NOTE I. VERSE 4.

NOTE II. VERSE 55.

Dionyſius of Halicarnaſſus, the celebrated hiſtorian and critic of the Auguſtan age, who ſettled in Italy, as he himſelf informs us, on the cloſe of the civil war. He has addreſſed a little treatiſe, contain⯑ing a critique on the elder hiſtorians, to his friend Cnaeus Pompeius, whom the French cri⯑tics ſuppoſe to be Pompey the Great; but Reiſke, the laſt editor of Dionyſius, has ſunk him into a petty Greek grammarian, the client or freed⯑man of that illuſtrious Roman.

In this treatiſe of Dionyſius, and in one ſtill longer, on the character of Thucydides, there are ſome excellent hiſtorical precepts, which Mr. Spelman has judiciouſly thrown together in the preface to his admirable tranſlation of the Roman Antiquities.—He introduces them by the fol⯑lowing obſervation, which may ſerve perhaps to recommend the ſubject of the preſent poem.—‘"So much has been ſaid, both by the antients [93] and the moderns, in praiſe of the advantages re⯑ſulting from the ſtudy of Hiſtory, particularly by Diodorus Siculus among the former, in the noble preface to his Hiſtorical Collections; and by the late Lord Bolingbroke, among the mo⯑derns, in his admirable letter on that ſubject; that I am aſtoniſhed no treatiſe has ever yet ap⯑peared in any age, or any language, profeſſedly written to preſcribe rules for writing Hiſtory; a work allowed to be of the greateſt advan⯑tage of all others to mankind, the repoſitory of truth, fraught with leſſons both of public and private virtue, and enforced by ſtronger motives than precepts—by examples. Rules for Poetry and Rhetoric have been written by many au⯑thors, both antient and modern, as if delight and eloquence were of greater conſequence than inſtruction: however, Rhetoric was a part of Hiſtory, as treated by the antients; not the principal part indeed, but ſubſervient to the prin⯑cipal; and calculated to apply the facts exhibited by the narration. I know it may be ſaid, that many antient hiſtories are ſtill preſerved, and [94] that theſe models are ſufficient guides for mo⯑dern Hiſtorians, without particular rules: ſo had the Greeks Poets of all denominations in their hands, and yet Ariſtotle thought it neceſſary to preſcribe particular rules to his countrymen for applying thoſe examples to every branch of Poetry: I wiſh he had done the ſame in Hiſtory; if he had, it is very probable that his precepts would have rendered the beſt of our modern Hiſtories more perfect, and the worſt, leſs abo⯑minable.—Since the reſurrection of letters, the want of ſuch a guide has been complained of by many authors, and particularly by Rapin, in the preface to his Hiſtory of England."’ —Spelman, page 15.—But this ingenious and learned wri⯑ter ſpeaks a little too ſtrongly, in ſaying no treatiſe has ever appeared in any age or language, con⯑taining rules for Hiſtory. There is one in Latin by the celebrated Voſſius, entitled Ars Hiſtori⯑ca; another by Hubertus Folieta, an elegant Latin writer, of the 16th century, on whom Thuanus beſtows the higheſt commendation; and Maſcardi, an Italian critic, patroniſed by [95] Cardinal Mazarine, has written alſo dell Arte Hiſtorica. The curious reader may find a ſin⯑gular anecdote relating to the publication of this work in Bayle, under the article Maſcardi.—But to return to Dionyſius. In comparing Hero⯑dotus and Thucydides, he cenſures the latter with a degree of ſeverity unwarranted by truth and reaſon: indeed this ſeverity appeared ſo ſtriking to the learned Fabricius, that he ſeems to conſider it as a kind of proof, that the cri⯑tical works of Dionyſius were compoſed in the haſty fervor of youth. They are however in general, to uſe the words of the ſame ingenious author, eximia & lectu digna; and a valuable critic of our own country, who reſembles Diony⯑ſius in elegance of compoſition, and perhaps in ſeverity of judgment, has ſpoken yet more warm⯑ly in their favour.—See Warton's Eſſay on Pope, 3d edit. page 175.

NOTE III. VERSE 63.

The little treatiſe of Lucian "How Hiſtory ſhould be written," may be conſidered as one of the moſt valuable productions of that lively au⯑thor; it is not only written with great vivacity and wit, but is entitled to the ſuperior praiſe of breathing moſt exalted ſentiments of liberty and virtue. There is a peculiar kind of ſublimity in his deſcription of an accompliſhed Hiſtorian.

‘ [...].’

[97] It is a piece of juſtice due to our own country to remark, that in the 3d volume of the World, there is a ludicrous eſſay on Hiſtory by Mr. Cambridge, which is written with all the ſpirit and all the humour of Lucian.

NOTE IV. VERSE 68.

‘ [...].’

NOTE V. VERSE 77.

This ſingular inſtitution, which is alluded to by many of our late authors, is related at large in the Firſt Book of Diodorus Siculus; and as the paſſage is curious, the following free tranſlation of it may afford entertainment to the Engliſh reader—‘"Thoſe 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 deceaſed; informing them, that the body will paſs over the [98] lake of that diſtrict to which the dead belonged: when, on the judges being aſſembled, to the num⯑ber of more than forty, and ranging themſelves in a ſemicircle on the farther ſide of the lake, the veſſel is ſet afloat, which thoſe who ſuperin⯑tend the funeral have prepared for this purpoſe. This veſſel is managed by a pilot, called in the Egyptian language Charon; and hence they ſay, that Orpheus, travelling in old times into Egypt, and ſeeing this ceremony, formed his fable of the infernal regions, partly from what he ſaw, and partly from invention. The veſſel being launch⯑ed on the lake, before the coffin which contains the body is put on board, the law permits all, who are ſo inclined, to produce an accuſation againſt it.—If any one ſteps forth, and proves that the deceaſed has led an evil life, the judges pronounce ſentence, and the body is precluded from burial; but if the accuſer is convicted of injuſtice in his charge, he falls himſelf under a conſiderable pe⯑nalty. When no accuſer appears, or when the accuſer is proved to be an unfair one, the rela⯑tions, who are aſſembled, change their expreſſions [99] of ſorrow into encomiums on the dead: yet they do not, like the Greeks, ſpeak in honour of his family, becauſe they conſider all Egyptians as equally well-born; but they ſet forth the educa⯑tion and manners of his youth, his piety and juſ⯑tice in maturer life, his moderation, and every virtue by which he was diſtinguiſhed; and they ſupplicate the infernal Deities to receive him as an aſſociate among the bleſt. The multitude join their acclamations of applauſe in this cele⯑bration of the dead, whom they conſider as going to paſs an eternity among the juſt be⯑low^*."’—Such is the deſcription which Dio⯑dorus gives of this funereal judicature, to which even the kings of Egypt were ſubject. The ſame author aſſerts, that many ſovereigns had been thus judicially deprived of the honours of burial by the indignation of their people: and that the terrors of ſuch a fate had a moſt ſalutary influence on the virtue of their kings.

The Abbè Terraſſon has drawn a ſublime pic⯑ture of this ſepulchral proceſs, and indeed of ma⯑ny [100] Egyptian Myſteries, in his very learned and ingenious romance, The Life of Sethos.

NOTE VI. VERSE 115.

‘"Not only the Greek writers give a concurrent teſti⯑mony concerning the priority of hiſtorical Verſe to Proſe; but the records of all nations unite in confirming it. The oldeſt compoſitions among the Arabs are in Rythm or rude Verſe; and are often cited as proofs of the truth of their ſub⯑ſequent Hiſtory. The accounts we have of the Peruvian ſtory confirm the ſame fact; for Gar⯑cilaſſo tells us, that he compiled a part of his Commentaries from the antient ſongs of the country—Nay all the American tribes, who have any compoſitions, are found to eſtabliſh the ſame truth—Northern Europe contributes its ſhare of teſtimony: for there too we find the Scythian or Runic ſongs (many of them hiſtorical) to be the oldeſt compoſitions among theſe barbarous na⯑tions."’ BROWNE's Diſſertation on Poetry, &c. Page 50.

NOTE VII. VERSE 131.

This account of the Pyramids I have adopted from the very learned Mr. Bryant, part of whoſe inge⯑nious obſervation upon them I ſhall here preſent to the reader.—

One great purpoſe in all eminent and expenſive ſtructures is to pleaſe the ſtranger and traveller, and to win their admiration. This is effected ſometimes by a mixture of magnificence and beauty: at other times ſolely by immenſity and grandeur. The latter ſeems to have been the object in the erecting of thoſe celebrated build⯑ings in Egypt: and they certainly have anſwered the deſign. For not only the vaſtneſs of their ſtructure, and the area which they occupy, but the ages they have endured, and the very uncer⯑tainty of their hiſtory, which runs ſo far back into the depths of antiquity, produce all together a wonderful veneration; to which buildings more [102] exquiſite and embelliſhed are ſeldom entitled. Many have ſuppoſed, that they were deſigned for places of ſepulture: and it has been affirmed by Herodotus, and other antient writers. But they ſpoke by gueſs: and I have ſhewn by many inſtances, how uſual it was for the Gre⯑cians to miſtake temples for tombs. If the chief Pyramid were deſigned for a place of burial, what occaſion was there for a well, and for paſ⯑ſages of communication which led to other build⯑ings? Near the Pyramids are apartments of a wonderful fabric, which extend in length one thouſand four hundred feet, and about thirty in depth. They have been cut out of the hard rock, and brought to a perpendicular by the artiſt's chizel; and through dint of labour faſhioned as they now appear. They were undoubtedly de⯑ſigned for the reception of prieſts; and conſe⯑quently were not appendages to a tomb, but to a temple of the Deity . . . . . . The prieſts of Egypt delighted in obſcurity; and they probably came by the ſubterraneous paſſages of the build⯑ing to the dark chambers within; where they per⯑formed [103] their luſtrations, and other nocturnal rites. Many of the antient temples in this country were caverns in the rock, enlarged by art, and cut out into numberleſs dreary apartments: for no nation upon earth was ſo addicted to gloom and melancholy as the Egyptians.—

The royal geographer Abulfeda ſeems to con⯑firm the idea of this ingenious author; or at leaſt to have been equally perſuaded, that the Pyramids were not places of burial; for, ſpeaking of them, in his deſcription of Egypt, he ſays: ‘"ſunt autem, ut narratur, ſepulcra veterum: ohe vero quam narrantur multa, quorum non certa fides!"’ ABUL. Egypt. Edit. Michaelis, Page 10.

NOTE VIII. VERSE 194.

The number of vo⯑lumes deſtroyed in the plunder of Alexandria is ſaid to have been ſo great, that although they were diſtributed to heat four thouſand baths in that city, it was ſix months before they were conſumed. When a petition was ſent to the Chaliph Omar [104] for the preſervation of this magnificent library, he replied, in the true ſpirit of bigotry, ‘"What is contained in theſe 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 ſufficient without them: if other⯑wiſe, 'tis fit they ſhould be deſtroyed."’ OCKLEY's Hiſtory of the Sara⯑cens, Vol. I. Page 313.

NOTE IX. VERSE 207.

Herodotus, to whom Cicero has given the honour⯑able appellation of The Father of Hiſtory, was born in Halicarnaſſus, a city of Caria, four years before the invaſion of Xerxes, in the year 484 before Chriſt. The time and place of his death are uncertain; but his countryman Dionyſius informs us, that he lived to the beginning of the Peloponneſian war; and Marcellinus, the Greek author who wrote a life of Thucydides, affirms there was a monument erected to theſe two great [105] Hiſtorians in a burial-place belonging to the fa⯑mily of Miltiades.

There is hardly any author, antient or mo⯑dern, who has been more warmly commended, or more vehemently cenſured, than this eminent Hiſtorian. But even the ſevere Dionyſius de⯑clares, he is one of thoſe enchanting writers, whom you peruſe to the laſt ſyllable with plea⯑ſure, and ſtill wiſh for more.—Plutarch himſelf, who has made the moſt violent attack on his veracity, allows him all the merit of beautiful compoſition. From the heavy charges brought againſt him by the antients, the famous Henry Stephens, and his learned friend Camerarius, have defended their favourite Hiſtorian with great ſpi⯑rit. But Herodotus has found a more formidable antagoniſt 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 ingeni⯑ous Mr. Richardſon could effectually ſupport his Perſian ſyſtem, the great Father of the Gre⯑cian ſtory muſt ſink into a fabuliſt as low in point [106] of veracity as Geoffrey of Monmouth. It muſt be owned, that ſeveral eminent Writers of our country have treated him as ſuch. Another Ori⯑entaliſt, who, in his elegant Preface to the Life of Nader Shaw, has drawn a ſpirited and judi⯑cious ſketch of many capital Hiſtorians, declares, in paſſing judgment on Herodotus, that ‘"his accounts of the Perſian affairs are at leaſt doubt⯑ful, if not fabulous."’—Hume, I think, goes ſtill farther, and ſays, in one of his eſſays—‘"The firſt page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real Hiſtory."’ For my own part, I confeſs myſelf more credulous: the rela⯑tion, which Herodotus has given of the repulſe of Xerxes from Greece, is ſo delightful to the mind, and ſo animating to public virtue, that I ſhould be ſorry to number it among the Grecian fables.

NOTE X. VERSE 210.

Ar⯑temiſia of Halicarnaſſus, who commanded in [107] perſon the five veſſels, which ſhe contributed to the expedition of Xerxes. On hearing that ſhe had ſunk a Grecian galley in the ſea-fight at Sa⯑lamis, he exclaimed, that his men had proved women, and his women men. HEROD. Lib. VIII. p. 660. Edit. Weſſ.

NOTE XI. VERSE 213.

‘Sine ullis ſalebris quaſi ſedatus amnis fluit.’ CICERO in Oratore.

NOTE XII. VERSE 229.

Thucydides, the ſon of Olorus, was born at Athens in the year 471 before Chriſt, and is ſaid, at the age of 15, to have heard Herodotus recite his Hiſtory at the Olympic games.—The generous youth was charmed even to tears, and the Hiſtorian congratulated Olorus on theſe marks of genius, which he diſcovered in his ſon.—Being inveſted with a military command, he [108] was baniſhed from Athens at the age of 48, by the injuſtice of faction, becauſe he had unfortu⯑nately failed in the defence of Amphipolis.—He retired into Thrace, and is reported to have married a Thracian lady poſſeſſed of valuable mines in that country.—At the end of 20 years his ſentence of baniſhment was revoked. Some authors affirm that he returned into Athens, and was treacherouſly killed in that city. But others aſſert that he died in Thrace, at the ad⯑vanced age of 80, leaving his Hiſtory unfiniſhed. MARCELLINUS; and DODWELL. Annales Thucydid.

NOTE XIII. VERSE 255.

It is ſaid by Diogenes Laertius, that Xenophon firſt brought the Hiſtory of Thucydides into public reputation, though he had it in his power to aſ⯑ſume to himſelf all the glory of that work. This amiable Philoſopher and Hiſtorian was born at Athens, and became early a diſciple of Socrates, [109] who is ſaid by Strabo to have ſaved his life in battle. About the 50th year of his age, accord⯑ing to the conjecture of his admirable tranſlator Mr. Spelman, he engaged in the expedition of Cyrus, and accompliſhed his immortal retreat in the ſpace of 15 months.—The jealouſy of the Athenians baniſhed him from his native city, for engaging in the ſervice 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 mentions in his Epiſtles, and devoted his leiſure to philoſophy and rural ſports.—But commotions ariſing in that country, he removed to Corinth, where he is ſuppoſed to have written his Grecian Hiſtory, and to have died at the age of ninety, in the year 360 before Chriſt. By his wife Phileſia he had two ſons, Diodorus and Gryllus. The latter rendered himſelf im⯑mortal by killing Epaminondas in the famous battle of Mantinea, but periſhed in that exploit, which his father lived to record.

NOTE XIV. VERSE 277.

Some of the moſt illuſtrious Romans are known to have written Hiſtories in Greek. The luxuriant Lucullus, when he was very young, compoſed in that language a Hiſtory of the Marſi, which, Plu⯑tarch ſays, was extant in his time—Cicero wrote a Greek Commentary on his own conſulſhip—and the elegant Atticus produced a ſimilar work on the ſame ſubject, that did not perfectly ſatisfy the nice ear of his friend, as we learn from the fol⯑lowing curious paſſage in a letter concerning the Hiſtory in queſtion:—‘"Quanquam tua illa (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta viſa ſunt: ſed tamen erant ornata hoc ipſo, quod or⯑namenta neglexerant, et ut mulieres, ideo bene olere, quia nihil olebant, videbantur."’ Epiſt. ad ATTICUM. Lib. II. Ep. 1.

NOTE XV. VERSE 283.

Polybius, born at Megalopolis in Arcadia, 205 years before Chriſt.—He was trained to arms un⯑der the celebrated Philopoemen, and is deſcribed by Plutarch carrying the urn of that great but un⯑fortunate General in his funeral proceſſion. He roſe to conſiderable honours in his own country, but was compelled to viſit Rome with other principal Achaeans, who were detained there as pledges for the ſubmiſſion of their ſtate.—From hence he became intimate with the ſecond Scipio Africanus, and was preſent with him at the demo⯑lition of Carthage.—He ſaw Corinth alſo plun⯑dered by Mummius, and thence paſſing through the cities of Acharia, reconciled them to Rome.—He extended his travels into Egypt, France, and Spain, that he might avoid ſuch geographical er⯑rors as he has cenſured in other writers of Hiſtory. He lived to the age of 82, and died of an illneſs occaſioned by a fall from his horſe. FABRICIUS, Bibliotheca Graeca.

[112] In cloſing this conciſe account of the capital Greek Hiſtorians, I cannot help obſerving, that our language has been greatly enriched in the courſe of the preſent century, by ſuch tranſlations of theſe Authors as do great honour to our coun⯑try, and are at leaſt equal to any which other na⯑tions have produced.

