***. 

 
 POEMS 
 
 AND 
 
 PLAYS. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 POEMS 
 
 AND 
 
 PLAYS, 
 
 By WILLIAM HAYLEY, 
 IN SIX VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND. 
 M.DCC.LXXXV. 
 
 49821
 
 TR 
 
 A N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 O N 
 
 HISTORY; 
 
 IN THREE EPISTLES TO EDWARD GIBBON,JES (. 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 a.'j.y. xxi 
 
 POLYBIUS, Lib. ii. 
 
 EPISTLE THE. FIRST. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 Introduction. Relation between Hi/lory and Poetry 
 Decline of the latter. Subjett of the prefent Poem 
 Jlightly touched by the Ancients. DION YS I us Lu- 
 CIAN. Importance and advantage of Hiftory its 
 origin -fubfequent to that of Poetry difguifed in its 
 infancy by Priejlcraft and Superjtition brought from 
 EGYPT into GREECE. Scarcity of great Hijlorians 
 Perfecl compofition not to be expefted. Addrefs to 
 Hi/lory ', and Charaften of many ancient Hijlorians 
 HERODOTUS THUCYDIDES XENOPHON 
 POLYBIUS SALLUST LIVY TACITUS. Eio- 
 grapbyPLVTARCH. Baleful influence of defpo- 
 tic power AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS ANNA 
 
 CoMNENAr
 
 
 A N , 
 
 
 E 
 
 S S A 
 
 Y 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 H I 
 
 S T 
 
 R Y. 
 
 EPISTLE I. 
 
 TTT I G H in the world of Letters, and of Wit, 
 Enthron'd like JOVE, behold Opinion fit ! 
 As fymbols of her fway, on either hand 
 Th' unfailing urns of Praife and Cenfure ftand ; * 
 Their mingled ftreams her motley fervants fhed 5 
 On each bold Author's felf-devoted head. 
 * Ver. 4. See N O T E I. 
 
 B 2 On
 
 4 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. I. 
 
 On thee, O GIBBON ! in \vhofe fplendid page 
 ROME fhines majeftic 'mid the woes of age, 
 Miftaken Zeal, wrapt in a prieftly pall, 
 Has from the bafer urn pour'd darkeft gall : 10 
 
 Thefe ftains to Learning would a Bard efface 
 With tides of glory from the golden vafe, 
 But that he feels this nobler tafk require 
 A fpirit glowing with cogenial fire 
 A VIRGIL only may uncenfur'd aim 15 
 
 To fing in equal verfe a LIVY'S fame : 
 Yet while Polemics, in fierce league combin'd, 
 "With favage difcord vex thy feeling mind j 
 And rafhly ftain Religion's juft defence, 
 By grofs detraction and perverted fenfe ; 20 
 
 Thy wounded ear may haply not refufe 
 The foothing accents of an humbler Mufe. 
 
 The lovely Science*, whofe attractive air 
 Derives new charms from thy devoted care, 
 Is near ally'd to that enchanting Art, 25 
 
 Which reigns the idol of the Poet's heart. 
 
 Tho'
 
 EJ..I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 5 
 
 Tho' fifter Goddefies, thy guardian maid 
 
 Shines in the robe of frefher youth array'd, 
 
 Like PALLAS recent from the brain of JOVE, 
 
 When Strength with Beauty in her features ftrove ; 
 
 While elder Poefy, in every clime $t 
 
 The flower of earlieft fall, has paft her prime : 
 
 The bloom, which her autumnal cheeks fupply, 
 
 Palls on the Public's philofophic eye. 
 
 What ! tho' no more with Fancy's ftrong controul 
 
 Her Epic wonders fafcinate the foul j 36 
 
 With humbler hopes, (he wifhes ftill to pleafe 
 
 By moral elegance, and labour'd eafe : 
 
 Like other Prudes, leaves Beauty's loft pretence, 
 
 And ftrives to charm by Sentiment and Senfe. 40 
 
 Yet deaf to Envy's voice, and Pride's alarms, 
 
 She loves the rival, who eclips'd her charms ; 
 
 Safe in thy favour, fhe would fondly (tray 
 
 Round the wide realm, which owns that Sifter's fway, 
 
 Sing the juft fav'rites of hiftoric fame, 45 
 
 And mark their pureft laws and nobleft aim. 
 
 B 3 My
 
 6 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 My eyes with joy this pathlefs field explore, 
 Crofs'd by no ROMAN Bard, no GREEKS of yore. 
 Thofe mighty Lords of literary fway 
 Have pafs'd this province with a flight furvey : 50 
 E'en He, whofe bold and comprehenfive mind 
 Immortal rules to Poefy aflign'd, 
 High Prieft of Learning ! has not fix'd apart 
 The laws and limits of hiftoric Art : 
 Yet one excelling * GREEK in later days, 5^ 
 
 The happy teacher of harmonious phrafe, 
 Whofe patient fingers all the threads untwine, 
 Which in the myftic chain of Mufic join j 
 Strict DIONYSIUS, of fevereft Tafte, 
 Has juftly fome hiftoric duties trac'd, 60 
 
 And fome pure precepts into practice brought, 
 Th' Hiftorian proving what the Critic taught. 
 And f LUCJAN ! thou, of Humour's fons fupreme ! 
 Haft touch'd with livelieft art this tempting theme. 
 
 Ver. 55. See NOTE II. 
 t Ver. 63. See NOTE III. 
 
 When
 
 Ep.I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 7 
 
 When in the Roman world, corrupt and vain, 65 
 
 Hiftoric Fury madden'd every brain ; 
 
 When each bafe GREEK indulg'd his frantic dream> 
 
 And rofe a * XENOPHON in felf-efteem ; 
 
 Thy Genius fatyriz'd the fcribbling flave, 
 
 And to the liberal pen juft leflbns gave : 7<3 
 
 O fkill'd to feafon, in proportion fit, 
 
 Severer wifdom with thy fportive wit ! 
 
 Breathe thy ftrong power ! thy fprightly grace infufe 
 
 In the bold efforts of no fervile Mufe, 
 
 If {he tranfplant fome lively flower, that throws 75 
 
 Immortal fweetnefs o'er thy Attic Profe ! 
 
 In Egypt f once a dread tribunal ftood ; 
 Offspring of Wifdom ! fource of Public Good \ 
 Before this Seat, by holy Juftice rear'd, 
 The mighty Dead, in folemn pomp, appear'd ; 80 
 For till its fentence had their rights expos'd, 
 The hallow'd portals of the tomb were clos'd ; 
 
 Ver. 63. See NOTE IV. 
 f Ver. 77. See NOTE V. 
 
 64 A fculp-
 
 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. I. 
 
 A fculptur'd form of Truth the Judges wore, 
 A facred emblem of the charge they bore ! 
 The claims of Virtue their pure voice expreft, 85 
 And bade the opening grave receive its honor'd gueft. 
 Thus awefully array'd in Judgment's robe, 
 With powers extenfive as the peopled Globe ; 
 To her juft bar impartial Hift'ry brings 
 The gorgeous group of Statefmen, Heroes, Kings ; 
 With all whofe minds, outfhining fplendid birth, 91 
 Attract the notice of th' enlighten'd earth. 
 "From artful Pomp fhe ftrips the proud difguife 
 That flafh'd delufion in admiring eyes ; 
 To injur'd Worth gives Glory's wim'd reward, 95 
 And blazons Virtue in her bright record : 
 Nature's clear Mirror ! Life's inftru&ive Guide .' 
 Her wifdom four'd by no preceptive Pride ! 
 Age from her leffbn forms its wifeft aim, 
 And youthful Emulation fprings to Fame. 100 
 
 Yet thus adorn'd with nobleft powers, defign'd 
 To charm, correct, and elevate mankind, 
 
 From
 
 EP. I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 9 
 
 From darker! Time her humble Birth fhe drew, 
 And flowly into Strength and Beauty grew ; 
 As mighty ftreams, that roll with gather'd force, 105 
 Spring feebly forth from fome fequefter'd fource. 
 
 The fond deflre to pafs the namclefs crowd, 
 Swept from the earth in dark Oblivion's cloud ; 
 Of-tranfient life to leave fome little trace, 
 And win remembrance from the rifmg race, 1 10 
 
 Led early Chiefs to make their prowefs known 
 :By the rude fymbol on the artlefs {tone : 
 And, long ere man the wondrous fecret found, 
 To paint the voice, and fix the fleeting found, 
 The infant Mufe, ambitious at her birth, * 115 
 
 Rofe the young herald of heroic worth. 
 The tuneful record of her oral praife, 
 The Sire's atchievements to the Son conveys : 
 Keen Emulation, wrapt in trance fublime, 
 Drinks with retentive ear the potent rhyme j 120 
 
 * Ver. 115. Cee NOTE VT. 
 
 And
 
 jo ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. I. 
 
 And faithful Memory, from afFe&ion ftrong, 
 
 Spreads the rich torrent of her martial fong. 
 
 Letters at length arife j but envious Night 
 
 Conceals their bleft Inventor from our fight. 
 
 O'er the wide earth his fpreading bounty flew, 125 
 
 And fvvift thofe precious feeds of Science grew ; 
 
 Thence quickly fprung the Annal's artlefs frame, 
 
 Time its chief boaft ! and brevity its aim ! 
 
 The Temple-wall preferv'd a fimple date, 
 
 And mark'd in plaineft form the Monarch's fate. 130 
 
 But in the center of thofe vaft abodes, * 
 Whofe mighty mafs the land of Egypt loads ; 
 "Where, in rude triumph over years unknown, 
 Gigantic Grandeur, from his fpiry throne, 
 Seems to look down difdainful, and deride 135 
 
 The poor, the pigmy toils of modern Pride ; 
 In the clofe covert of thofe gloomy cells, 
 Where early Magic fram'd her venal fpells, 
 
 Ver. 131, See NOTE VII, 
 
 .Combining
 
 EP.L ESSAY ON HISTORY. n 
 
 Combining priefts, from many an ancient tale, 
 
 Wove for their hallow'd ufe Religion's veil ; 140 
 
 A wondrous texture ! fupple, rich, and broad, 
 
 To dazzle Folly, and to fhelter Fraud ! 
 
 This, as her caeftus, Superftition wore ; 
 
 And faw th' enchanted world its powers adore : 
 
 For in the myftic web was every charm 145 
 
 To lure the timid, and the bold difarm ; 
 
 To win from eafy Faith a blind efteem, 
 
 And lull Devotion in a lafting dream. 
 
 The Sorcerefs, to fpread her empire, dreft 
 
 Hiftory's young form in this illufive veft, 150 
 
 Whofe infant voice repeated, as fhe taught, 
 
 The motley fables on her mantle wrought j 
 
 Till Attic Freedom brought the Foundling home 
 
 From the dark cells of her Egyptian dome ; 
 
 Drew by degrees th' opprefiive veil afide, 155 
 
 And, (hewing the fair Nymph in nature's pride, 
 
 Taught her to fpeak, with all the fire of youth, 
 
 The words of Wifdom in the tone of Truth 5 
 
 To
 
 T2 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 To catch the paffing flitw of public life, 
 
 And paint immortal fccnes of Grecian ftrife, 160 
 
 Inchanting Athens ! oft as Learning calls 
 
 Our fond attention to thy foft'ring walls, 
 
 Still with frefh joy thy glories we explore, 
 
 With new idolatry thy charms adore. 
 
 Bred in thy bofom, the Hiftorian caught 165 
 
 The warmeft glow of elevated thought. 
 
 Yet while thy triumphs to his ye difplay, 
 
 The nobleft fcene his pencil can portray ; 
 
 While thy rich language, grac'd by every Mufe, 
 
 Supplies the brighteft tints, his hand can'ufe ; 170 
 
 How fmall their band, who, in thy happier days, 
 
 Reach the bright fummit of hiftoric praife ! 
 
 'Tis thus with every Art, in every age, 
 
 From the mechanic to the moral fage : 
 
 Excelling merit is by nature rare : 175 
 
 Millions contend for crowns they cannot wear. 
 
 Coy Science, in her fcene of wide command, 
 
 Beftows her honours with a fparing hand } 
 
 Like
 
 P. I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 3.3 
 
 Like CHARLEMAIN'S proud hoft, her vaflal crew 
 No tongue can count Her paladins are few. iSo 
 
 Pure, faultlefs writing, like tranfmuted gold, 
 Mortals may wifh, but never fhall behold : 
 Let Genius (till this glorious object own, 
 And feek Perfection's philofophic ftone ! 
 For while the mind, in ftudy's toilfome hours, 185 
 Tries on the long refearch her latent powers, 
 New wonders rife, to pay her patient thought, 
 Inferior only to the prize fhe fought. 
 
 But idle Pride no arduous labor fees, 
 And deems th' Hiftorian's toil a tafk of eafe : 190 
 Yet, if furvey'd by Judgment's fteady lamp, 
 
 How few are juftly grac'd with Glory's Itamp ! 
 
 t 
 Tho' more thefe volumes, than the ruthlefs mind 
 
 Of the fierce OMAR to the flames confign'd, * 
 When Learning faw the favage with a fmile 195. 
 Devote her offspring to the blazing pile I 
 
 * Ver. 194. See NOTE VIII. 
 
 O.Hiftory!
 
 I 4 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 O Hiftory ! whofe pregnant mines impart 
 Unfailing treafures to poetic art ; 
 The Epic gem, and thofe of darker hues, 
 Whofe trembling luftre decks the tragic Mufe; 200 
 If, juftly confcious of thy powers, I raife 
 A votive tablet to record thy praife, 
 That ancient temple to my view unfold, 
 Where thy firft Sons, on Glory's lift enroll'd, 
 To Fancy's eye, in living forms, appear, 205 
 
 And fill with Freedom's notes the raptur'd ear I- 
 The dome expands ! Behold th' Hiftoric Sire ! * 
 Ionic rofes mark his foft attire ; 
 Bold in his air, but graceful in his mien 
 As the fair figure of his favoured Queen, f 2IO 
 
 When her proud galley fham'd the Perfian van, 
 And grateful XERXES own'd her more than man ! 
 
 Soft as the ftream, whofe dimpling waters play, J 
 And wind in lucid lapfe their pleafing way, 
 
 * Ver. 207. See NOTE IX. 
 t Ver. 210. See NOTE X. 
 J Ver. 213. See NOTE XI. 
 
 His
 
 p. I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 15 
 
 His rich, Homeric elocution flows, 215 
 
 For all the Mufes modulate his profe : 
 
 Tho' blind Credulity his ftep mifieads 
 
 Thro' the dark mift of her Egyptian meads, 
 
 Yet when return'd, with patriot paflions warm, 
 
 He paints the progrefs of the Perfian florm, 22O 
 
 In Truth's illumin'd field, his labours rear 
 
 A trophy worthy of the Spartan fpear : 
 
 His eager country, in th' Olympic vale, 
 
 Throngs with proud joy to catch the martial tale. 
 
 Behold ! where Valour, refting on his lance, 225 
 
 Drinks the fweet found in rapture's filent trance, 
 
 Then, with a grateful fhout of fond acclaim, 
 
 Hails the juft herald of his country's fame ! 
 
 But mark the Youth, in dumb delight immers'd ! * 
 
 See the proud tear of emulation burft ! 2JO 
 
 O fi.ithful fign of a fuperior foul ! 
 
 Thy prayer is heard : 'tis thine to reach the goal. 
 
 Ver. 229. See NOTE XII. 
 
 Seef
 
 i6 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 See ! bleft OLORUS ! fee the palm is won ! 
 
 Sublimity and Wifdom crown thy Son : 
 
 His the rich prize, that caught his early gaze, 235 
 
 Th' eternal treafure of increafmg praife ! 
 
 Pure from the ftain of favor, or of hate, 
 
 His nervous line unfolds the deep Debate ; 
 
 Explores the feeds of War ; with matchlefs force 
 
 Draws Difcord, fpringing from Ambition's fource, 
 
 With all her Demagogues, who murder Peace, 241 
 
 In the fierce ftruggles of contentious Greece. 
 
 Stript by Ingratitude of juft command 
 
 Above refentment to a thanklefs land, 
 
 Above all envy, rancour, pride, and fpleen, 245 
 
 In exile patient, in difgrace ferene, 
 
 And proud to celebrate, as Truth infpires, 
 
 Each patriot Hero, that his foul admires 
 
 The deep-ton'd trumpet of renown he blows, 
 
 In fage retirement 'mid the Thracian fnows. 259 
 
 But to untimely filence Fate devotes 
 
 Thofe lips, yef trembling with imperfect, notes, 
 
 8 And
 
 EP. I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 17 
 
 And bafe Oblivion threatens to devour 
 
 E'en this firft offspring of hiftoric power. 
 
 A generous guardian of a rival's fame, * 255 
 
 Mars the dark Fiend in this malignant aim : 
 
 Accomplifh'd XENOPHON ! thy truth has fhewn 
 
 A brother's glory facred as thy own : 
 
 O rich in all the blended gifts, that grace 
 
 Minerva's darling fons of Attic race ! 260 
 
 The Sage's olive, the Hiftorian's palm, 
 
 The Viftor's laurel, all thy name embalm 1 
 
 Thy fimple diction, free from glaring art, 
 
 With fweet allurement fteals upon the heart ; 
 
 Pure, as the rill, that Nature's hand refines, 265 
 
 A cloudlefs mirror of thy foul it fliines. 
 
 Two paflions there by foft contention pleafe, 
 
 The love of martial Fame, and learned Eafe : 
 
 Thefe friendly colours, exquifitely join'd, 
 
 Form the enchanting piSure of thy mind. 270 
 
 * Ver 55 . See NOTE XIII. 
 
 VOL, II. q Thine
 
 ig ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP, I. 
 
 Thine was the praife, bright models to afford 
 
 To CJESAR'S rival pen, and rival fword : 
 
 Bleft, had Ambition not deftroy'd his claim 
 
 To the mild luftre of thy purer fame ! 
 
 Thou pride of Greece ! in thee her triumphs end : 
 
 And Roman chiefs in borrow'd pomp afcend. 276 
 
 Rome's haughty genius, who enflav'd the Greek, * 
 
 In Grecian language deigns at firft to fpeak : 
 
 By flow degrees her ruder tongue fhe taught 
 
 To tell the wonders that her valour wrought ; 280 
 
 And her hiftoric hoft, with envious eye, 
 
 View in their glittering van a Greek ally. 
 
 Thou Friend of SCIPIO ! vers'd in War's alarms } f 
 
 Torn from thy wounded country's ftruggling arms ! 
 
 And doom'd in Latian bofoms to inftill 285 
 
 Thy moral virtue, and thy martial (kill ! 
 
 Pleas'd, in refearches of elaborate length, 
 
 To trace the fibres of the Roman ftrength \ 
 
 Ver. * 77 . See NOTE XIV. 
 t Ver. 183. See NOTE XV. 
 
 O highly
 
 Ep.I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 19 
 
 O highly perfect in each nobler part, 
 The Sage's wifdom, and the Soldier's art ! 290 
 
 This richer half of Grecian praife is thine : 
 But o'er thy ftyle the flighted Graces pine, 
 And tir'd Attention toils thro' many a maze, 
 To reach the purport of thy doubtful phrafe : 
 Yet large are his rewards, whofe toils engage 295 
 To clear the fpirit of thy cloudy page ; 
 Like Indian fruit, its rugged rind contains 
 Thofe milky fweets that pay the fearcher's pains. 
 Rome's haughty Genius, with exulting claim, 
 Points to her rivals of the Grecian name ! 300 
 
 Sententious SALLUST leads her lofty train ; * 
 Clear, tho' concife, elaborately plain, 
 Poifing his fcale of words with frugal care, 
 Nor leaving one fuperflucus atom there ! 
 Yet well difplaying, in a narrow fpace, 305 
 
 Truth's native ftrength, and Nature's eafy grace ; 
 
 Ver. 301. See NOTE XVI. 
 
 C 2 SkillM
 
 ao ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 Skill'd to detect, in tracing Action's courfe, 
 
 The hidden motive, and the human fource. 
 
 His lucid brevity the palm has won, 
 
 By Rome's decifion, from OLORUS' Son. 310 
 
 Of mightier fpirit, of majeftic frame, 
 With powers proportion'd to the Roman fame, 
 When Rome's fierce Eagle his broad wings unfurl'd, 
 And fhadow'd with his plumes the fubjecT: world, 
 In bright pre-eminence, that Greece might own, 315 
 Sublimer LJVY claims th' Hiftoric throne ; * 
 With that rich Eloquence, whofe golden light 
 Brings the full fcene diftintly to the fight ; 
 That Zeal for Truth, which Intereft cannot bend, 
 That Fire, which Freedom ever gives her friend. 320 
 Immortal artift of a work fupreme ! 
 Delighted Rome beheld, with proud efteem, 
 Her own bright image, of Coloflal fize, 
 From thy long toils in pureft marble rife. 
 
 * Ver. 316. Sec NOTE XVII. 
 
 But
 
 p.I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. ai 
 
 But envious Time, with a malignant ftroke, 325 
 
 This facred ftatue into fragments broke ; 
 
 In Lethe's ftream its nobler portions funk, 
 
 And left Futurity the wounded trunk. 
 
 Yet, like the matchlefs, mutilated frame, * 
 
 To which great ANGELO bequeath'd his name, 330 
 
 This glorious ruin, in whofe ftrength we find 
 
 The fplendid vigour of the Sculptor's mind, 
 
 In the fond eye of Admiration ftill 
 
 Rivals the finifh'd forms of modern {kill. 
 
 Next, but, O LIVY ! as unlike to thee, 335 
 
 As the pent river to th* expanding fea, 
 Sarcaftic TACITUS, abrupt and dark, f 
 In moral anger forms the keen remark ; 
 Searching the foul with microfcopic power, 
 To mark the latent worm that mars the flower. 340 
 His Roman voice, in bafe degenerate days, 
 Spoke to Imperial Pride in Freedom's praife j 
 
 Ver. 3*9. See NOTE XVIII. 
 f Ver. 337. See NOTE XIX. 
 
 C 3 And
 
 12 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 And with indignant hate, feverely warm, 
 Shew'd to gigantic Guilt his ghaftly form ! 
 There are, whofe cenfures to his Style affign 345 
 A fubtle fpirit, rigid and malign j 
 Which magnified each monfter that he drew, 
 And gave to darkeft vice a deeper hue : 
 Yet his ftrong pencil (hews the gentleft heart, 
 In one fweet fketch of Biographic art, 3 5* 
 
 Whofe fofteft tints, by filial love combin'd, 
 Form the pure image of his Father's mind. 
 O bleft Biography ! thy charms of yore 
 Hiftoric Truth to ftrong Affe&ion bore ; 
 And foft'ring Virtue gave thee, as thy dower, 355 
 Of both thy Parents the attractive power 
 To win the heart, the wavering thought to fix, 
 And fond delight with wife inftruclion mix. 
 Firft of thy votaries, peerlefs, and alone, 
 Thy PLUTARCH fhines, by moral beauty known: 
 
 Ver. 360. See NOTE XX. 
 
 Enchanting
 
 EP. I. ES SAY ON HISTORY. 23 
 
 Enchanting Sage ! whofe living leflbns teach, 361 
 
 What heights of Virtue human efforts reach. 
 
 Tho' oft thy Pen, eccentrically wild, 
 
 Ramble, in Learning's various maze beguil'd ; 
 
 Tho' in thy Style no brilliant graces fhine, 365 
 
 Nor the clear conduct of correct Defign, 
 
 Thy every page is uniformly bright 
 
 With mild Philanthropy's diviner light. 
 
 Of gentleft manners, as of mind elate, 
 
 Thy happy Genius had the glorious fate 370 
 
 To regulate, with Wifdom's foft controul, 
 
 The ftrong ambition of a TRAJAN'S foul. 
 
 But O ! how rare benignant Virtue fprings, 
 
 In the blank bofom of delpotic kings ! 
 
 Thou bane of liberal knowledge ! Nature's curfe ! 
 Parent of Mifery ! pamper'd Vice's nurfe ! 376 
 
 Thou who canft bind, by thy petrific breath, 
 The foul of Genius in the trance of death ! 
 Unbounded Power ! beneath thy baleful fway, 
 The voice of Hift'ry finks in dumb decay. 380 
 
 C 4 Still
 
 24 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Er. I. 
 
 Still in thy gloomy reign one martial Greek, 
 In Rome's corrupted language dares to fpeak ; 
 Mild MARCELLJNUS ! free from fervile awe ! * 
 A faithful painter of the woes he faw ; 
 Forc'd by the meannefs of his age to join 385 
 
 Adulterate Colours with his juft Defign ! 
 The flighted Attic Mufe no more fupplies 
 Her pencil, dipt in Nature's pureft dies j 
 And Roman Emulation, at a frand, 
 Drops the blurr'd pallet from her palfy'd hand. 390 
 
 But while monaftic Night, with gathering {hades, 
 The ruin'd realm of Hiflory invades ; 
 While, pent in CONSTANTJNE'S ill-fated walls, 
 Tne mangled form of Roman Grandeur falls, 
 And, like a Gladiator on the fand, 395 
 
 Props his faint body with a dying hand ; 
 While favage Turks, or the fierce Sons of Thor, 
 Wage on the Arts a wild Titanian war ; 
 
 Ver. 383. See NOTE XXI. 
 
 While
 
 EP. I. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 25 
 
 While manly Knowledge hides his radiant head, 
 
 As Jove in terror from the Titans fled ; 400 
 
 See ! in the lovely charms of female youth, 
 
 A fecond Pallas guards the throne of Truth ! 
 
 And, with COMNENA'S royal name impreft, * 
 
 The zone of Beauty binds her Attic veft ! 
 
 Fair ftar of Wifdom ! whofe unrival'd light 405 
 
 Breaks thro' the ftormy cloud of thickeft night; 
 
 Tho' in the purple of proud mifery nurft, 
 
 From thofe oppreflive bands thy fpirit burft ; 
 
 Pleas'd, in thy public labours, to forget 
 
 The keen domeftic pangs of fond regret ! 410 
 
 Pleas'd to prefer ve, from Time's deftru&ive rage, 
 
 A Father's virtues in thy faithful page ! 
 
 Too pure of foul to violate, or hide 
 
 Th' Hiftorian's duty in the Daughter's pride ! 
 
 Tho' bafe Oblivion long with envious hand 415 
 
 Hid the fair volume which thy virtue plann'd, 
 
 * Ver. 403. Se NOTE XXII. 
 
 It
 
 26 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. I. 
 
 It mines, redeem'd from Ruin's darkeft hour, 
 A wond'rous monument of Female power ; 
 While confcious Hift'ry, careful of thy fame, 
 Ranks in her Attic band thy filial name, 420 
 
 And fees, on Glory's ftage, thy graceful mien 
 Clofe the long triumph of her ancient fcene ! 
 
 END OF THE FIRST EPISTLE. 
 
 EPISTLE
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 THE SECOND. 
 
 Sunt et alii Scriptores boni : fed nos genera deguftamus, 
 non bibliothecas excutimus. QUINTII. Lib. x.
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 \ 
 
 Defefts of the Monkijh Hijloriansour obligations to 
 the bejl of them. Contrajl between two of the moftfa-* 
 bilious, and two of the mojl rational. Indulgence due 
 to Writers of the dark Ages. Arabians ABULFED A 
 BOHADDIN. Slow Progrefs of the human Mind. 
 Chivalry. F R o I S s A R T. Revival of ancient Learn- 
 ing under LEO X. Hiftorians in Italy ^ MACHIA- 
 VEL, GUICCIARDIN, DA VILA, and Father PAUL 
 in Portugal^ OSORIUS in Spain^ MARIANA in 
 Holland^ GROTIUS in France, THUANUS. 
 Praift of Toleration. VOLTAIRE. Addrefs toEng- 
 land. CLARENDON BURNET RAPIN HUME 
 LYTTELTON. Reafon for not attempting to dc- 
 Jcribe any living Hiftcrian,
 
 A,N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 O N 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 EPISTLE II. 
 
 A S eager Foflilifts with ardour pore 
 
 On the flat margin of the pebbled (hore, 
 Hoping fome curious Shell, or Coral-root, 
 Will pay the labours of their long purfuit ; 
 And yield their hand the pleafure to difplay 5 
 
 Nature's negle&ed Gems in nice array : 
 So, GIBBON ! toils the mind, whofe labour wades 
 Thro' the dull Chronicle's monaftic (hades, 
 
 To
 
 30 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 To pick from that drear coaft, with learned care, 
 
 New fhells of Knowledge, thinly fcatter'd there ; 10 
 
 Who patient hears, while cloifter'd Dullnefs tells 
 
 The lying legend of her murky cells j 
 
 Or ftrangely mingles, in her phrafe uncouth, 
 
 Difgufting Lies with unimportant Truth : 
 
 How Bifhops give (each tort'ring Fiend o'ercome) 15 
 
 Life to the faint, and language to the dumb : 
 
 How fainted Kings renounce, with holy dread, * 
 
 The chafte endearments of their marriage-bed : 
 
 How Nuns, entranc'd, to joys celeftial mount, f 
 
 Frantic with rapture from a facred fount : 20 
 
 How cunning Priefts their dying Lord cajole, 
 
 And take his riches to enfure his foul : 
 
 While he endows them, in his pious will, 
 
 With thofe choice gifts, the Meadow and the Mill, J 
 
 They wifely chronicle his Spirit's health, 25 
 
 And give him Virtue in return for Weath. 
 
 Ver. 17. See NOTE I. 
 f V-r. 19. See NOTE II. 
 J Ver. 24. S.t NO TE III. 
 
 So
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY, 31 
 
 So Hift'ry finks, by Hypocrites depreft, 
 
 In the coarfe habit of the cloifter dreft ; 
 
 When her weak Sons that noxious air imbibe, 
 
 Such are the tales of their monaftic tribe ! 33 
 
 But let not Pride, with blind contempt, arraign 
 Each early Writer in that humble train ! 
 No ! let the Mufe, a friend to every claim, 
 That marks the Candidate for honeft fame, 
 Be juft to patient Worth, feverdy funk, 35 
 
 And paint the merits of the modeft Monk ! 
 
 Ye purer minds ! who ftopt, with native force, 
 Blind Ignorance in his barbarian courfe ; 
 Who, in the field of Hift'ry, dark and wafte, 
 Your fimple path with fteady patience trac'd ; 40 
 Bleft be your labours ! and your virtues bleft ! 
 Tho' paid with infult, and with fcorn oppreft, 
 Ye refcu'd Learning's lamp from total night, 
 And fav'd with anxious toil the trembling light,, 
 In the wild ftorm of that tempeftuous time,. 45 
 
 When Superftition cherifh'd every crime; 
 
 When
 
 ja ESSAY ON HISTORY* EP. II. 
 
 When meaner Priefts pronounc'd with falt'ring tongue, 
 Nor knew to read the jargon which they fung j 
 When Nobles, train'd like blood-hounds to deftroy, 
 In ruthlefs rapine plac'd their favage joy ; 50 
 
 And Monarchs wanted ev'n the fkill to frame 
 The letters that compos'd their mighty name. 
 How ftrong the mind, that, try'd by ills like thcfe, 
 Could write untainted with the Time's difeafe ! 
 That, free from Folly's lie, and Fraud's pretence, 55 
 Could rife to fimple Truth, and fober Senfe ! 
 Such minds exifted in the darkeft hour 
 Of blind Barbarity's debafing power. 
 
 If mitred TURPIN told, in wildeft ftrain, * 
 Of giant- feats atchiev'd by CHARLEMAIN ; 60 
 
 Of fpears, that bloflbm'd like the flowery thorn, 
 Of ROJLAND'S magic fword, and ivory horn, 
 Whofe found was wafted by an angel's wing, 
 Jn notes of anguifli, to his diftant king ; 
 
 Vpr. 59- See NOTE IV. 
 
 Yet
 
 EP.H. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 33 
 
 Yet modeft ./EGINHARD, with grateful care, * 65 
 
 In purer colours, and with Nature's air, 
 
 Has drawn diftin&ly, in his clear record, 
 
 A jufter portrait of this mighty Lord, 
 
 Whofe forceful lance, againft the Pagan hurl'd, 
 
 Shone the bright terror of a barbarous world. 70 
 
 Nor on his mafter does he idly fhower 
 
 The prieftly gifts of fupernat'ral Power : 
 
 This candid Scribe of Gratitude and Truth, 
 
 Corre&ly paints the Patron of his youth, 
 
 Th' imperial Savage, whofe unletter'd mind 75 
 
 Was a&ive, ftrong, beneficent, and kind j 
 
 Who, tho' he lov'd the Learned to requite, 
 
 Knew not that fimpleft art, the art to write. 
 
 If Britifh GEFFREY fill'd his motley page f 
 With MERLIN'S fpells, and UTHER'S amorous rage; 
 With fables from the field of Magic glean'd, 8l 
 Giant and Dragon, Incubus and Fiend ; 
 
 * Ver. 65. See N p T E V. 
 f Ver. 79. See N O T E VI. 
 
 VOL. II. D Yet
 
 34 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II, 
 Yet Life's great drama, and the Deeds of men, 
 Sage Monk of Malm'fbury ! engag'd thy pen. * 
 Nor vainly doft thou plead, in modeft phrafe, 85 
 Thy manly paflion for ingenuous praife : 
 'Twas thine the labours of thy Sires to clear 
 From Fi&ion's harden'd fpots, with toil fevere ; 
 To form, with eyes intent on public life, 
 Thy bolder fketches of internal ftrife ; 90 
 
 And warmly celebrate, with love refin'd, 
 The rich endowments of thy GLO'STER'S mind ; 
 May this, thy Praife, the Monkifli pen exempt 
 From the ungenerous blame of blind Contempt ! 
 
 Tho' Truth appear to make thy works her care, 95 
 The lurking Prodigy ftill lingers there : 
 But let not cenfure on thy name be thrown 
 For errors, fpringing from thy Age alone ! 
 Shame on the Critic ! who, with idle fcorn, 
 Depreciates Authors, in dark periods born, 100 
 
 * Ver. 84. See NOTE VII. 
 
 Who
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 35 
 Who chance to want, irregularly bright, 
 That'equal Knowledge, and that fteadier Light, 
 Which Learning, in its full meridian power, 
 Has richly lavifh'd on his happier hour ! 
 
 Where martial tribes a warlike Defpot own, 105 
 And civil Freedom is a blifs unknown, 
 In cafual fits of intermitted ftrife, 
 The Arts are fummon'd into tranfient life : 
 The royal mind fupplies the quickening ray, 
 And Science feems the infect of a day. HO 
 
 Mark the fierce fons of many a favage horde, 
 That from her fertile wilds Arabia pour'd ! 
 Behold them, as they range the fubjecl: earth, 
 Now ftifle Knowledge, and now give it birth ! 
 In Syrian Hamah, lo ! a Prince prefides, 115 
 
 Whofe faithful hand the pen of Hift'ry guides : 
 Mild ABULFEDA ! whofe rich merits claim * 
 No fmgle wreath of literary Fame : 
 
 * Ver, 117. See NOTE VIIL 
 
 D 2 The
 
 36 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. II. 
 
