Appendix A.1.1 NOTE I. VERSE 4.

TH' unfailing urns of Praiſe and Cenſure ſtand.]

Appendix A.1.2 NOTE II. VERSE 55.

Yet one excelling Greek, &c.] 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, containing a critique on the elder hiſtorians, to his friend Cnaeus Pompeius, whom the French cri⯑tics [86] ſuppoſe to be Pompey the Great; but Reiſke, the laſt editor of Dionyſius, has ſunk him into a petty Greek grammarian, the client or freedman of that illuſtrious Roman.

In this treatiſe of Dionyſius, and in one ſtill longer, on the character of Thucydides, there are ſome excellent hiſtorical pre⯑cepts, which Mr. Spelman has judiciouſly thrown together in the preface to his admirable tranſlation of the Roman Antiquities.— He introduces them by the following obſervation, which may ſerve perhaps to recommend the ſubject of the preſent poem.— "So much has been ſaid, both by the antients and the moderns, in praiſe of the advantages reſulting from the ſtudy of Hiſtory, parti⯑cularly by Diodorus Siculus among the former, in the noble pre⯑face to his Hiſtorical Collections; and by the late Lord Bolingbroke, among the moderns, in his admirable letter on that ſubject; that I am aſtoniſhed no treatiſe has ever yet appeared in any age, or any language, profeſſedly written to preſcribe rules for writing Hiſtory; a work allowed to be of the greateſt advantage of all others to mankind, the repoſitory of truth, fraught with leſſons both of pub⯑lic and private virtue, and enforced by ſtronger motives than pre⯑cepts—by examples. Rules for Poetry and Rhetoric have been writ⯑ten by many authors, 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 principal; and calcu⯑lated to apply the facts exhibited by the narration. I know it may be ſaid, that many antient hiſtories are ſtill preſerved, and that theſe models are ſufficient guides for modern Hiſtorians, with⯑out 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 [87] the beſt of our modern Hiſtories more perfect, and the worſt, leſs abominable.—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 writer ſpeaks a little too ſtrongly, in ſaying no treatiſe has ever appeared in any age or lan⯑guage, containing rules for Hiſtory. There is one in Latin by the celebrated Voſſius, entitled Ars Hiſtorica; 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 Cardinal Mazarine, has written alſo dell Arte Hiſtorica. The curious reader may find a ſingular anec⯑dote relating to the publication of this work in Bayle, under the article Maſcardi. But to return to Dionyſius, in comparing He⯑rodotus and Thucydides. He cenſures the latter with a degree of ſeverity unwarranted by truth and reaſon: indeed this ſeverity ap⯑peared ſo ſtriking to the learned Fabricius, that he ſeems to conſi⯑der it as a kind of proof, that the critical works of Dionyſius were compoſed in the haſty fervor of youth. They are however in gene⯑ral, to uſe the words of the ſame ingenuous author, eximia & lectu digna; and a valuable critic of our own country, who reſembles Dionyſius in elegance of compoſition, and perhaps in ſeverity of judgment, has ſpoken yet more warmly in their favour.—See Warton's Eſſay on Pope, 3d edit. page 175.

Appendix A.1.3 NOTE III. VERSE 63.

And Lucian! thou, of Humour's ſons ſupreme!] The little treatiſe of Lucian "How Hiſtory ſhould be written," may be conſidered as one of the moſt valuable productions of that lively author; it is not only written with great vivacity and wit, but is entitled to the [88] 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.

[...].

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.

Appendix A.1.4 NOTE IV. VERSE 68.

And roſe a Xenophon in ſelf-eſteem.] [...].

LUCIAN. edit. Riollay, p. 6.

Appendix A.1.5 NOTE V. VERSE 77.

In Egypt once a dread tribunal ſtood.] 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 cu⯑rious, 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 lake of that diſtrict to which the dead be⯑longed: [89] when, on the judges being aſſembled, to the number 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 ſuperintend 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 launched 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 con⯑victed of injuſtice in his charge, he falls himſelf under a conſi⯑derable penalty. When no accuſer appears, or when the accuſer is proved to be an unfair one, the relations, who are aſſembled, change their expreſſions 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 education and manners of his youth, his piety and juſtice 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 celebration of the dead, whom they conſider as going to paſs an eternity among the juſt below^*."— Such is the deſcription which Diodorus 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 peo⯑ple: and that the terrors of ſuch a fate had a moſt ſalutary influence on the virtue of their kings.

[90]The Abbe Tertaſſon has drawn a ſublime picture of this ſepul⯑chral proceſs, and indeed of many Egyptian Myſteries, in his very learned and ingenious romance, The Life of Sethos.

Appendix A.1.6 NOTE VI. VERSE 115.

The infant Muſe, ambitious at her birth,

Roſe the young herald of heroic worth.] "Not only the Greek writers give a concurrent teſtimony 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 ſubſequent Hiſtory. The accounts we have of the Peruvian ſtory confirm the ſame fact; for Garcilaſſo 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 Runie ſongs (many of them hiſtorical) to be the oldeſt compoſitions among theſe barbarous nations."

BROWNE's Diſſertation on Poetry, &c. Page 50.

Appendix A.1.7 NOTE VII. VERSE 131.

But in the center of thoſe vaſt abodes,

Whoſe mighty maſs the land of Egypt loads.] This account of the Pyramids I have adopted from the very learned Mr. Bryant, part of whoſe ingenious 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 [91] 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 buildings 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 uncertainty of their hiſtory, which runs ſo far back into the depths of antiquity, produce altogether a wonderful veneration; to which buildings more 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 ancient writers. But they ſpoke by gueſs: and I have ſhewn by many inſtances, how uſual it was for the Grecians 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 paſſages of communication which led to other buildings? Near the Pyramids are apartments of a wonder⯑ful 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 undoubt⯑edly deſigned for the reception of prieſts; and conſequently 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 building to the dark chambers within; where they performed their luſtrations, and other nocturnal rites. Many of the ancient temples in this country were caverns in the rocks, 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.

BRYANT's Analyſis, Vol. III. Page 529.

Appendix A.1.8 NOTE VIII. VERSE 190.

Of the fierce Omar, &c.] The number of volumes deſtroyed in the plunder of Alexandria is ſaid to have been ſo great, that al⯑though they were diſtributed to hear four thouſand baths in that city, it was ſix months before they were conſumed. When a pe⯑tition was ſent to the Chaliph Omar 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 otherwiſe, 'tis fit they ſhould be deſtroyed.

OCKLEY's Hiſtory of the Saracens, Vol. I. Page 313.

Appendix A.1.9 NOTE IX. VERSE 203.

The dome expands!—Behold th' Hiſtoric Sire!] Herodotus, to whom Cicero has given the honourable 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 Pelo⯑ponneſian war; and Marcellinus, the Greek author who wrote a life of Thucydides, affirms there was a monument erected to theſe two great Hiſtorians in a burial-place belonging to the family of Miltiades.

There is hardly any author, antient of modern, who has been more warmly commended, or more vehemently cenſured, than this eminent Hiſtorian. But even the ſevere Dionyſius declares, he is one of thoſe enchanting writers, whom you peruſe to the laſt ſyl⯑lable with pleaſure, and ſtill wiſh for more.—Plutarch himſelf, who has made the moſt violent attack on his veracity, allows him all [93] 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 Hiſ⯑torian with great ſpirit. But Herodotus has found a more formi⯑dable 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 ingenious Mr. Richardſon could effectually ſupport his Perſian ſyſtem, the great Father of the Grecian ſtory muſt ſink into a fabuliſt as low in point of veracity as Geoffrey of Monmouth. It muſt be owned, that ſeveral eminent Writers of our country have treated him as ſuch. Another Orientaliſt, who, in his elegant Preface to the Life of Nader Shaw, has drawn a ſpirited and judicious ſketch of many ca⯑pital Hiſtorians, declares, in paſſing judgment on Herodotus, that "his accounts, of the Perſian affairs are at leaſt doubtful, 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 my⯑ſelf more credulous: the relation, 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 num⯑ber it among the Grecian fables.

Appendix A.1.10 NOTE X. VERSE 206.

As the fair figure of his favour'd Queen.] Artemiſia of Halicar⯑naſſus, who commanded in perſon the five veſſels, which ſhe con⯑tributed to the expedition of Xerxes. On hearing that ſhe had ſunk a Grecian galley in the ſea-fight at Salamis, he exclaimed, that his men had proved women, and his women men.

HEROD. Lib. VIII. p. 666. Edit. Weſſ.

Appendix A.1.11 NOTE XI. VERSE 209.

Soft as the ſtream, whoſe dimpling waters play.] Sine ullis ſale⯑bris quaſi ſedatus amnis fluit.