In the chief Roman Hiſtorians we ſeem to have been leſs fortunate; but from the ſpecimen which Mr. Aikin has lately given the public in the ſmaller pieces of Tacitus, we may hope to ſee an excellent verſion 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 tranſlate with fidelity and ſpirit.

NOTE XVI. VERSE 301.

This celebrated Hiſtorian, who from the irregularity of his life, and the beauty of his writings, has been called, not unhappily, the Bolingbroke of Rome, [113] was born at Amiternum, a town of the Sabines.—For the profligacy of his early life he was expelled the ſenate, but reſtored by the intereſt of Julius Caeſar, who gave him the command of Numidia, which province he is ſaid to have plundered by the moſt infamous extortion, purchaſing with part of this treaſure thoſe rich and extenſive poſſeſſions on the Quirinal Hill, ſo celebrated by the name of the Horti Salluſtiani.—He died in the 70th year of his age, four years before the battle of Actium, and 35 before the Chriſtian aera. His enmity to Cicero is well known, and perhaps it had ſome influence on the peculiarity of his diction—per⯑ſonal animoſity might make him endeavour to form a ſtyle as remote as poſſible from the redun⯑dant language of the immortal Orator, whoſe tur⯑bulent wife, Terentia, he is ſaid to have married after her divorce. This extraordinary woman is reported to have lived to the age of 103, to have married Meſſala, her third huſband, and Vibius Rufus her fourth.—The latter boaſted, with the joy of an Antiquarian, that he poſſeſſed two of the greateſt curioſities in the world, namely Terentia, [114] who had been Cicero's wife, and the chair in which Caeſar was killed.—St. JEROM; and DIO CASSIUS, quoted by Middleton in his life of Ci⯑cero.—But to return to Salluſt.—His Roman Hiſtory, in ſix books, from the death of Sylla to the conſpiracy of Catiline, the great work from which he chiefly derived his glory among the An⯑tients, is unfortunately loſt, excepting a few frag⯑ments;—but his two detached pieces of Hiſtory, which happily remain entire, are ſufficient to juſ⯑tify the great encomiums he has received as a wri⯑ter.—He has had the ſingular honour to be twice tranſlated by a royal hand—firſt by our Elizabeth, according to Camden; and ſecondly by the Infant Don Gabriel, whoſe Spaniſh verſion of this ele⯑gant Hiſtorian, lately printed in folio, is one of the moſt beautiful books that any country has produced ſince the invention of printing.

NOTE XVII. VERSE 316.

All the little perſonal account, that can be collected [115] of Livy, amounts only to this—that he was born at Patavium, the modern Padua; that he was choſen by Auguſtus to ſuperintend the education of the ſtupid Claudius; that he was rallied by the Emperor for his attachment to the cauſe of the Republic; and that he died in his own country in the 4th year of Tiberius, at the age of 76.—There is a paſſage in one of Pliny's letters, which, as it ſhews the high and extenſive reputation of our Hiſtorian during his life, I ſhall preſent to the reader in the words of Pliny's moſt elegant tranſ⯑lator.—‘"Do you remember to have read of a certain inhabitant of the city of Cadiz, who was ſo ſtruck with the illuſtrious character of Livy, that he travelled to Rome on purpoſe to ſee that great Genius; and as ſoon as he had ſatisfied his curioſity, returned home again?"’ —MELMOTH's Pliny, Vol. I. Page 71.—A veneration ſtill more extraordinary was paid to this great author by Alphonſo King of Naples, who in 1451 ſent Panormita as his Ambaſſador to the Venetians, in whoſe dominion the bones of Livy had been lately diſcovered, to beg a relic of this celebrated Hiſto⯑rian—They [116] preſented him with an arm-bone, and the preſent is recorded in an inſcription pre⯑ſerved at Padua, which the curious reader may find in Voſſius de Hiſtoricis Latinis. This ſin⯑gular anecdote is alſo related in Bayle, under the article Panormita.—Learning perhaps ne⯑ver ſuſtained a greater loſs, in any ſingle author, than by the deſtruction of the latter and more in⯑tereſting part of Livy.—Several eminent moderns have indulged the pleaſing expectation that the entire work of this noble Hiſtorian might yet be recovered.—It has been ſaid to exiſt in an Arabic verſion: and even a compleat copy of the original is ſuppoſed to have been extant as late as the year 1631, and to have periſhed at that time in the plunder of Magdeburgh.—That munificent pa⯑tron of learning, Leo the Xth, exerted the moſt generous zeal to reſcue from oblivion the valuable treaſure, which one of his moſt bigotted predeceſ⯑ſors, Gregory the Great, had expelled from every Chriſtian library.—Bayle has preſerved, under the article Leo, two curious original letters of that Pontiff, concerning his hopes of recovering Livy; [117] which afford moſt honourable proofs of his libe⯑rality in the cauſe of letters.

NOTE XVIII. VERSE 329.

The trunk of a ſtatue of Hercules by Apollonius the Athenian, univerſally called the Torſo of Michael Angelo, from its having been the fa⯑vourite ſtudy of that divine Artiſt.—He is ſaid to have made out the compleat figure in a little model of wax, ſtill preſerved at Florence, and repreſenting Hercules repoſing after his labours.—The figure is ſitting in a penſive poſture, with an elbow reſting on the knee.

NOTE XIX. VERSE 337.

Tacitus was born, according to the conjecture of Lipſius, in the cloſe of the reign of Claudius: paſſing through various public honours, he roſe at length to the conſular dignity, under Nerva, in the year of Chriſt 97. The date of his death is unknown, [118] but he is ſaid to have lived happily to an ad⯑vanced age with his wife, the amiable daughter of the virtuous Agricola, whoſe life he has ſo beautifully written. By this lady he is ſuppoſed to have left children; and the emperor Tacitus is conjectured to have been a remote deſcendant from the Hiſtorian, to whoſe works and memo⯑ry he paid the higheſt regard.—It is reported by Sidonius Apollinaris, that Tacitus recommended the province of writing Hiſtory to Pliny the Younger, and that he did not himſelf engage in that employment, till his friend had declined it. This is not mentioned, indeed, in any of the beautiful letters ſtill remaining from Pliny to Ta⯑citus; but it is an inſtance of delicacy not unpa⯑rallel'd among the Antients, as will appear from the following remark by one of the moſt elegant and liberal of modern critics.—‘"The Roman Poet, who was not more eminent by his genius than amiable in his moral character, affords per⯑haps the moſt remarkable inſtance that any where occurs, of the conceſſions which a mind ſtrongly impregnated with ſentiments of genuine [119] amity, is capable of making. Virgil's ſuperior ta⯑lents rendered him qualified to excel in all the no⯑bler ſpecies of poetical compoſition: nevertheleſs, from the moſt uncommon delicacy of friendſhip, he ſacrificed to his intimacy with Horace, the unrivall'd reputation he might have acquired by indulging his lyric vein; as from the ſame refined motive he forbore to exerciſe his dramatic pow⯑ers, that he might not obſcure the glory of his friend Varius.Aurum et opes et rura, frequens donabit amicus: Qui velit ingenio cedere, rarus erit." MART. VIII. 18.’ MELMOTH's Remarks on LAELIUS, Page 292.

As to Tacitus, it is clear, I think, from the Letters of Pliny, as well as from his own moſt pleaſing Life of Agricola, that he poſſeſſed all the refined and affectionate feelings of the heart in a very high degree, though the general caſt of his hiſtorical works might lead us to imagine that auſterity was his chief characteriſtic.—It would be eaſy to fill a volume in tranſcribing the great [120] encomiums, and the violent cenſures, which have been laviſhed by modern writers of almoſt every country on this profound Hiſtorian.—The laſt critic of eminence, who has written againſt him, in Britain, is, I believe, the learned Author of The Origin and Progreſs of Language; who, in his 3d volume of that work, has made many cu⯑rious remarks on the compoſition of the antient Hiſtorians, and is particularly ſevere on the dic⯑tion of Tacitus. He repreſents him as the defec⯑tive model, from which modern writers have co⯑pied, what he is pleaſed to call, ‘"the ſhort and priggiſh cut of ſtyle ſo much in uſe now."’

NOTE XX. VERSE 360.

It is to be wiſhed, that this moſt amiable Mora⯑liſt and Biographer had added a Life of himſelf, to thoſe which he has given to the world: as the particulars, which other Writers have preſerved of his perſonal Hiſtory, are very doubtful and imperfect. According to the learned Fabricius, [121] he was born under Claudius, 50 years after the Chriſtian aera, raiſed to the conſular dignity under Trajan, whoſe preceptor he is ſaid to have been, and made Procurator of Greece in his old age by the Emperor Adrian—in the 5th year of whoſe reign he is ſuppoſed to have died, at the age of 70. He was married to a moſt amiable woman of his own native town Chaeronea, whoſe name was Timoxena, and to whoſe ſenſe and virtue he has borne the moſt affectionate teſtimo⯑ny in his moral works; of which it may be re⯑gretted that we have no elegant tranſlation. In⯑deed even the Lives of Plutarch, the moſt popu⯑lar of all the antient hiſtorical compoſitions, were chiefly known to the Engliſh reader by a mot⯑ley and miſerable verſion, till a new one, exe⯑cuted with fidelity and ſpirit, was preſented to the public by the Langhornes in 1770.

NOTE XXI. VERSE 383.

Ammianus Marcellinus, a Grecian and a Soldier, [122] as he calls himſelf, flouriſhed under Conſtan⯑tius and the ſucceeding emperors, as late as Theodoſius. He ſerved under Julian in the Eaſt, and wrote a Hiſtory from the reign of Nerva to the death of Valens, in 31 books, of which 18 only remain.—The time and circumſtances of his own death are unknown.—Bayle has an article on Marcellinus, in which he obſerves, that he has introduced a moſt bitter invective againſt the Practitioners of Law into his Hiſtory.—He ſhould have added, that the Hiſtorian be⯑ſtows great encomiums on ſome illuſtrious cha⯑racters of that profeſſion, and even mentions the peculiar hardſhip to which Advocates are them⯑ſelves expoſed.—The curious reader may find this paſſage, Lib. xxx. Cap. 4.

NOTE XXII. VERSE 403.

Anna Comnena was the eldeſt daughter of the emperor Alexius Comnenus, and the empreſs Irene, born 1083.—She wrote the Hiſtory of her father, [123] in 15 books, firſt publiſhed, very imperfectly, by Haeſchelius, in 1610, and ſince printed in the collection of the Byzantine Hiſtorians, with a diffuſe and incorrect Latin verſion by the Jeſuit Poſſinus, but with excellent notes by the learned Du Freſne.

Conſidering the miſeries of the time in which ſhe lived, and the merits of her work—which ſome Critics have declared ſuperior to every other in that voluminous collection—this Lady may be juſtly regarded as a ſingular phaenomenon in the literary world; and, as this mention of her may poſſibly excite the curioſity of my fair Readers, I ſhall cloſe the Notes to this Epiſtle with preſenting to them a Tranſlation of the Preface to her Hiſtory, 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 myſelf it will eſcape the cenſure of be⯑ing tedious, as ſhe feelingly diſplays in it the misfortunes of her life, and the character of her mind.

[124]

NOTE I. VERSE 17.

It is well known how Edward the Confeſſor is celebrated for his inviolable chaſtity by the Mon⯑kiſh Hiſtorians—one of them, in particular, is ſo ſolicitous to vindicate the piety of Edward in this article, that he paſſes a ſevere cenſure on thoſe, who had imputed his ſingular continence to a prin⯑ciple [136] of reſentment againſt the father of his queen—‘Hanc quoque Rex ut conjugem tali arte trac⯑tavit, quod nec thoro removit, nec eam virili more carnaliter cognovit; quod utrum patris illius, qui proditor convictus erat, et familiae ejus odio, quod prudenter pro tempore diſſimulabat, an amore caſtitatis id fecerit, incertum eſt aliquibus, qui in dubiis ſiniſtra interpretantur. Veruntamen non benevoli, et veritati, ut videtur, diſſoni, dicere praeſumunt, quod Rex, charitatis et pacis mune⯑re ditatus, de genere proditoris haeredes, qui ſibi ſuccederent, corrupto ſemine noluerit procreare. Sciebat enim Rex pacificus quod filia nihil criminis commifit cum patre proditore, & ideò non reſpuit thorum virginis; ſed ambo unanimi aſſenſu caſti⯑tatem voverunt, parilique voluntate.’ THOMAE RUDBORNE Hiſt. major. in Anglia Sacra. Tom. I. p. 241.

The very high degree of merit which the wri⯑ters of the dark ages attributed to this matrimo⯑nial mortification, is ſtill more forcibly diſplayed in a miraculous ſtory related by Gregory of [137] Tours, which the curious reader may find in the Firſt Book and 42d chapter of that celebra⯑ted Hiſtorian.

NOTE II. VERSE 19.

The Monkiſh Hiſtorians ſeem to have conſi⯑dered a viſion as the moſt engaging embelliſh⯑ment that Hiſtory could receive—Even the ſage Matthew Paris delights in theſe heavenly digreſ⯑ſions. But the viſions, to which the preceding verſes particularly allude, are thoſe of the Virgin Flotilda, printed in the 2d volume of the Hiſto⯑riae Francorum Scriptores, by the learned Du⯑cheſne: a very ſhort ſpecimen may ſatisfy the curioſity of the Reader—‘Videbatur Canis can⯑didus eidem adgaudere, quam tamen illa timens pertranſiit, & ad quendam locum in medium de⯑centium clericorum pervenit, qui eam gratanter excipiebant, et potum ei in vaſe pulcherrimo, quaſi aquam clariſſimam, offerebant.’—P. 624.

NOTE III. VERSE 24.

The uſual legacy of the old Barons to their mo⯑naſtic dependants.

NOTE IV. VERSE 59.

It is now generally agreed, that the Hiſtory which bears the name of Turpin, Archbiſhop of Rheims, was the forgery of a Monk, at the time of the Cruſades; though Pope Calixtus the Second de⯑clared it to be authentic.—But, as it was cer⯑tainly intended to paſs as genuine Hiſtory, when⯑ever it was compoſed, and actually did ſo for ſome ages, this poetical mention of it appeared not improper. For the entertainment of the curious reader, I ſhall tranſcribe the two mira⯑culous paſſages alluded to in the poem:—‘Ante diem belli, caſtris et arietibus et turmis praepa⯑ratis in pratis, ſcilicet quae ſunt inter caſtrum, [139] quod dicitur Talaburgum, et urbem, juxta fluvi⯑um Caranta, infixerunt Chriſtiani quidam haſtas ſuas erectas in terra ante caſtra; craſtina verò die haſtas ſuas corticibus & frondibus decoratas in⯑venerunt, hi ſcilicet qui in bello praeſenti accep⯑turi erant martyrii palmam pro Chriſti fide. Qui etiam tanto miraculo Dei gaviſi, abſciſſis haſtis ſuis de terra, ſimul coaduniti primitùs in bello perierunt, et multos Saracenos occiderunt, ſed tandem martyrio coronantur.’—Cap. X.

After the ſoliloquy of Roland, addreſſed to his ſword, which moſt readers have ſeen quoted in Mr. Warton's excellent Obſervations on Spen⯑ſer, the Hiſtorian proceeds thus:—‘Timens ne in manus Saracenorum deveniret, percuſſit ſpatâ lapidem marmoreum trino ictu; a ſummo uſque deorſum lapis dividitur, & gladius biceps illaeſus educitur.—Deinde tubâ ſuâ coepit altiſonâ to⯑nitruare, ſi fortè aliqui ex Chriſtianis, qui per nemora Saracenorum timore latitabant, ad ſe venirent; vel ſi illi, qui portus jam tranſierant, [140] fortè ad ſe redirent, ſuoque funeri adeſſent, ſpa⯑tamque ſuam & equum acciperent, et Saracenos perſequerentur. Tunc tanta virtute tuba ſua eburnea inſonuit, quod flatu omnis ejus tuba per medium ſciſſa, & venae colli ejus & nervi rupti fuiſſe feruntur; cujus vox ad aures Caroli, qui in valle quae Caroli dicitur cum exercitu ſuo tento⯑ria fixerat, loco ſcilicet qui diſtabat a Carolo octo milliaribus verſus Gaſconiam, Angelico ductu pervenit.’—Cap. XXII. & XXIII.

NOTE V. VERSE 65.