 The regions he defcrib'd, his talents boaft,. 
 
 And Eaftern Poets rank him in their hoft. X2O 
 
 In different climes behold an Arab- Lord 
 
 Crufh the fair Art his brutal foul abhorr'd ! 
 
 And with that vi&im's blood his fabre ftain, * 
 
 Who dar'd to write the annals of his reign ! 
 
 Yet in the land, that faw this favage deed, 125 
 
 Arabian Science gain'd her richeft meed ; 
 
 There Corduba, in hours of happier fate, f 
 
 Sublimely rofe in academic flate, 
 
 Alike for Gallantry and Learning known, 
 
 Afylum of the Arts, and Valour's throne ! 130 
 
 Ye turrets crefcent-crown'd ! the prey of Time ! 
 
 Bright fcenes ! that echoed with Arabian rhyme - 3 
 
 Ere yet Oblivion's hateful curtain falls 
 
 On the faint fplendor of your proftrate walls, 
 
 May fome juft hand your hidden wealth explore, 1 35 
 
 The laurel to your letter'd Chiefs reftore, 
 
 * Ver. 123. See NOTE IX. 
 i Ver. ia 7 . See NOTE X. 
 
 To
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 37 
 
 To all your pomp a new exiftence give, 
 
 And bid your glories in defcription live ! 
 
 The daring Moor, tho' robb'd of Freedom's rays, 
 
 Glow'd with the noble avarice of praife ; 140 
 
 Keen as an Attic mind in Fame's purfuit, 
 
 He (hook, from Labour's tree, that golden fruit. 
 
 Of all the heroes of the Moflem line, 
 Triumphant SALADIN ! 'twas chiefly thine 
 To cherifh, in thy fcenes of bloody ftrife, 145 
 
 A juft Encomiaft of thy fplendid life j 
 Thy warm BOHADDIN, with that generous zeal, * 
 Which no bafe fons of Adulation feel, 
 At large delineates, with hiftoric Art, 
 Thy bold, intrepid mind, thy gentle heart. 150 
 
 Tho' in his portrait, which reveals the Friend, 
 The tints of Truth with thofe of Fondnefs blend, 
 The picture, finifli'd on no fervile plan, 
 Gives to our view the hero, and the man. 
 
 * Ver. 147. See NOTE XI. 
 
 D 3 Affliaion 
 
 "49821
 
 38 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 Affliction fpeaks, all abject aims above, 155 
 
 The tender Servant in the Scribe we love ; 
 
 Who {brinks, difabled by the gufhing tear, 
 
 From his laft duty to a Lord fo dear. 
 
 Yet, tho' his bofom, touch'd with manly grief, 
 
 Shar'd the mild virtue of his feeling Chief, 160 
 
 His page betrays the bigot of the Eaft, 
 
 And lavifh execrations mark the Prieft. 
 
 In all its various paths, the human Mind 
 Feels the firft efforts of its ftrength confin'd j 
 And in the field, where Hiftory's laurels grow, 165 
 Winds its long march with lingering ftep and flow : 
 Like Fruit, whofe tafte to fweet luxuriance runs 
 By conftant fuccour from autumnal funs, 
 This lovely Science ripens by degrees, 
 And late is faihion'd into graceful eafe. 170 
 
 In thofe enlivening days, when Europe rofe 
 ' From the long prefiure of lethargic woes j 
 
 When
 
 i 
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 39 
 
 When the Provencal lyre, with rofes dreft, 
 
 By ardent Love's extatic fingers preft, 
 
 Wak'd into life the genius of the Weft ; 175 
 
 When Chivalry, her banners all unfurl'd, 
 
 Fill'd with heroic fire the fplendid world ; 
 
 In high-plum'd grandeur held her gorgeous reign, 
 
 And rank'd each brilliant Virtue in her train ; 
 
 When (he imparted, by her magic glove, 180 
 
 To Honour ftrength, and purity to Love ; 
 
 New-moulded Nature on her nobleft plan, 
 
 And gave frefh finews to the foul of man : 
 
 When the chief model of her forming hand, 
 
 Our fable EDWARD, on the Gallic ftrand, 185 
 
 Difplay'd that fpirit which her laws beftow, 
 
 And fhone the idol of his captive foe : 
 
 Unbleft with Arts, th' unletter'd age could yield 
 
 No fkilful hand, to paint from Glory's field 
 
 Scenes, that Humanity with pride muft hear, 190 
 
 And Admiration honour with a tear. 
 
 D 4 Yet
 
 40 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 Yet Courtefy, with generous Valour join'd, 
 Fair Twins of Chivalry ! rejoic'd to find 
 A faithful Chronicler in plain FROISSART ; * 
 More rich in honefty than void of art. 195 
 
 As the young Peafant, led by fpirits keen 
 To fome great city's gay and gorgeous fcene, 
 Returning, with increafe of proud delight, 
 Dwells on the various fplendor of the fight ; 
 And gives his tale, tho' told in terms uncouth, 200 
 The charm of Nature, and the force of Truth, 
 Tho' rude engaging ; fuch thy fimple page 
 Seems, O FROISSART ! to this enlighten 'd age. 
 Proud of their fpirit, in thy writings fhewn, 
 Fair Faith and Honour mark thee for their own j 205 
 Tho' oft the dupe of thofe delufive times, 
 Thy Genius, fofter'd with romantic rhymes, 
 Appears to play the legendary Bard, 
 And trefpafs on the Truth it meant to guard. 
 
 Ver. 194. See NOTE XII. 
 
 Still
 
 EP.H. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 41 
 
 Still fhall thy Name, with lafting glory, ftand 2IO 
 
 High on the lift of that advent'rous band, 
 
 Who, bidding Hiftory fpeak a modern tongue, 
 
 From her cramp'd hand the Monkifh fetters flung, 
 
 While yet deprefs'd in Gothic night fhe lay, 
 
 Nor faw th' approaching dawn of Attic day. 215 
 
 On the bleft banks of Tiber's honour'd ftream 
 Shone the firft glance of that reviving beam j 
 Enlighten'd Pontiffs, on the fignal fpot 
 Where Science was profcrib'd, and Senfe forgot, 
 Bade Learning ftart from out her mould'ring tomb, 
 And taught new laurels on her brow to bloom ; 221 
 Their Magic voice invok'd all Arts, and all 
 Sprung into glory at the potent call. 
 
 As in Arabia's wafte, where Horror reigns, 
 Gigantic tyrant of the burning plains ! 225 
 
 The glorious bounty of fome Royal mind, 
 By Heaven infpir'd, and friend to human kind, 
 Bids the rich Structure of refrefhment rife, 
 To chear the Traveller's defpairing eyes j 
 
 Who
 
 42 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. II. 
 
 Who fees with rapture the new fountains burft, 230 
 And, as he flakes his foul-fubduing thirft, 
 Blefles the hand which all his pains beguil'd, 
 And rais'd an Eden in the dreary wild : 
 Such praifes, LEO ! to thy name are due, 
 From all who Learning's cultur'd field review, 235 
 And to- its Fountain, in thy liberal heart, 
 Trace the diffufive Stream of modern Art. 
 'Twas not thy praife to animate alone 
 The fpeaking Cahvafs, and the breathing Stone, 
 Or tides of Bounty round Parnafiiis roll, 240 
 
 To quicken Genius in the Poet's foul ; 
 Thy Favour, like the Sun's prolific ray, 
 Brought the keen SCRIBE OF FLORENCE into Day; * 
 Whofe fubde Wit difcharg'd a dubious fhafc, 
 At once the Friend and Foe of Kingly Craft. 245 
 Thp% in his maze of Politics perplext, 
 <Great Names have differ'd on that doubtful text ; 
 
 * Ver. *. See NOTE XIII. 
 
 Here
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 43 
 
 Here crown'd with praife, as true to Virtue's fide, 
 There view'd with horror, as th' Aflaffin's guide ; 
 High in a purer fphere, he fhines afar, 250 
 
 And Hift'ry hails him as her Morning- ftar. 
 
 Nor lefs, O LEO ! was it thine to raife 
 The great Hfftoric Chief of modern days, * 
 The folemn GUICCIARDIN, whofe pen fevcre, 
 Unfway'd by favour, nor reftrain'd by fear, 255 
 
 Mark'd in his clofe of life, with keen difdain, 
 Each fatal blemifh in thy motley reign ; 
 Who, like OLORUS' Son, of fpirit chafte, 
 And form'd to martial toils, minutely trac'd 
 The woes he faw his bleeding country bear, 260 
 And wars, in which he claim'd no trivial fhare. 
 
 With equal wreaths let DAVILA be crown'd, f 
 Alike in letters and in arms renown'd ! 
 Who, from his country driv'n by dire mifchance, 
 Plung'd in the civil broils of bleeding France, 265 
 
 Ver. 453. See NOTE XIV. 
 t Ver. 262. See NOTE XV. 
 
 Maintaining
 
 44. ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 Maintaining dill, in Party's raging fea, 
 
 His judgment fteady, and his fpirit free ; 
 
 Save when the fierce religion of his Sires 
 
 Drown'd the foft zeal Humanity infpires : 
 
 Who boldly wrote, with fuch a faithful hand, 270 
 
 The tragic ftory of that foreign land, 
 
 The hoary Gallic Chief, whofe tranquil age 
 
 Liften'd with joy to his recording page, 
 
 Tracing the fcenes familiar to his youth, 
 
 Gave his ftrong fanction to th' Hiftorian's truth. 275 
 
 Oh Italy ! tho' drench'd with civil blood, 
 Tho' drown'd in Bigotry's foul-quenching flood, 
 Hiftoric Genius, in thy troubles nurft, 
 Ev'n from the darknefs of the Convent burft. 
 Venice may boaft eternal Honour, won 280 
 
 By the bright labours of her dauntlefs Son, 
 Whofe hand the curtains of the Conclave drew, 
 And gave each prieftly art to public view. 
 
 SARPI,
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 45 
 
 ^SARPI, bleft name ! from every foible clear, * 
 Not more to Science than to Virtue dear. 285 
 
 Thy pen, thy life, of equal praife fecure ! 
 Both wifely bold, and both fublimely pure! 
 That Freedom bids me on thy merits dwell, 
 Whofe radiant form illum'd thy letter'd cell ; 
 Who to thy hand the nobleft tafk aflign'd, 290 
 
 That earth can offer to a heavenly mind : 
 With Reafon's arms to guard invaded laws, 
 And guide the pen of Truth in Freedom's caufe. 
 Too firm of heart at Danger's cry to ftoop, 
 Nor Lucre's flave, nor vain Ambition's dupe, 295 
 Thro' length of days invariably the fame, 
 Thy Country's liberty thy conftant aim ! 
 For this thy fpirit dar'd th' AfTaffin's knife. 
 That with repeated guilt purfu'd thy life ; 
 For this thy fervent and unweary'd care 300 
 
 Form'd a ev'n in death, thy patriotic prayer, 
 
 Ver. a84. See NOTE XVI. 
 
 And,
 
 46 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. IT. 
 
 And, while his fhadows on thine eye-lids hung, 
 " Be it immortal !" trembled on thy tongue. 
 
 But not reftri&ed, by the partial Fates, 
 To the bright clufter of Italian States, 305 
 
 The light of Learning, and of liberal Tafte, 
 DifFufely (hone o'er Europe's Gothic wafte. 
 
 On Tagus* fhore, from whofe admiring ft rand 
 Great GAM A fail'd, when his advent'rous hand 
 The flag of glorious enterprize unfurl'd, 310 
 
 To purchafe with his toils the Eaftern world, 
 The clear OSORIUS, in his claflic phrafe, * 
 Portray 'd the Heroes of thofe happier days, 
 When Lufitania, once a mighty name, 
 Outflripp'd each rival in the chace of Fame : 315 
 Mild and majeftic, her Hiftorian's page 
 Shares in the glory of her brighteft age. 
 Iberia's Genius bids juft Fame allow 
 As bright a wreath to MARIANA'S brow : f 
 
 Ver. 312. See NOTE XVII. 
 t Ver. 319. See NOTE XVI H . 
 
 Skill'd
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 47 
 
 Skill'd to illuminate the diftant fcene, 320 
 
 In diction graceful, and of fpirit keen, 
 
 His labour, by his country's love endear'd, 
 
 The gloomy chaos of her Story clear'd. 
 
 He firft afpir'd its fcatter'd parts to clafs, 
 
 And bring to jufter form the mighty mafs ; 325 
 
 As the nice hand of Geographic art 
 
 Draws the vaft globe on a contracted chart, 
 
 Where Truth uninjur'd fees, with glad furprize, 
 
 Her fhape ftill perfect, tho' of fmaller fize. 
 
 Exalted Mind ! who felt the People's right, 33^ 
 
 In climes, where fouls are crufh'd by Kingly mighti 
 
 And dar'd, unaw'd before a tyrant's throrte, 
 
 To make the fan&ity of Freedom known ! 
 
 But fhort, O Genius ! is thy tranfient hour, 
 In the dark regions of defpotic Power. 335 
 
 As the faint ftruggle of the folar beam, 
 When vapours intercept the golden ftream, 
 Pouring thro' parted clouds a glancing fire, 
 Plays, in fhort triumph, on fome glittering fpire ; 
 
 10 But
 
 48 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. II. 
 
 But while the eye admires the partial ray, 340 
 
 The pale and watery luftre melts away : 
 
 Thus gleams of literary fplendor play'd, 
 
 And thus on Spain's o'erclouded realm decay'd : 
 
 While Holland, Liberty's immediate care, 
 
 Defy'd the preflure of Boeotian air, 345 
 
 Burft the oppreffive gloom around her hurl'd, 
 
 And drew attention from th' admiring world. 
 
 When, by long toils, her dauntlefs warriors broke 
 
 Their Spanifh bonds, and fpurn'd a bloody yoke, 
 
 In the bright moments of that blefled hour, 350 
 
 With talents equal to his Country's power, 
 
 The fervid GROTIUS to her glory rais'd* 
 
 A column, fplendid as the feats he prais'd j 
 
 Stifled his juft refentment, to beftow 
 
 A clear encomium on his private foe, 355 
 
 And honour'd in the Chief, who fav'd the State, 
 
 The rafh oppreflbr, who provok'd his hate. 
 
 Ver. 35 s, See NOTE XIX. 
 '-i Thou
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 49 
 
 Thou all-accomplifh'd Youth ! whofe early page 
 Charm'd the aftonifh'd eye of learned Age, 
 Let admiration of thy worth infpire 360 
 
 Such liberal praife, as echoed from thy lyre, 
 When Honour crown'd, by thy poetic hand, 
 The far-fam'd Scholar of thy native land ! 
 Learning ne'er faw, in all her numerous race, 
 A fon more worthy of her fond embrace : 365 
 
 Thy mind expanded to her empire's bound ; 
 There every Science a firm ftation found j 
 There gay and grave, in rare aflemblage, flione ; 
 A wonder, equall'd by thy heart alone ! 
 For, by enlighten'd Faith's prefiding care, 370 
 
 The rival Virtues were all marfhall'd there. 
 Worth fo tranfcendent, Heaven with fmiles furvey'd, 
 And with the choiceft of its gifts repaid ; 
 Gave thee a Partner of thy chequer'd fate, 
 Pure as thy Genius, and as firmly great; 375 
 
 With equal love, with equal courage warm, 
 A kindred Spirit in a fofter form : 
 
 VOL. II. E Thy
 
 50 E S S A Y O N H I S T O R Y. . EP. II. 
 
 Thy dear MARIA fhar'd thy captive hour, 
 
 She brav'd the vengeance of offended power; 
 
 And, with the fondnefs of Admetus' wife, 380 
 
 Reftor'd thy freedom at the rifle of life : 
 
 Her days were guarded by the Powers above ; 
 
 And thy jufl lyre immortaliz'd her love. 
 
 Ye peerlefs Couple ! tho' with wrongs oppreft, 
 
 In virtue happy, and by union bleft, 385 
 
 From Fame's fond lips your blended praife fhall flow, 
 
 While Excellence can find a friend below ; 
 
 While Love's chafte fires thro' human bofoms roll ; 
 
 While Liberty and Truth delight the foul ! 
 
 Your names, applauded by the fpacious earth, 390 
 
 Still dignify the land that boafts your birth ; 
 
 Tho' her tame Genius, Wealth's more willing flave, 
 
 Soon loft that mental fire, which Freedom gave, 
 
 Whofe brilliant flame in fickly languor dies, 
 
 Where'er the damps of Avarice arife : 395 
 
 Hence, tho' lefs free, yet true to Honour's aim, 
 
 France is more opulent in letter'd fame- 
 There,
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 51 
 
 There, in the dignity of virtuous Pride, 
 Thro' painful fcenes of public fervice try'd, 
 And keenly confcious of his Country's woes, 400 
 The liberal fpirit of THUANUS rofe : * 
 O'er Earth's wide ftage a curious eye he caft, 
 And caught the living pageant as it paft : 
 With patriot care moft eager to advance 
 The rights of Nature, and the weal of France ! 405 
 His language noble, as his temper clear 
 From Faction's rage, and Superftition's fear ! 
 In Wealth laborious ! amid Wrongs fedate ! 
 His Virtue lovely, as his Genius great ! 
 Ting'd with fome marks, that from his climate fpring, 
 He priz'd his Country, but ador'd his King ; 41 1 
 Yet with a zeal from flavifh awe refin'd, 
 Shone the clear model of a Gallic mind. 
 Thou friend of Science ! 'twas thy fignal praife, 
 A juft memorial of her Sons to raife j 415 
 
 * Ver. 401. See NOTE XX. 
 
 2 To
 
 52 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. II. 
 
 To blazon firft, on Hift'ry's brighter leaf, 
 The laurel'd Writer with- the laurel'd Chief! 
 
 But O ! pure Spirit ! what a fate was thine ! 
 How Truth and Reafon at thy wrongs repine ! 
 
 How blame thy King, tho' rob'd in Honour's ray, 420 
 Who left thy Fame to fubtle Priefts a prey, 
 And tamely faw their murky wiles o'erwhelm 
 Thy works, the light of his reviving realm ! 
 Tho' Pontiffs execrate, and Kings betray, 
 
 " Let not this fate your generous warmth allay, 425 
 Ye kindred Worthies ! who ftill dare to wield 
 Reafon's keen fword, and Toleration's fhield, 
 In climes where Perfection's iron mace 
 Is rais'd to maflacre the human race ! 
 The heart of Nature will your virtue feel, 430 
 
 And her immortal voice reward your zeal : 
 Firft in her praife her fearlefs champions live, 
 Grown'd with the nobleft palms that earth can give. 
 Firm in this band, who to her aid advance, 
 
 And high amid th' Hiftoric fons of France, 435 
 
 Delighted 

 
 Ep. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 53 
 
 Delighted Nature faw, with partial care, 
 The lively vigour of the gay VOLTAIRE ; 
 And fondly gave him, with ANACR EON'S fire, 
 To throw the hand of Age acrofs the lyre : 
 But mute that vary'd voice, which pleas'd fo long ! 440 
 Th' Hiftorian's tale is clos'd, the Poet's fong ! 
 Within the narrow tomb behold him lie, 
 Who fill'd fo large a fpace in Learning's eye ! 
 Thou Mind unweary'd ! thy long toils are o'er ; 
 Cenfure and Praife can touch thy ear no more : 445 
 Still let me breathe with juft regret thy name, ' 
 Lament thy foibles, and thy powers proclaim ! 
 
 On the wide fea of Letters 'twas thy boaft 
 To croud each fail, and touch at every coaft : 
 From that rich deep how often haft thou brought 450 
 The pure and precious pearls of fplendid Thought! 
 How didft thou triumph on that fubjecT>tide, 
 Till Vanity's wild guft, and ftormy Pride, 
 Drove thy ftrong bark, in evil hour, to fplit 
 Upon the fatal rock of impious Wit ! 455 
 
 E 3 But
 
 54 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 But be thy failings cover'd by thy tomb ! 
 And guardian laurels o'er thy aflies bloom ! 
 
 From the long annals of the world thy art, 
 With chemic procefs, drew the richer part j 
 To Hift'ry gave a philofophic air, 460 
 
 And made the intereft of mankind her care ; 
 Pleas'd her grave brow with garlands to adorn, 
 And from the rofe of Knowledge drip the thorn. 
 
 Thy lively Eloquence, in profe, in verfe, 
 Still keenly bright, and elegantly terfe, 465 
 
 Flames with bold fpirit ; yet is idly rafh : 
 Thy promis'd light is oft a dazzling flafh ; 
 Thy Wifdom verges to farcaftic fporr, 
 Satire thy joy ! and ridicule thy fort ! 
 But the gay Genius of the Gallic foil, 470 
 
 Shrinking from folemn rafks of ferious toil, 
 Thro* every fcene his playful air maintains, 
 And in the light Memoir unrival'd reigns. 
 
 Thy
 
 Ep.II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 55 
 
 Thy Wits, O France ! (as e'en thy Critics own) * 
 Support not Hiftory's majeftic tone ; 475 
 
 They, like thy Soldiers, want, in feats of length, 
 The perfevering foul of Britifh ftrength. 
 
 Hail to thee, Britain ! hail ! delightful land 1 
 I fpring with filial joy to reach thy ftrand : 
 And thou ! bleft nouriflier of Souls, fublime 480 
 As e'er immortaliz'd their native clime, 
 Rich in Poetic treafures, yet excufe 
 The trivial offering of an humble Mufe, 
 Who pants to add, with fears by love overcome, 
 Her mite of Glory to thy countlefs fum ! 485 
 
 With vary'd colours, of the richeft dye, 
 Fame's brilliant banners o'er thy Offspring fly : 
 In native Vigour bold, by Freedom led, 
 No path of Honour have they fail'd to tread : 
 But while they wifely plan, and bravely dare, 490 
 Their own achievements are their lateft care. 
 
 * Vcr. 474.. See NOTE XXI. 
 
 E 4 Tho'
 
 56 ESSAY ON HIS TORY. Ep. II. 
 
 Tho' CAMDEN, rich in Learning's various ftore, 
 
 Sought in Tradition's mine Truth's genuine ore, 
 
 The wafte of Hift'ry lay in lifelefs fhade, 
 
 Tho' RAWLEIGH'S piercing eye that world furvey'd. 
 
 Tho' mightier Names there caft a cafual glance, 496 
 
 They feem'd to faunter round the field by chance, 
 
 Till CLARENDON arofe, and in the hour 
 
 When civil Difcord wak'd each mental Power, 
 
 With brave defire to reach this diftant Goal, 500 
 
 Strain'd all the vigour of his manly foul. 
 
 Nor Truth, nor Freedom's injur'd Powers, allow 
 
 A wreath unfpotted to his haughty brow : 
 
 Friendfhip's firm fpirit ftill his fame exalts, 
 
 With fweet atonement for his letter faults. 505 
 
 His Pomp of Phrafe, his Period of a mile, 
 
 And all the maze of his bewilder 'd Style, 
 
 Illum'd by Warmth of Heart, no more offend : 
 
 What cannot Tafte forgive, in FALKLAND'S friend ? 
 
 Nor flow his praifes from this fingle fource ; 510 
 
 One province of his art difplays his force : 
 
 His
 
 Ep.IL ESSAY ON HISTORY. 57 
 
 His Portraits boaft, with features ftrongly like, 
 
 The foft precifion of the clear VANDYKE : 
 
 Tho', like the Painter, his, faint talents yield, 
 
 And fink embarrafs'd in the Epic field. 515 
 
 Yet fhall his labours long adorn our Ifle, 
 
 Like the proud glories of fome Gothic pile : 
 
 They, tho' conftrucled by a Bigot's hand, 
 
 Nor nicely finifli'd, nor correctly plann'd, 
 
 With folemn Majefty, and pious Gloom, 520 
 
 An awful influence o'er the mind aflume ; 
 
 And from the alien eyes of every Seel: 
 
 Attract obfervance, and command refpecl:. 
 
 In following years, when thy great name, NASSAU ! 
 Stampt the bleft deed of Liberty and Law ; 525 
 
 When clear, and guiltlefs of Oppreflion's rage, 
 There rofe in Britain an Auguftan age, 
 And clufter'd Wits, by emulation bright, 
 Diffus'd o'er ANNA'S reign their mental light; 
 That Conftellation feem'd, tho' ftrong its flame, 530 
 To want the fplendor of Hiftoric fame : 
 
 Yet
 
 58 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. II. 
 
 Yet BURNET'S pare may lafling glory hope, 
 Howe'er infulted by the fplcen of POPE. 
 Tho* his rough Language hafte and warmth denote, 
 With ardent Honefty of Soul he wrote j 535 
 
 Tho' critic cenfures on his work may fhower, 
 Like Faith, his Freedom has a faving power. 
 
 Nor fhalt thou want, RAPIN ! thy well-earn'd praife; 
 The fage POLYBIUS thou of modern days ! 
 Thy Sword, thy Pen, have both thy name endear'd ; 540 
 This join'd our Arms, and that our Story clear'd : 
 Thy foreign hand difcharg'd th' Hiftorian's truft, 
 Unfway'd by Party, and to Freedom juft. 
 To letter'd fame we own thy fair pretence, 
 From patient Labour, and from candid Senfe. 545 
 Yet Public Favour, ever hard to fix, 
 Flew from thy page, as heavy and prolix. 
 For foon, emerging from the Sophifts' fchool, 
 With Spirit eager, yet with Judgment cool, 
 With fubtle fkill to fteal upon applaufe, 550 
 
 And give falfe vigour to the weaker caufe j 
 
 9 T.
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 59 
 
 To paint a fpecious fcene with niceft art, 
 
 Retouch the whole, and varnifh every part ; 
 
 Graceful in Style, in Argument acute ; 
 
 Matter of every trick in keen Difpute ! 555 
 
 With thefe ftrong powers to form a winning tale, 
 
 And hide Deceit in Moderation's veil, 
 
 High on the pinnacle of Fafhion plac'd, 
 
 HUME fhone the idol of Hiftoric Tafte. . 
 
 Already, pierc'd by Freedom's fearching rays, 560 
 
 The waxen fabric of his fame decays. 
 
 Think not, keen Spirit ! that thefe hands prefume 
 
 To tear each leaf of laurel from thy tomb ! 
 
 Thefe hands ! which, if a heart of human frame 
 
 Could ftoop to harbour that ungenerous aim, 565 
 
 Would fliield thy Grave, and give, with guardian care, 
 
 Each type of Eloquence to flourish there ! 
 
 But Public Love commands the painful tafk, 
 
 From the pretended Sage to ftrip the mafk, 
 
 When his falfe tongue, averfe to Freedom's caufe, 570 
 
 Profanes the fpirit of her antient laws. 
 
 As
 
 60 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Er. II. 
 
 As Afia's foothing opiate Drugs, by fteajth, 
 
 Shake every flacken'd nerve, and fap the health ; 
 
 Thy Writings thus, with noxious charms refin'd. 
 
 Seeming to foothe its ills, unnerve the Mind. 575 
 
 While the keen cunning of thy hand pretends 
 
 To ftrike alone at Party's abject ends, 
 
 Our hearts more free from Faction's Weeds we feel, 
 
 JBut they have loft the Flower of Patriot Zeal. 
 
 Wild as thy feeble Metaphyfic page, 580 
 
 Thy Hift'ry rambles into Sceptic rage ; 
 
 Whofe giddy and fantaftic dreams abufe 
 
 A HAMPDEN'S Virtue, and a SHAKESPEAR'S Mufe. 
 
 With purer Spirit, free from Party ftrife, 
 To foothe his evening hour of honour'd life, 585 
 See candid LYTTELTON at length unfold 
 The deeds of Liberty in days of old ! 
 Fond of the theme, and narrative with age, 
 He winds the lengthen'd tale thro* many a page $ 
 But there the beams of Patriot Virtue fhine j 590 
 There Truth and Freedom fanctify the line, 
 
 And
 
 EP. II. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 61 
 
 And laurels, due to Civil Wifdom, fhield 
 This noble Neftor of th' Hiftoric field. 
 
 The living Names, who there difplay their power, 
 And give its glory to the prefent hour, 595 
 
 I pafs with mute regard ; in fear to fail, 
 Weighing their worth in a fufpe&ed fcale : 
 Thy right, Pofterity ! I facred hold, 
 To fix the {tamp on literary Gold ; 
 Bleft ! if this lighter Ore, which I prepare 600 
 
 For thy fupreme Afiay, with anxious care, 
 Thy current fandlion unimpeach'd enjoy, 
 As only tindhir'd with a flight alloy ! 
 
 END OF THE SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 EPISTLE
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 THE THIRD. 
 
 Ventum eft ad partem operis deftinati longe graviffimam - 
 nunc quoqne, licet major quam unquam moles premat, tamen 
 profpicienti finem mihi conftitutum eft vel deficere potius, 
 quam defperare - - - - noftra temeritas etiam mores ei cona- 
 bitur dare, et affignabit officia. 
 
 QUINTJL. Lib. xii.
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 OF THE THIRD EPISTLE. 
 
 The four ces of the chief defers in Hijlory Vanity, na- 
 tional and private Flattery, and her various arts 
 Party-fpirlt Superjlition and falfe Philofopky. 
 Char after of the accompli jti d Hijl or i an. The Laws 
 of Hijlory. Style. Importance ofthefubjeft. Fai- 
 lure of.KtfoLLEsfrom a fubjeft ill chofen. Danger 
 cf dwelling on the dijlant and minute parts of a fub- 
 jett really interefting Failure of MILTON in this 
 particular. The worjl dcfet of an Hijlorian, a 
 fyftem of Tyranny InJIance in BRADY. Want of a 
 General Hi/lory of England: Wijh for its accom- 
 plijhment. Ufe and Delight of other Hijlories of 
 Rome. Labour of the Hijlorian Cavils again ft 
 him. Concern for GIBBON'S irreligious fpirit 
 The idle cenfurf of his pajjion for Fame Defence of 
 that pajjion. Condufan.
 
 A N 
 
 E S SAY 
 
 O N 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 EPISTLE III. 
 
 O A Y thou ! whofe eye has, like the Lynx's beam, 
 Pierc'd the deep windings of this mazy ftream, 
 Say, from what fource the various Poifons glide, 
 That darken Hiftory's difcolour'd tide ; 
 Whofe purer waters to the mind difpenfe 5 
 
 The wealth of Virtue, and the fruits of Senfe ! 
 Thefe Poifons flow, colle&ive and apart, 
 From Public Vanity, and Private Art. 
 VOL. II, F At
 
 66 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. III. 
 
 At firft Delufion built her fafe retreat 
 
 On the broad bafe of National Conceit : IO 
 
 Nations, like Men, in Flattery confide, 
 
 The flaves of Fancy, and the dupes of Pride. 
 
 Each petty region of the peopled earth, 
 
 Howe'er debas'd by intellectual dearth, 
 
 Still proudly boafted of her claims to fhare 15 
 
 The richeft portion of celeftial care : 
 
 For her flie faw the rival Gods engage, 
 
 And Heaven convuls'd with elemental rage. 
 
 To her the thunder's roar, the lightning's fire, 
 
 Confirm'd their favour, or denounc'd their ire. 2O 
 
 To feize this foible, daring Hift'r-y threw 
 
 Illufive terrors o'er each fcene (he drew ; 
 
 Nor would her fpirit, in the heat of youth, 
 
 Watch, with a Veftal's care, the lamp of Truth ; 
 
 But, wildly mounting in a Witch's form, 25 
 
 Her voice delighted to condenfe the ftorm ; 
 
 With fhowers of blood th' aftonifh'd earth to drench* 
 
 The frame of Nature from its bale to wrench j. 
 
 In
 
 EP. III. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 67 
 
 In Horror's veil involve her plain events, 
 
 And fhake th' affrighted world with dire portents.* 30 
 
 Still fofter arts her fubtle fpirit try'd, 
 
 To win the eafy faith of Public Pride : 
 
 She told what Powers, in times of early date, 
 
 Gave confecration to the infant State ; 
 
 Mark'd the bleft fpot by facred Founders trod, 35 
 
 And all th' atchievements of the guardian God. 
 
 Thus while, like Fame, fhe refts upon the land, 
 
 Her figure grows j her magic limbs expand ; 
 
 Her tow'ring head, to high Olympus toft, 
 
 Pierces the fky, and in that blaze is loft. 40 
 
 Yet bold Philofophy at length deftroy'd 
 The brilliant phantoms of th' Hiftoric void j 
 Her fcrutinizing eye, whofe fearch fevere 
 Rivals the prefTure of Ithuriel's fpear, 
 Permits no fraudful femblance to efcape, 45 
 
 But turns each Marvel to its real fliape. 
 
 * Ver. 30. See NOTE I. 
 
 F 2 The
 
 68 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. III. 
 
 The blazing meteors fall from Hift'ry's fphere ; 
 
 Her darling Demi-gods no more appear ; 
 
 No more the Nations, with heroic joy, 
 
 Boaft their defceht from Heaven-defcended Troy : 50 
 
 On FRANCIO now the Gallic page is mute,* 
 
 And Britifli Story drops the name of BRUTE. 
 
 What other failings from this fountain flow'd, 
 
 Ill-meafur'd fame on martial feats beftow'd, 
 
 And heaps, enlarg'd to mountains of the flain, 55 
 
 The miracles of valour, ftill remain. 
 
 But of all faults, that injur'd Truth may blame, 
 
 Thofe proud miftakes the firft indulgence claim, 
 
 Where Public Zeal the ardent Pen betrays, 
 
 And Patriot Pafiions fwell the partial praife. 60 
 
 Ev'n private Vanity may pardon find, 
 
 When built on Worth, and with Inftruflion join'd : 
 
 In Britifli Annalifts more rarely found, 
 
 This venial foible fprings on foreign ground ; 
 
 * Ver. ji. See NOTE II. 
 
 'Tis
 
 P. III. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 69 
 
 'Tis theirs, who fcribble near the Seine or Loire, 65 
 Thofe lively Heroes of the light Memoir ! 
 Defe&s more hateful to ingenuous eyes, 
 In Adulation's fervile arts arife : 
 Mean Child of Int'reft ! as her Parent bafe ! 
 Her charms Deformity ! her wealth Diigrace ! 70 
 Dimm'd by her breath, the light of Learning fades ; 
 Her breath the wifeft of mankind degrades, 
 And BACON'S felf, for mental glory born, * 
 Meets, as her flave, our pity, or our fcorn. 
 Unhappy Genius ! in whofe wond'rous mind 75 
 
 The fordid Reptile and the Seraph join'd j 
 Now traverfing the worid on Wifdom's wings, 
 Now bafely crouching to the laft of Kings : 
 Thy fault, which Freedom with regret furveys, 
 This ufeful Truth, in ftrongeft light, difplays j 80 
 That not fufficient are thofe fliining parts, 
 Which flied new radiance o'er concenter'd arts ; 
 
 * Ver, 73. See NOTE- III. 
 
