S55/E 
 
 1780
 
 Ex Libris 
 C. K. OGDEN 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER 
 
 [MARTIN SHERLOCK, ESQ.] 
 
 [Price Two Shillings and Six Pence.]
 
 LETTERS 
 
 F R O M 
 
 AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER 
 [MARTIN SHERLOCK, 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH ORIGINAL 
 PRINTED AT GENEVA AND .PARIS. 
 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED. 
 
 Jticn if eft beau que le vrai^ le vraijeul efi aimable, 
 
 BolLEAU. 
 
 Nothing is fcjeautiful but Truth, 
 And Truth alone is lovely. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. NICHOLS, T. CADELL, 
 
 P. ELM SLY, H. PAYNE, AND N. C N A N T. 
 
 MDCCLXXX.
 
 

 
 <H 
 
 S, 
 
 fso 
 
 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE EARL OF BRISTOL, 
 BISHOP OF DERRY. 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 EDI CAT IONS, in general, are 
 fo fulfome and heavy, that they 
 difguft even the perfons to whom they 
 are addrefled : As for me, I will not 
 praife you, becanfe every one praifes 
 you : I have feen many countries ; 
 and in every town where you have 
 relided, I have heard a repetition 
 of the fame elogiums on the good- 
 nefs of your heart, the fweetnefs 
 of your manners, and the charms 
 of your wit. The mod refpe&able 
 a 3 and 
 
 1023018
 
 C- vi ] 
 
 and the mofl accompliihed perfons 
 were thofe who praifed you mofl. 
 I beg your Lordfhip to accept this- 
 tribute as a proof of my efteem, and 
 to believe that I am, with the moil 
 lincere attachment, and with the moil 
 profound refpecl, 
 
 :$-,. .MY LORD, 
 
 , ... -* t ?,\ ..-, ^ , r '. 
 
 Your Lordfhip's moil humble" 
 
 And 'moil -obedient fervanr, 
 MARTIN * SHERLOCK, 

 
 C vii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I could prefent to the publick two 
 hundred letters ; I offer them twenty, 
 becaufe I thought I fhould mew them 
 more refpe6l by publifhing a hundred 
 pages, which they might read twice, 
 than by printing a thoufand, of which 
 they would never read half. As to 
 agremens of ftyle, none will be found, 
 for it is an Englifhman who writes: 
 In a plain flyle will be found fome 
 ideas and truth. 
 
 The notes between [ ] are added by the tranflator. 
 
 a 4 The
 
 ~v 
 
 The author paffing through Potfdam 
 fent this book to the King. His 
 Majefty honoured him with the 
 following anfwer. 
 
 Monfieur de Sherlock, Je vous re- 
 mercie du livre que vous venez de 
 NTadrejfer. II a trouve Paccueil qtfil 
 merite. Je defire meme de revoir fon 
 auteur, & vous vous rendrez pour 
 cet efet che% Moi, demain vers les 
 onze heures avant-midi. Ce fera M. 
 General Major Comte de Go'ertz qui 
 a ordre de-vous y condulre & de vous 
 pref enter, &* fur ce Je prie Dieu 
 qtfil vous ait, Morjieur de Sherlock^ 
 en fa faint e .^f digne garde. 
 
 Potfdam, ce 19 
 JuUlet >J7 79. FREDERIC.
 
 C 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 L E T T E R I. P. i. 
 
 CHARACTER of the King of Pntffia. Its 
 
 two parts. The Queen. Princefs Amelia. A 
 
 fcene for Rubens. Coriolanus. Frederick not 
 only great) but good. 
 
 LETTER II. P. 8. 
 
 % 
 Review at Potfdam. Battle defcribed. Pifturet 
 
 from Taffb. King's perfon and manner. 
 
 LETTER III. P. 15. 
 
 Another battle. The Kings apartments. A Swifs 
 wit. The author prefented to the King. Lord 
 Chatham. Dut chefs of Kingston. 
 
 LETTER IV. P. 19. 
 
 The Great Frederick's (Economy and generofity. 
 Anecdote of a French count. Elcgium on the 
 King-poet. Comparifon of him with Horace. 
 Extract from his epijlle on travelling. 
 
 LET-
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 L E T T E R V. P. 26. 
 
 King of Pruffia's love of mankind. His ode on 
 war. His art. of war his mafter-piece. His 
 addrefs to young foldiers. 
 
 LETTER. VI. P. 35. 
 
 Beauties of Saxony. King of Pruffia and Vefwoius. 
 Elogium of Corrcgio; Corregio and Raphael 
 compared. Famous faying of the former. Mon- 
 tefquieits application of it to bimfelf. 
 
 LETTER VII. P. 45. 
 
 Agrecablcliefs of Vienna. Beauty and accomplijh- 
 tnents of the ladies. Countefs of Dirheim. Prin- 
 cejfis Charles Lichtenftein and Lignojki. Coun- 
 teffes Paar, Wurmbrand, Buquoy, Lofs, Bergen, 
 and Degenjield. Baronefs de Rheijhach. Prince 
 Kaunitz. The Pope's- Nuncio. Sir Robert Keith. 
 Baron de Breteuil. 
 
 LETTER VIII. P. 53. 
 
 German and Italian theatres. LaSacco. Procefi 
 fion of the Knights of the Golden Fleece. The 
 courfe ofjledges. DreJ/es of ths ladies and their 
 knights. Prince Kaunitz's anti-ckamb?r. 
 
 4 LET-
 
 CONTENTS. d 
 
 LETTER IX. P. 57. 
 
 Mctaftafw. His excellences, education, andjlttdies* 
 His juperiority to Dante, Ariojlo, Marini, and 
 Tajfo. Beauties and faults of the Jerufalem 
 Delivered* Perfection of Aminta. 
 
 LETTER X. P. 65. 
 
 Singularity and famenefs of Holland. Its cardinal 
 virtus and deities. Its fchool of painting. Me~ 
 cbanifm of the art. A faying of Lewis X-iV. 
 Bad tafte of the modern French. Rubens.- 
 Great merit of Sir J-ofeph Torke. His magnifi- 
 cent f upper. 
 
 LETTER XT. P. 70. 
 
 Grandeur and gloominefs of Rome. Their caufes. 
 The Pope and Cardinals. Cardinal de Bernis. 
 The prevailing Jludies. The Roman women. 
 The national pride ayd diffimulation. Refcm- 
 b lance of modern 'and ancient Rome. Dijlixfiion 
 between the 'women of Rome and Naples. 
 
 LETTER XII. P. 77, 
 
 Summit of Vefuvius. Ccurt of the Apollo of Bel- 
 vedere. Superiority of the Greeks. Elogium of 
 the Apollo.. The Apollos of Bernini andBoitckar- 
 
 con*
 
 xH CONTENTS, 
 
 * * *.'; 
 don, . The Laocoon. Story of Michael Angeto* 
 
 'Opinion of Pouffin and Montefqyieu. 
 
 LETTER XIII. P. 88. 
 
 Lofs of a favourite dog. Lamentation. Too much 
 of nothing. 
 
 LETTER IIV. P. 91. 
 
 'Beauties of Naples. Ob j efts In 'view. Pofilipo and 
 Vefttvius. The Volcano. Port id. The gulph* 
 IJle of Caprea. 
 
 LETTER. XV. P. 95. 
 
 Academla de Cavalieri,' Rudenefs of a young French 
 Marquis. The French national character. 
 France and England the fir ft nations. A French 
 officer, dialogue. The Abbe Gallanl. Ths Duke 
 delta Torre \ and his fons. 
 
 L E T T E R XVI. P. 102. 
 
 Barbarifm and civility of the Neapolitans. Sirens 
 and Circes. Reftmblance between the Ruffians 
 and the Neapolitans. Their women. A Mufico 
 and a Dutc!:cfs. Train of lovers. Dog re- 
 covered. 
 
 2 LET-
 
 CONTENTS. xiij 
 
 LETTER XVII. P. 108. 
 Saying of tie King of S 'pain, flis Sicilian Majefty. 
 Caferta. Sir William Hamilton. His letters and 
 character. Death of the Prince. Queens of- 
 fliftion. Affeffing circumjlances. 
 
 LETTER X*m P. 112. 
 
 The Tiber and Auguftus. Horace and VirgiL The 
 Great Frederick. tiis addrefs. His triple 
 immortality. His ode on Glory. Ext rafts. 
 
 LETTER XIX. P. 116. 
 
 Agreeable French houfes at Rome. Cardinal de 
 Semis's a/emblies. Bailiff de la Brilliante's 
 f dinners. His fervice of china. Its capture by 
 the Englijh. Grand ajjembly of Monfeigneur de 
 Bayanne. His character. His brother. Mar- 
 chionefs de Bocca-Paduli. Lady Louifa Nugent. 
 Her extraordinary accompliflments and true por- 
 trait, fbree nations her admirers. 
 
 L E T T E R XX. P. 123. 
 
 Blindnefs of the Italians. Their idolatry of Dante 
 and Ariofto. The author's fentiments. His pub- 
 lication in Italian. Its reception. Approbation 
 
 of
 
 O N T N T S, 
 
 G0#? <& Jlianconi, Sonnet to him by the 
 carptlli. Pits /elf-love increafed. 
 
 /LETTER XXI. P. 1^4. 
 
 Excellence of Shakfpear.e. Appeal to Longhms, 
 Horace, and EoilMU. Arguments in favour of 
 Shflkfpeafi. Bis faults and beauties contrafted 
 with thofe of Dante. A walk in St. Peter's,. 
 A Frenchman, a Pole y and an Englijhman. Shak* 
 fpeare and Michael Angela. Quotation from Lon- 
 ginus. Carlo Maratli, Rubens, and Corregio. 
 
 LETTER XXII. P. 146. 
 
 Paffage of the Alps. Ridiculottfneff of Nature. 
 French concert. Another volume of letters. Prince 
 Ernejl of Me ckknburgh-Str elite. Venice the 
 Athens of Italy. 'The Venufes of Titian an4 
 Medicis. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. P. 150. 
 
 Introduction to Voltaire. His nephew. Beautiful 
 profpeci. Dialogue. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. P. 158. 
 
 Dinner at Ferney. Father Adam. Second dia- 
 logue. Buft of Newton. 
 
 LET-
 
 CONTENTS. XY 
 
 LETTER XXV. P. 165. 
 
 Particulars of Voltaire. His employments and 
 ambitions. His village. His drefs. His church 
 and tomb. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. P. 169. 
 
 La Bruyere's warning to an author. The author's 
 confcioufnefs of his defefts. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. P. 171. 
 
 Objects Jhould be viewed on the fair fide. The 
 contrary fyftem purfued and adopted. Advice 
 totravellsrs. Conclufan. One point in which 
 * all nations agree* 
 
 LETTERS
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM AN 
 
 ENGLISH TRAVELLER, 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 BERLIN, Off. 10, 1777. 
 n H E King of Pruflia is every 
 "* where known as a great king, a 
 great warrior, and a great politician; 
 but he is not every where known as 
 a great poet and a good man. Mar- 
 cus Aurelius, Horace, Machiavel, and 
 Caefar, have been his models, and he 
 has almoft furpafled them all. I have 
 never heard of a human being that 
 B was
 
 was perfect; and this monarch alfo 
 has his faults; but take him for all 
 in all, he is the greateft man that 
 ever exifted. 
 
 At the beginning of his life he 
 published his Anti-Machiavel, and this 
 was one of the completeft ftrokes of 
 Machiavelifm that ever he made. It 
 was a letter of recommendation of 
 himfelf that he wrote to Europe at 
 the inftant when he had formed the 
 plan of feizirig Siiefia. 
 
 To his fubjects he is the jufteft of 
 -fovereigns : to his neighbours he is 
 the moft -dangerous of heroes; his 
 neighbours fhudder at him, his fub- 
 je6ts adore him. The Pruffians are 
 proud of their Great Frederick, as 
 Vhey always flyle 'him. They fpeak 
 -of him with the utmoft freedom, and 
 
 at
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 at the fame time that they criticife 
 feverely fome of his taftes, they give 
 him the higheft elogiums. He was 
 told that fome one had fpoken ill of 
 him. He afked if that per foil had 
 100,000 men? He was anfwered, No. 
 
 * Very well,' faid the king, * I can do 
 
 * nothing; if he had 100,000 men, 
 
 * I would declare war againft him.' 
 
 Of all the characters of the prefent 
 age, that of this prince has been the 
 moft miftaken ; and the reafon is, that 
 two parts of his character have been 
 confounded, and only one judgement 
 formed on two points, each of which 
 requires a feparate opinion. The King 
 of Pruffia has occaiioned the death of 
 fome thoufands of men ; and the King 
 of Pruffia is a merciful, tender, and 
 compaffionate prince. This feems a 
 B 2 contra-
 
 I 4 3 
 
 contradiction; and it is a certain truth. 
 He muft firft be confidered as a con- 
 queror, where k is not permitted to 
 liften to the voice of humanity. When 
 heroifrn is out of the queftion, we 
 muft examine the man. It will be 
 faid that this is a fubtlety. I deny k, 
 and appeal to hiftory : What clemency 
 more acknowledged than that of Julius 
 Caefar ? What conqueror has (lied more 
 blood? 
 
 I own to you, that, when I entered 
 Pruffia, I had fome prejudices againft 
 the. king: thefe are the reafons that 
 made me change my opinion. 
 
 He was forced to marry the queen ; 
 and though he has never lived with 
 her, fhe loves him, becaufe he has 
 always treated her with refpedt, and 
 has always ftiewn her many little at- 
 tentions.
 
 C 5 ] 
 
 tcntions. She has a palace at Berlin, 
 and another at Schenhaufen, where 
 flie pafTes the fumnier. Her court, 
 which fhe holds twice a week, is bril- 
 liant and numerous, becaufe it is 
 known that the king is pleafed with 
 the refpedr that is fhewn her. She 
 has fome hefitation in her fpeech; 
 but fhe is the beft princefs in the 
 world, and the king efteems her 
 highly. 
 
 The princefs Amelia is opprefTed 
 with infirmities and years. She has 
 loft the ufe of one arm and the fight 
 of one eye. She has wit and an im- 
 proved underftanding ; and the king 
 never goes to Berlin for five hours 
 but he paiTes three with his fifter. 
 
 The following incident was related 
 
 to me by her Royal Highnefs the 
 
 B 3 reigning
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 reigning Dutchefs 'of Brunfwick* : 
 While Ihe had the fmall-pox, the 
 king went to fee her ; Hie was thought 
 to be in great'^danger; he threw him- 
 felf on his knees by her bed-fide, 
 kirTed her hand, and bathed it with 
 tears. What a moment for a Rubens 
 to paint the moft formidable monarch 
 in Europe paying this tribute of fen- 
 libility to a iifter whom he loved! 
 And what a companion for the picture 
 of Goriolanus t, at the inftant when that 
 haughty Roman was facrificing to -an 
 emotion of tendernefs his life, his 
 glory, and his revenge! 
 
 [* Styled by Dr. Moore, in his late ' View of 
 Society and Manners in France,' &c. the king's 
 favourite fitter.] 
 
 f" The king has befpoke this pitfure ; and it 
 is now almoft finifhed by the celebrated Battoni 
 at Rome. 
 
 Man
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 Man is a difcontented animal; he 
 loves to complain : the king's lub- 
 je6ls complain of taxes,, and I have 
 never feen any fubjets who do not 
 complain of taxes. / The Pruffians 
 complain lefs than any others, and 
 the reafon is evident : the govern- 
 ment is even and fteady, and the 
 weight of the taxes does not alter, as 
 in other countries; it is always the 
 fame. Men every where take plea- 
 fure in fpeaking ill of their fovereign : 
 God knows there never was a better 
 king than ours, and his fubjects fpeak 
 ill of him every day. To me there- 
 fore it is a very flrong proof that the 
 Great Frederick is good, that his fub- 
 jects fay little ill of him, and much in 
 his commendation. But here is ano- 
 ther proof much ilronger : he has never 
 B 4 put
 
 [ .8 ] 
 
 put a man to death*; and when I 
 tell you that he lives without guards, 
 I fancy you will allow that to be a 
 proof of his feeling inwardly that he 
 has never done an unjufl action. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 
 T) L U T A R C H and Shakfpeare have 
 fhewn great men in their night- 
 caps and flippers. I cannot fhew you 
 his Pruffian Majefty in his night-cap, 
 for he never wears one; he acquired 
 a habit in his youth of fleeping bare- 
 headed in order to harden himfelf. 
 Nor has he any flippers, for as foon 
 
 f* The author muft doubtlefs mean in time 
 of peace, by the civil fword. In war, in battle, 
 how many thoufands have been put to death by 
 -him and his military executioners !J 
 
 as
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 as he leaves his bed he puts on his 
 boots. It is known that he rifes at 
 four, that he goes to bed at nine, 
 that he procrastinates nothing, that 
 he is fond of jefting, that he eats a 
 great deal of fruit, that he plays oil 
 the flute every evening, that he 
 pafles moft of his time at Sans-fouci 
 in his old boots, and that he governs 
 Europe. 
 
 I faw him three times; the two 
 firft were at the review at Potfdam; 
 the fun flione bright, and 40,000 men 
 were divided into two bodies to form 
 a battle. An old general told me in 
 the evening at fupper at the Prince 
 Royal's, that, if I had been in an 
 engagement, I (hould not have had 
 fo perfecSt an idea of a battle -as that 
 which I had received. To pretend 
 
 to
 
 to give you a defcriptitfn of it would 
 be as abfurd as impoilible : read thole 
 of Homer and Taffo ; all that they fay 
 is true, efpecially this ftanza: 
 
 In tanto il fol, che ne* celejli campi 
 Vapiufempre avanzando, e in alto afcende, 
 1 L'armi perccte y e ne trae fiamme, e lampi 
 *remuli e cbiari, onde le vijle offen'de, 
 Uaria par dl faville intorno avampi, 
 E quafi d'alto incendio in forma fplsnde ; 
 E co' fieri nitriti II fitono accorda 
 Delferrofcoffb) e le campagne affbrda. I. 73. 
 
 Mean time the fun above th* horizon gains 
 The rifing circuit of th' ethereal plains; 
 The poliih'd arms refleft his dazzling light, 
 And ftrike with flaming rays the aching fight. . 
 Thick and more thick the fparkling gleams afpire, 
 Till all the champain feems to glow with fire; 
 While mingled clamours echo through the meads. 
 Theclafli of arms, the neigh of trampling fteeds. 
 
 Hook. 
 
 But
 
 C ii ] 
 
 But it is orte of thofe things which 
 muft be feen to have an idea of it. 
 There are a thoufand circumftances 
 which produce an effect on the fpec- 
 tator, and none on paper. The inftant 
 of my feeing the enemy's army ap- 
 pear at a diftance (for that of the king 
 was on the ground before my arrival) 
 made a ilrong imprefiion on me ; and 
 from that moment, at every jftep which 
 the two armies advanced towards each 
 other, the expectation of the fpec- 
 tators was heightened, and the intereft 
 increafed. The iilence of their ap- 
 proach was Grecian #. The king's 
 party was defeated ; and the order 
 which he maintained in his retreat 
 is inconceivable. In two hours there 
 
 * O; 0' eta IVKV <ji~f/i jAzvzai 'srvftovjss hr/jzioi. 
 In folemn filence march'd the valiant Greeks. 
 
 was
 
 wa only ten minutes confufion : near 
 the hill where I flood, there was an 
 eminence covered with trees, which 
 commanded the field of battle; each 
 party was defirous of feizing this poft, 
 and fome fquadrons of cavalry came 
 from both fides full gallop, in filence, 
 till the inftant of their entering the 
 wood; they then gave loud fhouts, 
 and fought with fvvords and piftols : 
 frefti troops came from each fide to 
 their affiftance, and all fhouted. The 
 vivacity of this moment is inexpref- 
 iible. As I know nothing of the art 
 military, I cannot give you the par- 
 ticulars of any evolution; but the re- 
 gularity and the quicknefs with which 
 the Pruffian foldier performs every 
 /thing, aftonifh the military of all 
 other nations. 
 
 The
 
 [ 13 ] 
 
 * 
 
 The battle ended, the imagination 
 faw thefe pi&ufes of TafTo: 
 
 Tien tutto il campo e dl fpezzate lance, 
 Di rottifcudi e di troncato arnefe: 
 Di fpade ai petti, alle fquarciate pance 
 Altrc confitte y (litre par terra Jlefe ; 
 Di corpi altrl Jupini, altri coi volti, 
 Quafi mordendo il fuol, al fuol rivolti. 
 
 * Glace il cavallo al fuo fignore appreffo- 
 Giacc il compagno appo il compagno eftlnto\ 
 Giace il nemico appo il nemico; e fpejfo 
 Sul morto il vivo, il mncitor fid vinto. 
 Non nfefilenziQ) e non ife grido efpreffo\ 
 Ma odi un non fo cbe roco, e indiftinto, 
 Fremiti di furor, mormori a" ira, 
 Gemiti di cbi langue, e dl chi fptra. 
 
 XX. 50, 51. 
 
 O'erfpread with (hatter'd arms the ground ap- 
 pears, 
 
 With broken bucklers, and with fhiver'd fpears. 
 Here fwords are ftuck in haplefs warriors kill'd, 
 And ufelefs there are fcatter'd o'er the field.. 
 
 * It is a tradition among the Italian poets that this 
 ftanza coft Taflb ten months. 
 
 Here,
 
 C 14 ] 
 
 Here, on their face, the breathlefs bodies lie; 
 There turn their ghaftly features to the fky. 
 
 Befide his lord the courfer prefs'd the plain ; 
 Befide his flaughter'd friend the friend is flain : 
 Foe near to foe ; and on the vanquifh'd fpread 
 The viftor lies; the living on the dead! 
 An undiftmguilh'd din is heard around, 
 Mix'd is the munnur, and confus'd the found: 
 The threats of anger, and the foldier's cry, 
 The groans of thofe that fall, and thofe that die. 
 
 Hook. 
 
 The imagination, I fay, formed 
 thefe pictures, and the heart congra- 
 tulated itfelf that they were but ima- 
 ginary. 
 
