Anna Comnena was the 
 eldeft daughter of the emperor Alexius Comnenus, and the env- 
 prefs Irene, born 1083. — She wrote the Hiftory of her father, in 
 15 books, firft publilhed, very imperfedtly, by Hsefchelius, in i6io, 
 andfince printed in the colleftion of the Byzantine Hiftorians, with 
 a diffufe and incorredt Latin verfion by the Jefuit Poffinus, but 
 with excellent notes by the learned Du Frefne. 
 
 Confidering the miferies of the time in which flie lived, and the 
 merits of her work — which fome Critics have declared fuperior to 
 every other in that voluminous colledlion — this Lady may be 
 juftly regarded as a fingular phaenomenon in the literary world; 
 and, as this mention of her maypoflibly excite the curiofity of my 
 fair Readers, I fliall clofe the Notes to this Epiftle with prefenting 
 to them a Tranflation of the Preface to her Hiflory, as I believe 
 no part of her Works have yet appeared in any modern language. 
 I found that I could not abridge it without injuring its beauty, 
 and though long, I flatter myfelf it will efcape the cenfure of being 
 tedious, as fhe feelingly difplays in it the misfortunes of her life, 
 and the characfter of her mind. 
 
 THE PREFACE OF THE PRINCESS ANNA COxMNENA, 
 FROM THE GREEK, 
 
 Prefixed to her Alexiad, or Hiflory of her Father, 
 the Emperor Alexius. 
 
 TIME, which flows irrefiflibly, ever encroaching, and fl:eah*ng 
 fomething from human life, feems to bear away all that is mortal 
 into a gulph of darknefs ; fometimes deftroying fuch things as 
 tleferve not utterly to be forgotten, and fometimes, fuch as are molT: 
 
 noble. 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 lOI 
 
 noble, and mofl worthy of remembrance. Now (to ufe the words 
 of the tragic poet *) 
 
 Difcovering things invifible ; and now 
 Sweeping each prefent objedl from our fight. 
 
 But Hiflory forms the ftrongefl barrier againft this tide of Time : 
 it withftands, in fome meafure, the violence of the torrent, and, 
 by colledling and cementing fuch things as appear worthy of pre- 
 fervation, while they are hurried along the ftream, it allows them 
 not to fink iato the abyfs of oblivion. 
 
 On this confideration, I Anna, the daughter of the emperor 
 Alexius, and his confort Irene, born and educated in imperial 
 fplendor— not utterly void of literature, and folicitous to diflin- 
 guifli myfelf by that Grecian charadleriftic — as I have already ap- 
 plied myfcif to Rhetoric, and having thoroughly fludied the 
 Principles of Ariftotle and the Dialogues of Platoj have endea- 
 voured to adorn my mind with the f four ufual branches of educa- 
 tion (for I think it incumbent on me, even at the rifque of ap- 
 pearing vain, to declare what qualihcations for the prefent talk I 
 hav-e received from nature, or gained by application ; what Provi- 
 dence has beftowed upon me, or time and opportunity fupplied.) 
 On thefe accounts, I am delirous of commemorating, in my pre- 
 fent work, the anions of my father, as they deferve not to be buried- 
 in filence, or to be plunged, as it were, by the tide of Time, into 
 the ocean of Oblivion : both thofe adions which he performed 
 after he obtained the diadem, and thofe before that period, while 
 he was himfelf a fubjeft of other Princes. I engage in this nar- 
 ration, not fo much to difplay any little talent for compofition, 
 as to prevent tranfadions of fuch importance from periihing unre- 
 corded : fince even the brightell of human, atchievements, if not 
 configned to memory under the guard of writing, are ex.tinguifhed,, 
 as it were, by the Darknefs of Silence. 
 
 * Sophocles. t Aftrology, Geometry, Arithmetic, andMufic 
 
 My 
 
I02 
 
 NOTES TO TFIE 
 
 My father was a man, who knew both how to govern, and to 
 pay to governors a becoming obedience : but in chuling his a(*l^^'ns 
 fof my fubjeft, I am apprehenfive, in the very outfct of K^y work, 
 left I may be cenfured as the Panegyrift of my own family for 
 writing of my father; that if I fpeak of him with admiration, my 
 whole Hiftory will be confidered as a f^lfe and flattering enoc- 
 mium ; and if any circumftance, I may have occafion to mentidn, 
 leads me, as it were by force, to difapprove fome part even of his 
 conduft, I am apprehenfive, on the other hand, not from the cha- 
 rafter of my father, but from the very nature of things, that ll-me 
 malignant cenfurers may compare me to Cham, the fon of Noah ; 
 fmce there are many, whom envy and malevolc icc will not fuffcr 
 to form a fair judgment, and who, to fpeak. i!i the words of 
 Homer, 
 
 Are keen to cenfure, where no blame is due. 
 
 For whoever engages in the province of Hiftory, is bound to for- 
 get all fentiments both of favour and averfion ; and often to adorn 
 his enemies with the higheft commendations, when their adions 
 are entitled to fuch reward ; and often to cenfure his moft intimate 
 friends, when the failings of their life and manners require it. — 
 • Thefe ar&> duties equally incumbent on the Hiftorian, which he 
 cannot decline. As to myfelf, with regard to thofe who may be 
 affedled either by my cenfure or my praife, I would wifh to aflure 
 them, that I fpeak both of them, and their conduft, according to 
 the evidence of their adtions themfelves, or the report of thofe 
 who beheld them j for either the fathers, or the grandfathers, of 
 many perfons now living were ocular witnefTes of what I iliall 
 record. I have been chiefly led to engage in this Hiftory of my 
 father by the following circumftance : — It was my fortune to marry 
 Cjefar Nicephorus, of the Bryennian family, a man far fuperior to 
 all his cotemporaries, not only in perfonal beauty, but in fublimity 
 of underftanding, and all the charms of eloquence ! for he was 
 
 equally 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. 103 
 
 equally the admiration of thofe who faw, and thofe who heard 
 him. But that my difcourfe may not wander from its prefent pur- 
 pofe, let me proceed in my narration ! — He was then, among all 
 men, the moft diftinguifhed j and when he marched with the 
 emperor John Comnenus, my brother, on his expedition againft 
 Antioch, and other places in pofieflion of the Barbarians, ftill un- 
 able to abilain from literary purfuits, even in thofe fcenes of labour 
 and fatigue, he wrote various compolitions worthy of remembrance 
 and of honour. But he chiefly applied himfelf to the writing an 
 account of what related to my father Alexius, emperor of the 
 Romans, at the requeft of the emprefs ; reducing into proper form 
 the tranfadions of his reign, whenever the times would allow him 
 to devote fhort intervals of leifure from arms and battle to works 
 of literature, and the labour of compofition. In forming this 
 Hirtory, he deduced his accounts from an early period, being di- 
 rected in this point alfo by the inftrudlion of our royal miftrefs ; 
 beginning from the emperor Diogenes, and defcending to the per- 
 fon, whom he had chofcn for the Hero of his Drama— for this 
 feafon firft fliewed my father to be a youth of expedlation. Be- 
 fore this period he was a mere infant ; and of courfe performed 
 nothing worthy of being recorded : unlefs even the occurrences of 
 his childhood fiaould be thought a fit fubje£t for Hiftory. Such 
 then was the dcCign and fcope of Caefar's compofition : but he 
 fail'd in the hope he had entertained, of bringing his Hiftory to its 
 conclufion : for having brought it to the times of the emperor 
 Nicephorus Botoniates, he there broke off, having no future op- 
 portunity allowed him of continuing his narration : a circum- 
 ftance, which has proved a fevere lofs to Literature, and robbed his 
 readers of delight! — On this account I have undertaken to record 
 the ai^ions of my father, that fuch atchievements may not efcape 
 pofterity. What degree of harmony and grace the writino-s of 
 Gaefar poflefled, all penons know, who have been fortunate enough 
 to fee his compofitions. But having executed his work to the pe- 
 riod I have mentioned, in the midft of hurry and fatigue, and bring- 
 
 5 ing 
 
104 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 ing it to us half finirtied from his expedition, he brought home, 
 alas ! at the fame time, a diforder that proved mortal, contradted 
 perhaps from the hardftiips of his palTage, or perhaps from that 
 harrafling fcene of perpetual adiion, and pollibly indeed from his 
 infinite anxiety on my account ; for anxiety was natural to his af- 
 fe<ftionate heart, and his labours were without interxniffion. More- 
 over, the change and badnefs of climates might prepare for him this 
 draught of death. For notwilhflanding the dreadful ftate of his 
 health, he perfevered in the campaign againft the Syrians and Cili- 
 cians, till at length he was conveyed out of Syria in a mofl; infirm 
 ftate^ and was brought through Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lydia, and 
 Bithynia, home to the metropolis of the empire, and to his fa- 
 mily. But his vitals were now aiFedted by his infinite fatigue. — 
 Even in this ftate of weaknefs he was defirous of difplaying the 
 events of his expedition : but this his diforder rendered him unable 
 to execute, and indeed we enjoined him not to attempt it, Icfl: by 
 the effort of fuch a narration he fliould burft open his wound. — ■ 
 But dn the recollecflion of thefe things, my whole foul is darkened, 
 and my eyes are covered with a flood of tears. — O what a diredor 
 of the Roman counfels was then torn from us ! O what an end 
 was there to all the treafures of clear, of various, and of ufeful 
 knowledge, which he had colledted from obfervation and expe- 
 rience, both in regard to foreign affairs, and the internal bufmefs 
 of the empire J — O what a form was then dellroyed ! — Beauty, 
 that feemed not only entitled to dominion, but bearing even the 
 femblance of divinity ! — I indeed have been converfant with every 
 calamity ; and have found, even from the imperial cradle, an un- 
 propitious fortune : fome perhaps might efteem that fortune not 
 unprppitious, which feemed to fmile upon my birih, in giving mc 
 fovereigns for ray parents, and nurfing me in the imperial purple : 
 but for the other circumftances of my life, alas, what tcmpefts ! 
 alas, what perturbations ! The melody of Orpheus afiedlcd even 
 inanimate nature i and Timotheus, in playing the Orthic ibng to 
 Alexanderj made tlie Macedon ftart to arms. 
 
 The 
 
FIRST EPISTLE. ro^ 
 
 The relation of my mlferies would not, indeed, produce fuch 
 effedls ; but it would move every auditor to tears ; it would force 
 not only beings endued with fenfibility, but even inanimate nature 
 to fympathize in my forrow. — This remembrance of Ca?fnr, and 
 his unexpedled death, tears open the deepefl wound of my foiil ; 
 Indeed, I confider all my former misfortunes, if compared to this 
 immeafureable calamity, but as a drop of v/ater to the Atlantic fea: 
 or rather, my earlier affliftions were a kind of prelude to this : 
 they firft involved me, as it were, like a fmoke preceding this 
 raging fire : they were a kind of heat, that portended a conflagra- 
 tion, which no words can defcribe. O thou fire, that blazefl- 
 without fuel, preying on my heart without defliroying its exiftence j 
 piercing through my very bones, and flirinking up my foul ! — 
 But I perceive myfelf hurried away from my fubjedt : this mention 
 of Cajfar, and what I fuffer in his lofs, has led me into the pro- 
 lixity of grief: wiping therefore the tear from my eyes, and re- 
 draining myfelf from this indulgence of forrow, I will proceed 
 in order j yet, as the * tragic Poet fays. 
 
 Still adding tear to tear, 
 
 as recolledling misfortune after misfortune : for the entering on 
 the Hiftory of fuch a king, fo eminent for his virtues, revives 
 in my mind all the wonders he performed, which move me to 
 frefh tears : and thefe I fhare in common with all the world ; for 
 the remem.brance of him, and the recital of his reign, f.ipplies to 
 me a new fubieO: of lamentation, nnd muft remind others of the 
 lofs they have fuflained. 
 
 But let me at length begin the Hiftory of my father, from th«j 
 period moft proper : — now the mod proper period is that, which 
 will give to my narration the clearefl, and mofl hiftorical ap- 
 pearance.— — 
 
 * Euripides. 
 END OF THE NOTES TO THE FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 P NOTES 
 
io6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 NOTE I. Verse 17. 
 
 TTO IV fainted Kings renounce, with holy dread, 
 ■* The chajie endearments of their 7narriage-bed.^ It is well known 
 how Edward the Confeflbr is celebrated for his inviolable chas- 
 tity by the Monkifli Hiftorians — one of them, in particular, is fo 
 folicitous to vindicate the piety of Edward in this article, that he 
 pafles a fevere cenfure on thofe, who had imputed his fingular con- 
 tinence to a principle of refentment againft the f\ither of his queeix 
 — Hanc quoque Rex ut conjugem tali arte traftavit; quod nee 
 thoro removit ; nee earn virili more carnaliter cognovit : quod 
 utvum patris illius, qui proditor convidus erat, et farailice ejus 
 odio quod prudentcr pro tempore diiTimulabat; an amore caiUtatis 
 id fccerit, iiicertum eft aliquibus, qui ia dubiis finiftra interpre- 
 tantur. Veruntamen non benevoli, et veritati, ut videtur, diffoni 
 dicere pmsfumunt. Qiiod Rex charitatis et pacis munere ditatus, 
 de generc prodltoris h-.rredes, qui fibi fuccedercnt, corrupto fcmine 
 noluerit procreare. Sciebat enini rex pacificus quod iilia nihil 
 
 criuiiuis 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 107 
 
 criminis commifit cum patre prodltore, 6c ideo non refpult thorum 
 virginis ; fed ambo unanimi affenfu caftitatem voverunt, parilique 
 voluntate, Thom^ Rudborne, Hift. major, in Anglia Sacra. 
 
 Tom. I. p. 241. 
 The very high degree of merit, which the writers of the dark 
 ages attributed to this matrimonial mortification, is ftill more for- 
 cibly difplayed in a miraculous ftory related by Gregory of Tours, 
 which the curious reader may find in the Firft Book and 42d 
 chapter of that celebrated Hiftorian. 
 
 NOTE II. Verse 19. 
 
 How Nuns, entrancd, to joys cekftial tnouttf. 
 
 Frantic with rapture from a facred fount .] The Monklrti Hif- 
 torlans feem to have confidered a vifion as the moft engaging em- 
 bellifhment that Hiftory could receive— Even the fage Matthew- 
 Paris delights in thefe heavenly digreffions. But the vifions, to 
 which the preceding verfes particularly allude, are thofe of the 
 Virgin Flotilda, printed in the 2d volume of the Hiftoriae Franco- 
 rum Scriptores, by the learned Du Chefne : A very fliort fpecimen 
 may fatisfy the curiofity of the Reader — Videbatur Canis candidus 
 eidem adgaudere, quern tamen ilia timens pertranfiit, 6c ad quen- 
 dam locum in medium decentium clericorum pervenit, qui earn 
 gratanter excipiebant, et potum ei in vafe pulcherrimo quafi aquam 
 clariffimam offerebant. -P. 624. 
 
 NOTE III. Verse 24. 
 
 With thofe choice gifts, the Meadoiv, and the Mill.] The ufual 
 legacy of the old Barons to their monaftic dependants. 
 
 NOTE IV. Verse 59. 
 
 If mitred Turpin told, in nvildejl Jlrain.] It Is now generally 
 
 P 2 agreed. 
 
io8 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 agreed, that the Hiflory which bears the name of Turpin, Arcti- 
 bifhop of Rhc'ims, was the forgery of a Monk, at the time of the 
 Crufades, though Pope CaUxtus the Second declared it to be au- 
 tlientic. — But, as it was certainly intended to pafs as genuine Hif- 
 tory, whenever it was compofed, and adually did fo for fome 
 ages, this poetical mention of it appeared not improper. For the 
 entertainment of the curious reader, I (Tiall tranfcribe the two mi- 
 raculous paffi'.ges alluded to in the poem : — Ante diem belli, caflris 
 et arietibus Be turmis pra^paratis in pratis, fcilicet quae funt inter 
 caftrum, quod dicitur Talaburgum, & urbem, juxta fluvium 
 Caranta, infixerunt Chriftiani quidam haftas fuas eredlas in terra 
 ante caftra, craftina vero die haftas fuas corticibus & frondibus de- 
 coratas invenerunt j hi fcilicet qui in bello pra^fenti accepturi erant 
 martyrii palmam pro Chrifti fide. — Qui etiam tanto miraculo Dei 
 gavifi, abfcilTis haftis fuis de terra, fimul coaduniti primitus in 
 bello perierunt, & multos Saracenos occiderunt, fed tandem 
 Martyrio coronantur. Cap. X. 
 
 After the foliloquy of Roland, addreffed to his fword, which 
 tnoft readers have fecn quoted in Mr. Warton's excellent Obfer- 
 vations on Spenfcr, the Hiftorian proceeds thus : — Timens ne in 
 manus Saracenorum deveniret, percuffit fpata lapidem marmoreum 
 trino idtu ; a fummo ufque deorfum lapis dividitur, & gladius bi- 
 ceps illxfus educitur. Deinde tubafua coepit altifona tonitruare, 
 
 ii forte aliqui ex Chriftianis, qui per nemora Saracenorum timore 
 latitabant, ad fe venirent. Vel li illi, qui portus jam tranfierant, 
 forte ad fe redirent, fuoque funeri adeflent, fpatamque fuam & 
 equum acciperent, et Saracenos perfequerentur. Tunc tanta vir- 
 tute tuba fua eburnea infonuit, quod flatu omnia ejus tuba per 
 medium fcilfa, & venae colli ejus & nervi rupti fuilTe feruntur, , 
 cujus vox ad aures Caroli, qui in valle qua: Caroli dicitur, cum- 
 exercitu fuo tentoria fixcrat, loco fcilicet, qui diftabat a Carolo • 
 O'flo milliaribus verfus Gafconiam^ Augclico du(5lu pervenit. 
 
 Cap. xxil, & xxiii. 
 
 NOTE 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 109 
 
 NOTE V. Verse 65. 
 