The celebrated Secretary and ſuppoſed Son-in-law of Charlemain; who is ſaid to have been carried through the ſnow on the ſhoulders of the affec⯑tionate and ingenious Imma, to prevent his being tracked from her apartment by the Emperor her father: a ſtory which the elegant pen of Addiſon has copied and embelliſhed from an old German Chronicle, and inſerted in the 3d volume of the [141] Spectator.—This happy lover (ſuppoſing the ſtory to be true) ſeems to have poſſeſſed a heart not unworthy of ſo enchanting a miſtreſs, and to have returned her affection with the moſt faith⯑ful attachment; for there is a letter of Aegin⯑hard's ſtill extant, lamenting the death of his wife, which is written in the tendereſt ſtrain of connu⯑bial affliction—it does not however expreſs that this lady was the affectionate Princeſs; and in⯑deed ſome late critics have proved, that Imma was not the daughter of Charlemain.—But to return to our Hiſtorian.—He was a native of Germany, and educated by the munificence of his imperial maſter; of which he has left the moſt grateful teſtimony in his Preface to the Life of that Monarch—the paſſage may ſerve to ſhew both the amiable mind of the Hiſtorian, and the elegance of his ſtyle, conſidering the age in which he wrote:—‘Suberat & alia non irrationabilis, ut opinor, cauſa, quae vel ſola ſufficere poſſet ut me ad haec ſcribenda compelleret; nutrimentum vide⯑licet in me impenſum, & perpetua, poſtquam in [142] aula ejus converſari coepi, cum ipſo ac liberis ejus amicitia; quâ me ita ſibi devinxit, debi⯑toremque tam vivo quam mortuo conſtituit, ut meritò ingratus videri & judicari poſſem, ſi, tot beneficiorum in me collatorum immemor, clariſ⯑ſima & illuſtriſſima hominis optimè de me meriti geſta ſilentio praeterirem, patererque vitam ejus, quaſi qui nunquam vixerit, ſine literis ac debita laude manere; cui ſcribendae atque explicandae non meum ingeniolum, quod exile & parvum, imo nullum penè eſt, ſed Tullianam par erat deſudare facundiam.’—The terms in which he ſpeaks of Charlemain's being unable to write, are as fol⯑low:—‘Tentabat & ſcribere, fabulaſque & codi⯑cellos ad hoc in lectulo ſub cervicalibus circum⯑ferre ſolebat; ut cum vacuum tempus eſſet, ma⯑num effigiundis literis aſſuefaceret. Sed parum proſperè ſucceſſit labor praepoſterus, ac ſerò in⯑choatus.’—Aeginhard, after the loſs of his lament⯑ed wife, is ſuppoſed to have paſſed the remain⯑der of his days in religious retirement, and to have died ſoon after the year 840.—His Life of Char⯑lemain, [143] his Annals from 741 to 829, and his Letters, are all inſerted in the 2d volume of Ducheſne's Scriptores Francorum. But there is an improved edition of this valuable Hiſtorian, with the Annotations of Hermann Schmincke, in Quarto, 1711.

NOTE VI. VERSE 79.

The firſt of the two excellent diſſertations pre⯑fixed to Mr. Warton's Hiſtory of Engliſh Poe⯑try, gives the moſt perfect account of this famous old Chronicler, and his whimſical performance.—‘"About the year 1100, Gualter, Archdeacon of Oxford, a learned man, and a diligent collec⯑tor of Hiſtories, travelling through France, pro⯑cured in Armorica an antient Chronicle, written in the Britiſh or Armorican language, intitled, Brut-y-Brenhined, or the Hiſtory of the Kings of Britain. This book he brought into England, and communicated it to Geoffrey of Monmouth, [144] a Welſh Benedictine Monk, an elegant writer of Latin, and admirably ſkilled in the Britiſh tongue. Geoffrey, at the requeſt and recommendation of Gualter the Archdeacon, tranſlated this Britiſh Chronicle into Latin, executing the Tranſlation with a tolerable degree of purity, and great fide⯑lity, yet not without ſome interpolations.—It was probably finiſhed after the year 1138."’—‘"The ſimple ſubject of this Chronicle, diveſted of its romantic embelliſhments, is a deduction of the Welſh Princes from the Trojan Brutus to Cad⯑wallader, who reigned in the ſeventh century."’ To this extract from Mr. Warton, it may be proper to add a conciſe account of that romantic embelliſhment, to which I have particularly al⯑luded:—Uther Pendragon, at the feſtival of his coronation, falls in love with Igerna, the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall; and being prevented from purſuing his addreſſes by the vigilance of the huſband, he applies to the magical power of Mer⯑lin for the completion of his deſire.—This he ob⯑tains, by being transformed into the perſon of [145] Gorlois; and thus introducing himſelf to the de⯑luded Igerna, as Jupiter viſited Alcmena, he gives birth to the celebrated Arthur.—‘Manſit itaque rex ea nocte cum Igerna, & ſeſe deſiderata venere refecit. Deceperat namque illam falſa ſpecies quam aſſumpſerat; deceperat etiam fictitiis ſer⯑monibus, quos ornatè componebat . . . unde ipſa credula nihil quod poſcebatur abnegavit. Con⯑cepit itaque eadem nocte celeberrimum illum Arthurum, qui poſtmodùm ut celebris eſſet, mira probitate promeruit.’ GALFRIDUS Mon. Lib. vi. cap. 2.

NOTE VII. VERSE 83.

William, ſurnamed of Malmeſbury from being a member of that church, was a native of Somerſet⯑ſhire, and is ſuppoſed to have received his educa⯑tion at Oxford. He is juſtly called, by almoſt every writer on Engliſh Hiſtory, the moſt liberal and judicious of all our monaſtic Hiſtorians. His [146] principal work is a Hiſtory of our Kings, from the arrival of the Saxons to the 20th year of Henry the Firſt. This was followed by two books of later Hiſtory, which cloſe with the cele⯑brated eſcape of the Empreſs Matilda from the Caſtle of Oxford, 1142. Theſe works are both addreſſed to that munificent patron of merit, Ro⯑bert Earl of Glouceſter, natural ſon of Henry the Firſt; who was perhaps the moſt exalted and accompliſhed character that ever flouriſhed in ſo barbarous an age. The Hiſtorian ſpeaks of his noble friend with all the ſimplicity of truth, and all the warmth of virtuous admiration. He died, according to Pitts, in 1143, three years before his generous patron; and this is probable, from his not purſuing his Hiſtory, which he intimates a deſign of reſuming.—Yet there is a paſſage preſerved in Tanner, from the Preface to his Comments on Jeremiah, which ſeems to prove, that he lived to a later period; ſince he mentions his hiſtorical works as the production of his younger days, and ſpeaks of his age as devoted to [147] religious compoſition. Beſides his four books De geſtis Pontificum Anglorum, he wrote many works of the ſame pious turn, which the curious reader may ſee enumerated in Tanner's Biblio⯑theca.

NOTE VIII. VERSE 117.

Iſmael Abul⯑feda, deſcended from a brother of the great Sala⯑din, and Prince of Hamah, a city of Syria, was born at Damaſcus, in the year of the Hegira 672, or according to the Chriſtian aera 1273. His youth was devoted to the toils of martial life, and he ſeems to have been a brave and accompliſhed ſoldier; though his literary fame has eclipſed his military reputation.—The turbulent ſtate of his country prevented his eſtabliſhment in his here⯑ditary dominion till the year 710, when the poſ⯑ſeſſion of it was ſecured to him by the aſſiſtance of Al Malec Al Naſer, ſultan of Aegypt, from whom he afterwards received the higheſt ho⯑nours; [148] of which his gratitude has left the follow⯑ing particular deſcription, inſerted by the learned Schultens in his Preface to the Life of Saladin, as it gives great luſtre to the character of our royal Hiſtorian.

‘"Hamata degreſſum equis veredariis, ſine ullo jumento inſtrumentove itineris, prolixiſſimâ gra⯑tiâ cumulavit Sultanus, atque munificentiam ſuam ſummo gradu erga me explicuit, mittendis variis veſtibus, equis, vectabulis, eduliis; mihique pecu⯑liare tabernaculum ſtatuendo, quod copioſè ador⯑natum erat veſte ſtragula, tapetibuſque ad ſom⯑num, ad cibum capiendum; ſervorumque peculi⯑ari turbâ mihi aſſignatâ. Cum hiſce omnibus haud ceſſabant magnifica veſtimenta, diverſiſſimi generis, ad me miſſitata, ut iis publicè condeco⯑rarem quos collibuiſſet. Sultanus intereà longum in redeundo domum iter fallebat venatione dorca⯑dum per accipitres; me quoque ſuaviter animum oblectante inter effuſas ejus in me gratias; dum ad me identidem de captura ſua capreolos ſubmit⯑tebat. Directum quoque ad me, dum iter face⯑remus, [149] diploma ejus; quo ſignificabat, Te ego ſultanum conſtituam, ſtatim ac in Aegyptum per⯑venero; atque ad regionem tuam remeabis hoc titulo praefulgens. Ego verò excuſationem petere tanti honoris, eumque deprecari, quin et dolorem inde percipere, memet ipſum abjiciendo, ſplen⯑didiuſque praedicando nomen ejus celſum, quam ut illius quiſquam conſors ac particeps reddere⯑tur. Pro incerto itaque relictum illud negotium, donec ſedem regni ſui attigiſſet . . . . . . . . . . Ibi dum commoror, ſultani mandato ad me per⯑veniunt inſignia ſultanatûs, principeſque miniſ⯑trorum viginti circiter, apportantes regalem veſtem ſericam conſummatiſſimam auro inter⯑textam, et acinacem ſultanicum, et imperiale ephippium auro illuſum Aegyptio; diploma item, ſultanatûs dignitatem mihi deferens, una cum ſtipatoribus ſultanicis ad fraenum tenendum; ſe⯑lichdarioque (armigero) cujus ex humeris duo gladii dependebant; apparitoribuſque ſultanicis, qui equum generoſum adducebant apparatiſſimè ornatum. Eum ego conſcendi mane diei Jovis, [150] decimo et ſeptimo Muharremi, praecedentibus ad dimidium viae principibus: vecti dein, omnes iterum ad pedes deſcenderunt quum propinquaſſem arci montis (palatio regis Aegypti); ego verò in equo perrexi, donec perveherer prope portam arcis, ubi ad pedes degreſſus, terram in honorem ſultani deoſculatus ſum, arcem verſus, atque diplomati quoque celſiſſimo oſculum fixi. Terram deinde iterum iterumque deoſculatus, aſcendi in arcem atque praeſentem me ſtiti ſultano, illuſtri jam ac provecto die, ubi denuò terram oſculatus ſum. At ille me eâ cumulavit gratiâ, quam ne pater quidem filio ſuo exhibet, mihique inter haec Hamatam remeare mandavit; Heus tu, inquiens, longùm jam abſens revertere ad regionem tuam."’ Thus inveſted with the title of Sultan, Abulfeda returned, in all his ſplendor, to his paternal do⯑minion; where he cloſed an honourable life at the age of ſixty, in 733, thirteen years after this mag⯑nificent ceremony.—He is ſaid to have been highly ſkilled in medicine, philoſophy, and poetry: but his fame as an author is chiefly founded on [151] his hiſtorical and geographical productions; and theſe, notwithſtanding their acknowledged merit, have appeared only in ſelected fragments. So piti⯑ful and precarious has been the encouragement which the moſt liberal nations of Europe have beſtowed on oriental literature, that deſigns of publiſhing a complete edition of Abulfeda's geo⯑graphy have been ſuffered to fail both in France and England. The honour of doing juſtice to this illuſtrious author ſeems to be reſerved for Germany; where the learned Michaelis has lately publiſhed his deſcription of Egypt, and intimates an intention of printing the other parts of this au⯑thor. Of his general Hiſtory, 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 Hiſtory of the Arabian Caliphs, to the year of the Hegira 406, by Reiſke, printed at Leipſic 1754—and his narrative of all the circumſtances relating to the great Saladin has been very properly annexed by [152] Schultens to Bohaddin's Life of that monarch. Abulfeda, in this portion of his Hiſtory, ſeems to dwell on the great character of Saladin with that ingenuous pride, which a generous mind muſt naturally feel in ſpeaking of ſo noble an anceſ⯑tor. He relates ſome anecdotes of that prince, not mentioned by his Biographer, highly expreſ⯑ſive of his animated and affectionate ſpirit; par⯑ticularly a letter written immediately after the ſevere defeat which obliged him to fly from Aſ⯑calon into the deſerts of Egypt: it was addreſſed to his brother, who commanded at Damaſcus, and opened with a quotation from an Arabian poet to this effect:

In his account of the gentle diſpoſition and refin⯑ed manners of Saladin, he perfectly agrees with the Biographer of that monarch.—The gene⯑rous [153] Abulfeda, ſo liberal in commemorating the merit of others, has not himſelf wanted an enco⯑miaſt; for, according to Herbelot, his eulogy is contained in the works of an oriental Poet, whoſe name is Nobatah, and whoſe compoſitions may be found in the king of France's library.

NOTE IX. VERSE 123.

I am unable to diſcover the name of this inhuman Prince, or that of his unfortunate Hiſtorian; but the fact is related on the authority of an Arabic writer, named Nouari, by M. Cardonne, in the Preface to his Hiſtoire de l'Afrique et de l'Eſpagne ſous la Domination des Arabes. His words are—‘"Nouari rapporte, que les Sultans de la dynaſtie des Almohades defendirent, ſous peine de la vie, d' ecrire les Annales de leur régne; et qu'un Prince de cette maiſon fit périr un Auteur, pour avoir enfraint cette loi."’ As the Princes of this dynaſty exerted their power both in Africa and Spain, this ſingular execution might happen [154] in either country.—I have ventured to ſuppoſe it in Spain, for poetical reaſons, which will occur to the Reader.

NOTE X. VERSE 127.

The Univer⯑ſity of Corduba was founded by Al Hakem the Second, who died in the 336th year of the Hegira, after a reign of fifteen years and five months. He was the ſon and ſucceſſor of the magnifi⯑cent Abdelrahman the Third, who in a long and proſperous life had given ſtability and ſplendor to the Mooriſh empire in Spain. It is remark⯑able, that many of theſe Arab Princes were not only protectors of literature, but often diſtinguiſh⯑ed themſelves by poetical compoſition. Nor were the Mooriſh Ladies leſs eager to cultivate the moſt elegant of mental accompliſhments: Vala⯑da, or Valadata, the daughter of the Prince who founded the Univerſity, was no leſs celebrated for her poetical talents, than for her ſingular beauty and exalted birth. She beſtowed her protection [155] on that ſeat of learning, which owed its riſe to the liberality of her father; and the principal poets of the time are ſaid to have formed her favourite ſociety.

The Bibliotheca Arabico-Hiſpana of Caſiri, from whence I have drawn theſe particulars, con⯑tains alſo a liſt of many female poets, who reflect⯑ed honour on their native city of Corduba. One of the moſt eminent among theſe, was a Lady diſtinguiſhed by the name of Aiſcha Bent, whoſe compoſitions, both in proſe and verſe, were pub⯑licly recited in the Academy with univerſal ap⯑plauſe; and who cloſed (ſays my Author) a ſingle and chaſte life, in the year of the Hegira 400, leaving many monuments of her own genius, as well as a rich and well-choſen library.

NOTE XI. VERSE 147.

Bohaddin, or Bohadin (for his name is variouſly written), is conjectured by Schultens, his learned Tranſlator, to have been an Aſſyrian by birth, and a native of [156] Moſula, the metropolis of Meſopotamia; from whence, before he entered into the ſervice of Sala⯑din, he was ſent embaſſador, as he himſelf relates, to the Caliph of Bagdad.—He ſeems to have been principally indebted to his talents as an Hiſtorian, for the protection and favour of that engaging hero, whoſe confidence he afterwards obtained, and whoſe ſplendid character he has ſo warmly celebrated. For as he was returning from Mecca to Moſula, he embraced an opportunity of preſent⯑ing to Saladin an account of the holy war, as he terms it, which he had drawn up as he ſtopt at Damaſcus in the courſe of his pilgrimage, and in which he had deſcribed the adminiſtration and diſ⯑cipline of that monarch. He affirms that the Sultan peruſed his work with infinite ſatisfaction, and expreſſed the moſt eager deſire to engage him in his ſervice. The grateful Hiſtorian was no leſs inclined to devote himſelf to his generous and en⯑thuſiaſtic patron.—From this period he ſeems to have been a favourite companion of his warlike maſter; to have ſhared many of his dangers, as [157] well as his moſt ſecret counſels; and to have ſerved him, with a moſt zealous and affectionate attachment, to the hour of his death—an event of which he ſpeaks with the affecting ſimplicity of real ſorrow. In mentioning the oriental cuſtom of waſhing the body of the deceaſed, he records the name of the miniſter who performed the ceremo⯑ny; and adds, that he had himſelf engaged in this mournful office, but was obliged to retire, on feel⯑ing himſelf unequal to ſo painful a ſcene.—The work of this intereſting Biographer is divided in⯑to two parts: the firſt exhibits a general charac⯑ter of the hero, with particular examples of his va⯑rious virtues and endowments; the ſecond gives a chronological account of his adventures, from his firſt expedition into Egypt to the cloſe of his life; but paſſing lightly over his other exploits, dwells chiefly on the tranſactions of the holy war; and diſcovers ſuch marks of religious zeal, that Schul⯑tens very ſhrewdly ſuppoſes the author to have been a prieſt, from the manner in which he laviſhes his maledictions. It is juſt, however, to obſerve, that [158] he ſpeaks very liberally on the martial merit of his Chriſtian enemies; and there is one paſſage in his hiſtory, in which he pays a very pleaſing and pa⯑thetic compliment to the univerſal philanthropy of the Sultan: it is in relating an anecdote which affords ſo intereſting a picture, that I cannot help preſenting it to my reader:

In the army of Saladin there were ſome dexte⯑rous robbers, who uſed to penetrate by night into the camp of the Chriſtians, and preſent to the Sul⯑tan, on their return, ſuch booty as they had been able to bring off; which he beſtowed upon them, as a reward of their valour. In one of their nightly excurſions they happened to ſeize an in⯑fant of three months: the mother, robbed of her little one, ſpent the night in the moſt bitter lamen⯑tations, and related her misfortune to the Chriſtian leaders. They anſwered, The Sultan is com⯑paſſionate, and we therefore give you permiſſion to depart, and petition him for your child, which he will certainly reſtore.—Approaching our guard, ſhe relates her ſtory, and implores their aſſiſtance. They give her acceſs to the Sultan, to whom, as [159] he was riding, attended by myſelf and others, ſhe preſented herſelf bathed in tears, and proſtrate in the duſt. He enquires the cauſe of her affliction:—ſhe repeats her ſtory:—the Sultan is moved even to tears, and orders the child to be produced. On finding that it had been publicly ſold, he commands it to be redeemed; and reſted not till he ſaw the infant delivered to its mother. Receiv⯑ing it with a profuſion of tears, ſhe preſt it to her boſom—the ſurrounding ſpectators (and I hap⯑pened to be among them) wept with her—ſhe then gave her breaſt to the infant; after which the Sultan directed her to be ſeated on horſeback with her little one, and ſafely eſcorted to her own quar⯑ters. Conſider (exclaims the affectionate and re⯑ligious Hiſtorian) this example of univerſal bene⯑volence! Such, O God! haſt thou created this merciful ſovereign, to appear moſt worthy of thy own infinite mercy.—Conſider this teſtimony, which even his enemies have borne of his com⯑paſſionate and generous diſpoſition! BOHAD. SCHULTENS, Page 162.