 F 3 To
 
 7 o ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 To reach with glory the Hiftoric goal 
 
 Demands a firm, an independent foul, 
 
 An eagle-eye, that with undazzled gaze 85 
 
 Can look on Majefty's meridian blaze. 
 
 But Adulation, in the worft of times, 
 
 Throws her broad mantle o'er imperial crimes ; 
 
 In Hift'ry's field, her abjea toils delight 
 
 To fhut the fcenes of Nature from our fight, 90 
 
 Each human Virtue in one mafs to fling, 
 
 And of that mountain make the ftatue of a King. * 
 
 Yet oft her labours, flighted or abhorr'd, 
 
 Receive in prefent fcorn their juft reward ; 
 
 Scorn from that Idol, at whofe feet (he lays 95 
 
 The fordid offering of her venal praife. 
 
 As crown'd with Indian laurels, nobly won, f 
 His conqueft ended, Philip's warlike Son 
 Sail'd down th' Hydafpes in a voyage of fport, 
 The chief Hiftorian of his fumptuous court 100 
 
 * Ver. 92. See NOTE IV. 
 f Ver. 97. See N O T E V. 
 
 Read
 
 Ep.IIL ESSAY ON HISTORY. 71 
 
 Read his defcription of the fingle fight, 
 
 Where Porus yielded to young Ammon's might ; 
 
 And, like a Scribe in courtly arts adroit, 
 
 Moft largely magnify'd his Lord's exploit ; 
 
 Tho' ever on the ftretch to Glory's goal, 105 
 
 Fame the firft paffion of his fiery foul ! 
 
 Fierce from his feat the indignant Hero fprung, 
 
 And o'er the veflel's fide the volume flung ; 
 
 Then, as he faw the fawning Scribler (brink, 
 
 " Thus fhould the Author with his Writing fink, 1 10 
 
 " Who ftifles Truth in Flattery's difguife, 
 
 " And buries honeft Fame beneath a load of Lies. " 
 
 But modern Princes, having lefs to lofe, 
 Rarely thefe infults on their name accufe : 
 In Dedications quietly inurn'd, * 115 
 
 They take more lying Praife than Ammon fpurn'd ; 
 And Learning's pliant Sons, to flattery prone, 
 Bend with fuch blind obeifance to the throne, 
 
 Ver. 115. See NOTE VI, 
 
 F 4 The
 
 72 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. III/. 
 
 The bafeft King that ever curfl the earth, 
 
 Finds many a witnefs to atteft his worth : 120 
 
 Tho' dead, flill flatter'd by fome abjea flave, 
 
 He fpreads contagious poifon from his grave, 
 
 While fordid hopes th' Hiftorian's hand entice 
 
 To varnifh ev'n the tomb of Royal Vice. 
 
 Tho' Nature wept with defolated Spain, 125 
 
 In tears of blood, the fecond Philip's reign ; 
 Tho' fuch deep fins deform'd his fullen mind, 
 As merit execration from mankind : 
 A mighty empire by his crimes undone ; 
 A people maflacred ; a murder'd fon : 130 
 
 Tho' Heaven's difpleafure ftopt his parting breath, 
 To bear long loathfome pangs of hideous death ; 
 Flattery can ftill the Ruffian's praife repeat, 
 And call this Wafter of the earth difcreet : 
 Still can HERRERA, mourning o'er his urn,* 135 
 His dying pangs to blifsful rapture turn, 
 
 Ver. 13*. See NOTE VII. 
 
 And
 
 Ep.III. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 73 
 
 And paint the King, from earth by curfes driven, 
 A Saint, accepted by approving Heaven ! 
 
 But arts of deeper guile, and bafer wrong, 
 To Adulation's fubtle Scribes belong : 140 
 
 They oft, their prefent idols to exalt, 
 Profanely burft the confecrated vault ; 
 Steal from the buried Chief bright Honour's plume, 
 Or (lain with Slander's gall the Statefman's tomb : 
 Stay, facrilegious flaves ! with reverence tread 145 
 -O'er the bleft afhes of the worthy dead ! 
 See ! where, uninjur'd by the charnel's damp, 
 The Veftal, Virtue, with undying lamp, 
 Fond of her toil, and jealous of her truft, 
 Sits the keen Guardian of their facred duft, 150 
 
 And thus indignant, from the depth of earth, 
 Checks your vile aim, and vindicates their worth : 
 " Hence ye ! who buried excellence belied, 
 " To footh the fordid fpleen of living Pride; 
 " Go ! gild with Adulation's feeble ray 155 
 
 " Th' imperial pageant of your pafling day ! 
 
 "Nor
 
 74 ESSAY ON HISTORY. Ep. III. 
 
 tt Nor hope to ftain, on bafe Detraction's fcroll, 
 " A TULLY'S morals, or a SIDNEY'S foul ! " * 
 Juft Nature will abhor, and Virtue fcorn, 
 That Pen, tho' eloquence its page adorn, 160 
 
 Which, brib'd by Intereft, or from vain pretence 
 To fubtler Wit, and deep-difcerning Senfe, 
 Would blot the praife on public toils beftow'd, 
 And Patriot pailions, as a jeft, explode. 
 
 Lefs abject failings fpring from Party-rage, 165 
 The peft rhoft frequent in th' Hiftoric page ; 
 That common jaundice of the turbid brain, 
 Which leaves the heart unconfcious of a ftain, 
 Yet fuffers not the clouded mind to view 
 Or men, or a&ions, in their native hue : 170 
 
 For Party mingles, in her feverifh dreams, 
 Credulity and Doubt's moft wild extremes : 
 She gazes thro' a glafs, whofe different ends 
 Reduce her foes, and magnify her friends : 
 
 Ver. 158. See NO TE VIII. 
 
 9 Delufion
 
 Lp.IIL ESSAY ON HISTORY. 75 
 
 Delufion ever on her fpirit dwells ; 1-5 
 
 And to the worft excefs its fury fwells, 
 When Superftition's raging paflions roll 
 Their favage frenzy thro' the Bigot's foul. 
 
 Nor lefs the blemifh, tho' of different kind, * 
 From falfe Philofophy's conceits refin'd ! 180 
 
 Her fubtie influence, on Hiftory filed, 
 Strikes the fine nerve of Admiration dead, 
 (That nerve defpis'd by fceptic fons of earth, 
 Yet ftill a vital fpring of human worth.) 
 This artful juggler, with a fkill fo nice, 185 
 
 Shifts the light forms of Virtue and of Vice, 
 That, ere they wake abhorrence or delight, 
 Behold ! they both are vanifh'd-from the fight ; 
 And Nature's warm afFe&ions, thus deftroy'd, 
 Leave in the puzzled mind a lifelefs void. 190 
 
 Far other views the liberal Genius fire, 
 Whofe toils to pure Hiftoric praife afpire ; 
 
 Ver. 179. See NOTE IX. 
 
 Nor
 
 7 6 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Nor Moderation's dupe, nor Fadion's brave, 
 
 Nor Guilt's apologift, nor Flattery's flave : 
 
 Wife, but not cunning ; temperate, not cold ; 195 
 
 Servant of Truth, and in that fervice bold j 
 
 Free from all bias, fave that juft controul 
 
 By which mild Nature fways the manly foul, 
 
 And Reafon's philanthropic fpirit draws 
 
 To Virtue's intereft, and Freedom's caufe ; 20O 
 
 Thofe great ennoblers of the human name, 
 
 Pure fprings of Power, of Happinefs, and Fame ! 
 
 To teach their influence, and fpread their fway, 
 
 The juft Hiftorian winds his toilfome way ; 
 
 From filent darknefs, creeping o'er the earth, 205 
 
 Redeems the finking trace of ufeful worth ; 
 
 In Vice's bofom marks the latent thorn, 
 
 And brands that public peft with public fcorn. 
 
 A lively teacher in a moral fchool ! 
 
 In that great office fteady, clear, and cool ! 210 
 
 Pleas'd to promote the welfare of mankind, 
 
 And by informing meliorate the mind ! 
 
 Such
 
 EP.IH. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 77 
 
 Such the bright tafk committed to his care ! 
 Boundlefs its ufe - y but its completion rare. 
 
 Critics have faid " Tho' high th' Hiftorian's charge, 
 His Laws are fimple tho' his Province large ; 216 
 Two obvious rules enfure his full fuccefs 
 To fpeak no Falfehood ; and no Truth fupprefs : * 
 Art muft to other works a luftre lend, 
 But Hiftory pleafes, howfoe'er it's penn'd. " 220 
 
 Perchance in ruder periods ; but in thofe, 
 Where all the luxury of Learning flows, 
 To Truth's plain fare no palate will fubmit, 
 Each reader grows an Epicure in Wit ; 
 And Knowledge muft his nicer tafte beguile 225 
 With all the poignant charms of Attic ftyle. 
 The curious Scholar, in his judgment choice, 
 Expects no common Notes from Hiftory's voice j 
 But all the tones, that all the paflions fuit, 
 From the bold Trumpet to the tender Lute : 230 
 
 * Ver. 218. See NOTE X. 
 10 Yefc
 
 78 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Yet if thro' Mufic's fcale her voice fhould range, 
 
 Now high, now low, with many a.pleafmg change, 
 
 Grace muft thro' every variation glide, 
 
 In every movement Majefty prefide : 
 
 With eafe not carelefs, tho* correct not cold ; 235 
 
 Soft without languor, without harfhnefs bold. 
 
 Tho' Affectation can all works debafe, 
 In Language, as in Life, the bane of Grace ! 
 Regarded ever with a fcornful fmile, 
 She moft is cenfur'd in th' Hiftoric ftyle : 240 
 
 Yet her infmuating power is fuch, 
 Not ev'n the Greeks efcap'd her baleful touch ; 
 Hence the fictitious Speech, and long Harangue, 
 Too oft, like weights, on ancient Story hang. 
 Lefs fond of labour, modern Pens devife 245 
 
 Affected beauties of inferior fize : 
 They in a narrower compafs boldly frrike 
 The fancied Portrait, with no feature like ; 
 And Nature's fimple colouring vainly quit, 
 To boafl die brilliant glare of fading Wit. 250 
 
 Thofe
 
 EP. III. ES.SAY ON HISTORY. 79 
 Thofe works alone may that bleft fate expect 
 To live thro' time, unconfcious of neglect, 
 That catch, in fpringing from no fordid fource, 
 The eafe of Nature, and of Truth the force. 
 
 But not ev'n Truth, with bright expreffion grac'd, 
 Nor all Defcription's powers, in lucid order plac'd, 256 
 Not even thefe a fond regard engage, 
 Or bind attention to th' Hiftoric page, 
 If diftant tribes compofe th' ill-chofen Theme, 
 Whofe favage virtues wake no warm efteem ; 260 
 \Vhere Faith and Valour fpring from Honour's grave, 
 Only to form th' Aflaffin and the Slave. 
 From Turkifh tyrants, ftain'd with fervile gore, 
 Enquiry turns - 3 and Learning's fighs deplore, 
 While o'er his name Neglect's cold fliadow rolls, 265 
 A wafte of Genius in the toil of KNOLL ES. * 
 There are, we own, whofe magic power is fuch, 
 Their hands embellifli whatfoe'er they touch : 
 
 * Ver, 266, Sec NOTE XI. 
 
 Their
 
 So ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Their bright Mofaic fo enchants our eyes, 
 
 By nice Arrangement, and contrafted Dies, 270 
 
 What mean materials in the texture lurk, 
 
 Serve but to raife the wonder of the work. 
 
 Yet from th' Hiftorian (as fuch power is rare) 
 
 The choice of Matter claims no trifling care. 
 
 >Tis not alone collefted Wealth's'difplay, 275 
 Nor the proud fabric of extended Sway, 
 That mark (tho' both the eye of Wonder fill) 
 The happy Subjed for Hiftoric (kill : 
 Wherever Nature, tho' in narrow fpace, 
 Fofters, by Freedom's aid, a liberal race ; 280 
 
 Sees Virtue fave them from Oppreffion's den, 
 And cries with exultation, " Thefe are Men ;" 
 Tho' in Boeotia or Batavia born, 
 Their deeds the Story of the World adorn. 
 
 The Subject fix'd, with force and beauty fraught, 
 Juft Difpofition claims yet deeper thought j 286 
 
 To caft enlivening Order's lucid grace 
 O'er all the crouded fields of Time and Space ; 
 
 To
 
 Ep.III. ESSAY ON HISTORY. Si 
 
 To fhew each wheel of Power in all its force, 
 
 And trace the ftreams of Aftion from their fource ; 
 
 To catch, with fpirit and precifion join'd, 291 
 
 The varying features of the human Mind j 
 
 The Grace, the Strength, that Nature's children draw 
 
 From Arts, from Science, Policy, and Law j 
 
 Opinion's fafhion, Wifdom's firmer plan, 295 
 
 And all that marks the character of Man. 
 
 Of all the parts, that Hiftory's volume fill, 
 
 The juft Digreflion claims the niceft fkill j 
 
 As the fwift Hero, in the Olympic race, 
 
 .Ran with lefs toil along the open fpace ; ?QQ 
 
 But round the Goal to form the narrow curve, 
 
 Call'd forth his utmoft ftrength from every nerve. 
 
 The Subject's various powers let Study tell ! 
 And teach th' Hiftorian on what points to dwell f 
 How in due fliades to fink each meaner part, 305 
 And pour on nobler forms the radiance of his art ! 
 Tho' Patriot Love the curious fpirit fires 
 With thirft to hear th' atchieveinents of his Sires ; ' 
 
 VOL. II. G And
 
 82, ESSAYONHISTO R Y. EP. III. 
 
 And Britifh ftory wins the Britifh mind 
 
 With all the charms that fond attention bind ; 310 
 
 Its early periods, barbarous and remote, 
 
 Pleafe not, tho' drawn by Pens of nobleft note : 
 
 O'er,thofe rude fcenes Confufion's fhadows dwell, 
 
 Beyond the power of Genius to difpell j 
 
 Mifts ! which ev'n MILTON'S fplendid mind enfhroud ; 
 
 Jjoft in the darknefs of the Saxon cloud ! 316 
 
 Negleft alone repays their flight offence, 
 Whofe wand'ring wearies our bewilder'd fenfe : 
 But juft Abhorrence brands his guilty name, 
 Who dares to vilify his Country's fame ; 320 
 
 With Slander's rage the pen of Hiftory grafp, 
 And pour from thence the poifon of the Afp j 
 The murd'rous falfehood, fti fling Honour's breath ! 
 The flavifh tenet, Public Virtue's death ! 
 With all that undermines a Nation's health, 325 
 
 And robs the People of their richeft wealth ! 
 Ye tools of Tyranny ! whofe fervile guile 
 Would thus pollute the records of our ifle, 
 
 Behold
 
 Ep.m. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 83 
 
 Behold your Leader curft with public hate, 
 
 And read your juft reward in BRADY'S fate ! * 330 
 
 O facred Liberty ! fhall Faction's train 
 Pervert the reverend archives of thy reign ? 
 Shall flaves traduce the blood thy votaries fpilt, 
 Blafpheming Glory with the name of Guilt ? 
 And fhall no Son of thine their wiles o'erwhelm, 335 
 And clear the ftory of thy injur'd realm ? 
 To this bright tafk fome Britifh fpirit raife, 
 With powers furpafling ev'n a LIVY'S praife ! 
 Thro' this long wildernefs his march infpire, 
 And make thy temperate flame his leading fire ! 340 
 Teach his keen eye, and comprehenfive foul, 
 To pierce each darker part, and grafp the whole ! 
 Let Truth's undoubted fignet feal his page, 
 And Glory guard the work from age to age ! 
 That Britifh minds from this pure fource may draw 345 
 Senfe of thy Rights, and pailion for thy Law, 
 
 * Ver. 330. See NOTE XII. 
 
 G 2 Wifdom
 
 8 4 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Wifdom to prize, and Honour, that afpires 
 To reach that virtue which adorn'd our Sires ! 
 
 But not alone our native land attracts j 
 Far different Nations boaft their fplendid facls : 350 
 In ancient Story the rich fruits unite 
 Of civil Wifdom and fublime Delight : 
 At Rome's proud name Attention's fpirits rife, 
 Rome, the firft idol of our infant eyes ! 
 Ufe and Importance mark the vaft defign, 355 
 
 Clearly to trace her periods of Decline. 
 Yet here, O GIBBON ! what long toils enfue ? 
 How winds the labyrinth ? how fails the clue ? 
 Tho' rude materials Time's deep trenches fill, 
 A radiant ftruclure rifes from thy {kill j 369 
 
 Whofe fplendor, fpringing from a dreary wafte, 
 Enchants the wondering eye of Public Tafte. 
 Thus to the ancient traveller, whofe way 
 Acrofs the hideous fands of Syria lay, 
 The Defart blaz'd with fudden glory bright ; 365 
 And rich Palmyra rufh'd upon his fight. 
 
 But
 
 Ep.m. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 85 
 
 But O ! what foes befet each honour'd Name, 
 Advancing in the path of letter'd fame ! 
 To flop thy progrefs, and infult thy pen, 
 The fierce Polemic ifTues from his den. 370 
 
 Think not my Verfe means blindly to engage 
 In rafh defence of thy profaner page ! 
 Tho' keen her fpirit, her attachment fond, 
 Bafe fervice cannot fuit with Friend/hip's bond ; 
 Too firm from Duty's facred path to turn, 375 
 
 She breathes an honeft figh of deep concern, 
 And pities Genius, when his wild career 
 Gives Faith a wound, or. Innocence a fear. 
 Humility herfelf, divinely mild, 
 
 Sublime Religion's meek and modeft child, 380 
 
 Like the dumb Son of CROESUS, in the ftrife, * 
 Where Force affail'd his Father's facred life, 
 Breaks filence, and, with filial duty warm, 
 Bids thee revere her Parent's hallow'd form ! 
 
 . Ver. 381. See NOTE XHI. 
 
 G 3 Far
 
 86 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Far other founds the ear of Learning ftun, 385 
 From proud Theology's contentious Son ; 
 Lefs eager to correct, than to revile, * 
 Rage in his voice ! and Rancour in his ftyle ! 
 His idle feoffs with coarfe reproof deride 
 Thy generous thirft of Praife, and liberal Pride ; 390 
 Since thy frank fpirit dares that wifh avow, 
 Which Nature owns, and Wifdom muft allow ! 
 The noble Inftind, Love of lafting Fame, f 
 Was wifely planted in the human frame : 
 From hence the brighteft rays of Hiftory flow ; 395 
 To this their Vigour and their Ufe they owe. 
 Nor fcorns fair Virtue this untainted fource, 
 From hence ihe often draws her lovely force : 
 For Heaven this paflion with our life combin'd, 
 Which, like a central power, impels the languid mind. 
 When, clear from Envy's cloud, that general peft ! 401 
 It burns moft brightly in the Author's breaft, 
 
 * Ver. 387. Sec NOTE XIV. 
 f Ver. 393. See NOTE XV. 
 
 6 Its
 
 Ep.m. ESSAY ON HISTORY. 87 
 
 Its foothing hopes his various pains beguile, 
 And give to Learning's face her fweeteft fmile : 
 What joy, to think his Genius may create 405 
 
 Exiftence far beyond the common date ! 
 His Wealth of Mind to lateft ages give* 
 And in Futurity's affection live ! 
 From unborn beauty, ftill to Fancy dear, 
 Draw with foft magic the delightful tear} 410 
 
 Or thro' the bofom of far diftant Youth, 
 Spread the warm glow of Liberty and Truth ! 
 O GIBBON ! by thy frank ambition taught, 
 Let me like thee maintain th' enlivening thought, 
 That, from Oblivion's killing cloud fecure$ 415 
 
 My Hope may profper and my Verfe endure : 
 While thy bright Name, on Hiilory's car fublime, 
 Rolls in juft triumph o'er the field of Time, 
 May I, unfaltering, thy long march attend, 
 No flattering Slave ! but an applauding Friend ! 420 
 G 4 Difplay
 
 88 ESSAY ON HISTORY. EP. III. 
 
 Difplay th' imperfeft fketch I fondly drew, 
 Of that wide province, where thy laurels grew ; 
 And, honour'd with a wreath of humbler bays, 
 Join the loud Paean of thy lafting praife ! 
 
 END OP THE THIRD EPISTLE. 
 
 NOTES,
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Indofti difcant et ament meminifle periti.
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST EPISTLE, 
 
 NOTE I. VERSE 4. 
 ' unfailing urns of Pra'ife and Cenfurejland.] 
 
 t' STEOOS SI idui/* 
 
 Two urns by Jove's high throne haveeverftood, 
 The fource of evil one, and one of good. 
 
 POPE'S Iliad xxiv. v. 663. 
 
 NOTE
 
 92 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE II. VERSE 55. 
 
 Tet one excelling Greek^ &c.] Dionyfius of 
 HalicarnafTus, the celebrated hiltorian and critic 
 of the Auguftan age, who fettled in Italy, as 
 he himfelf informs us, on the clofe of the civil 
 
 war. He has addrefled a little treatife, contain- 
 
 
 ing a critique on the elder hiftorians, to his 
 
 friend Cnaeus Pompeius, whom the French cri- 
 tics fuppofe to be Pompey the Great ; but Reifke, 
 the laft editor of Dionyfius, has funk him into 
 a petty Greek grammarian, the client or freed- 
 man of that illuftrious Roman. 
 
 In this treatife of Dionyfius, and in one ftill 
 longer, on the character of Thucydides, there 
 are fome excellent hiftorical precepts, which Mr. 
 Spelman has judicioufly thrown together in the 
 preface to his admirable tranflation of the Roman 
 Antiquities. He introduces them by the fol- 
 lowing obfervation, which may ferve perhaps 
 to recommend the fubjet of the prefent poem. 
 *' So much has been faid, both by the antients 
 
 and
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 93 
 
 and the moderns, in praife of the advantages re- 
 fulting from the ftudy of Hiftory, particularly 
 by Diodorus Siculus among the former, in the 
 noble preface to his Hiftorical Collections j and 
 by the late Lord Bolingbroke, among the mo- 
 derns, in his admirable letter on that fubjecT: ; 
 that I am aftonifhed no treatife has ever yet ap- 
 peared in any age, or any language, profefledly 
 written to prefcribe rules for writing Hiftory ; 
 a work allowed to be of the greateft advan- 
 tage of all others to mankind, the repofitory of 
 truth, fraught with leflbns both of public and 
 private virtue, and enforced by ftronger motives 
 than precepts by examples. Rules for Poetry 
 and Rhetoric have been written by many au 
 thors^ both antient and modern, as if delight 
 and eloquence were of greater confequence 
 than inftruclion : however, Rhetoric was a part 
 of Hiftory, as treated by the antients ; not the 
 principal part indeed, but fubfervient to the prin- 
 cipal ; and calculated to apply the facls exhibited 
 by the narration. I know it may be faid, that 
 many antient hiftories are ftill preferved, and 
 7 that
 
 94 NOTES TO THE 
 
 that thefe models are fufficient guides for mo- 
 dern Hiftorians, without particular rules : fo had 
 the Greeks Poets of all denominations in their 
 hands, and yet Ariftotle thought it necefiary to 
 prefcribe particular rules to his countrymen for 
 applying thofe examples to every branch of 
 Poetry : I wifh he had done the fame in Hiftory ; 
 if he had, it is very probable that his precepts 
 would have rendered the beft of our modern 
 Hiftories more perfect, and the word, lefs abo- 
 minable. Since the refurre&ion of letters, the 
 want of fuch a guide has been complained of by 
 many authors, and particularly by Rapin, in the 
 preface to his Hiftory of England." Spelman, 
 page 15. But this ingenious and learned wri- 
 ter fpeaks a little too ftrongly, in faying no treatife 
 has ever appeared in any age or language, con- 
 taining rules for Hiftory. There is one in Latin 
 by the celebrated Voflius, entitled Ars Hiftori- 
 caj another by Hubertus Folieta, an elegant 
 Latin writer, of the i6th century, on whom 
 Thuanus beftows the higheft commendation ; 
 and Mafcardi, an Italian critic, patronifed by 
 
 Cardinal
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 95 
 
 Cardinal Mazarine, has written alfo dell Arte 
 Hiftorica. The curious reader may find a fin- 
 gular anecdote relating to the publication of this 
 work in Bayle, under the article Mafcardi. But 
 to return to Dionyfius. In comparing Hero- 
 dotus and Thucydides, he cenfures the latter 
 with a degree of feverity unwarranted by truth 
 and reafon : indeed this feverity appeared fo 
 ftriking to the learned Fabricius, that he feems 
 to confider it as a kind of proof, that the cri- 
 tical works of Dionyfius were compofed in th* 
 hafty fervor of youth. They are however in 
 general, to ufe the words of the fame ingenious 
 author, eximia & le&u digna ; and a valuable 
 critic of our own country, who refembles Diony- 
 fius in elegance of compofition, and perhaps in 
 feverity of judgment, has fpoken yet more warm- 
 ly in their favour. See Warton's EfTay on 
 Pope, 3d edit, page 175. 
 
 NOTE
 
 9 6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE III. VZRSE 63. 
 
 Ar.dLucian! tbou^ ef Humour's fens fupreme f] 
 The little treatife of Lucian "How Hiftory 
 fhould be written," may be confidered as one of 
 the moft valuable productions of that lively au- 
 thor ; it is not only written with great vivacity 
 and wit, but is entitled to the fuperior praife of 
 breathing moft exalted fentiments of liberty and 
 virtue. There is a peculiar kind of fublimity in 
 his defcription of an accomplifhed Hiftorian. 
 
 xxt 
 roe. iruxa, <rux, 
 
 TOU pu a-^w TI a7rovjt*a 
 svo? IK roif fjoAjoK, xa 
 ou T TW& T
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 97 
 
 It is a piece of juftice due to our own country 
 to remark, that in the 3d volume of the World, 
 there is a ludicrous eflay on Hiftory by Mr. 
 Cambridge, which is written with all the fpirit 
 and all the humour of Lucian. 
 
 NOTE IV. ' VERSE 68. 
 
 And rofe a Xenopbon in felf-efteem.~\ 
 nj 2% HTTOoiav (rvyygoicpt^ p&XXov $s 
 y.xi HPOJOTOI, KOH ZiixXpuvTs; npiv onravT;;. 
 
 LUCIAN. edit. Riollay, p. 6. 
 
 NOTE V, VERSE 77. 
 
 In Egypt once a dread tribunal flood.] This 
 fingular inftitution, which is alluded to by many 
 of our late authors, is related at large in the Firft 
 Book of Diodorus Siculus ; and as the pafTage is 
 curious, the following free tranflation of it may 
 afford entertainment to the Englifh reader 
 " Thofe who prepare to bury a relation, give 
 notice of the day intended for the ceremony to 
 the judges, and to all the friends of the deceafed ; 
 informing them, that the body will pafs over the 
 VOL. II. H lake
 
 98 NOTES TO THE 
 
 lake of that difrricT: to which the dead belonged : 
 when, on thejudges being aflembled, to the num- 
 ber of more than forty, and ranging themfelves 
 in a femicircle on the farther fide of the lake,, 
 the veflel is fet afloat, which thofe who fuperin- 
 tend the funeral have prepared for this purpofe. 
 This veflel is managed by a pilot, called in the 
 Egyptian language Charon - y and hence they fay, 
 that Orpheus, travelling in old times into Egypt, 
 and feeing this ceremony, formed his fable of the 
 infernal regions, partly from what he faw, and 
 partly from invention. The veflel being launch- 
 ed on the lake, before the coffin which contains 
 the body is put on board, the law permits all, who 
 are fo inclined, to produce an accufation againfc 
 it.> If any one fteps forth, and proves that the 
 deceafed has led an evil life, thejudges pronounce 
 fenterice, and the body is precluded from burial ; 
 but if the accufer is convicted of injuftice in his 
 charge, he falls himfelf under a confiderable pe- 
 nalty. When no accufer appears, or when the 
 accufer is proved to be an unfair one, the rela- 
 tion's, who are aflembled, change their exprefiions 
 
 of
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 99 
 
 of forrow into encomiums on the dead : yet they 
 do not, like the Greeks, fpeak in honour of his 
 family, becaufe they confider all Egyptians as 
 equally well-born j but they Fet forth the educa- 
 tion and manners of his youth, his piety and juf- 
 tice in maturer life, his moderation, and every 
 virtue by which he was diftinguifhed ; and they 
 fupplicate the infernal Deities to receive him as 
 an ailbciate among the bleft. The multitude 
 join their acclamations of applaufe in this cele- 
 bration of the dead, whom they confider as 
 going to pafs an eternity among the juft be- 
 low*." Such is the defcription which Dio- 
 dorus gives of this funereal judicature, to which 
 even the kings of Egypt were fubjec~t. The fame 
 author aflerts, that many fovereigns had been thus 
 judicially deprived of the honours of burial by the 
 indignation of their people : and that the terrors 
 of fuch a fate had a moft falutary influence on 
 the virtue of their kings. 
 
 The Abbe Terraflbn has drawn a fublime pic- 
 ture of this fepulchral procefs, and indeed of ma- 
 
 * DIodor. Siculi, Lib. I. TB h (WEMovTcj 6a7ms-0i, &c. 
 
 H 2 ny
 
 ioo NOTES TO T R E 
 
 nv Egyptian Myfteries, in his very learned and 
 ingenious romance, The Life of Sethos. 
 
 NOTE VL VERSE 115. 
 
 The infant Mufe^ ambitious at her birth, 
 Rofe the young herald of heroic worth. ] "Not 
 only the Greek writers give a concurrent tefti- 
 mony concerning the priority of hiftorical Verfe 
 to Profe j but the records of all nations unite in 
 confirming it. The oldeft compofitions among 
 the Arabs are in Rythni or rude Verfe ; and are 
 often cited as proofs of the truth of their fub- 
 fequent Hiftory. The accounts we have of the 
 Peruvian ftory confirm the fame fact ; for Gar- 
 cilaflb tells us> that he compiled a part of his 
 Commentaries from the antient fongs of the 
 country Nay all the American tribes, who have 
 any compofitions, are found to eftablifh the fame 
 truth Northern Europe contributes its fhare of 
 teftimony : for there too we find the Scythian or 
 Runic fongs (many of them hiftorical) to be the 
 oldeft compofitions among thefe barbarous na- 
 tions.'* BROWNE'S DifTertation on 
 Poetry, &c. Page 50. 
 
 NOTE
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 101 
 
 NOTE VII. VERSE 131. 
 
 But In the center oftbofe vajl abodes, 
 Whofe mighty mafs the land of Egypt loads.'] This 
 account of the Pyramids I have adopted from 
 the very learned Mr. B,ryant, part of whofe inge- 
 nious obfervation upon them I Xhall here prefent 
 
 to the reader. 
 
 One great purpofe in all eminent and expenfive 
 ftruclures is to pleafe the ftranger and traveller, 
 and to win their admiration. This is effected 
 fometimes by a mixture of magnificence and 
 beauty : at other times folely by immenfity and 
 grandeur. The latter feems to have been the 
 qbjecl: in the erecting of tfaofe celebrated build- 
 ings in Egypt : and they certainly have anfwered 
 the defign. For not only the vaftnefs of their 
 ijructure, and the area which they occupy, but 
 the ages they have endured, and the very uncer- 
 tainty of their hiftory, which runs fo far back 
 into the depths of antiquity, produce all together 
 a wonderful veneration j to which buildings more 
 H 3 exquifite
 
 102 NOTES TO THE 
 
 exquifite and embelliflied are feldom entitled. 
 Many have fuppofed, that they were defigned 
 for places of fepulture : and it has been affirmed 
 by Herodotus, and other antient writers. But 
 they fpoke by guefs : and I have fhewn by 
 many inftances, how ufual it was for the Gre- 
 cians to miftake temples for tombs. If the chief 
 Pyramid were defigned for a place of burial, 
 what occafion was there for a well, and for paf- 
 fages of communication which led to other build- 
 ings ? Near the Pyramids are apartments of a 
 wonderful fabric, which extend in length one 
 thoufand four hundred feet, and about thirty in 
 depth. They have been cut out of the hard rock, 
 and brought to a perpendicular by the artift's 
 chizel j and through dint of labour fafhioned as 
 they now appear. They were undoubtedly de- 
 figned for the reception of priefts ; and confe- 
 quently were not appendages to a tomb, but to 
 
 a temple of the Deity The priefts of 
 
 Egypt delighted in obfcurity ; and they probably 
 came by the fubterraneous pafiages of the build- 
 ing to the dark chambers within 5 where they per- 
 formed
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 103 
 
 formed their luftrations, and other nocturnal rites. 
 Many of the antient temples in this country 
 were caverns in the rock, enlarged by art, and 
 cut out into numberlefs dreary apartments : for 
 no nation upon earth was fo addidled to gloom 
 
 and melancholy as the Egyptians. BRYANT'S 
 
 Analyfis, Vol. III. Page 529. 
 The royal geographer Abulfeda feems to con- 
 firm the idea of this ingenious author ; or at leaft 
 to have been equally perfuaded, that the Pyramids 
 were not places of burial ; for, fpeaking of them, 
 in his defcription of Egypt, he fays : " funt autem, 
 ut narratur, fepulcra veterum : ohe vero quam 
 iiarrantur multa, quorum non certa fides ! " 
 
 ABUL. Egypt. Edit. Michaelis, Page 10. 
 
 NOTE VIII. VERSE 194. 
 
 Of the fierce Omar^ &c.] The number of vo- 
 lumes deftroyed in the plunder of Alexandria is 
 faid to have been fo great, that although they were 
 diftributed to heat four thoufand baths in that city, 
 it was fix months before they were confumed. 
 When a petition was fent to the Chaliph Omar 
 H 4 fw
 
 104 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 for the prefervation of this magnificent library, 
 he replied, in the true fpirit of bigotry, " What 
 is contained in thefe books you mention, is either 
 agreeable to what is written in the book of God 
 (meaning the Alcoran) or it is not : if it be, then 
 the Alcoran is fufficient without them : if other- 
 wife, 'tis fit they fhould be deftroyed." 
 
 OCKLEY'S Hiftory of the Sara- 
 
 cens, Vol. I. Page 313. 
 
 N O T E IX. VERSE 207. 
 
 The dome expands ! Behold /// Hifioric Sire !] 
 Herodotus, to whom Cicero has given the honour- 
 able appellation of The Father of Hiftory, was 
 born in Halicarnaflus, a city of Caria, four 
 years before the invafion of Xerxes, in the year 
 484 before Chrift. The time and place of his death 
 are uncertain j but his countryman Dionyfius 
 informs us, that he lived to the beginning of the 
 Peloponnefian war j and Marcellinus, the Greek 
 author who- wrote a life of Thucydides, affirms 
 there was a monument erected to thefe two great 
 
 Hiftorians
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 10$ 
 
 Hiftorians in a burial-place belonging to the fa- 
 mily of Miltiades. 
 