 Tet modeji JEgmhard, with grateful care. "] The celebrated Secre- 
 tary and fuppofed Son-in-k'v of Charlemain ; who is faid to have 
 been carried through the fnow on the flioulders of the affedlionate 
 and ingenious Imma, to prevent his being tracked from her apart- 
 ment by the Emperor her father : a ftory which the elegant pen of 
 Addifon has copied and embelliflied from an old German Chro- 
 nicle, and inferted in the 3d volume of the Speftator. — This happy 
 lover (fuppoiing the ftory to be true) feems to have poirefTed a 
 heart not unworthy of fo enchanting a miftrefs, and to have re- 
 turned her afFedlion with the moft faithful attachment ; for there 
 is a letter of iEginhard's ftill extant, lafnenting the death of his 
 wife, which is written in the tendereft ftrain of connubial afflic-- 
 tion — it does not however exprefs that this lady was the affec- 
 tionate Princefs, and indeed fome late critics have proved, that 
 
 Imma was not the daughter of Charlemain. But to return to our 
 
 Hiftorian. — He was a native of Germany, and educated by the mu- 
 nificence of his imperial mailer, of which he has left the rfioft 
 grateful teftimony in his Preface to the Life of that Monarch — 
 the pafTage may ferve to fliew both the amiable mind of the 
 Hiftorian, and the elegance of his ftyle, confidering the age in 
 which he wrote : — Suberat & alia non irrationabilis, ut opinor 
 caufa, qus vel fola fufficere poflet, ut me ad hfec fcribenda com- 
 pelleretj nutrimentum videlicet in me impenfum, 6c perpetua, . 
 poftquam in aula ejus converfari ccepi, cum ipfo ac liberis ejus 
 amicitia, qua me ita fibi devinxit, debitoremque tam vivo quam 
 mortuo conftituit J ut merito ingratus videri & judicari polTem, fi 
 tot beneficiorum in me collatorum immemor clariffima & illuftrif- 
 lima hominis optime de me meritt gefta iilentiopriEterirem : pate- 
 rerque vitam ejus quafi qui nunquam vixerit fme literis ac debita- 
 laude manere ; cui fcribcnds atque explicandse non meum ingenio-- 
 lum, quod exile &. parvum imo nullum pene eJi, .fed Tullianam^ 
 
 ppr 
 
no NOTES TO THE 
 
 par erat defudare facundiam. — The terms in which he fpeaks of 
 Charlemain's being unable to write are as follow : — Tentabat & 
 fcribere fabulafque & codicellos ad hoc in ledtulo fub cervicalibus 
 circumferre folebat, ut cum vacuum tempus eflet, manum effigiun- 
 dis Uteris afTuefaceret. Sed parum profpere fucceffit labor pras- 
 pofterus, ac fero inchoatus. — ^ginhard, after the lofs of his la- 
 mented wife, is fuppofed to have pafTed the remainder of his days 
 in religious retirement, and to have died foon after the year 840. — 
 His Life of Charlemain, his Annals from 741 to 829, and his Let- 
 ters, are all inferted in the 2d volume of Duchefne's Scriptores Fran- 
 corum. But there is an improved edition of this valuable Hifto- 
 rian, with the Annotations of Hermann Schmincke, ia Quarto 
 1711. 
 
 NOTE VI. Verse 79. 
 
 If BrifiJJj Geoffrey fill d his motley page 
 
 With Merlin s fpells and Uther's amorous rage.'\ The firft of the 
 two excellent diflertations prefixed to Mr. Warton's Hiftory of 
 Englilh Poetry, gives the moft perfect account of this famous old 
 Chronicler and his whimfical performance. — *' About the year 
 1 100, Gualter, Archdeacon of Oxford, a learned man, and a dili- 
 gent collecflor of Hiflories, travelling through France, procured 
 in Armorica an antient Chronicle, written in the Britifh or Armo- 
 rican language, entitled, Brut-y-Brenhined, or the Hiftory of the 
 Kings of Britain. This book he brought into England, and com- 
 municated it to Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welfh Benedidline 
 Monk, an elegant writer of Latin, and admirably (killed in the 
 Britifh tongue. Geoffrey, at the requefl: and recommendation of 
 Gualter the Archdeacon, tranflated this Britifli Chronicle into 
 Latin, executing the Tranflation with a tolerable degree of purity, 
 and great fidelity, yet not without fome interpolations. — It was 
 probably finifhed after the year 1 138." — " The fimple fubjedl of this 
 Chronicle, diverted of its romantic embellifliments, is a deduftion 
 
 of 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. m 
 
 ofthe Welfli Princes from the Trojan Brutus to Cadwallader, who 
 reigned in the feventh century." To this extradt from Mr. War- 
 ton, it may be proper to add a concife account of that romantic 
 embeniflim°nt, to which I have particularly alluded ; — Uther Pen- 
 dragon, at the feftival of his coronation, falls in love with Igerna, 
 the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall j and being prevented from 
 purfuing his- addreffes by the vigilance of the huftand, he applies 
 to the magical power of Merlin for the completion of his defire. — 
 This he obtains by being transformed into the perfon of Gorlois, 
 and thus introducing himfelf to the deluded Igerna, as Jupiter vi- 
 fited Alcmena, he gives birth to the celebrated Arthur. — Manfit 
 itaque rex ea nofte cum Igerna & fcCe defiderata venere refecit. De- 
 ceperat namque illam falfa fpecies quam affumpferat : deceperat 
 etiam fidlitiis fermonibus, quos ornate componebat . . . unde ipfa 
 credula nihil quod pofcebatur abnegavit. Concepit itaque eadem 
 node celeberrimum ilium Arthurum, qui poftmodum ut Celebris 
 eflet, mira probitate promeruit. 
 
 Galfridus Moji. Lib. vi. cap. 2.. 
 
 NOTE VII. Verse 83. 
 
 Tet Life's greaf drama, and the Deeds of men. 
 
 Sage Monk of Malm'Jbiiry! engagd thy pen.] William, furnamed 
 of Malmefbury from being a member of that church, was a native 
 of Somerfetfliire, and is fuppofed to have received his education at 
 Oxford: He is juftly called, by almoft every writer on Englifh, 
 Hiftory,.the moft liberal and judicious of all our monaftic Hillo- 
 rians. His principal work is a Hiftory of our Kings, from the 
 arrival of the Saxons to the 20th year of Henry the Firft. This 
 was followed by two books of later Hiitory, which clofe with the 
 celebrated efcape of the Emprefs Matilda from the Caftle of Ox- 
 ford, 1142.. Thefe works are both addreffed to that munificent 
 patron of merit, Robert Earl of Gloucefter, natural fon of Henry 
 the Firft, who was perhaps the mofl exalted and accomplifhed cha- 
 
 ^ rader. 
 
112 NOTES TO THE 
 
 rafter, that ever flonrifhcd in fo barbarous an age. The Hiflorlan 
 ipcaks of his noble friend with all the limplicity of truth, and all 
 the warmth of virtuous admiration. He died, according to Pitts, 
 in 1 143, three years before his generous patron; and this is pro- 
 bable, from his not purfuing his Iliftory, which he intimates a de- 
 fign of refuming. — Yet there is a paffage preferved in Tanner, from 
 the Preface to his Comments on Jeremiah, which fcems to prove, 
 that he lived to a later period, fmce he mentions his hirtorical 
 works as the produiflion of his younger days, and fpeaks of his age 
 as devoted to religious compofition. Eefides his four books de gefbis 
 Pontilicum Anglorum, he wrote many works of the fime pious 
 ■turn, which the curious reader may fee enumerated in Tanner's 
 JSibliotheca. 
 
 NOTE VIII. Verse 117. 
 
 Mild Abulfeda ! ivhofe rich merits claim 
 
 No Jingle ivreath of literary Jame.'j Ifmael Abulfeda, defcended 
 from a brother of the great Saladin, and Prince of Hamah, a city of 
 Syria, was born at Damafcus, in the year of the Hegira 672, or ac- 
 cording to the Chriftian a;ra 1273. His youth was devoted to the 
 toils of martial life, and he feems to have been a brave and accom- 
 pliflied foldier, though his literary fame has eclipfed his military 
 reputation. — The turbulent ftate of his country prevented his efta- 
 blifliment in his hereditary dominion till the year 710, when the 
 poflcfiion of it was fccured to him by the afTiftance of Al Malec Al 
 Nafer, fultan of ^Egypt, from whom he afterwards recoivcd the 
 higheft honours ; of which his gratitude has left the following par- 
 ticular defcription, inferted by the learned Schultens, in his Preface 
 to the Life of Saladin, as it gives great luftre to the character of our 
 royal Hiftorian. 
 
 " Hamata degreffum equis veredariis fine ullo jumento, inftru- 
 
 mentove itineris prolixiflima gratia cumulavit Sultanus, atquemuni- 
 
 ficentiam fuam fummo gradu erga me explicuit, mittendis variis 
 
 7 veftibus 
 
S 2^ C O N D EPISTLE. /j-f^ 
 
 veftibitP, eqtiis, veaabulis, edulii?, mihique peculiare taberna- 
 culuni ftatuendo, quod copiofe adornatum erat veflc ftragula, 
 tapetibufquead Ibmniim, ad cibum capiendum, fci-vorumque pe- 
 culiari t-iirba mihi affignata. Cum hilte omnibus baud ceflabant 
 mag'nifiGa 'V^eftimenta, diverfifilmi generis, ad me mrfTitata, ut iis 
 publice condecorarem quos collibuilfet. Sultanus interea lono-um 
 in redeundo domum itei- fallebat venatione dorcadum per accipitres, 
 me quoque fuaViter animum obleiflante inter effulas ejus in mc 
 gratias ; dum ad me idciitidem de captura fua caprcolos fubmittebat, 
 Diredum quoque ad me, dum iter faceremus, diploma ejus, quo fig- 
 nificabat, te ego fultanum conftituam, flatim ac in /Egyptum per- 
 venero : atque ad regionem tuam remeabis hoc titulo prsefulgens. 
 'Egb vero excufationem ipetere tanti honoris, eumque deprecari, 
 qu'in et dolorem inde percipere, memet ipfum abjiciendo, fplen- 
 didiulque pra^dicando nomen ejus celfum, quam ut illius quifquana 
 confors ac particeps redderetur. Pro incerto itaque relidlum illud 
 
 negotlum, donee iedem regni fui attigilTct Ibi dum 
 
 commoror, fultani mandate ad me perveriiiint inlignia fultanatus, 
 principefque miniftrorum viginti circiter • ^'apportantes reaalem 
 veftem ferieam confummatiflimam, auro intertextam, et acinacem 
 fultanicum, et imperiale ephippium auro illufum ^Egyptio, diplo- 
 ma item, fultanatus dignitatem mihi deferens, una cum Ilipatoribus 
 fultanicis ad frsnum tenendum, felicbdarioque farmiQ:^ero) cujus ex 
 humeris duo gladii dependebant, apparitoribufque iultanicis, qui 
 equum generofum adducebant apparatilhme ornatum-eum eo-o con- 
 icendi mane diei Jovis, declmo et feptimo Muharremi, pra;ceden- 
 tibus ad dimidium vias principibus ; vedli dein, omnes iterum ad 
 pedes defcenderunt quum propinquaffem arci montis (paJatlo rcris 
 JEgypti) ego vero' in equo perrexi, donee perveherer prope portam 
 arcis, ubi ad pedes degreffus, terram in honorem fultani deofculatus 
 fum, arcem verfus, atque diplomati quoque celfiffimo ofculum fixi : 
 terram deinde iterum iterumque deofculatus efcendi in arcem, atque 
 ^raefentem me ftiti fultano, illuftri jam ac proveiflo die : ubi denuo 
 terram cfculatus fum : at ille me ea cumulavit gratia, quam ne 
 
 Q^ pater 
 
11^ NOTES TO THE 
 
 pater quidem filio fuo exhibet; mihique inter hsec Hamatam remeare 
 niandavit, Heus tu, inquiens, longum jam abfens revertere ad re- 
 gionem tuam." Thus inverted with the title of Sultan, Abulfeda 
 returned, in all his fplendor, to his paternal dominion, where he 
 clofed an honourable life at the age of fixty, in 733, thirteen years 
 after this magnificent ceremony. — He is faid to have been highly 
 ikilled in medicine, philofophy, and poetry; but his fame as an 
 author, is chiefly founded on his hiftorical and geographical pro- 
 du(5lions; and thcfe, notwithdanding their acknowledged merit, 
 have appeared only in feledled fragments — fo pitiful and precarious 
 has been the encouragement, which the moft: liberal nations of 
 Europe have beftowed on oriental literature, that defigns of pub- 
 lishing a complete edition of Abulfeda's geography have been fuf>- 
 fered to fail both in France and England — the honour of doing 
 juflice to this illuftrious author feems to be referved for Germany, 
 where the learned Michaelis has lately publiflied his defcription of 
 Egypt, and intimates an intention of printing the other parts of this 
 author— of his general Hiftory, which he brought down to, the 
 latter years of his own life, different portions have been given to the 
 public by different editors — his account of Mahomet, by Gagnier, 
 printed at Oxford in folio, 1723; his Hiftory of the Arabian Ca- 
 liphs, to the year of the Hegira 406, by Reiike, printed at Leipfic 
 1754; and his narrative of all the circumftances relating to the 
 great Saladin has been very properly annexed by Schultens to Bohad- 
 din's Life of that monarch. Abulfeda, in this portion of his Hiftory, 
 feems to dwell on the great charader of Saladin with that ingenuous 
 pride, which a generous mind muft naturally feel in fpeaking of fo 
 noble an anceftor — he relates fome anecdotes of that prince, not 
 mentioned by his Biographer, highly exprelTive of his animated and 
 affedlionate fpirit j particularly a letter written immediately after 
 the fevere defeat, which obliged him to fly from Afcalon into the 
 deferts of Egypt -, it was addrefled to his brother, who commanded 
 at Damafcus, and opened with a quotation from an Arabian poet 
 to this effeil ; 
 
 ^ry 
 
SECOND EPISTLE* 115 
 
 My foul remembers thee with fond delight, 
 Amidft the horrors of the adverfe fight. 
 When hoftile Larces drink the gory flood. 
 And fatiate in our veins their thirft of blood. 
 
 In his account of the gentle difpofition and refined manners of 
 Saladin, he perfeftly agrees with the Biographer of that monarch — 
 The generous Abulfeda, fo liberal in commemorating the merit of 
 others, has not himfelf wanted an encomiaft ; for, according to 
 Herbelot, his eulogy is contained in the works of an oriental Poet, 
 whofe name is Nobatah, and whofe compofitions may be found in 
 the king of France's library. 
 
 NOTE IX. Verse 123. 
 
 j^nd with that vi£lims blood his fahre fiairiy 
 
 Who dard to 'write the annals of his reign /] I am unable to 
 difcover the name of this inhuman Prince, or that of his un- 
 fortunate Hiftorian; but the fadl is related on the authority 
 of an Arabic writer, named Nouari, by M. Cardonne, in the 
 Preface to his Hifloire de I'Afrique et de I'Efpagne fous la Domi- 
 nation des Arabes. His words are " Nouari rapporte, que les Sul- 
 " tans de la dynaftie des Almohades defendirent, fous peine de la 
 " vie, d'ecrire les Annales de leur regne, et qu'un Prince de cette 
 " maifon fit perir un Auteur, pour avoir enfraint cette loi." As 
 the Princes of this dynafty exerted their power both in Africa and 
 Spain, this fingular execution might happen in either country — I 
 have ventured to fuppofe it in Spain, for poetical reafons, which 
 will occur to the Reader. 
 
 CL2 NOTE 
 
nd .NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE X. Verse 127. 
 
 ''There Corduba, in hours of happier fate. 
 
 Sublimely rofe in academic Jiate."] The Univerfity of Corduba 
 was founded by Al Hakeni the Second, who died in the 336th 
 year of the Hegira, after a reign of fifteen years and five 
 months. He was the fon and fuccelTor of the magnificent 
 Abdelrahman the Third, who in a long and profperous life 
 had given lability and fplendor to the Moorilh empire in 
 Spain. It is remarkable, that many of thefe Arab Princes were 
 jiot only protedlors of literature, but often diftinguiflied themfelves 
 by poetical compofition. Nor were the Moorifli Ladies left eager 
 to cultivate the moft elegant of mental accomplifliments : Valada, 
 or Valada ta, the daughter of the Prince who founded the Univer- 
 fity, was no lefs celebrated for her poetical talents, than for her 
 fingular beauty and exalted birth. She beftowed her protei!tion on 
 that feat of learning, which owed its rife to the liberality of her 
 father; and the principal poets of the time are faid to have formed 
 her favourite fociety. 
 
 The Bibliotheca Arabico-Hifpana of Cafiri, from whence I have 
 drawn thefe particulars, contains alfo a lift of many female poets, 
 who reflecfted honour an their native city of Corduba. One of the 
 mo-ft eminent among thefe, was a Lady diftinguifhed by the name 
 of Aifcha Bent, whofe compofitions, both in profe and verfe, were 
 publicly recited in the Academy with univerfal apphufe ; and Avho 
 clofed (fays my Author) a fingle and chafte life, in the year of the* 
 Hegira 400, leaving many monuments of her own genius, as well 
 as a rich and well-chofen library. 
 
 NOTE XL Verse 147. 
 