NOTE XII. VERSE 194.

John Froiſſart, Canon and Treaſurer of the collegiate church of Chimay, in Henault, was born at Va⯑lenciennes, a city of that province, in 1337, ac⯑cording to the conjecture of that elaborate and in⯑genious antiquarian Mr. de St. Palaye; who has amply illuſtrated the Life and Writings of this engaging Hiſtorian, in a ſeries of diſſertations among the Memoirs of the French Academy, Vol. X. XIII. XIV.—St. Palaye imagines, from a paſſage in the MS Poems of Froiſſart, that his father was a painter of Armories—and it is certain the Hiſtorian diſcovers a paſſion for all the pomp and all the minutiae of heraldry: it was indeed the favourite ſtudy of that martial age; and Froiſſart, more the prieſt of gallantry than of reli⯑gion, devoted himſelf entirely to the celebration of love and war.—At the age of 20, he began to write Hiſtory, at the requeſt de ſon cher Seigneur & Maitre Meſſire Robert de Namur, Chevalier Seigneur de Beaufort.—The anguiſh of unſuc⯑ceſsful [161] love drove him early into England, and his firſt voyage ſeems a kind of emblem of his future life; for he ſailed hither in a ſtorm, yet continued writing a rondeau in ſpite of the tem⯑peſt, till he found himſelf on that coaſt, ou l'on aime mieux la guerre, que la paix, & ou les eſ⯑trangers ſont très bien venus, as he ſaid of our country in his verſes, and happily experienced in his kind reception at court, where Philippa of He⯑nault, the Queen of Edward the Third, and a Pa⯑troneſs of learning, diſtinguiſhed the young Hiſ⯑torian, her countryman, by the kindeſt protec⯑tion; and, finding that love had rendered him un⯑happy, ſupplied him with money and with horſes, that he might preſent himſelf with every advan⯑tage before the object of his paſſion.—Love ſoon eſcorted him to his miſtreſs—but his addreſſes were again unſucceſsful; and, taking a ſecond voyage to England, he became Secretary to his royal patroneſs Philippa, in 1361, after having pre⯑ſented to her ſome portion of his Hiſtory.—He continued five years in her ſervice, entertaining [162] her majeſty de beaux dictiez & traictez amoureux: in this period he paid a viſit to Scotland, and was entertained 15 days by William earl Douglas.—In 1366, when Edward the Black Prince was preparing for the war in Spain, Froiſſart was with him in Gaſcony, and hoped to attend him during the whole courſe of that important expedition:—but the Prince ſent him back to the Queen his mother.—He continued not long in England, as he viſited many of the Italian courts in the follow⯑ing year; and during his travels ſuſtained the irre⯑parable loſs of that patroneſs, to whoſe bounty he had been ſo much indebted.—Philippa died 1369, and Froiſſart is reported to have written the life of his amiable protectreſs; but of this performance the reſearches of St. Palaye could diſcover no trace.

After this event, he retired to his own country, and obtained the benefice of Leſtines, in the dio⯑ceſe of Cambray.—But the cure of ſouls was an office little ſuited to the gay and gallant Froiſſart.—His genius led him ſtill to travel from caſtle to [163] caſtle, and from court to court, to uſe the words of Mr. Warton, who has made occaſional mention of our author, in his elegant Hiſtory of Engliſh Poetry.—Froiſſart now entered into the ſervice of the Duke of Brabant; and, as that Prince was himſelf a poet, Froiſſart collected all the compoſi⯑tions of his maſter, and adding ſome of his own, formed a kind of romance, which he calls

and of which, in one of his later poems, he gives the following account:

[164] The Duke died in 1384, before this work was completed; and Froiſſart ſoon found a new patron in Guy earl of Blois, on the marriage of whoſe Son he wrote a Paſtoral, entitled Le Tem⯑ple d'Honneur.—The Earl having requeſted him to reſume his Hiſtory, he travelled for that pur⯑poſe to the celebrated court of Gaſton earl of Foix, whoſe high reputation for every knightly virtue attracted to his reſidence, at Orlaix, thoſe martial adventurers, from whoſe mouth it was the delight of Froiſſart to collect the materials of his Hiſtory.—The courteous Gaſton gave him the moſt flat⯑tering reception: he ſaid to him with a ſmile (& en bon François) ‘"qu'il le connoiſſoit bien, quoyqu'il ne l'euſt jamais veu, mais qu'il avoit bien oui parler de luy, & le retint de ſon hoſtel."’—It became a favourite amuſement of the Earl, to hear Froiſſart read his Romance of Meliador after ſupper.—He attended in the caſtle every night at 12, when the Earl ſate down to table, liſtened to him with extreme attention, and never diſmiſſed him, till he had made him vuider tout ce [165] qui eſtoit reſté du vin de ſa bouche.—Froiſſart gained much information here, not only from his patron, who was himſelf very communicative, but from various Knights of Arragon and Eng⯑land, in the retinue of the Duke of Lancaſter, who then reſided at Bourdeaux.—After a long reſidence in this brilliant court, and after receiv⯑ing a preſent from the liberal Gaſton, which he mentions in the following verſes—

Froiſſart departed in the train of the Counteſs of Boulogne, related to the [...]arl of Foix, and juſt leaving him, to join her new huſband the Duke of Berry.—In this expedition our Hiſtorian was robbed near Avignon, and laments the unlucky adventure in a very long poem, from which Mr. de St Palaye has drawn many particu⯑lars [166] of his life. The ground-work of this poem (which is not in the liſt of our Author's poetical pieces, that Mr. Warton has given us from Paſ⯑quier) ſeems to have a ſtrong vein of humour.—It is a dialogue between the Poet and the ſin⯑gle Florin that he has left, out of the many which he had either ſpent, or been obliged to ſurrender to the robbers.—He repreſents himſelf as a man of the moſt expenſive turn: in 25 years he had ſquandered two thouſand franks, beſides his eccle⯑ſiaſtical revenues. The compoſition of his works had coſt him 700; but he regretted not this ſum, as he expected to be amply repaid for it by the praiſe of poſterity.

After having attended all the feſtivals on the marriage of the Duke of Berry, having traverſed many parts of France, and paid a viſit to Zeland, he returned to his own country in 1390, to con⯑tinue his Hiſtory from the various materials he had collected.—But not ſatisfied with the relations he had heard of the war in Spain, he went to Middlebourgh in Zeland, in purſuit of a Portu⯑gueſe [167] Knight, Jean Ferrand Portelet, vaillant homme & ſage, & du Conſeil du Roy de Portu⯑gal. From this accompliſhed ſoldier Froiſſart expected the moſt perfect information, as an ocu⯑lar witneſs of thoſe ſcenes which he now wiſhed to record.—The courteous Portelet received our indefatigable Hiſtorian with all the kindneſs which his enthuſiaſm deſerved; and in ſix days, which they paſſed together, gave him all the intelligence he deſired.—Froiſſart now returned home, and finiſhed the third book of his Hiſtory.—Many years had paſt ſince he had bid adieu to Eng⯑land. Taking advantage of the truce then eſta⯑bliſhed between France and that country, he paid it another viſit in 1395, with letters of re⯑commendation to the King and his uncles.—From Dover he proceeded to Canterbury, to pay his devoirs at the ſhrine of Thomas of Becket, and to the memory of the Black Prince.—Here he happened to find the ſon of that hero, the young King Richard, whom devotion had alſo brought to make his offerings to the faſhionable Saint, [168] and return thanks to Heaven for his ſucceſſes in Ireland.—Froiſſart ſpeaks of this adventure, and his own feelings on the great change of ſcene that had taken place ſince his laſt viſit to England, in the following natural and lively terms:‘—Le Roy . . . vint . . a trez grant arroy, et bien accompaigne de ſeigneurs, de dames, et demoi⯑ſelles, et me mis entre eulx, & entre elles, et tout me ſembla nouvel, ne je ny congnoiſſoye per⯑ſonne; car le tems eſtoit bien change en Angle⯑terre depuis le tems de vingt & huyt ans: et en la compagnie du roy n'avoit nuls de ſes oncles . . . . ſi fus du premier ainſi que tout eſbahy . . .’ Tho' Froiſſart was thus embarraſſed in not finding one of his old friends in the reti⯑nue of the King, he ſoon gained a new Patron in Thomas Percy, Maſter of the Houſehold, who offered to preſent 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 eſtoit retrait pour aller dormir.’—And on the morrow, when the impatient Hiſtorian at⯑tended [169] early at the Archbiſhop's palace, where the King ſlept, his friend Percy adviſed him to wait a more convenient ſeaſon for being intro⯑duced to Richard.—Froiſſart acquieſced in this advice, and was conſoled for his diſappointment by falling into company with an Engliſh Knight, who had attended the King in Ireland, and was very willing to gratify the curioſity of the Hiſto⯑rian by a relation of his adventures.—This was William de Liſle, who entertained him, as they rode along together, with the marvels of St. Pa⯑trick's Cave, in which he aſſured him he had paſſed a night, and ſeen wonderful viſions.—Though our honeſt Chronicler is commonly ac⯑cuſed of a paſſion for the marvellous, with an ex⯑ceſs of credulity, he ſays very ſenſibly on this oc⯑caſion, ‘de cette matiere je ne luy parlay plus avant, et m'en ceſſay, car voulentiers je luy euſſe demande du voyage d'Irlande, et luy eu voulaye parler, et mettre en voye.’—It appears plainly from this paſſage, that our Hiſtorian was more anxious to gain information concerning [170] the ſcenes of real action, than to liſten to the ex⯑travagant fictions of a popular legend.—But here he was again diſappointed.—New companions joined them on the road, and their hiſtorical con⯑ference was thus interrupted.—Theſe mortifica⯑tions were ſoon repaid by the kind reception he met with from the Duke of York, who ſaid to him, when he received the recommendatory let⯑ter from the Earl of Henault, ‘"Maiſtre Jehan tenez vous toujours deles nous, & nos gens, nous vous ferons tout amour & courtoiſie, nous y ſommes tenus pour l'amour du tems paſſé & de notre dame de mere à qui vous futes; nous en avons bien la ſouvenance."’—With theſe flatter⯑ing marks of remembrance and favour, the Duke preſented him to the ‘King, lequel me receut joyeuſement et doulcement (continues Froiſ⯑ſart) . . et ne diſt que je fuſſe le bien venus et ſi j'avoye eſte de l'hoſtel du Roy ſon Ayeul & de Madame ſon Ayeule encores eſtoys je de l'hoſtel d'Angleterre.’—Some time however elapſed, before he had an opportunity of preſenting his [171] romance of Meliador, which he had prepared for the King.—The Duke of York and his other friends at length obtained 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 apporte. Si le vit en ſa chambre: car tout pourveu je l'avoye, et luy mis fur ſon lict. Et lors il l'ouvrit et regarda dedans, et luy pleut tres grandement. Et plaire bien luy devoit: car il eſtoit enlumine, eſcrit et Hiſtorie, & couvert de vermeil veloux a dix cloux d'argent dorez d'or et roſes d'or ou meillieu a deux gros fermaulx dorez et richement ouvrez ou meillieu roſiers d'or. Adonc me de⯑manda le Roy de quoy il traictoit: et je luy dis d'amours. De ceſte reſponce fut tout resjouy, et regarda dedans le livre en pluſieurs lieux, et y lyſit, car moult bien parloit et lyſoit Françoys, et puis le fiſt prendre par ung ſien Chevalier, qui ſe nomme Meſſire Richard Credon, et porter en ſa chambre de retrait dont il me fiſt bonne chere.’

[172] After paſſing three months in this court, Froiſſart took his leave of the munificent but ill⯑fated Richard. In the laſt chapter of his Hiſ⯑tory, where he mentions the unfortunate end of this Monarch, he ſpeaks with an honeſt and af⯑fecting gratitude of the liberal preſent he received from him on his departure from England.—It was a goblet of ſilver gilt, weighing two marks, and filled with a hundred nobles.

On leaving England, he retired to his own country, and is ſuppoſed to have ended his days at his benefice of Chimay; but the year of his death is uncertain.—There is an ancient tradi⯑tion in the country, ſays Mr. de Saint Palaye, that he was buried in the chapel of St. Anne, be⯑longing to his own church.—That ingenious antiquarian produces an extract from its archives, in which the death of Froiſſart is recorded, but without naming the year, in the moſt honour⯑able terms.—His obit bears the date of Oc⯑tober, and is followed by 20 Latin verſes, [173] from which I ſelect ſuch as appear to me the moſt worth tranſcribing.

As I have never met with any ſatisfactory ac⯑count of Froiſſart's life in our language, I have been tempted to ſwell this Note to an inordinate length; yet it ſeems to me ſtill neceſſary to add a few lines more concerning the character both of the Hiſtorian and the Poet.—A long ſeries of French Critics, to whom even the judicious Bayle [174] has been tempted to give credit, have ſeverely cenſured Froiſſart, as the venal partizan of the Engliſh; and they have accuſed his laſt Editor, Sauvage, of mutilating his author, becauſe they could find in his edition no proofs of their charge.—The amiable St. Palaye has defended le bon Froiſſart, as he is called by honeſt Montaigne, from this unjuſt accuſation; and done full juſtice, at the ſame time, to the injured reputation of his exact and laborious editor.

It may ſerve as a kind of memento mori to poe⯑tical vanity, to reflect that Froiſſart is hardly known as a Poet, though his fertile pen produced 30,000 verſes, which were once the delight of Princes, and the favourite ſtudy of the gallant and the fair.—How far he deſerved the oblivion into which his poetical compoſitions have fallen, the reader may conceive from the following judgment of his French Critic; with whoſe ingenious re⯑flection on the imperfections attending the early ſtate both of Poetry and Painting, I ſhall termi⯑nate this Note.

[175] ‘On peut dire en général au ſujet des Poeſies de Froiſſart, que l'invention pour les ſujets lui manquoit autant que l'imagination pour les or⯑nemens; du reſte le ſtyle qu'il employe, moins abondant que diffus, offre ſouvent la répétition ennuyeuſe des mêmes tours, & des mêmes phraſes, pour rendre des idées aſſez communes: cependant la ſimplicité et la liberté de ſa verſification ne ſont pas toûjours dépourvûes de graces, on y rencontre de tems en tems quelques images & pluſieurs vers de ſuite dont l'expreſſion eſt aſſez heureuſe.’

‘Tel étoit alors l'état de notre Poeſie Françoiſe, et le ſort de la Peinture étoit à peu près le meme. Ces deux arts que l'on a toujours comparez enſem⯑ble paroiſſent avoir eu une marche preſqu' uni⯑forme dans leur progrès. Les Peintres au ſortir de la plus groſſiére barbarie, ſaiſiſſant d'abord en détail tous les petits objets que la nature leur pre⯑ſentoit, s'attachérent aux inſectes, aux fieurs, aux oiſeaux, les parérent des couleurs les plus vives, les deſſinérent avec une exactitude que nous ad⯑mirons encore dans les vignettes & dans les mi⯑niatures [176] des manuſcrits; lorſqu'ils vinrent à repréſenter des figures humaines, ils s'étudiérent bien plus à terminer les contours & à exprimer juſqu' aux cheveux les plus fins, qu' à donner de l'ame aux viſages & du mouvement aux corps; et ces figures dont la nature la plus commune four⯑niſſoit toujours les modelles, étoient jettées en⯑ſemble au hazard, ſans choix, ſans ordonnance, ſans aucun goût de compoſition.’

‘Les Poetes auſſi ſtériles que les Peintres, bornoient toute leur induſtrie à ſcavoir amener des deſcriptions proportionnées à leur talens, et ils ne les quittoient qu'après les avoir épuiſées; ils ne ſçavent guéres parler que d'un beau printems, de la verdure des campagnes, de l'émail des prairies, du ramage de mille eſpeces d'oi⯑ſeaux, de la clarté et de la vivacité d'une belle fontaine ou d'un ruiſſeau qui murmure; quelque⯑fois cependant ils rendent avec naïveté les amuſe⯑mens enfantins des amans, leurs ris, leurs jeux, les palpitations ou la joie d'un coeur amoreux; ils n'imaginent rien au delà, incapable d'ailleurs [177] de donner de la ſuite et de la liaiſon à leurs idées.’ Notice des Poeſies de Froiſſart; Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xiv. p. 225.

NOTE XIII. VERSE 242.

Nicholas Machiavel, the celebrated Florentine, was firſt patronized by Leo, who cauſed one of his comedies to be acted with great magnificence at Rome, and engaged him to write a private Treatiſe de Reformatione Reipublicae Floren⯑tinae. His famous political Eſſay, intitled, "The Prince," was publiſhed in 1515, and dedicated to the Nephew of that Pontiff. The various judg⯑ments that have been paſſed on this ſingular per⯑formance, are a ſtriking proof of the incertitude of human opinion.—In England it has received applauſe from the great names of Bacon and Clarendon, who ſuppoſe it intended to promote [178] the intereſt of liberty and virtue. In Italy, after many years of approbation, it was publicly con⯑demned by Clement the VIIIth, at the inſtiga⯑tion of a Jeſuit, who had not read the book. In France it has even been ſuppoſed inſtrumental to the horrid maſſacre of St. Bartholomew, as the favourite ſtudy of Catherine of Medicis and her Sons, and as teaching the bloody leſſons of ex⯑tirpation which they ſo fatally put in practice. Yet one of his French Tranſlators has gone ſo far as to ſay, that ‘"Machiavel, who paſſes among all the world for a teacher of Tyranny, deteſted it more than any man of the age in which he lived."’ It muſt however be owned, that there is a great mixture of good and evil in his poli⯑tical precepts. For the latter many plauſible apologies have been made: and it ſhould be re⯑membered to his honour, that his great aim was to promote the welfare of his country, in ex⯑citing the Houſe of Medicis to deliver Italy from the invaſion of foreigners.