 If I had great curiofity to fee two 
 armies engaged, I had much more 
 to fee the king. At length he came : 
 he was not fo tall as I expected; this 
 circumftance excepted, he anfwered 
 all the ideas that I had formed of him : 
 2 his
 
 his air and countenance befpoke the 
 king, the hero, and the man of ge- 
 nius. Thinking I could never fee 
 enough of him, I kept clofe to him 
 all the way to Sans-fouci. A great 
 crowd followed, him ; fome peafants 
 waited to fee him at the entrance of 
 his palace, and cried, t Long live the 
 king!' He pulled off his hat feveral 
 times to them. This was twice that 
 he deceived me; the firft time by his 
 ftature, the fecond by his politenefs. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 BERLIN. 
 
 pHE next day there was another 
 
 battle: .the manoeuvres were 
 
 different; but I did not underftand 
 
 them. Before I went to it I vifited the 
 
 king's
 
 [ 16 ] 
 
 w 
 
 king's apartments. You go through 
 the eating-parlour and the concert- 
 room into the bed-chamber. I afked 
 the Swifs, " Which was the king's 
 chamber?"- ' This.' I expected a 
 magnificent bed. There was a fine 
 alcove at the end of the room, but 
 no bed in it." Where is the bed?" 
 c There.' Behind a little ikreen, 
 in a corner, was a fmall bed, very 
 narrow, with curtains of green filk; 
 this was his. On the other fide of 
 the caftle were fever al beds in the 
 fame taite, then occupied by his ge- 
 nerals. The carpet on which he fleps 
 when he gets out of bed, is very coarfe. 
 There was another fmall couch, where 
 fometimes a page ileeps when the king 
 is ill, and three or four tables covered 
 with books and papers. 
 
 I afked
 
 t 17 ] 
 
 I aflced my conductor (a Swifs wit, 
 who has lived eighteen years with his 
 majefty) " where was the king's ward- 
 " robe?" He replied, < on Jiis back*.' 
 
 The laft time of my feeing him 
 was at Berlin. He came thither to 
 receive the adieus of the Baron de 
 Swieten, minifter from their Imperial 
 Majefties, and to give audience to the 
 new minifter the Count de Gobenzlt. 
 
 [* Dr. Moore has given a lift of the king's 
 cloaths; viz. two blue coats, faced with red, the 
 lining of one a little torn; two yellow waiftcoats, 
 a good deal foiled with Spanifti fnuff; three pair 
 of yellow breeches, and a fuit of blue velvet, em- 
 broidered with filver, for grand occafions.] 
 
 f- I had not the honour of knowing this gen- 
 tleman, as I left Berlin two days after his arrival. 
 But his coufin, the Count de Cobenzl, who at- 
 tended the emperor in his travels, is one of the 
 moft amiable and interefting characters in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 C The
 
 I is 3 
 
 The foreign miners, .the' perfen* 
 who were" to' be prefeiited, and : the 
 military, were all that -'were at coiirifJ 
 We were^riEnglifhY the king fpokc 
 to the firrt and the laft, r not on 'ac- 
 count of their fituktion, but v becaufe 
 their i> shies' ; itruck him. The 'firft 
 M-as major I&lryVr.pk*: To him the 
 king'ftKlj ' You, huve j been prefdnted 
 v to mdlycforer'-i-^ -I rn'k -your 'tti& 
 u jelly's pardon : it was my uncle.'* 
 fe. p>- ^T^e'^g, 
 
 - 
 
 ' Are you a relation of lord. Chatham : ' 
 a Yes, Sire.'-- ' He is -abrfi&l/J&toxB 1 
 
 'niighly^dSm.' ' - y ^ 
 
 3 ' . 
 lie then went to. the torcign jpi- 
 
 hifters, and talked more to prince -Dol- 
 
 "eoroucki, the Ruiliairambailador,than 
 
 i f)aei 
 
 - * Author of Travels through Spain and 
 Portugal in 1774." 
 
 to
 
 t 19 3 
 
 to any other. la the midft of his 
 converfation with this prince, he 
 turned abruptly to Mr. Elliot, the 
 Englifh minifteiy 'and afked him the 
 name of the duchefs, of Kingfton. 
 This traniition was lefs Pindaric than 
 it appears; he hadjuft : been fpeaking 
 of the court- of Peteriburg, and that 
 lady was then there. 
 
 8*10" 
 
 -" 
 
 L E T T E R IV, 
 
 sd> 
 
 BERLIN. . 
 
 r I ^HERE never was a fat Ibldier 
 
 feen in any country ; but the 
 
 king of Pruffia has not a, fat ferjeant. 
 
 A profound knowledge of the cecono- 
 
 my of finance is one of the points in 
 
 which this' prince excells; it is alfo 
 
 -" C a one
 
 i ?o 3 
 
 one of the reafons why his troops : fel r 
 dom grow fat. The money which 
 other Ibvereigns expend on rmftrelTes, 
 pomp, hunting-parties, :c. he em- 
 ploys on things that are neceflary, and 
 in rewarding merit. During the time 
 that I was at Berlin, the artillery was 
 exerciied for a fortnight : an officer of 
 that corps told me, that there was 
 confumed every day 100 louis d'ors 
 worth of gtfnpowtferr The king is 
 not lavuti of liis bounties v .but his ge- 
 neroiity to general Leichwitz, to the 
 widow of colonel Quintus*, and to 
 
 -many other perfons of merit, is well 
 
 srfj 
 
 [* A favourite officer whom the king rq* 
 
 manifed (we 'cannot fay chriilened) by the name 
 
 'of Quintus kilius, on account of his profound 
 
 knowledge of the Greek and Roman tactics. His 
 
 real name was Charles Guifchard.J . 
 
 known* 

 
 C I 
 
 known. Every officer with whom 
 you converfe will give you fome frefh 
 inftance of the liberality of his matter. 
 
 I am fond df my fubjedl, and I could 
 write to you a long time of the Great 
 Frederick; but after relating a little 
 anecdote, I will fay a word of his 
 poetry, and then we will proceed to 
 Drefden. 
 
 Two days after my return from 
 Potfdam, Count * * * *, a French tra- 
 veller, who lodged at my hotel, afked 
 my leave to vifit me. We talked of 
 the city, of the manoeuvres, of the 
 king. At ten o'clock at night he 
 entered rhy apartment : < My dear 
 * friend,' faid he, (he had feen me for 
 half an hour that morning) * I am 
 c come to take leave of you.' " Why 
 fo?" < The king has juft requefted 
 3 * me
 
 t ] 
 
 * me to quit the town, .and I know not 
 f the reafon, unlefs it be, that when I 
 c walk the flreets, I take the plan of 
 c any building that flrike* me.'- " Has 
 " the king faid any thing particular of 
 "your" l No,' replied he brifkly, 
 ' he has faid nothing ill of me, but 
 6 he thinks the more ; I have fent 
 ( for horfes, and I fet out in half sin. 
 < hour.' But," faid I, I do not fee 
 " the neceflity of your fetting out in a 
 " night like this" (it rained violently) ; 
 " you may wait till to-oaiorrow." ' Par- 
 
 * don me,' replied he, c l^is majefty 
 
 * may change his mind, to-morrow 
 
 * perhaps he may requeft me to ftay # .' 
 This foreigner was not known by any 
 one, not even by his own minifter; he 
 
 * lie was appreh'enfive of being fcnt to Span- 
 : daw. 
 
 feemetl
 
 feemedwell educated, and was about 
 forty. 
 
 When a poet has a richnefs of 
 ideas anql of expreffion, every time, that 
 we. read, him we dilcover new beau- 
 ties: this is the cafe with Horace and 
 with the king of Pruilia. There is not, 
 moft certainly, an author in, the French 
 la/iguage who has more thoughts, or 
 more vigorous thoughts, than this 
 prince. Ail his productions fpring 
 from a ftrong and brilliant imagina- 
 tion, always regulated by a folid judg- 
 ment, which, in my opinion, confti- 
 Uites the perfection, of genius. 
 
 In all his works the moil fage 
 philofophy and the profoundeft mo- 
 rality are,, blended . with the moft 
 poignant wit and the happietl fallies* 
 When his fubjcfts .admit of it, his 
 G 4 ftyle
 
 e ** i 
 
 ftyle is no lefs poignant than em- 
 phatical. He has emulated Horace, 
 and he has been able to equal him 
 even in his beft pieces; for in many 
 refpects the Pindar of the North would 
 be difhonoured by comparing him 
 with the Latin poet. Horace has not 
 a more fincere admirer than myfelf,, 
 but there are many pf his works 
 which I cannot read without difgufl. 
 One cannot find a fingle middling 
 compofition of the King-Poet ; and no 
 snthufiaft of Horace will deny that 
 he has many. One cannot find in 
 this prince any mean or indecent 
 paflage; Horace abounds with things 
 that are vulgar and offenfiye. You 
 will anfwer, that the fouls of the 
 Monarch and of Horace were different, 
 their education different, and their 
 
 fituations
 
 [ *s 3 
 
 iituations in life different; this con- 
 firms my aflertipn* I will not always 
 determine in favour of his verfifica- 
 tion; but in ftrength and vivacity of 
 colouring Rubens does not furpafs 
 him. 
 
 He has written an epiftle on Tra- 
 velling* > in order to prevent the young 
 Germans from going to ruin them- 
 felves at Paris and London; in thefe 
 three verfes he fpeaks of one of thofe 
 gentlemen t at his return : 
 * 
 
 [* Addrefled to Count Rottembourg.] 
 f- I cannot help here mentioning a (lory which 
 I heard at Paris of a young German traveller. 
 He had been told that the Venetian ainbafladpr 
 was to make his entry at court, and that it was a 
 magnificent light: he flew to Verfailles, he ar- 
 rived at the chapel-door, from whence he faw 
 the chancellor corning out in a long blue mantle: 
 he aiks his neighbour, " Pray, Sir, is that cardi- 
 tf nalin blue the Venetian ambaiTador making his 
 f tntry ?" 
 
 z De
 
 C * 
 
 "V /w/>/^ 'quilfn^ il qT devenu fdl t ' 
 2 .Etjouant rttourdl fans .pou-voif-jamais Vetr, 
 
 ' Cejt un lourdQUt. badin aid fait le petit-mail re. 
 
 " 
 
 From ftupid doll he grows an errant fool, 
 Acting, no!; being, a blunderhead complete, 
 The waggiHi dunce at len'gtfr' frecoftie* a fop. 
 
 1-Idw.many originals of more countries 
 than one -does this portrait reprefent! 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 BERLIN, 
 
 T IQHT and heat are every \vhere 
 "^^ diffufed through the works of 
 the philofopher of Sans-fouci. In two 
 large volumes of his poetry there is 
 not one barrejn page ; and what makes 
 them truly precious is, that every 
 page breathes the love of humanity. 
 
 I
 
 t 27 3 
 
 I forefee your objections ; and I again 
 demand one opinion for war, and 
 another for peace. No man ever 
 knew the human heart better than 
 Shakfpeare ; no man ever drew a 
 character better. This is what he 
 puts into the mouth of an amiable 
 hero; 
 
 In peace there's nothing fo becomes a man 
 As gentlenefs and mild humanity; 
 But when the blaft of war blows in our ears, 
 Let us be tigers in our fierce deportment. 
 
 Henry V. 
 
 You would think that Shakfpeare 
 meant to fpeak of the king of ^uffia. 
 
 Read his odes on War and on the 
 ^Troubles of the North, and then judge 
 of the poet and the man : 
 
 [When
 
 [ *8 f 
 
 [When willthy frantic rage, with ruthlefc hancf, 
 Bellona, ceafe to defolate the land ? . . 
 Why do we fee on every plain and flood 
 Such torrents lavifh'd of heroic blood? 
 O'er all the earth, with unrefifted f\vay, 
 
 Sword, fire, confuficra, plunder, famine, reign, 
 Nor can the boundlefs ocean aught furvey 
 
 But\vrecksoffl}ipsdeftroyM,andcorfesofthe{lain. 
 Say, does this fiend, with front of brafs endued, 
 Of blood infatiate, though with blood imbrued, 
 This fiend of xvar, the world in fetters hold, 
 Only to range and wade it uncontrolled: 
 Old Charon's wherry fuch enormous weight 
 
 Ne'er yet fuftain'd, nor were the fatal Iheers 
 So- oft employ'd, of unrelenting Fate, 
 
 To fnap the vital threads that hold our warriors 
 
 years. 
 
 Inhuman Difcord, red with carnage, (hakes 
 Her flaming torch, and irritates her fnakes, 
 And, fond of chaos, with eternal ftrife 
 Embroils all nature, and imbitters life: 
 Man's erring fteps from gulph to gul ph (he leads, 
 And death, defpair, and treafon, all thecrimes 
 Which follow and avenge fuch cruel deeds, 
 
 O'erfpread with cyprefs all our defolated climes.] 
 
 What
 
 C *9 ] 
 
 * What trail fportsfeize my foul ! what fudden fires ! 
 Some god my fenfes fteals, fome god infpiresi 
 Tis Phoebus' felf, his heav'n-bprn genius deigns 
 To teach my feeble voice immortal (trains. 
 Let all the world an awful filence keep, 
 Ye kings, ye people, Men to my lay, 
 And let awhile your frantic fury fleep, 
 To hear the truths I fing, to hear them and obey. 
 Ye judges of mankind, their gods by birth, 
 Ye proud oppreffors of this wretched, earth, 
 Though by your hands dire thunderbolts are 
 
 thrown, 
 Though in your chains thefe captive people 
 
 groan; 
 Re (train, the rigour of refiftlefs force; : 
 
 Thefe are your children, feel, what father? 
 
 feel: 
 
 From all their boforos, (labb'd without remorfe, 
 Streams your O'vn vital. flood, and flains the mur- 
 
 d'rcus fteeK 
 
 As a good ihepherd, provident and wife, 
 Defends his darling fiock, with watchful eyes, 
 From the wolf's ravenous jaws, with gore im- 
 brued, 
 Or the fierce lion, prowling for his food, 
 
 [* Mr. Sherlock has quoted only the four following 
 ; but the tranflator .has given the whole ode.J 
 
 When
 
 t. 
 36 1 
 
 When from the wood the tyrant flies, their 
 : fears 
 
 Remov'd, they foundty fleep or fafely'feed, 
 Aad though his meep with fondling hahd he 
 
 ihektfi"'^ 
 
 Yet He'eV'berfeath h!s fcfaife the harmlefs victims 
 bl^ed. 
 
 T A tender monarch, like this fiiepheru fwain, 
 Humane in connfels, in defigns humane, 
 For public 'good alone prolongs his days, 
 Ahc} counts his years by -<feeds deferring prdife: 
 Wreiths flain'd with blood he notify -fctfrrre to 
 
 \ve?r ' JoriT 
 
 But to his virtues future glory owes ; 
 Such' was that ancient, that' heroic pair," 
 &ifR ; ELrtfs,'TiTt;s thus to deathlefs honours rofe. 
 [Abhorr'd be thef^ intefline wars, thefe brands 
 ' So widely fcatter'd by Ambition's hands : 
 ' See ! all the' univerfe in ruiiis lies'; 
 Earth is a tomb of vaft ftupendoiis fize : 
 What tragic fcenes this theatre difgrace ! - 
 
 Europe againft her forts, with ftcp-dame hate, 
 Leads forth aflonifh'd Afia's powerful race^ 
 To urge with fpeedier courfe the direful work of 
 fate. 
 
 Barbarians
 
 
 t 31 ] 
 
 Barbarians fwarming from Siberia's coaffs,. 
 ^flailins purs'd amidil eternal frofls, 
 Cafpians and Tartars,, join'd in dread array, 
 I fee, retained in Dutch and German * pay : l 
 This favage rage what Dcemon can infpire t 
 
 Europe no more your fury can fuitain, 
 With fierce diflenfion other worlds to fire, 
 A lurt for fighting fields tr.mfports you o'er the 
 nrain. Li , 
 
 From your bright mannon in yon; :jjzure; iky, 
 Goddefs on whom for blifs we all rely, : - 
 So longdefir'd, defcend, 'O 'lovely Peace ! 
 Clofe Janus' dreadful gr.tes, bid Difcord ceafet 
 intereft,>aiv}V Ixmifn-; and reftore ; om 
 
 o T ort h to ^ that fai ^' thac iife the y 
 
 want ; 
 
 Then we, afn-dft onr laurel? flain'd with gore 7 , 
 Thy myrtles aiatl ; thy olives joyfully will 
 
 1 His Art 'of War is his mrtftcr-piece, 
 und the longeft of his works. You 
 
 will there find the moft lively images, 
 
 . 
 
 ("* The author might with, much more reafon have 
 ' This Teems to fix the date of the ode to 
 
 the. year 1748, v/hen the Ruffians were marching to 
 FU-.ndtis, v.hich haftcned the peace,} 
 
 the
 
 [ 3* 1 
 
 the boldeft and moft judicious meta- 
 phors, a pencil nlwa s manly, always 
 majeftic, and an im^crnojfity in the 
 flyle which is irrefiftibie. 
 
 When one thinks of all the proofs 
 which this prince has given, in war 
 and in politics, of the fertility of his 
 imagination, and of the folidity of his 
 judgment; when one remembers that 
 he^aS always fed his mind with 'the 
 moft perfect productions of the anci- 
 ent philofophers and poets ; and when 
 we know that 'he has 'added to this 
 "whatever could be found in the fociety 
 of the moft enlightened men and the 
 firft wits of his age; we mall no longer 
 be aftonimed at the variety of merit 
 that is found in his compofitions. 
 Accept, great king, thefe juft enco- 
 miums ; I mould not have fo highly 
 
 applauded
 
 C 33 3 
 
 applauded your talents, if I were not 
 fully perfuaded of the goodnefs of 
 your heart* 
 
 is Mige pur, I'hortmage meriie ; 
 Je le dois a ton nom, comme a la verite. 
 
 4rt de la Guerre. 
 
 Receive this pure applaufe, this homage due 
 To your great name, becaufe I know 'ti true. 
 
 his Epiflle to bis Sifter *f 
 Bareitb, on her Illnefs, and fee whe- 
 ther every verfe does not flow frorm 
 a tender and feeling heart* 5} 
 
 It will be fa id that there are faults 
 
 4 
 
 in his poetry; I leave them for the 
 Zoilufes to point out ; and I fhall 
 clofe my letter with his addrefs to 
 young foldiers at the condulion of 
 his Art of War.
 
 [ 34 3 
 
 Si votre cxur afpire a la fublime gloire t 
 Sac hex. vainer e, et fa- tout ufer de la vifloire.- 
 Lt plus grand des Rdmairis, far fes faeces * div&Xg 
 Lc jour qu'afon pouvoir ilfoumit 1'ttnivers, - 
 Sauvajes ennemi*dctns les champs de Pharfale* 
 
 Voyez a Fontenoy, Louis dont I'ame egals,- 
 Douce dans fes fucces, f outage les vaincus t 
 Ueft\n Dieu bienfaifant dont Us font fe counts; 
 Us bajfcnt en pleurant la main qui ltt*(jgfgrrne, 
 Sa valeur lesfoumet y j'a clemence les charme, . 
 Dans k fern des fureurs la bonte trouve lieu, 
 Si vainer e*ejl d'un Heros, pardonner eft d*un Dieu. 
 
 To heights of glory if your heart afpires, 
 Know how to conquer, and your conqueft ufe r 
 The greateft, mod: fuccefsful -J-- Roman chief, 
 On that fam'd day when he fubdu'd the world, 
 Sav'd ev'n his foes in dire Pharfalia's field. 
 
 Lewis with equal mind at Fontenoy r 
 Mild in fuccefs, his vanquifli'd foes confoles; 
 Like a good deity his aid he gives : 
 With tears they bathe the hand that has dif- 
 
 arm'd them; 
 
 His valour conquers, and his mercy charms * 
 With goodnefs war's dire horrors he allays ; 
 Heroes may vanquiflh, but 'tis God iotgives. 
 
 * Comrne politique, ecrivain, et conqucrant. 
 -f- As a politician, a writer, and a conqueror. 
 
 LETTER
 
 C 35 ] 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 DRESDEN* 
 
 JTT^HE country of Saxony is very 
 -*" beautiful, the city of Drefden 
 very pretty, and the court one of the 
 moft .amiable in Germany ; ftrangers 
 no where receive greater civilities : th$ 
 women are mild, lively, and witty; 
 the climate is fine ; the environs plea- 
 fant ; the fare delicious : it is indeed 
 a charming country, and the Saxons 
 would be tod happy if they had not 
 a hero for their neighbour. Ah ! 
 dreadful is the neighbourhood of a 
 hero or a volcano ! The fituation of 
 Drefden refembles that of Portia; 
 and the inhabitants tremble at a me- 
 nace f Frederick, like thofe of Por- 
 tici at a rumbling of Vefuvius. An 
 , D 2 old
 
 C 3 6 J 
 
 old woman fpoke to me of the bom-* 
 bardment of the city in the laft war, 
 with the lame horror* of reeolle6tion r 
 and almoft in the fame terms, as an 
 old man at Portici fpoke to me of 
 the terrible eruption in 1 76 &. 
 
 Nothing gives fo perfect an image 
 of war as the lava. Imagine a rich 
 country covered: with' vines^ paftuares, 
 and corn : biarils Forth a torrent of fire, 
 -andinariintont the moil brilliant land- 
 fcape is changed into 1 the moft difmal 
 picture that nature cari pirefent. This 
 is the hiflory of an eruption of Ve- 
 -fuvius: it is that of the Palatinate fet 
 on fire by Turenne^ 
 
 Travellers in general make too 
 fhort a ftay at Drefden, and they are 
 in the wrong. It is a country highly 
 * Mens msminiffb borret. 
 
 interefting
 
 f 37 ] 
 
 intercftlng to all who are fond of 
 natural hiftory, pictures, and the 
 beauties of nature of every kind. 
 If the Pruffians are the Macedonians 
 of Germany, the Saxons are its Athe- 
 nians. I have fcarcely feen a coun- 
 try where there is more tafle, or 
 more chearful and agreeable fociety. 
 It is at the Vatican that we learn 
 to admire the mafler-pieces of Raphael ; 
 it is at Drefden that we learriHo value 
 the pictures of Corregio. Raphael is 
 almoft univerfally acknowledged as 
 the monarch of the pic"iurefque king- 
 dom. A confular government would 
 pleafe me better; I would wifli him 
 to have Corregio for his colleague, 
 I know that I malt have all the demi- 
 connoilTeurs againft me, and I will 
 tell them the reafon ; either they 
 D 3 have
 
 C 38 ] 
 
 have not feen the mofl beautiful 
 paintings of this mafter, or they have 
 feen them fuperficially. His heft 
 works are at Parma and Drefden, and 
 thefe are two cities that the traveller 
 fees poft. He paries three mornings 
 perhaps in this gallery ; he willies to 
 fee every thing, and confequently fees 
 nothing. It is the fame repetition 
 at Parma ; and then he arrives at 
 Rome. In all the companies where, 
 he goes, when painting is the fub- 
 jec"r, he hears no. one named but Ra- 
 phael. If a foreigner mentions Cor^ 
 regio, the Romans fay, that he has 
 great rnerit; but they do not feel what 
 they fay ; for they have only feen fome 
 indifferent pictures of his that are at 
 Rome: thefe pictures they compare 
 the rafter-pieces of Raphael; 
 
 and
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 and you may guefs their inference. 
 The truth is, that they efleem Cor- 
 regio as many modern philofophers 
 adore Newton, by 4 hear-fay. To de- 
 termine right, the Night * mould he 
 placed heiide the Transfiguration ; the 
 Magdalen f, or the Venus\^ by the 
 Galatea\ the St. ferom, the St. George, 
 
 [* The famous Notte di Corregio, a nativity, 
 is in the duke's palace at Modena: It is fo far 
 a night-piece as that all the light of the pifture 
 flows from the infant, who feems perfectly to 
 fhine. . . . This thought has been followed by 
 great numbers of others. Wright. 
 