CICERO in Oratore.

Appendix A.1.12 NOTE XII. VERSE 225.

But mark the Youth, in dumb delight immers'd.] 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 was baniſhed from Athens at the age of 48, by the injuſtice of faction, becauſe he had unfortunately failed in the defence of Amphipolis.—He retired into Thrace, and is reported to have married a Thracian lady poſ⯑ſeſſed of valuable mines in that country.—At the end of 20 years his ſentence of baniſhment was revoked. Some authors affirm that he returned to Athens, and was treacherouſly killed in that city. But others aſſert that he died in Thrace, at the advanced age of 80, leaving his Hiſtory unfiniſhed.

MARCELLINUS; and DODWELL. Annales Thucydid.

Appendix A.1.13 NOTE XIII. VERSE 251.

A generous guardian of a rival's fame.] It is ſaid by Diogenes Laertius, that Xenophon firſt brought the Hiſtory of Thucydides [95] 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 diſcipline of Socrates, who is ſaid by Strabo to have ſaved his life in battle. About the 50th year of his age, according 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 ba⯑niſhed him from his native city, for engaging in the ſervice of Sparta and Cyrus.—On his return therefore he retired to Scillus, a town of Elis, where he built a temple to Diana, which he men⯑tions in his 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 immortal by killing Epa⯑minondas in the famous battle of Mantinea, but periſhed in that exploit, which his father lived to record.

Appendix A.1.14 NOTE XIV. VERSE 273.

Rome's haughty genius, who enſlav'd the Greek,

In Grecian language deigns at firſt to ſpeak.] 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 Com⯑mentary 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 following curious [96] paſſage in a letter concerning the Hiſtory in queſtion:—"Quanquam tua illa (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta viſa funt: ſed tamen erant ornata hoc ipſo, quod ornamenta neglexe⯑rant, et ut mulieres, ideo bene olere, quia nihil olebant, vide⯑bantur." Epiſt. ad ATTICUM. Lib. II. Ep. 1.

Appendix A.1.15 NOTE XV. VERSE 279.

Thou friend of Scipio! vers'd in War's alarms.] Polybius, born at Megalopolis in Arcadia, 205 years before Chriſt.—He was trained to arms under the celebrated Philopoemen, and is de⯑ſcribed by Plutarch carrying the urn of that great but unfortu⯑nate General in his funeral proceſſion. He aroſe 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 be⯑came intimate with the ſecond Scipio Africanus, and was pre⯑ſent with him at the demolition of Carthage.—He ſaw Corinth alſo plundered by Mummius, and thence paſſing through the cities of Achaia, reconciled them to Rome.—He extended his travels into Egypt, France, and Spain, that he might avoid ſuch geographi⯑cal errors 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.

In cloſing this conciſe account of the capital Greek Hiſtorians, I cannot help obſerving, that our language has been greatly en⯑riched, in the courſe of the preſent century, by ſuch tranſlations of theſe Authors as do great honour to our country, and are at leaſt equal to any which other nations have produced.

In the chief Roman Hiſtorians we ſeem to have been leſs fortu⯑nate; but from the ſpecimen which Mr. Aikin has lately given [97] 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.

Appendix A.1.16 NOTE XVI. VERSE 297.

Sententious Salluſt leads her lofty train.] This celebrated Hiſto⯑rian, who from the irregularity of his life, and the beauty of his writings, has been called, not unhappily, the Bolingbroke of Rome, was born at Amiternum, a town of the Sabines.— For the profligacy of his early life he was expelled the ſe⯑nate, but reſtored by the intereſt of Julius Caeſar, who gave him the command of Numidia, which province he is ſaid to have plun⯑dered 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—perſonal animoſity might make him endeavour to form a ſtyle as remote as poſſible from the redundant language of the im⯑mortal Orator, whoſe turbulent 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 cu⯑rioſities in the world, namely Terentia, 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 Cicero.—But to re⯑turn [98] 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 Antients, is unfortunately loſt, excepting a few fragments;—but his two detached pieces of Hiſtory, which happily remain entire, are ſufficient to juſtify the great encomiums he has received as a writer.—He has had the ſin⯑gular honour to be twice tranſlated by a royal hand—firſt by our Elizabeth, according to Camden; and ſecondly by the preſent In⯑fant of Spain, whoſe verſion of this elegant Hiſtorian, lately printed in folio, is one of the moſt beautiful books that any coun⯑try has produced ſince the invention of printing.

Appendix A.1.17 NOTE XVII. VERSE 311.

In bright pre-eminence, that Greece might own,

Sublimer Livy claims th' Hiſtoric throne.] All the little per⯑ſonal account, that can be collected 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 tranſlator.—"Do you remember to have read of a certain inhabi⯑tant 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 Alphonſe [99] 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 Hiſtorian— They preſented him with an arm-bone, and the Preſent is recorded in an inſcription preſerved at Padua, which the curious reader may find in Voſſius de Hiſtoricis Latinis. This ſingular anecdote is alſo related in Bayle, under the article Panormita.—Learning per⯑haps never ſuſtained a greater loſs, in any ſingle author, than by the deſtruction of the latter and more intereſting 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 Mag⯑deburgh.—That munificent patron of learning, Leo the Xth, ex⯑erted the moſt generous zeal to reſcue from oblivion the valuable treaſure, which one of his moſt bigotted predeceſſors, Gregory the Great, had expelled from every Chriſtian library.—Bayle has pre⯑ſerved, under the article Leo, two curious original letters of that Pontiff, concerning his hopes of recovering Livy; which afford moſt honourable proofs of his liberality in the cauſe of letters.

Appendix A.1.18 NOTE XVIII. VERSE 325.

Yet, like the matchleſs, mutilated frame,

To which great Angelo bequeath'd his name.] The trunk of a ſtatue of Hercules by Apollonius the Athenian, univerſally called the Torſo of Michael Angelo, from its having been the favourite ſtudy of that divine Artiſt.—He is ſaid to have made out the compleat figure in a little model of wax, ſtill pre⯑ſerved at Florence, and repreſenting Hercules repoſing after his [100] labours.—The figure is ſitting in a penſive poſture, with an elbow reſting on the knee.

Appendix A.1.19 NOTE XIX. VERSE 333.

Sarcaſtic Tacitus, abrupt and dark.] 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, but he is ſaid to have lived happily to an advanced age with his wife, the amiable daughter of the vir⯑tuous 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 memory he paid the higheſt regard.—It is re⯑ported 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 Tacitus; but it is an inſtance of delicacy not unparallel'd among the Antients, as will appear from the following remark by one of the moſt elegant and liberal of mo⯑dern critics.—"The Roman Poet, who was not more eminent by his genius than amiable in his moral character, affords perhaps the moſt remarkable inſtance that any where occurs, of the con⯑ceſſions which a mind ſtrongly impregnated with ſentiments of genuine amity, is capable of making. Virgil's ſuperior talents rendered him qualified to excel in all the nobler 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 [101] powers, that he might not obſcure the glory of his friend Va⯑rius.

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 poſ⯑ſeſſed 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 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 Lan⯑guage; 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 diction of Tacitus. He repreſents him as the defective model, from which modern writers have copied, what he is pleaſed to call, "the ſhort and priggiſh cut of ſtyle ſo much in uſe now."

Appendix A.1.20 NOTE XX. VERSE 356.

Thy Plutarch ſhines, by moral beauty known.] It is to be wiſhed, that this moſt amiable Moraliſt and Biographer had added a Life of himſelf, to thoſe which he has given to the world: as the particu⯑lars, which other Writers have preſerved of his perſonal Hiſtory, are very doubtful and imperfect. According to the learned Fabri⯑cius, [102] 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 ſup⯑poſed 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 teſtimony in his moral works; of which it may be re⯑gretted that we have no elegant tranſlation. Indeed even the Lives of Plutarch, the moſt popular of all the antient hiſtorical compo⯑ſitions, were chiefly known to the Engliſh reader by a motley and miſerable verſion, till a new one, executed with fidelity and ſpirit, was preſented to the public by the Langhornes in 1770.

Appendix A.1.21 NOTE XXI. VERSE 379.

Mild Marcellinus! free from ſervile awe!] Ammianus Marcellinus, a Grecian and a Soldier, as he calls himſelf, flouriſhed under Con⯑ſtantius 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 ob⯑ſerves, that he has introduced a moſt bitter invective againſt the Practitioners of Law into his Hiſtory.—He ſhould have added, that the Hiſtorian beſtows great encomiums on ſome illuſtrious charac⯑ters of that profeſſion, and even mentions the peculiar hardſhip to which Advocates are themſelves expoſed.—The curious reader may find this paſſage, Lib. xxx. Cap. 4.