He is ſaid to have been made Hiſtoriographer [179] of Florence, as a reward for having ſuffered the torture on ſuſpicion of conſpiring againſt the go⯑vernment of that city, having ſupported the ſevere trial with unfailing reſolution. His Hiſtory of that republic he wrote at the requeſt of Clement the VIIth, as we are informed in his Dedication of it to that Pontiff. The ſtyle of this work is much celebrated, and the firſt Book may be re⯑garded as a model of Hiſtorical abridgment.—He died, according to Paul Jovius, in 1530.

NOTE XIV. VERSE 252.

Francis Guicciardin, born at Florence 1482, of an antient and noble family, was appointed a Profeſſor of Civil Law in that city at the age of 23. In 1512 he was ſent Ambaſſador to Ferdi⯑nand King of Arragon; and ſoon after his re⯑turn, deputed by the Republic to meet Leo the Xth at Cortona, and attend him on his public [180] entry into Florence.—That diſcerning Pontiff immediately became his Patron, and raiſed him to the government of Modena and Reggio. He ſucceeded to that of Parma, which he defended with great ſpirit againſt the French, on the death of Leo.—He roſe to the higheſt honours under Clement the VIIth, having the command of all the eccleſiaſtical forces, and being Go⯑vernor of Romagna, and laſtly of Bologna, in which city he is ſaid to have received the moſt flattering compliments from the Emperor Charles V.—Having gained much reputation, both civil and military, in various ſcenes of ac⯑tive life, he paſſed his latter days in retirement, at his villa near Florence; where he died ſoon after completing his Hiſtory, in the 59th year of his age, 1540. Notwithſtanding the high re⯑putation of Guicciardin, his Hiſtory has been violently attacked, both as to matter and ſtyle.—The honeſt Montaigne inveighs with great warmth againſt the malignant turn of its author; and his own countryman Boccalini, in whoſe [181] whimſical but lively work there are many ex⯑cellent remarks on Hiſtory and Hiſtorians, ſup⯑poſes a Lacedaemonian thrown into agonies by a ſingle page of Guicciardin, whom he is con⯑demned to read, for having himſelf been guilty of uſing three words inſtead of two. The poor Spartan cries for mercy, and declares that any tortures are preferable to the prolixity of ſuch a Writer.—This celebrated Hiſtorian was alſo a Poet. The three following verſes are the begin⯑ning of an Epiſtle, which he entitled Suppli⯑cazione d'Italia al Chriſtianiſſimo Rè Fran⯑ceſco I.

They are preſerved in Creſcimbeni della volgar Poeſia. Vol. v. p. 132.

Among the letters of the elder Taſſo, there is a curious one addreſſed to Guicciardin, concern⯑ing the Doge of Genoa: and the Amori of the [182] ſame Poet contain the following compliment to the Hiſtorian:

NOTE XV. VERSE 262.

Henry Catherine Davila was the youngeſt ſon of Antonio Davila, Grand Conſtable of Cyprus, who had been obliged to retire into Spain on the tak⯑ing of that iſland by the Turks, in 1570. From Spain Antonio repaired to the court of France, and ſettled his ſon Lewis and two daughters un⯑der the patronage of Catherine of Medicis, whoſe name he afterwards gave to the young Hiſtorian, born 1576, at an antient caſtle in the territories of Padua, though generally called a native of Cyprus. The little Davila was brought early into France:—at the age of 18 he ſignalized himſelf in the military ſcenes of that country His laſt exploit there was at the ſiege of Amiens, where he fought under Henry IV. and received a wound in the knee, as he relates himſelf in his Hiſtory.—After peace was eſtabliſhed in France, he withdrew into Italy, and ſerved the Republic [184] of Venice with great reputation, till a moſt unfor⯑tunate adventure put an end to his life in 1631.—Paſſing through Verona with his wife and family, on his way to Crema, which he was appointed to defend, and demanding, according to the uſual cuſtom of perſons in his ſtation, a ſupply of horſes and carriages for his retinue, a brutal Veroneſe, called Il Turco, entered the room where he and his family were at ſupper; and being mildly reprimanded for his intruſion by Davila, diſcharged a piſtol at the Hiſtorian, and ſhot him dead on the inſtant. His accom⯑plices alſo killed the Chaplain of Davila, and wounded many of his attendants.—But his eldeſt ſon Antonio, a noble youth of eighteen, revenged the death of his father by killing his murderer on the ſpot. All the confederates were ſecured the next morning, and publicly executed at Verona.—Memoire Iſtoriche, prefixed to the London edition of Davila, 4to. 1755.—It is very remarkable, that Davila paſſes no cenſure on the Maſſacre of St. Bartholomew.—His cha⯑racter [185] of the Queen Mother has that partiality, which it was natural for him to ſhew to the Patroneſs of his family; but his general veracity is confirmed by the great authority of the firſt Duke of Epernon, who (to uſe the words of Lord Bolingbroke) ‘"had been an actor, and a principal actor too, in many of the ſcenes that Davila recites."’ Girard, Secretary to this Duke, and no contemptible Biographer, relates, that this Hiſtory came down to the place where the old man reſided, in Gaſcony, a little before his death; that he read it to him; that the Duke confirmed the truth of the narrations in it; and ſeemed only ſurpriſed by what means the author could be ſo well informed of the moſt ſecret councils and meaſures of thoſe times."—Letters on Hiſtory.

NOTE XVI. VERSE 284.

Father Paul, the moſt amiable and exalted cha⯑racter that was ever formed in monaſtic retire⯑ment, was the ſon of Franceſco Sarpi, a mer⯑chant [186] of Venice, and born in that city, 1552. He took the religious habit, in the monaſtery of the Servites, 1565. After receiving prieſt's orders in 1574, he paſſed four years in Man⯑tua, being appointed to read Lectures on Di⯑vinity and Canon Law, by the Biſhop of that dioceſe: and in this early part of his life, he is conjectured to have conceived the firſt idea of writing his celebrated Hiſtory; as he formed an intimate friendſhip, during his reſidence in Man⯑tua, with Camillo d'Oliva, who had been Secre⯑tary to Cardinal Gonzaga at the Council of Trent; and excited the learned Venetian to the arduous taſk, which he ſo happily accompliſhed in a future period. He was recalled from Man⯑tua, to read Lectures on Philoſophy 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.—Paſſing from thence to Naples, he there formed an acquaintance with the famous Baptiſta Porta, who has left this honourable teſtimony of his univerſal knowledge:—‘Eo doctiorem, ſub⯑tiliorem, [187] quotquot adhuc videre contigerit, ne⯑minem cognovimus; natum ad Encyclopediam, &c.’ Nor is this an exaggerated compliment, as there is hardly any ſcience which eſcaped his active mind. His diſcoveries in Optics and Ana⯑tomy would be alone ſufficient to immortalize his name, had he not gained immortality by a ſtill nobler exertion of his mental powers, in de⯑fending the liberties of his country againſt the tyranny of Rome. On the firſt attack of Pope Paul V. on two laws of Venice, very wiſely framed to correct the abuſes of the clergy, Fa⯑ther Paul aroſe as the literary champion of the Republic, and defended its cauſe with great ſpirit and temper, in various compoſitions; though he is ſaid not to be Author of the Treatiſe generally aſcribed to him on the occaſion, and intitled, The Rights of Sovereigns, &c.—His chief per⯑formance on the ſubject was, Conſiderazioni ſopra le Cenſure di Paolo V.—The Venetians ſhewed a juſt admiration of the ſublime virtue of a Monk, who defended ſo nobly the civil rights of his [188] country againſt the ſeparate intereſt of the church. In 1606 the Council paſſed a decree in his fa⯑vour; which I ſhall tranſcribe in this note, be⯑cauſe it is not found in the common Lives of Father Paul, and becauſe there is hardly any ob⯑ject more pleaſing to the mind, than the con⯑templation of a free ſtate rewarding one of its moſt virtuous ſervants with liberality and eſteem.—‘Continuando il R. P. M. Paolo da Venezia dell ordine de Serviti a preſtare alla Signoria Noſtra con ſingolar Valore quell ottimo ſervigio, ch' è ben conoſciuto, potendoſi dire, ch' egli fra tutti con le ſue ſcritture piene di profonda dottrina ſoſtenti con validiſſimi fondamenti le potentiſſime e validiſſime ragioni noſtre nella cauſa, che ha di preſente la Repubblica con la corte di Roma, anteponendo il ſervigio e la ſod⯑disfazione noſtra a qualſivoglia ſuo particolare ed importante riſpetto. E perciò coſa giuſta e ragionevole, e degna dell ordinaria munificenza di queſto Configlio, il dargli modo, con che poſſa aſſicurare la ſua Vita da ogni pericolo, che [189] gli poteſſe ſopraſtare, e ſovvenire inſieme alli ſuoi biſogni, bench, egli non ne faccia alcuna iſtanza, ma piutoſto ſi moſtri alieno da qualſi⯑voglia ricognizione, che ſi abbia intenzione di uſargli. Tal è la ſua modeſtia, e coſi grande il deſiderio, che ha di far conoſcere, che neſſuna pretenſione di premio, ma la ſola divozione ſua verſo la Repubblica, e la giuſtizia della Cauſa lo muovano adoperarſi con tanto ſtudio e con tante fatiche alli ſervizi noſtri. Percio anderà parte, che allo ſtipendio, il quale a' 28 del Meſe di Gen⯑naio paſſato fu aſſegnato al ſopradetto R. P. M. Paolo da Venezia di Ducati duecento all anno, ſiano accreſciuti altri ducati duecento, ſicchè in avvenire abbia ducati quattrocento acciòchè reſ⯑tando conſolato per queſta ſpontanea e benigna dimoſtrazione pubblica, con maggior ardore abbia a continuare nel ſuo buono e divoto ſervizio, e poſſa con queſto aſſequamento provvedere mag⯑giormente alla ſicurezza della ſua Vita.’—The generous care of the Republic to reward and pre⯑ſerve ſo valuable a ſervant, could not ſecure him [190] from the baſe attempts of that enemy, whom his virtue had provoked. In 1607, after Venice had adjuſted her diſputes with Rome, by the me⯑diation of France, the firſt attack was made on the life of Father Paul. He was beſet near his convent, in the evening, by five aſſaſſins, who ſtabbed him in many places, and left him for dead. He recovered, under the care of the cele⯑brated Acquapendente, appointed to attend him at the public charge; to whom, as he was ſpeaking on the depth of the principal wound, his patient ſaid pleaſantly, that the world im⯑puted it ſtylo Romanae Curiae.—The crime is generally ſuppoſed to have proceeded from the Jeſuits; but the ſecret authors of it were never clearly diſcovered, though the five ruffians were traced by the Venetian Ambaſſador in Rome; where they are ſaid to have been well received at firſt, but failing afterwards in their expected re⯑ward, to have periſhed in miſery and want. The Senate of Venice paid ſuch attention to Father Paul, as expreſſed the higheſt ſenſe of his merit, [191] and the moſt affectionate ſolicitude for his ſafety. They not only doubled his ſtipend a ſecond time, but entreated him to chuſe a public reſidence, for the greater ſecurity of his perſon. The munifi⯑cence and care of the Republic was equalled by the modeſty and fortitude of their ſervant. He choſe not to relinquiſh his cell: and, though warned of various machinations againſt his life, he continued to ſerve his country with unabating zeal; diſcovering, in his private letters to his friends, the moſt heroic calmneſs of mind; and ſaying, in anſwer to their admonitions, that ‘"no man lives well, who is too anxious for the pre⯑ſervation of life."’—Yet the apprehenſions of his friends had too juſt a foundation. In 1609 another conſpiracy was formed, to murder him in his ſleep, by ſome perſons of his own convent; but their treachery was happily diſcovered.—From this time he lived in more cautious retire⯑ment, ſtill devoting himſelf to the ſervice of the Republic on various occaſions, and acquiring [192] new reputation by many compoſitions. At length the world was ſurpriſed by his Hiſtory of the Council of Trent, firſt publiſhed at London, 1619, with the fictitious name of Pietro Soave Polano; and dedicated to James the Iſt by Antonio de Dominis, the celebrated Archbiſhop of Spalatro, who ſpeaks of the concealed Author as his intimate friend, who had entruſted him with a manuſcript, on which his modeſty ſet a trifling value, but which it ſeemed proper to beſtow upon the world even without his conſent.—The myſtery concerning the publication of this noble work, has never been thoroughly cleared up; and various falſities concerning it have been reported by authors of conſiderable reputation.—It has even been ſaid that James the Iſt had ſome ſhare in the compoſition 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 any relation to the ſtyle or [193] taſte of that Monarch.—Father Paul was ſoon ſuppoſed to be the real Author of the work in queſtion. The Prince of Condé, on a viſit to his cloyſter, expreſsly aſked him, if he was ſo—to which he modeſtly replied, that at Rome it was well known who had written it.—He enjoyed not many years the reputation ariſing from this maſterly production—in 1623 a fever occaſioned his death, which was even more exemplary and ſublime than his life itſelf.—He prepared himſelf for approaching diſſolu⯑tion with the moſt devout compoſure; and, as the liberty of his country was the darling object of his exalted mind, he prayed for its pre⯑ſervation with his laſt breath, in the two cele⯑brated words Eſto Perpetua.

There is a ſingular beauty in the character of Father Paul, which is not only uncommon in his profeſſion, but is rarely found in human nature.—Though he paſſed a long life in con⯑troverſy of the moſt exaſperating kind, and was continually attacked in every manner that [194] malignity could ſuggeſt, both his writings and his heart appeared perfectly free from a vindic⯑tive ſpirit. Devoting all the powers of his mind to the defence of the public cauſe, he ſeemed entirely to forget the injuries that were per⯑petually offered to his own perſon and re⯑putation.

His conſtitution was extremely delicate, and his intenſe application expoſed him to very frequent and violent diſorders: theſe he greatly remedied by his ſingular temperance, living chiefly on bread, fruits, and water.—This imperfect account of a character deſerving the nobleſt elogium, is princi⯑pally extracted from an octavo volume, intitled, Memoire Anedote ſpettanti a F. Paolo da Fran⯑ceſco Griſelini Veneziano, &c. edit. 2d, 1760. The author of this elaborate work has pointed out ſeveral miſtakes in the French and Engliſh accounts of Father Paul; particularly in the anecdotes related of him by Burnet, in his Life of Biſhop Bedell; and by Mr. Brent, the ſon of his Engliſh Tranſlator.—Some of theſe had in⯑deed [195] been obſerved before by writers of our own.—See the General Dictionary, under the article Father Paul.—For the length and for the defi⯑ciencies of this Note, I am tempted to apologize with a ſentence borrowed from the great Hiſtorian who is the ſubject of it:—‘Chi mi oſſerverà in al⯑cuni tempi abondare, in altri andar riſtretto, ſi ri⯑cordi che non tutti i campi ſono di ugnal fertilità, ne tutti li grani merltano d'eſſer conſervati, e di quel⯑li che il mietitore vorrebbe tenerne conto, qual⯑che ſpica anco sfugge la preſa della mano, o il filo della falce, coſi comportando la conditione d'ogni mietitura che reſti anco parte per riſpigolare.’

NOTE XVII. VERSE 312.