 The late general Guife, equally famous for 
 his oaths and his connoifleurlhip, ufed to fwear 
 that this picture alone would illuminate a dark 
 room.] 
 
 [f This is alfo at Modena. It is a Magdalen 
 lying alone and reading, with her head raifed up 
 and fupported by her right hand. It is moil 
 highly finifhed, but rather over laboured. This 
 famous pkfture is clofeted up, and when fhewn 
 is brought forth with great folemnhy. Wright^ 
 
 Q An ineftimable picture in the pofTeflion of 
 Sir William Hamilton.] 
 
 D 4 or
 
 [ 40 3 
 
 or the St. Sebajlian> befide the School 
 of Athens, and the other pictures of 
 the Vatican. 
 
 The Romans are not good judges 
 of painting; they determine well of 
 certain parts. In every thing relar 
 ting to compofition and defign their 
 judgment is fure; and in thofe two 
 points Raphael has no equal. As, 
 to colouring they know little of it: 
 sccuftomed to consider Raphael as 
 a perfect model, they think, his co- 
 louring; alfo perfect ; but the falfhood 
 of this idea is tpo notorious for me 
 to mention it. I do not pretend to 
 talk of painting like an artift; but I 
 have ftudiecj pictures much, and I 
 jfhall always think that one of the 
 firft objects of painting is to deceive 
 fhe eye, and to make the fpe&ator 
 
 believe
 
 [ 41 1 
 
 Relieve? that the figures which ate 
 pn the canvafs are not there; in this 
 part of the art Corregio is -unrivalled. 
 The magic of his pencil abfolutely 
 detaches his figures from the cloth; 
 and, with this relief, they have a 
 ibftnefs * to which no painter has 
 ever approached. Nothing can be 
 fajther from my thoughts than to 
 detract from the merit of Raphael; 
 it is too well eftabliihed ; and if I 
 could prove that he had none, I 
 do not fee that this would add to 
 the reputation of Corregio. All that 
 I a(k is to he allowed that there are 
 two. fine eyes, and two fine eyes; 
 which travellers will not allow, for 
 the reafoa that I have mentioned, 
 
 * J^Ioelkux ia Freoch; morbidazza in Italian. 
 
 their
 
 [ 4' ] 
 
 their having formed their tafte at 
 Rome, where Corregio is not known. 
 We fhall havs another reafon for 
 extolling Gdrregio, when we com- 
 pare his fkuation with that of Ra- 
 phael. Poor and unconnected, he 
 lived in a fmall town, where he had 
 no mafter but hi$ genius, no model 
 but nature, no attendants but . the 
 Graces, and 'the neceflity of procur- 
 ing bread ibr his family, to incite 
 him. Behold Raphael at Rome, pa- 
 tronized by the fovereign, courted 
 (in confequence) -by princes and car- 
 dinals, hoping to become a cardinal 
 himfelf, furrounded by the works of 
 the Greeks, and by great artifls his 
 rivals, who, by their criticifms, at 
 once ftimulated and improved him. 
 What advantages over the poor and 
 4 amiable
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
 amiable Corregio! who was obliged 
 to go on foot to Parma, carrying on 
 his back thofe chef d'oeuvres of which 
 one at prefent makes the riches of 
 a cabinet. 
 
 No painter ever defigned like Ra- 
 phaat;.no painter knew the clair-r 
 'qbfcur fo well as Corregio: Raphael 
 is always correct and fioble ; Corregio 
 h^s often negligences :" Raphael took 
 many ideas from the ancient flatues 
 and bas-reliefs ; Corregio pillaged only 
 nature: Raphael has all the majeilic, 
 Corregio all the amiable, graces. The 
 queftion cannot be decided; Raphael 
 
 is Juno with the girdle of Venus; 
 
 Corregio is Venus herfelf. 
 
 There is a faying of this painter 
 
 which has always pleafed me : The 
 
 jBolognefc had clefired Raphael to paint 
 - .s* them
 
 C 44 3 
 
 them a piture ; he gave them the 
 celebrated St. Cecilia #. The fame of 
 this work brought Gorregio to Bologna 
 to fee it ; after gazing on it for half an 
 hour in a profound filence, he faid, c And 
 I too am a painter? Yes, enchanting 
 ar<tift,you might well fayfoj.ai*d while 
 men truft their eyes and feelings, 
 many will be of your opinion. This 
 exclamation is admirable, it ihews me 
 the man. It is a fuperior genius who 
 fees without jealoufy the mafter-rpiece 
 of a contemporary, who dares to do 
 him juflice, and who, -at the fame 
 time, feniible of his own merit, ex- 
 claims with a noble and mocleft firrH- 
 plicity, < And I have alfo talents 1* 
 
 [* This picture is in the church of St. Giovanni 
 in Monte. The Saint, enraptured with the har- 
 mony of a choir of angels, daihes all her mufical 
 inftruments againft the ground. Kcvfler.'] 
 
 'This
 
 [ 45 1 
 
 This ftruck Montefquieu in the fame 
 manner: " When I have feen#, fays 
 " he, what fo many great men in 
 " France, in England, and in Ger- 
 " many, have writ before me, I have 
 " been in admiration, but I have not 
 " loft my courage ; and I too am a 
 tl 'painter t* exclaimed I with Corre* 
 gio." 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 VIENNA, March 3, 1778. 
 T T O W rich is the univerfe in 
 * "*" delights ! How many pleafures 
 may a virtuous and prudent man en- 
 joy in his travels ! If his view be to 
 feek for amiable and enlightened cha- 
 
 * Preface to the Spirit of Laws* 
 f Ed and? lo fin piltore* 
 
 5 racters,
 
 C 46 1 
 
 rafters, he will find them every where $ 
 and if he knows how to value them, 
 they will receive him well. Vienna 
 has its beautiful fides ; rhe national 
 character is good, and thofe whofe 
 education is the leaft cultivated may 
 there be fafely trufted. Its air is 
 healthy, fharp, dry, and very cold; 
 Tiae ideas which moffc flrike foreigners 
 are the affability of the court, the 
 magnificence of the entertainments, 
 and the beauty of the fair fex. Three 
 .days, after my arrival I was at a ball, 
 where there were thirty young ladies, 
 all handfome. They drefs with tafte, 
 and dance well. The beft dancer 
 was the countefs Dirheim. She is a 
 eanonefs, and the moft beautiful ca- 
 nonefs that ever was. Of all the 
 perfons I have ever feen, (lie is at 
 
 firft
 
 [ 47 3 
 
 firft fight the moft ftriking. A painter 
 cduld find only one fault in her, and 
 that fault is a fmall one. If I were 
 a poet, I would here draw her pi6hire ; 
 but Ariofto has done it ; it is his 
 Alcina : 
 
 Di perfona era tanto ben format a, 
 
 me* finger fan pittori indujlri, &fr.' 
 
 A fhape whofe like in wax 'twere bard t 
 
 Or to exprefs by fkill of painters rare, &c. 
 
 You never faw fo pretty a mouth; 
 this ftanza feems made on purpofe 
 to paint it : 
 
 Sotto quel Jla, quafifra due vattette, 
 
 La bocca fparfa di natlo clnabro^ 
 
 Quive due Jilzefon di perle elette, 
 
 Che cbiude ed apre une bello de doles labro ; 
 
 Quindt efcon le cortefi parolettc 
 
 Da render molle ogni cor rozzo t fcabro\ 
 
 >uivi ft forma quel foave r'ifo, 
 
 Ch* apre a fua pofta in terra il Paradifo. 
 
 Vii. 13. 
 Conjoin'd
 
 I 48, 1 
 
 which in due tod. camdy .fp*ee 
 Doth fland the mow th ftajn'd with vermilKoti 
 
 hue, 
 
 *&TO rows df pretidtre pmlffrve', in their place, 
 : To tew arsrf (four a lip Hght -iir to tiew : 
 Heace comeihe courteous wordsj and full of grace^ 
 That mollify hard hearts, and make them new; 
 From hence proceed thofe fmilings fweet and nice^ 
 That feem to .make ati ertfoly Parodifc, 
 
 Harrfagtatu 
 
 : Mnceis Charies 
 the Gountefs Paar^ and the Princefs 
 Lignolki,are the three prettieft women 
 in Germany ; the Gountefs Wurm- 
 brand, and the Gountefs ^aq^jpy^ at 
 Vienna^ and the Gountefs Lois at 
 Drefden, are the three fineft German 
 women I have feen* Perhaps there 
 is a more beautiful head than that 
 of the Gomntefs of Wu-rtn'brand in 
 Paradife, but On earth there certainly 
 is not. 
 
 As
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 As to wit, the Countefs Bergen has 
 tinqueflionably the raoft ; the Coun- 
 tefs Degen field, wife of the Dutch 
 envoy, is highly accomplifhed and 
 amiable; and the Baronefs of Rhei- 
 fhach has as much real merit as I have 
 feen in my travels, a great deal of 
 wit, an improved underftanding, and 
 a good heart ; me is a charming womati 
 
 in every fenfe of the word. 
 
 _ 
 You will fee in Prince Kaumtz a 
 
 fuperior genius, and one of the greateit 
 men of the age. He gives a moil gra- 
 cious reception to the Englifli, and 
 has fome of them every day at his . 
 table. His houfe is open 'every even- 
 ing, and there you will always find 
 part of the diplomatic body, which 
 is here very numerous and refpec- 
 table. Monfeigneur Gerampi, the 
 E Pope's
 
 E 50 } 
 
 Pope's Nuncio, is full of good-nature 
 and erudition. He is much beloved 
 at Vienna and at Rome, and with rea- 
 fon. There is not an Englifhmam 
 or any man who fpeaks truth, who 
 pafTes through Vienna, without doing 
 juftice to Sir Robert Keith. He is 
 indifputably one of the firft geniufes 
 in Europe : his foul and his nader-r 
 Handing appear in his eye; it is. a 
 clear,, quick, 'penetrating, firm eye. 
 Few* men poffefs like him the fecret 
 of pleafing every one. 
 
 The houfhold of the Baron de Bre- 
 teuil is royally eftablifhed. We were 
 five and twenty Englifh, and this 
 ambafTador invited us all every week 
 of the Garnaval to a ball and a fup- 
 per. There were always more than 
 200 perfons, excellent cheer, French 
 
 wines,
 
 C si ] 
 
 wines, Tokay, &:c. &:c. There is no 
 houfe here more agreeable than his. 
 No idea, I confefs, has given me more 
 offence, in many young travellers of 
 different nations whom I have met, 
 than that of not doing juftice to per- 
 fons of diitinguifhed merit. This 
 mode of acting appears to me bafe 
 and unworthy of a man well born, 
 even if thofe perfons were unknown 
 to us ; but it is the height of in- 
 gratitude to fpeak ill of thofe who 
 have fhewn us civilities, to difown 
 their favours, or even to be filent 
 when an occafion offers of fpeaking 
 of them. 
 
 Vienna is perhaps the beft city in 
 
 Europe to teach a young traveller the 
 
 manners of the great world: at his 
 
 arrival he will be introduced into all 
 
 E 2 the
 
 C S* 1 
 
 the beft houfes ; and if he is an Eng- 
 lifhman, he will meet with the moft 
 flattering reception, becaufe Sir Ro- 
 bert Keith y who is univerfally efteemed, 
 accompanies him every where; but 
 every foreigner is well received, efpe- 
 cially by the ladies, who are very well 
 bred, and extremely amiable^ 
 
 You will afterwards be entertained 
 according to your defert; if you are 
 fimple in your manners, and noble 
 in all your proceedings, you will be 
 enchanted with Vienna; and if, when 
 you leave the country, you do not 
 make its elogium, you will be your 
 own fatirifl. 
 
 :i' u ifos 33 : 
 
 L KTTEK
 
 t 53 ] 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 VIENNA. 
 
 ^T^ HERE are here a German 
 theatre and an Italian one, 
 both bad. There is only one woman* 
 who has merit. Though ilie has 
 neither beauty nor air, ihe plays 
 with fuch judgment, and has fuch 
 cxpreffion in her looks, her action s 5 
 .and her cadence, that ilie even, in- 
 terefts thofe who are unacquainted 
 \vith the language, 
 
 You will here fee fornd fingular 
 fights; the procelrion of the knights 
 of the golden fleece is fuperb; the 
 Hungarian guards, who come to court 
 <m New-year's-day, are the moil: bril- 
 liant troop in Europe; but the moft 
 * La Sacco. 
 
 E 3 {hiking
 
 ' 54 3 
 
 linking fight, and which is really 
 beautifulj is the courfe of traineaux. 
 The Archdutchefs of Milan, the Arch- 
 dutchefs Mary-Elizabeth , and thePrin- 
 cefs Schwarzenberg, were conducted 
 by the Archduke of Milan, the Arch- 
 duke Maximilian, and Prince Albert of 
 Saxony: they were followed by twenty- 
 five ladies, all in crimfon velvet with 
 a very broad gold lace; the drefles of 
 the knights were of a fky-blue velvet, 
 laced like thofe of the ladies. There 
 were fome equipages that coft a thou- 
 fand guineas. On each fide of the 
 horfe were two running-foot-men, 
 dreffed with an elegance fuitable to 
 the equipage. 
 
 This is one of the happy moments 
 in the life of a Viennefe lady; it is 
 the moment in which flie makes the 
 
 mofl
 
 I 55 1 
 
 moft pompous difplay of her riches 
 and of her charms. Embelh'fhed with 
 all her graces, her head fludded with 
 diamonds, her bofom uncovered, fhe 
 feems a Venus in her car; and know- 
 ing that flie is the objec"l of the ad- 
 miration of fome thoufands of per- 
 fons,. fhe fhews the fatisfaction of her 
 heart by a perpetual fmile. In every 
 country the fair go drefled to public 
 places to be feen % : but here the 
 women make the mow ; and the 
 pleafure with 4 which this idea infpires 
 them is fo lively, that it makes them 
 entirely forget the rigours of the fea- 
 fon. It is not fo with the poor knight; 
 having no enjoyment, but that of ad- 
 miring his fair-one's chignon^ he 
 periflies with cold: in fact men have 
 # $j>eftatu?n [ornatae ~] veniunt, fpeftentur ut ipfa. 
 E been
 
 ;E 56 ] 
 
 been frequently obliged to retire,bp- 
 fore the expiration of thefe two hours, 
 on account of the feverity of the cold ; 
 but no woman was ever known to 
 complain of it. 
 
 The courfe begins in the great 
 fquare before the Imperial palace; 
 they take feveral turns there, and 
 after travelling the principal ftreets 
 of the city, they return thither to 
 finiih. it. The ground of fnow, on 
 which this moving picture winds, re- 
 lieves its fplendor extremely, and makes 
 the fight the richeft and molt dazzling 
 fijat can ; be conceived. 
 ; f j But the fight that gives a foreigner 
 the rnoft pleafure at Vienna, is that 
 which he fees in the anti- chamber 
 of prince Kaunitz, once a week, after 
 dinner: it is a concourfe of all ,th 
 
 indigent
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 indigent who are in need of protec- 
 tion, and who come thither afTured of 
 finding, it : the ear of this prince is 
 never flint to the complaints of the 
 poor, and his hand is always ready to 
 
 give them ailiitance, 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 VIENNA. 
 ~\7 O U fhould not leave Vienna 
 
 without feeing Metaftafio : he 
 is a lively old man and an agreeable 
 companion, He is the greateft poet 
 that Italy has produced lince TafTo : 
 I would have faid the greateft that 
 flie has ever had, were he not a 
 living author; on which account he 
 
 not be praifed too much. Read
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
 his CanzonetteS) in particular that 
 which begins Grazie agr mganni 
 tuoi*, and fay, what Italian poet has 
 written with fo much purity, fo much 
 elegance, and fo much grace? He 
 ; ernbellimes whatever he touches, and 
 appears to me abfolutely the firft that 
 has eftablifhed true principles of good 
 tafte in Italy. In thofe little com- 
 pofitions there is a native beauty and 
 frefhnefs in the colouring, a fimplicity 
 and delicacy in the thoughts and fenti- 
 ments, that makes them enchanting. 
 
 Metailafio is not wanting in any 
 one of the requifites that conftitute 
 a great poet. Born with fenfibility, 
 
 [* 'The Indifferent. See three good tranflations 
 of this Ode, in the fecond volume of Dodfley's 
 Colle&ion, by Richard Roderick, efq r the Rev. 
 Mr. Seward, and an unknown hand. A fourth, 
 with ftill more fpirit and clofenefs, by Ifaac pa- 
 catus Shard, efq. is in the fixth volume of Nichols's 
 Collection.] 
 
 with
 
 [ 59 1 
 
 a profound and penetrating un- 
 clerftanding, and with a lively and 
 fertile imagination, he porTeffed all 
 that he could derive from nature: at 
 twelve years of age he went into the 
 family of the celebrated Gravina : 
 that learned critic, who faw the tlnfel, 
 the glittering extravagances ', and the 
 barren abundance of the Italian wri- 
 ters, {hewed Metaftafio that the true 
 fource of a fure tafte was the Greek 
 authors. The young pupil adopted 
 this idea, examined the principles 
 of thofe poets, and on their princi- 
 ples he has written all his life. Italy 
 is little calculated at prefent to in- 
 fpire fublime fentiments ; it gives a 
 perfect knowledge of the tender paf- 
 fions : in Italy he patted his youth ; 
 there he learned to write his Demetrio, 
 
 his
 
 E so 3 
 
 and his'Dsmofoonte. Ajt 
 the age of twenty-five he went into 
 Germany ; his refidencq at Vienna, 
 aad the reading of Corneille, elevated 
 fri& mind; he wrote his Regulo and 
 his Clemenza di Tito. No author has 
 better underftood Horace; few poets 
 have fo well executed his ideas : - 
 Scribcndi re tie fapere ejl et prii^plum et fans : 
 Sound judgment is the ground of writing well: 
 
 K.of common. 
 
 He fludied philofophy; and he did 
 >K)t begin to -treat of a iiibjedl till he 
 l^acl; thoroughly examined it. 
 
 , Onwe fupcrvacuum plena de'peclore manat, 
 All fup^rfltiities are fooft forgot, 
 
 Rofcommon. 
 Zl '<''./ / 1'3 Jt I 
 
 -ii obfcrvation, of which he felt 
 
 the Avifdom ;- and he has written with 
 
 i 
 
 as much- rapidity as precifion. 
 
 Me
 
 He felt the value cf Eoileau as- 
 well as of Horace; and he has never 
 fwerved from thdfe great principles : 
 
 Tout doit tendre au bon-fens ; 
 
 'Rien n'eft beau quc le vrai, le vral'fcitl eft almable* 
 
 Let fenfe be ever in your view; 
 - Nothing is beautiful that is not true; 
 The true alone is lovely. 
 
 The perfons who have compofed mufic 
 for his verfes, and thofe who ilrig and 
 repeat them, are befl able to judge of 
 the harmony of his poetry: in thefe 
 two claries there is but one opinion 
 from Petersburg to Naples. 
 
 No Italian has fo well developed 
 the emotions of the foul, nor fuc- 
 ceeded equally in moving arid intereft- 
 ing his reader. Metaftafio rofe to the 
 fublime ; but he was born tender # 
 and one may fay, without wronging 
 
 any
 
 6* ] 
 
 any nation, that few of their poets 
 have fo well painted the tender paf* 
 lions, or made fuch lively irapreflions 
 on the heart. 
 
 When one examines his works 
 well, and compares them with the 
 Gothic productions of Dante, with the 
 abfurdities of Arioflo, with the extra- 
 vagances of Marini, and with the 
 puerilities of Taflb, one is aftonifhed 
 at the decifion of the Italians: they 
 prefer Taflb to Metaftaiio, and Ariofto 
 to Taflb; but there is no difputing 
 with the Italians upon poetry; they 
 deny all the principles admitted in 
 every other country. 
 
 I am far from fpeaking here againft 
 the talents of the Italians ; they have 
 perhaps more than any other nation 
 in Europe; hut thefe talents are un- 
 cultivated,
 
 t 6 3 3 
 
 cultivated, and of many reafons the 
 moft eflential is, that there are no 
 Muecenafes. 
 
 I hope you do not imagine that 
 I deny that Dante had an altoniihing 
 genius, and that he has fome pafTages. 
 of the high eft fublime; that the ge- 
 nius of Ariofto was eafy and fertile; 
 that no one tells a ftory ^better ; that 
 he has fome defcriptions exquifltely 
 beautiful; and that his Orlando Furlofo 
 is a poem full of gaiety and variety. 
 Marini had a vail imagination; but 
 he is madder than Ariofto. 
 
 I am only the friend of truth ; and 
 if I do not deny the merit of thefe 
 poets, much leis (hall I deny that of 
 TafTo. Nature perhaps was lefs gene- 
 rous to him than to them; but his 
 poems would be placed above theirs 
 
 at
 
 I 6 4 3 
 
 at Paris, at London, and at Athens^ 
 That uiejerufalem Delivered has many 
 defeats, that it has falfe thoughts, 
 ibme playing upon words, and much 
 tinfel, is certain; bat it is alfo cer~ 
 tain that it has much gold. The fub- 
 jec~l is mott happy; the conduct of 
 the poem in general is fage ; its march, 
 liiajeftic; its language, noble and well 
 lupported, and Its verfification always 
 beautiful: it. has the pathetic, and it 
 has the fublime. The Aininta is a 
 mailer-piece of elegance and fimpli- 
 city, and is much more perfect than 
 the Gerufalemme Liberate*. 
 
 Metaftafio feems to me to have 
 more natural talents than Tailb, all 
 his beauties, and many more, and 
 none of his faults. He fatisfies the 
 underilanding, he delights the ear, 
 
 he
 
 t 6 s 3 
 
 he enchants the imagination, he cap- 
 tivates the heart; and for thefe rea- 
 fons he will always be the poet of 
 men of fenfc, the poet of women, 
 and the poet of all perfons who have 
 tafte. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 THE HAou E, June i o, 1777* 
 ^ |^HE face of the country in. Hoi- 
 land is fingular, and very (hiking 
 for '.three clays: after that time, one 
 fees nothing but the fame fiat repe- 
 tition of fields always level, interfered 
 by canals which are all alike; and on 
 thofe canals barks all made on the 
 fame model. Every traveller ihould pafs 
 through Holland, as the ideas which 
 it gives are found no where elfe, and 
 F he
 
 66 
 
 he will foon colled: them. Through^- 
 out Holland the four elements are 
 had ; the cardinal virtue of the country 
 is cleanlinefs; the deities adored, Mer- 
 cury and Plutus; but as for Apolkr 
 and the Nine Sifters, one never hears 
 them named. 
 