Appendix A.1.22 NOTE XXII. VERSE 399.

And, with Comnena's royal name impreſt.] Anna Comnena was the eldeſt daughter of the emperor Alexius Comnenus, and the em⯑preſs Irene, born 1083.—She wrote the Hiſtory of her father, 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 being tedious, as ſhe feelingly diſplays in it the misfortunes of her life, and the character of her mind.

Appendix A.2.1 NOTE I. VERSE 17.

HOW ſainted Kings renounce, with holy dread,

The chaſte endearments of their marriage-bed.] It is well known how Edward the Confeſſor is celebrated for his inviolable chaſ⯑tity by the Monkiſh 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 con⯑tinence to a principle of reſentment againſt the father of his queen —Hanc quoque Rex ut conjugem tali arte tractavit; 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 interpre⯑tantur. Veruntamen non benevoli, et veritati, ut videtur, diſſoni dicere praeſumunt. Quod Rex charitatis et pacis munere ditatus, de genere proditoris haeredes, qui ſibi ſuccederent, corrupto ſemine [111] noluerit procreare. Sciebat enim rex pacificus quod filia nihil criminis commiſit cum patre proditore, & ideo non reſpuit thorum virginis; ſed ambo unanimi aſſenſu caſtitatem voverunt, parilique voluntate THOMAE RUDBORNE, Hiſt. major. in Anglia Sacra.

Tom. I. p. 241.

The very high degree of merit, which the writers of the dark ages attributed to this matrimonial mortification, is ſtill more for⯑cibly diſplayed in a miraculous ſtory related by Gregory of Tours, which the curious reader may find in the Firſt Book and 42d chapter of that celebrated Hiſtorian.

Appendix A.2.2 NOTE II. VERSE 19.

How Nuns, entranc'd, to joys celeſtial mount,

Made drunk with rapture from a ſacred fount.] The Monkiſh Hiſ⯑torians ſeem to have conſidered a viſion as the moſt engaging em⯑belliſhment that Hiſtory could receive—Even the ſage Matthew Paris delights in theſe heavenly digreſſions. But the viſions, to which the preceding verſes particularly allude, are thoſe of the Virgin Flotilda, printed in the 2d volume of the Hiſtoriae Franco⯑rum Scriptores, by the learned Du Cheſne: A very ſhort ſpecimen may ſatisfy the curioſity of the Reader—Videbatur Canis candidus eidem adgandere, quem tamen illa timens pertranſiit, & ad quen⯑dam locum in medium decentium clericorum pervenit, qui eam gratanter excipiebant, et potum ei in vaſe pulcherrimo quaſi aquam clariſſimam offerebant.—P. 624.

Appendix A.2.3 NOTE III. VERSE 24.

With thoſe dear gifts, the Meadow, and the Mill.] The uſual legacy of the old Barons to their monaſtic dependants.

Appendix A.2.4 NOTE IV. VERSE 59.

If mitred Turpin told, in wildeſt ſtrain.] It is now generally agreed, that the Hiſtory which bears the name of Turpin, Arch⯑biſhop of Rheims, was the forgery of a Monk, at the time of the Cruſades, though Pope Calixtus the Second declare it to be au⯑thentic.—But, as it was certainly intended to paſs as genuine Hiſ⯑tory, whenever 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 mi⯑raculous paſſages alluded to in the poem:—Ante diem belli, caſtris et arietibus & turmis praeparatis in pratis, ſcilicet quae ſunt inter caſtrum, quod dicitur Talaburgum, & urbem, juxta fluvium Caranta, infixerunt Chriſtiani quidam haſtas ſuas erectas in terra ante caſtra, craſtina vero die baſtas ſuas corticibus & frondibus de⯑coratas invenerunt; hi ſcilicet qui in bello praeſenti accepturi erant martyrii palmam pro Chriſti fide.—Qui etiam tanto miraculo Dei gaviſi, abſciſſis haſtis ſuis de terra, ſimul coaduniti primitus in bello perierunt, & 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 Obſer⯑vations on Spenſer, the Hiſtorian proceeds thus:—Timens ne in manus Saracenorum deveniret, percuſſit ſpata lapidem marmoreum trino ictu; a ſummo uſque deorſum lapis dividitur, & gladius biceps illaeſus educitur.—Deinde tuba ſua coepit altiſona tonitruare, ſi forte aliqui ex Chriſtianis, qui per nemora Saracenorum timore latitabant, ad ſe venirent. Vel ſi illi, qui portus jam tranſierant, forte ad ſe redirent, ſuoque funeri adeſſent, ſpatamque ſuam & equum acciperent, et Saracenos perſequerentur. Tunc tanta vir⯑tute tuba ſua eburnea inſonuit, quod flatu omnis ejus tuba per [113] medium ſciſſa, & venae colli ejus & nervi rupti fuiſſe feruntur, cujus vox ad aures Caroli, qui in valle quae Caroli dicitur, cum exercitu ſuo tentoria fixerat, loco ſcilicet, qui diſtabat a Carolo octo milliaribus verſus Gaſconiam, Angelico ductu pervenit.

Cap. xxii. & xxiii.

Appendix A.2.5 NOTE V. VERSE 65.

Yet modeſt Aeginhard, with grateful care.] 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 affectionate 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 Chro⯑nicle, and inſerted in the 3d volume of the 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 re⯑turned her affection with the moſt faithful attachment; for there is a letter of Aeginhard's ſtill extant, lamenting the death of his wife, which is written in the tendereſt ſtrain of connubial afflic⯑tion—it does not however expreſs that this lady was the affec⯑tionate Princeſs, and indeed 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 mu⯑nificence 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 ſoribenda com⯑pelleret; nutrimentum videlicet in me impenſum, & perpetua, poſtquam in aula ejus converſari coepi, cum ipſo ac liberis ejus amicitia, qua me ita ſibi devinxit, debitoremque tam vivo quam [114] mortuo conſtituit; ut merito ingratus videri & judicari poſſem, ſi tot beneficiorum in me collatorum immemor clariſſima & illuſtriſ⯑ſima hominis optime de me meriti geſta ſilentio praeterirem: pate⯑rerque vitam ejus quaſi qui nunquam vixerit fine literis ac debita laude manere; cui ſcribendae atque explicandae non meum ingenio⯑lum, quod exile & parvum imo nullum pene eſt, ſed Tullianam par erat deſudare facundiam.—The terms in which he ſpeaks of Charlemain's being unable to write are as follow:—Tentabat & ſcri⯑bere fabulaſque & codicellos ad hoc in lectulo ſub cervicalibus circumferre ſolebat, ut cum vacuum tempus eſſet, manum effigiun⯑dis literis aſſuefaceret. Sed parum proſperè ſucceſſit labor prae⯑poſterus, ac ſerò inchoatus.—Aeginhard, after the loſs of his la⯑mented wife, is ſuppoſed to have paſſed the remainder of his days in religious retirement, and to have died ſoon after the year 840.— His Life of Charlemain, his Annals from 741 to 829, and his Let⯑ters, are all inſerted in the 2d volume of Ducheſne's Scriptores Fran⯑corum. But there is an improved edition of this valuable Hiſto⯑rian, with the Annotations of Hermann Schmincke, in Quarto 1711.

Appendix A.2.6 NOTE VI. VERSE 79.

If Britiſh Geoffrey fill'd his motley page

With Merlin's ſpells and Uther's amorous rage.] The firſt of the two excellent diſſertations prefixed to Mr. Warton's Hiſtory of Engliſh Poetry, 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 dili⯑gent collector of Hiſtories, travelling through France, procured in Armorica an antient Chronicle, written in the Britiſh or Armo⯑rican language, entitled, Brut-y-Brenhined, or the Hiſtory of the Kings of Britain. This book he brought into England, and com⯑municated it to Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welſh Benedictine [115] 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 fidelity, 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 Cadwallader, who reigned in the ſeventh century." To this extract from Mr. War⯑ton, it may be proper to add a conciſe account of that romantic embelliſhment, to which I have particularly alluded:—Uther Pen⯑dragon, 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 Merlin for the completion of his deſire.— This he obtains by being transformed into the perſon of Gorlois, and thus introducing himſelf to the deluded Igerna, as Jupiter vi⯑ſited Alcmena, he gives birth to the celebrated Arthur.—Manſit itaque rex ea nocte cum Igerna & ſeſe deſiderata venere refecit. De⯑ceperat namque illam falſa ſpecies quam aſſumpſerat: deceperat etiam fictitiis ſermonibus, quos ornate componebat . . . unde ipſa credula nihil quod poſcebatur abnegavit. Concepit itaque eadem nocte celeberrimum illum Arthurum, qui poſtmodum ut celebris eſſet, mira probitate promeruit.