 Thy warm Bohaddin, with that generous zeal. 
 Which no baj'e Jons of Adulation feel. ^ Bohaddin, or Bohadin (for 
 
 liis 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. n 
 
 / 
 
 his name is varioufly written) is conjedlured by Schultens, his 
 learned Tranflator, to have been an Affyrian by birth, and a native 
 of Molula, the metropolis of Mefopotamia ; from whence, before 
 he entered into the fervice of Saladin, he was fent embalfador, as 
 he himfelf relates, to the Caliph of Bagdad. — He feems to have 
 been principally indebted to his talents as an Hiftorian, for the 
 protedlion and favour of that engaging hero, whofe confidence he 
 afterwards obtained, and whafe fplendid chara6ler he has fo warmly 
 celebrated: For as he was returning from Mecca to Mofula, he 
 embraced an opportunity of prefenting to Saladin an account of 
 the holy war, as he terms it, which he had drawn up, as he ftopt 
 at Damafcus in the courfe of his pilgrimage, and in which he had 
 defcribed the adminiftration and difcipline of that monarch. He 
 affirms^ that the Sultan perufed his work with infinite fatisfadion, 
 and expreffed the moft eager defire to engage him in his fervice. — 
 The grateful Hiftorian was no lefs inclined to devote himfelf to his 
 generous and enthufiaftic patron : — From this period he feems to 
 have been a favourite companion of his warlike mafter j to have 
 fhared many of his dangers, as well as his moft fecret counfels ; and 
 to have ferved him with a moft zealous and aftedionate attach- 
 ment, to the hour of his death — an event, of which he fpeaks 
 with the aft'edting fimplicity of real forrow. In mentioning the 
 oriental cuftom of waihing the body of the deceafed, he records 
 the name of the minifter who performed the ceremony ; and adds, 
 that he had himfelf engaged in this mournful office, but was obliged 
 
 to retire, on feeling himfelf unequal to fo painful a fcene.' The 
 
 work of this interefting Biographer is divided into two parts; the 
 firft exhibits a general character of the hero, with particular ex- 
 amples of his various virtues and endowments j the fecond gives a 
 chronological account of his adventures, from his firft expedition 
 into Egypt to the clofe of his life ; but pafting lightly over his 
 other exploits, dwells chiefly on the tranfaclions of the holy war; 
 and difcovers fuch marks of religious zeal, that Schultens very 
 ihrewdly fuppofes the a\ithor to have been a prieft, from the manner 
 
 m 
 
II! 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 in wliich he lavtfhes his maledidions : it is juft-, however, to ob" 
 Icrvc, that he fpeiiks very liberally on the martial merit of his 
 Chrillian enemies ; and there is one pafTugc in his hiilory, in which 
 he pays a very plcafmg and pathetic compliment to the univerfal 
 philanthropy of the Sultan ; it is in relating an anecdote, which 
 affords fo interefling a pidlure, that I cannot help prefenting it to 
 my reader : 
 
 In the army of Saladin there were fome dexterous robbers, who 
 
 uled to penetrate by night into the camp of the Cbriftians, and 
 
 prefent to the Sultan on their return fuch booty as they had been 
 
 able to bring off, which he beflowed upon them, as a reward of their 
 
 valour. In one of their nightly excurfions they happened to feize 
 
 an infant of three months ; the mother, robbed of her little one, 
 
 fpent the night in the moft bitter lamentations, and related her 
 
 misfortune to the Chriflian leaders : — They anfwered ; The Sultan 
 
 is compaffionate, and we therefore give you permiflion to depart, 
 
 and petition him for your child, which he will certainly reflore.— 
 
 Approaching our guard, flie relates her flory, and implores their 
 
 afiillancc: They give her accefs to the Sultan, to whom, as he was 
 
 riding, attended by myfelf and others, (he prefented herfelf bathed 
 
 in tears, and proftrate in the duft. He enquires the caufe of her 
 
 afflidlion : — flie repeats her ftory : — the Sultan is moved even to 
 
 tears, and orders the child to be produced — on finding that it had 
 
 been publicly fold, he commands it to be redeemed j and refled not 
 
 till he faw the infant delivered to its mother — receiving it with a 
 
 profufion of tears, fhe prefl it to her bofom — the furrounding fpedla- 
 
 tors (and I happened to be nmong "them) wept with her — (he then 
 
 eave her breall to the infant j after which the Sultan direded her to 
 
 be feated on horfeback with her little one, and fafely efcorted to 
 
 her own quarters. Confider (exclaims the affedionate and religious 
 
 Hillorian) this example of univerfal benevolence ! Such, O God ! 
 
 haft thou created this merciful fovercign, to appear mofl worthy 
 
 of thy own infinite mercy.— Confider this teflimony, which even 
 
 his 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. ri^ 
 
 his enemies have borne of hi? companionate and generous difpo- 
 
 fttion ! BOHAD. SCHULTENS, Pagei62. 
 
 NOTE Xir. Verse 194, 
 
 A faithful Chronicler in plain Froijart.'] John Frolflart, Canon 
 and Treafurer of the collegiate church of Chimay, in Henault, was 
 born at Valenciennes, a city of that province, in I337> according to 
 the conjedure of that elaborate and ingenious antiquarian Mr. dc 
 St. Palaye ; who has amply illuflrated the Life and Writings of 
 this engaging Hiflorian, in a feries of differtations among the Me- 
 moirs of the French Academy, Vol. X. XIII. XIV. — ::t. Palaye 
 imagines, from a paflage in the MS Poems of Froiflart, that his fa- 
 ther was a painter of Armories : — and it is certain the Hiflorian 
 difcovers a paflion for all the pomp and all the minutias of heraldry : 
 it was indeed the favourite ftudy of that martial age; and FroifTart, 
 more the prieil of gallantry than of religion, devoted himfelf en- 
 tirely to the celebration of love and war. — At the age of 20, he 
 began to write Hiftory, at the requeft de fon cher Seigneur & Maitre 
 MeJJire Robert de Namur, Chevalier Seigneur de Beaufort. 
 —The anguifh of unfucccfsful love drove him early into England, 
 and his firft voyage feems a kind of emblem of his future life ; for 
 he failed hither in a ilorm, yet continued writing a rondeau in 
 fpite of the tempeft, till he found himfelf on that coaft, ou Ton 
 aime mieux la guerre, que la paix, & ou les eftrangers font tres- 
 bien venus, as he faid of our country in his verfcs, and happily ex- 
 perienced in his kind reception at court, where Philippa of Henault, 
 the Queen of Edward the Third, and a Patronefs of learning, dif- 
 tinguifhed the young Hiftorian, her countryman, by the kindeft 
 protedtion j and, finding that love had rendered him unhappy, fup- 
 plied him with money and with horfes, that he might prefent him- 
 felf with every advantage before the objecfl of his paffion. — Love 
 foon efcorted him to his miftrefs— 'but his addreffes v/ere again un- 
 fucccfsful; and, taking a fecond voyage to England, he became 
 9 Secretary 
 
120 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Secretary to his royal patronefs Philippa, in 1361, after having pre- 
 lented to her Ibme portion of iiis Hillory. — He continued five years 
 in her fervice, entertaining her majelly de beaux dtciwz & traiSlez 
 iimourcux: in this period he paid a vifit to Scotland, and was enter- 
 tained I 5 days by William Earl Douglas. — In j 366, when Edward 
 the Black Prince was preparing for the war in Spain, Froiflart was 
 with him in Gafcony, and hoped to attend him during the whole 
 courfe of that important expedition : — but the Prince fent him back 
 to the Queen his mother. — Ho continued not long in England, as 
 he vifited many of the Italian courts in the following year, and 
 during his travels fuftained the irreparable lofs of that patronefs, 
 to whofe bounty he had been fo much indebted. — Philippa died 
 1 369, and FroifTart is reported to have written the life of his amiable 
 protedlrefs ; but of this performance the refearches of St. Palaye 
 could difcover no trace. 
 
 After this event, he retired to his own country, and obtained the 
 benefice of Leftines, in the diocefe of Cambray. — But the cure of 
 fouls was an office little fu.tcd to the gay and gallant Froillart. — 
 His genius led him liill to travel from caftle to caflle, and from 
 court" to court, to ufe the words of Mr. Warton, who has made 
 occafional mention of our author, in his elegant HLftory of Englilh 
 Poetry. — Froilfart now entered into the fervice of the Duke of Bra- 
 bant ; and, as that Prince was himfelf a poet, Froifiart colleded all 
 the compcfifions of his mall:cr, and adding fomeof his own, formed 
 a kind of romance, which he calls 
 
 Un Livre de Meliador 
 
 Lc Chevalier au foleil d'or, 
 
 iind of which, in one of his later poems, he gives the following ac- 
 count ; 
 
 Dedans ce Roinant font enclofes 
 Toutes les chancons que jadis. 
 
 Dont 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. I2i 
 
 Dont Tame foit en paradis. 
 Que fit le bon Due de Braibant, 
 Wincelaus, dont on parla tantj 
 Car un prince fu amorous. 
 Gracious & chevalerous, 
 Et le livre me fit ja faire. 
 Par tres grant amoureus a faire, 
 Coment qu'il ne le veift oncques. 
 
 . The Duke died in 1384, before this work was completed ; and 
 FroilBrt foon found a new patron in Guy earl of Blois, on the 
 inarri^ge-ofwhofeSon he wrote a Paftoral, entitled Le Temple 
 d'Honueur.^The earl having requefted him to reiume his Hiftory, 
 ■he travelled for that i-.^rpofe to the celebrated court of Gaflon earl 
 of Foix, whofe high reputation for every knightly virtue attrafted 
 to his reudence at Orlaix, thofe martial adventurers, from whole 
 mouth it was the delight of Froiilart to colledt the materials of his 
 Hiftory.— The courteous Gafton gave him the mod flattering recep- 
 tion • he faid to him with a fmile (& en bon Fran9ois) " qu'il le 
 connoiffoit bien, quoyqu'il ne I'euft jamais veu, mais qu'il avoit 
 bien oui parler de luy, & le retint de fon hoftel."-It became a fa- 
 vourite amufement of the Earl, to hear Froiflart read his Romance 
 of Meliador after fupper.— He attended in the caftle every night at 
 12, when the Earl fate down to table, liftened to him with ex- 
 treme attention, and never difmlffed him, till he had made him 
 vuider tout ce qui eftoit refte du vin de fa bouche.— Froiffart 
 gained much information here, not only from his patron, who was 
 himfelf very communicative, but from various Knights of Arragon 
 and England, in the retinue of the Duke of Lancafter, who then 
 refided at Bourdeaux.— After a long refidence in this brilliant court, 
 and after receiving a prefent from the liberal Gallon, which he 
 mentions in the following verfes : 
 
 R Je 
 
122 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Je pris cong^ & 11 bons Contes 
 Me fit par fa chambre des comptes 
 Delivrer quatrevins florins 
 D'Arragon, tous pefans 6c fins 
 Et mon livre, qu'il m'ot laifie. 
 
 Frohrart departed in the train of the Countefs of Boulogne, related 
 to the earl of Foix, and juft leaving him, to join her new hufband 
 the Duke of Berry. — In this expedition our Hiftorian was robbed 
 near Avignon, and laments the unlucky adventure in a very long 
 poem, from which Mr. de St. Palaye has drawn many particulars 
 of his life. The ground- work of this poem (which is not in the 
 lift of our Authors poetical pieces, that Mr. Warton has given us 
 from Pafquier) feems to have a ftrong vein of humour. — It is a 
 dialogue between the Poet and the fingle Florin that he has left 
 out of the many which he had either fpent, or been obliged to fur- 
 render to the robbers. — He reprefents himfelf as a man of the moft 
 expenfive turn : in 25 years he had fquandered two thoufand franks, 
 befides his ecclefiaftical revenues. The compofition of his works 
 had coft him 700 j but he regretted not this fum, as he expected to 
 be amply repaid for it by the praife of pofterity. 
 
 After having attended all the feftivals on the marriage of the 
 Duke of Berry, having traverfed many parts of France, and paid a 
 vifit to Zeland, he returned to his own country in 1390, to continue 
 his Hiftory from the various materials he had colledled. — But not 
 fatisfied with the relations he had heard of the war in Spain, he 
 went to Middlebourgh in Zeland, in purfuit of a Portugueze Knight, 
 Jean Ferrand Portelet, vaillant homme &c fage, & du Confeil du Roy 
 de Portug.il. From this accompliOied foldier Froiilart expedled. 
 the moft perfeft information, ias an ocular witnefs of thofe fcenes, 
 which he now wiftied to record. — The courteous Portelet received 
 our indefatigable Hiftorian with all the kindnefs which his en- 
 thufiafm defcrvcd, and in fix days, which they paffed together, gave 
 him all the intelligence he defired. — Froifiart now returned home, 
 
 and 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 123 
 
 and finlflied the third book of his Hiftory. — Many years had part: 
 fince he had bid adieu to England : taking advantage of the truce 
 then eftabliflied between France and that country, he paid it ano- 
 ther vifit in 1395, with letters of recommendation to the King and 
 his uncles.— From Dover he proceeded to Canterbury, to pay his 
 devoirs at the fhrine of Thomas of Becket, and to the memory of 
 the Black Prince. — Here he happened to find the fon of that hero, 
 the young King Richard, whom devotion had alfo brought to make 
 his offerings to the fafhionable Saint, and return thanks to Heaven 
 for his fucceffes in Ireland. — Froiffart fpeaks of this adventure, 
 and his own feelings on the great change of fcene that had taken 
 place fince his laft vifit to England, in the following natural and 
 lively terms : — Le Roy . . . vint . . a trez grant arroy, et bien accom-> 
 paignede feignneurs, de dames et demoifelles, et me mis entre eulx, 
 & entre elles, et tout me fembla nouvel, ne je ny congnoiffove 
 perfonne ; car le tems eftoit bien change en Angleterre depuis le 
 terns de vingt & huyt ans : et en la compagnie du roy n'avoit 
 nuls de fes oncles , . . . fi fus du premier ainfi que tout efbahy . . , 
 Tho' Froiffart was thus embarraffed in not finding one of his old 
 friends in the retinue of the King, he foon gained a new Patron in 
 Thomas Percy, Mafter of the Houfehold, who offered to prefent 
 him and his letters to Richard ; but this offer happening on the 
 eve of the King's departure, it proved too late for the ceremony— 
 Le Roy eftoit retrait pour allerdormir. — And on the morrow, when 
 the impatient Hiflorian attended early at the Archbifhop's palace, 
 where the King flept, his friend Percy advifed him to wait a more 
 convenient feafon for being introduced to Richard. — Froiffart ac-- 
 quiefced in this advice, and was confoled for his difappointment 
 by falling into company with an Englifli Knight, who had attended 
 the King in Ireland, and was very willing to gratify the curiofity 
 of the Hifiiorian by a relation of his adventures. — This was Wil- 
 liam de Lifle, who entertained him, as they rode along together, 
 with the marvels of St. Patrick's Cave, in which he afiured him he 
 had paffed a night, and feen wonderful vifions. — Though our ho- 
 
 R 2 nefi: 
 
124 NOTES TO THE 
 
 neft Chronicler is commonly accufed of a paffion for the marvel- 
 lous, with an excefs of credulity, he fays very fenfibly on this oc- 
 cafion, de cette matiere je ne luy parlay plus avant, et m'en ceffay, 
 car voulentiers je luy eulTe demande du voyage d'Irlande, et luy eu 
 voulaye parler, et mettre en voye. — It appears plainly from this 
 paiTage, that our Hiftorian was more anxious to gain information 
 concerning the fcenes of real a(flion, than to lillen to tlie extrava- 
 gant ficflions of a popular legend. — But here he was. again difap- 
 pointed. — New companions joined them on the road, and their 
 hiftorical conference was thus interrupted. — Thefe mortifications 
 were foon repaid by the kind reception he met with from the 
 Duke of York, who faid to him, when he received the recom- 
 mendatory letter from the Earl of Henault, " Maiflrc Jehan tenez 
 vous toujours deles nous, & nos gens, nous vous ferons tout 
 amour & courtoifie, nous y fommes tenus pour Tamour du tcms 
 pafle & de notre dame de mere a qui vous futes ;. nous en avons 
 bien la fouvenance." — With thefe fl.ittering marks of remembrance 
 and favour the Duke prefented him to the King, lequel me recent 
 joyeufement et doulccment (continues Froiflart) . . et ne dift que. 
 je fufle le bien venus et fi j 'a voye efte de I'hoftel du Roy fon Ayeul 
 & de Madame fon Ayeule encores eftoys je de Thoftel d'Angleterre. 
 
 Some time however elapfed, before he had an opportunity 
 
 of prefenting his romance of Mcliador, which he had prepared for 
 the King, — The Duke of York and his other friends at length ob- 
 tained for him this honour : He gives the following curious and' 
 particular account of the ceremony : et voulut veoir le Roy mon 
 livre, que je luy avoye apport^. Si le vit en fa chambre : car tout 
 pourveu je I'avoye, et luy mis fur fon lift. Et Tors it I'ouvrit et 
 regarda dedans, et luy pleut tres grandement. Et plaire bien luy 
 devoit : car il eftoit enlumine, cfcrit et Hiftorie, & convert de 
 vermeil veloux a dix cloux d'argent dorez d'or et rofes d'or ou 
 meillicu a deux gros fermaulx dorez et richement ouvrez ou meil- 
 lieu rofiers d'or. Adonc me demanda le Roy de quoy il tr.uiftoit : 
 et je luy dis d'amours. De celle refponce fut tout resjouy, et re- 
 5 garda 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 125 
 
 garda dedans le livre en plufieurs lieux, et ylyfit, car moult bien 
 parloit et lyfoit Fran^oys, et puis le fift prendre par ung fien 
 Chevalier, qui fe nomme Meffire Richard Credon, et porter en 
 fa chambre de retrait dont il me fifl: bonne chei-e. 
 
 After pafling three months in this court, Froifll^rt took his leave 
 of the munificent but ill-fated Richard. In the lafl: chapter of his 
 Hiltory, where he mentions the unfortunate end of this Monarch, 
 he fpeaks v^^ith an honeft and affedting gratitude of the liberal pre- 
 fent he received from him on his departure from England. — It was 
 a goblet of filver gilt, weighing two marks, and filled with a hun- 
 dred nobles. 
 
 On leaving England, he retired to his own country, and is fup- 
 pofed to have ended his days at his benefice of Chimay, but the 
 year of his death is uncertain. — There is an antient tradition in 
 the country, fays Mr. de Saint Palaye, that he was buried in tho 
 chapel of St. Anne,, belonging to his own church. — That ingeni- 
 ous antiquarian produces an extradt from its archives, in which the 
 death of Froifilirt is recorded, but without naming the year, in the. 
 mofl honourable terms. — His obit bears the date of Odlober, and 
 is followed by 20 Latin verfes, from which I feledl fuch as appear. 
 to me the mofl: worth tranfcribing. 
 
 Gallorum fubllmis honos, 6c fama tuorum. 
 
 Hie FroilTarde jaces, fi modo forte jaces. 
 Hiftorie vivus ftuduifti reddere vitam, 
 
 Defundto vitam reddet at ilia tibi. 
 Proxima dum propriis fiorebit Francia fcriptis, 
 
 * Famia dum ramos, * Blancaque fundet aquas, 
 Urbis ut hujus honos, templi fie fama vigebis, 
 
 Teque ducem Hiftorie Gallia tota colet, 
 Belgica tota colet, Cymeaque vallis amabit, 
 
 Dum rapidus proprios Scaldis obibit agros> 
 
 * • A foreft and a river near Chimay, 
 
 As 
 
126 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 As I have never met with any fatisfadlory account of Froiflart's 
 life in our language, I have been tempted to fwell this Note to an 
 inordinate length ; yet it feems to me fl:ill neceflary to add a few 
 lines more concerning the charadler both of the Hiftorian and the 
 Poet. — A long feries of French Critics, to whom even the judicious 
 Bayle has been tempted to give credit, havefeverelycenfured Froifllirt, 
 as the venal partizan of the Englifh, and they have accufed his lail 
 Editor, Sauvage, of mutilating his author, becaufe they could find 
 in his edition no proofs of their charge. — The amiable St. Palaye 
 has defended le bon FroifTart, as he is called by honefl: Montaigne, 
 from this unjufl: accufation, and done full juftice at the fame time 
 to the injured reputation of his exadt and laborious editor. 
 