 Their fchool of painting defer ves 
 to be viewed, in order to have an idea 
 of the height to which ffie mechanifm 
 of the art may be carried. Their mulh 
 is much more perfedt than that of the 
 Italians; biit as they only fervilely 
 copy an ungrateful nature, one of 
 fceir- pu3:ures never makes us wifh 
 to fee it again. Their abfolute want 
 of tafte makes them deipiie all that 
 belongs to the Italian " fdiooJ ; the 
 antique is with them a term of ridi- 
 cule; and if- an artift were to work 
 
 there
 
 t 67 ] 
 
 there, on thefe ideas, he would die of 
 hunger. In a cabinet at Amfterdam 
 I i-ecclleaed what Lewis XIV. faid of 
 a picture of a Dutch feaft, full of all 
 thofe difgufting ideas which accom- 
 pany a drunken debauch, < fake away 
 * tbojc baboons: This expreflion is 
 worthy of the age of Boileau, Moliere, 
 and Racine, in which the imitations 
 of beautiful and noble nature alone 
 could pleafe. This picture was by 
 one of the firft mafters, and perfectly 
 well painted; but if the nature that 
 is chofen be difgufting, the more 
 perfea the imitation is, the more 
 offenfive is the picture; and thofe 
 who can admire fuch productions 
 have a mean and depraved tafte. 
 
 The tafte of the age of Lewis XIV. 
 
 no longer exifts in France : The Dutch 
 
 F 2 piclures
 
 C 68 ] 
 
 pictures are thole which are moft In 
 faihion, and they fell at Paris at in- 
 credible prices. It is fhameful for the 
 French, who are actually delicate, 
 
 and who have fuch collections as 
 
 
 
 thofe of Verfailles, the Luxembourg, 
 and the Palais Ropa/, .to buffer them- 
 felves to be led awa^-'by a mode the 
 moft difgraceful for/ them that they 
 have ever' adopted;: brifi 
 
 Rubens; to whom nature by mif* 
 take gave birth in their neighbour-* 
 1S6dd, is not .reliflied' by the Dutch ; 
 and 1 the proof of it is, no young 
 painter imitates, him.: If they value 
 his- pictures, it is- becaufe they .fell 
 well; : and if fcme of . his pictures 
 ftill remain. among them, it is bccauie 
 travellers will not give 'fix -times more 
 for them than they are worth. 
 
 There
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 There is one object only in this 
 country with which you will be much 
 pleafed; that i% Sir Jofeph Yorke: 
 the King of England is well repre- 
 fented in all the courts that I have 
 teen; but certainly he has no reprc- 
 fentative that does him more honour 
 than this ambaffador. His merit alone 
 forces from me this , elogium ;' for he 
 fhewed only common civilities to a 
 man without a title, modeft to an ex- 
 treme, and who has little other merit 
 than that of being highly, feniible of 
 the merit of others. 
 
 All great men have many perfons 
 who are envious of them ; Sir Jofepjh 
 Yorke ought to have more than' any 
 one elte; but his is the &n/y chara/fter 
 in Europe againft wliich I have 'not 
 heard a'. dangle word. Dignity antl 
 F 3 good-
 
 [ 72 3 
 
 1 -,. 
 
 many courts as cardinals; every car- 
 dinal is a kind of prince, and may 
 become a fovereign; this reafoii alone 
 may convince you that this country 
 muft have more hypocritical charac- 
 ters than any other. 
 
 Of all the fovereigns whom I have 
 feen, the pope reprefents majefty 
 the bed; the cardinals are like Mar- 
 tial's epigrams; there are fome good, 
 fome bad, and many indifferent. 
 Almoft all of them derive honour 
 from their rank ; the cardinal de Ber- 
 nis is an exception, he does honour 
 to the purple by his virtues and his 
 talents. 
 
 The women are referred in public, 
 and in private extravagant to a de- 
 gree; the prelate's, effeminate; the 
 
 nobility,
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 nobility*, illiterate; and the people, 
 wicked. 
 
 The ftudies generally purfued are, 
 the laws, antiquities, and divinity, 
 becaufe thefe are the three principal 
 roads that here lead to fortune. A 
 poet is confidered as a t dangerous, 
 or at beft as an ufelefs being ; and 
 for this reafon a poetical talent is 
 rather opprefTed than encouraged. 
 Metaftaiio could not there fine bread. 
 
 You will often have occafion to 
 admire the genius of Gorneille for 
 the truth with which he has drawn 
 the Roman women. The affurance 
 of their eye, the firmnefs of their 
 ftep, every feature of their face, and 
 every movement of their body, de- 
 
 * Ths Duke of Ceri, the Marquis of Mao 
 carani, and two or three more, are exceptions, 
 j- Ftznwn babel in cornu, aiunt. 
 
 clare
 
 C : 7* ] 
 
 I V 1 ' 
 
 many courts as cardinals; every car- 
 dinal is a kind of prince, and may 
 become a fovereign; this reafoii alone 
 may convince you that this country 
 
 muft have more hypocritical charac- 
 
 , 
 ters than any other; 
 
 Of all the fovereigris whom I have 
 fees, the pope reprefents majefty 
 the belt; the cardinals are like Mar- 
 tial's epigrams; there are fbme good, 
 fome bad, and many indifferent. 
 Almoft all of them derive honour 
 from their rank ; the cardinal de Ber- 
 nis is an exception, he does honour 
 to the purple by his virtues and his 
 talents. 
 
 The women are refer ved in public, 
 and in private extravagant to a de- 
 gree; the prelate's, effeminate; the 
 
 nobility,
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 nobility-, illiterate; and the people, 
 wicked. 
 
 The ftudies generally purfued are, 
 the laws, antiquities, and divinity, 
 becaufe thefe are the three principal 
 roads that here lead to fortune. A 
 poet is confidered as a f dangerous, 
 or at beft as an irfelefs being ; and 
 for this reafon a poetical talent is 
 rather opprefTed than encouraged. 
 Metaftalio could not there fine bread. 
 
 You will often have occafion to 
 admire the genius of Gorneille for 
 the truth with which he has drawn 
 the Roman women. The affurance 
 of their eye, the firmnefs of their 
 ftep, every feature of their face, and 
 every movement of their body, de- 
 
 * The Duke of Ceri, the Marquis of Mac- 
 carani, and two or three more, are exceptions. 
 -J" Fqsnum habei in cornu, ahmt. 
 
 clare
 
 dare,, the. boldnefs.. of -their fouls. 
 
 < .'t r 'i" > * 
 
 They have a very noble, air, which 
 
 ^S .heightened by trailing robes., which 
 they -ftjl wear, down- ta the women 
 
 'pf the third degree. 
 
 The nation has fomething like 
 pride, . which does ; not difpleafe me; 
 
 .jg is that fort of h-aughtpefs you 
 fee, in a man of an ancient, family 
 faljen to decay. But .it has a defire 
 of difguifmg itfclf, which .pleales no 
 
 . one. -The firft proverb of the coun- 
 try is, * Ife who knows, not bow to 
 dljfembk^ knows not how to live\ and 
 they .all know how to live. They 
 love obfcurity in every thing; and 
 though this idea rjaay feem to you 
 trifling, it is not fo : Rome is the 
 worll lighted city in Europe; the 
 * Chi noii fa finger c, nonfa vivere. 
 
 fervants
 
 C 75 } 
 
 fervants do not carry flambeaux ; and 
 the firft princes of the country, ,ia 
 other refpects extremely luxurious, 
 only carry a fmall dark lanthorn 
 behind their, coaches. 
 
 The Roman has naturally depth 
 of underftanding and nrength of cha- 
 racter ; he is eaiily moved; and when 
 he is moved, he is violent to an exr 
 cefs. If the drefs of the country 
 were military, as you walk the ftreets 
 you would think yourielf in ancient 
 Rome ; the faces that you meet fo 
 much referable the characters that 
 hiftory has tranfmitted to us. This 
 idea has often ilruck me among the 
 men, and it is ftill more {hiking in 
 the women. You will often fay, 
 4 There is a woman who might well 
 * be the mother of a Gracchus, and 
 I * there
 
 t 76 3 
 
 4 there is Another who might produce 
 *<a Sylla'.'-Th^ 'number of Meflalinas 
 is fmall, ' that of Liicretias lefs, and 
 I5ir : * Semprohias you will find them 
 rather at Naples than at Rome. 
 -The following is a mark of national 
 drftimStion between a Roman and a 
 Neapolitan woman: a woman of Na- 
 ples is lefs modeft than one of Rome, 
 and more bafhful ; Neapolitan women 
 have ; been often feen to bluih, but it 
 rs not poflible to put a Roman woman 
 'ciut of 'countenance. 
 
 This is a flight Iketch of the pre- 
 feiit {late of that 
 
 ' Ronic, dotit le deftln dans la paix, dans la guerre, 
 d'etre en tons ks temps mailtejfe de la terre; 
 
 .Koiije, ev ; er dooKi'djby fate in^peace, in war, 
 
 T'j be the miflrefs of the world; 
 
 
 
 -v t '.. - v ' petunt viras. quam. pctunivr, , 
 
 And
 
 [ 77 ) 
 
 And .where, at preient 
 
 Des pretres fortunes foulent d-un pkd tranquilfe 
 Les tombeaux des Catons et la c emir e d'Emile: 
 
 Priefls, happy .pricfts, with tranquil footfteps 
 
 tread 
 - On toyubs and afties of tlie mTglky dead. 
 
 But' in my fketch I may eafily be 
 
 
 
 miftaken ; f r of. ^ the ' countries 
 
 that I have feen,' this is the moft 
 
 ' 
 
 difficult to kno\V. 
 ...... . 
 
 L K T T E R XIL , 
 
 point of view from [whence 
 is feen the moft perfe^, union 
 of the fublime and beautiful in : nature^ 
 is from the top of Vefuvius. The 
 point of view from whence is feen 
 the mod perfect union of the fub- 
 4 lime
 
 t 7* J 
 
 
 
 lime and beautiful in art, is in the 
 court of the Apollo of Belvedere. From 
 the former one fees the mouth of the 
 volcano, fields defolated by rivers of 
 lava now frozen, a country of vine- 
 yards of confiderable extent diverfi- 
 fied by the mofl beautiful mixture of 
 plains and hills, the city of Naples, 
 the hill of Pofilipo, a number of 
 iilands fcattered in a vaft fea, &c. 
 See. &c. 
 
 In the court one fees the Apollo, 
 the Laocobh, tne Ahtihous, and the 
 celebrated Torfo of Hercules *, which 
 is called < the Torfo of Michael An- 
 gelo,' on account of the admiration 
 which he had for this precious frag- 
 
 [* A mutilated antique ftatuc, of which there 
 are now left only the body and thigh?. 
 
 */>//;/.] 
 
 merit.
 
 ment. Here we fee what the Greek 
 nation -was. Let me not be told of 
 prejudice for the -ancients ; I have 
 none; I only do juftice to the merit 
 of things, and it is very indifferent' 
 to me where they are found, or who 
 are their authors. To he juft, one 
 muft fometimes appear extravagant: 
 when ah objea is tranfcenderttly 
 beautiful or greatj teitable ' enco*- 
 miums ought to be giVeri to it. -'TfttJ 
 pen of man cannot do juftice to the 
 poetry of Shakfpeare^ &-&& genius 
 of the King of Pruffia^ or to-tBg 
 werfcs -of tbfe Greeks-. ManVj Pnm^ 
 ^vill conderhri me for 'this lad ex- 
 pfeffion; Lrefufe them all ds judges; 
 they will condemn rne frnly becauie 
 they do not know my fubjects. 
 
 1-
 
 [So ] 
 
 It is there, I fay, in the Belvedere* 
 that; one fees the fuperiority of the 
 Greeks to all the nations of the world. 
 The diibance that is between the : 
 Apollo, the Laocoon, and all the Left 
 works of ; the French and the Italians^ 
 is.fo great, that it is almoft ridicu- 
 lous to- name them together. 
 
 Let the yoymg traveller, .when.110 
 views the Apollo^ recoiled that what 
 he fees has-been a, rude block of 
 W^oi5T&e <#* ftsph, for . the artift 
 ^s to create the chara6ter of this 
 god. Before, therefore j the marble 
 was touched,; the fculptor had made 
 an effort of genius, and .that . effort 
 of genius was fo great, that all the 
 men who have fucceeded him to this 
 moment, have- never been able, to 
 make one like it,' This elogium, you 
 
 fay,
 
 fay, is too ftrong; it is not an elo- 
 gium ; it is a fact that I mention : 
 if the fact be not true, name me a 
 Itatue equal in invention. Is it the 
 * Sufanna of Fiammingo, the Juflice 
 of Gulielmo clella Porta, the Santa 
 Bibiena of Bernini f, or is it the MofesJ 
 of Michael Angelo? I do not believethat 
 any man of fenfe will ever compare 
 them. The Mofes is not inferior to any 
 Italian or French ftatue; but if one 
 had not feen the Torfo, from which 
 it is evident that Michael Angelo took 
 the original idea of his ftatue, one 
 
 [* This ftatue by Du Chjefnoy, fnrnamed il 
 Fiammingo, or the Fleming, is in the church of 
 S. Maria di Loretto.] 
 
 [f The matter-piece of that fcnlptor, on the 
 high altar of the church of St. Bibiena at Rome. 
 Ke\fler.~\ 
 
 [J In the monument of Julius II. a ftatue 
 more than twice as big as the life. Wright.] 
 
 G would
 
 C 82 ] 
 
 would never be aftonifhed at the in- 
 vention of that production. The in- 
 vention of the Apollo aftonifhes- all 
 men, and aftonifhes them in propor- 
 tion to the time and attention witk 
 which they examine it. 
 
 The Apollo of Bernini, notwith- 
 ftanding its faults, is a fine flatue; 
 it appears indifferent only becaufe we 
 compare it (often imperceptibly) with 
 the Apollo of Belvedere. Neither is 
 the Apollo of Bouchardon by any 
 means an indifferent production ; but 
 compare the original French ftatue 
 with the copy of the Greek ftatue in 
 the gardens of Verfailles, the difference 
 is incredible; it is the difference that 
 there is between a man <and a god. 
 We cannot tell what a heathen deity 
 was ; but we always feel, on viewing 
 
 this
 
 I 83 ] 
 
 this fiatue, that it is the image of 
 fomething more than human. 
 
 When genius is unaccompanied by 
 tafte, it is often furprifed at milling 
 its effect ; the character created, it 
 remained for tafte to chufe a moment 
 to mew this divinity ; that moment 
 ought to be animating and intereft- 
 ing ; it ought to be favourable to grace, 
 majefty, and expreilion; and it ought 
 to be fo chofen, that the difpoiition 
 of the whole, and the diftribution 
 of each part of the fiatue, fhould 
 feem to flow from it with fimplicity 
 ' and eafe. The artift then has chofeii 
 the inftant in which this god gives 
 the fublimeft proof of his divinity by 
 an adtion of benevolence, in deftroy- 
 ing an enemy of mankind: it is the 
 inftant after he has fhot his arrow 
 G 2 at
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 yjt 
 
 at the ferpent Python the arrow dif- 
 charged, he follows it with his eyes 
 to obferve its effec"l; the exprefTion 
 of each part of the body correfponds 
 to that of the face ; and from an idea 
 fo fimple, this Grecian has been able 
 to form a work which has obtained 
 the applaufes of all men, and has 
 made every artift defpair. 
 
 When a perfect execution is added 
 to genius and tafte, man, I think, 
 cannot go farther. The finiih of this 
 Apollo is inconceivable, even to the 
 moft minute particulars, but the artift 
 might almoft have been excufed the .. 
 trouble of fo perfectly completing his 
 work ; his conception is fo fublime, 
 and his diftribution fo happy, that 
 they alone would have commanded 
 the admiration of all men of all 
 countries f
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 countries; and a 'proof of this is 
 the homage every where paid to the 
 cafts of this breathing god. 
 
 The be ft way to give you an idea 
 of the fuperiority of the Greek exe- 
 cution, is tc cite you a fa6t. The 
 Liocoon was found with only one 
 arm; they wifhed to have another; 
 feveral urtifts attempted it, and all 
 failed: Micb.ae 1 A.tigelo, the boldeft 
 genius that Italy has had, who con- 
 ceived the idea of placing the Pan- 
 theon in the air, rxnd who made the 
 dome of St. Peter's on the fame di- 
 mentions *, thought that he could 
 
 [* That celebrated artift, upon hearing fome 
 perfons extol the Kolonda as a work of antiquity 
 never to be paralleled, faid, that he would not 
 only build a dome equally large, but build it 
 In the air; and he made his affenion good. 
 
 G 3 fucceed
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
 fucceed in it ; and after having worked 
 at it/for two years, abaihed and de- 
 fpairing, he broke his work to pieces* 
 Guglielmo della Porta, whofe fuperb 
 maufoleum in St. Peter's fhews that 
 he was an artift of the firft rank, 
 faid, that ' it was impoflible to make 
 * it in marble, but that he would 
 6 make it in clay;' and he made the 
 right arm in clay, as we fee it at pre- 
 fentj 4h inconteftable proof of the 
 unattainable perfection of the Greek 
 execution. 
 
 I allow it tb be a bad proof of 
 our being in the right, that a cele-^ 
 brated man is of oiir opinion; but 
 ^ think that every reafonable being 
 fhould well examine before he deter- 
 mines againft a judgment ib folid as 
 that of Pouffin^ and a genius fo bright 
 
 as
 
 I 87 ] 
 
 as that of Montefquieu : the . former 
 ftudied inceiTantly the beil Vorks 
 ancient and modern, on which this 
 was his decifion : * Raphael compared 
 
 * with the moderns is an an gel \ com- 
 
 * pared with the ancients he is an qfs.' 
 Compare the mod beautiful figure of 
 Raphael, detached, with the Apollo, 
 and his fineft group with the Laocoon, 
 and judge for yourfelf, 
 
 France has no man who does her 
 more honour in foreign countries, or 
 who will do her more with pofterity, 
 than Montefquieu: it* is well known, 
 that he made fome flay in Italy, and 
 that he did not view objects like a 
 fuperficial obferver: this was his idea 
 with regard to the Greeks ; " 'fafte and 
 " the arts have been carried by them 
 " to fuch a height, that to think to 
 G 4 " furpafs
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 *furpafs them will bt always not to 
 " k&ow them" 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Between ROME and NAPLES. 
 
 HUMAN life!' exclaimed I 
 
 with Gil Bias, < how doft thou 
 c abound with misfortunes!' Yes, he 
 is loft, 1 mall never fee him more, 
 and my lofs will not afflict him lefs 
 than his afflicts me. At the moment 
 of fetting out, one has a thoufand 
 things to do ; and for fear that my dog 
 fhould be ftolen, an hour before my 
 departure I put him into a clofet, 
 and there I forgot him. 
 
 There is no country which gives 
 rife to fo many ideas as Rome, and 
 at leaving it I thought of all its beau. 
 
 I ties
 
 [ 89 ] 
 
 ties ancierlt and modern; I thought of 
 the poets, I thought of my *book; 
 I often looked at the city ; and I con- 
 iidered whether the t expreffion of 
 Jugurtha was as true at prefent as 
 when he ufed it: When my fpirits 
 were fatigued, I was going to divert 
 myfelf with the converfation of my 
 faithful companion Ah ! Heavens ! 
 I have forgot him ! I bitterly re- 
 proached myfelf for my giddinefs and 
 my ingratitude; I difcovered a hun- 
 dred methods which would have pre- 
 vented my lofing him; I thought of 
 the wifdom of that expreffion of La 
 Fontaine, ' Too much of nothing'? I 
 lofl him by too much care. 
 
 * Not this, another ; [Conjigllo ad un giovane 
 Poeta.'] 
 
 -\- Urbem vena km cito per it ur am, ft modo e?np- 
 tor cm invcncrit. 
 
 During
 
 [ 9 3 
 
 During the remainder of my jour- 
 ney I thought no more of Rome ; 
 I forgot even my book, I forgot glory, 
 I forgot immortality, and I thought 
 only of my dog, All his good qua^ 
 lities returned to my mind; he was 
 gentle, fprightly, loving; his careffes 
 were fmcere, and he beftowed them. 
 only on me : he had in my eyes a 
 ilill farther merit, that of refembling 
 me, he was ugly: this circumflance 
 gave me fome hope; ' No,' faid I, 
 
 * there are few capable of diiunguim^ 
 
 * ing true merit ; my dog will be 
 
 * found to have ugly ears, and he 
 
 * will be reftored to me.' 
 
 This idea gave me fome confola-. 
 tion; and I wrote to my hoft at Rome 
 {o fend him to rne, 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 NAPLES, February 3, 1779. 
 Y T is not furprifing that Virgil 
 mould make fuch fine verfes at 
 Naples: the air there is fo foft and 
 fo pure, the fun fo brilliant and fa 
 warm, and the face of nature fo rich 
 and fo diverfified, that the imagina- 
 tion feels a vivacity and vigour which 
 it fcarce ever perceives in other coinu 
 tries. 
 
 I am not a poet, but I am very 
 fond of verfes, and I have never read 
 them with more pleafure than here. 
 Every time that I go to my window, 
 J feel myfelf electrified, my fpirits 
 revive, my imagination warms, 'and 
 my foul becomes fufceptible of the 
 fofteft andfublimeitimprellions. This 
 
 will
 
 [ 9* 3 
 
 will not furprife you when I have 
 only mentioned the objects which 
 here prefent themfelves to my view. 
 On the right is the hill of Pofilipo, 
 whole form is moft agreeable; it is 
 femi-circular, and adorned to the fum- 
 mir with trees and pleafure-houfes ; 
 from its point, which lofes itfelf in 
 the fea, this mountain increafes in- 
 fenfibly till it arrives behind the cen- 
 tre of Naples, and on its fummit is 
 ieen a vaft tower, which over-looks 
 the city, and crowns the fcene. On 
 the left appears a chain of very high 
 mountains which furround the other 
 fide of the gulph, and whole rugged 
 bokhiefs forms a moft happy contraft 
 with the elegant and cultivated beau- 
 ties of Pofilipo : Shakfpeare and Cor- 
 ncille would always have looked on 
 
 the
 
 C 93 3 
 
 the fide of Vefuvius ; Racine and Pope 
 on the lide of Pofilipo. 
 
 The Volcano is the moft interefting 
 of thofe mountains by its form which 
 is a very beautiful cone, by its height, 
 and above all by its vicinity to the city : 
 it fmokes mceffantly, and feems always 
 to threaten Naples with the fate of 
 Sodom, to confume it with fire and 
 brimftone. At its foot is Portici, and 
 all along the coaft are towns # hang- 
 ing from the mountains which form 
 the portion of a circle of ninety miles. 
 
 The fea is under my window; and 
 belides the ideas which it preients 
 itfelf, as the moft interesting object 
 in nature next to the fun, by its 
 grandeur, beauty, and the variety of 
 
 * Sorrento, one of thofe towns, is the country 
 of Taflb. 
 
 its
 
 [ 94 1 
 
 its appearances, it here mews all the 
 riches of commerce by large mips 
 which are pafiing every moment. 
 I often rife before day to enjoy the 
 breath of the morning, and the fuperb 
 defcription which the illuftrious Rouf- 
 feau gives of the riling of the fun. 
 In no horizon does he appear with 
 fo much fplendor, no where elfe does 
 lie fo well deferve the epithet of 
 golden*. He rifes behind Vefuvius 
 to illuminate the pleafant hill of Pofi- 
 lipo, and the bofom of the moft beau- 
 tiful gulph in the univerfe, fmooth 
 as a mirrour, and filled with vefTels 
 
 * Idtirco cert is dimenfum partibus orbeni 
 Per duodena r.egit .mundi Jol aureus ajlra, 
 
 The golden fun, through twelve bright figns 
 
 the year 
 
 Rules, and the earth in feveral climes divides. 
 
 all
 
 [ 95 ] 
 
 all in motion. The object which ter- 
 minates the perfpective is the ifland of 
 Caprea, famous for the retreat of 
 Tiberius and the rocks of the Sirens : 
 on viewing it, one remembers that 
 near thole rocks the prudent Ulyfles 
 iiopped his ears; and that, not far 
 from hence, the lefs wife Hannibal 
 gave himfelf up to the pleafures of 
 harmony, and to the carefTes of the 
 feducing Camilla. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 NAPLES, 
 
 \ FRENCHMAN is the moft 
 
 amiable^ of all men at home: 
 
 why is he the' leaft liked in foreign 
 
 .countries? It is becaufe other nations 
 
 are
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 are jealous of the fuperiority of the 
 French, and becaufe the French tra- 
 veller behaves ill in the company of 
 foreigners. Almoft all the French 
 who travel are young; they ridicule 
 all cuftoms but their. own, and pro- 
 claim the vices and follies of a coun- 
 try in the midft of its affemblies. I 
 was this evening at the Academia de 
 Cavalierly where all the nobility of 
 the country meet twice a week. Enters 
 for the firft time a young French 
 marquis, whom 1 had known at Rome. 
 Before he had been there two minutes 
 he faid to me, ' Did you ever fee fuch 
 
 * animals? What a ftupid look that 
 4 man has ! My God ! how awkward 
 
 * that woman is ! Did you ever fee a 
 < head fo horridly dreil ?' He faid ail 
 this aloud; and even thofe who did 
 
 not
 
 t 97 ] 
 
 not underltand him, faW by his'Hiiati* 
 ner that he defpifed them. The man 
 Who is going to execution will allow * 
 that he is a villain, that he deferves 
 the rack ; but he will never allow that 
 he deferves contempt. The young 
 Frenchman takes the furefi method 
 that the wit of man can devife to 
 make himfelf hated: this has always 
 given me pain, becaufe I know that 
 Under this fuperficial fault he con- 
 ceals a thoufand good qualities; he 
 is frivolous, light-, and felf-fufficienr, 
 if you pleafe ; and that is the fevereft 
 reproach his enemies can make him; 
 but he is generous, he is frank, and 
 he is always ready to draw his fword 
 
 * Several French officers dining at Genoa with 
 a nobleman of that city, one of them laid to 
 him, " It is odd enough, Sir, that you are the 
 " only (hanger her??." 
 
 H in
 
 Cr 98. > 
 
 in defence qf Jii# honour, of his mif-> 
 tj-efs, and of ..his, friend. I fhall be 
 thought a Frenchman, and I am , no 
 Frenchman; I am an Englifhman, 
 and .proud of, being one; and at this. 
 moment I fupport the . character of. 
 my nation, and m.y own, by fpeak- 
 ipg the language of truth .and fincc- 
 rAty^Jn.jieprefenting the French fuclx 
 as I have found them. 
 
 * 4 * , - ' 
 
 ^. In the, am, Italy is fuperior lx? 
 France and England: in the fciqnc.e.. 
 of V war 4 the Germans hav^ the ath'Trii- 
 tj^e of the- Englifh and French; but, 
 on the whole,, thefe two nations are 
 
 t : - . >* 4 i 
 
 the firft in Europe, and all other 
 nations allow their fupei;iority. One 
 circumilance which pleafed me in 
 France, is, that the French always 
 told me, that, next to their own, the 
 a Englifii
 
 C 99 ] 
 
 Engliih nation was the moll refpeo 
 table: nothing but extravagant felf- 
 love can appofe this decifion : when 
 the fuffrages were collected at Athens, 
 Ariftides had the fecond vote of all 
 men ; every one gave his firft fuffrage 
 for himfelf. You, who are a rational 
 being, fet afide your nation : for a mo- 
 ment, and fee how you would judge 
 if the queftion turned upon yourfelf: 
 if a man fhould fay to you, * I pre- 
 ' fer myfelf to you, but I prefer you 
 6 to all other men ;' if you were not 
 fatisfied with this opinion, you would 
 betray an immoderate felf-love, and 
 a total ignorance of the human heart. 
 On my road hither, while the horfes 
 were changing, I alighted to walk a 
 few minutes : a Frenchman is not 
 afraid of fpeaking to his fellow crea- 
 H 2 ture>
 
 [ .100 ] 
 
 ture, and he foon finds a fubject of 
 conversation ; an officer of dragoons of 
 that nation, who was going to Rome, 
 and Was at the poft-houfe, came up 
 to me, * You are an Englifhman, Sir?' 
 " At your fervice." -* Yours is a very 
 
 * refpectable nation : I parTed three 
 
 < years in England: you have depth 
 c and folidity ; you are well bred, brave, 
 
 < magnificent' ' And theFrench, Sir?" 
 ' They think too much to make 
 
 * themfelves agreeable; they are too 
 1 fond, of levity, trifling, and amufe- 
 
 * ment: when a Frenchman travels, 
 ' and lofes his conceit and his foppifh 
 ' airs, and when an Englifhman ac- 
 
 * quires a little foftneis and agreeable- 
 
 * nefs in his behaviour, they become 
 1 the firft men in the world.' 
 
 I fend
 
 C 10* ] 
 
 I fend you what this gentleman 
 faid to me, becaufe I think like 
 
 him. 
 
 & # % # 
 
 P. S. The Abbe Galiani has the 
 mofl wit of any man in Naples, and 
 alfo the mofl learning; Duke Clement 
 Filomarino is the poet who has the moll 
 talents and tafle; his brother fludies 
 philofophy, and has a very improved 
 mind; both of them are extremely 
 amiable, and very well bred; their 
 family feems to me the mofl refpeo 
 table in the country. The Duke della 
 Torre, their father, has the fineft 
 gallery of paintings here. 
 
 H 3 LET-
 
 L-E T T E R XVI. 
 
 \ 
 
 NAPLES. 
 
 Neapolitans are really good 
 people; but, in truth, they' are 
 very barbarous : they have adopted by 
 inftincl: the principles of the citizen of 
 Geneva, and they cultivate neither 
 the arts nor fciences, for fear of cor- 
 rupting their morals. But if this 
 nation is barbarous, do not think that 
 'it is harfh or fevere, for, on the con- 
 trary, it is very good-natured, and 
 delirous of contributing to the plea- 
 fure of foreigners : they are naturally 
 good, but they are abfolutely in the 
 ftate in which nature produced them ; 
 and they perpetrate all crimes*, and 
 
 * I mifhke; a rape was never heard of at 
 
 Naples, 
 
 are
 
 are guilty -of -all forts of rudenefs, 
 wit front thinking they have done ill! 
 having no education, they have no 
 .principle of any kind. -A man of 
 the firft quality will tread on your 
 toes, and not make you the leaft 
 apology : be acquainted with him, 
 the next day, he cannot do enough 
 to oblige you; he will carry you to 
 a concert, he will offer you his box 
 at the theatre, he will do all he 
 knows, but he knows little. It is the 
 fame with the women ; they have 
 all an inclination to be amiable; it is 
 a pity they don't know how. 
 
 The race of Sirens * is not yet ex- 
 tinct here ; there are many young 
 
 women 
 
 
 * Thefe Sirens fometimes change into Har- 
 pies ; but thefe metamorphofes feldom happen 
 except ia ihe magic land of the opera 
 
 H 4 Virginci
 
 I .104' ] 
 
 women who fing divinely: of Circes 
 there are fcarce any ; but we fee in 
 f the afTemblies feveral of the com- 
 panions of Ulyffes. The ealinefs of 
 the women and the Scirocco enervate 
 the bodies of the men, and muiic 
 enervates their fouls, fo as to render 
 ufelefs all the bounties which nature 
 has lavifhed on this charming coun- 
 try. In no other place will be found 
 more natural talents, or more cir- 
 curnftances favourable to the arts ; 
 but the caufes above-mentioned, added 
 to the indolence infpired by the cli- 
 mate, and the abfolute want of Mae- 
 
 cenafes, 
 
 Virginei vulttts, fczdiffima ventris 
 Proluvies, wtcaque manus. 
 
 With virgin faces, but with wombs obfcene, 
 Foul paunches, and with ordure ftill unclean, 
 With claws for hands, and Jocks fcr ever lean. 
 
 Dry den.
 
 C 105 ] 
 
 cenafes,- render Naples as favage as 
 Ruflia; and a kind of proof of it is, 
 that all the Ruffians who come hither 
 are ftruek with the retemblance be- 
 tween the Neapolitans and their coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 When a Neapolitan woman has 
 no child, me is a very miferable 
 being; for, having no refource in 
 herfelf, fhe dies of ennui: when me 
 has none, you may be fure it is not 
 her fault, for the only idea which 
 they have in their heads is that of 
 love; and the only fubje&s on which 
 they can talk are their children, their 
 nurfes, their lovers, or their hair- 
 drefTers. I have often regretted that 
 thefe women have no knowledge, for 
 whatever they know they tell with afto- 
 nifhing freedom and limplicity. I was 
 
 fitting
 
 ] 
 
 fitting- by one of them at their grand 
 <airembly; 'I- had ice'ii her only once 
 'Before, but I had not fpoken to her; 
 -a -Soprano -"had juft finiihed an air, 
 -and I laid to the lady, That man 
 * has fung well.' " It is not a man," 
 ilikl me, "It is a Mujzco: he has fung 
 <; very well, and lie is the lover of 
 ** that dutchefs whom you fee yoif- 
 ? der. w ^^-Is'it poffible?' " It is 
 '" true; flr>e- has had a number of 
 .. lovfcrs, Cavalier i, Cocchien, Abbdti-, 
 c< at prefent flie will have none but 
 > c Oh !' replied I, < that is 
 !'" " Yes," anfwered flic, 
 ** : fhe fe too inconftant-;" 1 ^ troppo vo/u- 
 'bile was her phrafe. 
 
 I afked another, whom I had known 
 ibme time, how many lovers flie had, 
 
 *' Gentlemen, Coachmen, Abbes. 
 
 four
 
 C "7 3 
 
 four or five? She allured me, with a 
 moft feriqus air, that fhe had not had 
 one for three weeks. Do not be fur- 
 prifed at my queftion to this lady, 
 it was in order to make-' my court 
 to her : A Neapolitan lady - is vain 
 of the number of her adorers ; and I 
 have feen- fome come into company 
 with a train of five. In general, 
 there are not more than two of them 
 that are the well- beloved;- the -Others 
 are only kept as flaves for parade. 
 
 - : & : * * % 
 
 P. S. I think, that when I marry, 
 I mall chufe an ugly wife, that, if I 
 mould lofe her, I may be fure to re- 
 cover her. My dog has been fent 
 me : what rejoicings on both fides ! 
 
 qui compkxus, , gaudia quanta fuere ! 
 
 LETTER
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 NAPLES. 
 
 *TT*HE king of Spain faid that 
 * '* ' every prince of the houfe of 
 
 * Bourbon muft be paffionately fond 
 
 * of women or of hunting :* his Sici- 
 lian majefty is very fond of hunting;' 
 he fcarce paries a day in the midft of 
 fummer, or in the fharpeft colds of 
 winter, without partaking of it. 
 During my refidence at Naples, he 
 retired for two months to Caferta, on 
 purpofe to hunt, which gave concern 
 to all the Englifii, as that deprived 
 us of the fociety and houfe of Sir 
 William Hamilton, who went alfo to 
 Caferta, for the king never goes a 
 hunting without him; and he is fo 
 
 fond
 
 fond of the company of that minifter, 
 that it was with difficulty he obtained 
 leave from his majefty to come for 
 one day only to Naples to give a 
 dinner to his countrymen: I dined 
 there the forty- fixth Englifhman. 
 
 If I fay nothing to you concern^ 
 ing Vefuvius, it is becaufe Sir 
 William Hamilton has left nothing 
 to be defired on that fubject. His 
 letters, more fatis factory than thofe 
 of Pliny, will inftruct you in a fhort 
 time, and with pleafure : they are 
 written with clearnefs and precifion, 
 and with that noble fimplicity which 
 diftinguifhes their author in all the 
 fituations of life. 
 
 During the flay at Caferta, the 
 queen loft her eldeft fon; he was a 
 prince of five years of age, a charming 
 
 boy.
 
 C no ] 
 
 boy. Her majefly was in the eighth 
 month of her pregnancy; twenty- four? 
 hows before his death,' fhe had been 
 allured that he was ; out. of danger; 
 you may- judge how fevere a ftroke 
 this mu ft be, to a tender mother; 
 and flie was very near linking under 
 it. Thefe circumltances alone were 
 fufficiently trying ; but there was one 
 dreadful moment which all but killed 
 her. The young prince had feemecl 
 better for a day, but all on a Hidden 
 he was feized with a convullion fit: 
 one of his women, a German, as fhe 
 was running to call affiftance, hit her 
 head againft a door half open, gave 
 herfelf a large wound in her fore- 
 head, and fell backward in a fwoon : 
 the convulfions increafed, and a fecond 
 woman, a German alfo, ran to haflen 
 
 the
 
 [ I I.I ] 
 
 the phyfician ; on her way fhe found 
 the 'firft woman in-a fwoon and covered 
 with blood; (he thought her dead, 
 and the fright made her alfo fall into, 
 a fwoon : the wind was very high, 
 and, hy what accident is not known, 
 the roof of the prince's houfe took 
 fire; the queen arrived at that in- 
 riant, found thefe two women in this" 
 fituation, her fon in agonies, and 'the' 
 palace in flames. Half an hour after 
 
 the prince died *, 
 
 L E T- 
 
 * Every flep of my travels has given me freflv 
 occafion to admire the truth with which Shak- 
 fpeare has painted all the objects in nature, and 
 all the. fituations of human" life. The queen 
 afflicted herfelf for feveral days; and a lady of 
 the court told me that fhe often exclaimed, " Ah! 
 " if my fon had not been pretty, my lofs would 
 " have been lefs levere ; but it was the moft 
 " charming child!" Thefe are almoft word for 
 word the fame expreffions which Shakfpeare has 
 made a queen in King John utter in the fame 
 fituation: 
 
 " Con-
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 r I ^HERE is not a river in Europe 
 * lefs beautiful than the Tiber, 
 nor a character in hiftory more dread- 
 ful than that of Auguftus. There is 
 however no river whofe fight is more 
 interefting ; and few names infpire 
 more admiration than that of this 
 emperor. For this let both of them 
 
 " Conftance. Had he been ugly, 
 Lame/fooliih, crooked, fwart, prodigious, 
 Patch'd with foul moles, and eye-offending marks, 
 I would not care, I then would be content: 
 But fmce the birth of Cain, the firft male-child, 
 To him that did but yefterday fufpire, 
 There was not fuch a gracious creature born.** 
 And a little after, 
 
 " Therefore n^ver, never 
 I behold my pretty Arthur more.' 
 
 4 thank
 
 thank Horace and Virgil; it is owing 
 to the choice of their language, and to 
 the harmony of their verfes, that the 
 Tiber is not feen with difguft, and 
 that the name of Auguftus does not 
 infpire us with horror and fadnefs. 
 How fenfible has the Great Frederick 
 been of this truth! and with how 
 much addrefs has he attached thofe 
 French and Italian writers who will 
 be read with the greater! pleafure as 
 long as thefe two languages exift! 
 In a thoufand years the cries of 
 widows, and the complaints of or- 
 phans, will be no longer heard; all 
 the horrors which his wars have oo 
 cafloned will be forgotten; and no- 
 thing will remain of him but the 
 rapid and irreiillible conqueror, the 
 jull and beneucant king, the patron 
 
 i of
 
 [ "4 1 
 
 of learning and arts, the great poet, 
 the profound philofopher, the able 
 politician, and the amiable compa- 
 nion, who was the delight of the 
 choiceft Ibciety of his age. 
 
 The king of ' Prufiia' has never 
 thought but of futurity, and he has 
 infured the admiration of pofterity 
 by his poetry, by his profe, and by 
 his adions. But how has he taken 
 care to fortify his triple immortality 
 by the graces of a Voltaire, and the 
 elegance of an Algarotti! You may 
 fee by what he makes Glory fay to a 
 "fage who had gained her temple, that 
 this divinity has always been the 
 ible objct of- his wormip: 
 
 La Deeffe, approuvant l r effort de fan courage, 
 . Lid dit, " Soyez bcureux, joiujfiz. du part age 
 " Ds ces efprils act if s, aiitcurt t rois y et gnerriers ; 
 11 Lc rspss cjl pcrmisi mats c'efifats des lauriers" 
 4 The
 
 The goddefs, with his courage pleas'd, 
 " Be happy," cried, " the lot enjoy 
 " Of thofe brave fpirits, authors, 
 
 kings; 
 " Repofe you may, but in a laurel fhade." 
 
 His ode on glory fhews both the 
 fire of his imagination, and the ruling 
 paffion of his foul ; 
 
 Take the firfi lines ; 
 
 Un Dieu s'empare de mon ahie^ 
 Je fens un celejle ardeur\ 
 
 Gloire ! ta divine flamme 
 M' embrafe jufcfau fond de la 
 
 A Deity my foul invades, 
 A warmth/divine I feel; 
 
 O Glory ! thy celeftial flame 
 My heart's receffes burns. 
 
 And the laft ftanza ; 
 
 Gloire ! a qui jc facrlfie ' 
 Mes plaifirs et mss fafjions, 
 
 Gloire! en qiii je me confie^ 
 Daigne eclairer ?nes aft'ions :
 
 t 116 ] 
 
 m 
 
 "Tu peiiT, malgre la mort eruelle, 
 Sauver une foible etincelle 
 
 De I'efprit qui refide en moi. 
 >ue la main m'ouvrc la barriers ; 
 Et pret a courir ta carrier?, 
 
 Je vettx vivre et mourir pour tot. 
 
 Glory ! to whom I facrifice 
 
 My pleafures and my paflions too, 
 Glory! in whom I truft, O deign 
 
 To fet my deeds in perfect day : % 
 Thou of the fpirit, that refides 
 Within this clay, one feeble fpark, 
 
 In fpite of cruel death, canft fave. 
 O let thy hand the gate unbar, 
 And, ready thy career to run, 
 
 I'll live and die for thee. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 &OME. 
 
 \ T Rome, as well as in all the 
 
 ** -** other countries that I have feen, 
 
 the French houfes are the moft agree- 
 
 3 able.
 
 C "7 3 
 
 able. The Cardinal de Bernis has a 
 large arTembly once a week, and he 
 gives a dinner every day. Th<> BailirF 
 de laBrillanne, ambaflador from Malta, 
 alfo frequently gives dinners ; he is 
 very affable, and has an excellent 
 cook. His brother had fent him a 
 iervice of china, which was made on 
 purpofc for him, with his arms; an 
 Englifh frigate took the French fhip 
 in which was the china, and the 
 lofs was the more grievous as he was 
 the ambafFtidor of a neutral power. 
 Three clays after his receiving this 
 news, I had the honour to dine with 
 him, and he loaded me with civilities : 
 I mention this as a ilroke that charao 
 terifes his nation, 
 
 Of all the great arTemblies here, 
 
 that of Monfeigneur de Bayanne, au- 
 
 I 3 ditor
 
 C "8 ] 
 
 ditor of the rota of France, has the 
 moft amufements ; a table of Bocetti in 
 one room ; in another literature, po- 
 litics, news, are the fubjects of dif- 
 courfe; and in a third, you Will find 
 one of the beft concerts in Italy, a 
 fuperb orcheftra, and the firfk ringers 
 of both fexes in Rome. You will 
 find at his dinners French fare, French 
 gaiety, French politenefs. The mafter 
 of the houfe is truly amiable ; I only 
 fincl one fault in him, and that is not 
 generally the fault of a Frenchman; 
 he is more fond of hearing than of 
 talking. One fees that this is owing 
 to his extreme politenefs, but one 
 don't fuffer the lefs, as he never- 
 opens his mouth but to fay fome- 
 thing agreeable or profound. A 
 Frenchman talks better than other 
 
 men;
 
 [ H9 ] 
 
 men; I have not known one of his 
 countrymen exprefs themfelves with 
 more purity, more clearnefs, or more 
 elegance: his tafte in letters is lure: 
 I have feen few perfons in my travels 
 fo interefling as he is. 
 
 Colonel de Bayanne, his brother, 
 is polite, agreeable, good-natured: he 
 ,loves the arts, and amufes himfelf 
 with painting very pretty pictures. 
 
 Does it appear to you to be of 
 little importance that I point out to 
 you what is molt interefting in a 
 country, and that I fave you the 
 trouble and the time of difcovering 
 it yourfelf ? Be fare then not to leave 
 Rome without being introduced to 
 the Marchionefs de Bocca-Paduli : her 
 afTembly is the moft agreeable and 
 the beft chofen in Rome: among 
 I 4 other
 
 t no 
 
 other perfons of merit yoil will there 
 meet the Count de Verri, a Milanefe* 
 gentleman, who is full of politcnefs, 
 tafle, and talents : The lady of the 
 Koine will pleafe you extremely, foi 
 me is witty, well-made, and amiable 
 as a Frenchwoman. 
 
 I have pleafure in f peaking of per- 
 fons whom I can praife with truth: 
 Here then follows an Englifh lady, 
 who has done great execution here 
 and at Naples: me has vivacity and 
 uncommon judgment; has read much, 
 and afTumes nothing : -I have fcarcc 
 feen a young lady fo well educated, 
 or fo defirous of inftruction. She 
 f peaks Italian well, French perfectly; 
 ihe is pailionately fond of paintings 
 
 * I muft tell you here, in regard to the MU 
 lanefe, that the Lombard heart is proverbially 
 good in Italy. 
 
 and
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
 and antiquities, and flic draws very 
 prettily ; but her moil diftinguifhed 
 accomplimment is mufic : Millico, 
 who has the moil tafte of any linger 
 in Italy, has heen her m after ; and 
 fhe has profited by his instructions 
 fo much, that I have feen her feve- 
 ral times enchant the moft critical 
 judges of Rome and Naples. 
 
 I met a young Frenchman at Turin, 
 who had heard her fing at Rome, 
 and who was a paflionate admirer of 
 the Italian mufic; I ailted him how 
 he liked her? This was his anfwer: 
 
 J* intends encore fa ro/.v, ce langage * endhanteur, 
 
 fit ces Jons foitvernins de foreille et du cxur* 
 
 Jrler voice, ih' enchanting language, ftill I hear, 
 1'hofc r ovc .cign accents of the heart and car. 
 
 * It is certain that the Italian is a divine language for 
 pot' try and muiir; it is better to ling than to 1'peak: the 
 French la*n s uage is much more rapid and prcciic. 
 
 Add
 
 [ 12* 3 
 
 Add to thefe talents, a charming 
 fhape, a moft elegant and graceful 
 manner, a complexion of a dazzling 
 white, animated by Ihe molt beauti- 
 ful carnation in the world, two eyes 
 full of fo/tnefs and fpirit, and feven- 
 teen years of age, and you have the 
 portrait of Lady Louifa Nugent, 
 Perhaps yoir may be tempted to 
 fufpect that this is a fancy -piece ra- 
 ther than a copy from nature. J 
 fuTure you it is as true a portrait 
 as ever was pakitei ky ^Titian or 
 Vandyck; and the proof of i is that 
 this young lady captivated three na- 
 tions ; the Italians were enchanted 
 with her, < aveva tanto brio, et tante 
 4 imcn.2 maniere*? the French, < -elle 
 
 * c She had fo m.ich vivacity and politencfs/ 
 
 c etoit
 
 L 3 3 
 
 * etoitji jolie et ft- aimable} ;' and the 
 Englifh, * Jhe was fo mode/I and fo 
 i/enfible? 
 
 i 
 
 T 
 
 JL E T T E R XX. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 Frequented the men of letters here, 
 as I do every where, particularly 
 the poets. It is incredible, that with 
 fuch parts as the Italians have, they 
 Ihould b*e fo rauch behind other na- 
 tions in, their poetical knowledge : 
 they have an obftinate blindnefs in 
 favour of their poets, of which I do 
 not think they will ever be cured. 
 The Bolge of Dante, and the extrava- 
 gances of Ariofto, are the objects of 
 
 * ( She was fo pretty and fo amiable/ 
 
 their
 
 tfefr-Wfliatrv;; dftcfc iri Jpt of reafbn 
 arid tiorhmdri feriie, they prefer thofe 
 abfurdkies to v the fineft prodif&ioris 
 of all other nations. Dante, according 
 to them, is the firft of all men; and 
 Ariofto,- vfhor they o\vn to be in- 
 ferior to Dante, is infinitely above 
 Homer. After having read the Divina 
 Cdmedldy and trie Orlando Furiofo, I 
 began to giv8 my opinion of them 
 accbfdihg to the ideas eftabliihed in 
 nVy cduntry % in France, and in all 
 
 places 
 
 [* It is 'b}f no means fo decided a point as this 
 author ventures to affert, that Dante and Ariolto 
 .ire not-'ra-nkeci inrfon^ the firft of poets e'ven ' in 
 1 this country;' and if-' in fome well-kuown paf- 
 fag'cs 'tfie former has equalled any poet df any 
 age, his abilities mu(t be allowed equal to his belt 
 lines. Ariofto, however, adopts a different plaiij 
 ridicule, fatire, wit, and humour, with every ro- 
 mantic extravagance of an unconfined genius, an 
 imagination without controul, and almoft with- 
 out equal, fpread fuch a variety over his work, 
 
 that
 
 C 
 
 places where there are men of taftc. 
 I {poke the language of reafon, the 
 
 Italian 
 
 that no reader can be weary throiu: h the lefture 
 of XLVI Cantos, and while romance and whim 
 declare the poem often comic rather than heroic, 
 there are parts which no human power has ever 
 yet excelled, as muft be acknowledged by the 
 impartial judge, who will, in fpite of modern 
 fine-drawn criticifm, avow his real feelings through 
 the rife and progrefs of Orlando's madnefs, tor 
 which the whole fcems to have been written; 
 the reader is led on with the enamourefl 
 hero, by degrees feels all his weight of woes, 
 and fcarcely wonders at any extravagance they 
 produce. NO poet has more naturally, mor.e 
 pathetically, painted every flage and every e.fleft 
 of that incomprehenfible diflemper ravaging a 
 ilrong mind in a moft athletic body. In other 
 parts every other paffion may be found as wcji 
 difplayed-, and in the character of Bradamantc, 
 in particular, every virtue, every charm, that 
 can captivate a reader, for womanhood, in her 
 mod amiable appearance, is, with every refine- 
 ment of fentiment, preferved through the whole, 
 character j and each character (lands in the wark 
 as precifely diftinguimcd from all others as even 
 thofe of Homer. The faults which none dare 
 juftify, and Done can defire ro excufe, arc where 
 indecent and grofs ideas are let Ipofe on tlic 
 
 render,
 
 Italian poets were not ufed to it; 
 declared war againft me : I quitted 
 
 their 
 
 reader, but with fo much wit, humour, and vi- 
 vacity, that no one, it is fuppofed, ever could 
 flop and pafs over his exceptionable cantos, 
 though the whimfical author warns his reader, 
 and particularly announces to the fair, that they 
 fhould not and need not read fuch paflages. 
 And, after all, it has been fuggefted, particu- 
 larly by the late ingenious Mr. Hawkins Browne, 
 with great appearance of probability, that the 
 whole defign of the author was to ridicule ro- 
 mances, and that he is in heroic poetry what Cer- 
 vantes is in profe; and that even the Italians, 
 who almoft idolife their Furiofo, faw not that 
 admirable defign throughout the whole perfor- 
 mance, which alone can excufe the extravagant 
 flights and comic abfurdities every where intef- 
 fperfed, while the genius that gives thefe proofs 
 of a mod powerful imagination, proves likewife 
 th^at he had power to have elevated his poem to 
 any height he had chofen. Mr. Browne, who 
 was an excellent 'judge, becaufe he was fuperior 
 to all little prejudices and minute criticifms, held 
 Ariofto in the highell eftimatiorij and ranked 
 him with the firfl of Italian poets. For wherever 
 the pathetic, the animated, the terrible, the dc- 
 fcriptive, or the plaintive, -give opportunities for 
 the Mufe to expatiate, her powers are unqueftio- 
 
 nable.
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
 their fociety; and I thought I mould 
 do fervjce to poetry, by publifhing a 
 book in Italian *, in which I endea- 
 voured to fhew young poets the prin- 
 ciples on which they ought to com- 
 pofe : I told them that nature and 
 truth were the only bails of poetry; 
 that the Greek authors were the beft 
 models on which a young poet could 
 form himfelf;, that France alfo had 
 fome excellent authors ; that Racine 
 was as good a model as Sophocles; 
 
 nable. And no lefs warm was this candid judge 
 in his encomiums on Meraflafio, of \vhofe exten- 
 fivc genius, and chaftity of flyle and fentiment, 
 he had the higheft opinion ; and. for the ferti- 
 lity of his imagination, and the pointed ftrength 
 of his femiments, Mr. Browne, ftyled him the 
 Shakfpeare of Italy! It is alfo obfervable, that 
 his language is clearer to a foreigner, and eafijr 
 to be understood by a learner of Italian, than any 
 other poet of that country, which is an un- 
 doubted proof of the purity and perfection ot 
 his poetry.] 
 
 * Coijlglio ad un giovans Poeta* 
 
 that
 
 that Greece had not a fabulift equal 
 to La Fontaine, nor a cornic poet ib 
 perfect as Moliere; that Horace, Lon- 
 ginus, and Boileau, were the belt cri- 
 tics that ever exifled, and that no- 
 thing which was not conformable to 
 their principles was .good. I fought 
 only the progrefs of the art among 
 men ^who are full of genius, and 
 who have a divine poetical language, 
 Jbut who know not what to do either 
 with the one or the other. I allowed 
 that thefe three critics would have 
 'been charmed with the beauties of 
 Dante and Ariofto, taken from na- 
 ture, and founded on truth ; but that 
 they would have condemned the 
 whole of thofe two poems, as being 
 contrary to reafon, good fenfe, and 
 confequently to good tafte, and, as 
 
 models,
 
 C 129 3 
 
 models^ dangerous to an extreme for 
 young poets. 
 
 My book procured me fome votes 
 and many reproaches ; the poets took 
 the alarm ; they cried that the true 
 tafte of the Italian poetry would pcrim, 
 if attention were given to an Ultramon- 
 tain (a term fynonymous \vith them 
 to that of barbarian). 
 
 There were fo many perfons who 
 exclaimed, and they exclaimed fo 
 loudly, that I myfelf was beginning 
 almoft to believe that my book was 
 good for nothing ; when one morning 
 I found an extract of it in the Effeme- 
 ridi Letter arie of Rome, with fome 
 remarks which did it juftice ; this gave 
 me the more pleafure, as I was an 
 litter ftranger to it till that moment, 
 and as the article was there inferted 
 K by
 
 C 13 3 , 
 
 & 
 
 by the Count de Bianconi, minifter 
 from the court of Drefden, well 
 known for his taftq and talents : with 
 this fuffrage, I had ten or twelve 
 more; that was a great deal, if you 
 conflder that at Naples I had only 
 'four: at Rome there are 200,000 
 inhabitants; at Naples 400,000: in. 
 thofe two cities I found about fixteen 
 perfons who admitted nature and truth 
 to 'be the foundation of poetry, and 
 who acknowledged Horace, Longinus, 
 and Boileau, to be judges : of this 
 fmall numoer,* 'the* Abbe 4 Scarpelli, 
 whom you 'have heard mentioned as- 
 one of the beft poets of the Arcadia^ 
 was one*, this is a fonnet which he 
 fent me, and which 1 infert here> 
 left you ihould not have feen it at 
 the end of the., third edition of my 
 book, where it is placed. 
 
 ALL'
 
 ALL' ERUDITISSIMO Signer 
 SHERLOCK. 
 
 SONETTO. 
 
 Chi pon filenzio in Pindo al turbin roco 
 Di vuoti di ragion carmi fonanti? 
 
 Chi full' are del gufto avviva il foco 
 Dal cener freddo che premealo innanti? 
 
 Sei tu, faggio SHERLOCK, che prefe a gioco 
 Le magic' opre e i favolofi incanti, 
 
 Fai che a NATURA e a VERITA dian loco 
 L'altc follie de' Paladini errand: 
 
 Tu diflip? i Dantefchi orror fegreti, 
 Che ki Aufocia finor cultodivino 
 Ebber dai troppo creduli Poeti; 
 
 Onde il guardo volgendo al fuol Latino 
 Flacco e Boileau, fatti per te piu lieti ; 
 Ecco, gridano, Italia, il tuo Longino. 
 DelF Abbate Antonio Scarpetli, 
 
 Sotto-Cuftode d'Arcadia in Roma. 
 
 K a Imite
 
 Inlite librement. 
 
 Qui fait taire ces fons qu'un vain delire enfaritc? 
 Qui rallume du gout le flambeau paliffant? 
 C'efttoi, SHERLOCK; par toi la raifon trioraphante 
 Voit deja parmi nous fon cuke renaiflant. 
 
 Epris du Ferrarois, fon exeraple infidel e, 
 Egaroit notre efprit fur fa trace emportc; 
 Ton ouvrage a nos yeux offre un autre moJele 
 Celui de la NATURE et de la VERITE'. 
 
 Horace en tes ecrits reconnok fon genie, 
 Defpreaux applaudit a ton gout fur et fin ; 
 Tousdeuxontdit, "O bords de 1'antique Aufonie, 
 Bords heureux, vous aufli, vpus avez un Longin." 
 * 
 
 To the moil learned Signer 
 SHERLOCK. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 On Pindus* fummit who allays the ftorras, 
 The empty reafoning, of melodious bards ? 
 
 Who on the rock of tafte thus nobly warms 
 The frozen aflies, wont to claim rewards ?
 
 [ 133 ] 
 
 *Tis thon, fage SHERLOCK, who haft taught our 
 youth 
 
 Of magic and romance to fpurn the flights, 
 Triumphant long o'er NATURE and o'er TRUTH 
 
 In the mad follies of advent'rbus knights:- 
 Thou Dante's fccret horrors canft difperfe, 
 Crown'd in Aufonia by the fons of verfe, 
 
 Too weak and credulous, with wreaths divine: 
 Whence turning, to theLatian fhore, we fee 
 Horace, Boilean, made more renown'd by thee; 
 
 A new Longinus, Italy, is thine. 
 
 Tht Abbe Antonio carpclli, * 
 
 Under-keener of the Arcadia in Rome* 
 
 You have here a great deal of me 
 and my book: but allowance muft 
 \JQ made for the vanity of an author: 
 I always had felf-love enough, and 
 ilnce I am printed, I perceive I have 
 much more. 
 
 K 3 L E T-
 
 [ 1*4 ] 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 ROME, 
 
 Je nervous paffe rienjt vous n'etes Grand Homjne^ 
 Unlefs you're great, I will forgive you nothing; 
 
 f | '."* HAT is well faid, and it is a 
 * great man who fays it : But if 
 you $re a great man^ one ought to 
 blufh at being able to clifcover an ex- 
 pletive in Corneille, or a pun in Shak- 
 fpeare, when both are furroundcd by 
 a crowd of beauties: this is one of 
 the fubje6ts on which I have had oc- 
 cafion to be' dhTatisfied with the 
 French; they were always calumni- 
 ating' Shakfpeare, and I mould have 
 fufferec} much lefs if they had at- 
 tacked myfelf. Nature never pro- 
 duced a poet equal to him; Homer 
 Approaches the neareft to him, but 
 4 at
 
 [ 135 ] 
 
 at a great * diftance : you fmile ; but 
 a moment ago, fay you, I condemned 
 the Italians for the extravagance of 
 their prejudices in "favour of Dante; 
 
 <* 
 
 and now I am guilty of the fame 
 .crime, and from the fame caufe, an 
 .excefs of national felf-love. I did not 
 prefume to condemn Dante on my 
 own id^as : much lefs do I prefume 
 to exalt Shakfpeare on my own judge- 
 ment: I would not admit the Italians 
 as judges of Dante, nor the Englifh 
 as judges of Shakfpeare ; I fummon 
 them both to the tribunal of Longi- 
 nus, Horace, and Bqileau; and I would 
 have each of them hold the rank 
 which mall be granted him by the 
 united decifion of thofe critics. 
 
 * Proximus . . .fed longo proximus intcrvalh. 
 
 K 4 It
 
 I [ 136 r 
 
 It would be wronging me to 
 that I would exclude a natioft from 
 judging of its own poets. When men 
 
 , have their t aft e formed^on fure prin-r 
 ciples, thofe of the fame country are 
 irnqueftionably the bell judges of 
 their authors; but a Ruffian, well 
 acquainted with the poets and cri- 
 tics of Greece, Rome, and France, 
 would judge with more certainty of 
 the merit of Racine, than a Parifian, 
 
 H born with equal talents, bi|t who 
 had not cultivated them. 
 
 Thus it was that I reafoned with 
 the French in favour of Shakfpeare: 
 an Engliili youth goes to fchool at 
 eight years of age ; he ftays there 
 till flxteen ; he then pafTes five years 
 at the univerflty : during that time 
 he only ftudies the Greek, Latin^ and 
 
 French
 
 [ 137 ] 
 
 French authors, -and the felerieas^ 
 
 for fin Englishman does not itiake a 
 
 ftudy of his Y/wn language, the only 
 
 cfTential defect in his education. At 
 
 the age then of one-and-twenty, deeply 
 
 read in the ancient authors, and \vith 
 
 his tafte formed on the principles of 
 
 Horace, Longinus, and Boileau; he 
 
 begins to read Shakfpeare; theEnglim. 
 
 nation is reckoned to have judgment, 
 
 and this is their education ; in two 
 
 hundred years, there has not been a 
 
 fingle voice in this country again ft 
 
 this poet : I then quoted to them this 
 
 paflage of Longinus, in the words of 
 
 Boileau : " When in a great number 
 
 ^ of perfons of different profelTions 
 
 *< and ages every one has been affected 
 
 " in the fume manner, this uniform 
 
 " opinion and approbation of fo many 
 
 " minds,
 
 [ 138 ] 
 
 ** minds, in other refpedts fa difcor- 
 u dant, is a certain and undoubted * 
 " proof that there is there fomethidg 
 * of the marvellous and the great." 
 : All this did not convince them; 
 a Frenchman does not like reafon- 
 ing; he has always anfwered ni^foy a 
 bon mot. 
 
 The enlightened Italians will own, 
 allowing all the merit of Dante, that 
 his poem is the worft that there is 
 in any language: when we think of 
 tfoe age in which he lived, the poet 
 muft be deemed a prodigy ; when we 
 read his poem at prefent, it mufl be 
 confidered as a mafs of various kinds 
 of knowledge gothickly heaped toge- 
 ther, without order and without de* 
 flgn. Take away from the Divine 
 Comedy five or fix beautiful paflages, 
 
 and
 
 [ 139 ] 
 
 and four or five hundred fine verfes, 
 v what remains is only a tiffue of bar- 
 baVifms, abfurdities, and horrors. 
 
 And had not Shakfpeare faults? 
 He had many .and great ones : he 
 wrote ten volumes of plays, he wrote 
 for tlfe' flage, and he was obliged to 
 flatter the tafte of his age, which 
 was bad, -Therefore the merit of 
 Shakfpeare and that of Dante are 
 equal; they both had fublime beau- 
 ties and great faults: There is only 
 this difference, that the grand paffage* 
 of the Italian poet are reducible to 
 the narration of Count Ugolino, the 
 hiftory of Francefca di Rimini, the 
 defcription of the arfenal of Venice, 
 and two or three more ; and that 
 the grand paflages of Shakfpeare are 
 innumerable; that in Dante we fhall 
 
 find,
 
 find, in three pages, .four beautiful 
 lines ; and that in Shakfpeare we 
 fhall find, in four pages, fix line* 
 that are not beautifuK- 
 
 This -poet- gained by his talents 
 the patronage of fovereigns, and the 
 friendiliip of^ nobles; he was cele- 
 brated with"-' emulation by all the 
 poets his contemporaries and his fuc- 
 cefibrs ; an inconteflable proof that a 
 genius fo rare w r as even fuperior to 
 envy. 
 
 \.. " *r ir - ' ** 
 
 The beft pieces of Shakfpeare have 
 faults ; but each of his good ones 
 ieems to me to refemble the church 
 of St. Peter: this temple, the moft 
 wonderful in the world, has a thou- 
 *fand faults, a thoufand bad things in 
 fculpture, painting, &c. See. but I 
 pity the man who thinks of looking 
 
 for
 
 for them: when a fault prefents it- 
 del f, let him advance a flep farther, 
 9 fublime beauty expects him. 
 
 .Thefe ideas iiruck me this morn- 
 ing whilSI was walking in this church : 
 I went thither with a Pole, a French- 
 man, and an Englishman : the Eng- 
 liiliman looked for beauties; the 
 Frenchman for faults ; the Pole 
 looked for nothing. When we were 
 at the end of the church, *. Behold,' 
 lays the Frenchman, 4 that Charity 
 * of Bernini, how wretched it is ! the 
 4 air of her head is affected, her flefli 
 4 is without bone, and fhe makes 
 ' frightful faces.' " Thefe remarks 
 " appear to me juil enough," replies 
 the Englilhman, u but, look on the 
 " other fide of the altar, you will 
 " fee one of the iineit pieces of mo- 
 3 " dcrn
 
 C 
 
 " dern fculpture, the Jujtice of Gug- 
 " lielmo della Porta." i You are in 
 
 * the right,' fays* the Frenchman 
 (without looking at it)$ c but that 
 
 * child at the foot of the Charity dif- 
 4 guftS me more than its mother.' 
 While the Englifhman continued to 
 praife the JuJ1ice y and the French- 
 man to criticife the Charity, 'the Pole 
 looked at the door by which we 
 entered, and faid to me, that * the 
 
 * church was much longer than he 
 
 imagined.' 
 f^ " - 
 
 In pafling under the dome, the 
 
 boldnefs of Michael Angelo reminded 
 me of the imagination of Shakfpeare ; 
 and the fucceffive impreffions^made 
 on me by the Juiiice, the Charity, 
 the St. Michael of Guido, the St. 
 Jerom of Dominichino, and the Tranf* 
 
 figuration
 
 C '43 1 
 
 figuration of Raphael, were fimilaf 
 to thofe which I have often felt* iii 
 reading Othe#q> &c.. The French- 
 man's delicacy often degenerates intcV 
 fqueamifhnefs j he is too eafily of- 
 fended ; and he fuffers more pain 
 from one fault than he enjoys plea- 
 fure from ten beauties. I am the friend 
 of reafoh and exa<5tnefs as much as 
 Boileau was; but I can pardon fome 
 faults which are compenfated by nu- 
 merous and fublime beauties: 
 
 Je ne voufpafe rlcnfi vous n'vtes Grand Hmme^ 
 
 is the language of the King of Pruffia; 
 it is alfo that of Longinus; and, left 
 you fhould have forgotten the paflage, 
 take it as follows : 
 
 " It is almoft impoffible for a mid- 
 "dling genius to commit faults; for
 
 [ 144 ]? 
 
 "as he ventures nothing, and never 
 " rifes, he remains in fafety; inftead 
 u of which, the great man, of him- - 
 " felf, and by his own greatneis, 
 " Hips and is in danger. Though I 
 " have remarked many faults in 
 " Homer, and in all the moil cclc* 
 " brated authors, and though 1 am 
 ", perhaps the man in the world 
 " whom they pleafe the kail, I reckon 
 " that thefe are faults which they 
 " did not regard, and negligences 
 " which efcaped them, becaufe their 
 
 x- <, 
 
 " genius, which only ftudied the 
 *' great, could not dwell on little 
 " matters. In a word, I maintain 
 " that the fublime, though it does 
 " not fnpport itfelf equally through- 
 " out, prevails over all the reft. In 
 " Theocritus, there is nothing but 
 
 " what
 
 { 145 J 
 
 " what is happily imagined; but will 
 " you therefore fay that Theocritus 
 " is a greater poet than Homer, who 
 " wants order and contrivance in fe* 
 " veral paflages of his writings ; but 
 " who commits this fault only oil 
 " account of that divine fpirit which 
 " hurries him away, and which he 
 " cannot regulate as he would." Ah! 
 if Longinus had read Shakfpeare! 
 
 This principle is in like manner 
 fupported by Horace ; 
 Ubi plura nltent in carmine 
 
 As in Shakfpeare, 
 
 Non ego pauds ojfendar maculi's ; 
 
 In a work where many beauties fliine, 
 I will not cavil at a few miflakes: 
 
 And by the bye, 
 
 Ubi fane a nitent in carmine, 
 
 'IS
 
 I 146 ] 
 
 as in Dante, I will- not fufFer myfelf 
 to be dazzled by fome fhreds of 
 purple *. 
 
 We mould have little enjoyment 
 in the contemplation of the arts, or 
 of nature, if we always looked for 
 an exemption from faults. I do not 
 afk any indulgence for Carlo Maratti; 
 but woe to the man who carinot par- 
 don a defedl of contour in Rubens or 
 Corregio ! 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE ALPS. 
 
 T Faffed thefe mountains with a young 
 
 * Frenchman, who was paflipnately 
 
 fond of the Italian ttuific: when we 
 
 arrived at our inn, we went to. take 
 
 * Purpureus pannits. 
 
 a walk
 
 [ 147 ] 
 
 a walk on the fide of a fmall lake, 
 furrounded by a delightful wood: 
 
 * ParbleuJ faid he, ' Nature is very 
 ' ridiculous here.' " Ha!" replied I, 
 " this is fomething new : I have often 
 " heard of the caprices of nature, but 
 " you are the firft who have found 
 " her ridiculous." c Liften!' faid he; 
 (the wood refounded with the fong 
 of nightingales, and the lake was full 
 of frogs that were croaking) * have 
 
 * you ever heard fuch a concert?' 
 " Yes, I have heard fome Frenchmen 
 " and Italian women fing together." 
 He took the joke in good part, and 
 we laughed at the ridiculoufnefs of 
 nature, and of the opera-fingers at 
 Paris. 
 
 From the date of this letter you 
 
 expedl, no doubt, fomething fublime 
 
 La on
 
 3 
 
 oil the Alps, on Hannibal, or Livy: 
 Not a word ; it is another volume 
 of my letters, which I am going to 
 announce to you, on the northern 
 parts of Italy, which are much more 
 cultivated in every refpect than thofe 
 of the fouth, on the other German 
 courts, &c. &c. But left I mould 
 not fulfil this threat, let 'me tell you 
 at prefent, that of all the princes 
 whom I have feen, he that pleafes 
 me the moft. is Prince * Erneft of 
 .Mecklenburgh-Strelitz; and that Venk>e 
 feems to me the Athens of Italy. You 
 have a fine opportunity of determining 
 this laft idea in tbetfrifattie at Florence, 
 by comparing the Venus of Titian 
 with that of Medicis; examine them 
 both with Attention, and you will 
 [* Third brother to the Queen of England.] 
 4 allow
 
 C 149 ] 
 
 allow that no impartial perfon can 
 prefer the work of the Grecian artift 
 to that of the Venetian #. If you 
 wifh to have other proofs, I cite the 
 general turn of mind and manners 
 of the inhabitants ; and I add to the 
 name of Titian thofe of Palladio, 
 Maffei, and Algarotti. 
 
 As to Prince Erneft, I think him 
 every thing that can he defired in 
 a prince; and if you would have a 
 proof of that, go to Zell. 
 
 [* But, it may be afked, how can a ftatue be 
 well compared with a pifture, efpecially of a 
 mafter whofe drawing is generally thought de- 
 feftive, and whofe chief excellence is his colour- 
 ing ? and befides, the Venus of Titian, I appre- 
 hend, is cumbem.] 
 
 L 3 L E T-
 
 LETTER. XXIII. 
 
 FERNEY, ' 'April 26, 1776 *'. 
 
 * * 
 'HT^ H E Marquis d.' Argens, of An- 
 
 gouleme, gave me a letter to 
 M.^de Voltaire, with whom he is in- 
 timately acquainted. Every one re- 
 commended by M. d'Argens is fure to 
 be well received at Ferney : M. de 
 Voltaire treated me with great civi- 
 lity ; my firft vifit lafted two hours, 
 and he invited me to dinner the next 
 day. Each day, when I left him, I 
 went to an inn, where I wrote down 
 the moft remarkable things that he 
 had faid to me; here they are. 
 
 * The reader fees the reafon why I have not 
 placed my liters in chronological order; and if 
 he does not fee it, it is no matter. 
 
 He
 
 He met me in the hall; his nephew, 
 M. d'Hornois, counfellor in the par- 
 liament of Paris, held him by the 
 arm; he faid to me, with a very 
 weak voice, " You fee a very old 
 " man, who makes a great effort to 
 ^ have the honour of feeing you ; 
 " will you take a walk in my gar- 
 " den? It will pleafe you, for it is 
 " in the Englifh tafte; it was I who 
 " introduced that tafte into France, 
 " and it is become univerfal ; but the 
 " French parody your gardens, they 
 " put thirty acres in three." 
 
 From his gardens you fee the Alps, 
 the Lake, the city of Geneva, and 
 its environs, which are very pleafant. 
 He faid, " // is a beautiful profpetf :" 
 he pronounced thefe words tolerably 
 well. 
 
 L 4 S. How
 
 [ is* 1 
 
 S. How long is it fince you were 
 tri England? 
 
 '- V. fifty ' years at <teaft. 
 
 His Nepfjew. It 'was at the time 
 wheii y6u printed the rirft edition of 
 your Henriade. 
 
 We then talked of literature; and 
 from that moment he forgot his age 
 aiici infirmities, and fpoke with the 
 \varmth of a man of thirty. He faid 
 fome fhocking things againfl Mofes 
 and againft Shakfpeare. 
 
 V. Shakfpeare is deteftably tranf- 
 lated by 'M. de la Place. He has fub- 
 ftituted de la Place to Shakfpeare. I 
 have translated the three firft a6ls of 
 j'tilins -Cyefar with exaftnefs : a tranf- 
 lator (liould lofe his own genius, and 
 ^ffurne that of his author. If the 
 author be 4 buffoon, the tranilator 
 
 fliould
 
 [ 153 3 
 
 fhcmld be fo too: Shakfpeare always 
 had a buffoon; it was the tafte of 
 the age, which he took from the 
 Spaniards : the Spaniards had always 
 a buffoon; fometimes it was a god, 
 fometimes a devil ; fometimes he 
 prayed, at other times he fought. 
 We talked of Spain. 
 V. It is a country of which we 
 know no more than of the mofl fa- 
 vage parts of Africa, and it is not 
 worth the trouble of being known. 
 If a man would travel there, he muft 
 carry his bed, &c. When he comes 
 into a town, he muft go into one ftreet 
 to buy a bottle of wine, a piece of a 
 mule in another, he finds a table in 
 a third, and he fups. A French no- 
 bleman was palling through Pampe- 
 luna: he fcnt out for a fpit; there 
 
 was
 
 t *54 I'' 
 
 vas...Oflly--on$ in the t(>wn, and that 
 was borrowed fojr a. wedding. 
 
 'His Nephew. That is a village which 
 M.-de Voltaire has built! 
 
 V. Yes; we are free here; cut off 
 a little corner, -and we are out of 
 France. I afked fome privileges for 
 my children here, and the king has 
 granted me 'all that I afked, and has 
 declared the country of Gex free from 
 all .the taxes of the farmers-general; 
 fo that fait, which formerly fold for 
 ten fols a pound, now fells for four. 
 I have nothing, more to afk except 
 to live., 
 
 We went into the library. 
 
 /". Inhere are feveral of your coun- 
 trymen -(he had Shakfpeare, Milton, 
 Congreve,:Rochefter, Shaftefbury, Bo- 
 lingbroke, Rqbertfpn, Hume, See.) 
 
 Robertfon
 
 [ 155 ] 
 
 Robertfon is your Livy ; his Charles V. 
 is written with truth. Hume wrote 
 his hiftory to be applauded, Rapin to 
 inftru6t ; and botla obtained their ends. 
 
 S. You knew lord Chefterfield? 
 
 F. Yes, I knew him ; he had a great 
 deal of wit. 
 
 S. You know lord Hervey*? 
 
 V. I have the honour to correfpond 
 with him. 
 
 S. He has talents. 
 
 V. As much wit as Lord Chefter- 
 field, and more folidity. 
 
 S. Lord Bolingbroke and you agreed 
 that we have not one good tragedy. 
 
 V. True; Cato is incomparably well 
 
 written : Addifon had much tafte, but 
 
 the abyfs between tafte and genius is 
 
 immenfe. Shakfpeare had an amazing 
 
 * Now Earl of Briftol. 
 
 genius,
 
 C 156 ] 
 
 genius, btrt no tufte*, he has fpoiled the 
 tafte 'of the nation; he has been their 
 taite for two hundred years ; and what 
 is the tafte of a nation for two hundred 
 years, will be fo for two thoufand : this 
 tafte becomes a religion ; and there is 
 in your country a great many fanatics 
 in regard to Shakfpeare. 
 
 &. Were you perfonalfcy acquainted 
 with Lord Bolingbroke ? 
 
 T 7 ". Yes ; his face was impofing, and 
 fo was his voice; in his works there 
 are many leaves, and little fruit; dif- 
 tbrtied expreftions, and periods into- 
 lerably long. 
 
 * There," faid he, " you fee the 
 * Alcoran, which is well read at kalt :" 
 it was marked throughout with bits 
 of paper: " there are Hijlorlc Doubts 
 " by Horace Walpole" (which had alfo 
 
 feveral
 
 C 157 3 
 
 feveral marks) " hem is the portrait 
 " of Richard III #; you fee, he was a 
 handfome youth." 
 
 S. You have built a church ? 
 
 V. True; and it is the only on in 
 the unixerfe in honour of God f ; you 
 have churches built to St. Paul, to 
 St Genevieve, but not one to God. 
 
 This is what he faid to me the 
 firft day. You did not expect any 
 connection in this dialogue, becaufe I 
 only put down the moft finking things 
 that he faid. I have perhaps mangkd 
 fome of his phrafes; but, as well as 
 I can recollect, I have given his own 
 words. 
 
 * In the frontifpiece, [drawn "by Vertue and 
 engraved by Grignion. Mr. \\ alpole purchafed 
 this drawing at Vertue's fale. Whence it was 
 taken is not known, probably from fome painted 
 window.] 
 
 f- The infcription was, Deo erexit Voltaire. 
 
 LET-
 
 [ 158 ] 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 FERNEY. 
 
 r | 1 H E next day, as we fat down 
 to dinner, he faid, tt We are 
 " here for 'liberty and property*. This 
 " gentleman I is a Jefuit, he wears 
 a his hat : I am a poor invalid, I 
 
 " wear my night-cap." 
 I Jk, 
 
 I do not immediately recollect why 
 he quoted thefe verfes : 
 
 Here lies the mutton-eating king, 
 Whofe promife none relies on, 
 
 Who never faid a foolifli thing, 
 Nor ever did a wife one t. 
 
 * In Englifli. 
 
 t Father Adam. 
 
 [I Lord Rocheiler on King Charles II.] 
 
 Bur,
 
 [ 159 ] 
 
 But, fpeaking of Racine, he quoted 
 thefe two; 
 
 The weighty bullion of one^lerling line, 
 Drawn to French wire would through whole 
 pages (hine *. 
 
 S. Th Englilh prefer Gorneille to 
 Racine. 
 
 F. That is becaufe the Englifh are 
 not fufficiently acquainted with the 
 French tongue to feel the beauties of 
 Racine's ftyle, or the harmony of his 
 verification : Corneille ought to pleafe 
 them more, becaufe he is more ftriking; 
 but Racine pleafes the French, becaufe 
 he has more foftnefs and tendernefs. 
 
 S. How did you find the Englifh 
 fare t ? V. Very 
 
 [* Lord Rofcommon's Eflay on Tranflated 
 Verfe. Englifh Poets, voj. X. p. 215.] 
 
 [f- In the original it is, " Comment avez vous 
 " tiouve la cherc Angloife" [the EngHfh cbecr\. 
 
 Voltaire
 
 V. Very frefh and very white. 
 
 It fhould be remembered, tha? 
 when he made this pun upon wo- 
 men, he was in his eighty-third year. 
 
 S. Their language? 
 
 VI Energic, precife, and barbarous ; 
 they are the only nation that pro- 
 nounces their A, E. 
 
 He related an anecdote of Swift: 
 " Lady Carteret, wife of the Lord 
 " Lieutenant of Ireland in Swift's 
 " time, faid to him, The air of this 
 " country is good." Swift fell down 
 on his knees, ' For God's fake, madam, 
 
 * don't fay fo in England ; they will 
 
 * certainly tax it.' 
 
 He afterwards faid, that.." thougji 
 " he could not perfectly pronounce 
 
 Voltaire jocularly anfwers as if it were c chair, 
 4 flefh/ The tranflator has fndeavoured lo 'retain 
 rhe pun.]
 
 " Englifh, his ear was fenfible of the 
 " harmony of their language and of 
 " their verfification; that Pope and 
 " Dryden had the moft harmony in 
 " poetry, Addifon in profe." 
 
 T 7 ". How have you found the French ? 
 
 S. Amiable and witty: I only find 
 one fault with them; they imitate 
 the Englilh too much. 
 
 P. How! do you think us worthy 
 to be originals ourfelves? 
 
 S. Yes, Sir, 
 
 F. So do I too; but it is of your 
 government that we are jealous. 
 
 S. I have found the French more 
 free than I expected. 
 
 V. Yes, as to walking, or eating* 
 
 whatever he pleafes, or lolling ia his 
 
 pi bow- chair, a Frenchman is free 
 
 enough ; but as to taxes Ah ! Sir, 
 
 M you
 
 you are happy, you may do .any thing ; 
 we are born in flavery, arid we die in 
 ilavery ; we Cannot even die as we will, 
 we muft have a prieft. 
 
 Speaking of our government, he 
 faid, " the Englifh fell themfelves, 
 " which is a proof that they are 
 " worth fomething : we French do 
 " not fellourfelves; probably becaufe 
 " we are worth nothing." 
 
 S. What is your opinion of the 
 Elo'ife? 
 
 V. It will not be read twetfty years 
 hence. 
 
 S. Mademoifelle de 1'Enclos has 
 written good letters. 
 
 V* She never wrote one$ they were 
 by the wretched Crebillon. 
 
 " The Italians," he laid, " were a 
 " nation of brokers; that Italy was
 
 E 163 } 
 
 " an old wardrobe, in which there 
 " were many old cloaths of exquifite 
 tafte. We are ftill," faid he, " to 
 " know whether the fubje&s of the 
 " Pope or of the Grand Turk are the 
 " moft abject" 
 
 He talked of England and of Shak- 
 fpeare ; and explained to Madam Denis 
 part of a fcene in Henry V, where the 
 King makes love to Queen Catherine 
 in bad French, and of another in 
 which that Queen takes a lefTon in 
 Englifh from her waiting- wo man, and 
 where there are feveral very grofs 
 double-entendres, particularly on the 
 word c foot'J and then addrefling him- 
 felf to me, *< But fee,* faid he, " what 
 a it is to be an author; he will do any 
 " thing to get money." 
 
 F. When I fee an Englishman fub- 
 M 2 tie
 
 [ 1 6 4 3 
 
 tie and fond of law-fuits, I fay, c There 
 
 * is a Norman, who came in r with ;. 
 
 * William the Conqueror!' When I 
 fee a man good-natured and polite, 
 c that is one who came with the Plan- 
 
 * tagenets;' a brutal character, * that 
 c is a Dane;* for your nation, as well 
 as your language, is a medley of 
 many others. 
 
 After dinner, pafling through a 
 little parlour, where there was a 
 head of Locke, another of the Coun- 
 tefs of Coventry, and feveral more, he 
 took me by the arm, and flopped me 
 " Do you know this buft#; it is 
 " the greateft genius that ever ex- 
 ^ ifted : if all the geniufes of the 
 <c nniverfe were affembled, he mould 
 " lead the band.? 
 
 * It was the buft of Newton. 
 
 It
 
 C 165 ] 
 
 It was of Newton, and of his own 
 works, that he always fpoke with the 
 greateft warmth. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 F F you have not time to read a fliort 
 detail of trifling circumtlances re- 
 lating to Voltaire, pafs this letter. 
 
 His houfe is convenient, and well 
 furnifhed ; among other pictures is 
 the portrait of the Emprefs of Ruffia, 
 and that of the King of Pruflia, which 
 was fent him by that monarch, as was 
 alfo his own bnft in Berlin porcelain, 
 with the infcription IMMORTALIS. 
 
 His arms are on his door, and on 
 
 all his plates, which are of lilvef: at 
 
 the defert, the fpoons, forks, and 
 
 M 3 blades
 
 blades of the knives, were of filver 
 gilt : there were two courfes,'and five 
 fervants, three of whom were in livery : 
 no ftrange fervant is. allowed to enter. 
 
 He fpends his time in reading, wri- 
 ting, playing at chefs with Father 
 Adam, and in looking at the work- 
 rrien building in his village. 
 
 The foul of this extraordinary man 
 has 1 been the theatre of every ambi- 
 tion : he wiihed to be a imiverfal 
 writer; he wiihed to be rich; he 
 whlied to be n6ble ; and he has 
 'fttcteeded in all. 
 
 His Lift ambition was to found a 
 town ; and if we examine, we fhall 
 find that all his ideas tended to this 
 point. After the difgrace of M. de 
 Choifeul, When the French miniftry 
 had laid afrde the plan of building 
 
 a
 
 . a town at Verfoix, in order to eftablifh 
 a manufactory there, and to under- 
 mine the trade of the people of Ge- 
 neva, Voltaire determined to do at 
 Ferney what the French government 
 had intended to do at Verfoix. 
 
 He embraced the moment of the 
 diflentions in the republic of Geneva, 
 and by fair promifes he engaged the 
 exiles to take refuge with him, and 
 many of the malcontents followed 
 them thither. 
 
 He caufed the firft houfes to be 
 built, and gave them for a perpetual 
 quit-rent; he then lent money', by 
 way of annuities, to thofe who would 
 build themfelves; to fome on his own 
 life, to others on the joint lives of 
 himfelf and Madam Denis. 
 
 M 4 His
 
 C 168 ] 
 
 His fole object feemed to me to 
 have been the improvement of this 
 village : that was his motive for Hiking 
 an exemption from taxes; that was 
 the reaibn why he endeavoured every 
 day to inveigle workmen from Geneva 
 to eftabliih there a manufactory of 
 clock-making. I do not fay that he 
 did not think of money ; 'but I am 
 convinced that it was only a fecondary 
 object. 
 
 On the two days I faw him, he 
 wore white cloth ihoes, white woollen 
 ftockings, red breeches, with a night- 
 gown and waiftcoat of blue linen. 
 flowered and lined with yellow : he 
 had on a grizzle wig with three ties, 
 and over it a filk night-cap em- 
 broidered with gold and filver. 
 
 Twelve
 
 C 169 ] 
 
 Twelve years ago he had his tomb 
 built on the fide of his church fronting 
 hia houfe. In the church, which is 
 fmall, there is nothing extraordinary, 
 except over the altar, where there is a 
 iiagle figure in gilt wood, without a 
 crofs : it is faid to be himfelf ; for 
 it is pretended that he always had 
 an icjea of founding a religion. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 " ~\7 O U would publifh a book," 
 fays La Bruyere; how many- 
 critics will fall upon you ! You will 
 be called to account for your thoughts, 
 for your phrafes, for your words. 
 " This," you will be told, " is only 
 " proper for converfation ; that is ouly 
 
 "ufed
 
 u ufed in the florid ftyle ; this other is 
 " trite ; this laft is not received : write 
 " according to the faihion, or do not 
 " write at ail.* 
 
 Alas ! there am I already condemned ; 
 "I know nothing of the fafhion, and I 
 cannot keep from writing*. I can- 
 not give an account either of my 
 phrafes, or of my words -f; much lefs 
 of my folecifms and barbarifms : Par- 
 don therefore the ftyle, dear reader, 
 and recollect that in my preamble I 
 
 * 'fantus amor fcnbendi me rapit. 
 
 ~\~ I except one only ; if an expreffion in niy 
 firft page be criticifed, I anfwer that I have ufed 
 it in its literal fenfe, that I know no title fo glo- 
 rious for a man as that of good \ and if the ill- 
 nature and depravity of mankind have annexed 
 other ideas to that word, that is not a reafoa why 
 it ihould not be ufed in its primiiive iignification. 
 [The reafon why tli'e author h^s defended this 
 expreflion*is, that 0/2 homme in French has three 
 fignifications; it means a good man, a filly good* 
 naturtd man, and a cuckold. It is leldom ulcd 
 but in. the two latter ienfes-j
 
 promifed you nothing but fome ideafc 
 and truth. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 Quife pe'mt tout en beau dans ces lieux qu'il habile, 
 Meconnoit la nature, et reve en Sybarite. 
 
 He miftakes nature who paints all things bright, 
 And dreams like a luxurious Sybarite. 
 
 'THHE philofopher of Sans-fouci 
 * is in the right; and I think I 
 am not miftaken in faying that we 
 ought to look on the fair fide as 
 much as we can, becaufe it is for 
 our happinefs to do fo. I wifh that 
 this fyftem were univerfal, and in order 
 to eftablifh it, I would have every one 
 look for the bright rather than the 
 dark fide of an object; the oppofite 
 fyftem is that which prevails; a new 
 4 character
 
 3 
 
 character comes into companyj a new 
 book appears, nothing is fought for 
 in them but faults; and if one finds 
 none, one thinks it is a proof of 
 want of wit : I have always thought 
 the contrary; and I think it a more 
 certain proof of wit and tafle to dif- 
 cover a fingle beauty than tp point 
 out ten faults. In your travels there- 
 fore look -always for. the beautiful; 
 and when you meet a difagreeable 
 object, turn away your head: I allow 
 you but: one exception to this rule 5 
 when a beggar prefents himfelf, look 
 upon him ; for you can convert into 
 pleafure the pain which the fight 
 of him will give you, by lelieving 
 his diftrefs. 
 
 Adieu, my deareft friend; I have 
 travelled feveral years ; I have feen
 
 C 173 3 
 
 many men; and the moil valuable 
 leflbn that I have learned in my travels 
 is this: Different countries have dif- 
 ferent taftes, and different ways of 
 thinking on various fubjefts: in one 
 point they all agree, that the heft letter 
 of recommendation that a man can 
 carry, is a GOOD HEART; and that 
 the fureft method to make himfelf 
 loved and refpedted every where, 
 is to DO GOOD. 
 
 FINIS,
 
 s:u!ii7 : 

 
 175 ] 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, by the EDITOR. 
 
 The Author of thefe Letters may be 
 confidered as a kind of Literary 
 Phenomenon. Mr. Sherlock travels 
 through Italy, and publifhes a book 
 at Rome in Italian. He publiihes 
 another in French at Paris. And it 
 may not be unpleafing to the pur- 
 chafers of this work to fee accounts 
 of the Authors merits, given by the 
 Journalirts and Reviewers of France 
 and Italy. 
 
 I . Ex trait du journal de litter ature des fciences 
 fef des arts, annee 1780, N 10. 
 
 <fi Beaucoup d'efprit, beaucoup de gout, des 
 obfervations lines, des vues neuves, dc la chaleur 
 Sememe de la delicateffe: tel e(V le cara(ftere dc 
 
 ces
 
 E ? I 
 
 ces Lettres d'un Voyageur Anglois, quionf&meri- 
 tent le plus grand Juc ces. Un Anglois qui ecrit 
 & ecrit agreabloraent en FraD9ois, eft- deja im 
 phenomene capable d'excjtcr la curipfite. II eft 
 vrai, Monlieur, que notre Nation, n'eft point en 
 refte de ce cote la, & fi 1\1. Sherlock fe fert dc 
 notre Idiome pour nous faire part de fes obfer- 
 vations,, les Anglois fe fappelle-ront avec quel ! 
 fucces Voltaire a employe le leur, dans fon Ejfal 
 fur le poeme efiqtie & dans 1'Epkre dedieatoire 
 placee a. la tete de la Renriade. . 
 
 Son flyle eft aife & a de la grace . . fes por- 
 traits font Inirdis & brillants . . . Tauteur montre 
 par-tout de la fagacite, du goiu & une fenfibilite 
 rare. Toutes les fois qu'il parle des arts ou de 
 Shakefpear fon ftyle a de la chaleur & de 1'cner- 
 gie . . . II y a dans ces lettrcs des morceaux fail- 
 kns & des reflexions pkiloibphiques dignes d'un- 
 grand ecrivain . . 
 
 2. -Exfrait du journal de Paris. Lundl, 24 AwU,. 
 
 1780. 
 
 
 " Ces lettres font ecrites avec beaucoup d'a- 
 
 greraent & meme d' originalite. Elles renfer- 
 ment des obfervations fines & judicieufes fur les 
 arts, fur les mceurs, fur la Htterature. L'auteur 
 -s'etre fait uue loi de varier fes fuje.cs & 
 
 fon
 
 [ i?7 3 
 
 fon ftyle. Par-tout en reconnoit 1'homme d* 
 cfprir, 1'obferrateur, Sc 1'amateur eclaire . . . 
 M. Sherlock parle des arts & des talens avec 
 la chaleur d'un homme qui les juge par la raifon 
 & par le fentiment ... Les tableaux qu'il trace 
 du ciel & de la terre* de Naples repreferitent les 
 eouleurs vives & touchantes du incdele; & fcs 
 remarques fur les mceurs & fur 1'efprit des Italiens 
 font afiaifonnees de traits heureux & faillans . . . 
 II voit en philofophe, & peint en poete." 
 
 Pour le coup ! M. Sherlock ne fe contente 
 plus de loner, d^adorer Shakefpear. II le defend, 
 il attaqite fes ennemis ; il fond fur Meflieurs 
 de Voltaire et de la Harpc. La rcnoramee du 
 premier ne lui en impofe pas ; la feverits du fe- 
 cond ne peut 1'intimider. // juge avec rlgueitr^ 
 dit il, avec rigueur il fera jnge. 
 
 Ces Nouvellef Lettres feront a coup fur aflez 
 d*honneur a lenr auteur pour qu'il fe felicite de 
 les avoir publiees, et au leftenr afiez de plaifir 
 pour qu' apres les avoir lues, il. fouhaitc de les 
 relire encore. 
 
 Ma 3. Lxtrait
 
 C. '78. 3 
 
 *. Extrait dune lei Ire deM. Elm de Sdinmore aM.a* 
 Sherlock, pour le remercier cTttn exemplaire dc 
 fon Hvre intitule^ Lettres d'un Voyageuf Angloia. 
 
 Journal de Paris, Lund}, i Mai t 1780. 
 
 " Independamment de ce que je vous dois, 
 Monfieur, pour le cadeau dont vous m'avez ho- 
 norc pour le plaifir qne m'a fait la le&ure de 
 TOtre ouvrage, vous avez encore des droits a ma 
 reconnoiiTance. Vous rendez juftice a ma patrie 5 
 votre iivre eft dedie a un Lord cheri de tons ccnx 
 qui le connoiffeut ; vous faites un eloge merite d& 
 S. E. Mgr. le cardinal de Bernis, auqu^l je fuis at- 
 tache depuis longsems par la reconnoiiTance; vous 
 appreciez nos grands homines avec une impartia- 
 lite peu ordinaire; vous ccrivez notre langue avec 
 une fnejffe & une grace qui prouvent que VOUR 
 vos ctes plu a Fetudier. Je vous prie dc croire, 
 Monfieur, que la jufteffe et la profcmdeur de vos 
 obfervations, ainfi que la maniere piquanie dont 
 vous les prefentez, ne m'ont pas echappe plus 
 qu' a vos autres lefteurs. 
 
 J' ai toujours eu une fecrette predileftion pour 
 votre nation, et ceux que j'en ai connus, n'ont 
 pas peu contribue a me 1'infpirer . . . Vous m'an-^ 
 noncez, Monfieur, que vous devez bientot quitter 
 Paris pour retourner a Londres. Alors vous 
 
 direz
 
 C 179 3 
 
 clirez fans doute a vos compatriotes 1'accueil ob- 
 ligeant que vou^avez recu des Francois, malgre 
 la. grande querelle qui divife Ics deux nation?. 
 Vous leur direz qne par-tout on s'eft emprefle a 
 vous marquer les cgards dus a votre merite et a 
 reehercheT votre amitit." 
 
 4. Ext rait du Journal Encyclopedic, Dec. 1779. 
 
 "... II ufe, on ne peut mieux, du talent An- 
 ^lois ue penfer beaucoup en peu dc mots, et de 
 parler a Tefprit par abbreviation . , , II ne faut 
 ibuvenc a M. Sherlock qu'un coup d'ceil pour 
 yolr et qu'un trait pourpeindre . . . 
 
 ... 11 femble ici que quelque chofe du fublime 
 de 1'ouvrtige du fculpteur ait pafle dans 1'ame dc 
 1'ecrivain pour fe communiquer a fon ftyle. Toute 
 cctte lettrc (Lettre XII.) eft en effet admirable. 
 
 Nous ne fuivrons pas M. Sherlock dans fa 
 march-; nmis nous avons trouve dans chacune 
 de fes lettres une lefture vari6e et intereiTante, 
 des pjniccs fines, dcs reflexions profondes, un 
 gout delicat, un jugemcnt fain, eniin un eiprit 
 excellent, orne dt connoilTances, uu fcntiment 
 e^quis dcs arts, le caraclere d'une amc honncte, 
 In fage hardieffe d'un amateur inftruit, ct un ftyle 
 briihpt d'imagination, lans qu'elle nuifc a la prc- 
 cifion des Mees . . . 
 
 M ...Voila
 
 i8o 
 
 ... Voila done comrac s'exprjme un etranger 
 dans notre langue, tandis qu'une multitude d'e- 
 crivains nationaux femble confpirer pour la de- 
 fhonorer par des ouvrage ou les fautes de ftyle 
 fourmillent. L'eftime pour M. Sherlock doit en- 
 core s'augmenter, fi Ton fe rappelle qu'il ne 
 poflede pas moins heureufement la langue Ita- 
 lienne, comme il l ? a prouve dans un ouvrage 
 ecrit a Rome meme en cette langue, ouvrage 
 auffi elegant que judicieux, compofe fur les 
 principes d'une faine litterature, et qui feroic 
 encore utile aux jeunes gens qui cultivent la 
 poefie, quand meme il ne leur feroit pas necefr 
 faire. Nous ne repeterons point ici les eloges 
 que nous a.vons donnes a cet excellent ouvrage 
 dans notre journal du 15 Aout dernier. Nous 
 ajmuerons feulement, fans croire nou% tromper, 
 que M. Sherlock eft le premier Anglois qui fe 
 foit fait connoitre au public par des ouvrages 
 ecrits purement dans deux langues etrangeres. 
 
 5, Extrait
 
 5. Ex trait du Mercttre de Mars, 1780. 
 
 Nous avons rendu comptc d'un pnvrage eerie 
 en Italien par M. de Sherlock: en voici un qui 
 eft ecrit en Frar^ois par le meme auteur. Formas 
 fe -oertit in omnes. Mais il a beau changer de 
 forme, on retrouve toujours 1'homme d'elprit, 
 1'homme lenfible aux beautes des arts, tiprefque 
 toujours 1'homme de gour. Ne parlez point de 
 Sbakefpear a M. de Sherlock, & vous le prendrez 
 pour un Elcve d'Horace et de Boileau, Le$ 
 h-erefies font, dit-cn, des opinions de cboix. On 
 ne comprend pas trop comment M. de Sherlock 
 a pu choifir cette opinion, a laquelle il paroit 
 fprt attajche. Elle lera pour tous les Fnmsois 
 -a peu-pr.e une herefie enorme, et une opinion 
 -qui ne paroitra pas mcme d'un choix heureux. 
 
 La-maniere dont cet Anglois ecrit tour-a-tour 
 en Italien et en Francois, paroura peutecre une 
 efpece de ph^nomene en litterature. I!s font fi 
 rares ceux qui ecrivent d'une maniere fupporta- 
 ble la iangue mqme dans laquelle ils ont appris 
 a fentir et a penfer, qu'il Tuffit fans dome d'ecrire 
 deux langues etrangei'es, auffi bien que M. de 
 Sherlock ecrit le Fran9ois et 1'Italicn, pour faire 
 preuvc d!un merite tres diftingue, 
 
 M 4 Apres
 
 [.!* 3 
 
 Apres la le&ure des deux puvrages de M. de 
 Sherlock, nous demeurons perfuades que lors 
 qu*il ne fera plus oblige de donner aux mots et 
 au ftyle une partie de 1'attention, qu'uu ecrivam 
 doit donner a fon fujet et a fes idees, que lors q'il 
 ecrira dans fa langue, M. de Sherlock nueritera 
 d'etre traduit dans toutes les aurres. Une chofe 
 bien precieufe que Ton remarque dans ces deux 
 ouvrages, c'eft cette fenfibilite d'un homme de 
 bien, qui ne peut parler fans le plus grand inte- 
 ret de tout ce qui regarde les verms et le bonheur 
 de rhomme; 
 
 Et Ton ame et fes mceurs -empreints dans fes 
 
 ouvrages, 
 N'offrent jamais de Jui que de nobles images. 
 
 6. Extrait du Mercure de Mai, 17^0. 
 
 Ce qui diftingue fur-tout M. Sherlock de la 
 foule des Voyageurs Ecrivains, c'eft qu'il ne ro- 
 pete jamais ce que d'autres ont dit avant lui. 
 11 rapporte ce qu'il a vu, et il a tout vu avec fes 
 yeux i il cent ce qu'il a penfe, et il n'a point 
 penfe d' apres les autres : par tout il eft lui meine. 
 C'eft Id ce qui donne a fon ouvrage ce cara&ere 
 d'originalite, qui, lors qu'il eft , accompagne de 
 
 la
 
 la raifon et da gout eft Pemprelnte et le fee an 
 du Genie, 
 
 Ne vous aftendez pas a trouver dans ces Ict- 
 tres les- noms de tous les tableaux fameux ou de 
 toutes les belles flatties de PItalie. M. Sherlock 
 a foien fenti qu'une pareille nomenclature (qui 
 d'ailleurs fe rrouve par-tout) fatiguoit vainement 
 la memoire fans intcrcfTer 1'efprit, et qu'il y 
 avott des objets qu'on ne pouvoit voir qu* avec 
 ravifiement, et done on ne pouvoit lire les def- 
 criptions qu' avec ennui. II a fait un livre et 
 non pas un catalogue. Les chef d'ceuvres les 
 plus parfaits font les feuls qui trouvent place 
 dans fes lettres, et il n'en parle jamais qu' avec 
 une clartc, une grace, et une nobleje, qui font 
 difparoitrc aux yeux du lefleur tout ce que de fem- 
 blables defcwptions ont pour 1'ordinairedefec etde 
 rebutant. Non content de nous raontrcr 1'otivrage 
 qu'il veut nous faire connoitre, il nous montre 
 dans 1'ouvrage le genie de 1'Aniftc. C'eil ainfi 
 que dans fes premieres lettres 51 a peint le genie 
 du fculpteur Grec, par 1'Apollon du Belvedere; 
 et c'eft ainfi que dans ce nouveau recuci'l il nous 
 fait voir dans la Transfiguration le genie de Ra- 
 phael.- Ce morccau efl ( admirable ; mais fon 
 etendue nons empeche de le citer, et fa prccifion 
 nous ote la poflibilite dc Tabreger; 
 
 Nous
 
 E I8 + 3 
 
 Nous rem-arquerons en paffant que perform^ 
 ne poffede raieux que M. Sherlock le talent fi 
 difficil^ de h>uer fans fadeur. Les louanges qui 
 fortent de fa plume fuppofent une connoifiance 
 de 1'horame et une penetration fi parfaites, et 
 font exprimees avec une nobleffe fi impofame et 
 un ton de franchife fi perfuafif, qu'il eft vrai de 
 dire qu'elles honorent a la fois celui qui les re- 
 coit et celui qui les donne *, 
 
 Les nouvelles Lettres du Voyageur Anglois 
 fmiffent par ces mots : " Les premiers efforts que 
 " j'ai fairs pour plaire au public ont etc recus 
 " avec indulgence : fi celui-ci rcerite le meme 
 '* accueil, je continuerai d'ecrire, mais comme 
 fc je n'ecris que pour la gloire, fi je ceffe d'in- 
 " terefler, je jette ma plume." 
 
 Non, M. Sherlock ; que votre plume re fie 
 encore longtems entre vos mains pour notre inr 
 firuftion et pour votre gloire. Continuez d'e- 
 crire, et vous continuerez d'interelfer. Quand, 
 avec des idees neuves et vraies, avec nn gout 
 dclicat, un tacl fur, un efprit droit et orne,. line 
 imagination brillante, une expreffioa,Keureufe, 
 quind avec tous ces avantages on montre encore 
 
 * Voyez la Lettre XXXV. fur M. IQ ]Vlarochal de 
 -Biron, la dedicace a Milord Briftol, et une note fur M. 
 1'Abbe de Lageard, Lettre XXIY. 
 
 un
 
 C '85 ] 
 
 un cceur droit et le cara&ere d'une ame honncte,- 
 on peut fe flatter de plaire a rout homme qui 
 penfe et qui lent, et d'obtenir Peiljme & Padmi-. 
 ration des gens de gout et des gens vertucux dc 
 routes les nations et de tous les Cedes. 
 
 7. Ext rait du M: retire dc Fcvritr, i 780. 
 
 Le croiroit-on? M. de Sherlock, qui, dans- 
 tout ion Ouvrage (Configlio ad un giovane poeld) 
 p'a propofe pour modele que les poctes du gout 
 Je plus pur et le plus parfaitj qui ne parle pas 
 des anciens fans enthoufiafrae, ct qui rcgarde 
 Boileau comme le guide le plus fur pour les 
 jeunes poetes: M. de Sherlock tcrmine foa 
 ouvrage par un morceau fur Shakefpear, oil il 
 place ce poete audeffas des plus beaux genies 
 anciens et modernes. Jufqu' a prefent on cut 
 pris M. de Sherlock, a fes opinions pour un 
 Francois, et a fon ftyle, pour un lulien : a 
 peine eft il queftion de Shakefpear, qj'on ne 
 peut s'empecher de lui dire: Ah! M. de Sherlock 
 vous etes Anglois! 
 
 L'Ouvrage de M. de Sherlock a excite les 
 plus grands mouvemens en Italic; on 1'a critique 
 avec fureur ; on Pa loue avec cnthoufiafme. 
 L'Abbe Scarpelli termine ainfi un fonnet qu'il 
 
 lui
 
 hi! a adrefle : c * Horace et Boileau, rejouis dc 
 ** tes difcours, ont tourne vers nous leurs re- 
 ** gards et fe font ecries : O Italic ! voila ton 
 " Longin!" D'autres Litterateurs Italiens 1'ont 
 traite, non feulement comme un homme de mau- 
 rais gout, raais comme un mediant homme: ils 
 i*ont traite comme un etranger euncmi qui feroit 
 alle attaquer Rome dans Rome meme. Son 
 Ouvrage a eu en Italic un fucces complet. 
 
 Poor nous nous penfons qu'un homme qui re- 
 pand ainfi des lumieres dans les pays ou il voyage 
 poar en acquerir, doit a fon retour, en rapporter 
 beaucoup dans fa Patriej et quoique nous nous 
 foyons permis pjufieurs fois de combattre M. de 
 Sherlock, nous ne doutons pas qu'il ne foit 
 deftine a augmemer ce petit nombre d^Ecrivains 
 Anglois qui ont commence a joindre Inelegance 
 et la regularity du gout, a la bardieffc ' ft a 1$ 
 profondeur du genie de leur nation* 
 
 Dal
 
 3 
 
 Dal Giudizio dato dall' Efemeridi let- 
 terarie di Roma ai N VIII. JX. e X. 
 dell' anno 1779, ^ u ^' opera inti- 
 tolata Configllo ad un giovane poeta 
 del Sig. Sherlock. 
 
 Amlcus Plato, amicus Socrates^ Jed magh arnica vcritas* 
 
 ha potuto PAutore gettare uno fguardo 
 fulle deliziofe contrade d'ltalia fenza efferne 
 penetrate di ammirazione. I fuoi fenfi fono ftati 
 fcofli dalle opere ineantatrici di un Palladio, di 
 ua Michelangelo, di un Raffaello : 1'immortal 
 Pergolefe ha lufingato il fuo orecchio colla deli- 
 cata armonia delle fue note: il celebre Iflorio- 
 grafo della Repubblica Fiorentina ha rapito \\ 
 fuo animo-, e i voli franchi, e ficuri de' noftri 
 Poeti lirici lo hanno forprefo. Tale diffatti e lo 
 fpettacolo, che 1'Italia prefenta agli xxrchj di ogni 
 eulro flraniero. Ma fpiriti avvezzi ad efler colpiti 
 dalla maeilra profondita, e dalla robuftezza di 
 Pope, di Dryden, di Younck, di Boiieau, ed a 
 fentir parlare la ragione fulle labbra di Calliope, 
 e di Euterpe, come fu quelie di Platone, e di 
 Socrate poflbno effi piegarfi egualmentc ad offerir 
 
 degP
 
 t III } 
 
 degl' incenfi all! Ippogrifo di Aftolfo, e ad invo- 
 c'are con divota fiducia, 
 
 Tape Satan, Pape Satan Aleppe? 
 
 - . 
 . *Noi non yogliam difpenfarci dal teferire le 
 
 fue fteffe 'parole* i ndftri lettori ci vorrari per- 
 mettere di allontanarci ditlk folita prtcifiohe per 
 rapporto ad nn'opera, ehe ha pofto in fcrraento 
 tucto ill regno poetico Italiano. . . . 
 
 La fua Opera ha eccitata una terribile rivolu- 
 zione nell' intollerante repubblica de' rsoftri Poeti: 
 ehe ne direbbe Plarone, fe foile al par di noi 
 fpettatore deJT.'irritabilita, con cui fono accolte 
 fra loro dellc Terita refe lacre, e incontraftabili 
 dal contienro di tutta la Tcrra^ e fe feriflero i 
 fuoi orecchj come i noflri le grida fediziofe, e 
 confufe, eon GUI fe ne chiede )a piu irragionevolc 
 vendetta? 
 
 4 . .Prima d'inoltrarci a ragionare di effa, i degno 
 di effer riferito il tratto di mafchia eloquenza'* 
 con cui il Sig. Sherlock medefimo fi apre la 
 ftrada a parlarne. " Nel momento, die' eglij 
 " di una guerra fra J'Inghilterra, e la Francia, 
 " parra forfe draordinario al mio giotanc JettorCi 
 " ehe io ardifca di fare Felogio della letteraturd 
 " Francefe. Egli conofce poco i principj della 
 ** rnia nazione. Un Inglefe ardifce fernpre render 
 3 * giuflizia
 
 [ 189 'I- 
 
 " giuftizia al merito. Quanclo la fua patria ha 
 " bifogno del fuo configiio, e pronto a fervirh 
 " con tutti i fuo talenti; quand'o efla ha bifogrreV- 
 " del fuo fangue, c pronto a' Verfarlo fino all* 
 "ultima goecia; ma nell'iftcfTo tempo, e inca-' 
 '* pace di non render giuftizia ad un nemico. 
 " Non v' e una guerra contro le lettere Fran-* 
 " cefi: gli uomini di lettere dovrebbero effer 
 " compatriotti dappertutto; dovrebbero vivere 
 " in eterna pace, e render, giuftizia al memo' 
 " vivo o morto a Londra, aParigi, a Roma, ad 
 *' Atene." Terribile lezione per gl* Italiani, 
 niente meno foda, ed opportuna di quelle, che il 
 Sig. Sherlock ha date loro fnllaPoefia, ma for'fe 
 vana egualmente ! 
 
 ... In tutte le opinion! del Sig. Sherlock, chc 
 noi abbiamo.riferite, vediamo un rifnltato di una 
 lunga applicazione, e di un profondo (ludio 
 fopra i migUori Autori Greci 3 Laiiui, Francefi, 
 ed Inglefi. . . . 
 
 . ... Cosi penfa nno fp'n'ito illuminato, cost 
 parla un amico delia verita . . . Chi preferifce il 
 fentimento alia iierilc parola fi compiacera dell* 
 eloquenza del noftro aiuore, egli fara indulgente 
 per qualche difecio nella fcelta de' termini in 
 grazia cjclla giuftczza delle Idee, e de' yivi tratti 
 con cui fono dipinte. . , 
 
 La
 
 La Dedicatoria che accompagna quefta opera 
 fara una delle poche dedicatorie che faranno lette* 
 Ella e degna di fatti di effer guftara per la prc- 
 cifione con cui e concepita, c per la venufta di 
 cui e fparfa. SperiamOj che i noftri lettori ci 
 fapranno grado di non averli defraudati anehe di 
 quefta elegante produzione . . . 
 
 JUAutore ba confegnato quattrocento cfemplari 
 clella fua Opera al Libraro Gregorio Settan per 
 uenderfi. 11 Signor Mar che fe Mace a] -anifecondando 
 le intenzioni del Signor Sherlock, ha avuto la bonta 
 cfincaricarfi di ricevere il denaro, che nc provcrra, 
 e diftribuirio a povere vcdove bifognofe. Queflo 
 tratto di umanita fa relogio del di lui cuore, conic 
 W p era k fa delfuo fpirito. 
 
 Tranflated. 
 
 The author has given four hundred copies of this 
 book to the bookfeller Gregorio Seftari to fell. "TLe 
 Marquis of Maccarani, feconding the intentions of 
 Mr. Sherlock, has had the goodnefs to charge him- 
 fetf to receive the money, arifing from the fale 7 
 and to dijlribute it to poor widows in diftrefs. 
 This trait of humanity fpeaks as firongly in favour 
 of his heart as the Work does of his talents.
 
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