GALFRIDUS Mon. Lib. vi. cap. 2.

Appendix A.2.7 NOTE VII. VERSE 83.

Yet Life's great drama, and the Deeds of men.

Sage Monk of Malm'ſbury! engag'd thy pen.] William, ſurnamed of Malmeſbury from being a member of that church, was a native of Somerſetſhire, and is ſuppoſed to have received his education at Oxford. He is juſtly called, by almoſt every writer on Engliſh [114] [...] [115] [...] [116] Hiſtory, the moſt liberal and judicious of all our monaſtic Hiſto⯑rians. His 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 celebrated eſcape of the Empreſs Matilda from the Caſtle of Ox⯑ford, 1142. Theſe works are both addreſſed to that munificent patron of merit, Robert Earl of Glouceſter, natural ſon of Henry the Firſt, who was perhaps the moſt exalted and accompliſhed cha⯑racter, 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 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 Bibliotheca.

Appendix A.2.8 NOTE VIII. VERSE 136.

A faithful Chronicler in plain Froiſſart.] John Froiſſart, Canon and Treaſurer of the collegiate church of Chimay, in Henault, was born at Valenciennes, a city of that province, in 1337, according to the conjecture of that elaborate and ingenious 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. 13, 14.—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 [117] paſſion for all the pomp and all the minutiae of heraldry of that martial age; and Froiſſart, more the prieſt of gallantry than of re⯑ligion, 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 eber Seigneur & Maitre Meſſire Robert de Namur, Chevalier Seig⯑neur de Beaufort.—The anguiſh of unſucceſsful 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 writ⯑ing a rondeau in ſpite of the tempeſt, till he found himſelf on that coaſt, ou l'on aime mieux la guerre, que la paix, & ou les eſtrangers ſont très-bien venus, as he ſaid of our country in his verſes, and happily experienced in his kind reception at court, where Phi⯑lippa of Henault, the Queen of Edward the Third, and a Patroneſs of learning, diſtinguiſhed the young Hiſtorian, her countryman, by the kindeſt protection; and, finding that love had rendered him unhappy, ſupplied him with money and with horſes, that he might preſent himſelf with every advantage before the object of his paſ⯑ſion.—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 preſented to her ſome portion of his Hiſtory.—He con⯑tinued five years in her ſervice, entertaining her majeſty de beaux dictiez & traictez amoureux: in this period he paid a viſit to Scot⯑land, 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 following year, and during his travels ſuſtained the irreparable loſs of that patroneſs, to whoſe bounty he had been ſo much in⯑debted.—Philippa died 1369, and Froiſſart is reported to have [118] written the life of his amiable protectreſs; but of this perform⯑ance, 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 dioceſe 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 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 Bra⯑bant; and, as that Prince was himſelf a poet, Froiſſart collected all the compoſitions 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 ac⯑count:

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 Temple d'Honneur.—The earl having requeſted him to reſume his Hiſtory, [119] he travelled for that purpoſe 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 flattering recep⯑tion: 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 fa⯑vourite 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 ex⯑treme attention, and never diſmiſſed him, till he had made him vuider tout ce 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 England, in the retinue of the Duke of Lancaſter, who then reſided at Bordeaux.—After a long reſidence in this brilliant court, and after receiving 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 earl 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 particulars 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 Paſquier) ſeems to have a ſtrong vein of humour.—It is a [120] dialogue between the Poet and the ſingle Florin that he has left out of the many which he had either ſpent, or been obliged to ſur⯑render 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 eccleſiaſtical 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 continue 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 Portugueze Knight, Jean Ferrand Portelet, vaillant homme & ſage, & du Conſeil du Roy de Portugal. From this accompliſhed ſoldier Froiſſart expected the moſt perfect information, as an ocular witneſs of thoſe ſcenes, which he now wiſhed to record.—The courteous Portelet received our indefatigable Hiſtorian with all the kindneſs which his en⯑thuſiaſm 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 England: taking advantage of the truce then eſtabliſhed between France and that country, he paid it ano⯑ther viſit in 1395, with letters of recommendation 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, 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 accom⯑paigne [121] de ſeignneurs, de dames et demoiſelles, et me mis entre eulx, & entre elles, et tout me ſembla nouvel, ne je ny congnoiſſoye perſonne; car le tems eſtoit bien change en Angleterre 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 retinue 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 proves too late for the ceremony— Le Roy eſtoit retrait pour aller dormir.—And on the morrow, when the impatient Hiſtorian attended early at the Archbiſhop's palace, where the king ſlept, his friend Percy adviſed him to wait a more convenient ſeaſon for being introduced to Richard.—Froiſſart ac⯑quieſced 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 Hiſtorian by a relation of his adventure.—This was Wil⯑liam de Liſle, who entertained him, as they rode along together, with the marvels of St. Patrick's Cave, in which he aſſured him he had paſſed a night, and ſeen wonderful viſions.—Though our ho⯑neſt Chronicler is commonly accuſed of a paſſion for the marvel⯑lous, with an exceſs 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 the ſcenes of real action, than to liſten to the extrava⯑gant fictions of a popular legend.—But here he was again diſap⯑pointed.—New companions joined them on the road, and their hiſtorical conference was thus interrupted.—Theſe mortifications were ſoon repaid by the kind reception he met with from the Duke of York, who ſaid to him, when he received the recom⯑mendatory [122] letter from the Earl of Henault, "Maiſtre Jehan tenez vous toujour 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 flattering marks of remembrance and favour the Duke preſented him to the King, lequel me receut joyeuſement et doulcement (continues Froiſſart) . . 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 romance of Meliador, which he had prepared for the King.—The Duke of York and his other friends at length ob⯑tained for him this honour: He gives the following curious and particular account of the ceremony: et voulut veoir le Roy mon livre, que je luy avoye apporte. Si le vit en ſa chambre: car tout pourveu je l'avoye, et luy mis ſur ſon lict. Er 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 meil⯑lieu roſiers d'or. Adonc me demanda le Roy de quoy il traictoit: et je luy dis d'amours. De ceſte reſponce fut tout resjouy, et re⯑garda 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.

After paſſing three month in this court, Froiſſart took his leave of the munificent but ill-fated Richard. In the laſt chapter of his Hiſtory, where he mentions the unfortunate end of this Monarch, he ſpeaks with an honeſt and affecting gratitude of the liberal pre⯑ſent he received from him on his departure from England.—It was a goblet of ſilver gilt, weighing two marks, and filled with a hun⯑dred nobles.

[123]On leaving England, he retired to his own country, and is ſup⯑poſed to have ended his days at his benefice of Chimay, but the year of his death is uncertain.—There is an antient tradition in the country, ſays Mr. de Saint Palaye, that he was buried in the chapel of St. Anne, belonging to his own church.—That ingeni⯑ous antiquarian produces an extract from its archives, in which the death of Froiſſart is recorded, but without naming the year, in the moſt honourable terms.—His obit bears the date of October, and is followed by 20 Latin verſes, from which I ſelect ſuch as appear to me the moſt worth tranſcribing.

As I have never met with any ſatisfactory account 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 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 on proofs of their charge.—The amiable St. Palaye has defended le bon Froiſſart, as he is called by honeſt Montaigne, [124] 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 poetical vanity to reflect, that Froiſſart is hardly known as a Poet, though his fer⯑tile 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 reflection on the im⯑perfections attending the early ſtate both of Poetry and Painting, I ſhall terminate this Note.

On peut dire en général au ſujet des Poeſies de Froiſſart, que l'invention pour les ſujets lui manquoit antant que l'imagination pour les ornemens; du reſte le ſtyle qu'il employe, moins abon⯑dant que diffus, offre ſouvent la répétition ennuyeuſe des mêmes tours, & des mêmes phraſes, pour rendre des idées aſſez commu⯑nes: 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 taujours comparez enſemble paroiſſent avoir eu une marche preſqu' uniforme 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 preſentoit, s'attachérent aux inſectes, aux fleurs, aux oiſeaux, les perérent des couleurs les plus vives, les deſſiné⯑rent avec une exactitude que nous admirons encore dans les vignettes & dans les miniatures des manuſcrits; lorſqu'ils vinrent à repré⯑ſenter 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 fourniſſoit toujours les [125] modelles, étoient jettées enſemble au hazard, ſans choix, ſans or⯑donnance, ſans aucun goût de compoſition.

Les Poetes auſſi ſtériles que les Peintres, bornoient toute leur in⯑duſtrie à ſcavoir amener des deſcriptions proportionnées à leur ta⯑lens, et ils ne les quittoient qu'après les avoir épuiſées; ils ne ſça⯑vent guéres parler que d'un beau printems, de la verdure des cam⯑pagnes, 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; quelquefois cependant ils rendent avec naïveté les amuſemens 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 de donner de la ſuite et de la liaiſon à leurs idées.