Jerom Oſorius was born of a noble family at Liſbon, 1506. He was educated at the univerſity of Sala⯑manca, and afterwards ſtudied at Paris and Bo⯑logna. On his return to Portugal, he gradually roſe to the Biſhopric of Sylves, to which he was [196] appointed by Catherine of Auſtria, Regent of the kingdom in the minority of Sebaſtian. At the requeſt of Cardinal Henry of Portugal, he wrote his Hiſtory of King Emanuel, and the expedition of Gama—which his great contemporary Ca⯑moens made at the ſame time the ſubject of his immortal Luſiad; a poem which has at length appeared with due luſtre in our language, being tranſlated with great ſpirit and elegance by Mr. Mickle. It is remarkable, that the Hiſtory of Oſorius, and the Epic Poem of Camoens, were publiſhed in the ſame year, 1572: but the fate of theſe two great Authors was very different; the Poet was ſuffered to periſh in poverty, under the reign of that Henry who patronized the Hiſtori⯑an: yet, allowing for the difference of their pro⯑feſſions, I am inclined to think they poſſeſſed a ſimi⯑larity of mind. There appear many traces of that high heroic ſpirit, even in the Prieſt Oſorius, which animated the Soldier Camoens; particularly in the pleaſure with which he ſeems to deſcribe the martial manners of his countrymen, under the [197] of Emanuel.—‘Illius aetate (ſays the Hiſto⯑rian, in the cloſe of his manly work) inopia in ex⯑ilium pulſa videbatur: moeſtitiae locus non erat: querimoniae ſilebant: omnia choreis & cantibus per⯑ſonabant: ejuſmodi ludis aula regia frequenter ob⯑lectabatur. Nobiles adoleſcentes cum virginibus regiis in aula ſine ulla libidinis ſignificatione ſal⯑tabant; et quamvis honeſtiſſimis amoribus indul⯑gerent, virginibus erat inſitum, neminem ad fa⯑miliaritatem admitterre, niſi illum qui aliquid for⯑titer & animosè bellicis in rebus effeciſſet. Pueris enim nobilibus, qui in aula regia verſabantur, non erat licitum pallium virile ſumere, antequam in Africam trajicerent, & aliquod inde decus egre⯑gium reportarent. Et his quidem moribus erat illius temporis nobilitas inſtituta, ut multi ex illius domo viri omni laude cumulati prodirent.’—This is a ſtriking picture of the manners of chivalry, to which Portugal owed much of its glory in that ſplendid period. There is one particular in the character of Oſorius, which, conſidering his age and country, deſerves the higheſt encomium: I [198] mean his tolerating ſpirit. In the firſt book of his Hiſtory, he ſpeaks of Emanuel's cruel perſe⯑cution of the Jews in the following generous and exalted language:—‘Fuit quidem hoc nec ex lege nec ex religione factum. Quid enim? Tu re⯑belles animos, nullaque ad id ſuſcepta religione conſtrictos, adigas ad credendum ea, quae ſumma contentione aſpernantur & reſpuunt? Idque tibi aſſumas, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, & vin⯑cula mentibus effraenatis injicias? At id neque fieri poteſt, neque Chriſti ſanctiſſimum numen approbat. Voluntarium enim ſacrificium, non vi et malo coactum, ab hominibus expetit; neque vim mentibus inferri, ſed voluntates ad ſtudium verae religionis allici & invitari jubet. . . . . Poſtremò quis non videt . . . . . et ita religionem per re⯑ligionis ſimulationem indigniſſimè violari?’—Oſo⯑rius is ſaid to have uſed many arguments to diſ⯑ſuade Sebaſtian from his unfortunate expedition into Africa; and to have felt ſo deeply the miſe⯑ries which befel the Portugueſe after that fatal event, that his grief was ſuppoſed to accelerate his [199] death.—He expired in 1580, happy, ſays De Thou (who celebrates him as a model of Chriſ⯑tian virtue), that he died juſt before the Spaniſh army entered Portugal, and thus eſcaped being a witneſs to the deſolation of his country.—His va⯑rious works were publiſhed at Rome in 1592, by his nephew Oſorius, in four volumes folio, with a Life of their Author. Among theſe are two re⯑markable productions: the firſt, an admonition to our Queen Elizabeth, exhorting her to return in⯑to the church of Rome; the ſecond, an Eſſay on Glory, written with ſuch claſſical purity, as to give birth to a report, that it was not the compoſi⯑tion of Oſorius, but the loſt work of Cicero on that ſubject.

In the Lucubrationes of Walter Haddon, the curious reader may find a very ſpirited anſwer to the invective againſt the Reformation, which the zeal of the Portugueſe Biſhop led him to addreſs to Elizabeth.—The Engliſh Civilian defends the cauſe of his nation and his Queen with great ener⯑gy.—He juſtifies the diſſolution of the monaſteries, [200] by repreſenting their abuſes in the moſt glowing colours; and he ventures to affirm, in vindicating the character of his royal Miſtreſs, that her Ma⯑jeſty of England was as great a Theologian as the Biſhop of Sylves himſelf:—‘Sacras Scripturas mul⯑tùm lectitat, interpretes optimos inter ſe comparat, doctiſſimorum theologorum undique ſententias colligit, ſcientia linguarum per ſe ipſa excellit, in⯑genio eſt prompto et acri; ſapientiae tantum ad haec adhibet, quantum vix eſt in illo ſexu credi⯑bile: denique noſtrorum ad conſciones ventitat, et ſenſus in his rebus habet partim legendo, par⯑tim audiendo, tam exercitatos, ut non minus te docere poſſit, quam ex te diſcere.’ HADDON, Lucubrat. Pag. 259.

NOTE XVIII. VERSE 318.

John Mariana was born 1537, at Talavera (a town in the dioceſe of Toledo), as he himſelf informs us [201] in his famous Eſſay de Rege, which opens with a beautiful romantic deſcription of a ſequeſtered ſpot in that neighbourhood, where he enjoyed the pleaſures of literary retirement with his friend Cal⯑deron, a Miniſter of Toledo; whoſe death he mentions in the ſame Eſſay, commemorating his learning and his virtues in the moſt pleaſing terms of affectionate admiration.—Mariana was admit⯑ted into the order of Jeſuits at the age of 17. He travelled afterwards into Italy and France; and returning into Spain in 1574, ſettled at Toledo, and died there in the 87th year of his age, 1624.—Hearing it frequently regretted, in the courſe of his travels, that there was no General Hiſtory of his country, he engaged in that great work on his return; and publiſhed it in Latin at Toledo, 1592, with a dedication to Philip the IId: where he ſpeaks of his own performance with modeſty and manly freedom, and perhaps with as little flattery as ever appeared in any addreſs of that nature, to a Monarch continually fed with the groſſeſt adulation.—This elaborate work he [202] tranſlated into Spaniſh, but, as he himſelf declares, with all the freedom of an original author. He publiſhed his Verſion in 1601, with an addreſs to Philip the IIId, in which he laments the decline of Learning in his country; and declares he had himſelf executed that work, from his apprehenſion of its being mangled by an ignorant Tranſlator. He had cloſed his Hiſtory (which begins with the firſt peopling of Spain) with the death of Ferdi⯑nand, in 1516; but in a ſubſequent edition, in 1617, he added to it a ſhort ſummary of events to the year 1612. But in the year before he firſt publiſhed the Spaniſh Verſion of his Hiſtory, he addreſſed alſo to the young Monarch Philip the IIId, his famous Eſſay which I have mentioned, and which was publicly burnt at Paris, about 20 years after its publication, on the ſuppoſition that it had excited Ravaillac to the murder of Henry the IVth: though it was aſſerted, with great proba⯑bility, by the Jeſuits, that the Aſſaſſin had never ſeen the book. It is true, indeed, that Mariana in this Eſſay occaſionally defends Clement the [203] Monk, who ſtabbed Henry the IIId; and it is very remarkable, that he grounds this defence, not on the bigotted tenets of a Prieſt, who thinks every thing lawful for the intereſt of his church, but on thoſe ſublime principles of civil liberty, with which an antient Roman would have vindi⯑cated the dagger of Brutus. Indeed this Eſſay contains ſome paſſages on Government, which would not have diſhonoured even Cicero himſelf; but, it muſt be owned, they are grievouſly diſ⯑graced by the laſt chapter of the Work, which breathes a furious ſpirit of eccleſiaſtical intole⯑rance, and yet cloſes with theſe mild and modeſt expreſſions:—‘Noſtrum de regno et Regis inſtitu⯑tione judicium fortaſsè non omnibus placeat: qui volet ſequatur; aut ſuo potiùs ſtet, ſi potioribus argumentis nitatur: de quibus rebus tantoperè aſ⯑ſeveravi in his libris, eas nunquam veriores quam alienam ſententiam affirmabo. Poteſt enim non ſolum mihi aliud, aliud aliis videri, ſed et mihi ipſi alio tempore. Suam quiſque ſententiam per me ſequatur . . . et . . qui noſtra leget . . . [204] memor conditionis humanae, ſi quid erratum eſt, pio ſtudio rempublicam juvandi veniam benignus concedat et facilis.’—This is not the only work of Mariana which fell under a public proſcription; he was himſelf perſecuted, and ſuffered a year's impriſonment, for a treatiſe which ſeems to have been dictated by the pureſt love to his country. It was againſt the pernicious practice of debaſing the public coin; and as it was ſuppoſed to reflect on the Duke of Lerma, called the Sejanus of Spain, it expoſed the Author, about the year 1609, to the perſecution of that vindictive Miniſter, from which it does not appear how he eſcaped.—In⯑deed the accounts of Mariana's life are very im⯑perfect. Bayle, whom I have chiefly followed, mentions a life of him by De Vargas, which he could not procure. I have ſought after this Bio⯑grapher with the ſame ill ſucceſs; as I wiſhed to give a more perfect account of this great Author, whoſe perſonal Hiſtory is little known among us, though it is far from being unworthy of atten⯑tion.

NOTE XIX. VERSE 352.

Hugo Grotius was the eldeſt child of John de Groot, curator in the univerſity of Leyden, and born at Delft on the 10th of April 1583.—His infancy gave the faireſt promiſe of thoſe great and univerſal talents, which were ſo amply un⯑folded in his ſubſequent life. At the age of eleven he was celebrated as a prodigy of learning.—When Barnevelt was ſent Ambaſſador to Henry the IVth of France, in 1598, he took the young Grotius in his train, and preſented him to that Monarch; who honoured the little ſcholar by graciouſly giving him his picture and a chain of gold. One circumſtance was yet wanting to complete the joy of Grotius in this expedition; and he was obliged to quit France without obtaining the great object of his wiſhes, a per⯑ſonal acquaintance with the Preſident de Thou.— [206] He afterwards expreſſed his mortification on this ſubject in a letter to that great man, which gave riſe to a friendly correſpondence between theſe congenial characters, highly honourable to both.—On his return to Holland, Grotius devoted himſelf to the practice of the law, and in 1599 pleaded his firſt cauſe at Delft. In the exerciſe of this laborious profeſſion, he found ſufficient time to cultivate polite literature. In 1599 he publiſhed his edition of Martianus Capella, at the requeſt of Scaliger: it was followed, in the ſucceeding year, by the Phaenomena of Ara⯑tus: and in 1601 he printed his firſt tragedy of Adamus Exful, a compoſition which might poſ⯑ſibly give birth to the divine performance of Mil⯑ton; though its author eſteemed it ſo little, as to exclude it from a collection of his poems. Gro⯑tius, indeed, was remarkably modeſt in eſtima⯑ting his own poetical talents:—few perſons have written ſo many verſes, and thought ſo humbly of their merit.—The public proofs which he had now given of his various erudition, procured [207] him an honour from his country, the more flat⯑tering as it was unſolicited. The United Pro⯑vinces, juſtly proud of having vindicated their liberty againſt the tyranny of Spain, and deſirous of commemorating ſo noble an event, appointed Grotius their Hiſtoriographer. A nomination ſo honourable to a youth, for ſuch he was, led him to collect materials for that Hiſtory; which many accidents conſpired to prevent his publiſhing, during the whole courſe of his buſy and vexa⯑tious life.—From his ſucceſs at the bar, he was promoted to the poſt of Advocate General; and in 1608 he married Maria Reigeſberg, a lady of a reſpectable family in Zealand, and a wife, as his Biographer obſerves, truly worthy of ſuch a huſband. In 1613 he became Penſionary of Rotterdam, an office which gave him a ſeat in the Aſſembly of the States. He was ſoon after⯑wards employed in a commiſſion to England, to ſettle ſome national diſputes concerning the Greenland Fiſhery.—The greateſt pleaſure and advantage which he derived from this expedition, [208] was the intimacy which he contracted in Eng⯑land with the celebrated Caſaubon. Soon after his return to Holland, the fatal ſpirit of religious controverſy produced thoſe unfortunate and well⯑known diſtractions in his country, which led to the infamous execution of the great and virtuous Barnevelt. Grotius, who was affectionately at⯑tached to that upright Miniſter, and joined with him in every meaſure to counteract the uſurping ambition of Prince Maurice, was thus expoſed to the oppreſſion of that vindictive hero.—After the vain ceremony of an iniquitous trial, he was con⯑demned to perpetual impriſonment; and con⯑ducted, on the 6th of June 1619, to the fortreſs of Louveſtein, in South Holland, at the point of the iſland formed by the Vahal and the Meuſe.—His tender and faithful wife, who had been cruelly debarred from attending him, even in ſickneſs, during his confinement at the Hague, was now admitted to ſhare his priſon; on the hard condition of forfeiting that privilege, if ſhe ever ventured from Louveſtein: ſhe afterwards ob⯑tained [209] leave to come abroad twice a week.—With the ſpirit of a Roman Matron ſhe refuſed the al⯑lowance which the government had aſſigned for the maintenance of her huſband—continued for almoſt two years the conſtant attendant on his captivity—and at length became the glorious in⯑ſtrument of his deliverance. Grotius, who hap⯑pily experienced that love and literature are un⯑failing reſources under the moſt galling calamity of human life, had purſued his ſtudies in priſon with his uſual ardour. He compoſed there, among other works, the firſt ſketch of his Eſſay on the Truth of Chriſtianity, in a poetical form, and in his native language.—Reports were ſpread by his enemies that he had formed a plan for his eſcape, and his priſon was rigorouſly examined. But notwithſtanding the vigilance of his oppreſ⯑ſors, the affectionate ingenuity of his wife reſto⯑red him to freedom by the following expedient:—He had been allowed to borrow books from his friends; and it was uſual with him to ſend ſuch as he had read in a cheſt, that went regu⯑larly [210] with his linen to the neighbouring town of Gorcum. The guards were at firſt very ſcrupu⯑lous in their examination of this cheſt; but hav⯑ing long found in it only books and linen, they were now accuſtomed to let it paſs unopened.—The circumſtance ſuggeſted to the attentive wife of Grotius the poſſibility of her huſband's eſcape, and ſhe perſuaded him to attempt it by this ſin⯑gular conveyance. The incidents attending the adventure were highly calculated to increaſe the agitation of her heart; and muſt indeed have oc⯑caſioned the failure of her deſign, had ſhe not taken the moſt ingenious precautions to en⯑ſure its ſucceſs:—The ſoldiers, who carried the cheſt in which Grotius was incloſed, were alarmed by its weight; and cried out, in the pro⯑verbial language of their country, that it muſt contain an Arminian;—ſhe replied with great preſence of mind, that it was indeed loaded with Arminian books. The ſoldiers were ſtill un⯑ſatisfied, and went to the wife of their command⯑ing officer, who was abſent, to expreſs their ſuſ⯑picion; [211] —ſhe replied, that ſhe had been aſſured it contained only books, and bade them carry it to the boat: a female ſervant in the ſecret attended the cheſt, and ſaw it ſafely conveyed to the houſe of Dazelaer, a friend of Grotius, in Gorcum, from whence he paſſed in diſguiſe into Brabant. The generous contriver of his eſcape now tri⯑umphed in the ſucceſs of her project. Being aſ⯑ſured that her huſband was ſafe, by the return of her ſervant, ſhe avowed what ſhe had done, and was more cloſely confined by the offended com⯑mandant of Louveſtein. But ſhe ſoon ob⯑tained her liberty, on preſenting a petition to the States-General; though ſome wretches were found in that aſſembly, brutal enough to expreſs a deſire of puniſhing a woman for an act of he⯑roiſm, which, in Athens or in Rome, would have almoſt rendered her an object of idolatry.—Her merit, however, has been juſtly celebrated by the poets of her country; but the moſt pleaſing me⯑morial of it appears in a poem of Grotius, ad⯑dreſſed to the unfortunate ſon of the Preſident De [212] Thou. The paſſage does honour both to the gratitude and the genius of our Author; and I ſhall therefore inſert it, as an advantageous ſpe⯑cimen of his Latin poetry.—In addreſſing his young friend on the virtues of his venerable fa⯑ther, he breaks out into the following encomium on connubial affection:

It was not without reaſon that Grotius la⯑mented, in the cloſe of this paſſage, his continued adverſity. Few literary characters have been ſo repeatedly expoſed to all the various and mortify⯑ing anxieties of public life.—After his eſcape from priſon in 1621, he took refuge in France. He received, indeed, the moſt flattering marks of regard from many eminent characters of that kingdom, and a penſion of three thouſand livres from Lewis the XIIIth; but the payment of this gratuity, ſo honourable to the Monarch who beſtowed it, was ſoon rendered irregular and pre⯑carious by the artifices of Richelieu; and Gro⯑tius [216] was at length obliged to ſeek a more inde⯑pendent aſylum, merely becauſe he was of too firm and noble a character to become the ſervile inſtrument of that imperious miniſter.—He had paſſed however ten years, and compoſed one of his moſt celebrated works in that country—his Treatiſe de Jure Belli & Pacis was begun in 1623 at Balagui, a ſeat of the Preſident De Meme, in the neighbourhood of Senlis, and he publiſhed it at Paris in 1625. The great and ex⯑tenſive reputation which his writings had ob⯑tained, did not induce Holland to atone for the injuſtice which ſhe had exerciſed againſt one of the moſt eminent and virtuous of her citizens. The death of his enemy Prince Maurice had tempted Grotius to hope, that he might return with ſafety and honour to his native country; but on making the experiment in 1631, he met with much more ingratitude than he expected, and retired in the next year to Hamburgh—he there contracted an intimacy with Salvius, the Vice-Chancellor of Sweden, who ſent a favour⯑able [217] account of his new friend to Oxenſtiern, the great miniſter, who ſo well ſupplied the loſs of his heroic maſter Guſtavus. Grotius was ſoon invited to Franckfort by that penetrating genius, who introduced him into the council of the young Chriſtina, and appointed him her Am⯑baſſador to the court of France:—it is ſaid, how⯑ever, that Grotius owed his connection with Sweden to the high ſentiments which Guſtavus himſelf had entertained of his merit, and to or⯑ders given by that Monarch for the employment of the celebrated exile, whoſe Treatiſe de Jure Belli was found in his tent after the fatal victory of Lutzen, which he purchaſed with his life. However this may be, Grotius appeared at Paris in the character of Ambaſſador from Sweden 1635, and continued no leſs than ten years in a ſituation equally ſplendid and vexatious—en⯑gaged in the delicate buſineſs of negotiating ſub⯑ſidies, which were paid with reluctance; har⯑raſſed by the hoſtile intrigues of his ungrateful [218] country, and alternately inſulted and flattered by the miniſters of France, he maintained himſelf with integrity and honour in a difficult and im⯑portant ſtation, from which his various and pow⯑erful enemies were perpetually endeavouring to effect his removal.—After a ſeries of public mor⯑tifications, he at length ſolicited his own recall. He obtained a paſſport through Holland, was treated with great honour at Amſterdam, and ar⯑riving at Stockholm was flattered with great pro⯑miſes by the Queen Chriſtina, who preſſed him to ſettle with his family in Sweden. From this however he excuſed himſelf, and pleaded the ten⯑der health of his wife as unequal to ſo cold a climate. Having obtained, after ſome delays, the Queen's permiſſion to retire, and a veſſel to carry him to Lubeck, he was unfortunately ſhip⯑wrecked on the coaſt of Pomerania, from whence he travelled ſixty miles in an open waggon, to the town of Roſtock, where, after languiſhing a few days, he expired on the 19th of Auguſt 1645.— [219] For my very imperfect account of this great and amiable man, I am chiefly indebted to Mr. Bu⯑rigny, whoſe life of Grotius deſerves a diſtin⯑guiſhed rank among biographical writings, as it contains a very luminous diſplay of much intri⯑cate matter, and a juſt delineation of a character which deſerves to be minutely ſtudied: for what nation can produce a more ſingular and excelling compound of ſcience and virtue, of genius and piety?—As an Hiſtorian, he ſhares with Thu⯑cydides the uncommon merit of celebrating the ſplendid actions of his perſonal enemies, and of a country which treated him with the moſt unge⯑nerous ingratitude. It appears from one of his letters to De Thou, that he had made ſome ad⯑vances in the plan at leaſt of his Hiſtory, at ſo early a period as 1614; for, after complimenting the great Hiſtorian of France on his immortal work, he adds, ‘Ego quoque impar ſanè oneri, ſed magno patriae amore accenſus, ſimile opus molior; tantò autem minus tuo, quantò minor eſt Batavia, non dicam Galliâ veſtrâ, ſed toto orbe. [220] Sed nec adhuc Varo videor neque dicere Cinna digna: prematur itaque immaturus labor donec aetas cum judicio tempus quoque emendandi dederit; aut potiùs exurgat alius, qui res ſcitu per ſe non indignas dictione commendet, ut eo liben⯑tiùs diſcant poſteri quid Batavi fecerint.’—We learn alſo from a letter to his brother, in 1637, that the work was then finiſhed, and that he thought proper to delay its publication. Though it ſeems to have been his favourite performance, he had never the ſatisfaction of ſeeing it in print:—it did not appear till twelve years after his death, when his ſons Cornelius and Peter ad⯑dreſſed it to the States of Holland and Weſt Frieſland, in a Dedication that does honour both to their father and themſelves.—The work it⯑ſelf, under the double name of Annals and Hiſ⯑tory, gives a complete account of the moſt in⯑tereſting period, from the year 1566 to the truce with Spain in 1609.—The Letters of Grotius are not leſs valuable than his Hiſtory, as they con⯑tain much miſcellaneous intelligence, and abound [221] with literary anecdotes.—His amiable wife ſur⯑vived him, and died at the Hague.—Of their ſix children, Peter became the moſt eminent—he was ſent by his country as her Ambaſſador to France; and ſeems to have inherited both the talents and the virtues of his father.—It may yet be proper to add to this long Note the noble en⯑comium of Grotius on Scaliger, to which I have alluded, and which, as Dr. Johnſon obſerves, ſeems to have been imitated by Cowley, in the cloſe of his Elegy on Sir Henry Wooton.

NOTE XX. VERSE 401.

James Au⯑guſtus De Thou was the youngeſt ſon of Chriſto⯑pher De Thou, Firſt Preſident of the Parliament of Paris, and born in that city 1553. His own Memoirs give a pleaſing account of the early activity of his mind.—As his health, dur⯑ing his childhood, was ſo tender and infirm, that his parents rather reſtrained him from the uſual ſtudies of his age, he devoted much of his time to drawing, and copied with a pen the engrav⯑ings [223] of Albert Durer, before he was ten years old. At that age, he was ſettled in the college of Burgundy; but this plan of his education was ſoon interrupted by a fever, in which his life was deſpaired of, and in which the mother of his fu⯑ture friend, the Duke of Montpenſier, watched him with an attention ſingularly happy, after his phyſicians and his parents had conſidered him as dead. In a few years after his recovery, he re⯑paired to Orleans to ſtudy the civil law; from thence he was drawn to Valence in Dauphiny, by the reputation of Cujacius, who was then reading lectures there: on his road he embraced an opportunity of hearing Hotoman, the cele⯑brated author of Franco-Gallia, who was read⯑ing lectures alſo at Bourges.—During his reſidence at Valence, he contracted a friend⯑ſhip with Joſeph Scaliger, which he cultivated through life.—In 1572, his father recalled him to Paris, juſt before the maſſacre of St. Bar⯑tholomew.—He mentions in his Memoirs the horrors which he felt in ſeeing a very ſmall part [224] of that bloody ſcene.—He reſided in the houſe of his uncle Nicholas De Thou, promoted to the biſhopric of Chartres: he was then deſigned himſelf for the church; and, beginning to collect his celebrated library, applied himſelf particu⯑larly to the Civil Law, and to Grecian litera⯑ture.

He travelled into Italy in 1573, with Paul De Foix, going on an embaſſy to the Pope and the Italian Princes. Of De Foix he gives the moſt engaging character, and ſpeaks with great plea⯑ſure of the literary entertainment and advantages which he derived from this expedition. He return⯑ed to Paris, and devoted himſelf again to his ſtu⯑dies, in the following year.—On the diſſentions in the court of France, in 1576, he was employed to negociate with the Mareſchal Montmorency, and engage him to interpoſe his good offices to prevent the civil war; which he for ſome time ef⯑fected.—The ſame year he viſited the Low Countries, and on his return was appointed to a public office; on which he entered with that ex⯑treme [225] diffidence which is ſo natural to a delicate mind.

In 1579 he travelled again with his elder bro⯑ther, who was ſent by his phyſicians to the baths of Plombieres in Lorrain: from hence he made a ſhort excurſion into Germany, and was received there with the jovial hoſpitality of that country, which he deſcribes in a very lively manner.—But affection ſoon recalled him to Plombieres, to at⯑tend his infirm brother to Paris, who died there in a few months after their return.

In 1580, on the plague's appearing in the ca⯑pital, our Hiſtorian retired into Touraine; and after viſiting the principal places in Nor⯑mandy, returned to Paris in the winter. In the following year, he was of the number choſen from the Parliament of Paris to adminiſter juſtice in Guienne, as two eccleſiaſtics were included in that commiſſion.—In this expedition he embraced every opportunity of preparing the materials of his Hiſtory; ſeeking, as he ever did, the ſociety of all perſons eminent for their talents, or capable of giv⯑ing [226] him any uſeful information. He ſpeaks with great pleaſure of a viſit which he paid at this time to the celebrated Montaigne, whom he calls a man of a moſt liberal mind, and totally uninfected with the ſpirit of party.—After various excurſions he was now returning to Paris, when he recei⯑ved the unexpected news of his father's death; an event which affected him moſt deeply, as filial affection was one of the ſtriking characteriſtics of his amiable mind. He conſoled himſelf under the affliction of having been unable to pay his duty to his dying parent, by erecting a magnificent mo⯑nument to his memory, expreſſive of the high ve⯑neration in which he ever held his virtues.—He engaged again in public buſineſs, devoting his in⯑tervals of leiſure to mathematical ſtudies, and to the compoſition of Latin verſe, which ſeems to have been his favourite amuſement.—In 1584 he pub⯑liſhed his Poem, De Re Accipitraria; which, tho' much celebrated by the critics of his age, has fallen, like the ſubject of which it treats, into univerſal neglect.—In 1585 he bid adieu to the [227] Court, on finding himſelf treated with ſuch a de⯑gree of coldneſs, as his ingenuous nature could not ſubmit 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 preſſed to marry by his family, and being abſolved from his eccleſiaſtical engagements for that pur⯑poſe, he made choice of Marie Barbanſon, of an antient and noble family; but as her parents were ſuſpected of a ſecret inclination to the re⯑formed religion, it was thought proper that the lady ſhould undergo a kind of expiation, in a private conference with two Catholic Divines; a circumſtance of which the great Hiſtorian ſpeaks with an air of triumph in his Memoirs, as a proof of his own inviolable attachment to the faith of his fathers. In 1588 he loſt his affectionate mother; who is deſcribed, by her ſon, as meeting death with the ſame gentleneſs and tranquillity of mind, by which her life was diſtinguiſhed.—When the violence of the League had reduced Henry the IIId to abandon Paris, our Hiſtorian was ſent into Nor⯑mandy, [228] to confirm the magiſtrates of that province in their adherence to the King. He afterwards met Henry at Blois; and while he was receiving from him in private ſome commiſſions to execute at Paris, the King preſſed his hand, and ſeemed preparing to impart to him ſome important ſecret; but after a long pauſe diſmiſſed him without re⯑vealing it. This ſecret was afterwards ſuppoſed to have been the projected aſſaſſination of the Duke of Guiſe: the ſuppoſition is probable; and it is alſo probable that if Henry had then revealed his deſign, the manly virtue and eloquence of De Thou might have led him to relinquiſh that infa⯑mous and fatal meaſure.—He was, however, ſo far from ſuſpecting the intended crime of the King, that when he firſt heard at Paris that Guiſe was aſſaſſinated, he believed it a falſe rumour, only ſpread by that faction to introduce, what he ſup⯑poſed had really happened, the murder of the King.—In the commotions which the death of Guiſe produced in Paris, many inſults were offered to the family of De Thou: his wife was impriſoned [229] for a day in the Baſtile; but obtaining her liberty, ſhe eſcaped from the city in a mean habit, atten⯑ded by her huſband, diſguiſed alſo in the dreſs of a ſoldier.—Having ſent his wife in ſafety into Pi⯑cardy, he repaired to the King, who was almoſt deſerted, at Blois; and was greatly inſtrumental in perſuading his maſter to his coalition with Henry of Navarre.—The King determined to eſtabliſh a Parliament at Tours, and De Thou was conſidered as the moſt proper perſon to be the Preſident of this aſſembly; but with his uſual modeſty he declined this honour, and choſe rather to engage with his friend Mr. de Schomberg, in an expedition to Germany for the ſervice of the King.—He was at firſt deſigned for the embaſſy to Elizabeth; but at the requeſt of Schomberg declined the appointment, and accompanied his friend.

He firſt received intelligence of the King's death at Venice, where he had formed an intima⯑cy with the celebrated Arnauld d'Oſſat, at that time Secretary to the Cardinal Joyeuſe.—In con⯑ſequence [230] of their converſation on this event, and the calamities of France, De Thou addreſſed a Latin Poem to his friend, which he afterwards printed at Tours.

In leaving Italy, he paſſed a few days at Padua with his friend Vicenzio Pinelli; from whom he collected many particulars concerning the moſt eminent Italian and Spaniſh Authors, whom he determined to celebrate in his Hiſtory; in the hope, as he honeſtly confeſſes, that his liberal at⯑tention to foreign merit might entitle his own Works to the favour both of Italy and Spain. But he was diſappointed in this fair expectation, and laments the ingratitude which he experienced from both.

On his return to France, he was graciouſly received by Henry the IVth; and in giving that Prince an account of Italy, ſuggeſted to him the idea of a connection with Mary of Medicis. After the battle of Ivry, he complimented the King in a ſhort Poem, which cloſes with the following lines:

As he was travelling, ſoon afterwards, with his wife and family, which he deſigned to ſettle at Tours, his party was intercepted by the enemy, and he was obliged to abandon his wife and her attendants; being prevailed on by their entrea⯑ties to ſecure his own eſcape by the ſwiftneſs of his horſe.—He repaired to the King at Giſors, and ſoon obtained the reſtitution of his family.—On the death of Amyot, Biſhop of Auxerre, well known by his various Tranſlations from the Greek language, the King appointed De Thou his Principal Librarian. In 1592, our Hiſtorian was very near falling a victim to the plague; but happily ſtruggled through that dangerous diſtem⯑per, by the aſſiſtance of two ſkilful phyſicians, who attended him at Tours.—In 1593, he began the moſt important part of his Hiſtory; and under this year he introduces in his Memoirs a long and ſpi⯑rited [232] Poem, addreſſed to Poſterity; in which he enters into a juſtification of himſelf againſt the malignant attacks which the manly and vir⯑tuous freedom of his writings had drawn upon him. It concludes with the following animated appeal to the ſpirit of his father:

In 1594 he ſucceeded his uncle Auguſtin, as Preſident a Mortier.—In 1596 he loſt his valu⯑able and learned friend Pithou, who firſt ſolicited him to undertake his Hiſtory, and had greatly [233] aſſiſted him in the proſecution of that laborious work. How deeply the affectionate mind of De Thou was wounded by this event, appears from his long letter to Caſaubon on the occaſion.—In 1597 he began to be engaged in thoſe negotia⯑tions, which happily terminated in the famous edict of Nantes.—It may be proper to obſerve here, that De Thou was accuſed of being a Cal⯑viniſt, in conſequence of the part he acted in this buſineſs, as well as from the moderate tenor of his Hiſtory; and it is remarkable, that Sully ſeems in his Memoirs to countenance the accuſation.

In 1601 our Hiſtorian ſuffered a ſevere do⯑meſtic affliction in the loſs of his wife. He cele⯑brated her virtues, and his own connubial affec⯑tion, in a Latin Poem: with this, and a Greek epitaph on the ſame lady, written by Caſaubon, he terminates the Commentary of his own Life, of which the preceding account is an imperfect abridgment.—His firſt wife leaving him no children, he married, in 1603, Gaſparde de la Chaſtre, an accompliſhed lady of a noble family; [234] who having brought him three ſons and three daughters, died at the age of 39, 1616.—There is a fine letter of Daniel Heinſius addreſſed to our author on this occaſion, exhorting him to fortitude: but this unexpected domeſtic calamity, and the miſeries which befel his country on the murder of Henry the Great, are ſaid to have wounded his feeling mind ſo deeply, as to occa⯑ſion his death, which happened in May 1617.—Under the regency of Mary of Medicis, he had been one of the Directors General of the finances; maintaining the ſame reputation for integrity in that department, which he had ever preſerved in his judicial capacity.

The firſt part of his Hiſtory appeared in 1604, with a Preface addreſſed to Henry IV. juſtly ce⯑lebrated for its liberal and manly ſpirit. But I muſt obſerve, that the following compliment to the King—‘Quicquid de ea ſtatueris juſſeriſve, pro divinae vocis oraeulo mihi erit’—was more than even that moſt amiable of Monarchs deſerved; as he ungratefully deſerted the cauſe of our Hiſto⯑rian, [235] in ſuffering his Work to be proſcribed by the public cenſure of Rome, in 1609; as De Thou plainly intimates in the following paſſage from one of his letters, written in 1611:—‘Pub⯑licata prima parte [Hiſtoriae meae], immanè quam commoti ſunt plerique, ſive invidi, ſive factioſi, qui mox proceres quoſdam, qui per ſe in talibus rebus nihil vident, per calumnias artificiosè con⯑fictas, ut ſcis, in me concitaverunt, remque e veſtigio Roman detulerunt; et auctore malignè exagitato, facilè pervicerunt, ut moroſi illi cen⯑ſores omnia mea ſiniſtrè interpretarentur; et, praejudicio perſonae, opus integrum, cujus ne tertiam quidem partem legerant, praecipitato ordine damnarent. Rex cauſam meam initio quidem tuebatur, quamdiu proceres in aula in⯑feſtos habui. Sed paulatim ipſe eorundem aſtu infractus eſt; cognitoque Romae per emiſſarios labare regem, poſt Oſſati et Serafini, Cardina⯑lium mihi amiciſſimorum, obitum, et illuſtriſſimi Perronii ex urbe diſceſſum, ictus poſtremò in me directus eſt; qui facilè vitari potuit, ſi qui circa [236] regem erant, tantae injuriae ſenſum ad ſe ac regni dignitatem pertinere vel minima ſignificatione prae ſe tuliſſent. Ita in aula omni ope deſtitutus, facilè Romae oppreſſus ſum.’—De Thou was preparing a new edition of his Hiſtory at the time of his death.—His paſſion for Latin verſe appears never to have forſaken him; as the lateſt effuſion of his pen was a little poem deſcriptive of his laſt illneſs, and an epitaph, in which he draws the following juſt character of himſelf:

The pious paternal prayer in the laſt line was very far from being crowned with ſucceſs. Francis, the eldeſt ſon of De Thou, fell a victim [237] to the reſentment which Cardinal Richelieu is ſaid to have conceived againſt him, from a paſſage in the great Hiſtorian reflecting on the Richelieu family. He was beheaded at Lyons, 1642, for having been privy to a conſpiracy againſt the Cardinal.—Voltaire, with his uſual philanthropy and ſpirit, inveighs againſt the ini⯑quity of this execution, in his Melanges, tom. iii.—The curious reader may find a particular account of this tragical event in the laſt volume of that noble edition of Thuanus, which was publiſhed under the auſpices of Dr. Mead, and does great honour to our country.—I ſhall cloſe this Note by tranſcribing from it the fol⯑lowing ſpirited epitaph on the unfortunate vic⯑tim:

NOTE XXI. VERSE 474.

To avoid every appearance of national prejudice, I ſhall quote on this occaſion ſome paſſages from a very liberal French Critic, who has paſſed the ſame judgment on the Hiſtorians of his country. The Marquis d'Argenſon, in a memoir read before the French Academy 1755, not only confeſſes that the French Writers have failed in Hiſtory, but even ventures to explain the cauſe of their ill ſucceſs.

NOTE I. VERSE 30.