 There is hardly any author, antient or mo- 
 dern, who has been more warmly commended, 
 or more vehemently cenfured, than this eminent 
 Hiftorian. But even the fevere Dionyfius de- 
 clares, he is one of thofe enchanting writers, 
 whom you perufe to the laft fyllable with plea- 
 fure, and ftill wifh for more. Plutarch himfelf, 
 who has made the moft violent attack on his 
 veracity, allows him all the merit of beautiful 
 compofition. From the heavy charges brought 
 againft him by the antients, the famous Henry 
 Stephens, and his learned friend Camerarius, have 
 defended their favourite Hiftorian with great fpi- 
 rit. But Herodotus has found a more formidable 
 antagonift in a learned and animated writer of 
 our own times, to whom the public have been 
 lately indebted for his having opened to them 
 new mines of Oriental learning. If the ingeni- 
 ous Mr. Richardfon could effectually fupport 
 his Perfian fyftem, the great Father of the Gre- 
 cian ftory muft fink into a fabulift as low in point 
 
 of
 
 io6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 of veracity as Geoffrey of Monmouth. It muft 
 be owned, that feveral eminent Writers of our 
 country have treated him as fuch. Another Ori- 
 entalift, who, in his elegant Preface to the Life 
 of Nader Shaw, has drawn a fpirited and judi- 
 cious Iketch of many capital Hiftorians, declares, 
 in paffing judgment on Herodotus, that " his 
 accounts of the Perfian affairs are at leaft doubt- 
 ful, if not fabulous." Hume, I think, goes ftill 
 farther, and fays, in one of his eflays " The 
 firft page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the 
 .commencement of real Hiftory. " For my own 
 part, I confefs myfelf more credulous : the rela- 
 tion, which Herodotus has given of the repulfe 
 of Xerxes from Greece, is fo delightful to the 
 ipind, and fo animating to public virtue, that I 
 Ihould be forry to number it among the Grecian 
 fables. 
 
 Et madidis cantat quoe Softratus alis. 
 
 NOTEX. VERSE 210. 
 As the fair figure of bis favoured Queen.] Ar- 
 temifia of Halicarnaflus, who commanded in 
 
 perfon
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 107 
 
 perfon the five veiTels, which ihe contributed to 
 the expedition of Xerxes. On hearing that (he 
 had funk a Grecian galley in the fea-fight at Sa- 
 lamis, he exclaimed, that his men had proved 
 women, and his women men. 
 
 HEROD. Lib. VIII. p. 660. Edit. WefT. 
 
 NOTE XL VERSE 213. 
 
 Soft as tbejlream^ wbofe dimpling waters play. ] 
 Sine ullis falebris quail fedatus amnis fluit. 
 
 CICERO in Oratore. 
 
 NOTE XII. VERSE 229. 
 
 But mark the Youth ', in dumb delight immersed!] 
 Thucydides, the fon of Olorus, was born at 
 Athens in the year 471 before Chrift, and is 
 faid, at the age of 15, to have heard Herodotus 
 recite his Hiftory at the Olympic games. The 
 generous youth was charmed even to tears, and 
 the Hiftorian congratulated Olorus on thefe 
 marks of genius, which he difcovered in his fon. 
 Being inverted with a military command, he 
 
 was
 
 icS NOTES TO THE 
 
 was banifhed from Athens at the age of 48, by 
 the injuftice of faction, becaufe he had unfortu- 
 nately failed in the defence of Amphipolis. He 
 retired into Thrace, and is reported to have 
 married a Thracian lady pofTefled of valuable 
 mines in that country. At the end of 20 years 
 his fentence of banifhment was revoked. Some 
 authors affirm that he returned into Athens, 
 ind was treacheroufly killed in that city. But 
 others afTert that he died in Thrace, at the ad- 
 vanced age of 80, leaving his Hiftory unfinifhed. 
 MARCELLINUS; and DODWELL. 
 Annales Thucydid. 
 
 NOTE XIII. VERSE 255. 
 
 A generous guardian of a rival's fame.] It 
 is faid by Diogenes Laertius, that Xenophon firft 
 brought the Hiftory of Thucydides into public 
 reputation, though he had it in his power to af- 
 fume to himfelf all the glory of that work. This 
 amiable Philofopher and Hiftorian was born at 
 Athens, and became early a difciple of Socrafes, 
 
 who
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 105 
 
 who is faid by Strabo to have faved his life in 
 battle, About the 50th year of his age, accord- 
 ing to the conjecture of his admirable tranflator 
 Mr. Spelman, he engaged in the expedition of 
 Cyrus, and accomplifhed his immortal retreat 
 in the fpace of 15 months. The jealoufy of the 
 Athenians banifhed him from his native city, for 
 engaging in the fervice of Sparta and of Cyrus, 
 On his return therefore he retired to Scillus, 
 a town of Elis, where he built a temple to Diana, 
 which he mentions in his Epiftles, and devoted 
 his leifure to philofophy and rural fports. But 
 commotions arifing in that country, he removed 
 to Corinth, where he is fuppofed to have written 
 his Grecian Hiftory, and to have died at the age 
 of ninety, in the year 360 before Chrift. By 
 his wife Philefia he had two fons, Diodorus 
 and Gryllus. The latter rendered himfelf im- 
 mortal by killing Epaminondas in the famous 
 battle of Mantinea, but perifhed in that exploit, 
 which his father lived to record. 
 
 NOTE
 
 no NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE XIV. VERSE 277. 
 
 Rome's haughty genius^ who enJJav'd the 
 In Grecian language deign* at fir ft to /peak.] 
 
 Some of the moft illuftrious Romans are known to 
 have written Hiftories in Greek. The luxuriant 
 Lucullus, when he was very young, compofed in 
 that language a Hiftoryof the Marfi, which, Plu- 
 tarch fays, was extant in his time -Cicero wrote 
 a Greek Commentary on his own confulfhip 
 and the elegant Atticus produced a fimilar work 
 on the fame fubjecl:, that did not perfectly fatisfy 
 the nice ear of his friend, as we learn from the fol- 
 lowing curious pafTage in a letter concerning the 
 Hiftory in queftion : " Quanquam tua ilia (legi 
 enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta vifa 
 funt : fed tamen erant ornata hoc ipfo, quod or- 
 namenta neglexerant, et ut mulieres, ideo bene 
 olere, quia nihil olebant, videbantur." 
 
 Epift. ad ATTICUM. Lib, II. Ep. i. 
 
 10 NOTE
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. us 
 
 NOTE XV. VERSE 283. 
 
 Thou friend ofScipio ! vers'd in J fear's alarms*] 
 Polybius, born at Megalopolis in Arcadia, 205 
 years before Chrift. He was trained to arms un- 
 der the celebrated: Philopoemen, and is defcribed 
 by Plutarch carrying the- urn of that great but un- 
 fortunate General in his funeral proceffion. He 
 rofe to confiderable honours in his own country, 
 but was compelled to vifit Rome with other 
 principal Aehseans, who were detained there as 
 pledges for the fubmiffion of their ftate. From 
 hence he became intimate with the fecond Scipio 
 Africanus, and was prefent with him at the demo- 
 lition of Carthage. He faw Corinth alfo plun- 
 dered by Mummius, and thence paffing through 
 the cities of Achaia, reconciled them to Rome. 
 He extended his travels into Egypt, France, and 
 Spain, that he might avoid fuch geographical er- 
 rors as he has cenfured in other writers of Hiftory. 
 He lived to the age of 82, and died of an illnef* 
 occafioned by a fall from his horfe. 
 
 FABRIC i us, Bibliotheca Grseca* 
 la
 
 112 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 In doling this concife account of the capital 
 Greek Hiftorians, I cannot help obferving, that 
 our language has been greatly enriched in the 
 courfe of the prefent century, by fuch translations 
 of thefe Authors as do great honour to our coun- 
 try, and are at leaft equal to any which other na- 
 tions have produced. 
 
 In the chief Roman Hiftorians we feem to have 
 been lefs fortunate ; but from the fpecimen which 
 Mr. Aikin has lately given the public in the 
 fmaller pieces of Tacitus, we may hope to fee an 
 excellent verfionof 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 tranfiate with fidelity 
 and fpirit. 
 
 NOTE XVI. VERSE 301. 
 
 Sententious Sallujl leads her lofty train. J This 
 celebrated Hiftorian, who from the irregularity of 
 his life, and the beauty of his writings, has been 
 called, not unhappily, the Bolingbroke of Rome, 
 
 was
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 113 
 
 Was born at Amiternum, a town of the Sabines. 
 For the profligacy of his early life he was expelled 
 the fenate, but reftored by the intereft of Julius 
 Caefar, who gave him the command of Numidia, 
 . which province he is faid to have plundered by the 
 moft infamous extortion, purchafing with part of 
 this treafure thofe rich and extend ve pofleffions on 
 the Quirinal Hill, fo celebrated by the name of 
 the Horti Salluftiani. He died in the yoth year 
 of his age, four years before the battle of Actium, 
 and 35 before the Chriftian asra. His enmity to 
 Cicero is well known, and perhaps it had fome 
 influence on the peculiarity of his diction per- 
 fonal animofity might make him endeavour to 
 form a ftyle a-s remote as poflible from the redun- 
 dant language of the immortal Orator, whofe tur- 
 bulent wife, Terentia, he is faid to have married 
 after her divorce. This extraordinary woman is 
 reported to have lived to the age of 103, to have 
 married Meflala, her third hufband, and Vibius 
 Rufus her fourth. The latter boafted, with the 
 joy of an Antiquarian, that he poflefled two of the 
 greateft curiofities in the world, namely Terentia, 
 VOL. II. I who
 
 n 4 NOTES TO THE 
 
 who had been Cicero's wife^ and the chair in 
 which Caefar was killed. St. JEROM ; and Dio 
 CASSIUS, quoted by Middleton in his life of Ci- 
 cero. But to return to Salluft. His Roman 
 
 Hiftory, in fix books, from the death of Sylla to 
 the confpiracy of Catiline, the great work from 
 which he chiefly derived his glory among the An- 
 tients, is unfortunately loft, excepting a few frag- 
 ments ; but his two detached pieces of Hiftory, 
 which happily remain entire, arefufficient to juf- 
 tify the great encomiums he has received as a wri- 
 ter. He has had the fingular honour to be twice 
 tranflated by a royal hand firft by our Elizabeth, 
 according to Camden ; and fecondly by the Infant 
 Don Gabriel, whofe Spanifh verfion of this ele- 
 gant Hiftorian, lately printed in folio, is one of 
 the moft beautiful books that any country has 
 produced fince the invention of printing. 
 
 NOTE XVII. VERSE 316. 
 In bright pre-eminence^ that Greece might own, 
 Sub/imer Livy claims tb' H'tjlonc throne.} All 
 the little perfonal account, that can be collected 
 
 of
 
 F I R S T E P I S T L E. 115 
 
 of Livy, amounts only to this that he was born 
 at Patavium, the modern Padua ; that he was 
 chofen by Auguftus to fuperintend the education 
 of the ftupid Claudius ; that he was rallied by the 
 Emperor for his attachment to the caufe of the 
 Republic ; and that he died in his own country in 
 the 4th year of Tiberius, at the age of 76. There 
 is a paflage in one of Pliny's letters, which, as 
 it fliews the high and extenfive reputation of our 
 Hiftorian during his life, I (hall prefent to the 
 reader in the words of Pliny's moft elegant tranf- 
 lator. " Do you remember to have read of a 
 certain inhabitant of the city of Cadiz, who was 
 fo ftruck with the illuftrious character of Livy, 
 that he travelled to Rome on purpofe to fee that 
 great Genius j and as foon as he had fatisfied his 
 curiofity, returned home again ?" MELMOTH'S 
 
 Pliny, Vol. I. Page 71. A veneration ftill 
 
 more extraordinary was paid to this great author 
 by Alphonfo King of Naples, who in 1451 fent 
 Panormita as his Ambafiador to the Venetians, in 
 -whofe dominion the bones of Livy had been lately 
 difcovered, to beg a relic of this celebrated Hifto- 
 I 2 rian
 
 ii6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 nan- They prefented him with an arm-bone, 
 and the prefent is recorded in an infcription pre- 
 ierved at Padua, which the curious reader may 
 find in Voffius de Hiftoricis Latinis. This fin- 
 gular anecdote is alfo related in Bayle, under 
 the article Panormita. Learning perhaps ne- 
 ver fuftained a greater lofs, in any fingle author, 
 than by the deftruction of the latter and more in- 
 terefting part of Livy. Several eminent moderns 
 have indulged the pleafing expectation that the 
 entire work of this noble Hiftorian might yet be 
 recovered. It has been faid to exift in an Arabic 
 verfion : and even a compleat copy of the original 
 is fuppofed to have been extant as late as the year 
 1631, and to have perifhed at that time in the 
 plunder of Magdeburgh. That munificent pa- 
 tron of learning, Leo the Xth, exerted the moft 
 generous zeal to refcue from oblivion the valuable 
 treafure, which one of his moft bigotted predecef- 
 fors, Gregory the Great, had expelled from every 
 Chriftian library. Bayle has preferved, under the 
 article Leo, two curious original letters of that 
 Pontiff, concerning his hopes of recovering Livy 5 
 a which
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 117 
 
 which afford moft honourable proofs of his libe- 
 rality in the caufe of letters. 
 
 NOTE XVIII. VERSE 329. 
 
 Tet 9 like the matchlefs y mutilated frame^ 
 To which great Angela bequeath* d his name."] 
 The trunk of a ftatue of Hercules by Apollonius 
 the Athenian, univerfally called the Torfo of 
 Michael Angelo, from its having been the fa- 
 vourite ftudy of that divine Artift. He is faid 
 to have made out the compleat figure in a little 
 model of wax, ftill preferved at Florence, and 
 reprefenting Hercules repofmg after his labours, 
 The figure is fitting in .a penfive pofture, with 
 an elbow refting on the knee. 
 
 NOTE XIX. VERSE 337. 
 
 Sarcajlic Tacitus, abrupt and dark.] Tacitus 
 was born, according to the conjecture of Lipfius, 
 in the clofe of the reign of Claudius: pafling 
 through various public honours, he rofe at length 
 to the confular dignity, under Nerva, in the year 
 of Chrift 97. The date of his death is unknown, 
 I 3 but
 
 u8 ' NOTES TO THE 
 
 but he is faid to have lived happily to an ad- 
 vanced age with his wife, the amiable daughter 
 of the virtuous Agricola, whofe life he has fo 
 beautifully written. 'By this lady "he is fuppofed 
 to have left children ; and the emperor Tacitus 
 is conjectured to have been a remote defcen,dant 
 from the Hiftorian, to whofe works and memo- 
 ry he paid the higheft regard. It is reported by 
 Sidonius Apollinaris, that Tacitus recommended 
 the province of writing Hiftory to Pliny the 
 Younger, and that he did not himfelf engage in 
 that employment, till his friend had declined it. 
 This is not mentioned, indeed, in any of the 
 beautiful letters ftill remaining from Pliny to Ta- 
 citus j but it is an inftance of delicacy not unpa- 
 raflel'd among the Antients, as will appear from 
 the following remark by one of the molt elegant 
 and liberal of modern critics, " The Roman 
 Poet, who was not more eminent by his genius 
 than amiable in his moral character, affords per- 
 haps the moft remarkable inftance that any 
 where occurs, of the concefikms which a mind 
 ftrongly impregnated with fentiments of genuine 
 
 amity,
 
 F I R S T E P I S T L E. 119 
 
 amity, is capable of making. V;rgil's fuperior ta- 
 lents rendered him qualified to excel in all the no- 
 bler fpecies of poetical compofition : neverthelefs, 
 from the moft uncommon delicacy of friendmip, 
 he facrificed to his intimacy with Horace, the 
 unrivall'd reputation he might have acquired by 
 indulging his lyric vein ; as from the fame refined 
 motive he forbore to exercife his dramatic pow- 
 ers, that he might not obfcure the glory of his 
 friend Varius. 
 
 Aurumetopesetrura,frequensdonabitamicus : 
 Qui velit ingenio cedere^ rarus erit." 
 
 MART. VIII. 18. 
 MELMOTH'S Remarks on LJEHUS, 
 
 Page 292, 
 
 As to Tacitus, it is clear, I think, from the 
 Letters of Pliny, as well as from his own moft 
 pleafing Life of Agricola, that he pofleiTed all the 
 refined and affectionate feelings of the heart in a 
 very high degree, though the general caft of his 
 hiftorical works might lead us to imagine that 
 aufterity was his chief chara&eriftic. It would 
 be eafy to fill a volume in tranfcribing the great 
 I 4 encomiums,
 
 no NOTES TO THE 
 
 encomiums, and the violent cenfures, which have 
 been lavifhed by modern writers of almoft every 
 country on this profound Hiftorian. The kft 
 critic of eminence, who has written againft him, 
 in Britain, is, I believe, the learned Author of 
 The Origin and Progrefs of Language ; who, in 
 his 3d volume of that work, has made many cu- 
 rious remarks on the compofition of the antient 
 Hiftorians, and is particularly fevere on the dic- 
 tion of Tacitus. He reprefents him as the defec- 
 tive model, from which modern writers have co- 
 pied, what he is pleafed to call, " the Jhort and 
 priggijb cut ofjlylefo much in ufe now" 
 
 NOTE XX. VERSE 360. 
 
 Thy Plutarch Jhines, by moral beauty known."] 
 It is to be wifhed, that this moft amiable Mora- 
 lift and Biographer had added a Life of himfelf, 
 to thofe which he has given to the world : as the 
 particulars, which other Writers have preferved 
 of his perfonal Hiftory, are very doubtful and 
 imperfect. According to the learned Fabricius, 
 
 he
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 121 
 
 he was born under Claudius, 50 years after the 
 Chriftian sera, raifed to the confular dignity 
 under Trajan, whofe preceptor he is faid to have 
 been, and made Procurator of Greece in his old 
 age by the Emperor Adrian in the 5th year of 
 whofe reign he is fuppofed to have died, at the 
 age of 70. He was married to a moft amiable 
 woman of his own native town Chaeronea, whofe 
 name was Timoxena, and to whofe fenfe and 
 virtue he has borne the moft affectionate teftimo- 
 ny in his moral works j of which it may be re- 
 gretted that we have no elegant tranflation. In- 
 deed even the Lives of Plutarch, the moft popu- 
 lar of all the antient hiftorical compofitions, were 
 chiefly known to the Englifh reader by a mot- 
 ley and miferable verfion, till a new one, exe- 
 cuted with fidelity and fpirit, was prefented to 
 the public by the Langhornes in 1770. 
 
 NOTE XXI. VERSE 383. 
 
 Mild Marcellinus ! free from fervile awe!] 
 Ammianus Marcellinus, a Grecian and a Soldier, 
 
 as
 
 122 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 as he calls himfelf, flourifhed under Conftan- 
 tius and the fucceeding emperors, as late as 
 Theodofius. He ferved under Julian in the Eaft, 
 and wrote a Hiflory from the reign of Nerva 
 to the death of Valens, in 31 books, of which 
 18 only remain. The time and circumftances 
 of his own death are unknown. Bayle has 
 an article on Marcellinus, in which he obferves, 
 that he has introduced a moft bitter invective 
 againft the Practitioners of Law into his Hiftory. 
 He fhould have added, that the Hiftorian be- 
 ftows great encomiums on fome illuftrious cha- 
 racters of that profeffion, and even mentions the 
 peculiar hardfhip to which Advocates are them- 
 felves expofed. The curious reader may find 
 this paffage, Lib. xxx. Cap. 4. 
 
 NOTE XXII. VERSE 403. 
 
 .And^with Comnencfs royal name impreft.] Anna 
 
 Comnena was the eldeft daughter of the emperor 
 
 Alexius Comnenus, and the emprefs Irene, born 
 
 1083. She wrote the Hiftory of her father, 
 
 6 in
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 123 
 
 in 15 books, firft publifhed, very imperfe&ly, by 
 Hxfchelius, in 1610, and imce printed in the 
 collection of the Byzantine Hiftorians, with a 
 diffufe and incorrect Latin verfion by the Jefuit 
 Poflinus, but with excellent notes by the learned 
 Du Frefne, 
 
 Confidering the miferies of the time in which 
 ftie lived, and the merits of her work which 
 fome Critics have declared fuperior to every 
 other in that voluminous collection this Lady 
 may be juftly regarded as a flngular phenomenon 
 in the literary world j and, as this mention of 
 her may pofiibly excite the curiofity of my fair 
 Readers, I {hall clofe the Notes to this Epiftle 
 with prefenting to them a Tranflation of the 
 Prefaces to her Hiftory, as I believe no part of 
 her Works have yet appeared in any modern 
 language. I found that I could not abridge it 
 without injuring its beauty, and though long, 
 I flatter myfelf it will efcape the cenfure of be- 
 ing tedious, as fhe feelingly difplays in it the 
 misfortunes of her life, and the character of her 
 mind. 
 
 THE
 
 124 NOTES TO THE 
 
 THE PREFACE OF THE PRINCESS 
 ANNA COMNENA, 
 
 FROM THE GREEK, 
 
 Prefixed to her ALEXIAD, or Hiftory of her Fa- 
 ther the Emperor ALEXIUS. 
 
 TIME, which flows irrefiftibly, ever encroach- 
 ing, and ftealing fomething from human life, 
 feems to bear away all that is mortal into a gulph 
 of darknefs ; fometimes deftroying fuch things as 
 deferve not utterly to be forgotten, and fometimes, 
 fuch as are moft noble, and moft worthy of re- 
 membrance. Now (to ufe the words of the tragic 
 poet*) 
 
 Difcovering things invifible; and now 
 Sweeping each prefent object from our fight. 
 
 But Hiftory forms the ftrongeft barrier againft this 
 tide of Time : it withftands, in fome meafure, the 
 violence of the torrent, and, by collecting and ce- 
 menting fuch things as appear worthy of preferva- 
 
 Sophocles. 
 
 tion>
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 125 
 
 tion, while they are hurried along the ftream, it al- 
 lows them not to fink into the abyfs of oblivion. 
 
 On this confideration, I Anna, the daughter of 
 the emperor Alexius, and his confort Irene, born 
 and educated in imperial fplendor not utterly void 
 efliterature, and folicitous to diftinguifh myfelf by 
 that Grecian characleriftic as I have already ap- 
 plied myfelf to Rhetoric, and having thoroughly 
 ftudied the Principles of Ariftotle and the Dia- 
 logues of Plato, have endeavoured to adorn my 
 mind with the * four ufual branches of education, 
 (for I think it incumbent on me, even at the rifque 
 of appearing vain, to declare what qualifications 
 for the prefent tafk I have received from nature, 
 or gained by application ; what Providence has 
 beftowed upon me, or time and opportunity fup- 
 plied.) On thefe accounts, I am defirous of com- 
 memorating, in my prefent work, the actions of 
 my father, as they deferve not to be buried in fi- 
 lence, or to be plunged, as it were, by the tide of 
 Time, into the ocean of Oblivion : both thofe ac- 
 
 * Aftrology, Geometry, Arithmetic, and Mufic. 
 
 dons
 
 12 6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 tions which he performed after he obtained the di* ' 
 adem, and thofe before that period, while he was 
 himfelf a fubject of other Princes. I engage in 
 this narration, not fo much to difplay any little ta- 
 lent for compofition, as to prevent traniaclions of 
 fuch importance from perilling unrecorded : fince 
 even the brighteft of human atchievements, if not 
 configned to memory under the guard of writing, 
 are extinguifhed, as* it were, by the Darknefs of - 
 Silence. 
 
 My father was a man, who knew both how to 
 govern, and to pay to governors a becoming obe- 
 dience : but in chufing his a&ions for my fubjecl, 
 I am apprehenfive, in the very outfetof my work, 
 left I may be cenfured as the Panegyrift of my 
 own family for writing of my father; that if I fpeak 
 of him with admiration, my whole Hifrory will 
 be considered as a falfe and flattering encomium ; 
 and if any circumftance, I may have occafion to 
 mention, leads me, as it were by force, to difap- 
 prove fome part even of his conduct, I am appre- 
 henfive, on the other hand, not from the cha- 
 
 rader
 
 F I R S T E P I S T L E. 127 
 
 racier of my father, but from the very nature of 
 things, that fome malignant cenfurers may com- 
 pare me to Cham, the fon of Noah ; fince there 
 are many, whom envy and malevolence will not 
 fuffer to form a fair judgment, and who, to fpeak 
 in the words of Homer, 
 
 Are keen to cenfure, where no blame is due. 
 
 For whoever engages in the province of Hiftory, 
 is bound to forget all fentiments both of favour and 
 averfion j and often to adorn his enemies with the 
 higheft commendations, when their actions are 
 entitled to fuch reward j and often to cenfure his 
 moft intimate friends, when the failings of their 
 life and manners require it. Thefe are duties 
 equally incumbent on the Hiftorian, which he 
 cannot decline. As to myfelf, with regard to thofe 
 who may be affected either by my cenfure or my 
 praife, I would wifh to afiure them, that I fpeak 
 both of them, and their conduct, according to the 
 evidence of their actions themfelves, or the report 
 of thofe who beheld them j for either the fathers, 
 or the grandfathers, of many perfons now living 
 
 were
 
 128 NOTES TO THE 
 
 were ocular witnefles of what I fliall record. I 
 have been chiefly led to engage in this Hiftory of 
 my father by the following circumftance : It 
 was my fortune to marry Caefar Nicephorus, of 
 the Bryennian family, a man far fuperior to all 
 his cotemporaries, not only in perfonal beauty, 
 but in fublimity of underftanding, and all the 
 charms of eloquence ! for he was equally the ad- 
 miration of thofe who faw, and thofe who heard 
 him. But that my difcourfe may not wander from 
 its prefentpurpofe,letme proceed in my narration! 
 He was then, among all men, the moft diftin- 
 guifhed ; and when he marched with the emperor 
 John Comnenus, my brother, on his expedition 
 againft Antioch, and other places in pofiefllon of 
 the Barbarians, ftill unable to abftain from litera- 
 ry purfuits, even in thofe fcenes of labour and 
 fatigue, he wrote various compofitions worthy of 
 remembrance and of honour. But he chiefly ap- 
 plied himfelf to the writing an account of what re- 
 lated to my father Alexius, emperor of the Ro- 
 mans, at the requeft of the emprefs ; reducing in- 
 to
 
 F I R S T E P I S T L E. 129 
 
 to proper form the tranfactions of his reign, 
 whenever the times would allow him to devote 
 fhort intervals of leifure from arms and battle to 
 works of literature, and the labour of compofi- 
 tion. In forming this Hiftory, he deduced his ac- 
 counts from an early period, being dire&ed in 
 this point alfo by the inftru<lion of our royal mif- 
 trefs ; beginning from the emperor Diogenes, and 
 defcending to the perfon, whom he had chofen for 
 the Hero of his Drama for this feafon firft fhsw- 
 ed my father to be a youth of expe&ation. Be- 
 fore this period he was a mere infant j and of 
 courfe performed nothing worthy of being recor- 
 ded : unlefs even the occurrences of his childhood 
 ihould be thought a fit fubjecl for Hiftory. Such 
 then was the defign and fcope of Caefar's compp- 
 fition : but he failed in the hope he had entertain- 
 ed, of bringing his Hiftory to its conclufion : for 
 having brought it to the times of the emperer 
 Nicephorus Botoniates, he there broke off, ha- 
 ving no future opportunity allowed him of conti- 
 nuing his narration : a circumftance which has 
 VOL. II. K proved
 
 i 3 o NOTES TO THE 
 
 proved a fevere lofs to Literature, and robbed his 
 readers of delight ! On this account I have un- 
 dertaken to record the actions of my father, that 
 fuch atchievements may not efcape pofterity. 
 What degree of harmony and grace the writings 
 of Csefar poflefied, all perfons know who have 
 been fortunate enough to fee his competitions. 
 But having executed his work to the period I 
 have mentioned, in the midft of hurry and fa- 
 tigue, and bringing it to us half finifhed from his 
 expedition, he brought home, alas ! at the fame 
 time, a diforder that proved mortal, contracted 
 perhaps from the hardfhips of his pafiage, or per- 
 haps from that harrafiing fcene of perpetual ac- 
 tion, and poflibly indeed from his infinite anxiety 
 on my account ; for anxiety was natural to his 
 affectionate heart, and his labours were without 
 intermiffion. Moreover, the change and badnefs 
 of climates might prepare for him this draught of 
 death. For notwithftanding the dreadful ftate of 
 his health, he perfevered in the campaign againft 
 the Syrians and Cilicians, till at length he was 
 
 conveyed
 
 F I R S T E P I S T L E. 131 
 
 conveyed out of Syria in a moft infirm ftate, and 
 was brought through Cilicia, Pamphilia, Lydia, 
 and Bithynia, home to the metropolis of the em- 
 pire, and to his family. But his vitals were now 
 affected by his infinite fatigue. Even in this ftate 
 of weaknels he was defirous of difplaying the 
 events of his expedition : but this his diforder 
 rendered him unable to execute, and indeed we 
 enjoined him not to attempt it, left by the effort 
 of fuch a narration he fhould burft open his 
 wound. But in the recollection of thefe things, 
 my whole foul is darkened, and my eyes are co- 
 vered with a flood of tears. O what a director of 
 the Roman counfels was then torn from us ! O 
 what an end was there to all the treafures of 
 clear, of various, and of ufeful knowledge, which, 
 he had collected from obfervation and experi- 
 ence, both in regard to foreign affairs, and the 
 internal bufmefs of the empire ! O what a form 
 was then deftroyed ! Beauty, that feemed not 
 only entitled to dominion, but bearing even the 
 femblance of divinity ! I indeed have been con- 
 K 2 verfant
 
 134 NOTES TO THfe 
 
 verfant with every calamity ; and have found^ 
 even from the imperial cradle, an unpropitious 
 fortune : fome perhaps might efteem that fortuna 
 not unpropitious, which feemed to fmile upon 
 my birth, in giving me fovereigns for my parents, 
 and nurfing me in the imperial purple : but for 
 
 the other circumftances of my life, alas, what 
 i 
 tempefts ! alas, what perturbations ! The melody 
 
 of Orpheus affected even inanimate nature ; and 
 Timotheus, in playing the Orthic fong to Alexan- 
 der, made the Macedon ftart to arms. 
 
 The relation of my miferies would not, indeed, 
 produce fuch effects ; but it would move every 
 auditor to tears ; it would force not only beings 
 endued with fenfibility, but even inanimate nature 
 to fympathize in my forrow. This remembrance 
 of Caefar, and his unexpected death, tears open the 
 deepeft wound of my foul; indeed I confiderall my 
 former misfortunes, if cqmpared to this immea- 
 fureable calamity, but as a drop of water to the 
 Atlantic fea j or rather my earlier afflictions 
 were a kind of prelude to this : they firft involved 
 
 me,
 
 FIRST EPISTLE. 133 
 
 me, as it were, like a fmoke preceding this raging 
 fire ; they were a kind of heat, that portended a 
 conflagration, which no words can defcribe. Q 
 thou fire, that blazeft without fuel, preying on 
 my heart without deftroying its exiftence ; 
 piercing through my very bones, and fhrinking 
 up my foul ! But I perceive myfelf hurried 
 away from my fubject : this mention of Caefar, 
 and what I fufFer in his lofs, has led me into the 
 prolixity of grief : wiping therefore the tear from 
 my eys, and reftraining myfelf from this indul- 
 gence of forrow, I will proceed in order j yet, as 
 the tragic Poet * fays, 
 
 Still adding tear to tear, 
 
 as recollecting misfortune after misfortune : for 
 the entering on the Hiftory of fuch a king, fo 
 eminent for his virtues, revives in my mind all 
 the wonders he performed, which move me 'to 
 frefh tears j and thefe I lhare in common with all 
 the world : for the remembrance of him, and the 
 
 * Euripides. 
 
 K 3 recital
 
 1 3 4 NOTES. 
 
 recital of his reign, fupplies to me a new fubjet 
 f lamentation, and muft remind others of the 
 lofs they have fuftained. 
 
 But let me at length begin the Hiftory of my 
 father, from the period moft proper : now the 
 moft proper period is that, which will give to 
 my narration the cleareft and moft hiftorical ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 pnd of the Notes to tie Firjl Epijlle, 
 
 NOTES
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 NOTE I. VERSE 17. 
 
 T jOW fainted Kings renounce^ with holy dread y 
 
 The chajle endearments of their marriage-bed.] 
 
 It is well known how Edward the Confeflbr is 
 
 celebrated for his inviolable chaftity by the Mon- 
 
 kifh Hiftorians one of them, in particular, is fo 
 
 felicitous to vindicate the piety of Edward in this 
 
 article, that he pafTes a fevere cenfure on thofe, 
 
 who had imputed his fingular continence to a prin- 
 
 K 4, ciplc
 
 136 NOTES TO THE 
 
 ciple of refentment againft the father of his queen 
 Han6 quoque Rex ut conjugem tali arte trac- 
 tavit, quod nee thoro removit, nee earn virili 
 more carnaliter cognovit; quod utrum patiis 
 illius, qui proditor convi&us erat, et familiae ejus 
 odio, quod prudenter pro tempore diflimulabat, an 
 amore caftitatis id fecerit, incertum eft aliquibus, 
 qui in dubiis finiftra interpretantur. Veruntamen 
 non benevoli, et veritati,ut videtur, diflbni, dicere 
 praefumunt, quod Rex, charitatis et pacis mune- 
 re ditatus, de genere proditoris h^eredes, qui fibi 
 fuccederent, corrupto femine noluerit procreare, 
 Sciebatenim Rex pacificus quod filia nihil criminis 
 commifit cum patre proditore, & ideo non refpuit 
 thorum virginis ; fed ambo unanimi aflenfu cafti- 
 tatem voverunt, parilique voluntate. 
 
 THOMJE RUDBORNE Hift. major, in 
 
 Anglia Sacra. Tom. I. p. 241. 
 The very high degree of merit which the wri- 
 ters of the dark ages attributed to this matrimo- 
 nial mortification, is ftill more forcibly difplayed 
 in a miraculous ftory related by Gregory of 
 
 Tours,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 137 
 
 Tours, which the curious reader may find ia 
 the Firft Book and 42d chapter of that celebra- 
 ted Hiftorian. 
 
 NOTE II. VERSE 19. 
 
 How Nuns, entrant: '//, to joys celejllal mount t 
 Frantic with rapture from a facred fount.] 
 The Monkifh Hiftorians feem to have confi- 
 dered a vifion as the moft engaging embellifh- 
 ment that Hiftory could receive Even the fage 
 Matthew Paris delights in thefe heavenly digref- 
 fions. But the vifions, to which the preceding 
 verfes particularly allude, are thofe of the Virgin 
 Flotilda, printed in the 2d volume of the Hifto- 
 riae Francorum Scriptores, by the learned Du- 
 chefne : a very fhort fpecimen may fatisfy the 
 curiofity of the Reader Videbatur Canis can- 
 didus eidem adgaudere, quem tamen ilia timens 
 pertranfiit, & ad quendam locum in medium de- 
 centium clericorum pervenit, qui earn gratanter 
 excipiebant,et potum ei in vafe pulchrrimo,quafi 
 
 aquam clarilTimam, of^erebant. P. 624. 
 