 It may ferve as a kind of memento mori to poetical vanity to 
 refle<5l, that Froifllirt is hardly known as a Poet, though his fer- 
 tile pen produced 30,000 verfes, which were once the delight of 
 Princes, and the fav^ourite ftudy of the gallant and the fair. — How 
 far he deferved the oblivion, into which his poetical compofitions 
 have fallen, the reader may conceive from the following judgment 
 of his French Critic ; with whofe ingenious reflection on the im- 
 perfecflions attending the early flate both of Poetry and Painting, 
 I fliall terminate this Note. 
 
 On peut dire en general au fujet dcs Poefies de Froifl'art, que 
 I'invention pour les fujets lui manquoit autant que I'imagination 
 pour les ornemens ; du refte le ftyle qu'il employe, moins abon- 
 dant que diffus, offre fouvent la repetition ennuyeufe des memes 
 tours, & des memes phrafes, pour rendre des idees afl'ez co.iimu- 
 nes : cependant la fimplicitc et la liberte de fa verfification ne 
 font pas toLiiours depourvues de graces, on y rencontre de terns en 
 tems quelqucs images 6c plufieurs vers de fuite dont I'exprtflion 
 eft affez heureufc. 
 
 Tel etoit alors I'etat de notre Poefie Fran^oife, et le fort de la 
 Peinture ctoit a peu pres le meme. Ces deux arts que Ton a 
 toujours coniparez enfcmble paroiflent avoir eu une marche prefqu' 
 uniforme dans leur progres. Les Peintres au fortir de la plus 
 
 grofTiere 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 127 
 
 grofliere barbarie, faifillant d'abord en detail tous les petits objets 
 que la nature leur prefentoit, s'attache'rent aux infedtes, aux fleurs, 
 aux oifeaux, les parerent des couleurs les plus vives, les deffine- 
 rent avec une exaditude que nous admi; ons encore dans les vignettes 
 & dans les miniatures des manufcrits ; lorfqu'ils vinrent a repre- 
 i^pter des figures humaines, ils s'etudierent bien plus a terminer 
 les contours & a exprimer jufqu' aux cheveux les plus fins, qua 
 donner de Tame aux vifages & du mouvement aux corps j et ces 
 figures dont la nature la plus commune fourniflbit toujours les 
 modelles, etoient jettees enfemble au hazard, fans choix, fans or- 
 donnance, fans aucun gout de compofition. 
 
 Les Poetes auffi fteriles que les Peintres, bornoient toute leur in- 
 duftrie a fcavoir amener des defcriptions proportionnees a leur ta- 
 lens, et ils ne les quittoient qu'apres les avoir epuifees ; ils ne f9a- 
 vent gueres parler que d'un beau printems, de la verdure des cam- 
 pagnes, de I'email des prairies, du ramage de mille efpeces d'oi- 
 feaux, de la clarte et de la vivacite d'une belle fontaine ou d'un 
 ruifi!eau qui murmure ; quelquefois cependant ils rendent avec 
 naivete les amufemens enfantins des amans, leurs ris, leurs jeux, 
 les palpitations ou la joie d'un coeur amoreux j ils n'imaginent rien 
 au dela, incapable d'ailleurs de donner de la fuite et de la liaifon a 
 leurs idees. 
 
 Notice des Poefies de FroifTart; Memoires de I'Academie, 
 
 Tom. xiv. p. 225. 
 
 NOTE XIII. Verse 242. 
 
 TAy Favour, like the Sun's prolific ray. 
 
 Brought the keen Scribe of Florence into Day.] Nicholas Machiavel, 
 the celebrated Florentine, was firfl patronized by Leo, who caufed 
 one of his comedies to be afted with great magnificence at Rome, 
 and engaged him to write a private Treatife de Reformatione Rei- 
 publiccB Florentinse. His famous political Effay, entitled, " The 
 Prince," was publifhed in 1515, and dedicated to the Nephew of 
 3 that 
 
128 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 that Pontiff. The various judgments that have been paffed on this 
 lingular performance are a ftriking proof of the incertitude of hu- 
 man opinion. — In England it has received applaufe from the great 
 names of Bacon and Clarendon, who fuppofe it intended to pro- 
 niote the intercft of liberty and virtue. In Italy, after many years 
 of approbation, it was publicly condemned by Clement the Vllltl^ 
 at the inftigation of a Jefuit, who had not read the book. In 
 France it has even been fuppofed inilrumental to the horrid 
 maffacreof St. Bartholomew, as the favourite ftudy of Catherine 
 of Medicis and her Sons, and as teaching the bloody leflbns of ex- 
 tirpation, which they fo fatally put in praAice. Yet one of his 
 French Tranflators has gone fo far as to fay, that " Machiavel, 
 who pallcs among all the world for a teacher of Tyranny, detefted 
 it more than any man of the age, in which he lived." It mud 
 however be owned, that there is a great mixture of good and evil in 
 his political precepts. For the latter many plaufible apologies have 
 been made -, and it fliould be remembered to his honour, that his 
 great aim was to promote the welfare of his country, in exciting 
 the Honfe of Medicis to deliver Italy from the invafion of fo- 
 reigners. 
 
 He is faid to have been made Hiftoriographer of Florence, as a 
 reward for having fuffered the torture on fufpicion of confpiring 
 againft the government of that city, having fupported the fevere 
 trial with unfailing refolution. His Hiftory of that republic he 
 wrote at the requell: of Clement the Vllth, as we are infori ed in 
 his Dedication of it to that Pontiff. The ftyle of this work is much 
 celebrated, and the firll Book may be regarded as a model of 
 Hiftorical abridgment. — He died, according to Paul Jovius, in 
 
 1530- 
 
 NOTE XIV. Verse 252. 
 
 Nor kf'y O Leo f was it ib'ine to raife 
 
 T'be great Hiftoric Chief of modern days.'\ Francis Guicciardin, 
 
 born 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 129 
 
 born at Florence 1482, of an antient and noble family, was ap- 
 pointed a ProfefTor of Civil Law in that city at the age of 23. In 
 1 5 12 he was fent Embaflador to Ferdinand King of Arragon j 
 and foon after his return deputed by the Republic to meet Leo 
 the Xth at Cortona, and attend him on his public entry into Flo- 
 rence. — That difcerning Pontiff immediately became his Patron, 
 ahd raifed him to the government of Modena and Reggio. He 
 fucceeded to that of Parma, which he defended with great fpirit 
 againft the French, on the death of Leo. — He rofe to the highefl: 
 honours under Clement the Vllth, having the command of all the 
 ecclefiaflical forces, and being Governor of Romagna, and laftly of 
 Bologna, in which city he is faid to have received the mofl flatter- 
 ing compliments from the Emperor Charles V. — Having gained 
 much reputation, both civil and military, in various fcenes of ac- 
 tive life, he paffed his latter days in retirement, at his villa near 
 Florence, where he died foon after completing his Hiftory, in the 
 59th year of his age, 1540. Notwithftanding the high reputation 
 of Guicciardin, his Hiftory has been violently attacked, both as 
 to matter and ftyle. — The honeft Montaigne inveighs with great 
 warmth againft the malignant turn of its author ; and his own coun- 
 tryman Boccalini, in whofe whimfical but lively work there arc 
 many excellent remarks on Hiftory and Hiflorians, fuppofes a La- 
 cedemonian throv/n into agonies by a fmgle page of Guicciardin, 
 whom he is condemned to read, for having himfelf been guilty of 
 ufing three words inflead of two. The poor Spartan cries for mer- 
 cy, and declares that any tortures are preferable to the prolixity of 
 fuch a Writer. — This celebrated Hiftorian was alfo a Poet. The 
 three following verfes are the beginning of an Epiftle, v/hich he 
 entitled Supplicazione d'ltalia al Chriflianiflimo Re Franccfco I. 
 
 Italia afflitta, nuda, e miferanda, 
 Ch' or de Principl fuoi ftanca ii lagna 
 A Te, Francefco, quefta Carta manda. 
 
 S They 
 
130 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 They are preferved in Crefcimbeni della volgar Pocfia. Vol. v. 
 
 p. 132. 
 
 Among the letters of the elder Taffo, there is a curious one ad- 
 dreffed to Guicciardin, concerning the Doge of Genoa; and the 
 Amori of the fame Poet contain tlie following compliment to the 
 Hiftorian : 
 
 Arno, ben poi il tuo natio foggiorno 
 Lafciar nel Appcnnino, e co criftalli 
 Scendendo per I'alpeflre horride valli 
 Far il Tirrheno mar ricco, ed adorno ; 
 Ben poi di frondc I'uno, e I'altro corno 
 Ginger contento, e di fior bianchi e gialli ; 
 E guidar care, ed amorofe balli 
 Con le tue nimphe al verde fondo intorno ; 
 Che tra quanti intelletti humano velo 
 Chiude ne I'alme al mondo chiare, e conte, 
 Un tuo figlio e maggiore, e piu perfetto. 
 Intaglia il nome fuo uel tuo bel monte 
 Si, che per molti fecoli fia letto 
 Guicciardin poi, ch'ei fia falito in Cielo. 
 
 Amori di Bernardo Tasso, 
 Vinegia 1531, page 52. 
 
 NOTE XV. Verse 262. 
 
 With equal wreath let Davila be crown d.'\ Henry Catherine Da- 
 vila was the youngeft fon of Antonio Davila, Grand Conftable of 
 Cyprus, who had been obliged to retire into Spain on the taking 
 of that ifland by the Turks in 1570. From Spain Antonio repaired 
 to the court of France, and fettled his fon Lewis and two daughters 
 under the patronage of Catherine of Medicis, whofe name he after- 
 wards gave to the young Hiftorian, born 1576, at an antient 
 caftle in the territories of Padua, though generally called a native 
 
 of 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 131 
 
 of Cyprus. The little Davila was brought early into France ; — 
 at the age of 1 8 he fignalized himfelf in the military fcenes of that 
 country. His lafl: exploit there was at the fiege of Amiens, where 
 he fought under Henry IV, and received a wound in the knee, as he 
 
 relates himfelf in his Hiftory. After peace was eftablifhed in 
 
 France, he withdrew into Italy, and ferved the Republic of Venice 
 with great reputation till a moft unfortunate adventure put an end 
 
 to his life in 1631. Faffing through Verona with his wife and 
 
 family, on his way to Crema, which he was appointed to defend, 
 and demanding, according to the ufual cuftom of perfons in his 
 Aation, a fupply of horfes and carriages for his retinue, a brutal Ve^- 
 ronefe, called il Turco, entered the room where he and his family 
 were at fupper, and being mildly reprimanded for his intrufion 
 by Davila, difcharged a piftol at the Hiftorian, and fhot him dead 
 on the inftant. — His accomplices alfo killed the Chaplain of Davila, 
 and wounded many of his attendants. But his eldeft fon Antonio, 
 a noble youth of eighteen, revenged the death of his father by 
 killing his murderer on the fpot. All the confederates were fe- 
 cured the next morning, and publicly executed at Verona. — Me- 
 moire Ifloriche, prefixed to the London edition of Davila, 4to, 
 
 1755. It is very remarkable, that Davila pafTes no cenfure on 
 
 the MaiTacre of St. Bartholomew. — His charadler of the Queen 
 Mother has that partiality, which it was natural for him to fhew 
 to the Patronefs of his family; but his general veracity is con- 
 firmed by the great authority of the firfl Duke of Epernon, who, 
 (to ufe the words of Lord Bolingbroke) " had been an ad:or, and 
 a principal adlor too, in many of the fcenes that Davila recites." 
 Girard, Secretary to this Duke, and no contemptible Biographer, 
 relates, that this Hiflory came down to the place where the old 
 man relided, in Gafcony, a little before his death ; that he read it 
 to him ; that the Duke confirmed the truth of the narrations in it : 
 and feemed only furprifed by what means the author could be fo 
 well informed of the moft fecret councils and meafures of thofe 
 times." — Letters on Hiftory. 
 
 S 2 NOTE 
 
132 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE XVI. Verse 284. 
 
 Sarpi, bkfi name ! from every foible clear."] Father Paul, the mod 
 amiable and exalted charadlcr that was ever formed in monaftic 
 retirement, was the fon of Francefco Sarpi, a merchant of Venice, 
 and born in that city, 1552. He took the religious habit in the 
 monaftery of the Servites, 1565. After receiving prieil's orders in 
 1574, he pafled four years in Mantua, being appointed to read 
 Ledlures on Divinity and Canon Law, by the Bilhop of that diocefej 
 and in this early part of his life, he is conje^ltured to have con- 
 ceived the firft idea of writing his celebrated Hiftory, as he formed 
 an intimate friendlhip, during his refidence in Mantua, with Ca- 
 millo d'OIiva, who had been Secretary to Cardinal Gonzaga at 
 the Council of Trent, and excited the learned Venetian to the 
 arduous talk, which he fo happily accomplifhed in a future pe- 
 riod. He was recalled from Mantua, to read Lectures on Philofo- 
 phy in his own convent at Venice, which he did with great repu- 
 tation, during the years 1575, 1576, and 1577. — He went to Rome 
 as Procurator General in 1585. Paffing from thence to Naples^ 
 he there formed an acquaintance with the famous Baptifta Porta, 
 •who has left this honourable teftimony of his univerfal knowledge: 
 — Eo dodtiorem, fubtiliorem, quotquot adhuc videre contigerit, 
 neminem cognovimus; natum ad Encyclopediam, &c. Nor is this 
 an exaggerated compliment, as there is hardly any fcience which 
 efcaped his aftive mind. His difcoveries in Optics and Anatomy 
 would be alone fufficient to immortalize his name, had he not 
 gained immortality by a ftill nobler exertion of his mental powers, 
 in defending the liberties of his country againft the tyranny of 
 Rome. On the firft attack of Pope Paul V. on two laws of Ve- 
 nice, very wifely framed to correct the abufes of the clergy. Fa- 
 ther Paul arofc as the literary champion of the Republic, and de- 
 fended its caufe with creat fpirit and temper, in various compofi- 
 tions ; though he is faid not to be Author of the Treatife generally 
 
 afcribed. 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 133 
 
 afcribed to him on the occafion, and entitled, 'the Rights of Sove- 
 reigf2s, &c. — His chief performance on the fubjedl was Con- 
 fiderazioni fopra le Cenfure di Paolo V. The Venetians fliewed a 
 juft admiration of the fublime' virtue of a Monk, who defended 
 fo nobly the civil rights of his country againfl the feparate intereft 
 of the church. In 1606 the Council paffed a decree in his favour j 
 which I fliall tranfcribe in this note, becaufe it is not found in the 
 common Lives of Father Paul, and becaufe there is hardly any 
 objedl more pleafing to the mind, than the contemplation of a free 
 ftate rewarding one of its moft virtuous fervants with liberality and 
 
 efteem. Continuando il R. P. M.. Paolo da Venezia dell ordine 
 
 de Serviti a preflare alia Signoria Noftra con fingolar Valore quell 
 ottimo fervigio, ch' e ben conofciuto, potendoli dire, ch' egli fra 
 tutti con le fue fcritture piene di profonda dottrina foftenti con va- 
 lidiffimi- fondamenti le potentiffime e validiffime ragioni noftre 
 nella caufa,. che ha di prefente la Repubblica con la corte di 
 Roma,, anteponendo il fervigio e la foddisfazione noftra a qual- 
 fivoglia fuo particolare ed importante rifpetto. E percio cofa 
 giufta e ragionevole, e degna dell ordinaria munificenza di quefto 
 Configlio, il dargli modo, con che pofla afficurare la fua Vita da 
 ogni pericolo, che gli poteiTe fopraftare, e fovvenire infieme alii 
 fuoi bifogni, bench, egli non ne faccia alcuna iftanza, ma piutofto 
 fi moftri alieno da qualfivoglia ricognizione, che fi abbia intenzione 
 di ufar^li,. Tal e la fua modeftia, e cofi grande il defiderio, che 
 ha di far conofcere, che nefTuna pretenfione di premio, ma la fola 
 divozione fuaverfo la Repubblica, e la giuftizia della Caufa lo muo- 
 vano adoperarfi con tantoftudioe con tante fatiche alii fervizi noftri. 
 Percio andera parte, che alio ftipendio, il quale a' 28 del Mefe di 
 Gennaio pafTato fu aflegnato al fopradetto R. P. M. Paolo da Ve- 
 nezia di Ducati duecento all anno, (iano accrefciuti altri ducati due^ 
 cento, ficche in avvenire abbi.i ducati quattrocento accioche ref- 
 tando confolato per quefta fpontanea e benigna dimoftrazione pub- 
 blica, con maggior ardore abbia a continuare nel fuo buono e divoto 
 fervizio, e polla con quefto aflequamento provvedere maggiormente 
 
 alia. 
 