There is a curious treatiſe of Dr. Warburton's on this ſubject, which is become very ſcarce; it is intitled, ‘"A critical and phi⯑loſophical Enquiry into the cauſes of prodi⯑gies and miracles, as related by Hiſtorians; with an Eſſay towards reſtoring a method and purity in Hiſtory."’ It contains, like moſt of [243] the compoſitions of this dogmatical Writer, a ſtrange mixture of judicious criticiſm and enter⯑taining abſurdity, in a ſtyle ſo extraordinary, that I think the following ſpecimens of it may amuſe a reader, who has not happened to meet with this ſingular book.—Having celebrated Rawleigh and Hyde, as writers of true hiſtoric genius, he adds: ‘"Almoſt all the reſt of our Hiſtories want Life, Soul, Shape, and Body: a mere hodgepodge of abortive embryos and rotten carcaſes, kept in an unnatural ferment (which the vulgar miſtake for real life) by the rank leven of prodigies and portents: which can't but afford good diverſion to the Critic, while he obſerves how naturally one of their own fables is here mythologiz'd and explain'd, of a church⯑yard carcaſe, raiſed and ſet a ſtrutting by the in⯑flation of ſome helliſh ſuccubus within."’ He then paſſes a heavy cenſure on the antiquarian publi⯑cations of Thomas Hearne; in the cloſe of which he exclaims—‘"Wonder not, Reader, at the view of theſe extravagancies. The Hiſtoric [244] Muſe, after much vain longing for a vigorous adorer, is now fallen under that indiſpoſition of her ſex, ſo well known by a depraved appetite for traſh and cinders."’—Having quoted two paſ⯑ſages from this ſingular Critic, in which his metaphorical language is exceedingly groſs, can⯑dour obliges me to tranſcribe another, which is no leſs remarkable for elegance and beauty of expreſſion. In deſcribing Salluſt, at one time the loud advocate of public ſpirit, and afterwards ſharing in the robberies of Caeſar, he expreſſes this variation of character by the following ima⯑gery:—‘"No ſooner did the warm aſpect of good fortune ſhine out again, but all thoſe ex⯑alted ideas of virtue and honour, raiſed like a beautiful kind of froſt-work in the cold ſeaſon of adverſity, diſſolved and diſappeared."’ Enquiry, &c. London, 1727, p. 17.

NOTE II. VERSE 51.

The origin of the French nation was aſcribed by one of the Monkiſh Hiſtorians to Francio, a ſon of Priam: Mr. Warton, who mentions this circum⯑ſtance in his Diſſertation on the origin of roman⯑tic fiction in Europe, ſuppoſes that the revival of Virgil's Aeneid, about the ſixth or ſeventh cen⯑tury, inſpired many nations with this chimerical idea of tracing their deſcent from the family of Priam. There is a very remarkable proof in the Hiſtorian Matthew of Weſtminſter, how fond the Engliſh were of conſidering themſelves as the deſcendants of the Trojan Brutus. In a let⯑ter from Edward the Firſt to Pope Boniface, concerning the affairs of Scotland, the King boaſts of his Trojan predeceſſor in the following terms:—‘Sub temporibus itaque Ely & Samuelis prophetarum, vir quidam ſtrenuus et inſignis, [246] Brutus nomine, de genere Trojanorum, poſt excidium urbis Trojanae, cum multis nobilibus Trojanorum applicuit in quandam inſulam tunc Albion vocatam, a gigantibus inhabitatam; qui⯑bus ſuâ et ſuorum ſeductis potentiâ et occiſis, eam nomine ſuo Britanniam, ſocioſque ſuos Bri⯑tannos, appellavit; & aedificavit civitatem quam Trinovantum nuncupavit, quae modò Londinum nuncupatur.’ MATT. WESTMON. p. 439.

NOTE III. VERSE 73.

I wiſh not to dwell invidiouſly on the failings of this immortal Genius; but it may be uſeful to remark, that no Hiſtorical work, though executed by a man of the higheſt mental abilities, can obtain a laſting reputation, if it be planned and written with a ſervility of ſpirit.—This was evidently the caſe in Bacon's Hiſtory of Henry the VIIth. [247] It was the firſt work he engaged in after his diſgrace, and laid as a peace-offering at the feet of his maſter, the deſpicable James; who affected to conſider his great grandfather, the abject and avaricious Henry, as the model of a King. It was therefore the aim of the unfortunate Hiſtorian to flatter this phantaſy of the royal pedant, for whom he wrote; and he accordingly formed a coloſſal ſtatue to repreſent a pigmy.—It is matter of aſtoniſhment that Lord Bolingbroke, who in his political works has written on the vices of this very King, with a force and beauty ſo ſuperior to the Hiſtory in queſtion, ſhould ſpeak of it as a work poſſeſſing merit ſufficient to bear a compariſon with the ancients. On the contrary, the extreme awkwardneſs of the taſk which the Hiſtorian impoſed upon himſelf, gave a weakneſs and embarraſſment to his ſtyle, which in his nobler works is clear, nervous, and manly. This will particularly appear from a few lines in his character of Henry:—‘"This King, to ſpeak of him in terms equal to his deſerving, was [248] one of the beſt ſort of wonders, a wonder for wiſe men. He had parts, both in his virtues and his fortune, not ſo fit for a common-place as for obſervation . . . . His worth may bear a tale or two, that may put upon him ſomewhat that may ſeem divine."’—He then relates a dream of Henry's mother, the Lady Margaret: but the quotations I have made may be ſufficient to juſti⯑fy my remark; and, as Dr. Johnſon ſays hap⯑pily of Milton, ‘"What Engliſhman can take delight in tranſcribing paſſages, which, if they leſſen the reputation of Bacon, diminiſh in ſome degree the honour of our country?"’

NOTE IV. VERSE 92.

An alluſion to the Architect Dinocrates, who of⯑fered to cut Mount Athos into a ſtatue of Alex⯑ander the Great.

NOTE V. VERSE 97.

This ſtory is told on a ſimilar occaſion by Lu⯑cian. Having aſſerted that hiſtorical flatterers often meet with the indignation they deſerve, he proceeds to this example: ‘ [...]."’ LUCIAN, Edit. Riollay, p. 28.

The Critics are much divided on this paſſage. I have followed an interpretation very different from that adopted by a learned and judicious au⯑thor, [250] who has lately entered into a thorough diſ⯑cuſſion of all the anecdotes relating to this cele⯑brated Conqueror, in a very elaborate and ſpirited diſſertation, intitled, "Examen critique des Hiſ⯑toriens d'Alexandre." Paris, 4to, 1775. But there is great probability in his conjecture, that the name of Ariſtobulus has ſlipt into the ſtory by ſome miſtake; and that the ſycophant ſo juſtly reprimanded was Oneſicritus, who attended the Hero of Macedon in quality of Hiſtoriographer, and is cenſured by the judicious Strabo, as the moſt fabulous of all the Writers who have en⯑gaged in his Hiſtory. For the reaſons which ſupport this conjecture, ſee the book I have men⯑tioned, page 19.

NOTE VI. VERSE 115.

As Hiſtory is the compoſition moſt frequently addreſſed to Princes, modern Hiſtorians have been peculiarly tempted to this kind of adulation. [251] Indeed Dedications in general are but too com⯑monly a diſgrace to letters.—Perhaps a conciſe Hiſtory of this ſpecies of writing, and the fate of ſome remarkable Dedicators, might have a good influence towards correcting that proſtitution of talents, which is ſo often obſerved in productions of this nature: and ſuch a work might be very amuſing to the lovers of literary anecdote.—The two moſt unfortunate Dedications that occur to my remembrance, were written by Joſhua Barnes, and Dr. Pearce, late Biſhop of Rocheſ⯑ter: The firſt dedicated his Hiſtory of Edward the IIId to James the IId, and unluckily com⯑pared that Monarch to the moſt valiant of his predeceſſors, juſt before his timidity led him to abdicate the throne: the ſecond dedicated his edition of Tully de Oratore to Lord Macclesfield, and as unluckily celebrated his patron as a model of public virtue, not many years before he was impeached in parliament, and fined £.30,000, for the iniquity of his conduct in the office of Chancellor.

NOTE VII. VERSE 135.

An⯑tonio de Herrera, a Spaniſh Hiſtorian of great reputation, deſcribes the death of Philip II. in the following terms:—‘"Y fue coſa de notar, que aviendo dos, o tres horas antes que eſpiraſſe, tenido un paraxiſmo tan violento, que le tuvieron por acabado, cubriendole el roſtro con un panno, abrio los ojos con gran eſpiritu, y tomò el cruci⯑fixo de mano de Don Hernando de Toledo, y con gran devocion, y ternura le besò muchas vozes, y a la imagen de nueſtra Sennora de Monſerrate, que eſtava en la candela. Pareciò al Arçobiſpo de Toledo, a los confeſſores, y a quantos ſe hallaron preſentes, que era impoſſible, que naturalmente havieſſe podido bolver tan preſto, y con tan vivo eſpiritu, ſino que devio de tener en aquel punto alguna viſion y favor del cielo, y que mas fue rapto que paraxiſmo: luego bolviô al agonia, y [253] ſe fue acabando poco a poco, y con pequenno movimiento ſe le arrancò el alma, domingo a treze de Setiembre a las cinco horas de la mannana, ſiendo ſus ultimas palabras, que moria como Catolico en la Fê y obediencia de la ſanta Igleſia Romana; y aſſi acabò eſte gran Monarca con la miſma prudencia con que vivio: por lo qual (meritamente) ſe le dio el atributo de pru⯑dente.’ Hiſt. General del Mundo, por Ant. Herrera, Madrid 1612. Tom. iii. f. 777.

After ſpeaking ſo freely on the vices of this Monarch, it is but juſt to obſerve, that Philip, who poſſeſſed all the ſedate cruelty of the cold⯑blooded Octavius, reſembled him alſo in one ami⯑able quality, and was ſo much a friend to letters, that his reign may be conſidered as the Auguſtan age of Spaniſh literature.—His moſt bloody mi⯑niſter, the mercileſs Alva, was the Maecenas of that wonderful and voluminous Poet, Lope de Vega. I cannot help regretting that the two eminent Writers, who have lately delineated the [254] reigns of Charles the Vth. and his Son Philip, ſo happily in our language, have entered ſo little into the literary Hiſtory of thoſe times.

NOTE VIII. VERSE 158.

Dion Caſſius, the ſordid advocate of deſpotiſm, endea⯑voured to depreciate the character of Cicero, by inſerting in his Hiſtory the moſt indecent Ora⯑tion that ever diſgraced the page of an Hiſtorian. In the opening of his 46th book, he introduces Q. Fuſius Calenus haranguing the Roman ſenate againſt the great ornament of that aſſembly, calling Cicero a magician, and accuſing him of proſtituting his wife, and committing inceſt with his daughter. Some late hiſtorical attempts to ſink the reputation of the great Algernon Sidney, are ſo recent, that they will occur to the remem⯑brance of almoſt every Reader.

NOTE IX. VERSE 179.

The ideas in this paſſage are chiefly borrowed from the excellent obſervations on Hiſtory in Dr. Gregory's Comparative View. As that engaging little volume is ſo generally known, I ſhall not lengthen theſe Notes by tranſcribing any part of it; but I thought it juſt to acknowledge my obli⯑gations to an Author, whoſe ſentiments I am proud to adopt; as he united the nobleſt affections of the heart to great elegance of mind, and is juſtly ranked among the moſt amiable of moral writers.

NOTE X. VERSE 218.

‘Quis neſcit primam eſſe Hiſtoriae legem, ne quid falſi dicere audeat? deinde, ne quid veri non audeat.’ —De Oratore, Lib. ii.

[256] Voltaire has made a few juſt remarks on the ſecond part of this famous Hiſtorical maxim; and it certainly is to be underſtood with ſome degree of limitation. The ſentence of the amiable Pliny, ſo often quoted—‘Hiſtoria quoquo modo ſcripta delectat’—is liable, I apprehend, to ſtill more ob⯑jections.

NOTE XI. VERSE 266.

Ri⯑chard Knolles, a native of Northamptonſhire, educated at Oxford, publiſhed in 1610 a Hiſto⯑ry of the Turks. An Author of our age, to whom both criticiſm and morality have very high obligations, has beſtowed a liberal encomium on this neglected Hiſtorian; whoſe character he cloſes with the following juſt obſervation:

‘"Nothing could have ſunk this Author in obſcurity, but the remoteneſs and barbarity of the people whoſe ſtory he relates. It ſeldom happens, that all circumſtances concur to happineſs or [257] fame. The nation which produced this great Hiſtorian, has the grief of ſeeing his genius em⯑ployed upon a foreign and unintereſting ſubject; and that Writer, who might have ſecured per⯑petuity to his name by a Hiſtory of his own country, has expoſed himſelf to the danger of oblivion, by recounting enterprizes and revolu⯑tions of which none deſire to be informed."’ RAMBLER, Vol. III. N^o 122.

NOTE XII. VERSE 330.

Ro⯑bert Brady, born in Norfolk, was Profeſſor of Phyſic in the Univerſity of Cambridge, which he repreſented in Parliament.—He was Maſter of Caius College, and Phyſician in Ordinary to James II. He publiſhed, in 1684, a Hiſtory of England, from the invaſion of Julius Caeſar to the death of Richard the Second, in three volumes folio: and died in 1700.—His character cannot [258] be more juſtly or more forcibly expreſſed, than in the words of a living Author, who has lately vin⯑dicated the antient conſtitution of our country with great depth of learning, and with all the energy of genius inſpirited by freedom.

‘"Of Dr. Brady it ought to be remembered, that he was the ſlave of a faction, and that he meanly proſtituted an excellent underſtanding, and admirable quickneſs, to vindicate tyranny, and to deſtroy the rights of his nation."’ STUART's View of Society in Europe. Notes, page 327.

NOTE XIII. VERSE 381.

Herodotus relates, that a Perſian ſoldier, in the ſtorming of Sardis, was preparing to kill Croeſus, whoſe perſon he did not know, and who, giving up all as loſt, neglected to defend his own life. A ſon of the unfortunate Monarch, who had been dumb from his infancy, and who never ſpake [259] afterwards, found utterance in that trying mo⯑ment, and preſerved his father, by exclaiming ‘"O kill not Croeſus!"’

NOTE XIV. VERSE 387.

This is perhaps a juſt deſcription of The polemical Divine, as a general character: but there are ſome authors of that claſs, to whom it can never be applied.—Dr. Watſon, in particular, will be ever mentioned with honour, as one of the happy few, who have preſerved the purity of juſtice and good manners in a zealous defence of religion; who have given elegance and ſpirit to controverſial writing, by that liberal elevation of mind, which is equally removed from the meanneſs of flattery, and the inſolence of detraction.

NOTE XV. VERSE 393.

There is a moſt animated and judicious defence of this paſſion in Fitzoſborne's Letters.—But I [260] muſt content myſelf with barely referring my Reader to that amiable Moraliſt, as I fear I have already extended theſe Notes to ſuch a length, as will expoſe me to the ſeverity of criti⯑ciſm. I ſhall cloſe them with a liſt of modern treatiſes on the compoſition of Hiſtory.—The earlieſt work of this kind, which has fallen under my obſervation, is the Methodus ad facilem Hiſ⯑toriarum Cognitionem, publiſhed at Paris, in 1566, by Jean Bodin, a lawyer of eminence; from whom Monteſquieu is ſuppoſed to have borrowed his fanciful and fallacious ſyſtem on the Influence of Climate.—Italy, the parent of many great Hiſtorians, produced alſo, about the ſame period, an elegant Latin diſſertation, De Scriben⯑da Hiſtoria. The author, John Antony Vipe⯑rani, was Biſhop of Giovenazzo in 1588, and died 1610.—A Spaniſh eſſay, on the ſame ſubject, was printed in 1611, by Luis Cabrera de Cordo⯑ [...]a; but his performance has been eclipſed by the ater production of his celebrated countryman [261] Feyjoo, whoſe entertaining Eſſays on Hiſtory were tranſlated into Engliſh in 1779.—Holland produced, in 1623, the Ars Hiſtorica of Voſ⯑ſius, and ſoon afterwards his more voluminous and valuable work on the Greek and Roman Hiſtorians.—The French language, ſo fertile in miſcellaneous criticiſm, affords us many works that relate to Hiſtorical compoſition: the moſt extraordinary of theſe, is a very late publication by the Abbé Mably, "De la Maniere d'ecrire l' Hiſtoire." As this inſolent and dogmatical Author has groſsly inſulted our country, by vili⯑fying our moſt eminent writers of Hiſtory, I had thoughts of chaſtiſing his preſumption by a full diſplay of his various abſurdities; but as this unpleaſant office has been in ſome meaſure per⯑formed by one of his own countrymen, under the title of a Supplement to his Work, I ſhall only make a few remarks on the illiberal terms in which he ſpeaks of my friend Mr. Gibbon.

[262] As the Abbé had only read a tranſlated extract from the accompliſhed Hiſtorian, he certainly could not be a competent judge of the ſpirit and beauty of his immortal work. No matter: he had a private pique againſt the Author, and was therefore determined to decry his compoſition. In the blindneſs and precipitancy that uſually belong to baſe anger, he attributes the defect of dullneſs to a Book, more univerſally read than any modern performance of equal magnitude.

The Abbé talks loudly of the literary virtues that become an Hiſtorian: but he ſeems to have forgot that there are literary vices, which may render even a learned and ingenious critic con⯑temptible. No productions of the preſs are more diſgraceful to literature, than thoſe in which a diſſertation on any art is made the vehicle of perſonal malignity: yet, as this is the moſt plauſible and inſinuating method of giving vent to malice, it is, perhaps, the moſt common. In the end, however, this ſpecies of [263] literary ſlander defeats its own purpoſe; for, if the envious are pleaſed to echo it for a time, to more candid and generous readers it endears the merit it traduces. They lament the hard deſtiny of ſuperior talents; and recollect, with a ſigh of affectionate indignation, the juſt and ſpirited remark of Monſieur D' Alembert, ‘"Que les grands Genies ſont toujours de chirés par des gens, qui ne ſont pas dignes de les lire!"’