Notice de Poeſies de Froiſſart; Memories de l'Academie,

Tom. xiv. p. 225.

Appendix A.2.9 NOTE IX. VERSE 184.

Thy Favour, like the Sun's prolific ray,

Brought the keen Scribe of Florence into Day.] 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 Rei⯑publicae Florentinae. His famous political Eſſay, entitled, "The Prince," was publiſhed in 1515, and dedicated to the Nephew of that Pontiff. The various judgments that have been paſſed on this ſingular performance are a ſtriking proof of the incertitude of hu⯑man opinion.—In England it has received applauſe from the great names of Bacon and Clarendon, who ſuppoſe it intended to pro⯑mote the intereſt of liberty and virtue. In Italy, after many years of approbation, it was publicly condemned by Clement the VIIIth, at the inſtigation of a Jeſuit, who had not read the book. In France it has even been ſuppoſed inſtrumental to the horrid [126] 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 political precepts. For the latter many plauſible apologies have been made; and it ſhould be remembered to his honour, that his great aim was to promote the welfare of his country, in exciting the Houſe of Medicis to deliver Italy from the invaſion of fo⯑reigners.

He is ſaid to have been made Hiſtoriographer of Florence, as a reward for having ſuffered the torture on ſuſpicion of conſpiring againſt the government 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 regarded as a model of Hiſtorical abridgment.—He died, according to Paul Jovius, in 153O.

Appendix A.2.10 NOTE X. VERSE 194.

Nor leſs, O Leo, was it thine to raiſe

The great Hiſtoric Chief of modern days.] Francis Guicciardin, born at Florence 1482, of an antient and noble family, was ap⯑pointed a Profeſſor of Civil Law in that city at the age of 23. In 1512 he was ſent Embaſſador to Ferdinand King of Arragon; and ſoon after his return deputed by the Republic to meet Leo the Xth at Cortona, and attend him on his public entry into Flo⯑rence.—That diſcerning Pontiff immediately became his Patron, and raiſed him to the government of Modena and Reggio. He [127] 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 Governor of Romagna, and laſtly of Bologna, in which city he is ſaid to have received the moſt flatter⯑ing 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 reputation 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 coun⯑tryman Boccalini, in whoſe whimſical but lively work there are many excellent remarks on Hiſtory and Hiſtorians, ſuppoſes a La⯑cedaemonian thrown into agonies by a ſingle page of Guicciardin, whom he is condemned 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 Poet. The three following verſes are the beginning of an Epiſtle, which he entitled Supplicazione d'Italia al Chriſtianiſſimo Rè Franceſco I.

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

Appendix A.2.11 NOTE XI. VERSE 204.

With equal wreaths let Davila be crown'd.] Henry Catherine Davila was the youngeſt ſon of Antonio Davila, Grand Conſtable of Cy⯑prus, [128] who had been obliged to retire into Spain on the taking 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 under the patronage of Catherine of Medicis, whoſe name he after⯑wards 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 of Venice with great reputation till a moſt unfortunate 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 ſta⯑tion, a ſupply of horſes and carriages for his retinue, a brutal Ve⯑roneſe, 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 accomplices 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 ſe⯑cured the next morning, and publicly executed at Verona.—Me⯑moire 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 character 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 con⯑firmed 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." [129] 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 that 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.

Appendix A.2.12 NOTE XII. VERSE 226.

Sarpi, bleſt name! from every foible clear.] Father Paul, the moſt amiable and exalted character that was ever formed in monaſtic retirement, was the ſon of Franceſco Sarpi, a merchant 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 Mantua, being appointed to read Lectures on Divinity and Canon Law, by the Biſhop of that dioceſe; and in this early part of his life, he is conjectured to have con⯑ceived the firſt idea of writing his celebrated Hiſtory, as he formed an intimate friendſhip, during his reſidence in Mantua, with Ca⯑millo d'Oliva, who had been Secretary 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 pe⯑riod. He was recalled from Mantua, to read Lectures on Philoſo⯑phy in his own convent at Venice, which he did with great repu⯑tation, during the years 1575, 1576, and 1577.—He went to Rome as Procurator General in 1585. 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, ſubtiliorem, quotquot adhuc videre contigerit, neminem 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 Anatomy would be alone ſufficient to immortalize his name, had he not [130] gained immortality by a ſtill nobler exertion of his mental powers, in defending the liberties of his country againſt the tyranny of Rome. On the firſt attack of Pope Paul V. on two laws of Ve⯑nice, very wiſely framed to correct the abuſes of the clergy, Fa⯑ther Paul aroſe as the literary champion of the Republic, and de⯑fended its cauſe with great ſpirit and temper, in various compoſi⯑tions; though he is ſaid not to be Author of the Treatiſe ge⯑nerally aſcribed to him on the occaſion, and entitled, The Rights of Sovereigns, &c.—His chief performance on the ſubject was Con⯑ſiderazioni 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 country againſt the ſeparate intereſt of the church. In 1606 the Council paſſed a decree in his favour; which I ſhall tranſcribe in this note, becauſe it is not found in the common Lives of Father Paul, and becauſe there is hardly any object more pleaſing to the mind, than the contemplation 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 va⯑lidiſſimi fondamenti le potentiſſime e validiſſime ragioni noſtre nella cauſa, che ha di preſente la Repubblica con la corte di Roma, anteponende il ſervigio e la ſoddisfazione noſtra a qual⯑ſivoglia ſuo particolare ed importante riſpetto. E perciò coſa giuſta e ragionevole, e degna dell ordinaria munificenza di queſto Conſiglio, il dargli modo, con che poſſa aſſicurare la ſua Vita da ogni pericolo, che gli poteſſe ſopraſtare, e ſovvenire inſieme alli ſuoi biſogni, bench, egli non ne faccia alcuna iſtanza, ma piutoſto ſi moſtri alieno da qualſivoglia 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 lagiuſtizia della Cauſa lo muo⯑vano [131] adoperarſi con tanto ſtudio e con tante fatiche alii ſervizi noſtri. Percio anderà parte, che allo ſtipendio, il quale a' 28 del Meſe di Gennaio paſſato fu aſſegnato al ſopradetto R. P. M. Paolo da Ve⯑nezia di Ducati duecento all anno, ſiano accreſciuti altri ducati due⯑cento, ſicchè in avvenire abbia ducati quattrocento, acciòchè reſ⯑tando conſolato per queſta ſpontanea e benigna dimoſtrazione pub⯑blica, con maggior ardore abbia a continuare nel ſuo buono e divoto ſervizio, e poſſa con queſto aſſequamento provvedere maggiormente alia ſicurezza della ſua Vita.—The generous care of the Republic to reward and preſerve ſo valuable a ſervant, could not ſecure him from the baſe attempts of that enemy, whom his virtue had pro⯑voked. In 1607, after Venice had adjuſted her diſputes with Rome, by the mediation 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 celebrated Acquapen⯑dente, 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 imputed 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 reward, 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, and the moſt affectionate ſolicitude for his ſafety. They not only doubled his ſtipend a ſe⯑cond time, but entreated him to chuſe a public reſidence, for the greater ſecurity of his perſon. The munificence and care of the Republic was equalled by the modeſty and fortitude of their ſer⯑vant. 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 [132] 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 preſervation 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 retirement, ſtill devoting himſelf to the ſervice of the Republic on various occaſions, and acquiring new reputation by many compoſitions. At the length the world was ſur⯑prized 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 cele⯑brated Archbiſhop of Spalatto, 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 pro⯑per 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 author 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 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 diſſolution with the moſt devout compoſure, and, as the liberty of his country was the dar⯑ling object of his exalted mind, he prayed for its preſervation [133] with his laſt breath, in the two celebrated words Eſto Per⯑petua.

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 controverſy of the moſt exaſperating kind, and was continually attacked in every manner that malignity could ſuggeſt, both his writings and his heart appeared perfectly free from a vindictive ſpirit—devoting all the powers of his mind to the defence of the public cauſe, he ſeemed entirely to forget the injuries that were perpetually offered to his own perſon and reputation.

His conſtitution was extremely delicate, and his intenſe applica⯑tion 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 principally extracted from an oc⯑tavo volume, entitled, Memoire Anedote ſpettanti a F. Paolo da Franceſco 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 indeed been obſerved before by Writers of our own.—See the General Dictionary under the article Father Paul.—For the length and for the deficiencies of this Note, I am tempted to apo⯑logize with a ſentence borrowed from the great Hiſtorian who is the ſubject of it:—Chi mi oſſerverà in alcuni tempi abondare, in altri andar riſtretto, ſi ricordi che non tutti i campi ſono di ugnal fertilità, ne tutti li grani meritano d'eſſer conſervati, e di quelli che il mietitore vorrebbe tenerne conto, qualche ſpica aneo sfugge la preſa della mano, o il filo della falce, coſi comportando la con⯑ditione d'ogni mietitura che reſti anco parte per riſpigolare.