134 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 alia ficurezza dclla fua Vita. The generous care of the Republic 
 
 to reward and preferve fo valuable a fervant, could not fecure him 
 from the bafe attempts of that enemy, whom his virtue had pro- 
 voked. In 1607, after Venice had adjufted her difputes with Rome, 
 by the mediation of France, the firll: attack was made on the life 
 of Father Paul. He was befet near his convent, in the evening, by 
 five aflaffins, who ftabbed him in many places, and left him for 
 dead. He recovered, under the care of the celebrated Acquapen- 
 dente, appointed to attend him at the public charge ; to whom, as 
 he was fpeaking on the depth of the principal wound, his patient 
 faid pleafintly, that the world imputed it ftylo Romanse Curix.— 
 The crime is generally fuppofcd to have proceeded from the Jefuits; 
 but the fecret authors of it were never clearly difcovered, though 
 the five rufiians were traced by the Venetian Ambaflador in Rome, 
 where they are faid to have been well received at firft, but failing 
 afterwards in their expefted reward, to have periflied in mifery and 
 want. The Senate of Venice paid fuch attention to Father Paul, 
 fiS exprefled the highefl: Cenfe of his merit, and the moft affedlionate 
 folicitude for his fafety. They not only doubled his ftipend a fe- 
 cond time, but entreated him to chufe a public refidence, for the 
 greater fecurlty of his perfon. The munificence and care of the 
 Republic was equalled by the modefty and fortitude of their fer- 
 vant. He chofe not to relinquiHi his cell; and, though warned of 
 various machinations againft his life, he continued to ferve his 
 country with unabating zeal ; difcovering, in his private letters to 
 his friends, the moft heroic calmnefs of mind, and faying, in anfwer 
 to their admonitions, that "no man lives well, who is too anxious 
 
 for the prefervation of life." "^'et the apprehenhons of his 
 
 friends had too juft a foundation. In 1609 another confpiracy was 
 formed, to murder him in his fleep, by fome perfons of his own 
 convent — hut their tre;ichery was happily difcovered. — From this 
 time he lived in more cautious retirement, ftill devotinrvhimfeh to 
 the fervice of the Republic on various occafions, and acquiring new 
 reputation by many compofitions. At length the world was fur- 
 prized 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 135 
 
 prized by his Hiflory of the Council of Trent, firft publiflied at 
 London, 1619 ; with the fiftitious name of Pietro Soave Polano j 
 and dedicated to James the Ift, by Antonio de Dominis, the cele-» 
 brated Archbifhop of Sp:.litro,. who fpeaks of the concealed Author 
 as his intimate friend, who had entrufted him with a manufcript, 
 on which his modefty fet a trifling value, but which it feemed pro- 
 per to beflow upon the world even without his confent. — The 
 myftery concerning the publication of this noble work has never 
 been thoroughly cKarcd up, and various fallities concerning it have 
 been reported by authors of considerable reputation. — It has even 
 been faid that James the Ift had fome fhare in the compofition of the 
 book — if he had, it was probably in forming the name Pietro Soave 
 Polano, which is an anagram of Paolo Sarpi Veneziano, and the 
 only part of the book which bears ar^y relation to the ftyle or 
 
 tafte of that Monarch. Father Paul was foon fuppofed to be the 
 
 real Author of the work in queftion. The Prince -of Conde, on 
 a vifit to his cloyfter, exprefsly alked him, if he was fo — to which 
 he modeftly replied, that at Rome it was well known who had 
 written it. — He enjoyed not many years the reputation arifing from 
 this mafterly production — in 1623 a fever occalioned his death, 
 which was even more exemplary and fublime than his life itfelf. 
 —He prepared himfelf for approaching diffolution with the molt 
 devout compofure j and, as the liberty of his country was the dar- 
 ling objecft of his exalted mind, he prayed for its prefervation 
 with his lafl breath, in the two celebrated words Eflo Per- 
 petua. 
 
 There is a fingular beauty in the charadler of Father Paul, 
 which is not only uncommon in his profeffion, but is rarely found 
 in human nature.^ — Though he palTed a long life in controverfy of 
 the moft exafperating kind, and was continually attacked in every, 
 manner that malignity could fuggeft, both his writings and his 
 heart appeared perfedily free from a vindiftive fpirit — devoting all. 
 the powers of his mind to the defence of the public caufe, he 
 
 feemed 
 
136 NOTES TO THE 
 
 feemed entirely to forget the injuries that were perpetually offered 
 to his own perfon and reputation. 
 
 His conftitution was extremely delicate, and his intenfe applica- 
 tion expofed him to very frequent and violent diforders ; thefe he 
 greatly remedied by his fingular temperance, living chiefly on 
 bread, fruits, and water. — This impcrfedl account of a character 
 deferring the nobleft elogium, is principally extrafted from an oc- 
 tavo volume, entitled, Memoire Anedote fpettanti a F. Paolo da 
 Francefco Grifelini Veneziano, &c. edit. 2d, 1760. The author of 
 this elaborate work has pointed out feveral miftakes in the French 
 and Englilli accounts of Father Paul ; particularly in the anecdotes 
 related of him by Burnet, in his Life of Bifhop Bedell, and by 
 Mr. Brent, the fon of his Englifli Tranflator. — Some of thefe had 
 indeed been obferved before by Writers of our own. — See the 
 
 General Dictionary under the article Father Paul. For the 
 
 length and for the deficiencies of this Note, I am tempted to apo- 
 logize with a fentence borrowed from the great Hiftorian who is 
 the fubjecl: of it : — Chi mi ofTervera in alcuni tempi abondare, in 
 altri andar riflretto, fi ricordi che non tutti i campi fono di ugnal 
 fertilita, ne tutti li grani meritano d'effer confervati, e di quelli 
 che il mietitore vorrebbe tenerne conto, qualche fpica anco sfugge 
 la prefa della mano, o il filo della falce, coli comportando la con- 
 ditione d'ogni mietitura che refli anco parte per rifpigolare. 
 
 NOTE XVII. Verse 312. 
 
 The clear Oforius, in his clajjic phrafe."] Jerom Oforius was born of 
 a noble family at Lifbcn, 1506. He was educated at the univerfity 
 of Salamanca, and afterwards ftudied at Paris and Bologna. On 
 his return to Portugal, he gradually rofe to the Bifhopric of Sylves, 
 to w hich he was appointed by Catherine of Aullria, Regent of the 
 kingdom in the minority of Sebaflian. At the requefl of Cardinal 
 Henry of Portugal, he wrote his Hiflory of King Emanuel, and 
 
 ? the 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 137 
 
 the expedition of Gama — which his great contemporary Canioens 
 made at the fame time the fubjedl of his immortal Lufiadj a poem 
 which has at length appeared with due luflre in our language, be- 
 ing tranflated with great fpirit and elegance by Mr. Mickle. It is 
 remarkable, that the Hiftory of Oforius, and the Epic Poem of 
 Camoens, were publifhed in the fame year, 1572 : but the fate of 
 thefe two great Authors was very different ; the Poet was fuffered 
 to perifh in poverty, under the reign of that Henry, who patronized 
 the Hiflorian : yet, allowing for the difference of their profeffions, 
 I am inclined to think they poflelfed a fimilarity of mind. There 
 appear many traces of that high heroic fpirit, even in the Prieft 
 Oforius, which animated the Soldier Camoens : particularly in the 
 pleafure, with which he feems to defcribe the martial manners of 
 his countrymen, under the reign of Emanuel. — Illius astate (fays 
 the Hiflorian, in the clofe of his manly work) inopia in exilium 
 pulfa videbatur : mceflitis locus non erat : querimoniae filebant : 
 omnia choreis & cantibus perfonabant : ejufmodi ludis aula regia 
 frequenter obleftabatur. Nobiles adolefcentes cum virginibus re- 
 giis in aula fine ulla libidinis fignificatione faltabant, et quamvis 
 honefliflimis amoribus indulgerent, virginibus erat infitum, nemi- 
 nem ad familiaritatem admittere, nifi ilium qui aliquid fortiter & 
 animofe bellicis in rebus effeciffet. Pueris enim nobilibus, qui in 
 aula xegia verfabantur, non erat licitum pallium virile fumere, 
 antequam in Africam trajicerent 6c aliquod inde decus egregium re- 
 portarent. Et his quidem moribus erat illius temporis nobilitas 
 inflituta, ut multi ex illius domo viri omni laude cumulati prodi- 
 rent. — This is a flriking pidture of the manners of chivalry, to 
 which Portugal owed much of its glory in that fpleiidid period. 
 There is one particular in the character of Oforius, v.hich, conl;- 
 deringhis age and country, deferves the highefl encomium; I mean 
 his tolerating fpirit. In the firfl book of his Hiftory, he fpeaks of 
 Emanuel's cruel perfecution of the Jews in the following generous 
 and exalted language : — Fuit quidem Jioc nee ex lege nee ex religione 
 factum. Quid enim r Tu rebelles animos nullaquc nd id fufcepta 
 
 reiigione 
 
138 NOTES TO THE 
 
 reli^'^ione conftridlos, adigas ad credendum ea, quae fumma conten- 
 tione afpcrnantur & refpuunt ? Idque tibi affiimas, ut libertatem 
 voluntatis impcdias, & vincula mentibus effraenatis injicias ? at id 
 neque fieri poteft, ncque Chrifti fa n (51 i (Tim urn numen approbat. 
 Voluntarium enim facrificium, non vi et malo coadum ab homini- 
 bus cxpetit, neque vim mentibus inferri fed voluntates ad ftudium 
 
 vers religionis allici & invitari jubet Poftremo quis non vi- 
 
 det et ita religionem per religionis fimulationem indignifli- 
 
 me violari ? — Oforius is faid to have ufed many arguments to dif- 
 fuade Sebaftian from his unfortunate expedition into Africa, and to 
 have felt fo deeply the miferies which befel the Portugueze after 
 that fatal event, that his grief v/as fuppofed to accelerate his death.— 
 He expired in 1580, happy, fays De Thou (who celebrates him as 
 a model of Chriftian virtue) that he died jufl before the SpanilTi 
 army entered Portugal, and thus efcaped being a witnefs to the de- 
 folation of his country. — His various works were publiflied at 
 Rome in 1592, by his nephew Oforius, in four volumes folio, 
 with a Life of their x^uthor. Among thefe are two remarkable 
 produdions ; the firft, an admonition to our Queen Elizabeth, ex- 
 horting her to return into the church of Rome : the fecond, an 
 Eflay on Glory, written with fuch claflical purity, as to give 
 birth to a report, that it was not the compofition of Oforius, but 
 the lofl work of Cicero on that fubjecft. 
 
 In the Lucubratknes of Walter Haddon, the curious reader may 
 find a very fpirited anfwer to the invedlive againft the Reforma- 
 tion, which the zeal of the Portugueze BiHiop led him to addrefs 
 to Elizabeth. — The Englilh Civilian defends the caufe of his nation 
 and his Queen with great energy. — He juftifies the diflblution of 
 the monalleries by rcprefcnting their abufes in the moft glowing 
 colours ; and he ventures to affirm, in vindicating the charadler 
 of his royal Miftrefs, that her Majefty of England was as great 
 a Theologian as the Billiop of Sylves himfelf — Sacras fcripturas 
 multum leditat, interpretes optimos inter fe comparat, doailfi- 
 morum Iheologorum undique fententias coUigit, fcientia linguarum 
 
 per 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 137 
 
 per fe ipfa excelllt, ingenio elt prompto, et acri, fapientis tantuni 
 ad haecadlilbet, quantum vix eft in ilJo fexu credibile: denique noftro- 
 rum ad condones ventitat, et fenfus in his rebus habet partim le- 
 gendo, partimaudiendo tam exercitatos, ut non minus fe tfocere poffit, 
 qnam ex U ^/f:L're. Haddon. Lucubrat. Fag. 259. 
 
 NOTE XVIII. Verse 318. 
 
 Iberia s Genius bids jujl Fame allow 
 
 As bright a ivreath to Marianas brow,] John Mariana was born 
 1537, at Talavera (a town in the diocefe of Toledo) as he himfelf 
 informs us in his famous Eflay Je Rege, which opens with a beau- 
 tiful romantic defcription of a fequeftered fpot in that neighbour- 
 hood, where he enjoyed the pleafures of literary retirement with 
 his friend Calderon, a Minifter of Toledo ; whofe death he mentions 
 in the fame EfTay, commemorating his learning and his virtues in 
 the moft pleafmg terms of affedionate admiration. — Mariana was 
 admitted into the order of Jefuits at the age of 17. lie travelled 
 afterwards into Italy and France, and returning into Spain in 1574, 
 fettled at Toledo, and died there in the 87th year of his age, 1624. 
 — Hearing it frequently regretted, in the courfe of his travels, that 
 there was no General Hiftory of his country, he engaged in that 
 great work on his return ; and publiflied it in Latin at Toledo, 
 1592, with a dedication to Philip the Ild ; where he fpeaks of his 
 own performance with modefly and manly freedom, and perhaps 
 with as little flattery as ever appeared in any addrefs of that na- 
 ture, to a Monarch continually fed with the groffeft adulation. 
 
 This elaborate work he tranllated into Spanifh, but, as he himfelf 
 declares, with all the freedom of an original author. He publifhed 
 his Verfion in 1601, with an addrefs to Philip the Hid, in which 
 he laments the decline of Learning in his country, and declares 
 he had himfelf executed that work from his apprehenfion of its 
 being mangled by an ignorant Tranllator. He had clofed his Hif* • 
 tory (v/hich begins with the firil: peopling of Spain) with the 
 
 T 2 death 
 
I40 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 death of Ferdinand, in 1516 ; but in a fubfequent edition, in 16 17, 
 he added to it a fhort fummary of events "to the year 1612 : but 
 in the year before he firfl publiHied the SpaniQi Verfion of his Hif- 
 tory, he addrcfll-d alfo, to the young Monarch Philip the Hid, his 
 famous Effay, which I have mentioned, and which was publicly 
 burnt at Paris, about 20 years after its publication, on the fuppo- 
 fition that it had excited Ravaillac to the murder of Henry the 
 IVth ; though it was aflerted, with great probability, by the Je- 
 fuits, that the AfTafTin had never feen the book. — It is true, indeed, 
 that Mariana, in this Effay, occafionally defends Clement the Monk,- 
 who ftabbed Henry the Hid ; and it is very remarkable, th^t he 
 grounds this defence, not on the bigotted tenets of a Prieft, who 
 thinks every thing lawful for the intereft of his church, but on 
 thofe fublime principles of civil liberty, with which an antient Ro- 
 man would have vindicated the dagger of Brutus. Indeed, this 
 Effay contains fome paffages on Government, which would not 
 have difhonoured even Cicero himfelf ; but, it muff be owned, they 
 are grievoudy difgraced by the laft chapter of the Work, which 
 breathes a furious fpirit of ecclefiaffical intolerance, and yet clofes 
 with thefe mild and modeft expreflions : Noftrum de regno et Regis 
 inftitutione judicium fortaffe non omnibus placeat ; qui volet fe- 
 quatur, aut fuo potius ftet, fi potioribus argumentis nitatur, de 
 quibus rebus tantopere affeveravi in his libris, eas nunquam veriores 
 quam alienam fententiam affirmabo. Poteft enim non folum mihi 
 aliud, aliud aliis videri, fed et mihi ipfii alio tempore. Suam quif- 
 que fententiam per me fequatur . . . et . . qui noftra leget , . . me- 
 mor conditionis humanas, fi quid erratum eft, pio ftudio rempub- 
 licam juvandi veniam benignus concedat et facilis. This is not 
 the only work of Mariana which fell under a public profcription; 
 he was himfelf perfecuted, and fuffered a year's imprifonment, for 
 a treatife, which fecms to have been didated by the pureft love to 
 his country j it was againft the pernicious practice of debafing the 
 public coin, and as it was fuppofed to refledt on the Duke of Ler- 
 ina, called the Sejanus of Spain, it expofed the Author, about the 
 
 year 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 141 
 
 year 1609, to the perfecution of that vindidive Minifter; from 
 which it does not appear how he efcaped. — Indeed the accounts of 
 Mariana's life are very imperfedb : Bayle, whom I have chiefly fol- 
 lowed, mentions a life of him by De Vargas, which he could not 
 procure. I have fought after this Biographer with the fame ill 
 iuccefs, as I wifhed to give a more perfed: account of this great 
 Author, whofe perfonal Hiftory is little known among us, though 
 it is far from being unv/orthy of attention. 
 
 NOTE XIX. Verse 352. 
 
 The fervid Grotius to her glory rats' d- 
 
 A column, fplendid as the feats he prats' d.^ Hugo Grotius was the 
 eldeft child of John de Groot, curator in the univerfity of Leyden, 
 and born at Delft on the loth of April 1583 — His infancy gave the 
 faireft promife of thofe great and univerfal talents, which were fo 
 amply unfolded in his fubfequent life — at the age of eleven he was 
 celebrated as a prodigy of learning — -when Barnevelt was fent Em- 
 baffador to Henry the IVth of France, in 1598, he took the young 
 Grotius in his train, and prefented him to that Monarch, who 
 honoured the little fcholar by gracioufly giving him his picture 
 and a chain of gold. One circumftance was yet wanting to com- 
 plete the joy of Grotius in this expedition ; and he was obliged to 
 quit France without obtaining the great objedl of his wifhes, a per- 
 fonal acquaintance with the Prefident de Thou. — He afterwards 
 exprefled his mortification on this fubjed in a letter to that great 
 man, which gave rife to a friendly correfpondence between thefe 
 congenial charadlers, highly honourable to both. — On his return to 
 Holland, Grotius devoted himfelf to the pradice of the law, and 
 in 1599 pleaded his firft caufe at Delft. In the exercife of tins 
 laborious profeffion, he found fufficient time to cultivate polite 
 literature — in 1599 he publifhed his edition of Martianus Capella, 
 at the requefl of Scaliger ; it was followed, in the fucceedin"- 
 year, by the Phcenomena of Aratus; and in 1601 he printed bis 
 
 2- firft 
 
142 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 fird tragedy of Adamus Exful, a compofition which might poflibly 
 give birth to the divine performance of Milton, though its author 
 efteemcd it fo Httle, as to exclude it iVom a colleiftion of his poems 
 — Grotius, indeed, was remarkably modeft in eftimating his own 
 poetical talents ; — few psrfons have written fo many verfes, and 
 thought fo humbly of their merit. — The public proofs, which he 
 had now given of his various erudition, procured him tin honour 
 from his country, the more flattering, as it was unlbllicited : The 
 United Provinces, juflly proud of having vindicated their liberty 
 againll: the tyranny of Spain, and dclirous of commemorating fo 
 noble an event, appointed Grotij-is their Hiftoriographer ; a nomi- 
 nation fo honourable to a youth, for fuch he was, led him to col- 
 ledl materials for that Hiftory, which many accidents confpired to 
 prevent his publiihing during the whole courfe of his bu(y and 
 vexatious life. — From his fuccefs at the bar, he was promoted to 
 the port: of Advocate-General; and in 1608 he married Maria 
 Reigeiberg, a lady of a rcfpedlable family in Zealand, and a wife, 
 as his Biographer obferves, truly worthy of fuch a hufband. In 
 1613 he became Penfionary of Rotterdam, an office which gave him 
 a feat in the Aflembly of the States : He was foon afterwards em- 
 ployed in a commilTion to England, to fettle fome national difputes 
 concerning the Greenland Fifhery. — The greatefl pleafure and 
 advantage, which he derived fiom this expedition, was the intimacy 
 which he contrad:ed in England with the celebrated Cafaubon. 
 Soon after his return to Holland, the fatal fpirit of religious con- 
 troverfy produced thofe unfortunate, and well-known diftradlions in 
 his country, which led to the infamous execution of the great 
 and virtuous Barnevelt. Grotius, who was affedlionately attached 
 to that upright miniller, and joined with him in every meafure to 
 counteract the ufurping ambition of Prince Maurice, was thus ex- 
 pofed to the opprelhon of that vindidive hero. — After tlie vain 
 ceremony of an iniquitous trial, he was condemned to perpetual 
 imprifonment ; and conduced, on the 6th of June 1619, to the 
 fortrcfs of Louveftein, in So.uth Holland, at the point of the 
 1 ifland 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 143 
 