 NOTE
 
 138 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE III. VERSE 24. 
 
 With thofe choice gifts^ the Meadow and the Mill, ] 
 The ufual legacy of the old Barons to their mo- 
 naftic dependants. 
 
 N O T E IV. V E R s E 59. 
 
 If mitred Turpin told^ in wildejt Jirain."} It is 
 now generally agreed, that the Hiftory which 
 bears the .name of Turpin, Archbifliop of Rheims, 
 was the forgery of a Monk, at the time of the 
 Crufades ; though Pope Calixtus the Second de- 
 tlared it to be authentic. But, as it was cer- 
 tainly intended to pafs as genuine Hiftory, when- 
 ever it was compofed, and actually did fo for 
 fome ages, this poetical mention of it appeared 
 not improper. For the entertainment of the 
 curious reader, I (hall tranfcribe the two mira- 
 culous paflages alluded to in the poem : Ante 
 diem belli, caftris et arietibus et turmis praepa- 
 ratis in pratis, fcilicet quze funt inter caftrum, 
 2 quod
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 139 
 
 quod dicitur Talaburgum, et urbem, juxta fluvi- 
 um Caranta, infixerunt Chriftiani quidam haftas 
 fuas ereftas in terra ante caftra ; craftina vero die 
 haftas fuas corticibus & frondibus decoratas in- 
 venerunt, hi fcilicet qui in bello prsfenti accep- 
 turi erant martyrii palmam pro Chrifti fide. Qui 
 etiam tanto miraculo Dei gavifi, abfciffis haftis 
 fuis de terra, ilmul coaduniti primitus in bello 
 perierunt, et multos Saracenos occiderunt, fed 
 
 tandem martyrio coronantur. Cap. X. 
 
 After the foliloquy of Roland, addrefled to his 
 fword, which moft readers have feen quoted in 
 Mr. Warton's excellent Obfervations on Spen- 
 fer, the Hiftorian proceeds thus : Timens ne in. 
 manus Saracenorum deveniret, percuffit fpata 
 lapidem marmoreum trino i&u ; a fummo ufque 
 deorfum lapis dividitur, & gladius biceps illasfus 
 
 educitur. Deinde tuba fua coepit altifona to- 
 
 nitruare, fi forte aliqui ex Chriftianis, qui per 
 nemora Saracenorum timore ktitabant, ad fe 
 venirent 5 vel fi illi, qui portus jam tranfierant, 
 
 forte
 
 140 NOTES TO THE 
 
 forte ad fe redirent, fuoque funeri adeflent, fpa- 
 tamque fuam & equum acciperent, et Saracenos 
 perfequerentur. Tune tanta virtute tuba fua 
 eburnea infonuit, quod flatu omnis ejus tuba per 
 ir.edium fcifla, & venae colli ejus & nervi rupti 
 fuifle feruntur ; cujus vox ad aures Caroli, qui in 
 valle quae Caroli dicitur cum exercitu fuo tento- 
 ria fixerat, loco fcilicet qui diftabat a Carolo oclo 
 milliaribus verfus Gafconiam, Angelico du&u 
 pervenit Cap. XXII. & XXIII. 
 
 NOTE V. VERSJ- 65. 
 
 Yet modf/l JEginbard) with grateful care."] The 
 celebrated Secretary and fuppofed Son-in-law of 
 Charlemain ; who is faid to have been carried 
 through the fnow on the fhoulders of the affec- 
 tionate and ingenious Imma, to prevent his being 
 tracked from her apartment by the Emperor her 
 father : a ftory which the elegant pen of Addifon 
 has copied and eaibelliflied from an old German 
 Chronicle, and inferted in the 3d volume of the 
 7 Spe&ator.
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. HI 
 
 Speaator. This happy lover (fuppofmg the 
 ftory to be true) feems to have pofTefled a heart 
 not unworthy of fo enchanting a miftrefs, and to 
 have returned her affection with the moft faith- 
 ful attachment ; for there is a letter of ^Egin- 
 hard's (till extant, lamenting the death of his wife, 
 which is written in the tendsreft ftrain of connu- 
 bial affliction it does not however exprefs that 
 this hdy was the affectionate Princefs ; and in- 
 deed fome late critics have proved, that Imma 
 
 was not the daughter of Charlemain. But to 
 
 return to our Hiftorian. He was a native of 
 Germany, and educated by the munificence of 
 his imperial matter ; of which he has left the moft 
 grateful teftimony in his Preface to the Life of 
 that Monarch the pafiage may ferve to fhew 
 both the amiable mind of the Hiftorian, and the 
 elegance of his ft vie, confidering the age in which 
 he wrote : Suberat & alia non irrationabilis, ut 
 opinor, caufa, quae vel fola fufficere poflet ut me 
 ad hsec fcribenda compelleret ; nutrimentum vide- 
 licet in me impenfum, & perpetua, poftquam in 
 
 auk
 
 i 4 2 NOTES TO THE 
 
 aula ejus converfari coepi, cum ipfo ac liberis 
 ejus amicitia j qua me ita fibi devinxit, debi- 
 toremque tarn vivo quam mortuo conftituit, ut 
 merito ingratus videri & judicari poflem, fi, tot 
 beneficiorum in me collatorum immemor, clarif- 
 fima & illufrriflima hominis optime de me merit! 
 gefta filentio praeterirem, patererque vitam ejus, 
 quail qui nunquam vixerit, fine literis ac debita 
 laude manere; cui fcribendse atque explicandae 
 non meum ingeniolum,quod exile & parvum,imo 
 nullum pene eft, fed Tullianam par erat defudare 
 facundiam. The terms in which he fpeaks of 
 Charlemain's being unable to write, are as fol- 
 low : Tentabat & fcribere, fabulafque & codi- 
 cellos ad hoc in Ie6tulo fub cervicalibus circum- 
 ferre folebat ; ut cum vacuum tempus eflet, ma- 
 num effigiundis literis afluefaceret. Sed parutn 
 profpere fucceflit labor praepofterus, ac fero in- 
 choatus. ./Eginhard, after the lofs of his lament- 
 ed wife, is fuppofed to have pafled the remain- 
 der of his days in religious retirement, and to have 
 died foon after the year 840. His Life of Char- 
 
 lemain,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 143 
 
 lemain, his Annals from 741 to 829, and his 
 Letters, are all inferted in the id volume of 
 Duchefne's Scriptores Francorum. But there 
 is an improved edition of this valuable Hiftorian, 
 with the Annotations of Hermann Schmincke, 
 in Quarto, 1711. 
 
 NOTE VI. VERSE 79. 
 
 JfBntiJh Geoffrey fill' d bis motley page 
 Jf^itb Merlin' s fpells andUther's amorous rage.] 
 The firft of the two excellent diflertations pre- 
 fixed to Mr. Warton's Hiftory of Englifh Poe- 
 try, gives the moft perfefl account of this famous 
 old Chronicler, and his whimfical performance. 
 " About the year 1 100, Gualter r Archdeacon 
 of Oxford, a learned man, and a diligent collec- 
 tor of Hiftories, travelling through France, pro- 
 cured in Armorica an antient Chronicle, written 
 in the Britifh or Armorican language, intitled, 
 Brut-y-Brenhinedy or the Hiftory of the Kings 
 of Britain. This book he brought into England, 
 and cgmraunicated it to Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 
 aWelib
 
 144 NOTES TO THE 
 
 a Welfh Benedictine Monk, an elegant writer of 
 Latin, and admirably (killed in the Britifh tongue. 
 Geoffrey, at the requeft and recommendation of 
 Gualter the Archdeacon, tranflated this Britifh 
 Chronicle into Latin, executing the Tranflation 
 with a tolerable degree of purity, and great fide- 
 lity, yet not without fome interpolations. It was 
 probably finifhed after the year 1138."" The 
 fimple fubjecl of this Chronicle, diverted of its 
 romantic embellifhments, is a deduction of the 
 Welfh Princes from the Trojan Brutus to Cad- 
 wallader, who reigned in the feventh century." 
 To this extract from Mr. Warton, it may be 
 proper to add a concife account of that romantic 
 embellifhment, to which I have particularly al- 
 luded : Uther Pendragon, at the feftival of his 
 coronation, falls in love with Igerna, the wife of 
 Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall ; and being prevented 
 from purfuing his addrefTes by the vigilance of the 
 hufband, he applies to the magical power of Mer- 
 lin for the completion of his defire. This he ob- 
 tains, by being transformed into the perfon of 
 
 Gorlois j
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 145 
 
 Gorlois ; and thus introducing himfelf to the de- 
 luded Igerna, as Jupiter vifited Alcmena, he gives 
 birth to the celebrated Arthur. Manfit itaque 
 rex ea nocre cum Igerna, & fefe defiderata venere 
 refecit. Deceperat namque illam falfa fpecies 
 quam affumpferat ; deceperat etiam ficlitiis fer- 
 inonibus, quos ornate componebat . . . unde ipfa, 
 credula nihil quod pofcebatur abnegavit. Con- 
 cepit itaque . eadem nocle celeberrimum ilium 
 Arthurum, qui poftmodum ut Celebris effet, mira 
 probitate promeruit. 
 
 GALFRIDUS Mon. Lib. vi. cap. 2. 
 
 NOTE VII. VERSE 83. 
 
 Yet Life's great drama^ and the Deeds of men y 
 Sage Monk of Maltn'Jbury ! engaged thy pen.] 
 William, furnamed of Malmefbury from being a 
 member of that church, was a native of Somerfet-. 
 fhire, and is fuppofed to have received his educa- 
 tion at Oxford. He is juftly called, by almoft 
 every writer on Englifh Hiftory, the moft liberal 
 and judicious of all our monaftic Hiftorians. His 
 .- V.OL. II. L principal
 
 i 4 S NOTES TO THE 
 
 principal work is a Hiftory of our Kings, from 
 the arrival of the Saxons to the 20th year of 
 Henry the Firft. This was followed by two 
 books of later Hiftory, which clofe with the cele- 
 brated efcape of the Emprefs Matilda from the 
 Caftle of Oxford, 1 142. Thefe works are both 
 addrefied to that munificent patron of merit, Ro- 
 bert Earl of Gloucefter, natural fon of Henry 
 the Firft j who was perhaps the moft exalted and 
 accomplifhed character that ever flourifhed in fo 
 barbarous an age. The Hiftorian fpeaks of his 
 noble friend with all the fimplicity 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 purfuing his Hiftory, which he intimates 
 a. deftgn of renaming.-*- Yet there is a pafTage 
 preferved in Tanner, from the Preface to his 
 Comments on Jeremiah, which feems to prove, 
 that he lived to a later period j fince he mentions 
 his hiftorical works as the production of hisi 
 younger days, and fpeaks of his age as devoted to 
 
 religious
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 147 
 
 religious compofition. Befides his four books 
 De geftis Pontificum Anglorum, he wrote many- 
 works of the fame pious turn, which the curious 
 reader may fee enumerated in Tanner's Biblio- 
 theca. 
 
 NOTE VIII. VERSE 117. 
 
 Mild Abulfeda ! ivhofe rich merits claim 
 No Jingle wreath of literary fame. ~\ Ifmael Abul- 
 feda, defcended from a brother of the great Sala- 
 din, and Prince cf Hamah, a city of Syria, was 
 born at Damafcus, in the year of the Hegira 672, 
 or according to the Chriftian sera 1273. His 
 youth was devoted to the toils of martial life, and 
 he feems to have been a brave and accomplifhed 
 foldier j though his literary fame has eclipfed his 
 military reputation. The turbulent ftate of his 
 country prevented his eftablifhment in his here- 
 ditary dominion till the year 710, when the pof- 
 feflion of it was fecured to him by the afllftance 
 of Al Malec Al Nafer, fultan of vEgypt, from 
 whom he afterwards received the higheft ho- 
 L 2 nours ;
 
 148 NOTES TO THE 
 
 nours ; of which his gratitude has left the follow- 
 ing particular defcription, inferted by the learned 
 Schultens in his Preface to the Life of Saladin, 
 as it gives great luftre to the character of our royal 
 Hiftorian. 
 
 " Hamata degreflum equis veredariis, fine ullo 
 jumento inftrumentove itineris, prolixiflima gra- 
 tia cumulavit Sultanus, atque munificentiam fuam 
 fummo gradu erga me explicuit, mittendis variis 
 veftibus, equis, ve&abulis, eduliis ; mihique pecu r 
 liare tabernaculum ftatuendo, quod copiofe ador- 
 natum erat vefte ftragula, tapetibufque ad fotn- 
 num, ad cibum capiendum ; fervorumque peculi- 
 ari turba mihi afUgnata. Cum hifce omnibus 
 baud ceflabant magnifica veftimenta, diverfiffimi 
 generis, ad me miffitata, ut iis publice condeco- 
 rarem quos collibuiiTet. Sultanus interea longum 
 in redeundo domum iter fallebat venatione dorca- 
 dum per accipitres ; me quoque fuaviter animum 
 oble&ante inter effufas ejus in me gratias ; dum 
 ad me identidem de captura fua capreolos fubmit- 
 tebat, Direclum quoque ad me, dum iter face- 
 
 remus,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 149 
 
 rcmus, diploma ejus; quo fignificabat, Te ego 
 fultanum conftituam, ftatim ac in ^Egyptum per- 
 venero ; atque ad regionem tuatn remeabis hoc 
 titulo praefulgens. Ego vero excufationem petere 
 tanti honoris, eumque deprecari, quin et dolorera 
 inde percipere, memet ipfum abjiciendo, fplen- 
 didiufque praedicando nomen ejus celfum, quam 
 ut illius quifquam confors ac particcps reddere- 
 tur. Pro incerto itaque reli&um illud negotium, 
 
 donee fedem regni fui attigiflet 
 
 Ibi dum commoror, fultani mandato ad me per- 
 veniunt infignia fultanatus, principefque minif- 
 trorum viginti circiter, apportantes regalem 
 veftem fericam confummatiflimam auro inter- 
 textam, et acinacem fultanicum, et imperiale 
 ephippium auro illufum ^gyptioj diploma item, 
 fultanatus dignitatem mihi deferens, una cum 
 ftipatoribus fultanicis ad fraenum tenendum; fe'- 
 lichdarioque (armigero) cujus ex humeris duo 
 gladii dependcbant; apparitoribufque fultanicis, 
 qui equum generofum adducebant apparatifllme 
 ornatum. Eum ego confcendi mane diei Jovis, 
 L 3 decimo
 
 ISO 
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 ilecimo et feptimo Muharremi, precedentibus a<J 
 dimidium viae principibus : veti dein, omnea 
 iterum ad pedes defcenderunt quum propinquaflem 
 arci mentis (palatio regis Mgypti] ; ego vero in 
 equoperrexi, donee perveherer propeportam arcis, 
 ubi ad pedes degrefius, terram in honorem fultani 
 deofculatus fum, arcem verfus, atque diplomat! 
 quoque celfiffimo ofculum fixi. Terram deinde 
 iterum iterumque deofculatus, afcendi in arcem 
 atque praefentem me fliti fultano, illuftri jam ac 
 provecto die, ubi denub terram ofculatus fum. 
 At ille me ea cumulavit gfatia, quam ne pater 
 quidem filio fuo exhibet, mihique inter haec 
 Hamatam remeare mandavit ; Heus tu, inquiens, 
 longum jam abfens revertere ad regionem tuam." 
 Thus invefted with the title of Sultan, Abulfeda 
 returned, in all his fplendor, to his paternal do- 
 minion ; where he clofed an honourable life at the 
 age of fixty, in 733, thirteen years after this mag- 
 nificent ceremony. He is faid to have been 
 highly fkilled in medicine, philofophy,and poetry : 
 but his fame as an author is chiefly founded on 
 
 his
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 151 
 
 his hiftorical and geographical productions ; and 
 thefe, notwithftanding their acknowledged merit, 
 have appeared only in felefted fragments. So piti- 
 ful and precarious has been the encouragement 
 which the moft liberal nations of Europe have 
 bellowed on oriental literature, that defigns of 
 publifhing a complete edition of Abulfeda's geo- 
 graphy have been fuffered to fail both in France 
 and England. The honour of doing juftice to 
 this illuftrious author feems to be rc-ferved for 
 Germany; where the learned Michaelis has lately 
 publifhed his defcription of Egypt, and intimates 
 an intention of printing the other parts of this au- 
 thor. Of his general Hiftory, which he brought 
 down to the latter years of his own life, different 
 portions have been given to the public by different 
 editors his account of Mahomet, by Gagnier, 
 printed at Oxford, in folio, 1723 ; his Hiftory of 
 the Arabian Caliphs, to the year of the Hegira 
 406, by Reifke, printed at Leipfic 1754 and his 
 narrative of all the circumftances relating to the 
 great Saladin has been very properly annexed by 
 L 4 Schultens
 
 152 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Schultens to Bohaddin's Life of that monarch. 
 Abulfeda, in this portion of his Hiftory, feems to 
 dwell on the great character of Saladin with that ' 
 ingenuous pride, which a generous mind muft 
 naturally feel in fpeaking of fo noble an ancef- 
 tor. He relates fome anecdotes of that prince, 
 not mentioned by his Biographer, highly expref- 
 five of his animated and affectionate fpirit ; par- 
 ticularly a letter written immediately after the 
 fevere defeat which obliged him to fly from Af- 
 calon into the deferts of Egypt : it was addrefled 
 to his brother, who commanded at Damafcus, and 
 opened with a quotation from an Arabian poet to 
 this effect : 
 
 My foul remembers thee with fond delight, 
 Amidft the horrors of the adverfe fight, 
 When hoftile Larces drink the gory flood, 
 And fatiate in our veins their third of blood. 
 
 In his account of the gentle difpofition and refin- 
 ed manners of Saladin, he perfectly agrees with 
 the Biographer of that monarch. The gene- 
 rous
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 153 
 
 rous Abulfeda, fo liberal in commemorating the 
 merit of others, has not himfelf wanted an enco- 
 miaft ; for, according to Herbelot, his eulogy is 
 contained in the works of an oriental Poet, whofe 
 name is Nobatah, and whofe compofitions may be 
 found in the king of France's library. 
 
 NOTE IX. VERSE 123. 
 And with that viflim's blood his fabre Jlain, 
 JVho dar'd to write the annals of his reign /] 
 I am unable to difcover the name of this inhuman 
 Prince, or that of his unfortunate Hiftorian ; but 
 the fact is related on the authority of an Arabic 
 writer, named Nouari, by M. Cardonne, in the 
 Preface to his Hiftoire de 1'Afrique et de 1'Efpagne 
 fous la Domination des Arabes. His words are 
 " Nouari rapporte, que les Sultans de la dynaftie 
 " des Almohades defendirent, fous peine de la vie, 
 " d'ecrire les Annales de leur regne; et qu'un 
 u Prince de cette maifon fit perir un Auteur, 
 " pour avoir enfraint cette loi." As the Princes 
 of this dynafty exerted their power both in Africa 
 and Spain, this fingular execution might happen 
 
 in
 
 154 NOTES TO THE 
 
 in either country. I have ventured to fuppofe it in 
 Spain, for poetical reafons, which will occur to 
 the Reader. 
 
 N O T E X. VERSE 127. 
 
 There Corduba, in hours of happier fate 9 
 Sublimely rofe in academic Jlate. ] The Uni ver- 
 ity of Corduba was founded by Al Hakem the 
 Second, who died in the 336th year of the Hegira, 
 after a reign of fifteen years and five months. 
 He was the fon and fucceflbr of the magnifi- 
 cent Abdelrahman the Third, who in a long and 
 profperous life had given flability and fplendor 
 to the Moorilh empire in Spain. It is remark- 
 able, that many of thefe Arab Princes were not 
 only protectors of literature, but often diftinguifli- 
 ed themfelves by poetical 'Compofition. Nor 
 were the Moorifh Ladies lefs eager to cultivate the 
 moft elegant of mental accomplimments : Vala- 
 da, or Valadata, the daughter of the Prince who 
 founded the Univerfity, was no lefs celebrated for 
 her poetical talents, than for her fmgular beauty 
 and exalted birth. She beftowed her protection 
 
 on
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 155 
 
 on that feat of learning, which owed its rife to the 
 liberality of her father ; and the principal poets of 
 the time are faid to have formed her favourite 
 ibciety. 
 
 The Bibliotheca Arabico-Hifpana of Cafiri, 
 from whence I have drawn thefe particulars, con- 
 tains alfo a lift of many female poets, who reflect- 
 ed honour on their native city of Corduba. One 
 of the moft eminent among thefe, was a Lady 
 diflinguiflied by the name of Aifcha Bent, whofe 
 -compofitions, both in profe and verfe, were pub- 
 licly recited in the Academy with univerfal ap- 
 plaufe j and who clofed (fays my Author) a fingle 
 and chafte life, in the year of the Hegira 400, 
 leaving many monuments of her own genius, as 
 well as a rich and well-chofen library. 
 
 N O T E XI. VERSE 147. 
 Thy warm Bohaddin^ ivitb that generous zea? y 
 IVblck no bafe Jons of Adulation feel.] Bohaddin, 
 or Bohadin (for his name is varioufly written), is 
 conjectured by Schultens, his learned Tranflator, 
 to have been an AiTynan by birth, and a native of 
 7 Mofula,
 
 i 5 6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Mofula, the metropolis of Mefopotamia j from 
 whence, before he entered into thefervice of Sala- 
 din, he was fent embaflador, as he himfelf relates, 
 to the Caliph of Bagdad. He feems to have been 
 principally indebted to his talents as an Hiftorian, 
 for the protection and favour of that engaging 
 hero, whofe confidence he afterwards obtained, 
 and whofe fplendid character he has fo warmly 
 celebrated. For as he was returning from Mecca 
 to Mofula, he embraced an opportunity of prefent- 
 ing to Saladin an account of the holy war, as he 
 terms it, which he had drawn up as he flopt at 
 Damafcus in the courfe of his pilgrimage, and in 
 which he had defcribed the adminiftration and dif- 
 cipline of that monarch. He affirms that the 
 Sultan perufed his work with infinite fatisfaction, 
 and exprefled the moft eager defire to engage him 
 in his fervice. The grateful Hiftorian was no lefs 
 inclined to devote himfelf to his generous and en- 
 thufiaftic patron. From this period he feems to 
 have been a favourite companion of his warlike 
 maftcr j to have ftiared many of his dangers, as 
 
 well
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 157 
 
 well as his moft fecret counfels ; and to have 
 ferved him, with a moft zealous and affectionate 
 attachment, to the hour of his death an event of 
 \vhich he fpeaks with the affecling fimplicity of 
 real forrow. In mentioning the oriental cuftora 
 of warning the body of the deceafed, he records the 
 name of the minifter who performed the ceremo- 
 ny ; and adds, that he had himfelf engaged in this 
 mournful office, but was obliged to retire, on feel- 
 ing himfelf unequal to fo painful a fcene. The 
 work of this interefting Biographer is divided in- 
 to two parts : the firft exhibits a general charac- 
 ter of the hero, with particular examples of his va- 
 rious virtues and endowments ; the fecond gives a 
 chronological account of his adventures, from his 
 firft expedition into Egypt to the clofe of his life ; 
 but patting lightly over his other exploits, dwells 
 chiefly on the tranfaclions of the holy war j and 
 difcovers fuch marks of religious zeal, that Schtil- 
 tens very {hrewdly fuppofes the author to have been 
 a prieft, from the manner in which he lavifhes his 
 maledictions. It is juft, however, to obferve, that 
 
 he
 
 158 NOTES TO THE 
 
 he fpeaks very liberally on the martial merit of his 
 Chriftian enemies ; and there is one pafiage in his 
 hiftory, in which he pays a very pleafing and pa- 
 thetic compliment to the univerfal philanthropy of 
 the Sultan : it is in relating an anecdote which 
 affords fo interefting a piciure, that I cannot help 
 prefenting it to my reader : 
 
 In the army of Saladin there were fome dexte- 
 rous robbers, who ufed to penetrate by night into 
 the camp of the Chriftians, and prefent to the Sul- 
 tan, on their return, fuch booty as they had been 
 able to bring offj which he beftowed upon them, 
 as a reward of their valour. In one of their 
 nightly excurfions they happened to feize an in- 
 fant of three months : the mother, robbed of her 
 little one, fpent the night in the moft bitter lamen- 
 tation?, and related her misfortune to the Chriftian 
 leaders. They anfwered, The Sultan is com- 
 paffionate, and we therefore give you permiflionto 
 depart, and petition him for pur child, which he 
 will certainly reftore. Approaching our guard, 
 ihe relates her ftory, and implores their affiftance. 
 They give her accefs to the Sultan, to whom, as 
 
 he
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 159 
 
 he was riding, attended by myfelf and others, (he 
 prefented herfelf bathed in tears, and proftrate in 
 the duft. He enquires the caufe of her affliction ; 
 fhe repeats her ftory: the Sultan is moved 
 even to tears, and orders the child to be produced. 
 On finding that it had been publicly fold, he 
 commands it to be redeemed ; and refled not till 
 he faw the infant delivered to its mother. Receiv- 
 ing it with a profufion of tears, fhe preft it to her 
 bofom the furrounding fpe&ators (and I hap- 
 pened to be among them) wept with her {he 
 then gave her breaft to the infant ; after which the 
 Sultan directed her to be feated on horfeback with 
 her little one, and fafely efcorted to her own quar- 
 ters. Confider (exclaims the affectionate and re- 
 ligious Hiftorian) this example of univerfal bene- 
 volence ! Such, O God ! haft thou created this 
 merciful fovereign, to appear moft worthy of thy 
 own infinite mercy. Confider this tefl?mony, 
 which even his enemies have borne of his com- 
 paflionate and generous difpofition ! 
 
 BOHAD. SCHULTENS, Page 162.' 
 
 NOTE
 
 160 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 NOTE XII. VERSE 194. 
 
 jf faithful Chronicler in plain Froiffart.] John 
 Froiflart, Canon and Treafurer of the collegiate 
 church of Chimay, in Henault, was born at Va- 
 lenciennes, a city of that province, in 1337, ac- 
 cording to the conjecture of that elaborate and in- 
 genious antiquarian Mr. de St. Palaye ; who has 
 amply illuftrated the Life and Writings of this 
 engaging Hiftorian, in a feries of diflertations 
 among the Memoirs of the French Academy, 
 Vol. X. XIII. XlV.-St. Palaye imagines, 
 from a paflage in the MS Poems of Froiflart, 
 that his father was a painter of Armories and 
 it is certain the Hiftorian difcovers a paflion for all 
 the pomp and all the minutiae of heraldry : it was 
 indeed the favourite ftudy of that martial age ; and 
 Froiflart, more the prieft of gallantry than of reli- 
 gion, devoted himfelf entirely to the celebration of 
 love and war. At the age of 20, he began to 
 write Hiftory, at the requeft de fan cher Seigneur 
 y Maitre Mejjire Robert de Namur, Chevalier 
 Seigneur de Beaufort. The angujili of unfuc- 
 
 cefsful
 
 SECOND EPISTLE, 161 
 
 cefsful love drove him early into England, and 
 his firft voyage feems a kind of emblem of his 
 future life j for he failed hither in a ftorm, yet 
 continued writing a rondeau in fpite of the tem- 
 peft, till he found himfelf on that coaft, ou Ton 
 aime mieux la guerre, que la paix, & ou les ef- 
 trangers font tres bien venus, as he faid of our 
 country in bis verfes, and happily experienced in 
 his kind reception at court, where Philippa of He- 
 nault, the Queen of Edward the Third, and a Pa- 
 tronefs of learning, diftinguifhed the young Hif- 
 torian, her countryman, by the kindeft protec- 
 tion ; and, rinding that love had rendered him un- 
 happy, fupplied him with money and with horfes, 
 that he might prefent himfelf with every advan- 
 tage before the object of his paffion. Love foon 
 efcorted him to his miftrefs but his addrefles 
 were again unfuccefsful ; and, taking a fecond - 
 voyage to England^ he became Secretary to his 
 royal patronefs Philippa, in 1361, after having pre- 
 fented to her fome portion of his Hiftory. He 
 continued five years in her fervice, entertaining 
 VOL. II. M her
 
 162 NOTES TO THE 
 
 her majefly de beaux dittiez b" traifiez amour eux : 
 in this period he paid a vifit to Scotland, and was 
 entertained 15 days by William earl Douglas. 
 In 1366, when Edward the Black Prince was 
 preparing for the war in Spain, Froiflart was with 
 him in Gafcony, and hoped to attend him during 
 the whole courfe of that important expedition : 
 but the Prince fent him baek to the Queen his 
 mother. He continued not long in England, as 
 he vifited many of the Italian courts in the follow- 
 ing year j and during his travels fuftained the irre- 
 parable lofs of that patronefs, to whofe bounty he 
 had been fo much indebted. Philippa died 1369, 
 and Froiflart is reported to have written the life of 
 his amiable prote&refs ; but of this performance 
 the refearches of St. Palaye could difcover no 
 trace. 
 
 After this event, he retired to his own country, 
 and obtained the benefice of Leftines > in the dio- 
 cefe of Cambray. But the cure of fouls was an 
 office little fuited to the gay and gallant Froiflart. 
 His genius led him ftill to travel from caftle to 
 
 caftle,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE, 163 
 
 caftle, and from court to court, to ufe the words of 
 Mr. Warton, who has made occafional mention 
 of our author, in his elegant Hiftory of Englifh 
 Poetry. Froiflart now entered into the fervice 
 of the Duke of Brabant ; and, as that Prince was 
 himfelfapoet, Froiflart colle&ed all the compofl- 
 tions of his matter, and adding fome of his own, 
 formed a kind of romance, which he calls 
 
 Un Livre de Meliador 
 Le Chevalier au foleil d'or, 
 
 and of which, in one of his later poems, he gives 
 the following account : 
 
 Dedans ce Romant font enclofes 
 Toutes les chancons que jadis, 
 Dont Tame foit en paradis, 
 Que fit le bon Due de Braibant, 
 Wir.celaus, dont on parla tant ; 
 Car un prince fu amorous. 
 Gracious & chevalerous, 
 Et le livre me fit ja faire, 
 Par tres grant amoureus a faire, 
 Coment qu'il ne le veift oncques. 
 
 M 2 The
 
 164 NOTES TO THE 
 
 The Duke died in 1384, before this work was 
 completed ; and Froiflart foon found a new 
 patron in Guy earl of Blois, on the marriage of 
 whofe Son he wrote a Paftoral, entitled Le Tem- 
 ple d'Honneur. The Earl having requefted him 
 to refume his Hiftory, he travelled for that pur- 
 ppfe to the celebrated court of Gafton earl of Foix, 
 whofe high reputation for every knightly virtue 
 attracted to his refidence, at Orlaix, thofe martial 
 adventurers, from whofe mouth it was the delight 
 of Froiflart to collect the materials of his Hiftory. 
 The courteous Gafton gave him the moft flat- 
 tering reception : he faid to him with a fmile 
 (& en bon Francois) " qu'il le connoiflbit bien, 
 quoyqu'il ne 1'euft jamais veu, mais qu'il avoit 
 bien oui parler de luy, & le retint de fon hoftel." 
 It became a favourite amufement of the Earl, 
 to hear Froiflart read his Romance of Meliador 
 after fupper. He attended in the caftle every 
 night at 12, when the Earl fate down to table, 
 liftened to him with extreme attention, and never 
 difmifled him, till he had made him vuider tout ce 
 
 qui
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 165 
 
 qui eftoit refte du vin de fa bouche. FroifTart 
 gained much information here, not only from his 
 patron, who was himfelf very communicative, 
 but from various Knights of Arragon and Eng- 
 land, in the retinue of the Duke of Lancafter, 
 who then refided at Bourdeaux. After a long 
 refidence in this brilliant court, and after receiv- 
 ing a prefent from the liberal Gafton, which he 
 mentions in the following verfes 
 
 Je pris conge & li bons Contes 
 Me fit par fa chambre des comptes 
 Delivrer quatrevins florins 
 D'Arragon, tous pefans & fins 
 Et mon livre, qu'il m'ot laifTe 
 
 Froiflart departed in the train of the Countefs of 
 Boulogne, related to the earl of Foix, and juft 
 leaving him, to join her new hu(band the Duke 
 of Berry. In this expedition our Hiftorian was 
 robbed near Avignon, and laments the unlucky 
 adventure in a very long poem, from which 
 Mr. de St Palaye has drawn many particu- 
 M 3 lars
 
 166 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Jars of his life. The ground-work of this poem 
 (which is not in the lift of our Author's poetical 
 pieces, that Mr. Warton has given us from Paf- 
 quier) feems to have a ftrong vein of humour.. 
 It is a dialogue between the Poet and the fin- 
 gle Florin that he has left, out of the many which 
 he had either fpent, or been obliged to furrender 
 to the robbers. He reprefents himfelf as a man 
 of the moft expenfive turn : in 25 years he ha4 
 fquandered two thoufand franks, befides his eccle- 
 ftafrical revenues. The compofition of his works 
 had coft him 700 ; but he regretted not this fum, 
 as he cxpedled to be amply repaid for it by the 
 praife of pofterity. 
 