Appendix A.2.13 NOTE XIII. VERSE 254.

The clear Oſorius, in his claſſic phraſe.] Jerom Oſorius was born of a noble family at Liſbon, 1506. He was educated at the univerſity of Salamanca, and afterwards ſtudied at Paris and Bologna. On his return to Portugal, he gradually roſe to the Biſhopric of Sylves, to which he was 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 Camoens made at the ſame time the ſubject of his immortal Luſiad; a poem which has at length appeared with due luſtre in our language, be⯑ing 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 Hiſtorian: yet, allowing for the difference of their profeſſions, I am inclined to think they poſſeſſed a ſimilarity 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 reign of Emanuel.—Illius aetate (ſays the Hiſtorian, in the cloſe of his manly work) inopia in exilium pulſa videbatur: maeſtitiae locus non erat: querimoniae ſilebant: omnia choreis & cantibus perſonabant: ejuſmodi ludis aula regia frequenter oblectabatur. Nobiles adoleſcentes cum virginibus re⯑giis in aulâ ſine ulla libidinis ſignificatione ſaltabant, et quamvis honeſtiſſimis amoribus indulgerent, virginibus erat inſitum, nemi⯑nem ad familiaritatem admittere, niſi illum qui aliquid fortiter & animoſe bellicis in rebus effeciſſet. Pueris enim nobilibus, qui in aula regia verſabantur, non erat licitum pallium virile ſumere, [135] antequam in Africam trajicerent & aliquod inde decus egregium re⯑portarent. Et his quidem moribus erat illius temporis nobilitas inſtituta, ut multi ex illius domo viri omni laude cumulati prodi⯑rent.—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, conſi⯑dering his age and country, deſerves the higheſt encomium; I mean his tolerating ſpirit. In the firſt book of his Hiſtory, he ſpeaks of Emanuel's cruel perſecution of the Jews in the following generous and exalted language:—Fuit quidem hoc nec ex lege nec ex religione factum. Quid enim? Tu rebelles animos nullaque ad id ſuſcepta religione conſtrictos, adigas ad credendum ea, quae ſumma conten⯑tione aſpernantur & reſpuunt? Idque tibi aſſumas, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, & vincula mentibus effraenatis injicias? at id neque fiori poteſt, neque Chriſti ſanctiſſimum numen approbat. Voluntarium enim ſacrificium, non vi et malo coactum ab homini⯑bus expetit, neque vim mentibus inferri ſed voluntates ad ſtudium verae religionis allici & invitari jubet. . . . . Poſtremo quis non vi⯑det. . . . . . et ita religionem per religionis ſimulationem undigniſſi⯑me violari?—Oſorius is ſaid to have uſed many arguments to diſ⯑ſuade Sebaſtian from his unfortunate expedition into Africa, and to have felt ſo deeply the miſeries which befell the Portugueze after that fatal event, that his grief was ſuppoſed to accelerate his death.— He expired in 1580, happy, ſays De Thou (who celebrates him as a model of Chriſtian virtue) that he died juſt before the Spaniſh army entered Portugal, and thus eſcaped being a witneſs to the de⯑ſolation of his country.—His various 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 remarkable productions; the firſt, an admonition to our Queen Elizabeth, ex⯑horting her to return into the Church of Rome: the ſecond, an Eſſay on Glory, written with ſuch claſſical purity, as to give [136] birth to a report, that it was not the compoſition of Oſorius, but the loſt work of Cicero on that ſubject.

Appendix A.2.14 NOTE XIV. VERSE 260.

Iberia's Genius bids juſt Fame allow

An equal wreath to Mariana's brow.] John Mariana was born 1537, at Talavera (a town in the dioceſe of Toledo) as he himſelf informs us in his famous Eſſay de Rege, which opens with a beau⯑tiful romantic deſcription of a ſequeſtered ſpot in that neighbour⯑hood, where he enjoyed the pleaſures of literary retirement with his friend Calderon, 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 admitted 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 na⯑ture, to a Monarch continually fed with the groſſeſt adulation.— This elaborate work he 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 Hiſ⯑tory (which begins with the firſt peopling of Spain) with the death of Ferdinand, in 1516; but in a ſubſequent edition, in 1617, [137] 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 Hiſ⯑tory, 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 ſuppo⯑ſition that it had excited Ravaillac to the murder of Henry the IVth; though it was aſſerted, with great probability, by the Je⯑ſuits, that the Aſſaſſin had never ſeen the book.—It is true, indeed, that Mariana, in this Eſſay, occaſionally defends Clement the 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 Ro⯑man would have vindicated 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 diſgraced by the laſt chapter of the Work, which breathes a furious ſpirit of eccleſiaſtical intolerance, and yet cloſes with theſe mild and modeſt expreſſions: Noſtrum de regno et Regis inſtitutione judicium fortaſſe non omnibus placeat; qui volet ſe⯑quatur, aut ſuo potius ſtet, ſi potioribus argumentis nitatur, de quibus rebus tantopere aſſeveravi 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 quiſ⯑que ſententiam per me ſequatur . . . et . . qui noſtra leget . . . me⯑mor conditionis humanae, ſi quid erratum eſt, pio ſtudio rempub⯑licam 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 Ler⯑ma, called the Sejanus of Spain, it expoſed the Author, about the [138] year 1609, to the perſecution of that vindictive Miniſter; from which it does not appear how he eſcaped.—Indeed the accounts of Mariana's life are very imperfect: Bayle, whom I have chiefly fol⯑lowed, mentions a life of him by De Vargas, which he could not procure. I have ſought after this Biographer 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 attention.

Appendix A.2.15 NOTE XV. VERSE 291.

The liberal ſpirit of Thuanus roſe.] James Auguſtus De Thou was the youngeſt ſon of Chriſtopher De Thou, Firſt Preſident of the Parliament of Paris, and born in that city, 1553. His own Me⯑moirs give a pleaſing account of the early activity of his mind.— As his health, during 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 engravings 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 future 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 repaired to Or⯑leans 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 celebrated author of Franco-Gallia, who was read⯑ing lectures alſo at Bourges.—During his reſidence at Valence, he contracted a friendſhip with Joſeph Scaliger, which he cultivated through life.—In 1572, his father recalled him to Paris, juſt be⯑fore the maſſacre of St. Bartholomew.—He mentions in his Me⯑moirs [139] the horrors which he felt in ſeeing a very ſmall part 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 particularly to the Civil Law, and to Gre⯑cian literature.

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 pleaſure of the literary entertainment and advantages which he derived from this expedition.—He returned to Paris, and devoted himſelf again to his ſtudies, in the following year.—On the diſſentions in the Court of France, in 1576, he was employed to negotiate with the Mareſchal Montmorency, and engage him to interpoſe his good offices to pre⯑vent the civil war; which he for ſome time effected.—The ſame year he viſited the Low Countries, and on his return was appointed to a public office, on which he entered with that extreme diffidence which is ſo natural to a delicate mind.

In 1579 he travelled again, with his elder brother, 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 Plom⯑bieres, to attend his infirm brother to Paris, who died there in a few months after their return.