 I(l:ind formed by the Vahal and the Meu e. — His tender and faith- 
 ful wife, who had been cruelly debarred from attending him, even 
 in ficknefs, during his confinement at the Hague, was now admit- 
 ted to fhare his prifon, on the hard condition of forfeiting that 
 privilege, if {he ever ventured from Louveftein — fhe afterwards ob- 
 tained leave to come abroad twice a week: — With the fpirit of a 
 Roman Matron fhe refufed the allowance, which the government 
 had affigned for the maintenance of her hufband — continued for 
 almoft two years the conftant attendant on his captivity — and at 
 length became the glorious inftrument of his deliverance. Grotius,. 
 who happily experienced, that love and literature are unfailing re- 
 fources under the moft galling calamity of human life, had pur- 
 fued his fludies in prifon with his ufual ardour. — He compofed 
 there, among other works, the firft fketch of his Eflay on the 
 Truth of Chriflianity, in a poetical form, and in his native lan- 
 guage. — Reports were fpread by his enemies, that he had formed a 
 plan for his efcape, and his prifon was rigoroufly examined. But 
 notwithftanding the vigilance of his oppreffors, the afFedlionate in- 
 genuity of his Wife reftored him to freedom by the following ex- 
 pedient : — He had been allowed to borrow books from his friends, 
 and it was ufual with him to fend fuch as he had read in a cheft, 
 that went regularly with his linen to the neighbouring town of 
 Gorcum. The guards were at firft very fcrupulous in their exami- 
 nation of thischeft; but having long found in it only books and linen, 
 they were now accuftomed to let it pafs unopened. — The circum- 
 itance fuggefled to the attentive wife of Grotius. the pofiibility of her 
 hufband's efcape, and flie perfuadcd him to attempt it by this An- 
 gular conveyance. The incidents attending the adventure were 
 highly calculated to encreafe the agitation of her heart -, and muft 
 indeed have occafioned the failure of her defign, had fhe not taken 
 the moft ingenious precautions to enfure its fuccefs : — The foldiers, 
 who carried the cheft in which Grotius was inclofed, were alarmed 
 by its weight j and cried out, in the proverbial language of their 
 countrv, that it muft contain an Arminian — fhe replied with great 
 
 prefence 
 
144 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 prefence of mind, that it w^s indeed loaded with Armlnian books : 
 The foldiers were flill unfatisfied, and went to the wife of their 
 commanding officer, who was abfent, to exprefs their fufpicion — 
 {he replied, that flie had been aflured, it contained only books ; and 
 bade them carry it to the boat— a female fervant in the fecret at- 
 tended the cheft, and faw it fafely conveyed to the houfe of Daze- 
 laer, a friend of Grotius, in Gorcum, from whence he paflcd in 
 difguife into Brabant. The generous contriver of his efcape now 
 triumphed in the fuccefs of her projeft : being aflured that her 
 huiband was fafe, by the return of her fervant, flie avowed what . 
 (lie had done, and was more clofely confined by the offended com- 
 mandant of Louveflein. But flie foon obtained her liberty, on 
 prefenting a petition to the States-General ; though fome wretches 
 were found in that afiembly, brutal enough to exprefs a defire of 
 punifliing a woman for an ad of heroifm, which, in Athens, or 
 in Rome, would have almofl: rendered her an objedl of idolatry. — 
 Her merit, however, has been juftly celebrated by the poets of her , 
 country j but the moft pleafing memorial of it appears in a poem of 
 Grotius, addrefled to the unfortunate fon of the Prefident de Thou. 
 
 The paflTage does honour both to the gratitude and the genius of ' 
 
 our Author; and I fliall therefore infert it, as an advantageous fpeci- 
 men of his Latin poetry. — In addrefllng his young friend on the 
 vLitues of his venerable father, he breaks out into the following 
 encomium on connubial affedlion : 
 
 Ah quantum placido, mitique in pcdlore regnat 
 Ilia Venus, quam junxit Hymen j feu conditor orbis, 
 Atque homines fandte genituri foederis audtor 
 Hunc, quo difpofuit volventem fidera mundum, 
 Quoque elementa ligat, thalamis afpirat amorem j 
 Scu nofci fugiens penitus vis infita rebus, 
 Qualis quae chalybi fecr^ta potentia gcmmnm 
 Conciliat Getici fpedtantem Verticis ignes, 
 
 Diverfos 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 145 
 
 Dlverfos propriore jugat fub fcedere fexus ; 
 
 Seu virtutis idem fludium, cognataque morum 
 
 Temperies animas imo fub pedlore mifcet. 
 
 Hoc tuus ille docet genitor : mens, lubrica yitx 
 
 EgrefTa, et quicquid potuit fortuna minari : 
 
 In quam nil habuit juris vel blanda voluptas, 
 
 Vel metus, erepta miferandum conjuge vulnus 
 
 Senfit, et hoc folo minor eft inventa dolore. 
 
 Ipfa domus, torus ipfe, et quicquid cernere gratum 
 
 Quondam erat, accendit ludlum moerentis ; ubique 
 
 Uxor, et in vultu dulcis pudor, et fimul alta 
 
 Majeftas, fermo diftillans melle, virilis 
 
 Auxilium curas, prudentia rata, fuoque 
 
 Semet fine tenens, fed par majoribus aftls. 
 ***** * 
 
 ***** * 
 
 * * * * * * • * 
 
 Nos quoque, fi quifquam, multum debere fatemur 
 Conjugio. Memini poft tot tua vota precefque, 
 Cynthia cum nonum capto mihi volveret orbem, 
 Qualem te primum, conjunx fidiffima, vidi 
 Carceris in tenebris : lacrymas abforbferat ingens 
 Vis animi, neque vel gemitu te ludus adegit 
 Confentire malis : rurfus nova vincula, fed quje 
 Te focia leviora tuli, dum milite claufos 
 Nos Mofa, et trifti Vahalis circumftrepit unda. 
 Hie patriam toties, et inania jura vocanti, 
 Et proculcatas in noftro corpora leges 
 Tu folamen eras. Hie jam te viderat alter 
 Et poft fe media plus parte reliquerat annus. 
 Cum mihi jura mei per te, folerte reperto, 
 Reddita. Tu poftquam, jam caeca acceperat alvus 
 Dulce onus, oppofitis libabas ofcula clauftris : 
 Atque ita femoto foribus cuftode locuta es. 
 
 U Summc 
 
146 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Summe pater, rigido fi non adamante futurum 
 Stat tibi, fed precibus potis es gaudefque moveri, 
 Hoc quod noftra fides iucem fervavit in iftarn. 
 Accipe depolitum, tantifque exlblve periclis. 
 Conjugii teftor fandtiliima jura, meaeque 
 Spem ibbolis, non hue venio pertasfa malorum 
 Sed miferata virum : polTum fine conjuge polTum 
 Quamvis dura pati. Si poll exempla ferocis 
 Ultima fsevicis nondum deferbuit ira. 
 In me tota ruat : vivam crudele fepulchrum : 
 Me premat et triplicis cingat cuilodia Valli, 
 Dum meus setherias fatietur paftibus auras 
 Grotius, et cafus narret patriteque fuofque. 
 Addit; abi conjunx, neque te nifi libera cernam. 
 Quod mea fi auderet famam fpondcre CamcEna, 
 Acciperet quantis virtuteni laudibus iftam 
 Polieritas ? Nomen non clarius ilia teneret 
 Admeto regina fuos quae tradidit annos ; 
 Quajque fuper cincres jecit fe arfura mariti j 
 Dignaque tarn Bruti thalamis quam patre Catone 
 Porcia, et in letum magno comes Arria Paeto. 
 Sed mea Cyrrha?os tam longa adverfi recelTus 
 Praeclufere mihi. Nullis fordentia curis 
 Pedtora Phoebus amat. 
 
 It was not without reafon, that Grotius lamented in the clofe of 
 this pafifige his continued adverfity. Few literary charaders have 
 been fo repeatedly expofed to all the various and mortifying anxie- 
 ties of public life. — After his efcape from prifon in 1621, he took 
 refuge in France. He received, indeed, the mod flattering marks 
 of regard from many eminent charaders of that kingdom, and a 
 penfion of three thoufand livres from Lewis the Xlllth ; but the 
 payment of this gratuity, fo honourable to the Monarch who be- 
 ftowed it, was foon rendered irregular and precarious by the artifices 
 
 of 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 147 
 
 of Richelieu j and Grotius was at length obliged to feek a more 
 independent afylum, merely becaufe he was of too firm and noble ] 
 a chara6ler to become the fervile inftrument of that imperious minif- 
 ter. — He had paffed however ten years, and compofed one of his moft 
 celebrated works in that country — his Treatife de Jure Belli & 
 Pacis was begun in 1623 at Balagui, a feat of the Prefident De Meme, 
 in the neighbourhood of Senlis, and he publiflied it at Paris in 
 1625 — the great and extenfive reputation which his writings had 
 obtained, did not induce Holland to atone for the injuftice v/hich 
 fhe had exercifed againft one of the moft eminent and virtuous of 
 her citizens — the death of his enemy Prince Maurice had tempted 
 Grotius to hope, that he might return with fafety and honour to 
 his native country ; but on making the experiment in 1631, he met 
 with much more ingratitude than he expe<fl:ed, and retired in the 
 next year to Hamburg — he there con trailed an intimacy with Sal- 
 vias the Vice- Chancellor of Sweden, who fent a favourable account 
 of his new friend to Oxenftiern, the great minifter, who fo well 
 fupplied the lofs of his heroic mafter Guftavus : Grotius was foon 
 invited to Franckfort by that penetrating genius, who introduced 
 him into the council of the young Chriftina, and appointed him her 
 Ambaflador to the court of France ; — it is faid, however, that 
 Grotius owed his connection with Sweden to the high fentiments, 
 which Guftavus himfelf had entertained of his merit, and to orders 
 given by that Monarch for the employment of the celebrated exile, 
 whofe Treatife de Jure Belli was found in his tent after the fatal 
 vidlory of Lutzen, which he purchafed with his life — however this 
 may be, Grotius appeared at Paris in the charadler of Ambaflador 
 from Sweden 1635, and continued no lefs than ten years in a fitua- 
 tion equally fplendid and vexatious — engaged in the delicate bu- 
 finefs of negotiating fubfidies, which were paid with reluftance; 
 harrafted by the hoftiie intrigues of his ungrateful country, and 
 alternately infulted and flattered by the minifters of France, he 
 maintained himfelf witli integrity and honour in a difficult and im- 
 portant ftation, from which his various and powerful enemies 
 
 U 2 v/ere 
 
148 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 were perpetually endeavouring to effecft his removal — After a ferles 
 of public mortifications, he at length follicited his own recall — he 
 obtained a pallport through Holland, was treated with great honour 
 at Amftcrdam, and arriving at Stockholm was flattered with great 
 promifes by the ^^een Chriilina, who prelTed hun to letMe with 
 his fan:iily in Sweden. From this however he excufed himlelf, and 
 pleaded the tender health of his wife as unequal to fo cold a climate 
 — Having obtained, after fome delays, the Queen's permilhon to 
 retire, and a veffel to carry him to Lubeck, he was unfortunately 
 fhipwrecked on the coaft of Pomerania, from whence he traveltcit 
 fixty miles in an open waggon, to the town of Roftock, where, 
 after languifliing a few days, he expired on the 19th of Auguft 
 
 1645. For my very imperfecfl account of this great and amiable 
 
 man, I am chiefly indebted to Mr. Burigny, whofe life of Grotius 
 deferves a diftinguiflied rank among biographical writings, as it 
 contains a very luminous difplay of much intricate matter, and a jufl 
 delineation of a chara<fter which deferves to be minutely fludied; 
 for what nation can produce a more Angular and excelling com- 
 pound of fcience and virtue, of genius and piety ? — As an Hif- 
 torian, he {hares with Thucydides the uncommon merit of cele- 
 brating the fplendid aftions of his perfonal enemies, and of a coun- 
 try which treated him with the mofl: ungenerous ingratitude. It 
 appears from one of his letters to De Thou, that he had made fome 
 advances in the plan at leaft of his Hiftory, at fo early a period as 
 i6i4i for, after complimenting the great Hiftorian of France on his 
 immortal work, he adds : Ego quoque impar fane oneri, fed magno 
 patriae amore accenfus, flmile opus molior, tanto autem minus tuo, 
 quanto minor eft Batavia, non dicam Gallia veftra, fed toto orbe. Sed 
 nee adhuc Varo videor neque dicere Cinna digna : prematur itaque 
 immaturus labor donee astas cum judicio tempus quoque emendandi 
 dederit, aut potius exurgat alius, qui res fcitu per fe non indignas 
 didlione commendet, ut eo libentius difcant pofteri, quid Batavi 
 fecerint. — We learn alfo from a letter to his brother in 1637, that 
 the work was then finilTied, and that he thought proper to delay 
 
 3 its 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 149 
 
 its publication : though it feems to have been his favourite per- 
 formance, he had never the fatisfadlion of feeing it in print — it did 
 not appear till tw^elve years after his death, when his fons Cor- 
 nelius and Peter addreffed it to the States of Holland and Weft 
 Friefland, in a Dedication that does honour both to their father and 
 themfelves.— The work itfelf, under the double name of Annals and 
 Hillory, gives a complete account of the moft interefting period, 
 from the year 1566 to the truce with Spain in 1609 — The Letters of 
 Grotius are not lefs valuable than his Hiftory, as they contain much 
 milcellaneous intelligence, and abound with literary anecdotes. — His 
 amiable wife furvived him, and died at the Hague — Of their fix 
 children, Peter became the moft eminent — he was fent by his 
 country as her EmbalTador to France ; and feems to have inhcited 
 both the talents and the virtues of his father. — It may yet be pro- 
 per to add to this long Note the noble encomium of Grotius on 
 Scaliger, to which I have alluded, and which, as Dr. Johnfon 
 obfer^es, feems to have been imitated by Cowley, in the clofe of 
 his Elegy on Sir Henry Wooton. 
 
 In Mortem Scaligeri. 
 
 Unica lux faecli, genitoris gloria, nemo 
 
 Quern puerum, nemo credidit effe fenemj 
 Tam fibi par femper, quam cundlis celfior unus, 
 
 Et qui fe totum debuit ipfe fibi : 
 Exfuperans fama, quos tequat fanguine, rcges, 
 
 Sceptrigeris majus nomen adeptus avis : 
 Hie jacet ille capax immenfi Scaliger aevi. 
 
 Nee fibi mors unquam plus licuifle putet. 
 Quid querimur raptum ? mens eft qua vivitur : annos 
 
 Ille tot exegit mente quot orbis habet. 
 Omnia dum retro mundi veftigia qusrit, 
 
 Qiiaerentem retro deftituere dies. 
 
 Emenfus 
 
150 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Emenfus populos & diflbna gentibus ora 
 Ambierat, quantum lumine PhcEbus obit. 
 
 Teftamur, Natura, tibi non defuit illej 
 Tu gentes alias, faecula plura dares 
 
 Ultra Scaligerum nihil eft: nec^Scaliger ultra. 
 lUe tui finem repperit, ille fui. 
 
 Grotii Poemata, Pag. 261. 
 
 NOTE XX. Verse 401. 
 
 'Jhe liberal fpirlt ofThuanus rofe.] James Auguftus De Thou was 
 the youngeft ion of Chriftopher De Thou, Firft Prefident of the 
 Parliament of Paris, and born in that city, 1553. His own Me- 
 moirs give a pleafing account of the early adlivity of his mind. — 
 As his health, during his childhood, was fo tender and infirm, that 
 his parents rather retrained him from the ufual ftudies of his age, 
 he devoted much of his time to drawing, and copied with a pen 
 the engravings of Albert Durer, before he was ten years old. At 
 that age he was fettled in the college of Burgundy ; but this plan 
 of his education was foon interrupted by a fever, in which his 
 life was defpaired of, and in which the mother of his future 
 friend, the Duke of Montpenfier, watched him with an attention 
 lingularly happy, after his phyficians and his parents had confidered 
 him as dead. In a few years after his recovery, he repaired to Or- 
 leans to ftiidy the civil law ; from thence he was drawn to Valence 
 in Dauphiny, by the reputation of Cujacius, who was then reading 
 ledlares there; on his road he embraced an opportunity of hearing 
 Hotoman, the celebrated author of Franco-Gallia, who was read- 
 ing ledures alfo at Bourges. During his refidence at Valence, 
 
 he contrafted a friendfliip with Jofeph Scaliger, wiiich he cultivated 
 through life. — In 1572, his father recalled him to Paris, juft be- 
 fore the maflacre of St. Bartholomew. — He mentions in his Me- 
 moirs the horrors which he felt in feeing a very fmall part of that 
 
 bloody 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 151 
 
 bloody fcene. — He refided in the houfe of his uncle Nicholas Be 
 Thou, promoted to the bifhopric of Chartres : he was then defigned 
 himfelf for the church; and, beginning to . colledl his celebrated 
 library, applied himfelf particularly to the Civil Law, and to Gre- 
 cian literature. 
 
 He travelled into Italy in 1573, with Paul De Foix, going on an 
 embafly to the Pope and the Italian Princes. Of De Foix, he gives 
 the moil engaging charafter, and fpeaks with great pleafure of the 
 literary entertainment and advantages which he derived from this 
 expedition. — He returned to Paris, and devoted himfelf again to 
 his fludies, in the follo-vingyear. — On the dilTentions in the Court 
 of France, in 1576, he was employed to negotiate with the Marefchal 
 Montmorency, and engage him to interpofe his good offices to pre- 
 vent the civil war j which he for fome time effedled. iThe fame 
 
 year he vifited the Low Countries, and on his return was appointed 
 to a public office, on which he entered with that extreme diffidence 
 which is fo natural to a delicate mind. 
 
 In I 579 he travelled again, with his elder brother, who was fent 
 by his phyficians to the baths of Plombieres in Lorrain : from 
 hence he made a fhort excurfion into Germany, and was received 
 there with the jovial hofpitality of that country, which he de- 
 fcribes in a very lively manner. — But affeilion foon recalled him to 
 Plombieres, to attend his infirm brother to Paris, who died there in 
 a few months after their return. 
 
 In 1580, on the plague's appearing in the capital, our Hiftorian 
 retired into Touraine> and after vifiting the principal places in 
 Normandy, returned to Paris in the winter. — In the following 
 year, he was of the number chofen from the Parliament of Paris 
 to adminifter juftice in Guienne, as two eccleliaftics were included 
 in that commiffion. — In this expedition he embraced every oppor- 
 tunity of preparing the materials of his Hiflory, feeking, as he 
 ever did, the fociety of all perfons eminent for their talents, or 
 capable of giving him any ufeful information. He fpeaks with 
 great pleafure of a vifit which he paid at this time to the celebrated 
 
 Montaigne, 
 
1^-2 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Montaigne, whom he calls a man of a moft liberal mind, and to- 
 tally uninfedled with the fpirit of party. — After various excurfions, 
 he was now returning to Paris, when he received the unexpedted 
 news of his father's death, an event which affedted him moft deeply, 
 as filial affedlion was one of the ftriking charadleriftics of his amia- 
 ble mind. — He confoled himfelf under the afflidion of having been 
 unable to pay his duty to his dying parent, by ereding a magnifi- 
 cent monument to his memory, exprelfive of the high veneration 
 in which he ever held his virtues. — He engaged again in public 
 bufinefs, devoting his intervals of leifure to mathematical ftudies, 
 and to the compofition of Latin verfe, which feems to have been 
 his favourite amufement. In 1584, he publiflied his Poem, de re 
 Accipitraria, which, though much celebrated by the critics of his 
 age, has fallen, like the fubjedl of which it treats, into univerfal 
 
 negledt. In 1585, he bid adieu to the Court, on finding himfelf 
 
 treated with fuch a degree of coldnefs, as his ingenuous nature 
 could not fubmit to; and being eager to advance in his great work, 
 which he had already brought down to the reign of Francis II. — 
 In 1587, having been often prefled to marry by his family, and 
 being abfolved from his ecclefiaftical engagements for that ^urpofe, 
 he made choice of Marie Barbanfon, of an antient and noble fa- 
 mily; but as her parents were fufpecfled of a fecret inclination to 
 the reformed religion, it was thought proper that the lady (hould 
 undergo a kind of expiation in a private conference with two Ca- 
 thplic Divines; a circutnftance of which the great Hiftorian fpeaks 
 with an air of triumph in his Memoirs, as a proof of his own in- 
 violable attachment to the faith of his fathers. In 1588, he loft 
 his affectionate mother ; who is defcribed, by her fon, as meeting 
 death with the fame gentlenefs and tranquillity of mind, by which 
 her life was diftinguilhed. When the violence of the league had 
 reduced Henry the Hid to abandon Paris, our Hiftorian was fent 
 into Normandy to confirm the magiftrates of that province in their 
 adherence to the King. — He afterwards met Henry at Blois, and 
 while he was receiving from him in private fome commiflions to 
 
 execute 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. jr. 
 
 execute at Paris, the King prefled his hand, and feemed preparing 
 tt!"irnpart to hiin Tome important lecreL; but after a long paufedif- 
 miffed him without revealing it.— This fccret was afterwards fup- 
 pofed to have been the ptojeded affafiination of the Duke of Guife : 
 the fuppofition is probable, and it is alfo probable, that if Henry- 
 had then revealed his defign, the manly virtue and eloquence of 
 DeThou might have led him to relinquifh that infamous and fatal 
 meafure.— He vyas, however, fo far from fufpeding the intended 
 crime of the King, that when he firft heard at Paris, that Guife 
 was affaffinated, he believed it a falfe rumour, only fpread by that 
 fadtion, to introduce, what he fuppofed had really happened, the 
 murder of the King. — In the commotions which the death of Guife 
 produced in Paris, many infults were offered to the family of De 
 Thou : his wife was imprifoned for a day in the Baftile ; but ob- 
 taining her liberty, fhe efcaped from the city in a mean habit, at- 
 tended by her hufband, difguifed alfo in the drefs of a foldier. Hav- 
 ing fent his wife in fafety into Picardy,.he repaired to the King, 
 who was almoft deferted, at Blois j and was greatly inflrumental in 
 
 perfuading his mafter to his coalition with Henry of Navarre. 
 
 The' King determined to eftablifh a Parliament at Tours, and De 
 Thou was confidered as the mofl proper perfon to be the Prefident 
 of this affembly; but with his ufual modefty he declined this 
 honour, and chofe rather to engage with his friend Mr. de Schom- 
 berg, in an expedition to Germany for the fervice of the King. — 
 He was at firft defigned for the embaffy to Elizabeth, but at the 
 requeft of Scho-mberg declined the appointment, and accompanied 
 his friend. 
 
 He hrft received intelligence of the King's death at Venice, 
 where he had formed an intimacy with the celebrated Arnauld 
 d'Offat, at that time Secretary to the Cardinal Joyeufe. — In con- 
 fequence of their converfation on this event, and the calamities of 
 France, De Thou addreffed a Latin Poem to his friend, which he 
 afterwards printed at Tours. 
 
 In leaving Italy, hepaffed a few days at Padua, with his friend 
 
 X Vicenzio 
 
^54 NOTES T O T H E 
 
 Vicenzio Pinelli ; from whom he colledled many particulars con- 
 cerning the mofl eminent Italian and Spanifli Authors, whom he 
 determined to celebrate in his Hiftory, in the hope, as he honeftly 
 confefTes, that his liberal attention to foreign merit might entitle 
 his own Works to the favour both of Italy and Spain ; but he was 
 difappointed in this fair expeftation, and laments the ingratitude 
 which he experienced from both. 
 
 On his return to France, he was gracioufly received by Henry 
 the IVth J and in giving that Prince an account of Italy, fuggefted 
 to him the idea of a connexion with Mary of Medicis. After the 
 battle of Ivry, he complimented the King in a (hort Poem, which 
 clofes with the following lines t. 
 
 Aufpiciis vulgo peraguntur praelia regum, 
 
 Perque duces illis gloria multa venit : 
 Tu vincis virtute tua, nee militis hasc eft; 
 
 Ifta tibi propria laurea parta manu. 
 
 As he was travelling, foon afterwards, with his wife and family, 
 which he defigned to fettle at Tours, his party was intercepted by 
 the enemy, and he was obliged to abandon his wife and her atten- 
 dants, being prevailed on by their intreaties to fecure his own 
 efcape by the fwiftnefs of his horfe. — He repaired to the King at 
 Gifors, and foon obtained the reftitution of his family. — On the 
 death of Amyot, Bifhop of Auxerre, well known by his various 
 Tranflations from the Greek language, the King appointed De Thou 
 his Principal Librarian. In 1592, our Hiftorian was very near 
 falling a vidim to the plague, but happily ftruggled through that 
 dan -serous diftcmper by the afliftance of two fkilful phyficians, who 
 attended him at Tours. — In 1593, he began the moft important 
 part of his Hiftory j and under this year he introduces in his Me- 
 moirs a long and fpirited Poem addrefled to Pofterity, in which he 
 enters into a juftification of himfelf againft the malignant attacks, 
 x'C'hich the manly and virtuous freedom of his writings had drawn 
 Q upon 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 155 
 
 upon him. It concludes with the following animated appeal to the 
 fjpirit of his father : 
 
 Vos O majorum Cineres, teque optime longis 
 Soliciti genitor defiindte laboribus xvi, 
 Teftor, pro patria nullas regnique falute 
 Vitaviffe vices, vellra virtute meaque 
 :- Indignum nil fecifTe, et fi fata tuliffent, 
 
 Prodeflem ut patriae, patris fuccurrere, livor 
 Abfiflat, pietate mea meruifle petenti. 
 Pura ad vos anima atque hodiern£e nefcia culpse 
 Defcendam, quandoque noviffima venerit hora, 
 Noflraque fub tacitos ibit fama Integra manes. 
 
 In 1594, he fucceeded his uncle Auguftin as Prefident a Mor- 
 tier. — In 1596, he loft his valuable and learned friend Pithou, who 
 firft folicited him to undertake his Hiftory, and had greatly affifted 
 him in the profecution of that laborious work. — How deeply the 
 affedlionate mind of De Thou was wounded by this event, appears 
 from his long letter to Cafaubonon theoccafion. — In 1597, he be- 
 gan to be engaged in thofe negotiations, which happily terminated 
 in the famous edidl of Nantes. — It may be proper to obferve here, 
 that De Thou was accufed of being a Calvinift, in confequence of 
 the part he adled in this bufinefs, as well as from the moderate 
 tenor of his Hiftory ; and it is remarkable, that Sully feems in his 
 Memoirs to countenance the accufation. 
 
 In 1 60 1, our Hiftorian fufFered a fevere domeftic afflidtion in 
 the lofs of his wife. — He celebrated her virtues, and his own con- 
 nubial affedion, in a Latin Poem : with this, and a Greek epitaph 
 •on the fame lady, written by Cafaubon, he terminates the Com- 
 mentary of his own Life, of which the preceding account is an 
 
 imperfed abridgment. His firft wife leaving him no children, 
 
 he married, in 1603, Gafparde de la Chaftre, an accompliihed lady 
 of a noble family; who having brought him three fons and three 
 
 X 2 daughters. 
 
156 N O T E S T O T H e" 
 
 I .mul X. 
 daughters, died at th.- age of 39, 16 16. — There is a fine letter of 
 
 Daniel Heinfius, addreffed to our author on this occafion, exhorting 
 him to fortitude : hut this unexpcdled domelHc calamity, and the 
 nnferies which befel his country on the murder of Henry the 
 Great, are fiid to have wounded his feeling mind fo deeply, as to 
 occafion his death, which happened in May 1617. — Under the re- 
 gency of Mary of Mcdicis, he.had been one of the Direftors ge- 
 neral of the finances, maintaining the fime reputation for integrity 
 in that department, \\hich he had ever prefcrved in his judicial 
 capacity. 
 
 The firft part of his Hiftory appeared in 1604, with a Preface 
 addrefi^ed to Henry IV, juflly celebrated for its liberal and manly 
 fpirit. — But I muft obferve, that the following compliment to the 
 King — Quicquid de ea ftatueris jufTerifve, pro divinae vocis oraculo 
 mihi erit — was more than even that moft amiable of Monarchs de- 
 ferved, as he ungratefully deferted the caufe of our Hiftorian, in 
 fuffering his Work to be profcribed by the public cenfure of Rome 
 in 1609, as De Thou plainly intimates, iiv the following pafTage 
 from one ofhis letters, written in 161 1 :- — Publicataprimaparte[Hif- 
 lorias mex] immane quam commoti funt plerique, five invidi, five 
 fidliofi, qui mox proceres quofdam, qui per fe in talibus rebus nihtl 
 vident, per calumnias artificiofe confidas, ut fcis, in me concita-. 
 verunt, remque e veAigio Romam detulerunt, et audlore maligne 
 cxagitato, facile pervicerunt, ut morofi illi cenfores omnia mea 
 finiftre interpretarcntur, et prjejudicio perfons opus integrum, 
 cujus ne tertiam quidem partem legerant, pra^cipitato ordine 
 damnarent. Rex caufam meam initio quidem tuebatur, quamdia 
 proceres in aula infeflos habui. Sed paulatim ipfe corundem aftu 
 infraftus eft ; cognitoque Romce per eiruffarios labare regem, poft 
 OfiTati et Serafini Cardinalium mihi amicilTimorum obitum, et illuf- 
 triflimi Perronii ex urbe difceffum, idtus poftremo in me diredlus 
 eft, qui facile vitari potuit, fi qui circa regem erant, tants injurise 
 fenfum ad fe ac regni dignitatem pertinere vel minima fignificatione 
 prse fe tuliffent. Ita in aula omni ope deftitutus, facile Romae op- 
 
 preflus 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 157 
 
 prefTus fum.— De Thou was preparing a new edition of his Hif- 
 
 tory at the time of his death.— His pallion for Latin verfe appears 
 never to have forfaken him, as the lateft effufion of his pen was a 
 little poem defcriptive of his lalT: illnefs, and an epitaph in which 
 he draws the following juft charader of himfelf : 
 
 Mihi veritatis cura vitse commodis 
 
 Antiquiorque charitatibus fuit, 
 
 Nullique fafto, voce nulli injurius, 
 
 Injurias patienter aliorum tuli. 
 
 Tu quifquis es, qualifque, quantufque, O bone. 
 
 Si cura veri eft ulla, fi pietas mover, 
 
 A me meifque Injuriam, qusfo, abftine. 
 
 The pious paternal prayer in the laft line was very far from 
 being crowned with fuccefs. Francis, the eldeft fon of De Thou, 
 fell a vidim to the refentment which Cardinal Richelieu is faid to 
 have conceived againft him, from a paflage ia the great Hiftorian, 
 refleding on the Richelieu family. — He was beheaded at Lyons, 
 1642, for having been privy to a confpiracy againft the Cardinal. 
 —Voltaire, with his ufual philanthropy and fpirit, inveighs againft 
 the iniquity of this execution, in his Melanges, torn, iii.— The cu- 
 rious reader may find a particular account of this tragical event in 
 the laft volume of that noble edition of Thuanus, which was pub- 
 liftied under the aufpices of Dr. Mead, and does great honour to 
 our country. — I fhall clofe this Note by tranfcribing from it the 
 following fpirited epitaph on the unfortunate vidim. 
 
 Hiftoriam quifquis vult fcribere, fcribere veram 
 
 Nunc vetat Exitium, magne Thuane, tuum. 
 Richeliae ftirpis proavos Isfifte, Paterni 
 
 Crimen erat calami, quo tibi vita perit. 
 Sanguine delentur nati monumenta parentis : 
 
 Quae nomen dederant fcripta, dedere necem. 
 Tanti morte viri fic eft faricita Tyrannis : 
 
 Vera loqui fi vis, difce cruenta pati. 
 
 10 NOTE 
 
158 NOTESTOTHE 
 
 NOTE XXI. Verse 474. 
 
 T^hy IViti, France ! fas ev'n thy Critics own) 
 
 Support not Hijlory's majejlic tone.] To avoid every appearance of 
 national prejudice, I fhall quote on this occafion fome pafTages from 
 a very liberal French Critic, who has pafled the fame judgment on 
 the Hiftoriansof his country. The Marquis d'Argenfon, in a me-- 
 moir read before the French Academy, 1755, not only confefles 
 that the French Writers have failed in Hiftory, but even ventures 
 to explain the caufe of their ill fuccefs. 
 
 Nous avons, fays he, quelques morceaux, ou Ton trouve tout a 
 la fois la fidelite, le gout, et le vrai ton de I'Hiftoire ; mais outre 
 qu'ils font en petit nombre, et tres-courts, les auteurs, a qui nous 
 en fommes redevables, fe font defie de leurs forces j ils ont craint 
 de manquer d'haleine dans des ouvrages de plus longue etendue. 
 
 Pourquoi les anciens ont-ils eu des Thucydides, des Xenophons, 
 des Polybes, & des Tacites ? pourquoi ne pouvons nous leur com- 
 parer que des St. Reals, des Vertots, des Sarrafins ? nous ne devons 
 point attribuer cette difette a la decadence de I'Efprit humain. II 
 faut en chercher, fi j'ofe m'exprimer ainfi, quelque raifon nationale, 
 quelque caufe, qui foit particuliere aux Francois 
 
 Quatre qualites principales font ncceffaires aux Hiftoriens. 
 
 1 . Une critique exacfle & favante, fondee fur des recherches la- 
 borieufes, pour la colledion des faits. 
 
 2. Une grande profondeur en morale & en politique. 
 
 3. Une imagination fage, & fleurie, qui peigne les adlions, qui 
 deduife les caufes, & qui prefente les reflexions avec clarte 6c fim- 
 plicite ; quelquefois avec feu, mais toujours avec gout & ele- 
 gance, 
 
 4. II faut de plus la conftance dans le travail, un flyle egal & 
 foutenu, &, une exadlitude intatigable, qui ne montre jamais I'im- 
 patience d'avancer, ni de lallltude pendant le cours d'une longue 
 carriere, 
 
 Qu'on 
 
SECOND EPISTLE. 159 
 
 Qu'on fepare ces qualites, on trouvera des chef-d'oeiivres parmi 
 nous, des Critiques, des Moraliftes, des Politiques, des Peintres, 
 & des literateurs laborieux, dont le produit nous furprend. Mais 
 qu'on cherche ces qualites rafTemblees, on manquera d'exemples a 
 
 citer entre nos Auteurs. The Critic then takes a rapid review of 
 
 the French Hiftorians, and proceeds to make the following lively 
 remarks on the difficulty of writing Hiftory in France, and the vo- 
 latile character of his countrymen — J'ai deja prevenu I'une des plus 
 grandes difficulte's pour les auteurs ; ils devroient etre en meme 
 terns hommes de cabinet & hommes du monde. Par I'etude on ne 
 connoit que les anciens, & les moeurs bourgeoifes; &dans la bonne 
 compagnie, on perd fon terns. Ton ecrit peu, et Ton penfe encore 
 moins 
 
 L'haleine manque a un ecrlvain Francois faute de conftance j il 
 cntrepend legerement de grands ouvrages, il les continue avec 
 nonchalance, il les finit avec dugout : s'il les abandonne quelque 
 terns, il ne les reprend plus, & nous voyons que tous nos con- 
 tinuateurs ont echoue. La lafiitude du foir fe reflent de I'ardeur 
 du matin. C'eft dela qu'il nous arrive de n'avoir de bon, que 
 
 de petits morceaux, foit en poefie, folt en profe nous 
 
 n'avons que des morceaux Hiftoriques, & prefque pas 
 
 une Hiftoire generale digne de louange. 
 
 Choix des Memoires de 1 'Academic, &c. 
 Londres, 1777, ^°'^* "^' P* ^27. 
 
 END OP THE NOTES TO THE SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 J 
 
 NOTES 
 
i6o N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 NO T E 
 
 TO T H £ 
 
 THIRD EPISTL E. 
 
 NOTE I. Verse -,o 
 
 :J^ 
 
 ^•' 
 
 fND JJjake th* affrighted loorld with dire portents. '\ There is a 
 curious treatife of Dr. Warburton's on this fubject, which is 
 become very fcarcc; it is entitled, " A critical and philofophical En- 
 ** quiry into thecaufcs of prodigies and miracles, as related by Hifto- 
 " rians, with an EiH^y towards reftoring a method and purity in Hif- 
 *" tory." It contains, like moft of the compofitions of this dogmatical 
 Writer, a ftrange mixture of judicious criticifm and entertaining 
 abfurdity, in a ftyle fo extraordinary, that I think the following 
 fpecimens of it may amufe a reader, who has not happened to meet 
 with this fingular book. — Having celebrated Rawleigh and Hyde, 
 as writers of true hiftoric genius, he adds : " almofl all the reft of 
 otir Hiftories want Life, Soul, Shape, and Body : a mere hodge- 
 podge of abortive embryos and rotten carcafes, kept in an unna- 
 tural ferment (which the vulgar miftake for real life) by the rank 
 leven of prodigies and portents. Which can't but afford good 
 diverfion to the Critic, while he obferves how naturally one of their 
 own fables is here mythologiz'd and explain'd, of a church-yard 
 car cafe, ralfed and fet a fruiting by the inflation of fofne heliif fuc- 
 cubus ivithin." He then paffes a heavy cenfure on the antiqua- 
 rian publications of Thomas Hearne ; in the clofe of which he ex- 
 claims — " Wonder not, reader, at the view of thefe extravagancies. 
 The Hiftoric Mufe, after much vain longing for a vigorous adorer, 
 is now fallen under that indifpofition of her fex, fo well known by 
 a depraved appetite for trafli and cinders." — Having quoted two 
 
 pafl^iges 
 
THIRD EPISTLE. 
 
 16 £ 
 
 paffages from this fingukr Critic, in which his metaphorical lan- 
 guage is exceedingly grofs, candour obliges me to tranfcribe ano- 
 ther, whidi is no lefs remarkable for elegance and beauty of cx- 
 preffion. In defcribing Salluft, at one time the loud advocate of 
 public fpirit, and afterwards fharing in the robberies of CtEfar, he 
 
 exprefTes this variation of charader by the following imao-ery : 
 
 " No fooner did the warm afpea of good fortune fhine out again, 
 but all thofe exalted ideas of virtue and honour, railed like a beau- 
 tiful kind of froft-work, in the cold feafon ofadverfity, diifolved 
 ^nd difappeared." 
 
 Enquiry, Sec. London, 1727, page 17. 
 
 NOTE IL Verse 51. 
 
 On F ranch fiow the Gallic page is mute. 
 
 And Britifii Story drops the name of Brute.] T he origin of the 
 French nation was afcribed by one of the Monkiili Hiflorians to 
 Francio, a fon of Priam: Mr. Warton, who mentions this circum- 
 fiance in his DlfTertation on the origin of romantic fidion in Europe, 
 fuppofes that the revival of Virgil's ^neid, about the fixth or fe- 
 venth century, infpired many nations with this chimerical idea of 
 tracing their defcent from the family of Priam. There is a very 
 remarkable proof in the Hiftorian Matthew of Weftminiler, how 
 fond the Englifli were of confidering themfelves as the defcendants 
 of the Trojan Brutus. In a letter from Edward the Firfl to 
 Pope Boniface, concerning the affairs of Scotland, the King boafts 
 of his Trojan predecefTor in the following terms :~Sub temporlbus 
 itaque Ely & Samuelis prophetarum, vir quidam flrenuus et infxo-nis, 
 Brutus nomine, de genere Trojanorum, poftexcidium urbis Trojanai 
 cum multis nobilibus Trojanorum applicuit in quandam Infulam 
 tunc Albion vocatam, a gigantibus inhabitatam, quibus fua et fuo- 
 rum feduftis potentia et occifis, earn nomine fuo Britanniam foci- 
 ofque fuos Britannos appellavit, & sdificavit civitatem quam Tri- 
 Jicvantum nuncupavit, quae mode Londinum nuncupatur. 
 
 Matt. Westmon. p. 439. 
 Y NOTE 
 
,6a NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE III. Verse 73. 
 
 ylnd Bacon sfelf, for mental glory born. 
 
 Meets, as her Jlave, our pity, or our /corn."] I wifh not to dwell 
 invidioufly on the failings of this immortal Genius ; but it may be 
 ufeful to remark, that no Hiftorical work, though executed by a 
 man of the highefl mental abilities, can obtain a lafling reputation, 
 if it be planned and written with a fervility of fpirit. — This was 
 evidently the cafe in Bacon's Hiftory of Henry the Vllth : it was 
 the firft work he engaged in after his difgrace, and laid as a peace- 
 offering at the feet of his maflcr, the defpicable James, who aff'ecfled 
 to confider his great grandfather, the abjedt and avaricious Henry, 
 as the model of a King. It was therefore tlie aim of the unfortu- 
 nate Hiftorian to flatter this phantafy of the royal pedant, for whom 
 he wrote, and he accordingly formed a coloflal flatue to reprefcnt 
 a pigmy. — It is matter of aftonilliment that Lord Bolingbroke, who 
 in his political works has written on the vices of this very King, 
 with a force and beauty fo fuperior to the Hiftory in quellion, 
 Hiould fpcak of it as a v/ork poffefTing merit fufficient to bear a 
 comparifon with the antients : on the contrary, the extreme awk- 
 wardncfs of the tafk, which the Hiftorian impofed upon himfelf, 
 gave a weaknefs and embarralTment to his flyle, which in his nobler 
 works is clear, nervous, and manly. Tliis will particularly ap- 
 pear from a few lines in his charadter of Henry. — " This King, to 
 fpeak of him in terms equal to his deferving, was one of the beft 
 fort of wonders, a wonder for wife men. He had parts, both in 
 his virtues and his fortune, not fo fit for a common-place as for 
 obfervation .... His worth may bear a tale or two, that may put 
 upon him fomewhat, that may feem divine."— He then relates a 
 dream of Henry's mother, the Lady Margaret : but the quotations 
 I have made may be fufficient to juftify my remark; and, as 
 Dr. Johnfon fays happily of Milton, " What Englifhman can 
 take delight in tranfcribing paflages, which, if they leflen the re- 
 putation of Bacon, diminilh in fome degree the honour of our 
 country ?" 
 
 6 NOTE 
 
T H I R P EPISTLE. 363 
 
 NOTE IV. Verse 92. 
 
 Afid of that jnoiintain 7nake thejlatiie of a King,'] An allufion to 
 the Archited Dinocrates, who offered to cut Mount Athos into a 
 ftatue of Alexander the Great. 
 
 NOTE V. Verse 97. 
 
 As croiDjid with Indian laurels, nobly ivon, Gfr.] This ftory Ts 
 told on a fimilar occafion by Lucian. Having afferted that hiftori- 
 cal flatterers often meet with the indignation they deferve, he pro- 
 ceeds to this example : {^.i^in^ ApigcCa^ov y.0Ki}.axio(.v yfin-lcLVTOQ AAj^iXvo/ja 
 V-CLi IIwpcUj v-c^.i civayvQvroQ cVotlh tuto (xd'hiqca ro %wp/ov tvjc y^cf.<^viC 
 (w5T0 yap xxpisicr^xi ra ixsyigx rw C^ciuiKsi, €7ri4'S'ohixsvo<: upigsicc rivac 
 avTKt aoii civxrMTTW spyx ixsi^u T^i aM^stcic) }\xS(av easivoi to (^iZkiov 
 {rrKsovTsc d' sroyx^vov sv tco Troraixa tw J^ciaTra) sppi^sv S7ti Ke(^cL\v^v es to 
 uJwp, smTrijW " Kix,i ffs ^s cvtw s^P^^' " Apu^cQsKs, toicvtcc VTrap eixa 
 (lovo^xxx^''''^'^* ^^' f?i£$WT(Xf ev siKO'jTia (pcvcvcvrcc." 
 
 Lucian. Edit. Riollay, p, 28. 
 The Critics are much divided on this paflage : I have followed 
 an interpretation very different from that adopted by a learned and 
 judicious author, who has lately entered into a thorough difcuffion 
 of all the anecdotes relating to this celebrated Conqueror, in a very 
 elaborate and fpirited differtation, entitled, ** Examen critique des 
 Hiftoriens d'Alexandre," Paris, 4to, 1775. But there is great 
 probability in his conjecture, that the name of AriflobuUis has; 
 iilipt into the ftory by fome miftake j and that the fycophant To 
 juftly reprimanded was Oncficritus, who attended the hero of Ma- 
 ccdon in quality of Hifloriographer, and is cenfured by the judi- 
 cious Strabo as the moll fabulous of all the Writers who have 
 engaged in his Hifrory. For the reafons whicli fupport this con- 
 jcdure, fee the book I have mentioned, page 19, 
 
 Y 2 NOTE 
 
i64 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE VI. Verse 115. 
 
 In Dedications quietly inurnd, 
 
 They take more lying Praife than Amnion fpiirn d.^ As Hiftory is 
 the compofition moll frequently add refled to Princes, modern Hif- 
 torians have been peculiarly tempted to this kind of adulation.— 
 Indeed Dedications in general are but top commonly a difgrace to 
 letters. Perhaps a concife Hiftory of this fpecies of writing, and 
 the fate of fome remarkable Dedicators, might have a good influence 
 towards corredling that proftitution of talents, which is fo often 
 obferved in produdtions of this nature ; and fuch a work might be 
 very amufing to the lovers of literary anecdote. — 'The two mofl: un- 
 fortunate Dedications that occur to my remembrance, were written 
 by JoOiua Barnes, and Dr. Pearce, late Bifliop of Rochefter : The 
 firft dedicated his Hillory of Edward the Illd, to James the lid, 
 and unluckily compared that Monarch to the mofl valiant of his 
 predeceflbrs, juft before his timidity led him to abdicate the throne : 
 the fecond dedicated his edition of Tully de Oratore to Lord Mac- 
 clesfield, and as unluckily celebrated his patron as a model of pub- 
 lic virtue, not many years before he was impeached in parliament, 
 and fined ^, 30,000 for the iniquity of his condudt in the office of 
 Chancellor. * 
 
 NOTE VII. Verse 135. 
 
 Still can Herrera, mourning oer^ his urn, 
 
 Ihs dying pangs to blifsful rapture turn.'\ Antonio de Herrera, a 
 Soanifh Hillorian of great reputation, defcribes the death of Phi- 
 lip II. in the following terms : — •* Y fue cofa de notar, que aviendo 
 dos, o trcs horas antes que efplrallc, tenido un par. xifmo tan 
 violento, que le tuvieron por acabado, cubriendole el roflro con 
 un panno, abrio los ojos con gran efpiritu, y tomo cl crucifixo de 
 mano de Don Hernando de Toledo, y con gran devocion, y tcrnura 
 le beso muchas vozes, y a la imagen de nueftra Scnnora dc Mon- 
 ferrate, que eftava en la candela. Parecib al Argobifpo de To- 
 ledo, a los confclTorcs, y a quantos fe hallaron prefeiitcs, que 
 
 era 
 
THIRD EPISTLE. 165 
 
 era ImpofTible, que naturalmente huvieffe podldo bolver tan prefto, 
 y con tan vivo ef^irltu, fino que devio de tener en aquel puato 
 alguna vifion y favor del cielo, y que mas fue rapto que paraxif- 
 mo : luego bolv^o al agonia, y fe fue acabando poco a poco, y 
 con pequenno movimiento fe le arranco el alma, domingo a treze 
 de Setiembre a las cinco horas de la mannana, fiendo fas ultimas 
 palabras, que moria como Catolico en la Fe y obediencia de la 
 fanta Iglefia Romana ; y afTi acabo efte gran Monarca con la mifma 
 prudencia con que vivio : por lo qual (meritamente) fe le dio el 
 atributo de prudente. 
 
 Hift. General del Mundo, por Ant. Herrera, Madrid 1612. 
 
 Tom. iii. f. 777. 
 After fpeaking fo freely on the vices of this Monarch, it is but 
 juft to obferve, that Philip, who pofleffed all the fedate cruelty 
 of the cold-blooded Odtavius, refembled him alfo in one amiable 
 quality, and was fo much a friend to letters, that his reign may be 
 confidtred as the Auguftan age of Spanilh literature. — His moil 
 bloody minifter, the mercilefs Alva, was the Mscenas of that won- 
 derful and voluminous Poet, Lope de Vega. I cannot help re- 
 gretting that the two eminent Writers, who have lately delineated 
 the reigns of Charles the Vth, and his Son Philip, fo happily in 
 our language, have entered fo little into the literary Hiftoiy of • 
 thofe times. 
 
 NOTE VIIL Verse 158; 
 
 Nor hope tojiain, on bafe DetraSlion s fcroll, 
 
 ATiilIys morals, or a Sidney s foul!'] Dion Caffius, the fordid 
 advocate of defpotifm, endeavoured to depreciate the charad:er of 
 Cicero, by inferting in his Hiftory the moft indecent Oration that 
 ever difgraced the page of an Hiflorian. — In the opening of his 
 46th book, he introduces Q^ Fulius Calenus haranguing the Ro- 
 man fenate againft the great ornament of that aflembly, calling Ci- 
 cero a magician, and accufing him of proftituting his wife, and 
 committing inceft with his daughter. Some late hiftorical attempts 
 to fink the reputation of the great Algernon Sidney, are fo recent, 
 that they will occur to the remembrance of almoft every Reader. 
 10 .NOTE 
 
i66 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 N O T E IX. Verse 179. 
 
 Nor hfs the blemlp, tho of different kind, 
 
 Fromfalji Philofophy's conceits refmdl &c.] The ideas in this paf- 
 fagc are chiefly borrowed from the excellent oblervations on Hiftory 
 in Dr. Gregory's Comparative View. As that engaging little volume 
 is fo generally known, I Ihnll not lengthen thcfe Notes by tran- 
 fcribing any part of it ; but I thought it juft to acknowledge my 
 obligations to an Author, whofe fentiments I am proud to adopt, 
 as he united the nobleft affedlions of the heart to great elegance 
 of mind, and is juftly ranked among the moft amiable of moral 
 writers. 
 
 NOTE X. Verse 218. 
 
 51? [peak no Falfehood; and no 'Truth fupprefs.^ Qil^s nefcit, primani 
 efle Hifloriaj legem ne quid falfi dicere audeat ? deinde, ne quid 
 verinon audeat. De Oratore, Lib. ii. 
 
 Voltaire has made a few juft remarks on the fecond part of this 
 famous Hiftorical maxim ; and it certainly is to be underftood with 
 fome degree of limitation. The fentence of the amiable Pliny, fo 
 often quoted — Hiftoria quoquo modo fcriptk deledlat — is liable, I 
 apprehend, to flill more objections. 
 
 NOTE XI. Verse 266. 
 
 A li'djle of Genius in the toilo/KnoIles.'] Richard ICnolles, a native 
 of Northamptonfliire, educated at Oxford, publiflied, in 1610, 
 a Hiftory of the Turk?. An Author of our age, to whom both 
 criticifm and morality have very high obligations, has beftowed a 
 liberal encomium on this neglcded Hiftorian ; whofe charadlcr he 
 clofes with the following juft obfervation : 
 
 ** Nothing could have funk this Author in obfcurity, but the 
 remotenefs and barbarity of the people whofe ftory he relates. It 
 feldom happens, that all circumftanccs concur to happinefs or 
 fame. The nation which produced this great Hiftorian, has the 
 gncf of feeing his genius employed upon a foreign and unintcrefting 
 
 fubjedt; 
 
THIRD EPISTLE. 167 
 
 fubjedt ; and that Writer, who might have fecured perpetuity to his 
 name, by a Hiftory of his own country, has expofed himfelf to the 
 danger of oblivion, by recounting enterprizes and revolutions, of 
 which none defire to be informed." 
 
 Rambler, Vol. III. N" 122. 
 
 NOTE XII. Verse 330. 
 
 And read your juji reward m Brady s fate !] Robert Brady, born 
 in Norfolk, was ProfefTor of Phyfic in the Univerfity of Cam- 
 bridge, which he reprefented in Parliament. — He was Mafler of 
 Caius College, and Phyfician inordinary to James II. He publifhed, 
 in 1684, a Hiftory of England, from the invafion of Julius Csfar 
 to the death of Richard the Second, in three volumes folio: and 
 died in 1700.— His charadler cannot be more juftly or more forcibly 
 exprelTed, than in the words of a living Author, who has lately 
 vindicated the antient conftitution of our country with great depth 
 of learning, and with all the energy of genius infpirited by 
 
 freedom. 
 
 "Of Dr. Brady it ought to be remembered, that he was the 
 Have of a fadion, and that he meanly proftituted an excellent un- 
 derftanding, and admirable quicknefs, to vindicate tyranny, and to 
 deftroy the rights of his nation." 
 
 Stuart's View of Society in Europe. 
 Notes, page 327. 
 
 NOTE Xni. Verse 381. 
 
 Like the dumb Son of Crcefus, in the Jirife.] Herodotus relates, 
 that a Perfian foldier, in the ftorming of Sardis, was preparing to 
 killCroefus, whofe perfon he did not know, and who,, giving up all 
 as loft, negleded to defend his own life ; a fon of the unfortunate 
 Monarch, -who had been dumb from his infancy, and who never 
 fpake afterward?, found utterance in that trying moment, and pre- 
 ferved his father, by exclaiming " O kill not Crcefus." 
 
 NOTE 
 
i68 NOTES, &c. 
 
 NOTE XIV. Verse 387. 
 
 Lejs eager to corrcB^- than to revi/e.] This is perhaps a jufl de- 
 fcription of T/je polemical Divine, as a general charafter : but there 
 are fome authors of that clafs, to whom it can never be applied. 
 
 Dr. V/atfon, in particular, will be ever mentioned with honour, 
 
 as one of the happy few, who have preferved the purity of juftice 
 and good manners in a zealous defence of religion ; who have given 
 elegance and fpirit to controverfial writing, by that liberal eleva- 
 tion of mind, which is equally removed from the meannefs of flat- 
 h:ry and the infolence of detraction. 
 
 NOTE XV. Verse 393. 
 
 I'he noble irijiiii5f , Love of Icjling Fame.] There is a moll ani- 
 mated and judicious defence of this paflion in Fitzofborne's Let- 
 ters. — But I muft content myfelf with barely referring my Rea- 
 der to that amiable Moralift, as I fear I have already extended 
 thefe Notes to fuch a length, as will expofe me to the feve- 
 lity of criticifm. Indeed I tremble in reviewing the fize of this 
 Comment : which I cannot clofe without entreating my Rea- 
 der to believe, that its bulk has arifen from no vain ideas of 
 the value of my own Poem, but from a defire to throw col- 
 ledted light on a fubjedl, which appeared to me of importance, 
 and to do all thejuftice in my power to many valuable writers, 
 whom I wiflied to celebrate. — Thofe who arc inclined to cen- 
 fure, will perhaps think this apology infufficient ; and I forclee 
 that fome hafty Critics will compare the length of the Poem 
 with that of the Annotations, and then laying down the book 
 without perufing either, they will apply perhaps (not unhap- 
 pily) to the Author the following lively couplet of Dr. Young: 
 
 Sure, next to writing, the moft idle thing 
 Is gravely to harangue on what we fing. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 <fS-S^^^