 After having attended all the feftivals on the 
 marriage of the Duke of Berry, having traverfed 
 many parts of France, and paid, a vifit to Zeland, 
 he returned to his own country in 1 390, to con- 
 tinue his Hiftory from the various materials he 
 had collected. But not fatisfied with the relations 
 he had heard of the war in Spain, he went to 
 Middlebpurgh in Zeland, in purfuit of a Portu- 
 
 guefe
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 167 
 
 guefe Knight, Jean Ferrand Portelet, vaillant 
 homme & fage, & du Confeil du Roy de Portu- 
 gal. From this accomplifhed foldier FroifTart 
 expected the moft perfect information, as an ocu- 
 lar witnefs of thofe fcenes which he now wifhed 
 to record. The courteous Portelet received our 
 indefatigable Hiftorian with all the kindnefs which 
 his enthufiafm deferved ; and in fix days, which 
 they pafled together, gave him all the intelligence 
 he defired. Froiflart now returned home, and 
 finifhed the third book of his Hiftory. Many 
 years had paft lince he had bid adieu to Eng- 
 land. Taking advantage of the truce then efta- 
 bliihed between France and that country, he 
 paid it another vifit in 1395, with letters of re- 
 commendation to the King and his uncles. 
 From Dover he proceeded to Canterbury, to pay 
 his devoirs at the fhrine of Thomas of Becket, 
 and to the memory of the Black Prince. Here 
 he happened to find the fon of that hero, the young 
 King Richard, whom devotion had alfo brought 
 to make his offerings to the faihionable Saint, 
 M 4 and
 
 168 NOTES TO THE 
 
 and return thanks to Heaven for his fuccefles in 
 Ireland. * Froiflart fpeaks of this adventure, and 
 his own feelings on the great change of fcene that 
 had taken place fince his laft vifit to England, 
 in the following natural and lively terms : 
 Le Roy . . . vint . . a trez grant arroy, et bien 
 accompaigne de feigneurs, de dames, et demoi- 
 felles, et me mis entre eulx, & entre elles, et tout 
 me fembla nouvel, ne je ny congnoiflbye per- 
 fonne j car le terns eftoit bien change en Angle- 
 terre depuis le terns de vingt & huyt ans : et 
 en la compagnie du roy n'avoit nuls de fes 
 oncles . . . . fi fus du premier ainfi que tout 
 efbahy . . . Tho' Froiflart w^s t'lus embarrafled 
 in not finding one of his old friends in the reti- 
 nue of the King, he foon gained a new Patron in 
 Thomas Percy, Mafter of the Houfehold, who 
 offered to prefent him and his letters to Richard ; 
 but this offer happening on the eve of the King's 
 departure, it proved too late for the ceremony 
 Le Roy eftoit retrait pour aller dormir. And on 
 the morrow, when the impatient Hiftorian at- 
 tended
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 169 
 
 tended early at the Archbimop's palace, where 
 the King flept, his friend Percy advifed him to 
 wait a more convenient feafon for being intro- 
 duced to Richard. FroifTart acquiefced in this' 
 advice, and was confoled for his difappointment 
 by falling into company with an Englifh Knight, 
 who had attended the King in Ireland, and was 
 very willing to gratify the curiofity of the Hifto- 
 rian by a relation of his adventures. This was 
 William de Lifle, who entertained him, as they 
 rode along together, with the marvels of St. Pa- 
 trick's Cave, in which he aflured him he had 
 parted a night, and feen wonderful vifions. 
 Though our honeft Chronicler is commonly ac- 
 cufed of a paffion for the marvellous, with an ex- 
 cefs of credulity, he fays very fenfibly on this oc- 
 cafion, de cette matiere je ne luy parlay plus 
 avant, et m'en ceflay, car voulentiers je luy 
 eufle demande- du voyage d'Irlande, et luy eu 
 voulaye parler, et mettre en voye. It appears 
 plainly from this paflage, that our Hiftorian was 
 more anxious to gain information concerning 
 
 the
 
 ijo NOTES TO THE 
 
 the fccnes of real action, than to liften to the ex- 
 travagant fidions of a popular legend But here 
 ike was again difappoiated. New companions 
 joined them on the road, and their hiftorical con- 
 ference was thus interrupted. Thefe mortifica- 
 tions w?re foon repaid by the kind reception he 
 met with from the Duke of York, who faid to 
 him, when he received the recommendatory let- 
 ter from the Earl of Henault, 4t Maiftre Jehan 
 tcnez vous toujours deles nous, & nos gens, nous 
 vous ferons tout amour & courtoifle, nous y 
 fommes tenus pour 1'amour du terns pafle & de 
 BOtre dame de mere a qui vous futes ; nous en 
 avonsbien Ja fouvenance." With thefe flatter- 
 ing marks of remembrance and favour, the Duke 
 prefented him to the King, lequel me receut 
 joyeufement et doulcement (continues Froif- 
 fart) . . et ne dift que jp fufle le bien venus et fi 
 j'avoye efte de 1'hoftel du Roy fon Ayeul & de 
 Madame fon Ayeule encores efloys je de 1'hoftel 
 
 d'Angleterre. Some time however elapfed, 
 
 !>efore he had an opportunity of prefentmg his 
 6 romance
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 171 
 
 romance of Meliador, which he had prepared 
 for the King. -The Duke of York and his other 
 friends at length obtained for him this honour. 
 He gives the following curious and particular 
 account of the ceremony : Et voulut veoir le 
 Roy mon livre, que je luy avoye apporte. Si le 
 vit en fa chambre : car tout pourveu je Pavoye, 
 et luy mis fur fon lift. Et lors il 1'ouvrit et 
 regarda dedans, et luy pleut tres grandement. Et 
 plaire bien luy devoit : car il eftoit enlumine, 
 efcrit et Hiftorie, & couvert de vermeil veloux 
 a dix cloux d'argent dorez d'or et rofes d'or ou 
 meillieu a deux gros fermaulx dorez et richement 
 ouvrez ou meillieu rofiers d'or. Adonc me de- 
 manda le Roy de quoy il traiftoit : et je luy dis 
 d'amours. De cede refponce fut tout resjouy, 
 et regarda dedans le livre en plufieurs lieux, et y 
 lyfit, car moult bien parloit et lyfpit Francoys, 
 et puis le fift prendre par ung fien Chevalier, qui 
 fe nomme Meflire Richard Credon, et porter en 
 fa chambre de retrait dont il me fift bonne chere. 
 
 After
 
 i 7 2 NOTES TO THE 
 
 After pafling three months in this court, 
 Froiflart took his leave of the munificent but ill- 
 fated Richard. In the laft chapter of his Hif- 
 tory, where he mentions the unfortunate end of 
 this Monarch, he fpeaks with an honeft and af- 
 fecting gratitude of the liberal prefent he received 
 from him on his departure from England. 
 It was a goblet of filver gilt, weighing two 
 marks, and filled with a hundred nobles. 
 
 On leaving England, he retired to his own 
 country, and is fupppfed to have ended his days 
 at his benefice of Chimay j but the year of his 
 death is uncertain. There is an ancient tradi- 
 tion in the country, fays Mr. de Saint Palaye, 
 that he was buried in the chapel of St. Anne, be- 
 longing to his own church. That ingenious 
 antiquarian produces an extract from its archives, 
 in which the death of FroifTart is recorded, but 
 without naming the year, in the moft honour- 
 able terms. His obit bears the date of Oc- 
 tober, and is followed by 20 Latin verfes, 
 
 from
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 173 
 
 from which I felecl: fuch as appear to me the 
 moft worth tranfcribing. 
 
 Gallorum fublimis honos, & fama tuorum, 
 
 Hie, Froiflarde, jaces, fi modo forte jaces. 
 Hiftoriae vivus ftuduifti reddere vitam, 
 
 Defun&o vitam reddet at ilia tibi. 
 Proxima dum propriis florebit Francia fcriptis, 
 
 * Famia dum ramos, * Blancaque fundet aquas, 
 Urbis ut hujus honos, templi fie fama vigebis, 
 
 Teque ducem Hiftoriae Gallia tota colet, 
 Belgica tota colet, Cymeaque vallis amabit, 
 
 Dum rapidus proprios Scaldis obibit agros. 
 
 As I have never met with any fatisfactory ac- 
 count of Froiflart's life in our language, I have 
 been tempted to fwell this Note to an inordinate 
 length ; yet it feems to me ftill neceflary to add a 
 few lines more concerning the character both of 
 the Hiftorian and the Poet. A long feries of 
 French Critics, to whom even the judicious Bayle 
 
 * A foreft and a river near Chimay. 
 
 has
 
 i 74 NOTES TO THE 
 
 has been tempted to give credit, have feverety 
 cenfured Froiflart, as the venal partisan of the 
 Englifh j and they have accufed his laft Editor j 
 Sauvage, of mutilating his author, becaufe they 
 could find in his edition no proofs of their charge. 
 The amiable St. Palaye has defended le bon 
 Froiflart, as he is called by honeft Montaigne, 
 from this unjuft accufation ; and done full juftice, 
 at the fame time, to the injured reputation of his 
 exact and laborious editor. 
 
 It may ferve as a kind of memento mori to poe- 
 tical vanity, to reflect that Froiflart is hardly 
 known as a Poet, though his fertile pen produced 
 30,000 verfes, which were once the delight of 
 Princes, and the favourite ftudy of the gallant and 
 the fair. How far he deferved the oblivion into 
 which his poetical compositions have fallen, the 
 reader may conceive from the following judgment 
 of his French Critic ; with whofe ingenious re- 
 flection on the imperfections attending the early 
 ftate both of Poetry and Painting, I fhall termi- 
 nate this Note. 
 
 On
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 17$ 
 
 On peut dire en general au fujet des Poefics 
 de Froiflart, que 1'invention pour les fujets lui 
 manquoit autant que 1'imagination pour les or- 
 nemens ; du refte le ftyle qu'il employe, moins 
 abondant que diffus, offre fouvent la repetition 
 ennuyeufe des memes tours, & des memes phraies, 
 pour rendre des idees aflez communes : cependant 
 la fimplicite et la liberte de fa verification ne font 
 pas toujours depourvues de graces, on y rencontre 
 de terns en terns quelques images & plufieurs vers 
 de fuite dont I'exprelfion eft affez heureufe. 
 
 Tel etoit alors 1'etat de notre Poefie Francoife, 
 , et le fort de la Peinture toit a peu pres le meme. 
 Ces deux arts que 1'ona toujours comparez enfem- 
 ble paroiflent avoir eu une marche prefqu' uni- 
 forme dans leur progres. Les Peintres au fortir 
 de la plus groffiere barbaric, faififlant d'abord en 
 detail tous les petits objets que la nature leur prc- 
 fentoit, s'attacherent aux infeftes, aux fleurs, aux 
 oifeaux, les parerent des couleurs les plus vives, 
 les deflinerent avec une exactitude que nous ad- 
 mi rons encore dans les vignettes & dans les mi- 
 niatures
 
 176 NOTES TO THE 
 
 niatures des manufcrits ; lorfqu'ils vinrent a 
 reprefenter des figures humaines, ils s'etudierent 
 bien plus a terminer les contours & a exprimer 
 jufqu' aux cheveux les plus fins, qu' a donner de 
 Tame auxvifages & du mouvement aux corps; et 
 ces figures dont la nature la plus commune four-, 
 niflbit toujours les modelles, etoient jettees en- 
 femble au hazard, fans choix, fans ordonnance, 
 fans aucun gout de compofition. 
 
 Les Poetes aufli fteriles que les Peintres, 
 bornoient toute leur induftrie a fcavoir amener 
 des defcriptions proper tionnees a leur talens, et 
 ils ne les quittoient qu'apres les avoir epuifees j 
 ils ne figavent gueres parler que d'un beau 
 printems, de la verdure des campagnes, de 1'email 
 des prairies, du ramage de mille efpeces d'oi- 
 feaux, de la clarte et de la vivacite d'une belle 
 fontaine ou d'un ruifleau qui murmure ; quelque- 
 fois cependant ils remlent avec naivete les amufe- 
 ir.ens enfantins des amans, leurs ris, leurs jeux, 
 les palpitations ou la joie d'un cceur amoreux ; 
 ils n'imaginent rien au dcla, incapable d'ailleurs 
 
 de
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 177 
 
 de donner de la fuite et de la liaifon a leurs 
 idees. 
 
 Notice des Poefies de Froiflart } Memoires 
 de 1' Academic, torn. xiv. p. 225. 
 
 NOTE XIII. VERSE 242, 
 
 Thy Favour, like the Sun's prolific ray, 
 Brought the keen Scribe of Florence into Day. ] 
 Nicholas Machiavel, the celebrated Florentine, 
 was firft patronized by Leo, who caufed one of 
 his comedies to be acted with great magnificence 
 at Rome, and engaged him to write a private 
 Treatife de Reformatione Reipublicae Floren- 
 tine. His famous political EfTay, intitled, " The 
 Prince," was published in 15 15$ and dedicated to 
 the Nephew of that Pontiff. The various judg- 
 ments that have been pafled on this fingular per- 
 formance, are a ftriking proof of the incertitude 
 of human opinion. In England it has received 
 applaufe from the great names of Bacon and 
 Clarendon, who fuppofe it intended to promote 
 VOL- II. N the
 
 178 NOTES TO THE 
 
 the intereft of liberty and virtue. In Italy, after 
 many years of approbation, it was publicly con- 
 demned by Clement the Vlllth, at the inftiga- 
 tion of a Jefuit, who had not read the book. In 
 France it has even been fuppofed inftrumental to 
 the horrid maflacre of St, Bartholomew, as the 
 favourite ftudy of Catherine of Medicis and her 
 Sons, and as teaching the bloody lefibns of ex- 
 tirpation which they fo fatally put in practice. 
 Yet one of his French Translators has gone fo 
 far as to fay, that " Machiavel, who pafles among 
 all the world for a teacher of Tyranny, detefted 
 it more than any man of the age in which he 
 lived." It muft however be owned, that there 
 is a great mixture of good and evil in his poli- 
 tical precepts. For the latter many plaufible 
 apologies have been made : and it fhould be re- 
 membered to his honour, that his great aim was 
 to promote the welfare of his country, in ex- 
 citing the Houfe of Medicis to deliver Italy from 
 the invafion of foreigners. 
 
 He is faid to have been made Hiiloriographer 
 
 of
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 179 
 
 of Florence, as a reward for having fuffered the 
 torture on fufpicion of confpiring againft the go- 
 vernment of that city, having fupported the fevere 
 trial with unfailing refolution. His Hiflory of 
 that republic he wrote at the requeft of Clement 
 the Vllth, as we are informed in his Dedication 
 of it to that Pontiff. The ftyle of this work is 
 much celebrated, and the firft Book may be re- 
 garded as a model of Hiftorical abridgment. 
 He died, according to Paul Jovius, in 1530. 
 
 NOTE XIV. VERSE 252. 
 
 Nor lefsy O Leo ! was it thine to raife 
 The great Hljloric Chief of modern days.] 
 Francis Guicciardin, born at Florence 1482, 
 of an antient and noble family, was appointed a 
 Profeflbr of Civil Law in that city at the age of 
 23. In 1512 he was fent Ambaflador to Ferdi- 
 nand King of Arragon ; and fdon after his re- 
 turn, deputed by the Republic to meet Leo the 
 Xth at Cortona, and attend him on his public 
 N 2 entry
 
 iSb N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 entry into Florence. That difcerning PontifF 
 immediately became his Patron, and raifed him 
 to the government of Modena and Reggio. He 
 fucceeded to that of Parma, which he defended 
 with great fpirit againft the French, on the 
 death of Leo. He rofe to the higheft honours 
 under Clement the Vllth, having the command 
 of all the eccleiiaftical forces, and being Go- 
 vernor of Romagna, and laflly of Bologna, in 
 which city he is faid to have received the 
 moft flattering compliments from the Emperor 
 Charles V. Having gained much reputation,, 
 both civil and military, in various fcenes of ac- 
 tive life, he pafled his latter days in retirement,, 
 at his villa near Florence j where he died foon 
 after completing his Hiftory, in the 59th year 
 of his age r 1540. Notwithftanding the high re- 
 putation of Guicciardin, his Hiftory has been 
 violently attacked, both as to matter and ftyle. 
 The honeft Montaigne inveighs with great- 
 warmth againft the malignant turn of its author ; 
 and his own countryman Boccalini, in whofe 
 
 whimfical
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 181 
 
 whimfical but lively work there are many ex- 
 cellent remarks on Hiftory and Hiftorians, fup- 
 pofes a Lacedaemonian thrown into agonies by a 
 fmgle page of Guicciardin, whom he is con- 
 demned to read, for having himfelf been guilty 
 of ufing three words inftead of two. The poor 
 Spartan cries for mercy, and declares that any 
 tortures are preferable to the prolixity of fuch a 
 Writer. This celebrated Hiftorian was alfo a 
 Poet. The three following verfes are the begin- 
 ning of an Epiftle, which he entitled Suppli- 
 cazione d'ltalia al Chriftianiffimo Re Fran- 
 cefco I. 
 
 Italia afflitta, nuda, e miferanda, 
 Ch' or de Principi fuoi ftanca fl lagna 
 A Te, Francefco, quefta Carta manda. 
 
 They are preferved in Crefcimbeni della volgv . 
 Poefia. Vol. v. p. 132. 
 
 Among the letters of the elder Taflb, there is 
 a curious one addrefled to Guicciardin, concern- 
 ing the Doge of Genoa : and the Amori of the 
 N 3 fame
 
 i82 NOTES TO THE 
 
 fame Poet contain the following compliment to 
 the Hiftorian : 
 
 Arno, ben poi iHuo natio foggiorno 
 Lafciar nel Appennino, e co criftalli 
 Scendendo per 1'alpeftre horride valli 
 Far il Tirrheno mar ricco, ed adorno ; 
 Ben poi di fronde 1'uno, e 1'altro corno 
 Ginger contento, e di fior bianchi e gialli j 
 E guidar care, ed amorofe balli 
 Con le tue nimphe al verde fondo intorno j 
 Che tra quanti intelletti humano velo 
 Chiude ne 1'alme al mondo chiare, e conte, 
 Un tuo figlio e maggiore, e piu perfetto. 
 Intaglia il nome fuo nel tuo bel monte 
 Si, che per molti fecoli fia letto 
 Guicciardin poi, ch'ei fia falito in Cielo. 
 
 Amori di BERNARDO TASSO, 
 Vinegia 1531, page 52. 
 
 NOTE
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 183 
 
 NOTE XV. VERSE 26^2. 
 
 equal wreaths let Davila be crown" d."\ 
 Henry Catherine Davila was the youngeft fon of 
 Antonio Davila, Grand Conftable of Cyprus, who 
 had been obliged to retire into Spain on the tak- 
 ing of that ifland by the Turks, in 1570. From 
 Spain Antonio repaired to the court of France, 
 and fettled his fon Lewis and two daughters un- 
 der the patronage of Catherine of Medicis, whofe 
 name he afterwards gave to the young Hiflorian, 
 born 1576, at an antient caftle 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 fignalized 
 himfelf in the military fcenes of that country'. 
 His laft exploit there was at the liege of Amiens^ 
 where he fought under Henry IV. and received 
 a wound in the knee, as he relates himfelf in his 
 Hiftory. After peace was eftablifhed in France; 
 he withdrew into Italy, and ferved the Republic 
 N4 of
 
 i5 4 NOTES TO THE 
 
 of Venice with great reputation, till a moft unfor- 
 tunate adventure put an end to his life in 1631. 
 
 Faffing through Verona with his wife and 
 
 family, on his way to Crema, which he was 
 appointed to defend, and demanding, according 
 to the ufual cuftom of perfons in his ftation, a 
 fupply of horfes and carriages for his retinue, a 
 brutal Veronefe, called II Turco, entered the 
 room where he and his family were at fupper j 
 and being mildly reprimanded for his intrufion 
 by Davila, difcharged a piftol at the Hiftorian, 
 and (hot him dead on the inftant. His accom- 
 plices alfo killed the Chaplain of Davila, and 
 wounded many of his attendants. But his cldeft 
 fon Antonio, a noble youth of eighteen, revenged 
 the death of his father by killing his murderer 
 on the fpot. All the confederates were fecured 
 the next morning, and publicly executed at 
 Verona. Memoire Ift .riche, prefixed to the 
 
 London edition of Davila, 410. 1755. It is 
 
 very remarkable, that Davila pafles no cenfure 
 on the Maflacre of St. Bartholomew. His cha- 
 racter
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 185 
 
 racier of the Queen Mother has that partiality, 
 which it was natural for him to fhew to the 
 Patronefs of his family ; but his general veracity- 
 is confirmed by the great authority of the firft 
 Duke of Epernon, who (to ufe the words of 
 Lord Bolingbroke) "had been an aflor, and a 
 principal ator too, in many of the fcenes that 
 Davila recites." Girard, Secretary to this Duke, 
 and no contemptible Biographer, relates, that 
 this Hiftory came down to the place where the 
 old man refided, in Gafcony, a little before his 
 death ; that he read it to him ; that the Duke 
 confirmed the truth of the narrations in it j and 
 feemed only furprifed by what means the author 
 could be fo well informed of the moft fecret 
 councils and meafures of thofe times." Letters 
 on Hiftory. 
 
 NOTE XVI. VERSE 284. 
 
 i^ blejl name! from every foible clear.] 
 Father Paul, the moft amiable and exalted cha- 
 racter that was ever formed in monaftic retire- 
 ment, was the fon of Francefco Sarpi, a mer- 
 6 chant
 
 186 NOTES TO THE 
 
 chant of Venice, and born in that city, 1552. 
 He took the religious habit, in the monaftery 
 of the Servites, 1565. After receiving prieft's 
 orders in 1574, he palled four years in Man- 
 tua, being appointed to read Lectures on Di- 
 vinity and Canon Law, by the Bifhop of that 
 diocefe : and in this early part of his life, he 
 is conjectured to have conceived the firft idea of 
 writing his celebrated Hiftory ; as he formed an 
 intimate friendfhip, during his refidence in Man- 
 tua, with Camillo d'Oliva, who had been Secre- 
 tary to Cardinal Gonzaga at the Council of 
 Trent j and excited the learned Venetian to the 
 arduous tafk, which he fo happily accompliflied 
 in a future period. He was recalled from Man- 
 tua, to read Lectures on Philofonhy in his own 
 convent at Venice j which he did with great repu- 
 tation, during the years 1575, 1576, and 1577. 
 He went to Rome, as Procurator General, in 
 1585. Pafiing from thence to Naples, he there 
 formed an acquaintance with the famous Baptifta 
 Porta, who has left this honourable teftimony of 
 bis univerfal knowledge : Eo doctiorem, fub- 
 
 tiliorem,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 187 
 
 tiliorem, quotquot adhuc videre contigerit, ne- 
 minem cognovimus ; natum ad Encyclopediam, 
 &c. Nor is this an exaggerated compliment, as 
 there is hardly any fcience which efcaped his 
 aclive mind. His difcoveries in Optics and Ana- 
 tomy would be alone fufficient to immortalize 
 his name, had he not gained immortality by a 
 ftill nobler exertion of his mental powers, in de- 
 fending the liberties of his country againfr. the 
 tyranny of Rome. On the firft attack of Pope 
 Paul V. on two laws of Venice, very wifely 
 framed to correct the abufes of the clergy, Fa- 
 ther Paul arofe as the literary champion of the 
 Republic, and defended its caufe with great fpirit 
 and temper, in various compofitions ; though he 
 is faid not to be Author of the Treatife generally 
 afcribed to him on the occafion, and intitled, 
 The Rights of Sovereigns, &c. His chief per- 
 formance on the fubjecl: was, Confiderazioni fopra 
 le Cenfure dl Paolo V. The Venetians ftiewed a 
 juft admiration of the fublime virtue of a Monk, 
 who defended fo nobly the civil rights of his 
 
 country
 
 i88 NOTES TO THE 
 
 country againft the feparate intereft of the church. 
 In 1606 the Council pafled a decree in his fa- 
 vour j which I fhall tranfcribe in this note, be- 
 caufe it is not found in the common Lives of 
 Father Paul, and becaufe there is hardly any ob- 
 jecl more pleafmg to the mind, than the con- 
 templation of a free ftate rewarding one of its 
 mod virtuous fervants with liberality and efteem. 
 
 rContinuando il R. P. M. Paolo da Venezia 
 
 dell ordine de Serviti a preftare alia Signoria 
 Noftra con fingolar Valore quell ottimo fervigio, 
 ch' e ben conofciuto, potendofi dire, ch' egli 
 fra tutti con le fue fcritture piene di profonda 
 dottrina foftenti con validiflimi fondamenti le 
 potentilfime e validiflime ragioni noftre nella 
 caufa, che ha di preferile la Repubblica con la 
 corte di Roma, anteponendo il fervigio e la fod- 
 disfazione noftra a qualfivoglia fuo particolare 
 cd importante rifpetto. E percio cofa giufta e 
 ragionevole, e degna dell ordinaria munificenza 
 di quefto Configlio, il dargli modo, con che 
 pofTa aflicurare la fua Vita da ogni pericolo, che
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 1*9 
 
 gli potefle fopraftare, e fowenire infieme alii 
 fuoi bifogni, bench, egli non ne faccia alcuna 
 iftanza, ma piutofto fi moftri alieno da qualfi- 
 voglia ricognizione, che fi abbia intenzione dr 
 ufargli. Tal e la fua modeftia, e cofi grande il 
 defiderio, che ha di far conofcere, che nefluna 
 pretenfione di premio, ma la fola divozione fua: 
 verfo la Repubblica, e la giuftizia della Caufa I 
 muovano adoperarfi con tanto ftudio e con tantc 
 fatiche alii fervizi noftri. Percio andera parte y 
 ehe allo ftipendio, il quale a' 28 del Mefe di Gen- 
 naio paflato fu aflegnato al fbpradetto R. P. M.- 
 Paolo da Venezia di Ducati duecento all anno, 
 fiano accrefciuti altri ducati duecento, ficche h* 
 avvenire abbia ducati quattrocento accioche. ref- 
 tando confolato per quefta fpontanea e benigna- 
 dimoftrazione pubblica, con maggior ardore abbia- 
 a continuare nel fuo buono e divoto fervizio, e 
 pofla con qucfto aflequamento provvedere mag- 
 
 giormente alia ficurezza della fua Vita. The 
 
 generous care of the Republic to reward and pre- 
 ferve fo valuable a fers<ant, couW not fecure him 
 
 from
 
 i 9 o NOTES TO THE 
 
 from the bafe attempts of that enemy, whom 
 his virtue had provoked. In 1607, after Venice 
 had adjufted her difputes with Rome, by the me- 
 diation of France, the firft attack was made 
 on the life of Father Paul. He was befet near 
 his convent, in the evening, by five afTaflins, who 
 ftabbed him in many places, and left him for 
 dead. He recovered, under the care of the cele- 
 brated Acquapendente, appointed to attend him 
 at the public charge ; to whom, as he was 
 fpeaking on the depth of the principal wound, 
 his patient faid pleafantly, that the world im- 
 puted it ftylo Romanae Curiae. The crime is 
 generally fuppofed to have proceeded from the 
 Jefuits ; but the fecret authors of it were never 
 clearly difcovered, though the five ruffians were 
 traced by the Venetian .Ambafiador in Rome ; 
 where they are faid to have been well received at 
 firft, but failing afterwards in their expected re- 
 ward, to have perifhed in mifery and want. The 
 Senate of Venice paid fuch attention to Father 
 Paul, as exprefled the higheft fenfc of his merit, 
 
 and
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 191 
 
 and the moft affectionate folicitude for his fafety. 
 They not only doubled his ftipend a fecond time, 
 but entreated him to chufe a public refidence, for 
 the greater fecurity of his perfon. The munifi- 
 cence and care of the Republic was equalled by 
 the modefty and fortitude of their fervant. He 
 chofe not to relinquifh his cell : and, though 
 warned of various machinations againft his life, 
 he continued to ferve his country with unabating 
 zeal ; difcovering, in his private letters to his 
 friends, the moft heroic calmnefs of mind ; and 
 faying, in anfwer to their admonitions, that "no 
 man lives well, who is too anxious for the pre- 
 
 fervation of life." Yet the apprehenfions of 
 
 his friends had too juft a foundation. In 1609 
 another confpiracy was formed, to murder him 
 in his fleep, by fome perfons of his own convent; 
 but their treachery was happily difcovered. 
 From this time he lived in more cautious retire- 
 ment, ftill devoting himfelf to the fervice of the 
 Republic on various occasions, and acquiring 
 
 new
 
 1 9 1 NOTES TO THE 
 
 new reputation by many compofitions. At length 
 the world was furprifed by his Hiftory of the 
 Council of Trent, firft publifhed at London, 
 1619, with the fi&itious name of Pietro Soave 
 Polano ; and dedicated to James the Ift by 
 Antonio de Dominis, the celebrated Archbifhop 
 of Spalatro, who fpeaks of the concealed Author 
 as his intimate friend, who had entrufted him 
 with a manufcript, on which his modefty fet a 
 trifling value, but which it feemed proper to 
 beftow upon the world even without his confent* 
 The myftery concerning the publication of 
 this noble work, has never been thoroughly 
 cleared up ; and various falfities concerning it 
 have been reported by authors of confiderable 
 reputation. It has even been faid that James 
 the Ift had fome lhare in the compofition of the 
 book : if he had, it was probably in forming the 
 name Pietro Soave Polano, which is an anagram 
 of Paolo Sarpi Veneziano, and the only part of 
 the book which bears any relation to the ftyle or 
 
 tafte
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 193 
 
 fafte of that Monarch. Father Paul was foon 
 
 fuppofed to be the real Author of the work in 
 queftion. The Prince of Conde, on a vifit to 
 his cloyfter, exprefsly afked him, if he was fo . 
 to which he modeftly replied, that at Rome it 
 was well known who had written it. He 
 enjoyed not many years the reputation arifing 
 from this mafterly production in 1623 a fever 
 occafioned his death, which was even more 
 exemplary and fublime than his life itfelf. 
 He prepared himfelf for approaching diflolu- 
 tion with the moft devout compofure; and, 
 as the liberty of his country was the darling 
 object of his exalted mind, he prayed for its pre- 
 fervation with his laft breath, in the two cele- 
 brated words Efto Perpetua. 
 
 There is a fingular beauty in the character of 
 Father Paul, which is not only uncommon 
 in his profeffion, but is rarely found in human 
 nature. Though he pafled a long life in con- 
 troverfy of the moft exafperating kind, and 
 was continually attacked in every manner that 
 
 VOL. II, O malignity
 
 194 NOTES TO THE 
 
 malignity could fuggeft, both his writings and 
 his heart appeared perfectly free from a vindic- 
 tive fpirit. Devoting alt the powers of his mind 
 fo the defence of the public caufe, he feemed 
 entirely to forget the injuries that were per- 
 petually offered to his own perfon and re- 
 putation. 
 
 His conftitution was extremely delicate, and his 
 intenfe application expofed him to very frequent 
 and violent diforders : thefe he greatly remedied 
 by his fingular temperance, living chiefly on bread, 
 fruits, and water. This imperfect account of a 
 character deferving the nobleft elogium,. is princi- 
 pally extracted from an octavo volume, intitled, 
 Memoire Anedote fpettanti a F. Paolo da Fran- 
 cefco Grifelini Veneaiano, &c. edit. 2d, 1760. 
 The author of this elaborate work has pointed 
 out feveral miftakes in the French and Englifh 
 accounts of Father Paul ; particularly in the 
 anecdotes related of him by Burnet, in his Life 
 of Bifhop Bedell ; and by Mr. Brent, the fon of 
 his Englifh Translator. Some of thefe had in- 
 deed
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 195 
 
 deed been obferved before by writers of our own. 
 See the General Dictionary, under the article 
 Father Paul. For the length and for the defi- 
 ciencies of this Note, I am tempted to apologize 
 with a fentence borrowed from the great Hiftoriart 
 who is the fubje<3: of it: Chi mioflervera in al- 
 cuni tempi abondare, in altri andar riftretto, fi ri- 
 cordi che non tutti i campi fono di ugnal fertilita, ne 
 tutti li grani meritano d'efler confervati, e di quel- 
 li che il mietitore vorrebbe tenerne conto, qual- 
 che fpica anco sfugge la prefa della mano, o il filo 
 della falce, cofi comportando la conditione d'ogni 
 mietitura che refti anco parte per rifpigolare. 
 
 NOTE XVII. VERSE 312. 
 
 The clear Oforius, in his clajjic phrafe.] Jerom 
 Oforius was born of a noble family at Lilbon, 
 1506. He v/as educated at the univerfity of Sala- 
 manca, and afterwards ftudied at Paris and Bo- 
 logna. On his return to Portugal, he gradually 
 rofe to the Bifhopric of Sylves, to which he was 
 O 2 appointed
 
 ! 9 6 NOTES. TO THE 
 
 appointed by Catherine of Auftria, Regent of the 
 kingdom in the minority of Sebaftian. At the 
 requeft of Cardinal Henry of Portugal, he wrote 
 his Hiftory of King Emanuelj and the expedition 
 of Gama which his great contemporary Ca- 
 moens made at the fame time the fubject of his 
 immortal Lufiad ; a poem which has at length 
 appeared with due luftre in our language, being 
 translated with great fpirit and elegance by Mr. 
 Mickle. It is remarkable, that the Hiftory of 
 Oforius, and the Epic Poem of Camoens, were 
 publifhed in the fame year, 1572 : but the fate of 
 thefe two great Authors was very different j the 
 Poet was fuffered to perifh in poverty, under the 
 reign of that Henry who patronized the Hiftori- 
 an : yet, allowing for the difference of their pro- 
 feflions, I am inclined to think they poflefled a fimi- 
 larity of mind. There appear many traces of that 
 high heroic fpirit, even in the Prieft Oforius, which 
 animated the Soldier Camoens; particularly in 
 the pleafure with which he feems to defcribe the 
 martial manners of his countrymen, under the 
 
 reign
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 197 
 
 reign of Emanuel. Illius aetate (fays the Hifto- 
 rian,in the clofe of his manly work) inopia in ex- 
 ilium pulfa videbatur : mceftitise locus non erat : 
 querimoniae filebant : omnia choreis & cantibus per- 
 fonabant : ejufmodt ludis aularegia frequenter ob- 
 le&abatur. Nobiles adolefcentes cum virginibus 
 regiis in aula fine ulla libidinis fignificatione fal- 
 tabant ; et quamvis honeftiflimis amoribus indul- 
 gerent, virginibus erat infitum, neminem ad fa- 
 miliaritatem admitterre, nifi ilium qui aliquid for- 
 titer & animose bellicis in rebus effeciflet. Pueris 
 enim nobilibus, qui in aula regia verfabantur, non, 
 erat licitum pallium virile fumere, antequam in 
 Africam trajicerent, & aliquod inde decus egre- 
 gium reportarent. Et his quidem moribus erat 
 illius temporis nobilitas inftituta, ut multi ex illius 
 domo viri omni laude cumulati prodirent. This 
 is a ftriking picture of the manners of chivalry, to 
 which Portugal owed much of its glory in that 
 fplendid period. There is one particular in the 
 character of Oforius, which, confidering his age 
 and country, dejferves the higheft encomium : I 
 O 3 mean
 
 198 NOTES TO THE 
 
 mean his tolerating fpirit. In the firft book of 
 his Hiftory, he fpeaks of Emanuel's cruel perfe- 
 cution of the Jews in the following generous and 
 exalted language : Fuit quidem hoc nee ex lege 
 nee ex religione fa6lum. Quid enim ? Tu re- 
 belles animos, nullaque ad id fufcepta religione 
 conftri&os, adigas ad credendum ea, quae fumma 
 contentione afpernantur & refpuunt ? Idque tibi 
 afiumas, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, & vin- 
 cula mentibus effraenatis injicias ? At id neque 
 fieri poteft, neque Chrifti fan&iffimum numen 
 approbat. Voluntarium enim facrificium, non vi 
 et malo coa&um, ab hominibus expetit ; neque vim 
 mentibus inferri, fed voluntates ad ftudium verae 
 
 religionis allici & invitari jubet Poftremo 
 
 quis non videt ..... et ita religionem per re- 
 ligionis fimulationem indigniffime violari ? Ofo- 
 rius is faid to have ufed many arguments to dif- 
 fuade Sebaftian from his unfortunate expedition 
 into Africa ; and to have felt fo deeply the mife- 
 ries which befel the Portuguefe after that fatal 
 event, that his grief was fuppofed to accelerate his 
 
 death.
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 199 
 
 . He expired in 1580, happy, fays De 
 Thou (who celebrates him as a model of Chrif- 
 tian virtue), that he died juft before the Spanifh 
 army entered Portugal, and thus efcaped being a 
 witnefs to the defolation of his country. His va- 
 rious works were publifhed at Rome in 1592, by 
 his nephew Oforius, in four volumes folio, with a 
 Life of their Author. Among thefe are two re- 
 markable productions : the firft, an admonition to 
 our Queen Elizabeth, exhorting her to return in- 
 to the church of Rome ; the fecond, an Efifay on 
 Glory, written with fuch claflical purity, as to 
 give birth to a report, that it was not the compofl- 
 tion of Oforius, but the loft work of Cicero on 
 that fubjecl:. 
 