In 1580, on the plague's appearing in the capital, our Hiſtorian retired into Touraine, and after viſiting the principal places in Normandy, 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 oppor⯑tunity of preparing the materials of his Hiſtory, ſeeking, as he ever did, the ſociety of all perſons eminent for their talents, o [...] [140] capable of giving him any uſeful information. He ſpeaks with great pleaſure of a viſit which be paid of this time to the celebrated Montaigne, whom he calls a man of a moſt liberal mind, and to⯑tally uninfected with the ſpirit of party.—After various excurſions, he was now returning to Paris, when he received 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 amia⯑ble mind.—He conſoled himſelf under the affliction of having been unable to pay his duty to his dying parent, by erecting a magnifi⯑cent monument to his memory, expreſſive of the high veneration in which he ever held his virtues.—He engaged again in public buſineſs, devoting his intervals of leiſure to mathematical ſtudies, and to the compoſition of Latin verſe, which ſeems to have been his favourite amuſement. In 1584, he publiſhed his Poem, de re Accipitraria, which, though 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 Court, on finding himſelf treated with ſuch a degree 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 purpoſe, he made choice of Marie Barbanſon, of an antient and noble fa⯑mily; but as her parents were ſuſpected of a ſecret inclination to the reformed religion, it was thought proper that the lady ſhould undergo a kind of expiation in a private conference with two Ca⯑tholic Divines; a circumſtance of which the great Hiſtorian ſpeaks with an air of triumph in his Memoirs, as a proof of his own in⯑violable attachment to the faith of his fathers. In 1588, he 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 [141] into Normandy 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 diſ⯑miſſed him without revealing it.—This ſecret was afterwards ſup⯑poſed 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 infamous 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 ſuppoſed 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 for a day in the Baſtile; but ob⯑taining her liberty, ſhe eſcaped from the city in a mean habit, at⯑tended by her huſband, diſguiſed alſo in the dreſs of a ſoldier. Hav⯑ing ſent his wife in ſafety into Picardy, 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 Schom⯑berg, 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 intimacy with the celebrated Arnauld d'Oſſat, at that time Secretary to the Cardinal Joyeuſe.—In con⯑ſequence [142] 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 con⯑cerning 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 attention 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 connexion 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 atten⯑dants, being prevailed on by their intreaties 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 failing a victim to the plague, but happily ſtruggled through that dangerous diſtemper by the aſſiſtance of two ſkilful phyſicians, who [143] 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 ſpirited Poem addreſſed to Poſterity, in which he enters into a juſtification of himſelf againſt the malignant attacks, which the manly and virtuous freedom of his writings had drawn upon him. It concludes with the following animated appeal to the ſpi⯑rit of his father:

In 1594, he ſucceeded his uncle Auguſtin as Preſident a Mor⯑tier.—In 1596, he loſt his valuable and learned friend Pithou, who firſt ſolicited him to undertake his Hiſtory, and had greatly 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 be⯑gan to be engaged in thoſe negotiations, which happily terminated in the famous edict of Nantes.—It may be proper to obſerve here, that De Thou was accuſed of being a Calviniſt, 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 domeſtic affliction in the loſs of his wife.—He celebrated her virtues, and his own con⯑nubial [144] affection, in a Latin Poem: with this, and a Greek epitaph on the ſame lady, written by Caſaubon, he terminates the Com⯑mentary 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; 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 occaſion his death, which happened in May 1617.—Under the re⯑gency of Mary of Medicis, he had been one of the Directors ge⯑neral 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 celebrated 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 oraculo mihi erit—was more than even that moſt amiable of Monarchs de⯑ſerved, as he ungratefully deſerted the cauſe of our Hiſtorian, 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 1611:—Publicata prima parte [Hiſ⯑toriae meae] immane quam commoti ſunt plerique, ſive invidi, ſive factioſi, qui mox proceres quoſdam, qui per ſe in talibus rebus nihil vident, per calumnias artificioſe confictas, ut ſcis, in me concita⯑verunt, remque e veſtigio Romam detulerunt, et auctore maligne exagitato, facile pervicerunt, ut moroſi illi cenſores omnia mea ſiniſtre▪ interpretarentur, et praejudicio perſonae opus integrum, cujus ne tertiam quidem partem legerant, praecipitato ordine damnarent. Rex cauſam meam initio quidem tuebatur, quamdiu [145] proceres in aula infeſtos habui. Sed paulatim ipſe eorundem aſtu infractus eſt; cognitoque Romae per emiſſarios labare regem, poſt Oſſati et Serafini Cardinalium mihi amiciſſimorum obitum, et illuſ⯑triſſimi Perronii ex urbe diſceſſum, ictus poſtremo in me directus eſt, qui facile vitari potuit, ſi qui circa regem erant, tantae injuriae ſenſum ad ſe ac regni dignitatem pertinere vel minima ſignificatione prae ſe tuliſſent. Ita in aula omni ope deſtitutus, facile Romae op⯑preſſus ſum.—De Thou was preparing a new edition of his Hiſ⯑tory 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 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 iniquity of this execution, in his Melanges, tom. iii.—The cu⯑rious reader may find a particular account of this tragical event in the laſt volume of that noble edition of Thuanus, which was pub⯑liſhed under the auſpices of Dr. Mead, and does great honour to [146] our country.—I ſhall cloſe this Note by tranſcribing from it the following ſpirited epitaph on the unfortunate victim.

Appendix A.2.16 NOTE XVI. VERSE 364.

Thy Wits, O France! (as ev'n thy Critics own)

Support not Hiſtory's majeſtic tone.] 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 me⯑moir 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.

Nous avons, ſays he, quelques morceaux, ou l'on trouve tout à la fois la fidelité, le gout, et le vrai ton de l'Hiſtoire; mais outre qu'ils ſont en petit nombre, et tres-courts, les auteurs, à qui nous en ſommes redevables, ſe ſont defié de leurs forces; ils ont craint de manquer d'haleine dans des ouvrages de plus longue étendue.

Pourquoi les anciens ont-ils eu des Thucydides, des Xenophons, des Polybes, & des Tacites? pourquoi ne pouvons nous leur com⯑parer que des St. Réals, des Vertots, des Sarraſins? nous ne devons point attribuer cette diſette à la decadence de l'Eſprit humain. Il [147] faut en chercher, ſi j'oſe m'exprimer ainſi, quelque raiſon nationale, quelque cauſe, qui ſoit particuliere aux François . . . . .

Quarre qualités principales ſont néceſſaires aux Hiſtoriens.

1. Une critique exacte & ſavante, fondée ſur des recherches la⯑borieuſes pour la collection des faits.

2. Une grande profendeur en morale & en politique.

3. Une imagination ſage, & fleurie, qui peigne les actions, qui deduiſe les cauſes, & qui preſente les reflexions avec clarté & ſim⯑plicité; quelquefois avec feu, mais toujours avec gout & élé⯑gance.

4. Il faut de plus la conſtance dans le travail, un ſtyle égal & ſoutenu, & une exactitude infatigable, qui ne montre jamais l'im⯑patience d'avancer, ni de laſſitude pendant le cours d'une longue carrière.

Qu'on ſepare ces qualités, on trouvera des chefs-d'oeuvres parmi nous, des Critiques, des Moraliſtes, des Politiques, des Peintres, & des literateurs laborieux, dont le produit nous ſurprend. Mais qu'on cherche ces qualités raſſemblées, on manquera d'exemples, à citer entre nos Auteurs.—The critic then takes a rapid review of the French Hiſtorians, and proceeds to make the following lively remarks on the difficulty of writing Hiſtory in France, and the vo⯑latile character of his countrymen—J'ai dejà prévenu l'une des plus grandes difficultés pour les auteurs; ils devroient etre en meme tems hommes de cabinet & hommes du monde. Par l'etude on ne connoit que les anciens, & les moeurs bourgeoiſes; & dans la bonne compagnie, on perd ſon tems, l'on ecrit peu, et l'on penſe encore moins. . . . . .

L'haleine manque à un écrivain François faute de conſtance; il entrepend légèrement de grands ouvrages, il les continue avec nonchalance, il les finit avec dégôut: s'il les abandonne quelque tems, il ne les reprend plus, & nous voyons que tous nos con⯑tinuateurs ont échoué. La laſſitude du ſoir ſe reſſent de l'ardeur [148] du matin. C'eſt delà qu'il nous arrive de n'avoir de bon, que de petits morecaux, ſoit en poeſie, ſoit en proſe . . . . . nous n'avons que . . . . . des morceaux Hiſtoriques, & preſque pas une Hiſtoire générale digne de louange.

Choix des Memoires de l'Academie, &c. Londres, 1777, tom. iii. p. 627.

Appendix A.3.1 NOTE I. VERSE 30.

AND ſhake th' affrighted world with dire portents.] There is ae curious treatiſe of Dr. Warburton's on this ſubject, which is become very ſcarce; it is entitled, ‘A critical and philoſophical En⯑quiry into the cauſes of prodigies and miracles, as related by Hiſto⯑rians, with an Eſſay towards reſtoring a method and purity in Hiſ⯑tory.’ It contains, like moſt of the compoſitions of this dogmatical Writer, a ſtrange mixture of judicious criticiſm and entertaining 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 hodge⯑podge of abortive embryos and rotten carcaſes, kept in an unna⯑tural ferment (which the vulgar miſtake for real life) by the rank leven of prodigies and portents. Which can't but afford good [150] 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 inflation of ſome helliſh ſuc⯑cubus within." He then paſſes a heavy cenſure on the antiqua⯑rian publications of Thomas Hearne; in the cloſe of which he ex⯑claims—"Wonder not, reader, at the view of theſe extravagancies. The Hiſtoric 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 paſſages from this ſingular Critic, in which his metaphorical lan⯑guage is exceedingly groſs, candour obliges me to tranſcribe ano⯑ther, which is no leſs remarkable for elegance and beauty of ex⯑preſſion. In deſcribing Salluſt, at one time the loud advocate of public ſpirit, and afterwards ſharing in he robberies of Caeſar, he expreſſes this variation of character by the following imagery;— "No ſooner did the warm aſpect of good fortune ſhine out again, but all thoſe exalted ideas of virtue and honour, raiſed like a beau⯑tiful kind of froſt-work, in the cold ſeaſon of adverſity, diſſolved and diſappeared.