 In the Lueubrationes of Walter Haddon, the 
 curious reader may find a very fpirited anfwer to 
 the invective againft the Reformation, which the 
 zeal of the Portuguefe Bifhop led him to addrefs 
 to Elizabeth. The Englifli Civilian defends the 
 caufeofhis nation and his Queen with great ener- 
 gy. He juflifies the diflblution of the monafteries, 
 
 o 4 by
 
 200 NOTES TO THE 
 
 by reprefenting their abufes in the moft glowing 
 colours ; and he ventures to affirm, in vindicating 
 the character of his royal Miftrefs, that her Ma- 
 jefty of England was as great a Theologian as the 
 Biftiop of Sylves himfelf : Sacras Scripturas mul- 
 tum leclitat, interpretes optimos inter fe comparat, 
 dodtiflimorum theologorum undique fententjas 
 colligit, -fcientia linguarum per fe ipfa excellit, in 
 genio eft prompto et acri j fapientiae tantum ad 
 haec adhibet, quantum vix eft in illo fexu credU 
 bile : denique noftrorum ad confciones ventitat, 
 et fenfus in his rebus habet partim legendo, par- 
 tirn audindo, tam exercitatos, ut non minus te 
 docere poflit, quam ex te difcere. 
 
 HADDON, Lucubrat. Pag. 259. 
 
 NOTE XVIII. VERSE 318. 
 
 Iberia's Genius bids juji Fame allow 
 jfs bright a wreath to Mariana's brow. ] John 
 Mariana was born 1537, at Talavera (a town in 
 the diocefe of Toledo), as he himfelf informs us 
 
 in
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 201 
 in his famous Eflay de Regt, which opens with a 
 beautiful romantic defcription of a fequeftered 
 fpot in that neighbourhood, where he enjoyed the 
 pleafures of literary retirement with his friend Cal- 
 deron, a Minifter of Toledo ; whofe death he 
 mentions in the fame Eflay, commemorating his 
 learning and his virtues in the moft pleafing terms 
 of affectionate admiration. Mariana was admit- 
 ted into the order of Jefuits at the age of 17. He 
 travelled afterwards into Italy and France; and 
 returning into Spain in 1574, fettled at Toledo, 
 and died there in the 87th year of his age, 1624. 
 Hearing it frequently regretted, in the courfe 
 of his travels, that there was no General Hiftory 
 of his country, he engaged in that great work on 
 his return ; and publifhed it in Latin at Toledo, 
 1592, with a dedication to Philip the lid : where 
 he fpeaks of his own performance with modefty 
 and manly freedom, and perhaps with as little 
 flattery as ever appeared in any addrefs of that 
 nature, to a Monarch continually fed with the 
 grofleft adulation. This elaborate work he 
 
 tranflated
 
 202 NOTES TO THE 
 
 iranflated into Spanifh, but, as he himfelf declares, 
 with all the freedom of an original author. He 
 published his Verfion in 1601, with an addrefs to 
 Philip the Hid, in which he laments the decline 
 ,of Learning in his country j and declares he had 
 himfelf executed that work, from his apprehenfion 
 of its being mangled by an ignorant Tranflator. 
 He had clofed his Hiftory (which begins with the 
 firft peopling of Spain) with the death of Ferdi- 
 nand, in 1516 ; but in a fubfequent edition, in 
 1617, he added to it a fhort fummary of events to 
 the year 1612. But in the year before he firft 
 publifhed the Spanifli Verfion of his Hiftory, he 
 addrefTed alfo to the young Monarch Philip the 
 Hid, his famous EfTay which I have mentioned, 
 2nd which was publicly burnt at Paris, about 2O 
 years after its publication, on the fuppofition that 
 it had excited Ravaillac to the murder of Henry the 
 JVth : though it was aflerted, with great proba- 
 bility, by the Jefuits, that the Aflaffin had never 
 feen the book. It is true, indeed, that Mariana 
 Jn this Eflay occafionally defends Clement the 
 
 Monk,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. ac 3 
 
 Monk, who ftabbed Henry the Hid ; and it is 
 very remarkable, that he grounds this defence, 
 not on the bigotted tenets of a Prieft, who thinks 
 every thing lawful for the intereft of his church, 
 but on thofe fublime principles of civil liberty, 
 with which an antient Roman would have vindi- 
 cated the dagger of Brutus. Indeed this Eflay 
 contains fome paflages on Government, which 
 would not have difhonoured even Cicero himfelf $ 
 but, it mufl be owned, they are grievoufly dif- 
 graced by the laft chapter of the Work, which 
 breathes a furious fpirit of ecclefiaftical intole- 
 rance, and yet clofes with thefe mild and modeft 
 expreflions : Noftrum de regno et Regis inftitu^ 
 tione judicium fortafse non omnibus placeat : qui 
 volet fequatur; aut fuo potius ftet, fi potioribus 
 argumentis nitatur : de quibus rebus tantopereaf* 
 feveravi in his libris, eas nunquam veriores quam 
 alienam fententiam affirmabo. Poteft enim non 
 folum mihi aliud, aliud aliis videri, fed et mihi 
 ipfi alio tempore. Suam quifque fententiam per 
 V\e fequatur . , . et . , qui noftra leget . . , 
 
 memor
 
 204 NOTES TO THE 
 
 memor conditionis humanae, fi quid erratum eft, 
 pio ftudio rempublicam juvandi veniam benignus 
 
 conccdat et facilis. This is not the only work 
 
 of Mariana which fell under a public profcription ; 
 he was himfelf perfecuted, and fuffered a year's 
 imprifonment, for a treatife which feems to have 
 been dictated by the pureft love to his country. It 
 was againft the pernicious practice of debafing the 
 public coin ; and as it was fuppofed to reflect on 
 the Duke of Lerma, called the Sejanus of Spain, it 
 expofed the Author, about the year 1609, to the 
 perfecution of that vindictive Minifter, from 
 which it does not appear how he efcaped. In- 
 deed the accounts of Mariana's life are very im- 
 perfect. Bayle, whom I have chiefly followed, 
 mentions a life of him by De Vargas, which he 
 could not procure. I have fought after this Bio- 
 grapher with the fame ill fuccefs j as I vrifhed to 
 give a more perfect account of this great Author, 
 whofe perfonal Hiftory is little known among us, 
 though it is far from being unworthy of atten- 
 tion. 
 
 NOTE
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 205 
 
 NOTE XIX, VERSE 352. 
 
 T/je fervid Grotius to her glory rais'd 
 A column, fphndid as the feats he prais'd.] 
 Hugo Grotius was the eldeft child of John de 
 Groot, curator in the univerfity of Leyden, and 
 born at Delft on the loth of April 1583. His 
 infancy gave the faifeft promife of thofe great 
 and univerfal talents, which were fo amply un- 
 folded in his fuBfequent life. At the age of eleven 
 he was celebrated as a prodigy of learning. 
 When Barnevelt was fent Ambaflador to Henry 
 the IVth of France, in 1598, he took the young 
 Grotius in his train, and prefented him to that 
 Monarch j who honoured the little fcholar by 
 gracioufly giving him his picture and a chain of 
 gold. One circumftance was yet wanting to 
 complete the joy of Grotius in this expedition j 
 and he was obliged to quit France without 
 obtaining the great object of his wifhes, a per- 
 fonal acquaintance with the Prefident de Thou. 
 
 He
 
 206 NOTES TO THE 
 
 He afterwards exprefled his mortification on this 
 fubject in a letter to that great man, which gave 
 rife to a friendly correfpondence between thefe 
 congenial characters, highly honourable to both. 
 On his return to Holland, Grotius devoted 
 himfelf to the practice of the law, and in 1599 
 pleaded his firft caufe at Delft. In the exercife 
 of this laborious profe/fion, he found fufficient 
 time to cultivate polite literature. In 1599 he 
 publifhed his edition of Martianus Capella, at 
 the requeft of Scaliger : it was followed, in 
 the fucceeding year, by the Phenomena of Ara- 
 tus : and in 1601 he printed his firft tragedy of 
 Adamus Exful, a compofition which might pof- 
 flbly give birth to the divine performance of Mil- 
 ton ; though its author eiteemed it fo little, as to 
 exclude it from a collection of his poems. Gro- 
 tius, indeed, was remarkably modeft in eftima- 
 ting his own poetical talents : few perfons have 
 written fo many verfes, and thought fo humbly 
 of their merit. The public proofs which he 
 had now given of his various erudition, procured 
 
 him
 
 SEC.OND EPISTLE. 207 
 
 him an honour from his country, the more flat- 
 tering as it was unfolicited. The United Pro- 
 vinces, juftly proud of having vindicated their 
 liberty againft the tyranny of Spain, and defirous 
 of commemorating fo noble an event, appointed 
 Grotius their Hiftoriographer. A nomination fo 
 honourable to a youth, for fuch he was, led him 
 to collect materials for that Hiftory ; which many 
 accidents confpired to prevent his publifhingy 
 during the whole courfe of his bufy and vexa- 
 tious life From his fuccefs at the bar, he was 
 promoted to the poft of Advocate General ; and 
 in 1608 he married Maria Reigefberg, a lady of 
 a refpefoble family in Zealand, and a wife, as 
 his Biographer obferves, truly worthy of fuch a 
 hufband. In 1613 he became Penfionary of 
 Rotterdam, an office which gave him a feat in 
 the Aflembly of the States. He was foon after- 
 wards employed in a commifiion to England, to 
 fettle fome national difputes concerning the 
 Greenland Fifliery. The greateft pleafure and 
 advantage which he derived from this expedition^ 
 6 was
 
 2o8 NOTES TO THE 
 
 was the intimacy which he contracted in Eng- 
 land with the celebrated Cafaubon. Soon after 
 his return to Holland, the fatal fpirit of religious 
 controverfy produced thofe unfortunate and well- 
 known diffractions in his country, which led to 
 the infamous execution of the great and virtuous 
 Barnevelt. Grotius, who was affectionately at- 
 tached to that upright Minifter, and joined with 
 him in every meafure to counteract the ufurping 
 ambition of Prince Maurice, was thus expofedto 
 the oppreffion of that vindictive hero. After the 
 vain ceremony of an iniquitous trial, he was con- 
 demned to perpetual imprifonment ; and con- 
 ducted, on the 6th of June 1619, to the fortrefs 
 of Louveftein, in South Holland, at the point of 
 the ifland formed by the Vahal and the Meufe f 
 His tender and faithful wife, who had been 
 cruelly debarred from attending him, even in 
 ficknefs, during his confinement at the Hague, 
 was now admitted to fhare his prifon; on the 
 hard condition of forfeiting that privilege, if fhe 
 ever ventured from Louveftein : fhe afterwards ob- 
 tained
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 2 cg 
 
 tained leave to come abroad twice a week. With 
 the fpirit of a Roman Matron fhe refufed the al- 
 lowance which the government had afligned for 
 the maintenance of her hufband continued for 
 almoft two years the conftant attendant on his 
 captivity and at length became the glorious in- 
 flrument of his deliverance. Grotius, who hap- 
 pily experienced that love and literature are un- 
 failing refources under the moft galling calamity 
 of human life, had purfued his ftudies in prifon 
 with his ufual ardour. He compofed there, 
 among other works, the firft fketch of his Eflay 
 on the Truth of Chriftianity, in a poetical form, 
 and in his native language. Reports were fpread 
 by his enemies that he had formed a plan for his 
 efcape, and his prifon was rigoroufly examined. 
 But notwithftanding the vigilance of his oppref- 
 fors, the affectionate ingenuity of his wife refto- 
 red him to freedom by the following expedient : 
 He had been allowed to borrow books from 
 his friends ; and it was ufual with him to fend 
 fuch as he had read in a cheft, that went regu- 
 VOL. II. P larly
 
 2io NOTES TO THE 
 
 larly with his linen to the neighbouring town of 
 Gorcum. The guards were at firft very fcrupu- 
 lous in their examination of this cheft j but hav- 
 ing long found in it only books and linen, they 
 were now accuftomed to let it pafs unopened. 
 The circumftance fuggefted to the attentive wife 
 of Grotius the poffibility of her hufband's efcape, 
 and (he perfuaded him to attempt it by this fin- 
 gular conveyance. The incidents attending the 
 adventure were highly, calculated to increafe the 
 agitation of her heart ; and muft indeed have oc- 
 eafioned the failure of her defign, had flie 
 not taken the moft ingenious precautions to en- 
 fure its fuccefc : The foldiers, who carried the 
 cheft in which Grotius was inclofed, were 
 alarmed by its weight j and cried out, in the pro- 
 verbial language of their country, that it muft 
 contain an Arminian; flie replied with great 
 prefence of mind, that it was indeed loaded with 
 Arminian books. The foldiers were ftill un- 
 fatisfied, and went to the wife of their command- 
 ing officer,, who was abfent, to exprefs their fuf-
 
 SECOND E PI STLE. 211 
 
 picionj fhe replied, that flie had been allured it 
 contained only books, and bade them carry it to 
 the boat : a female fervant in the fecret attended 
 the cheft, and faw it fafely conveyed to the houfe 
 of Dazelaer, a friend of Grotius, in Gorcum, 
 from whence he pafled in difguife into Brabant. 
 The generous contriver of his efcape now tri- 
 umphed in the fuccefs of her project. Being af- 
 fured that her hufband was fafe, by the return of 
 her fervant, (he avowed what fhe had done, and 
 was more clofely confined by the offended com- 
 mandant of Louveftein. But fhe foon ob- 
 tained her liberty, on prefenting a petition to the 
 States- General j though fome wretches were 
 found in that aflembly, brutal enough to exprefs 
 a defire of punifhing a woman for an act of he- 
 roifm, which, in Athens or in Rome, would have 
 almoft rendered her an object of idolatry. Her 
 merit, however, has been juftly celebrated by the 
 poets of her country ; but the moft pleafing me- 
 morial of it appears in a poem of Grotius, ad- 
 drefled to the unfortunate fon of the PrefidentDe 
 P 2 Thou.
 
 212 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Thou. The paflage does honour both to the 
 gratitude and the genius of our Author j and I 
 {hall therefore infert it, as an advantageous fpe- 
 cimen of his Latin poetry. In addreffing his 
 young friend on the virtues of his venerable fa- 
 ther, he breaks out into the following encomium 
 on connubial affection : 
 
 Ah quantum placido mitique in pedtore regnat 
 Ilia Venus, quamjunxit Hymen; feuconditororbis, 
 Atque homines fandte genituri fosderis auctor 
 Hunc, quo difpofuit volventem fidera mundum, 
 Quoque elementa ligat, thalamis afpirat amorem ; 
 Seu nofci fugiens penitus vis infita rebus, 
 Qualis quae chalybi fecreta potentia gemmam 
 Conciliat Getici fpeftantem Verticis ignes, 
 Diverfos propriore jugat fub foedere fexus j 
 Seu virtutis idem ftudium, cognataque morum 
 Temperies animas imo fub pedtore mifcet. 
 Hoc tuus ille docet genitor : mens, lubrica vitse 
 Egrfifla, et quicquid potuit fortuna minari, 
 In quam nil habuit juris vel blanda voluptas, 
 
 Vel
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 213 
 
 Vel metus, erepta miferandum conjuge vulnus 
 Senfir, et hoc folo minor eft inventa dolore. 
 Ipfa domus, torus ipfe, et quicquid cernere gratum 
 Quondam erat, accendit luctum mcerentis ; ubique 
 Uxor, et in vultu dulcis pudor, et fimul alta 
 Majeftas, fermo diftillans melle, virilis 
 Auxilium curae, prudentia rara, fuoque 
 
 Semet fine tenens, fed par majoribus actis. 
 
 ****** 
 
 ****** 
 * ****** 
 
 Nos quoque, fi quifquam, multum debere fatemur 
 Conjugio. Memini poft tot tua vota precefque, 
 Cynthia cum nonum capto mihi volveret orbem, 
 Qualem te primum, conjunx fidiflima, vidi 
 Carceris in tenebris : lacrymas abforbferat ingens 
 Vis animi, neque vel gemitu te lutus adegit 
 Confentire malis : rurfus nova vincula, fed quae 
 Te focia leviora tuli, dum rnilite claufos 
 Nos Mofa, et trifti Vahalis circumftrepit unda. 
 Hie patriam toties et inaia jura vocanti, 
 JEt proculcatas in noftro corpora leges, 
 
 P 3 Tu
 
 ai4 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 Tu folamen eras. Hie jam te viderat alter 
 Et poft fe media plus parte reliquerat annus, 
 Cum mihi jura mei per te, folerte reperto, 
 Reddita. Tu poftquam jam caeca acceperat alvus 
 Dulce onus, oppofitis libabas ofcula clauftris, 
 Atque ita femoto foribus cuftode locuta es : 
 Summe Pater, rigido fi non adamante futurum 
 Stat tibi, fed precibus potis es gaudefque moveri, 
 Hoc quod noftra fides lucem fervavit in iftam 
 Accipe depofitum, tantifque exfolve periclis. 
 Conjugii teftor fanclifiima jura, meaeque 
 Spem fobolis, non hue venio pertaefa malorum, 
 Sed miferata virum j poflum, fine conjuge poflum, 
 Quamvis dura pati. Si poft exempla ferocis 
 Ultima faevitiae nondum deferbuit ira, 
 In me tota ruat ; vivam crudele fepulchfum ; 
 Me premat et triplicis cingat cuftodia Valli, 
 Dum meus sethereae fatiatur paftibus auras 
 Grotius, et cafus narret patriaeque fyofque : 
 Addit, Abi conjunx, neque te nifi libera cernam. 
 Quod mea fi auderet famam fponciere Camcena, 
 Acciperet quantis virtutem laudibus iftam 
 
 Pofteritas !
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 2?$ 
 
 Pofterftas ! Nomen non clarius ilia teneret 
 Admeto regina fuos quae tradidit annos, 
 Quaeque fuper cineres jecit fe arfura mariti ; 
 Dignaque tarn Bruti thalamis quam patre Catone 
 Porcia, et in letum magno comes Arria Pxto. 
 Sed mea Cyrrhaeos tam longa adverfa reeeffus 
 Praeclusere mihi. Nullis fordentia curis 
 Pectora Phoebus amat. 
 
 It was not without reafon that Grotius la- 
 mented, in the clofe of this paflage, his continued 
 adverfity. Few literary characters have been fo 
 repeatedly expofed to all the various and mortify- 
 ing anxieties of public life. After his efcape 
 from prifon in 1621, he took refuge in France. 
 He received, indeed, the raoft flattering marks of 
 regard from many eminent characters of that 
 kingdom, and a penfion of three thoufand livres- 
 from Lewis the Xlllth j but the payment of 
 this gratuity, fo honourable to the Monarch who 
 beftowed it, was foon rendered irregular and pre- 
 carious by the artifices of Richelieu ; and Gro- 
 P 4 tius
 
 Ii6 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 tius was at length obliged to feek a more inde- 
 pendent afylum, merely becaufe he was of too 
 firm and noble a character to become the fervilc 
 instrument of that imperious minifter. He had 
 pafied however ten years, and compofed one of 
 his moft celebrated works in that country his 
 Treatife de Jure Belli & Pacis was begun in 
 1623 at Balagui, a feat of the Prefident De 
 Meme, in the neighbourhood of Senlis, and he 
 publifhed it at Paris in 1625. The great and ex- 
 tenfive reputation which his writings had ob- 
 tained, did not induce Holland to atone for the 
 injuftice which fhe had exercifed againft one of 
 the moft eminent and virtuous of her citizens. 
 The death of his enemy Prince Maurice had 
 tempted Grotius to hope, that he might return 
 with fafety and honour to his native country ; 
 but on making the experiment in 1631, he met 
 with much more ingratitude than he expected, 
 and retired in the next year to Hamburgh he 
 there contracted an intimacy- with Salvius, the 
 Vice-Chancellor of Sweden, who fent a favour- 
 
 able
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 217 
 
 able account of his new friend te Oxenftiern, 
 the great minifter, who fo well fupplied the lofs 
 of his heroic mafter Guftavus. Grotius was 
 foon invited to Franckfort by that penetrating 
 genius, who introduced him into the council of 
 the young Chriftina, and appointed him her Am- 
 baflador to the court of France : it is faid, how- 
 ever, that Grotius owed his connection with 
 Sweden to the high fentiments which Guftavus 
 himfelf had entertained of his merit, and to or- 
 ders given by that Monarch for the employment 
 of the celebrated exile, whofe Treatife de Jure 
 Belli was found in his tent after the fatal victory 
 of Lutzen, which he purchafed with his life. 
 However this may be, Grotius appeared at Paris 
 in the character of AmbafTador from Sweden 
 1635, and continued no lefs than ten years in 
 a fituation equally fplendid and vexatious en- 
 gaged in the delicate bufmefs of negotiating fub- 
 fidies, which were paid with reluctance ; har- 
 rafTed _by the hoftile intrigues of his ungrateful 
 
 country,
 
 218 NOTESTO THE 
 
 country, and alternately infulted and flattered by 
 the minifters of France, he maintained himfelf 
 with integrity and honour in a difficult and im- 
 portant ftation, from which his various and pow- 
 erful enemies were perpetually endeavouring to 
 effect his removal. After a feries of public mor- 
 tifications, he at length folicited his own recall. 
 He obtained a paflport through Holland, was 
 treated with great honour at Amfterdam, and ar- 
 riving at Stockholm was flattered with great pro- 
 mifes by the Queen Chriftina, who prefled him to 
 fettle with his family in Sweden. From this 
 however he excufed himfelf, and pleaded the ten- 
 der health of his wife as unequal to fo cold a 
 climate. Having obtained, after fome delays, the 
 Queen's permiffion to retire, and a vefiel to carry 
 him to Lubeck, he was unfortunately fliip- 
 wrecked on the coaft of Pomerania, from whence 
 he travelled fixty miles in an open waggon, to the 
 town of Roftock, where, after languifhing a few 
 days, he expired on the igth of Auguft 1645. 
 
 For
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 219 
 
 For my very imperfect account of this great and 
 amiable man, I am chiefly indebted to Mr. Bu- 
 rigny, whofe life of Grotius deferves a diftin-. 
 guifhed rank among biographical writings, as it 
 contains a very luminous difplay of much intri- 
 cate matter, and a juft delineation of a character 
 which deferves to be minutely ftudied : for what 
 nation can produce a more fmgular and excelling 
 compound of fcience and virtue, of genius and 
 piety ? As an Hiftorian, he fhares with Thu* 
 cydides the uncommon merit of celebrating the 
 fplendid actions of his perfonal enemies, and of a 
 country which treated him with the moft unge- 
 nerous ingratitude. It appears from one of his 
 letters to De Thou, that he had made fome ad- 
 vances in the plan at leaft of his Hiftory, at fo 
 early a period as 1614 ; for, after complimenting 
 the great Hiftorian of France on his immortal 
 work, he adds, Ego quoque impar fane oneri, 
 fed magno patriae amore accenfus, fimile opus 
 molior; tanto autem minus tuo, quanto minor eft 
 Catavia, non dicam Gallia veftra, fed toto orbe. 
 jo Sed
 
 220 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Sed nee adhuc Varo videor neque dicere Cinna 
 digna : prematur itaque immaturus labor donee 
 aetas cum judicio tempus quoque emendandi 
 dederit j aut potius exurgat alius, qui res fcitu per 
 fe non indignas didlione commendet, ut eo liben- 
 tius difcant pofteri quid Batavi fecerint. We 
 learn alfo from a letter to his brother, in 1637, 
 that the work was then finiflied, and that he 
 thought proper to delay its publication. Though 
 it feems to have been his favourite performance, 
 he had never the fatisfaction of feeing it in print : 
 it did not appear till twelve years after his 
 death, when his fons Cornelius and Peter ad- 
 dreffed it to the States of Holland and Weft 
 Friefland, in a Dedication that does honour both 
 to their father and thcmfelves. The work it- 
 fclf, under the double name of Annals and Hif- 
 tory, gives a complete account of the mofr. in- 
 terefting period, from the year 1 566 to the truce 
 with Spain in 1609. The Letters of Grotius are 
 not lefs valuable than his Hiftory, as they con- 
 tain much mifcellaneous intelligence, and abound 
 
 with
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 221 
 
 with literary anecdotes. His amiable wife fur- 
 vived him, and died at the Hague. Of their fix 
 children, Peter became the moft eminent he 
 was fent by his country as her Ambafiador to 
 France; and feems to have inherited both the 
 talents and the virtues of his father. It may yet 
 be proper to add to this long Note the noble en- 
 comium of Grotius on Scaliger, to which I have 
 alluded, and which, as Dr. Johnfon obferves, 
 leems to have been imitated by Cowley, in the 
 clofe of his Elegy on Sir Henry Wooton. 
 
 In Mortem Scaligeri. 
 
 Unica lux faecli, genitoris gloria, nemo 
 
 Quern puerum, nemo credidit efie fenem ; 
 Tam fibi par femper, quam cundlis celfior unus, 
 
 Et qui fe tctum debuit ipfe fibi : 
 Exfuperans fama, quos aequat fanguine, reges, 
 
 Sceptrigeris majus nomen adeptus avis : 
 Hie jacet ille capax immenfi Scaliger aevi, 
 
 Nee fibi mors unquam plus licuifle putet. 
 Quid querimurraptum ? mens eft quavivitur : annos
 
 322 NOTES TOTHE 
 
 Ille tot exegit mente quot orbis habet. 
 Omnia dum retro mundi veftigia quaerit, 
 
 Quaerentem retro deftituere dies. 
 Emenfus populos & diflbna gentibus ora 
 
 Ambierat, quantum lumine Phcebus obit. 
 Teftamur, Natura, tibi non ddfuit ille ; 
 
 Tu gentes alias, faecula plura dares, 
 Ultra Scaligerum nihil eft, nee Scaliger ultra. 
 
 Ille tui finem reperit, ille fui. 
 
 GROTII Poemata, Pag. 261. 
 
 NOTE XX. VERSE 401. 
 
 The liberal fpirit of Thuanus rofe.~\ James Au- 
 guftus De Thou was the youngeft fon of Chrifto- 
 pher De Thou, Firft Prefident of the Parliament 
 of Paris, and born in that city 1553. His 
 own Memoirs give a pleafing account of the 
 early activity of his mind. As his health, dur 
 ing his childhood, was fo tender and infirm, that 
 his parents rather reftrained him from the ufual 
 ftudies of his age, he devoted much of his time 
 to drawing, and copied with a pen the engrav- 
 ings
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 223 
 
 ings of Albert Durer, before he was ten years 
 old. At that age, he was fettled in the college 
 of Burgundy ; but this plan of his education was 
 foon interrupted by a fever, in which his life was 
 defpaired of, and in which the mother of his fu- 
 ture friend, the Duke of Montpenfier, watched 
 him with an attention flngularly happy, after his 
 phyflcians and his parents had confidered him as 
 dead. In a few years after his recovery, he re- 
 paired to Orleans to ftudy the civil law ; from 
 thence he was drawn to Valence in Dauphiny y 
 by the reputation of Cujacius, who was then 
 reading lectures there : on his road he embraced 
 an opportunity of hearing Hotoman, the cele- 
 brated author of Franco-Gallia, who was read- 
 ing lectures alfo at Bourges. During his 
 
 refidence at Valence, he contracted a friend- 
 fliip with Jofeph Scaliger, which he cultivated 
 through life. In 1572, his father recalled him 
 to Paris, juft before the maffacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew. He mentions in his Memoirs the 
 horrors which he felt in feeing a very fmall part 
 
 of
 
 224 NOTES TO THE 
 
 of that bloody fcene. He reftded in the houfe of 
 his uncle Nicholas De Thou, promoted to the 
 bifhopric of Chartres : he was then defigned 
 himfelf for the church j and, beginning to collect 
 his celebrated library, applied himfelf particu- 
 larly to the Civil Law, and to Grecian litera- 
 ture. 
 
 He travelled into Italy in 1573, with Paul De 
 Foix, going on an embafly to the Pope and the 
 Italian Princes. Of De Foix he gives the moft 
 engaging character, and fpeaks with great plea- 
 fure of the literary entertainment and advantages 
 which he derived from this expedition. He return- 
 ed to Paris, and devoted himfelf again to his ftu- 
 dies, in the following year. On the difientions in 
 the court of France, in 1576, he was employed 
 to negociate with the Marefchal Montrnorency, 
 and engage him to interpofe his good offices to 
 prevent the civil war ; which he for fome time ef- 
 fected. The fame year he vifited the Low 
 
 Countries, and on his return was appointed to a 
 
 public office - t on which he entered with that ex- 
 
 9 treme
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 225 
 
 treme diffidence which is fo natural to a delicate 
 mind. 
 
 In 1579 he travelled again with his elder bro- 
 ther, who was fent by his phyficians to the baths 
 of Plombieres in Lorrain : from hence he made a 
 fhort excuriion into Germany, and was received 
 there with the jovial hofpitality of that country, 
 which he defcribes in a very lively manner. But 
 affe&ion foon recalled him to Plombieres, to at- 
 tend his infirm brother to Paris, who died there in 
 a few months after their return. 
 
 In 1580, on the plague's appearing in the ca- 
 pital, our Hiftorian retired into Touraine ; and 
 after vifiting the principal places in Nor- 
 mandy, returned to Paris in the winter. In the 
 following year, he was of the number chofen 
 from the Parliament of Paris to adminifter juftice 
 in Guienne, as two ecclefiaflics were included in 
 that commiilion. In this expedition he embraced 
 every opportunity of preparing the materials of his 
 Bjftory; feeking, as he ever did, the fociety of all 
 perfons eminent for their talents, or capable of giv- 
 
 VOL. H. Q, ing
 
 226 NOTES TO THE 
 
 ing him anyufeful information. He fpeaks with 
 great pleafure of a vifit which he paid at this time 
 to the celebrated Montaigne, whom he calls a 
 man of a moft liberal mind, and totally uninfe&ed 
 with the fpirit of party. After various excurfions 
 he was now returning to Paris, when he recei- 
 ved the unexpected news of his father's death ; an 
 event which affected him moft deeply, as filial 
 affection was one of the {hiking characteristics of 
 his amiable mind. He confoled himfelf under the 
 affliction of having been unable to pay his duty to 
 his dying parent, by erecting a magnificent mo- 
 nument to his memoryv expreffive of the high ve- 
 neration in which he ever held his virtues. He 
 engaged again in public bufmefs, devoting his in- 
 tervals of leifure to mathematical ftudies, and to the 
 compofition of Latin verfe,. which feems to have 
 been his favourite amufement. In 1584 he pub- 
 lifhed his Poem, De Re Accipitraria ; which, tho' 
 much celebrated by the critics of his age, has 
 fallen, like the fubjedt of which it treats, into- 
 univerfal neglect In 1585 he bid adieu to the
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 227 
 
 Court, on finding himfelf treated with fuch a de- 
 gree of coldnefs, as his ingenuous nature could not 
 fubmit to ; and being eager to advance in his great 
 work, which he had already brought down to the 
 reign of Francis II. In 1587, having been often 
 preffed to marry by his family, and being abfolved 
 from his ecclefiaftical engagements for that pur- 
 pofe, he made choice of Marie Barbanfon, of an 
 antient and noble family; but as her parents 
 were fufpected of a fecret inclination to the re- 
 formed religion, it was thought proper that the 
 lady fliould undergo a kind of expiation, in a 
 private conference with two Catholic Divines; a 
 circumftance of which the great Hiftorian fpeaks 
 with an air of triumph in his Memoirs, as aproof 
 of his own inviolable attachment to the faith of his 
 fathers. In 1588 he loft his affectionate mother ; 
 who is defcribed, by her fon, as meeting death 
 with the fame gentlenefs and tranquillity of mind, 
 by which her life was diftinguifhed. When the 
 violence of the League had reduced Henry the Hid 
 to abandon Paris, our Hiftorian was fent into Nor- 
 Q^2 mandir,
 
 228 NOTES TO THE 
 
 mandy,to confirm the magiftrates of that province 
 in their adherence to the King. He afterwards 
 met Henry at Blois ; and while he was receiving 
 from him in private fome commiflions to execute 
 at Paris, the King prefied his hand, and feemed 
 preparing to impart to him fome important fecret ; 
 but after a long paufe difmifled him without re- 
 vealing it. This fecret was afterwards fuppofed 
 to have been the projected affaflination of the 
 Duke of Guife : the fuppofition is probable j and 
 it is alfo probable that if Henry had then revealed 
 his defign, the manly virtue and eloquence of De 
 Thou might have led him to relinquifli that infa- 
 mous and fatal meafure. He was, however, fo 
 far from fufpecting the intended crime of the 
 King, that when he firft heard at Paris that Guife 
 was aflaffinated, he believed it a fa lie rumour, only 
 fpread by that faction to introduce, what he fup- 
 pofed had really happened, the murder of the King. 
 In the commotions which the death of Guife 
 produced in Paris, many infults were offered to 
 the family of De Thou : his wife was imprifoned 
 
 for
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 229 
 
 for a day in the Baftile ; but obtaining her liberty, 
 fhe efcaped from the city in a mean habit, atten- 
 ded by her hufband, difguifed alfo in the drefs of 
 a foldier. Having fent his wife in fafety into Pi- 
 cardy, he repaired to the King, who was almoft 
 deferted, at Blois ; and was greatly inftrumental 
 in perfuading his mafter to his coalition with 
 Henry of Navarre. The King determined to 
 eftablifh. a Parliament at Tours, and De Thou 
 was confidered as the moft proper perfon to be 
 the Prefident of this aflembly j but with his ufual 
 modefty he declined this honour, and chofe rather 
 to engage with his friend Mr. de Schomberg, in 
 an expedition to Germany for the fervice of the 
 King. He was at firft defigned for the embafly 
 to Elizabeth; but at the requeft of Schomberg 
 declined the appointment, and accompanied his 
 friend. 
 
 He firft received intelligence of the King's 
 death at Venice, where he had formed an intima- 
 cy with the celebrated Arnauld d'Oflat, at that 
 time Secretary to the Cardinal Joyeufe. In con- 
 
 fequence
 
 230 NOTES TO THE 
 
 fequence of their converfation on this event, and 
 - the calamities of France, De Thou addrefTed a 
 Latin Poem to his friend, which he afterwards 
 printed at Tours. 
 
 In leaving Italy, he pafled a few days at Padua 
 with his friend Vicenzio Pinelli ; from whom he 
 collected many particulars concerning the moft 
 eminent Italian and Spanifh Authors, whom he 
 determined to celebrate in his Hiftory; in the 
 hope, as he honeftly confefles, that his liberal at- 
 tention to foreign merit might entitle his own 
 Works to the favour both of Italy and Spain. But 
 he was difappointed in this fair expectation, and 
 laments the ingratitude which he experienced from 
 both. 
 
 On his return to France, he was gracioufly 
 received by Henry the IVth j and in giving that 
 Prince an account of Italy, fuggefted to him the 
 idea of a connection with Mary of Medicis. 
 After the battle of Ivry, he complimented the 
 King in a fhort Poem, which clofes with the 
 following lines : 
 
 Aufpiciis
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 
 
 231 
 
 Aufpiciis vulgo peraguntur pnelia regum, 
 Perque duces illis gloria multa venit : 
 
 Tu vincis virtute tua, nee militis haec eft ; 
 
 Ifta tibi propria laurea parta manu. 
 As he was travelling, foon afterwards, with his 
 wife and family, which he defigned to fettle at 
 Tours, his party was intercepted by the enemy, 
 and he was obliged to abandon his wife and her 
 attendants ; being prevailed on by their entrea- 
 ties to fecure his own efcape by the fwiftnefs of 
 his horfe. He repaired to the King at Gifors, 
 and foon obtained the reftitution of his family. 
 On the death of Amyot, Bifhop of Auxerre, 
 well known by his various Tranflations from the 
 Greek language, the King appointed De Thou 
 his Principal Librarian. In 1592, our Hiftorian 
 was very near falling a victim to the plague ; but 
 happily ftruggled through that dangerous diftem- 
 per, by the afliftance of two fkilful phyficians, who 
 attended him at Tours. In 1593, he began the 
 moft important part of his Hiftory j and under this 
 year l& introduces io his Memoirs a long and fpi- 
 
 rited
 
 232 NOTES TO THE 
 
 rited Poem, addrefled to Pofterity; in which he 
 enters into a justification of himfelf againft the 
 malignant attacks which the manly and vir- 
 tuous freedom of his writings had drawn upon 
 him. It concludes with the following animated 
 appeal to the fpirit of his father : 
 
 Vos, O majorum Cineres, teque optime longis 
 Soliciti genitor defun&e laboribus zeyi, 
 Teftor, pro patria nullas regnique falute 
 Vitavifle vices ; veftra virtute meaque 
 Indignum nil fecifle ; et fi fata tuliflent, 
 Prodeflem ut patria?, patrias fuccurrere, livor 
 Abfiftat, pietate mea meruifle petenti. 
 Pura ad vos anima atque hodiernae nefcia culpce 
 Defcendam; quandoque noviffima venerit hora, 
 Noilraque fub tacitos ibit fama integra mane?. 
 
 In 1594 he fucceeded his uncle Auguftin, as 
 Prefident a Mo.rtier. In 1596 he loft his valu- 
 able and learned frjend Pithou, who firft folicited 
 him to undertake his Hiftory, and had greatly 
 
 a (Tilled
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 233 
 
 affifted him in the profecution of that laborious 
 work. How deeply the affectionate mind of DC 
 Thou was wounded by this event, appears from 
 his long letter to Cafaubon on the occaflon. In 
 1597 h e began to be engaged in thofe negotia- 
 tions, which happily terminated in the famous 
 edict of Nantes. It may be proper to obferve 
 here, that De Thou was accufed of being a Cal- 
 vinifr, in confequence of the part he acted in this 
 bufmefs, as well as from the moderate tenor of his 
 Hiftory j and it is remarkable, that Sully feems 
 in his Memoirs to countenance the accufation. 
 
 In 1601 our Hiftorian fuffered a fevere do- 
 meflic affliction in the lofs of his wife. He cele- 
 brated her virtues, and his own connubial affec- 
 tion, in a Latin Poem : with this, and a Greek 
 epitaph on the fame lady, written by Cafaubon,. 
 he terminates the Commentary of his own Life, 
 of which the preceding account is an imperfect 
 
 abridgment. His firft wife leaving him no 
 
 children, he married, in 1603, Gafparde de ia 
 Chaftre, an accomplifhed lady of a noble family ; 
 
 vho
 
 234 NOTES TO THE 
 
 who having brought him three fons and three 
 daughters, died at the age of 39, 1616. There 
 is a fine letter of Daniel Heinfius addrefTed to 
 our author on this occafion, exhorting him to 
 fortitude : but this unexpe&ed domeftic calamity, 
 and the miferies which befel his country on the 
 murder of Henry the Great, are faid to have 
 wounded his feeling mind fo deeply, as to occa- 
 fion his death, which happened in May 1617. 
 Under the regency of Mary of Medicis, he had 
 been one of the Directors General of the finances; 
 maintaining the fame reputation for integrity in 
 that department, which he had ever preferved in 
 his judicial capacity. 
 
 The firft part of his Hiftory appeared in 1604, 
 with a Preface addreffed to Henry IV. juftly ce- 
 lebrated for its liberal and manly fpirit. But I 
 muft obferve, that the following compliment to 
 the King Quicquid de ea ftatueris juflerifve, pro 
 divinae vocis oraculo mihi erit was more than 
 even that moft amiable of Monarchs deferved ; as 
 he ungratefully deferted the caufe of our Hiflo- 
 
 rian,
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 235 
 
 rian, in differing his Work to be profcribed by 
 the public cenfure of Rome, in 1609 ; as De 
 Thou plainly intimates in the following pafiage 
 from one of his letters, written in 1611 : Pub- 
 licata prima parte [Hiftoriae meae], immane quarn 
 commoti funt plerique, five invidi, five fadiofi, 
 qui mox proceres quofdam, qui per fe in talibus 
 rebus nihil vident, per calumnias artifkiose con- 
 fidtas, ut fcis, in me concitaverunt, remque q 
 veftigio Romam detulerunt j et au&ore maligne 
 exagitato, facile pervicerunt, ut morofi illi cen- 
 fores omnia mea finiftre interpretarentur j et, 
 prxjudicio perfonas, opus integrum, cujus ne 
 tertiam quidem partem legerant, praecipitato 
 ordine damnarent. Rex caufam meam initio 
 quidem tuebatur, quamdiu proceres in aula in- 
 feftos habui. Sed paulatim ipfe eorundem aftu 
 infradtus eft ; cognitoque Romse per emiflarios 
 labare regem, poft Offati et Serafini, Cardina- 
 Jium mihi amicifiimorum, obitum, et illuftriilimi 
 Perronii ex urbe difceflum, iclus poftremo in me 
 directus eft ; qui facile vitari potuit, fi qui circa 
 
 regem
 
 236 N'O TES TO THE 
 
 regem erant, tantae injurias fenfum ad fe ac regui 
 dignitatem pertinere vel minima fignificatione 
 prse fe tuliflent. Ita in aula omni ope deftitutus, 
 
 facile Romas oppreflus fum. De Thou was 
 
 preparing a new edition of his Hiftory at the 
 time of his death. His paffion for Latin verfe 
 appears never to have forfaken him ; as the 
 lateft effufion of his pen was a little poem 
 defcriptive of his laft illnefs, and an epitaph, in 
 which he draws the following juft character of 
 himfelf: 
 
 Mihi veritatis cura vitae commodis 
 
 Antiquibrque charitatibus fuit -, 
 
 Nullique facto, voce nulli injurius, 
 
 Injurias patienter aliorum tuli. 
 
 Tu quifquis es, qualifque, quantufque, O bone, 
 
 Si cura veri eft ulla, fi pietas movet, 
 
 A me meifque injuriam, quaefo, abftine. 
 
 The pious paternal prayer in the laft line was 
 very far from being crowned with fuccefs. 
 Francis, the eldcft fon of De Thou, fell a victim 
 
 to
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 237 
 
 to the refentment which Cardinal Richelieu is 
 faid to have conceived againft him, from a 
 pafTage in the great Hiftorian reflecting on the 
 Richelieu family. He was beheaded at Lyons, 
 1642, for having been privy to a confpiracy 
 againft the Cardinal. Voltaire, with his ufual 
 philanthropy and fpirit, inveighs againft the ini- 
 quity of this execution, in his Melanges, torn, 
 iii. The curious reader may find a particular 
 account of this tragical event in the laft volume 
 of that noble edition of Thuanus, which was 
 publifhed under the aufpices of Dr. Mead, and 
 does great honour to our country. I fhall 
 clofe this Note by tranfcribing from it the fol- 
 lowing fpirited epitaph on the unfortunate vic- 
 tim : 
 
 Hiftoriam quifquis vult fcribere, fcribere veram 
 Nunc vetat exitium, magne Thuane, tuum. 
 
 Richeliae ftirpis proavos Isfifle, paterni 
 Crimen erat calami, quo tibi vita petit. 
 
 Sanguine
 
 238 N O T E S T O T H E 
 
 Sanguine delentur nati monumenta parentis : 
 Qus nomen dederant fcripta, dedere necem. 
 
 Tanti morte viri fioeft fancita Tyrannis : 
 Vera loqui fi vis, difcc cruenta pati. 
 
 NOTE XXI. VERSE 474. 
 
 / 
 
 Thy JFits, France ! (as ev'n thy Critics own} 
 Support not Hi/lory's majejlic tone.] To avoid 
 every appearance of national prejudice, I fhall 
 quote on this occafion fome paflages from a 
 very liberal French Critic, who has palled the 
 fame judgment on the Hiftorir.ns of his country. 
 The Marquis d'Argenfon, in a memoir read 
 before the French Academy 1755, not only 
 confefles that the French Writers have failed in 
 Hiftory, but even ventures to explain the caufe* of 
 their ill fuccefs. 
 
 Nous avons, fays he, quelques morceaux, ou 
 
 Ton trouve tout a la fois la fidelite, le gout, et le 
 
 vrai ton de rHiftoirej mais outre qu'ils font en 
 
 9 petit
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 239 
 
 petit nombre, et tres-courts, les auteurs, a qui 
 nous en fommes redevables, fe font defie de leurs 
 forces ; ils ont craint de manquer d'haleine dans 
 des ouvrages de plus longue etendue. 
 
 Pourquoi les anciens ont-ils eu des Thucy- 
 dides, des Xenophons, des Polybes, & des 
 Tacites ? pourquoi ne pouvons nous leur com- 
 parer que des St. Reals, des Vertots, des Sarra- 
 fins ? nous ne devons point attribuer cette difette 
 a la decadence de 1'Efprit humain. II faut en 
 chercher, fi j'ofe m'exprimer ainfi, quelque raifort 
 nationale, quelque caufe, qui foit particuliere aux 
 
 Francois 
 
 Quatre qualites principals font neceffaires aux 
 Hiftoriens : 
 
 i Une critique exa&e & favante,. fondee fur 
 des recherches laborieufes, pour la collection des 
 faits. 
 
 2. Une grande profondeur en morale & en, 
 politique. 
 
 3. line imagination fage & fleurie, qurpeignfr 
 les actions, qui deduife les caufes, & qui prefente 
 
 les
 
 240 NOTES TO THE 
 
 les reflexions avec clarte & fimplicite ; quelque- 
 fois avec feu, mais toujours avec gout & ele- 
 gance. 
 
 4. II faut de plus la conftance dans le travail, 
 un ftyle egal & foutenu, & une exa&itude infa- 
 tigable, qui ne montre jamais 1'impatience d'a- 
 vancer, ni de latitude pendant le cours d'une 
 longue carrie re, 
 
 Qu'on fepare ces qualites, on trouvera des 
 chef-d'oeuvres parmi nous, des Critiques, des 
 Moraliftes, des Politiques, des Peintres, & des 
 literateurs laborieux, dont le produit nous fur- 
 prend. Mais qu'on cherche ces qualites raf- 
 femblees, on manquera d'excmples a citer entre 
 
 nos auteurs. The Critic then takes a rapid 
 
 review of the French Hiftorians, and proceeds 
 to make the following lively remarks on the dif- 
 ficulty of writing Hiftory in France, and the 
 volatile character of his countrymen : J'ai deja 
 prevenu Pune des plus grandes difficultes pour 
 les auteurs; ils devroient etre en meme terns 
 homines de cabinet & hommes du monde. Par 
 8 l'eti.de
 
 SECOND EPISTLE. 241 
 
 1'etude on ne connoit que les anciens, & les 
 moeurs bourgeoifes j & dans la bonne com- 
 pagnie, on perd fon terns, 1'on ecrit peu, et Ton 
 
 penfe encore moins 
 
 L'haleine manque a un ecrivain Francois faute 
 de conftance ; il entrepend legerement de grands 
 ouvrages, il les continue avec nonchalance, il les 
 finit avec degout : s'il les abandonne quelque 
 terns, il ne les reprend plus, & nous voyons que 
 tous nos continuateurs ont echoue. La latitude 
 du foir fe reflentde 1'ardeur du matin. C'eft dela 
 qu'il nous arrive de n'avoir de bon, que de petits 
 
 morceaux, foit en poefie, foit en profe 
 
 nous n'avons que des morceaux Hifto- 
 
 riques, & prefque pas une Hiftoire generale digne 
 de louange. 
 
 Choix des Memoires de 1' Academic, &c, 
 Londres, 1777, torn. iii. p. 627. 
 
 End of the Notes to the Second Epijlie. 
 VOL. II. R NOTES
 
 NOTES 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 THIRD EPISTLE, 
 
 NOTE I. VERSE 30. 
 
 yiND Jbake tV affrighted world with dire por- 
 tents. There is a curious treatife of Dr. 
 Warburton's on this fubjeft, which is become 
 very fcarce ; it is intitled, "A critical and phi- 
 lofophical Enquiry into the caufes of prodi- 
 " gies and miracles, as related by Hiftorians; 
 " with an Eflay towards reftoring a method and 
 " purity in Hiftory." It contains, like moft of 
 
 the
 
 NOTES. 243 
 
 the compositions of this dogmatical Writer, a 
 ftrange mixture of judicious criticifm and enter- 
 taining abfurdity, in a ftyle fo extraordinary, 
 that I think the following fpecimens of it may 
 amufe a reader, who has not happened to meet 
 with this fingular book. Having celebrated 
 Rawleigh and Hyde, as writers of true hiftoric 
 genius, he adds : " Almoft all the reft of our 
 Kiftories want Life, Soul, Shape, and Body : a 
 mere hodgepodge of abortive embryos and rotten 
 carcafes, kept in an unnatural ferment (which 
 the vulgar miftake for real life) by the rank 
 leven of prodigies and portents : which can't 
 but afford good diverfion to the Critic, while he 
 obferves how naturally one of their own fables 
 is here mythologiz'd and explain'd, of a church- 
 yard carcaje y raifed and fet a Jlruttlng by the in- 
 flation offome hellijh fuccubtts within." He then 
 pafTes a heavy cenfure on the antiquarian publi- 
 cations of Thomas Hearne ; in the clofe of 
 which he exclaims " Wonder not, Reader, at 
 the view of thefe extravagancies. The Hiftoric, , 
 R 2 Mufe,
 
 244 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Mufe, after much vain longing for a vigorous 
 adorer, is now fallen under that indifpofition of 
 her fex, fo well known ^by a depraved appetite 
 for trafh and cinders." Having quoted two paf- 
 fages from this Angular Critic, in which his 
 metaphorical language is exceedingly grofs, can- 
 dour obliges me to tranfcribe another, which is 
 no lefs remarkable for elegance and beauty of 
 expreffion. In defcribing Salluft, at one time the 
 loud advocate of public fpirit, and afterwards 
 fliaring in the robberies of Caefar, he exprefles 
 this variation of character by the following ima- 
 gery : " No fooner did the warm afpet of 
 c;ood fortune (hine out again, but all thofe ex- 
 alted ideas of virtue and honour, raifed like a 
 beautiful kind of froft-work in the cold feafon 
 of adverfity, diflblved and difappeared." 
 
 Enquiry, &c. London, 1727, p. 17. 
 
 NOTE
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. ^45 
 
 NOTE II. VERSE 51. 
 
 On Franc io now the Gallic page is mute, 
 JudBritiJhStory drops the name of Brute.] The 
 origin of the French nation was afcribed by one 
 of the Monkifh Hiftorians to Francio, a fon of 
 Priam : Mr. Warton, who mentions this circum- 
 ftance in his Diflertation on the origin of roman- 
 tic fiction in Europe, fuppofes that the revival of 
 Virgil's JEneid, about the fixth or feventh cen- 
 tury, infpired many nations with this chimerical 
 idea of tracing their defcent from the family of 
 Priam. There is a very remarkable proof in the 
 Hiftorian Matthew of Weftminfter, how fond 
 the Englifli were of confidering themfelves as 
 the descendants of the Trojan Brutus. In a let- 
 ter from Edward the Firft to Pope Boniface, 
 concerning .the affairs of Scotland, the King 
 boafts of his Trojan predeceflbr in the following 
 terms : Sub temporibus itaque Ely & Samuelis 
 prophetarum, vir quidam ftrenuus et infignis, 
 R 3 Brutus
 
 2+6 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Brutus nomine, de genere Trojanorum, poft 
 excidium urbis Trojanae, cum multis nobilibus 
 Trojanorum applicuit in quandam: infulam tune 
 Albion vocatam, a gigantibus inhabitatam j qui- 
 bus fua. et fuorum fedu&is potentia et occiiis, 
 earn nomine fuo Britanniam, fociofque fuos Bri- 
 tannos, appellavit ; & aedificavit civitatem quam 
 Trinovantum nuncupavit, quae modo Londinum 
 
 nuncupatur. 
 
 MATT. WESTMON. p. 439, 
 
 NOTE III. VERSE 73. 
 
 dnd Bacon's fetf, for mental glory born, 
 Meets, as her Jlave^ our pity, or our fcorn.~\ I 
 \vifn not to dwell invidioufly on the failings of this 
 immortal Genius ; but it may be ufeful to remark, 
 that no Hiftorrcal work, though executed by a 
 man of the higheft mental abilities, can obtain a 
 lafting reputation, if it be planned and written 
 xvith a fervility of fpirit. This was evidently 
 the cafe in Bacon's Hiftory of Henry the Vllth. 
 
 It
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 247 
 
 It was the firft work he engaged in after his 
 difgrace, and laid as a peace-offering at the feet 
 of his matter, the defpicable James ; who affected 
 to confider his great grandfather, the abjeft and 
 avaricious Henry, as the model of a King. It was 
 therefore the aim of the unfortunate Hiftorian to 
 flatter this phantafy of the royal pedant, for 
 whom he wrote ; and he accordingly formed 
 a colofTal ftatue to reprefent a pigmy. It- 
 is matter of aftonifhment that Lord Bolingbroke, 
 who in his political works has written on the 
 vices of this very King, with a force and beauty 
 fo fuperior to the Hiflory in queftion, fhould 
 fpeak of it as a work poflefling merit fufficient to 
 bear a comparifon with the ancients. On the 
 contrary, the extreme awkwardnefs of the tafk 
 which the Hiftorian impofed upon himfelf, gave 
 a weaknefs and embarraflment to his ftyle, which 
 in his nobler works is clear, nervous, and manly. 
 This will particularly appear from a few lines 
 in his character of Henry : "This King, to 
 fpeak of him in terms equal to his deferving, was 
 R 4 one
 
 248 NOTES TO THE 
 
 one of the beft fort of wonders, a wonder for 
 wife men. He had parts, both in his virtues and 
 his fortune, not fo fit for a common-place as 
 for obfervation .... His worth may bear a tale 
 or two, that may put upon him fomewhat that 
 may feem divine." He then relates a dream of 
 Henry's mother, the Lady Margaret : but the 
 quotations I have made may be fufficient to jufti- 
 fy my remark j and, as Dr. Johnfon fays hap- 
 pily of Milton, " What Englishman can take 
 delight in tranfcribing paflages, which, if they 
 leflen the reputation of Bacon, diminim in fome 
 degree the honour of our country ? " 
 
 NOTE IV. VERSE 92. 
 
 And of that mountain make tbejlatue of a King.] 
 An allufion to the Architect Dinocrates, who of- 
 fered to cut Mount Athos into a ftatue of Alex- 
 ander the Great. 
 
 NOTE
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 249 
 
 NOTE V. VERSE 97. 
 
 As crown* d with Indian laurels, nobly won, ffr.] 
 This ftory is told on a fimilar occalion by Lu- 
 cian. Having aflerted that hiftorical flatterers 
 often meet with the indignation they deferve, 
 he proceeds to this example : CLinrtg 
 
 ctvotyvovTog UTW TJJTO j,aAra TO y^upiov TTJJ 
 ' (WETO yap %ocf>i turmoil roc, 
 
 TO 
 
 TW TTOTOJ/AW TW 
 
 TO vJu 
 
 LUCIAN, Edit. Riollay, p. 28. 
 
 The Critics are much divided on this paflage. 
 
 I have followed an interpretation very different 
 
 from that adopted by a learned and judicious au- 
 
 8 thor,
 
 250 NOTES TO THE 
 
 thor, who has lately entered into a thorough dif- 
 cuflion of all the anecdotes relating to this cele- 
 brated Conqueror, in a very elaborate and fpirited 
 diflertation, intitled, " Examen critique des Hif- 
 toriens d'Alexandre." Paris, Afo, 1775. But 
 there is great probability in his conjecture, that 
 the name of Ariftobulus has dipt into the ftory by 
 fome miftakej and that the fycophant fo juftly 
 reprimanded was Oneficritus, who attended the 
 Hero of Macedon in quality of Hiftoriographer, 
 and is cenfured by the judicious Strabo, as the 
 moft fabulous of all the Writers who have en- 
 gaged in his Hiftory. For the reafons which 
 fupport this conjecture, fee the book I have men- 
 tioned, page 19. 
 
 NOTE VI. VERSE 115. 
 
 In Dedications quietly inurn'cL, 
 
 They take more lying Praife than Ammonfpurnd. } 
 As Hiftory is the compofition moft frequently 
 addrefled to Princes, modern Hiftorians have been 
 peculiarly tempted to this kind of adulation. 
 
 Indeed
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 251 
 
 Indeed Dedications in general are but too com- 
 monly a difgrace to letters. Perhaps a concife 
 Hiftory of this fpecies of writing, and the fate of 
 fome remarkable Dedicators, might have a good 
 influence towards correcting that proftitution of 
 talents, which is fo often obferved in productions 
 of this nature : and fuch a work might be very 
 amufing to the lovers of literary anecdote. The 
 two moft unfortunate Dedications that occur 
 to my remembrance, were written by Jofhua 
 Barnes, and Dr. Pearce, late Bifhop of Rochef- 
 ter : The firft dedicated his Hiftory of Edward 
 the Hid to James the lid, and unluckily com- 
 pared that Monarch to the moft valiant of his 
 predeceflbrs, juft before his timidity led him to 
 abdicate the throne : the fecond dedicated his 
 edition of Tully de Oratore to Lord Macclesfield, 
 and as unluckily celebrated his patron as a model 
 of public virtue, not many years before he was 
 impeached ii> parliament, and fined jT. 30,000, 
 for the iniquity of his conduct in the office of 
 Chancellor. 
 
 NOTE
 
 NOTES TO THE 
 
 NOTE VII. VERSE 135. 
 
 Still can HerrerO) mourning o'er his urn, 
 His dying pangs to blifsful rapture turn<J\ An- 
 tonio de Herrera, a Spanifli Hiftorian of great 
 reputation, defcribes the death of Philip II. in 
 the following terms: " Y fue cofa de notar, 
 <jue aviendo dos, o tres horas antes que efpirafle, 
 tenidoun paraxifmo tan violento, que le tuvieron 
 por acabado, cubriendole el roftro con un panno, 
 abrio los ojos con gran efpiritu, y tomo el cruci- 
 xo de mano de Don Hernando de Toledo, y con 
 gran devocion, y ternura le beso muchas vozes, 
 y a la imagen de nueftra Sennora de Monferrate, 
 que eftava en la candela. Pareci.6 al Arcobifpo de 
 Toledo, a los confeflbres, y a quantos fe hallaron 
 prefentes, que era impoflible, que naturalmente 
 huviefle podido bolver tan prefto, y con tan vivo 
 efpiritu, lino que devio de tener en aque! punto 
 alguna vifion y favor del cielo, y que mas fue 
 rapto qus paraxifmo : luego bolvio al agonia, y 
 
 fe
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 253 
 
 fe fue acabando poco a poco, y con pequenno 
 movimiento fe le arranco el alma, domingo a treze 
 de Setiembre a las cinco horas de la mannana, 
 flendo fus ultimas palabras, que moria como 
 Catolico en la Fe y obediencia de la fanta Iglefia 
 Romana j y affi acabo efte gran Monarca con * 
 la mifma prudencia con que vivio : por lo 
 qual (meritamente) fe le dio el atributo de pru- 
 dente. 
 
 Hift. General del Mundo, por Ant. Herrera, 
 
 Madrid 1612. Tom. iii. f. 777. 
 After fpeaking fo freely on the vices of this 
 Monarch, it is but juft to obferve, that Philip, 
 who poflefled all the fedate cruelty of the cold- 
 blooded Octavius, refembled him alfo in one ami- 
 able quality, and was fo much a friend to letters, 
 that his reign may be confidered as the Auguftan, 
 age of Spanifti literature. His moft bloody mi- 
 nifter, the mercilefs Alva, was the Maecenas of 
 that wonderful and voluminous Poet, Lope de 
 Vega. I cannot help regretting that the two 
 eminent Writers, who have lately delineated the 
 
 reigns
 
 254 NOTES TO THE 
 
 reigns of Charles the Vth. and his Son Philip, 
 fo happily in our language, have entered fo little 
 into the literary Hiftory of thofe times. 
 
 NOTE VIII. VERSE 158. 
 
 Nor hope tojlain^ on bafe Detraction's fcroll, 
 A Tully's morals y or a Sidney's foul !] Dion 
 Caflius, the fordid advocate of defpotifm, endea- 
 voured to depreciate the character of Cicero, by 
 inferring in his Hiftory the moft indecent Ora- 
 tion that ever difgraced the page of an Hiftorian. 
 In the opening of his 46th book, he introduces 
 Q.. Fufms Calenus haranguing the Roman fenate 
 againft the great ornament of that afiembly, 
 calling Cicero a magician, and accufing him of 
 proftituting his wife, and committing inceft with 
 his daughter. Some late hiftorical attempts to 
 fink the reputation of the great Algernon Sidney, 
 are fo recent, that they will occur to the remem- 
 brance of almoft every Reader. 
 
 NOTE
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 255 
 
 NOTE IX. VERSE 179. 
 
 Nor lefs the blemijh^ thd* of different kind. 
 From falfe Philofophfs conceits refirfdl &c.] 
 The ideas in this pafTage are chiefly borrowed 
 from the excellent obfervations on Hiftory in Dr. 
 Gregory's Comparative View. As that engaging 
 little volume is fo generally known, I ftiall not 
 lengthen thefe Notes by tranfcribing any part of 
 it i but I thought it juft to acknowledge my obli- 
 gations to an Author, whofe fentiments I am 
 proud to adopt ; as he united the nobleft affections 
 of the heart to great elegance of mind, and is 
 juftly ranked among the moft amiable of moral- 
 writers. 
 
 NOTEX. VERSE 218. 
 
 To fpeakno Falfehocd, and no Truth fupprefs.] 
 Quis nefcit primam efle Hiftoriae legem, ire 
 quid falfidicere audeat? deinde, ne quid veri nan 
 
 audeat.- -De Oratore, Lib. ii. 
 
 7 Voltaife
 
 256 NOTES TO THE 
 
 Voltaire has made a few j uft remarks on the 
 fecond part of this famous Hiftorical maxim ; and 
 it certainly is to be underftood with fome degree 
 oflimitation. Thefentence of the amiable Pliny, 
 fo often quoted Hiftoria quoquo modo fcripta 
 dele&at is liable, I apprehend, to ftill more ob- 
 jetions. 
 
 NOTE XI. VERSE 266. 
 
 A wafle of Genius In the toil of Knolles.~\ Ri- 
 chard Knolles, a native of Northamptonfhire, 
 educated at Oxford, publifhed in 1610 a Hifto- 
 ry of the Turks. An Author of our age, to 
 whom both criticifm and morality have very high 
 obligations, has beftowed a liberal encomium on 
 this negle&ed Hiftorian ; whofe character he clofes 
 with the following juft obfervation : 
 
 " Nothing could have funk this Author in 
 cbfcurity, but the remoteneis and barbarity of the 
 people whofe ftory he relates. It feldom happens, 
 that ail circumftances concur to happinefs or
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 257 
 
 fame. The nation which produced this great 
 Hiftorian, has the grief of feeing his genius em 
 ployed upon a foreign and uninterefting fubjecl: ; 
 and that Writer, who might have fecured per- 
 petuity to his name by a Hiftory of his own 
 country, has expofed himfelf to the danger of 
 oblivion, by recounting enterprizes and revolu- 
 tions of which none defire to be informed." 
 
 RAMBLER, Vol. III. N 122. 
 
 NOTE XII. VERSE 330. 
 
 And 'read your jujl reward in Brady' 's fate. ,] Ro- 
 bert Brady, born in Norfolk, was Profeflbr of 
 Phyfic in the Univerfity of Cambridge, which he 
 reprefented in Parliament. He was Mafter of 
 Caius College, and Phyfician in Ordinary to 
 James II. He publifhed, in 1684, a Hiftory of 
 England, from the invafion of Julius Casfar to the 
 death of Richard the Second, in three volumes 
 folio : and died in 1700. His character cannot 
 
 VOL. II. S be
 
 258 NOTES TO THE 
 
 be more juftly or more forcibly exprefled, than in 
 the words of a living Author, who has lately vin- 
 dicated the antient conftitution of our country 
 with great depth of learning, and with all the 
 ^nergy of genius infpirited by freedom. 
 
 " Of Dr. Brady it ought to be remembered, 
 that he was the flave of a faction, and that he 
 meanly proftituted an excellent underftanding, 
 and admirable quicknefs, to vindicate tyranny, 
 and to deftroy the rights of his nation." 
 
 STUART'S View of Society in Europe. 
 Notes, page 327. 
 
 NOTE XIII. VERSE 381. 
 
 Like the dumb Son ofCr&fus, in tbejinfe.'] 
 Herodotus relates, that a Perfian foldier, in the 
 ftorming of Sardis, was preparing to kill Crcefus, 
 whofe perfon he did not know, and who, giving 
 up all as loft, neglected to defend his own life. 
 A fon of the unfortunate Monarch, who had 
 been dumb from his infancy, and who never fpake 
 
 afterwards.
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 25$ 
 
 afterwards, found utterance in that trying mo- 
 ment, and preferved his father, by exclaiming 
 " O kill not Crcefus !" 
 
 NOTE XIV. VERSE 387. 
 
 Lefs eager to correft y than to revile."] This is 
 perhaps a juft defcription of The polemical Divim, 
 as a general character : but there are fome authors 
 of that clafs, to whom it can never be applied. 
 Dr. Watfon, in particular, will be ever mentioned 
 with honour, as one of the happy few, who have 1 
 preferved the purity of juftice and good manners 
 in a zealous defence of religion; who have given 
 elegance and fpirit to controverfial writing, by 
 that liberal elevation of mind, which is equally 
 removed from the meannefs of flattery, and the 
 infolence of detraction. 
 
 NOTE XV. VERSE 393, 
 
 The noble injlinft^ Love of lofting Fame. ~\ There 
 
 is a moft animated and judicious defence of 
 
 this pa/Iion in Fitzofborne's Letters. But I 
 
 S 2 muft
 
 a6o NOTES TO THE 
 
 muft content myfelf with barely referring my 
 Reader to that amiable Moralift, as I fear I 
 have already extended thefe Notes to fuch a 
 length, as will expofe me to the feverity of criti- 
 eifm. I fliall clofe them with a lift of modern 
 treatifes on the compofition of Hiftory. The 
 arlieft work of this kind, which has fallen under 
 my obfervation, is the Methodus ad facilem Hif- 
 toriarum Cognitionem, publifhed at Paris, in 
 1566, by Jean Bodin, a lawyer of eminence j 
 from whom Montefquieu is fuppofed to have 
 borrowed his fanciful and fallacious fyftem on the 
 Influence of Climate, Italy, the parent of many 
 great Hiftorians, produced alfo, about the fame 
 period, an elegant Latin diflertation, De Scriben- 
 da Hiftoria. The author, John Antony Vipe- 
 rani, was Bifliop of Giovenazzo in 1588, and 
 died 1 6 10. A Spanifli eflay, on the fame fubjecT:, 
 was printed in 1611, by Luis Cabrera de Cordo- 
 va ; but his performance has been eclipfed by the 
 .ater production of his celebrated countryman 
 
 Feyjoo,
 
 THIRD EPISTLE. 261 
 
 Feyjoo, whofe entertaining Efiays on Hiftory 
 were tranflated into Englifh in 1779. Holland 
 produced, in 1623, the Ars Hiftorica of Vof- 
 iius, and foon afterwards his more voluminous 
 and valuable work on the Greek and Roman 
 Hiftorians. The French language, fo fertile in 
 mifcellaneous criticifm, affords us many works 
 that relate to Hiftorical compofition : the moft 
 extraordinary of thefe, is a very late publication 
 by the Abbe Mably, " De la Maniere d'ecrirc 
 P Hiftoire." As this infolent and dogmatical 
 Author has grofsly infulted our country, by vili- 
 fying our moft eminent writers of Hiftory, I 
 had. thoughts of chaftifmg his prefumption by a 
 full difplay of his various abfurdities j but as this 
 unpleafant office has been in fome meafure per- 
 formed by one of his own countrymen, under the 
 tide of a Supplement to his Work, I fhall orjy 
 make a few remarks on the illiberal terms in 
 which he fpeaks of my friend Mr. Gibbon.
 
 262 NOTES TO THE 
 
 As the Abbe had only read a tranflated extract 
 from the accompliftied Hiftorian, he certainly 
 could not be a competent judge of the fpirit and 
 beauty of his immortal work. No matter : he 
 had a private pique againft the Author, and was 
 therefore determined to decry his compofition. 
 In the blindnefs and precipitancy that ufually 
 belong to bafe anger, he attributes the defecl: of 
 dullnefs to a Book, more univerfally read than 
 any modern performance of equal magnitude. 
 
 The Abbe talks loudly of the literary virtues 
 that become an Hiftorian : but he feems to have 
 forgot that there are literary vices, which may 
 render even a learned and ingenious critic con- 
 temptible. No productions of the prefs are 
 more difgraceful to literature, than thofe in 
 which a diflertation on any art is made the 
 vehicle of perfonal malignity : yet, as this is 
 the moft plaufible and infinuating method of 
 giving vent to malice, it is, perhaps, the moft 
 common. In the end, however, this fpecies of 
 3 literary
 
 THIRDEPISTLE. 263 
 
 literary flander defeats its own purpofe ; for, if 
 the envious are pleafed to echo it for a time, to 
 more candid and generous readers it endears the 
 merit it traduces. They lament the hard deftiny 
 of fuperior talents ; and recoiled^, with a figh 
 pf affectionate indignation, the juft and fpirited 
 remark of Monfieur D' Alembert, " Que lei 
 grands Genies font toujours de chires par des 
 gens, qui ne font pas dignes de les lire !" 
 
 END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
 
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