Enquiry, &c. London, 1727, page 17.

Appendix A.3.2 NOTE II. VERSE 51.

On Francio now the Gallic page is mute,

And Britiſh Story drops the name of Brute.] 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 romantic fiction in Europe, ſuppoſes that the revival of Virgil's Aeneid, about the ſixth or ſe⯑venth century, inſpired many nations with this chimerical ides 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 [151] of the Trojan Brutus. In a letter 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, Brutus nomie, de genere Trojanorum, poſt excidium urbis Trojanae cum multis nobilibus Trojanorum applicuit in quandam Inſulam tunc Albion vocatam, a gigantibus inhabitatam, quibus ſua et ſuo⯑rum ſeductis potentia et occìſis, eam nomine ſuo Britanniam ſoci⯑oſque ſuos Britannos appellavit, & aedificavit civitatem quam Tri⯑novantum nuncupavit, quae modo Londinum nuncupatur.

MATT. WESTMON. p. 439.

Appendix A.3.3 NOTE III. VERSE 73.

And Bacon's ſelf, for mental glory born,

Meets, as her ſlave, our pity, or our ſcorn.] 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: 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 unfortu⯑nate 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 antients: on the contrary, the extreme awk⯑wardneſs [152] 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 ap⯑pear from a few lines in his character of Henry.—"This King, to ſpeak of him in terms equal to his deſerving, was 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 of 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 juſtify my remark; and, as Dr. Johnſon ſays happily of Milton, "What Engliſhman can take delight in tranſcribing paſſages, which, if they leſſen the re⯑putation of Bacon, diminiſh in ſome degree the honour of our country?"

Appendix A.3.4 NOTE IV. VERSE 92.

And of that mountain make the ſtatue of a King.] An alluſion to the Architect Dinocrates, who offered to cut Mount Athos into a ſta⯑tue of Alexander the Great.

Appendix A.3.5 NOTE V. VERSE. 97.

As crown'd with Indian laurels, nobly won, &c.] This ſtory is told on a ſimilar occaſion by Lucian. Having aſſerted that hiſtori⯑cal flatterers often meet with the indignation they deſerve, he pro⯑ceeds to this example: ‘ [...] [153] [...] 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 author, who has lately entered into a thorough diſcuſſion of all the anecdotes relating to this celebrated Conqueror, in a very elaborate and ſpirited diſſertation, entitled, "Examen critique des Hiſtoriens 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 Ma⯑cedon in quality of Hiſtoriographer, and is cenſured by the judi⯑cious Strabo as the moſt fabulous of all the Writers who have engaged in his Hiſtory. For the reaſons which ſupport this con⯑jecture, ſee the book I have mentioned, page 19.

Appendix A.3.6 NOTE VI. VERSE 115.

In Dedications quietly inurn'd,

They take more lying Praiſe than Ammon ſpurn'd.] As Hiſtory is the compoſition moſt frequently addreſſed to Princes, modern Hiſ⯑torians have been peculiarly tempted to this kind of adulation.— Indeed Dedications in general are but too commonly 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 un⯑fortunate Dedications that occur to my remembrance, were written by Joſhua Barnes, and Dr. Pearce, late Biſhop of Rocheſter: The firſt dedicated his Hiſtory of Edward the IIId, to James the IId, and unluckily compared that Monarch to the moſt valiant of his [154] predeceſſors, juſt before his timidity led him to abdicate the throne: the ſecond dedicated his edition of Tully de Oratore to Lord Mac⯑clesfield, and as unluckily celebrated his patron as a model of pub⯑lic virtue, not many years before he was impeached in parliament, and fined £. 30,000 for the iniquity of his conduct in the office of Chancellor.

Appendix A.3.7 NOTE VII. VERSE 135.

Still can Herrera, mourning o'er his urn,

His dying pangs to bliſsful rapture turn.] Antonio de Herrera, a Spaniſh Hiſtorian of great reputation, deſcribes the death of Phi⯑lip 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 crucifixo 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 huvieſſe 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 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) fe le dio el atributo de prudente.

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 [155] of the cold-blooded Octavius, reſembled him alſo in one amiable 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 miniſter, the mercileſs Alva, was the Maecenas of that won⯑derful and voluminous Poet, Lope de Vega. I cannot help re⯑gretting that the two eminent Writers, who have lately delineated the reigns of Charles the Vth, and his Son Philip, ſo happily in our language, have entered ſo little into the literary Hiſtory of thoſe times.

Appendix A.3.8 NOTE VIII. VERSE 158.

Nor hope to ſtain, on baſe Detraction's ſcroll,

A Tully's morals, or a Sidney's ſoul!] Dion Caſſius, the ſordid advocate of deſpotiſm, endeavoured to depreciate the character of Cicero, by inſerting in his Hiſtory the moſt indecent Oration that ever diſgraced the page of an Hiſtorian.—In the opening of his 46th book, he introduces Q. Fuſius Calenus haranguing the Ro⯑man ſenate againſt the great ornament of that aſſembly, calling Ci⯑cero 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 remembrance of almoſt every Reader.

Appendix A.3.9 NOTE IX. VERSE 179.

Nor leſs the blemiſh, tho' of different kind,

From falſe Philoſophy's conceits refin'd! &c.] The ideas in this paſ⯑ſage 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 tran⯑ſcribing any part of it; but I thought it juſt to acknowledge my [156] obligations 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.

Appendix A.3.10 NOTE X. VERSE 218.

To ſpeak no Falſehood; and no Truth ſuppreſs.] Quis neſcit, primam eſſe Hiſtoriae legem ne quid falſi dicere audeat? deinde, ne quid veri non audeat. De Oratore, Lib. ii.

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 objections.

Appendix A.3.11 NOTE XI. VERSE 266.

A waſte of Genius in the toil of Knolles.] Richard Knolles, a native of Northamptonſhire, educated at Oxford, publiſhed, in 1610, a Hiſtory 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 fame. The nation which produced this great Hiſtorian, has the grief of ſeeing his genius employed upon a foreign and unintereſting ſubject; and that Writer, who might have ſecured perpetuity to his name, by a Hiſtory of his own country, has expoſed himſelf to the [157] danger of oblivion, by recounting enterprizes and revolutions, of which none deſire to be informed."

RAMBLER, Vol. III. N^o 122:

Appendix A.3.12 NOTE XII. VERSE 330.

And read your juſt reward in Brady's fate!] Robert Brady, born in Norfolk, was Profeſſor of Phyſic in the Univerſity of Cam⯑bridge, 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 be more juſtly or more forcibly expreſſed, than in the words of a living Author, who has lately vindicated 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 un⯑derſtanding, and admirable quickneſs, to vindicate tyranny, and to deſtroy the rights of his nation."

STUART's View of Society in Europe. Notes, page 327.

Appendix A.3.13 NOTE XIII. VERSE 381.

Like the dumb Son of Croeſus, in the ſtrife.] 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 [158] ſpake afterwards, found utterance in that trying moment, and preſerved his father, by exclaiming "O kill not Croeſus."

Appendix A.3.14 NOTE XIV. VERSE 387.

Leſs eager to correct, than to revile.] This is perhaps a juſt de⯑ſcription 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.

Appendix A.3.15 NOTE XV. Verse 393.

The noble inſtinct, Love of laſting Fame.] There is a moſt ani⯑mated and judicious defence of this paſſion in Fitzoſborne's Let⯑ters.—But I muſt content myſelf with barely referring my Rea⯑der to that amiable Moraliſt, as I fear I have already extended theſe Notes to ſuch a length, as will expoſe me to the ſeve⯑rity of criticiſm. Indeed I tremble in reviewing the ſize of this Comment: which I cannot cloſe without entreating my Rea⯑der to believe, that its bulk has ariſen from no vain ideas of the value of my own Poem, but from a deſire to throw col⯑lected light on a ſubject, which appeared to me of importance, and to do all the juſtice in my power to many valuable writers, whom I wiſhed to celebrate.—Thoſe who are inclined to cen⯑ſure, will perhaps think this apology inſufficient; and I foreſee [159] that ſome haſty Critics will compare the length of the Poem with that of the Annotations, and then laying down the book without peruſing either, they will apply perhaps (not unhap⯑pily) to the Author the following lively couplet of Dr. Young: