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CENSURA LITERARIA.
CONTAINING
TITLES, ABSTRACTS,
OPINIONS
OLD ENGLISH BOOKS,
ORIGINAL DISQUISITIONS, ARTICLES OF BIOGRAPHY,
AND OTHER LITERARY ANTIQUITIES.
BY
SIR EGERTON BRYDGES, Bart. K. J. M. P.
SECOND EDITION.
WITH THE ARTICLES CLASSED IN CHRONOLOGICAX. ORDEK
UNDER THEIR SEPARATE HEADS.
VOLUME IX.
HlonOon:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERyOSTERROir.
1815.
•4» .
^M
TABLE OP CONTENTS
VOLUME IX.
;^.ST
: uiiJ to no!!i .
i J . . . :
.71 niM!.:J»UMiNATOB. (Continued.)
Anx. Page
767 An account of Quarles' Emblems, with Specimens.. 1
768 On False Honour 8
769 On the translations of Homer by Pope and Cowper. 12
770 Later Translation of Gray's Elegy 16
771 Bp. Warburton'g Characters of the Historians of the
Civil Wars 22
772 On Seclusion amid Magnificent Scenery 28
773 On the Deceitfulness of Hope — Farewell of the Ru-
minator ,.♦.,,,. 31
• I „.( 1 •) .. .
OniGINAL ARTICLES.
Iii)>-
774 Bibliothecae — the Libraries of Farmer and Steevens. 37
775 Topography d'ii'iiii.W*'. . i . . * '48
776 Original Letters of Mrs. Montagu. ...,'.... ...i.....'. '48
777 On the Sensibilities and Eccentricities of Men of Ge-
nius j;v.*v.i'......wJii. ' 76
778 The Wizard, a Kentish Tale .;i.'. ...iMlV.. . . . 88
Tot. IX. b '■.'anh'^lr.')
Ti CONTENTS.
Art. Pack
779 Extempore lines at Sand^te 101
780 Original Letter of Robert Burns on Witch Storiea 108
781 Original Letter of Lord Chesterfield 107
782 Observations on Modern Heraldry 109
783 rfcJ.lU. 1«1
784 Horace, B. II. Ode xvi. innitated 1S4
785 Explanation of a Medal of M. Antony and Cleo-
patra 186
786 Disquisition on the origin of the Name of Mount
Caucasus . . . yj. .r.' .'/. J. ill .'. 1 S 1
787 On the fanciful Additions to the new Edition of
Wells's Geography of the Old Testament 148
788 Remarks on the Pronunciation of the name of Je-
richo 174
789 On the Assumption th^t Cadytis was Jerusalem 179
790 Defects of Modern Criticism 186
791 On the present State of Public Criticism |9S
792 On early Jewish Coins 811
1793 Confirmation of the meaning of the Word " Tye".. 844
-♦194 Etymolog) of the Word Entree, '. 845
795 On the third Report of the Commissioners for mak-
ing new Roads in Scotland... 848
796 On Vaccination .i.*!':l...'V.'.'J.^f.:;'}. Stfti
797 Ooa PaMage in €ralatinus De Arcanis Catholicae Ye-
ritatis ...:.., .^.... 884
798 Defence of Grotiu»...;.:'j.:\:.'^:'l^il':..'^I.C.:.!;li 887
799 Further Remarks on the Merits of Grotias.... .... SOS
800 Reply of the Defender of Grptius S05
801 Supplemental Articles on Simon's Coins S18
808 On the modern Corruptions of Sternhold's Version
of the Psalms 888
803 Op ^haksp^ares Learning... «v;«-i.»Vi. SS4
804 Op the beat Mode of explaining the Scriptarat Fret*
phecies S40
805 On Xh^ Mode of Interpreting the Prophecies 354
806 OpArrowsiQitb'sBiapjtIieHighlaBdRoadsiandthe
Caledonian Canal S51
CONTENTS. * vil
Art. Pack
807 Reply to S's defence of Grotius 360
808 Original Poems by the late Henry Kirke White..... 366
809 The Contented Knight, a Ballad 369
810 Stanzas to a Flower 372
811 Extraordinary Instance of the prediction of Death. 373
812 Conjecture concerning the Hero of the Nut Brown
Maid 376
813 On the Hero of the Nut Brown Maid and on Kirke
White 390
814 Letters from France and Italy by Mr. Hammond,
1658 394
816 Gibber's Lives of the Poets 400
CENSURA LITERARIA.
THE RUMINATOR.
if
CONTAINING A SERIES OF MORAL AND SENTI-
MENTAL ESSAYS.
Art. DCCLXVir.
N**. LXVIII. An Account of Quarles's Emblems,
with Specimens.
** Dulcia sunt, pura sunt, elegantia sunt, sed non sine
nervis. Sententiae vero tules at etiam ad usum civilis
vitae conferant." Scaligeri de Alciati Embhmatis.
1 HERE is one poet of the reign of Charles the
First, whose menaory there were several attempts,
about twenty years ago, to revive, particularly by
Jackson, of Exeter, in his Thirty Letters ; but whose
poetry has sunk ajjain from the public notice. The
person I mean is Francis Quarles:
His Emblems were once a very popular work,
and went through numerous editions. The first
edition, as far as I have yet discovered, appeared
in 1635. There was an edition in 1643 ; and pro-
bably more than one, even in the latter half of
the following century. These poems cannot boast
originality; for in the plan, and frequently, I
doubt not, in the very subjects, and even senti-
ments and expressions, they are imitated from HeV'
VOL. IX. B
man Hugo,* from whom the prints are borrowed :+
with an execution, at least, strikingly inferior.
A specimen, amongst the numerous extracts which
the various parts of ray work exhibit, is due to the
ingenious author, and may not be unacceptable to
my readers from whose recollection the poet has
faded. What I take shall be a fair example ; neither
his best, nor his worst.
Emblem XII. of Book 2. Galat. vi. 14. God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross,
I.
" Can nothing settle my uncertain breast.
And fix my rambling love I
Can my affections find out nothing best,
But still and still remove 1
Has earth no mercy 1 Will no ark of rest
Receive my restless dove 1
♦ 1 have a copy of Hugo's book now lyin?: before me, with the
following title : Pia Desideria Emblematii Elegiis 6f Affect^i SS.
PatrumiUustratay Authore Hermanno Hugone, SocieM'ts Jesu ad Urbt^
nutn VIII. Pont. Max. Vulguvit Boetius a Bolsicert typis Henriei AerU'
tenii Ant'jcerpia M DCXXIII. cum gratia el privilegio, Sm. 8vo. A
translation appeared at London, 1686, hy Edm. Arwaker, M.A.
Several emblem-writers had previously appeared : a? Alci&tus,
whose emblems were traiiiiated by Dr. Andrew Willet. We
bad also, in England, -Ocoffrey Whitney; and about the same
time with Quaries appeared the Emblems of Geoi;ge Wither, 1635,
fol.
f The prints of Books III. IV. and V. are copied in regular suc-
cession from Hugo ; but in a vile manner. Now and then a very
teinute variation occurs j and they are all reversed. The verses
•eem to be sometimes translations; sometimes imitations; and
sometimes originaL But I have not time, while pieparing Hm
paper, to read them through, and compare them rcgulacly.
Is there no good, than which there's nothing higher.
To bless my full desire
With joys that never change ; with joys that ne'er expire I
I wanted wealth, and at my dear request
Earth lent a quick supply ;
I wanted wealth to charm my sullen breast ;
And who more brisk than I?
I wanted fame, to glorify the rest ;
My fame flew eagle-high :
My joy not fully ripe ; but all decay'd j
Wealth vanish'd like a shade 1
My mirth began to flag ; my fame began to fade,
III.
The world's an ocean, hurried to and fro
With every blast of passion ;
Her lustful streams, when either ebb or flow.
Are tides of man's vexation :
They alter daily ; and they daily grow
The worse by alteration ;
The earth's a cask full tunn'd, yet wanting measure ;
Her precious wine is pleasure.
Her yest is honour's puff; her lees arc worldly treasi^re.
17.
My trust is in the Cross : let beauty flag
Her loose, her wanton sail ;
Let count'nance-guiding honour cease to brag,
In courtly terms and veil ;
Let ditch-bred wealth henceforth forget to wag
Her base, tho' golden tail ;
False beauty's conquest is but real lost.
And wealth but golden dross ;
Best honour's but a blast : my trust is in the Cross.
B 2
V.
My trust is in the Cross ; there lies my rest ;
My fast, my sole delight :
Let cold-mouth'd Boreas, or the hot-moutb'd East,
Blow till they burst with spite ;
Let earth and hell conspire their worst, their best.
And join their twisted might ;
Let showers of thunderbolts dart down, and wound me.
And troops of tiends surround me;
All this may well confront ; all tliis shall ne'er confound me.
I shall now proceed to give the first emblem of
the first book of Herman Hugo.
'^ Anima mea desideravit te in node. IsAiiB 1^6.
" Hei mihi quam densis nox incubat atra tenebris %
Talis erat, Pharios quae tremefecit agros.
Nubila, lurida, squalida, tetrica, terribilis nox ;
Noctumo in censu perdere digoa locum.
Non ego tarn tristes Scythico, puto, cardine lunas,
Tardat ubi lentas Parrhasis Ursa rotas :
Nee tot Cimmerio glomerantur in aethere nubes,
Unde suos Phoebus vertere jussus equos :
Nee reor invisi magis atra cubilia Ditis,
Fertur ubi fiirva nox habitare casa.
Nam licet hie oculis nullam dent sidera lucem,
Non tamen est omni mens viduata die :
Nocte, suam noctem populus videt ille silentAm,
Et se, Cimmerii, sole carere vident :
Arctica cum senos regnavit Cynthia menses,
Dat fratri reduci septima luna vices.
Ast Hif perpetuis damnat sors dira tenebris,
^ Nullaque vel minimo sidere flamma micat.
Et neque (quod caecis unum solet esse levamen)
Ipsa suam noctein mens miseranda videt.
Quin teaebras amat ipsa suas; lucemque perosa,
Vertit in obscaenae noctis opaca diem. ^'
Nempe suas aniroo furata superbia ilammas, '
Nubilat obscuro lumina caeca peplo.
Nee sinit ambitio nitidum clarescere solem,
Fuscat et ingenuas Idalis igne faces.
Heu, quoties subit illius mibi noctis imago,
Nox animo toties ingruit atra meo ! vfis^O '
Sors oculis nostris melior, quibus ordine certo, '")
Alternas reparant Lunaque Solque vices ! ,1
Nam quid agat ratio, quid agat studiosa voluntas, A
Quas habet, ut geminos mens peregrina duces i \
Major habere oculos dolor est, ubi non datur uti, > .:ti]
Quam, quibus utaris, nou habuisse oculos. tK »>5
Qui dolet oppressus lapsis velocius umbris,
Laetior aggreditur mane viator iter. ^
Sed nimis haec longas tenebris nox prorogat horas,
Quae tibi mane uegat cedere, Phoebe, diem. 1
Cum redit Arctoo Titan vicinior axi, z^-
Exultat reducis quisque videre jubar. j
Scilicet Aurorae gens vertitur omuis in ortus, i
Quisque parat primus dicere, Phoebus adest!
Sic ego, ssepe oculos tenui sublimis Olympo,
Aspiciens, gemino qui jacet orbe, Polum.
Et dixi tam saepe ; Nitesce, Nitesce, meus Sol !
Sol mibi tam multos non venerate dies !
Exorere, Exorere, et medios saltern exere vultus,
Vel scintilla tui sola sat esse potest.
Si quoque vel tantos renuis mibi luminis usum,
Sufficiet vultus expetiisse tuos.
6
*' Emblem /. of Book III. of Quarles. My soul
hath desired thee in the night. Isaiah xxvi. 6.
" Good God ! What horrid darkness doth surround
My groping soul ! how are my senses bound
In utter shades ; and iiiufiled from the iigbt.
Lurk in the bosom ot eternal night !
The bold-fac'd lamp of heaven can set and rise.
And with his morning glory fill the eyes
or gazing mortals ; his victorious ray
Can chase the shadows and restore the day:
Night's bashful empress, tho' she often wain.
As oft repents her darkness, primes again ;
And with her circling horns doth re-embrace
Her brother's wealth, and orbs her silver face.
But ah ! my sun, deep swalluw'd in bis fall.
Is set, and cannot shine, nor rise at all :
My bankrupt wain can beg nor borrow light;
Alas ! my darkness is perpetual night.
Falls have their risings ; wainings have their primes.
And desperate sorrows wait their better times :
Ebbs have their floods ; and Autumns have their Springs;
All states have changes, hurried with the swings
Of chnncc and time, still riding to and fro :
Terrestrial bonies, and celestial too.
How often have I vainly grop'd about,
With lengtlien'd arms, to find a passage out.
That I might catch those l>eams mine eye desires.
And bathe my soul in these celestial fires I
Like as the haggard, cloistered in her mew.
To scour her downy robes, and to renew
Her broken flags, preparing t' overlook
The timorous mallard at the sliding brook.
Jets off from perch to perch ; from stock to ground.
From ground to window, thus surveying round ,,
Her dove-befeathered prison, till at length ^^
Calling her noble birtli to mind, and strength
Whereto her wing was born, her ragged beak ^
Nips off her jangling jesses, strives to break
Her jingling fetters, and begins to bate
At every glimpse, and darts at every grate:
E'en so my weary soul, that long has been
An inmate in this tenement of sin,
Lock'd up by cloud-brow'd error, which invites
My cloister'd thoughts to feed on black delights.
Now suns her shadows, and begins to dart
Her wing'd desires at thee, that only art
The sun she seeks, whose rising baams can flight
These dusky clouds that make so dark a night :
Shine forth, great glory, shine ; that I may see.
Both how to loath myself, and honour thee :
But if my weakness force thee to deny
Thy flames, yet lend the twilight of thine eye!
If I must want those beams I wish, yet grant
That I at least may wish those beams I want.
Quarles died Sep. 8, 1644, aet. 52. A Relation of
his Life and Death, by his widow, Ursula Quarles,
was prefixed to his Solomon's Recantation, 1&45, 4<o.
and has been lately reprinted before the new edition*
of his Judgment and Mercy for afflicted Souls, 1807,
* " Judgment and Mercy for afflicted Souls ; or Meditations, Soli-
loquies, and Prayers. By Francis Quarles. A new Edition, tvit/i a
Biographical and Critical Introduction, by Reginald fVo(fe, Esq." [i. e.
Rev. T. F. DJbdin.] London, printed for Longman and Co. 1807,
pp.332.
8
8t»; accompanied by an excellent copy, by Freeman,
from Marshoirs print of him.*
Abt. DCCLXVIII.
N". LXIX. On false Honour.
" Falsus honor juvat
Quern nhi tnendosum et mendacem ?"
SIR,
TO THE AUMINATOB.
There are, I believe, few terms more commonly
used, few sounds more generally captivating than
hat of h-ncMir. From the moment when our in-
fancy ceases, io that in which old age begins to creep
upon us, it is the theme of every pen, the boast of
every tongue. It is the schoolboy's assertion, the
lover's vow, and the peer's judicial declaration. If
* The following short notice may be here given of another pub-
lication of Quaries ; " Divine Poetm; revised and corrected, with Ad-
ditions. By the Author, Era. 2i/arlei. Printed for John Marriott, in
St. DuOiitaD's cburcb-yard, Fleetstreet, IfiSO." On an engraved
title-page, by T. Cecill, small Svo.pp. 502. N. B. The printed title
has the date 1633. It contains, I. A Feast for Wormes. II. Pen-
telogia, dated 1632. III. Hadassa, 1632. The running title is,
"The Historic of Ester." IV. Job Militant, printed by Miles
Flesher, 1632. V. The Historic of Samson. VI. Sion's Sonnets,
sung by Solomon the King, and periphrased. VII. Sion's Elegies,
wept by Jeremie the Prophet, and periphrased. VIII. An Alpha-
bet of Elegies, upon tb<^ much and truly lamented death of that
famous for learning, piety, and true friendship, Doctor Ailmer, a
great favourer and fast friend to the Muses, and late Archdeacon of
London. Imprinted in his heart that ever loves bis memorie. Ob.
Jan. 6tb, 1625.
it be falsified, the man is deemed worthy of no
farther trust ; nor is even the sacred obligation of
an oath supposed to be capable of binding him whom
honour cannot restrain. Honour necessarily in-
cludes in it the idea of the dazzling quality of cou-
rage ; and this is probably the chief reason why the
imputation of falsehood cannot be washed off but
by blood. For falsehood is the very reverse of
courage, and always implies cowardice; inasmuch
as no man can deny a fact, or assert an untruth, but
from natural fear, or from a still baser motive.
Hence honour is the idol of the bold and truly
brave ; and even those who in reality possess it not,
lay claim to it for the sake of the opinion of the
world.
True honour, therefore, may be defined as a prin-
ciple which exerts itself beyond mere duty, and
supplies its real or supposed deficiencies; which
binds where laws do not ; and which extends its
sacred influence to cases in which conscience does
not interf re, and religion is supposed to be silent.
But the honour in common use is of a more acco-
modating nature ; and as every man so frames it as
to suit with his own particular inclinations, it is per-
haps the only subject on which all agree. The man
of the world and the man of God ; the bigot and
the infidel; the soldier and the tradesman; the
highwayman and the passenger whom he plunders ;
the prostitute and the woman of virtue ; all sound
alike the praises of honour, and profess to be go-
verned by its dictates. *
And so. Sir, they really are. It is no idle boast.
They are all, except the truly religious man, subser-
10
vient, according to their own views of it, to that
vain phantom which they dignify ^rith that splendid
appellation ; and which they mould into every form
that may suit their various pursuits and fancies.
Ask what is honour? The soldier will tell you it is
bravery, and the prompt revenging every real or
supposed injury ; the tradesman, honesty in his
dealings; the infidel, independence on the base
principle of future rewards and punishments; the
highwayman, fidelity towards his comrades; the
prostitute, &ith towards the man who is her present
keeper ;* the man of the world, courage sufficient
to fight a duel. In him this is all that is required.
JLet him intrigue with the wife of his dearest friend,
seduce his daughter, and ruin his fortune by the
blackest arts of a gambler; if he will then give him
satisfaction, and complete the whole by his murder,
he is refused admittance into no society, he is caress-
ed and admired by all ; he may be called a little
wild, and rather too free in his n^anners, but-^he is
a man of strict honour.
There is, however, a striking anecdote on record,
which shews, that even soldiers do not always agree
exactly in their notions of this fascinating quality.
At the battle of the Boyne, General Hamilton was
taken prisoner, and brought before William the
Third. Now Hamilton, afler having sworn alle-
giance to William, and received promotion from
him, had deserted his service, and joined his old
* I beg pardon ; I mean, towards the gentleman under whose
protection she lives.
Vide the late proceedings in the House of Commons.
master, James the Secor.d. When he was brought
into William's presence, that monarch asked him,
if he thought the Irish Vrould rally and make
another charj^e ? " Upon my honour, Sir," saidl
Hamilton, " I believe they will." " Your honour^
Sir,^oMr honour," was the king's emphatical reply ;
and the only notice he condescended to take of his
treachery.
Surely then this far-famed principle of action is
extolled beyond its deserts. Surely so capricious a
motive, so uncertain in its effects, and so varying
in its application, cannot be of general utility, or
extensively beneficial to society. It reminds me
of the Clown's " O Lord, Sir," in Shakespeare ;
an answer to every question, a cap for every head.
Arrived at that thinking and examining time of
life, when I am ha'^lily falling " into the sere and
yellow leaf," I am no longer " dazzled with the
whistling of a name," but rather inclined to inquire
into pretensions which seem so doubtful, and bring
them to the certain test of sincerilt/y soberness, and
truth.
If then it be true, that the opinions of men upon
this subject differ so materially, and that each per-
son finds that conduct honourable which is agree-
able either to his interest, or his usual habits of
thinking and acting, surely it will not be easy
always to discriminate between true and false
honour, unless we can discover an unerring standard
by which to try them. Happily for the world there
is a standard always at hand, and which will never
deceive us— To the law and to the testimony. The
passions may mislead, self-interest bias, judgment
12
deceive, and men, even good men, differ very ma-
terially from each other. But there is a rule cer-
tain, unvarying, plain, "and applicable to every case.
It came from heaven. No appeal can lie from its
decisions; no authority be pleaded against its dic-
tates. There is no action or principle of human
life, to which the precepts of the Christian religion
cannot be applied. Since the blessing of that light
has been given to the world, honour, in its common
acceptation, is at best useless ; a nomen inane, a
brutum fulnien. But it is too often perverted to
purposes positively bad ; and this may always be
known, if the action to which it is applied be tried
by the rules of the Gospel. These are the true
spear of Ithuriel, touched by which, all vanity,
falsehood, and folly, appears in its true light. If
this be the true test, 1 find that a man of honour
may embitter my happiness in this life, and deprive
me of the hopes of a better ; may poison my domes-
tic enjoyments, ruin my fortune, and at last murder
myself; and that a man who acts upon Christian
principles can do me nothing but good here, and
lead me to nothing but good hereafter. P. M.
Art. DCCLXIX.
N**. LXX. On the Translations of Homer, hy
Pope and Cozoper,
" si modo ego et vos
Scimus in urbaaum lepido sepoaere dicto,
Legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure." Hor.
to the buminatob.
Sir,
There are perhaps few persons who either hare,
or think they have, any talents for poetry, or any
13
ear for verse, who have not made some attempts at
translation. It seems to be the natural commence-
ment of the versifier's (for I will not say the poet's)
career. The plan, the thoughts, the action, even
the epithets are ready made ; and his greatest dif-
ficulty seems to be^ to render them faithfully, and to
clothe them in elegant and appropriate language.
Yet in reality it will be found no light and easy
task ; and if the numerous translations from the best
poets which have appeared in our own language are
critically examined, no one, I believe, can be found
so perfect as not to be liable to powerful, and even
unanswerable objections.
No person can be a judge of the merit of a trans-
lation who has not a competent knowledge of the
original language. Upon this principle I assume
as a datum, that every version which does not keep
as close as the vernacular tongue will admit, to the
manners, the customs, and the pronunciation of
proper names of the original, is so far faulty and
imperfect, however flowing may be its verse, how-
ever elegant its language. For although the mere
English reader may approve, considering such a
work abstractedly upon its own merits, a scholar
must be shocked and disgusted by such palpable
absurdities.
I was led into these reflections by reading lately
some parts of that admirable poem, the Iliad of
Pope, concerning which I agree with Johnson, that
" it is certainly the noblest version of poetry which
the world has ever seen." Yet surely even a
school-boy cannot re^d it without perceiving, from
14
its deficiencies, redundancies, and in some instances,
false quantities, that Pope was no scholar. Some-
thing, no doubt, may and ought to be allowed by
way of poetic licence ; but surely in a work so co-
pious in notes, no alteration of, or deviation from,
the original, ought to have been passed over with-
out an apology.
An inexcusable example, for instance, either of
carelessness or freedom, occurs in the offering of
the heir of Achilles on the funeral pile of Patroclus,
which had been devoted to the river Sperchius.
The name of the river-god twice occurs in the same
place, and each time the translator makes the second
syllable of it short ; contrary, not only to the au-
thority of his original, and of every other ancient
pbet, but also to himself in another place. In the
xvith book, 1. 212, he says properly,
" Divine Sperchius ! JovQ-descended flood !"
And yet ventures to assert the same word in book
xxiii. V. 173, and 178 differently,
*' And sacred grew, to Sperchius* honour'd flood,
Sperchius ! whose waves in mazy errors lost."
And without deigning to notice it, although there is
a pretty long note upon the first of these lines.
The learned and truly classical translator of the
Greek tragedians. Potter, has not fallen into the
same fault. In his version of Sophodes's Philoc-
tetes he renders the line in which this river it
mentioned,
" And to Sperdiius, beauteotts-rolling stream/'
lb
But to my great surprise on consulting Cowper,
who was certainly a much better scholar than Pope,
he has committed the same error, and writes, with-
out any note or acknowledgment,
" Sacred to Sperchius he had kept unshorn,
Sperchius I in vain, Peleus, my father vow'd."
Concerning the true pronunciation of the word
no doubt can exist; it is spelt in Greek with a
diphthong, l^Tnp^siog ; and it is found in four places
in Homer, in two in Statins, in Sophocles, in Virgil,
in Ovid, and in Lucan, with the middle syllable
uniformly long.
With respect to Pope's deficiencies and redun-
dancies in his celebrated translation, they are both
sufficiently obvious to those who have compared
it with the original ; but I am tempted to pro-
duce one curious instance in which both occur at
the same time. In the twenty-first book of the
Iliad, after relating the battle of the gods in the
plains of Troy, (perfiaps the weakest passage in
the whole of that noble poem) Diana is repre-
sented as making her complaints to Jupiter, who
inquires who has so ill treated her. She replies, v.
512 and 513.
That is, literally ; « Thy wife, O father, has ill-used
me, the white arm'd Juno, from whom strife and
contention arise among the immortals." This plain
answer is rendered by Pope,
16
" Abash'd, she names his own imperial spouse;
And the pale crescent fddes upon her bruws."
Now these lines are obviously deficient in not saying^
one word of the character of Juno, who is pointed
out in the original as the cause of all these dis-
putes ; and they are redundant in using the word
abashed, and in the whole of the second line, of
which not one word or syllable, nor even the
slightest allusion ♦ t6 the thought, is to be found in
Homer. And it i^ a singular in^^taiice of bad taste
to put a concetto into the mouth of the venerable
Grecian, which would be a prettiness scarcely
endurable in a modern Italian sonnet. Yet with
all its faults, Pope's translation will be read and
admired while its rivals either repose in quiet on
their shelves, or jog on in ucum vendentem thus
et odores:
P. M.
Art. DCCLXX.
N°. LXXI. Latin Translation of Gray's Elegy.
** Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus
Interpres : nee desilies imitator in arctum." Hor.
The following Latin translation of Gray's
Elegt ; being printed in the form of a fugitive
pamphlet, and the name of the translator being un-
known to me+ (the title page in which perliaps the
♦ If the epithet applied to Diana in the preceding line, wo-ti^o^
10S, be supposed to allude at all to her crescent, it must be in a
sense precisely opposite to that which Pope has given it, and to
point out its beauty, and not its fading.
f It turns out to be Anstey's, as the author discovered, soon after
this was written.
17
name appeared being lost) my classical readers will
not be displeased to have it here preserved.
"^c? Poetam.
" Nos quoque per tumulos, et arnica Silentia dulcis
Raptat Amor ; Tecum liceat. Divine Poeta,
Ire siraul, tacit^que lyram pulsare sub umbr&.
Non tua secures fastidit Musa Penates,
Non hurailes habitare casas, et sordida Rura ;
Quamvis radere iter liquidum super ardua Coeli
Caerula, Pindaric^ non expallesceret A14.
Quod si Te Latiae numeros audire CamceBae
Non piget, et nostro vacat indulgere labori ;
Fort^ erit, ut vitreas recubans Auienis ad undas,
Te doceat resonare nemus, Te flumina. Pastor,
Et tua caerule^ discet Tiberinus in Urn^
Carmina, cum tumulos praeterlabetur agrestes.
Et cum pallentes inter numeraberis Umbras,
Cum neque Te vocale melos, neque murmura fontis
Castalii, citharaeve sonus, quam strinxit Apollo,
£x humili ulteri^s poterint revocare cubili ;
Quamvis nulla tuum decorent Insignia Bustum,
At pia Musa super, nostras nihil indiga Laudis,
Perpetuas aget excubias, lacrymd.que perenni
Nutriet ambrosios in odoro Cespite flores."
" ElegiOy Spc.
** Audiu' ut occiduse signum Campana Diei
Vespertina sonet ! flectunt se tarda per agros,
Mugitusque armenta cient, vestigia Arator
Fessa domum trahit, et solus sub nocte reiiquor.
Nunc rerum species evanida cedit, et omnia
Aunt silet, nisi quit pigro Scarabseus iu orbes *
YOL. IX. C
18
Munnure se volvat, nisi tintionabula longi
Dent sonitum, faciles pecori suadeotia somnos ;
Aut nisi sola sedens hederoso in culmine Turris
Ad LuDam effundat lugubres Noctaa cantus.
Visa queri, propter secretos fort^ recessus
Si quis eat, turbetque antiqua et inhospita Regna.
H)c subterque rudes ulmos, Taxique sub umbr4
Qu^ super ingestus crebro tumet aggere Cespes,
JCterniiDi posuere angusto ia Carcere duri
Viilarum Patres, et longa oblivia ducunt.
Non vox Auroras croceos spirautis odores,
Non quae stramineo de tegmine stridit Hirundo,
Non Galli tuba clara, neque hos resonabile Cornu,
£x humili ulteri(!ks poterunt revopare cubili :
Nob iilis spleodente foco renovabitur ignis,
Sedula nee curas urgebit vespere Conjux ;
Non Patris ad reditum tencro balbubtiet ore,
CertatnuTe amj^esa g«B« petet Oscula Proles.
lUis saepe seges maturd cessit Arista ;
lUi saepe graves fregerunt vomere glebas ;
Ah ! quoties laeti sub plaustra egere Juvencos !
Ah ! quoties duro aemora ingemuere sub ictu !
Nee vitam utilibus quae incumbit provida curis.
Nee sortem ignotam, securaque gaudia Ruris
Rideat Aubitio, tumidove Snperbia fastu
Annales luopum qaoscunque audire recuset.
Sceptri grande decus, generosae stirpis bonores,
Qutcqnid opes, aut forma dedit, commune sepolchruia
Opprimil, et leti nou ^vitabilis bora.
Ducit LmmUs iter lantiUa ad coofiuia Mortis.
19
Parcite sic tellure sitis (ita fata vokbant)
Si nulla in memori surgant Insignia Busto,
Quk longos per Templi aditus, laqueatvjque tecta,
Divinas iterare solent gravia Organa Laudes.
Inscriptaene valent Urnse, spirantiaque aera.
Ad sedes fugientem animam revocare relictas t
Dicite, soliicitet cineres si fama repostos 1
Gloria si gelidas Fatorum mulceat Aures ?
Quis scit, an h)c Animas neglect^ in sede quiescat.
Qui prius incaluit coelestis semine flammae 1
Quis scit, an hlc sceptri Manus baud indigna recumbat,
, Quaeve lyrae poterat magicum inspir&sse furorem 1
Annales sed nulla suos His Musa reclusit.
Dives opum variarum, et longo fertilis sevo :
Pauperies angusta sacros compescuit ignes,
Et vivos animi glaciavit frigore cursus.
Saepe coruscantes puro fulgore sub antris
Abdidit Ocean us, caecoque in gurgite gemmas ;
Neglectus saepe, in solis qui nascitur agris,
Flos rubet, inque auras frustra disperdit Odorem.
Hlc aliquis fort^ Hamdenus, qui pectore firmo
Obstitit Imperio parvi in sua rura Tyranni,
Miltonus tumulo rudis atque inglorius illo
Dormiat, aut patrii Cromvellus sanguinis insons.
Eloquio attenti moderarier ora Senatiis,
Exitium saevique mioas ridere doloris.
Per patriam largos Fortunae divitis imbres
Spargere, et in laeto populi se agnoscere vulta,
Hos sua sors vetuit ; tenuique in Limite clausit
Virttttes, welerisque simul oompeseuit ortum;
G 9
so
Ad solium cursus per (iae'dem urgere cruentos,
Atque luas vetuit, Clementia, claudere portas,
Conatus premere occultos, quos conscia Veri
Mens fovet, ingenuique extinguere signa pudoris,
Luxuriaeque focos cumulare, ^Edemque superbau,
Thure, quod in sacris Musarum adoleverat aris.
Insanse procul aniotis certamine turbse
Sobria non illis didicerunt Vota vagari ;
Securum vitae per iter, vallemque reductam,
Senrabant placidum, cursu fallente, tenorem.
His tamen iocautus tumulis ne forte Viator
losultet, videas circum monimenta caduca,
Qu'^ numeris incompositis, rudibusque figuris
Ossa tegit lapis, et suspiria poscit euatem.
Pro Duestis Elegis, culto pro carmine, scribit
Quicquid Musa potest incondita, Nom,en et Annos :
Multaqne qneis animum mnriens soletur Agrestis,
Dogmata dispergit sacra'i Scriptural.
Sollicitae quis enim, quis amatae dulcia Vitae
Taedia, sustinuit mutare silentibus umbris ;
Desemitve almse confinia l«ta diei.
Nee desiderio cunctantia Lumina flexit 1
Projicit in gremium sese moriturus amicum,
Deficionsque oculus lacrymas, pia munera, poscit;
Quinetiatn fida ex ipso Natura Sepulchro
Exciamat, solitoque relucent igne favillae.
At te, cui curae tumulo sine honore jacentes,
Incomptoque memor qui pingis agrestia versa ;
Si quis erit, tua qui cognato pectore quondam
Fata roget, sol^ secum meditatus in umbr^,
21
Fortfe aliquis memoret, canus jam Tempora Pastor,
** Ilium szepe novo sub Lucis vidimus ortu
*• Verrentem propero matutinos ped6 Rores,
" Nascenti super arva jugosa occurrere Soli.
" Illic antiquas ubi torquet devia fagus
*' Radices per humura, patulo sub tegmine, lassus
" Solibus aestivis, se efFundere saepe solebat,
*' Lumina fixa tenens, rivumque notare loquacem.
" Sarpe istam assuetus prope sylvam errare, superbum
"Ridens nescio quid; nunc multa abnormia volvens,
" Aut dcsperanti similis nunc pallidus ibat,
" Ut cur& insanus, miserove agifatus Araore.
" Mane erat, et solito non ilium in colle videbam,
** Non ilium in campo, not^ nee in arboris umbr^ :
** Jamque nova est exorta Dies ; neque fiumina propter,
" Nee propter s^^lvam, aut arvis erat ille jugosis.
** Adveniente alia, portatum Lunc ordine mcesto
** Vidimus, et tristes quk semita ducil ad jSildem
** Rite ire Exequias ; ades hue, et perlege Carmen
" (Nam potes,) inscriptum lapidi sub vepre vetust^.'"
,r
" Epitaphium.
*' Nee famae, neque notus, hie quiescit,
Fortunae Juvenis, super silenti
Telluris gremio caput reponens.
Non cunas humiles, Laremque paryum
Contempsit pia Musa ; flebilisque
Jussit Melpomene &uum vocari.
Huic largum fuit, integrumque pectus,
£t largum tulit a Deo favorem :
Solum quod potuit dare, indigent!
22
Indalsit lacrymam ; Deusque Amicum,
Quod solum petiit, dedit rogauti.
Virtutes fuge curiosus ultra
Scrutari ; fuge sedibus trcmendis
Culpas eruere, iu Patris Deique
Illic mente sacri simul repostac
Inter spemque metumque conquescunt."
Art. DCCLXXI.
N". LXXII. Bishop Warburton's Characters of the
Historians of the Civil Wars.
" Bella plusquam civilia." Lucan.
'^ I CANNOT fill this paper better, or more to the pur-
pose of my present work, than hy extracting the fol-
lowing very interesting literary notices from Bishop
Warburton's correspondence with Bishop Hard,
lately published.
" In studying this period,'* (the Civil Wars of the
Sixteenth Century) " the most important, the most
wonderful in all history, I suppose you will make
Lord Clarendon's incomparable performance your
ground-work. I think it will be understood to ad-
vantage, by reading as an introduction to it. Rapines
Reign of James I. and the first fourteen years of
Charles L
** After this will follow Whitlock's Memoirs.* It
* First published 1682; and agaia with many additions j and a
better index, 1732. Bulstrode Whitelocke, son of Sir James White-
locke, a judge of the Common Pleas, who died 1633, was bom
1605 ; was educated to the law ; and was one of Cromwell's Lords,
1657. He died at Chiltoo, Wilts, 1676.
is only a journal or diary, very ample and full of
important matters. The writer was learned in his
own profession; thought largely in religion by
means of his friendship with Selden : for the rest,
he is vain and pedantic, and on the whole, a little
genius.
*' Ludlow'' s Memoirs'* as, to its composition, is be-
low criticism : as to the matter curious enough.
With what spirit written, you may judge by his
character, which was that of a furious, mad, but I
think, apparently honest republican, and independ-
ent.
*^ May's History of the Parliament t is a just
composition, according to the rules of history. It
is written with much judgment, penetration, man-
liness, and spirit, and with a candour, that will great-
ly increase your esteem, when you underst,and, that
he wrote by order of his masters, the Parliament. It
breaks off (much to the loss of the history of that
time) just when their armies were new modelled by
the self-denying ordinance : this loss was attempted
to be supplied by.
*' Sprigge's History of Fairfax's Exploits,X — "<>•*
passibus acquis. He was chaplain to the general, is
* Printed at Vevay, in the canton of Berne, 1698^ 2 vols. 8ro.
and a 3d vol. with a collection of original papers, 1699, 8vo.
Edmund Ludlow was born 1620; educated to the law; and died at
Vevay in Switzerland, 1693, aetat 73.
f 1647, Fol. lately reprinted by Baron Maseres. Thomas May,
veil known as a poet, has been already noticed in this work.
J AngUa Redivivct ; England's Recovery, &c. 1647. Fol. Sprigge
was born 1618; married about 1674, the widow of James Fienes,
Viscount Say and Sele, daughter of Edward, Viscount Wiihbledon,
and died 1684. Wood's Ath. II. 761.
24
not altogether devoid of Mat/'s candour, though be
has little of his spirit. Walker says it was written
by the famous Col. Fienes, though under Spiigge's
name. It is altogether a military history, as the fol-
lowing one of TFalker, called The History of Inde-
•pendency^* is a civil one; or rather of the nature of
a political pamphlet against the Independents. It is
full of curious anecdotes; though written with much
fury, by a wrathful Presbyterian member, who was
cast out of the saddle with the rest by the Inde-
pendents.
" Milton was even with him in the fine and severe
character he draws of the Presbyterian Administra-
tion, which you will find in the beginning of one of
his books of the Historj/ of England^ in the late
uncastrated editions. In the course of the study of
these writers, you will have perpetual occasion to
verity or refute what they deliver, by turning over the
authentic pieces in Nalsoti'sy and especially Rush'
worth's voluminous collections, which are vastly cu-
rious and valuable.
" The Elenchus Motuum\ of Bates, and Sir PJii-
lip Warwick^s Memoirsl may be worth reading.
Nor must that strange thing of Ilobbes be forgot,
called The History of the Civil Wars : it is in
dialogue, and full of paradoxes, like all his other
writings. More philosophical, political, — or any
thing rather than historical ; yet full of shrewd ob*
• SeeCens. Lit. IV. 171.
f Paris, 1649 J Franc, ad Msn. 1650, 4to. George Bate the
author was a physician, bon^ 1606, died 1669'. Wood's Ath. LI.
432.
^ See Cens. Lit. IV. 163.
25
servations. When you have digested the history of
this period, you will find in Thurloe's* large coUec-
tiont many letters, which will let you throroughly
into the genius of those times and manners."
In a letter, a fewyears afterwards on the publication
of Lord Clarendon's Continuation, or Life, the Bi-
shop says, " It is full of a thousand curious anec-
dotes, and fully answers my expectations, as much as
Butler's Remains fell short of it. I was tired to death,
before I got to the end of his characters, whereas I
wished the history ten times longer than it is. Wal-
pole in reading the former part of this will blush, if
he has any sense of shame, for his abuse of Lord
Falkland.
" Mr. Gray has certainly true taste. I should
have read Hudibras with as much indifference, per-
haps, as he did, was it not for my fondness of the
transactions of those times, against which it is a
satire. Besides, it induced me to think the author
of a much higher class, than his Remains shew him
to have been. And I can now readily think the
comedies he wrote were as excusable, as the satirists
of that age make them to be !"
Again — " What made the Continuation of the
History not afford you all the entertainment which
perhaps you expected, was not, 1 persuade myself,
* In the mind of the learned bishop, as is frequently the case
with men of warm fancies, objects sometimes shift their hues. In
a letter a few weeks before he had said, ** there is little or nothing
in that enormous collection of Thurloe worth notice," p. 14G.
f Published by Dr. Birch in 7 vols. Fol. John Thurloe was secre-
tary of state to the Cromwells. He was born 1616, and died 1668,
aged 51.
26
(when yon think again) the subject, but the execu-
tion. Do not you read Tacitus, who hud the worst,
with the same pleasure as Livy, who had the best
subject ? The truth is, in one circumstance, (and but
in one) but that a capital, the Co/;/m2/a//on is not
equal to the Jlistort/ of the Rebellion ; and that is
in the composition of the characters. There is not
the same terseness, the same elegance, the same sub-
lime and master-touches in these, which make those
superior to every thing of their kind.
'' But with all the defects of this posthumous work,
I read it with a pleasure surpassed by nothing but
my disgust to the posthumous works of Butler.
Whence could this difference arise in these works of
sheer wit and sheer wisdom ? 1 suppose from this,
that sheer wit, being indeed folly, is opposite to sheer
wisdom."
Dr. Hurd makes the following remarks in answer.
*' The composition of the characters in Lord Claren-
don's Continuation is, ns you truly observe, its chief
fault : of which the following, I suppose, may be the
reason. Besides that business and age, and misfor-
tunes, had perhaps sunk his spirits, the Continuation
is not so properly the history of the first six years of
Charles the Second, as an anxious apology for the
share himself had in the administration. This has
hurt the composition in several respects. Amongst
others, he could not with decency allow his pen
that scope in his delineation of the chief charac-
ters of the court, who were all his personal en-
emies, as he had done in that of the enemies to
the King and Monarchy in the Grand Rebellion.
The endeavour to keep up a shew of candour, and
27
especially to prevent the appearance of a rancorous
resentment, has deadened his colouring very much,
besides that it made him sparing in the u»e of it.
Else, his inimitable pencil had attempted, at least
to.do justice to Bennet, to Berkeley, to Coventry,
to the nightly cabal of facetious memory, to the
Lady, and if his excessive loyalty had not intervened,
to his infamous master himself. That there was
somewhat of this in the case, seems clear from some
passages where he was not so restrained; such, for
instance, as the additional touches to Falkland's and
Southampton's characters. With all this, I am apt
to think there may still be something in what I said
of the nature of the subject. Exquisite virtue and
enormous vice afford a fine field for the historian's
genius. And hence Livy and Tacitus are, in their
way, perhaps equally entertaining. But the little
intrigues of a selfish court, about carrr/ing or defeat'
ing this or that measure^ about displacing this, and
bringing in that minister, which interest nobody
very much but the parties concerned, can hardly be
made very striking by any abilities of the relator.
If Cardinal de Retz has succeeded, his scene was
busier, and of another nature from that of Lord
Clarendon. But however this be, and when all
abatements are made, one finds the same gracious
facility of expression ; above all, one observes the
same love of virtue and dignity of sentiment, which
ennobled the History/ of the Rebellion. And if this
raises one's ideas, most, of the writer, the Continual
Hon supports and confirms all that one was led to
conceive of the man and the minister.
28
Art. DCCLXXII.
N*. LXXIII.. On Seclusion amid magnificient
Scenery.
" These are the bauots of meditation, these
The scenes, where antient bards th' expiring breath
Extatic felt ; and from this world retir'd
Coii\crs'd with angels." Thomson.
MR. Rt'MINATOR.
I WRITE from an impulse of gratitude. At this
delightful season, when a poetic imagination acquires
redoubled influence, 1 reflect with enthusiasm on
the many hours of enjoyment which your lucubra-
tions have bestowed on me. In those Essays, Sir, I
have ever met with sentiments with which it has af-
forded me the purest pleasure to feel my own ideas
in unison ; though I know not with what propriety
I now trouble you with this declaration, coming from
an unknown and obscure individual. Sir, there is
a certain mode of life, and peculiarity of situation,
which is more likely than any other to produce and
cherish poetic enthusiasm. To be accustomed from
infancy to the deepest seclusion, and to the wild and
majestic scenery of nature, though accompanied
with some disadvantages, is perhaps the greatest
means of laying a foundation for this temper of
mind. The placid tranquillity of verdant woods,
th(B roaring of the mountain torrent, the sweet in-
terchange, and inexpressible influence of morn and
erening, contemplated in the bosom of magnificent
scenery, must sooner or later, produce, in a mind pos-
sessed of any feeling, a correspondent glow of senti-
ment and imagination. Even Johnson, whose indif-
ference to rural beauty is well known, has yel borne
testimony in one of the most striking passages of
his Journey through Scotland to its powerful in-
fluence. I have not the book within ri-ach, and
therefore cannot quote; but the passage is pro-
bably known to every reader whom I should wish to
interest.
From my earliest recollections, I have been fami-
liarized to seclusion, in a beautiful and sequestered
corner of the country. To you, Sir, it is unnecessary
to describe the various enjoyments, which, in a situa-
tion of this kind, must await a mind attached to con-
templation, and which can employ itself in pursuit of
the Muses. It has been my supreme delight to
wander through groves, and sequestered vallies,
where no intruder was ever known to disturb the
freedom of solitary meditation ; and to indulge my-
self in pouring forth, amid the blast that swept over
the neighbouring forest, innumerable attempts at
poetical composition, with but little consideration of
their fate, or regard to correctness. But heavens I
how boundless are the intentions ; how wild and im-
possible the designs ! and above all, how glorious
and transporting the poetical visions, which have
adorned the day-dreams in which I so much delight-
ed to indulge ! Even now I cannot help reflecting
with enthusiasm on the unmixed happiness which I
then enjoyed. One remark very forcibly occurs to
my recollection, which is, that of all the classical
authors known to me at present, i^o^e which for-
merly became my associates, in wandering through
ihe woods, and which I was accuitomed to read
so
aloud to the dashing waterfall, are recollected with
most gratitude, and above all others most forcibly
imprinted on the memory. I cannot however, when
talking of a country life, use the words of Cowper,
" I never framed a wish, or formed a plan.
That flattered me with hopes of earthly bliss.
But here I laid the scene !"
for having been told that it was most commendable
to follow some profession, I conquered, in idea,
every obstacle, and established my abode in cities,
amid ^ the hum of men,' with as little difficulty as I
had before entered the court of the Fairy Queen, or
quaffed ale along with warriors, in the haU of Odin.
But the time has at last arrived, when these threats
were to be put into execution; and when that
which is commonly called life began to dawn— Alas,
Mr. Ruminator ! I have here found a brilliant ima-
gination to be but a deceitful guide. My golden
visions have fled like the morning cloud : I have en-
tered the crowded ball-room, mingled with the train
of orators and statesmen ; and returned fevered with
disappointment, to search again for repose in the
bosom of the forest, where alone it could be found.
In this situation I now am. After having once
given the reins to poetical fancy, it is difficult indeed
to stop its career; and I remain at present in doubt
whether to struggle against its influence, by mingling
again with the world, or to follow, without further
hesitation, the precepts contained in an epigram of
Martial, elegantly translated in a late number of your
Essays.
It was my intention to wind up this letter with a
31
very juvenile effusion in verse, which seemed not
inapplicable to the present subject; but recollecting
that a copy of these verses may exist in the nosses-
sion of a friend, I dread the risk, (notwithstanding
my insignificance) of becoming in any degree known,
until I find what reception you may give to this
feeble and hurried transcript of my feelings.
Yours,
MUSARUM AmATOR. *
May 2, 1809.
Art. DCCLXXIII.
N°. LXXIV. On the deceitfulness of Hope, Fare-
well of the Ruminator.
*' Qui prorogat horam
Rusticus expectat, dum defluat amnis." HoiR.
As when a traveller
At night's approach, content with the next cot.
There ruminates awhile.
Thus I long travell'd in the ways of men.
And dancing with the rest the giddy maze.
Where disappointment smiles at Hope's career.
At length have housM me in an humble shed."
YOWNG.
The delusions of hope have been among the
most trite topics of the moralist. The Ruminator
feels them on the present occasion with no common
force. He had flattered himself that his lucubra-
tions might have proceeded to at least double their
present length. But to plan and to act are widely
different. He has deferred the execution of half
32
his purposes till it is too late, and the close of the
Cexsura brings them to a termination before their
time.
Thus disheartened, he has wanted energy suffi-
cient to perform the little that might still have been
done, and passed two or three months in a state of
listlessness and idleness such as he has not expe-
rienced for jears. A number of favourite subjects
remain untouched; and a number of fragments un-
used.
Even this last paper has been deferred, from the
wish to execute it well, till the languor of over
wearied thou<;ht has diminished the usual desrree
of ability ; and time scarcely remains to execute it
at all.
To look back on what is past, is an employment
too fearful for the present spirits of the Author.
*' The toil," says Johnson, " with which performance
struggles after idea, is so irksome and disgusting,
and so frequent is the necessity of resting below
that perfection, which we imagined within our reach,
that seldom any man obtains more from his endea-
vours, than a painful conviction of his defects, and
a continual resuscitation of desires, which he feels
himself unable to gratify."
But he who declines to act till he can reach ideal
excellence, is a selfish coward ; and surely he, who
by a generous venture attains a very moderate de-
gree of merit, is at least far preferable to him who
wraps himself up in conceit of his own importance,
because he never made an attempt.
Of many of the defects of the series of moral and
critical essays the Ruminator is too sensible, to add
33
his aid to the discernment of others in discovering
them. Almost all the interest which they lay claim
to is, that they are (such of them he means as were
written by himself) the undisguised pictures of his
own mind. And we have many high authorities for
. asserting, that there are scarce any minds, however
small their pretensions may be to extraordinary en-
dowment, of which genuine and unsophisticated
delineations will not afford either instruction or
amusement.
To say the same things as have been said a thou-
sand times before, not from individual feeling or
individual conviction, but merely by drawing from
the stores of the memory, may perhaps be fairly
deemed an hollow and unavailing echo. But it is
far otherwise with that, which springs from the in-
most recesses of the heart or the intellect. There
is a strength, a distinctness, a raciness, in what thus
issues from the fountain-head, which is never brought
forth in vain.
All the varieties of the human understanding, the
different lights in which the same objects appear to
different faculties and dispositions, the minute shades
of distinction which the complex operations of head
and temper suggest, afford inexhaustible subjects of
description' for the use of the moral philosopher, and
the metaphysician, to whom such descriptions pos"
sess the merit and use of original evidence, while the
transmissions of the memory are, like hear-say testi*
mony, of little value.
If the flow offeeling have ever given to these Essays
any approach to eloquence, if the movements of the
heart have produced anything of more permanent in-
VOL. i^ B
terest than the capricious and uncertain operations of
the head, the writer's time and endeavours will not
have been spent totally in vain.
If it be complained that the same topics more often
recur than is consistent with the love of diversity
which characterizes the public taste, let it be recol-
lected, that nothing much above the common can be
hoped, even from the most powerful talents, without
long meditation and mental digestion ; and surely it
is better to dwell on that which gives the chance of
-displaying depth and novelty of thought, than to
(skim the surface for the sake of a greater change of
views ; for it cannot be expected that the same per-
son should have leisure, or inclination for both.
The generality of mankind indeed'spend their days
in a kind of twilight of thought : ideas pass indis>
tinctly before them, without examination, or being
tried by the test of language ; or at least by any
other language than that which in oral delivery does
sot sufficiently betray their imperfectness. But as
he, in whom the flame of the better part of our na-
ture burns, can never be content to dream away his
life without leaving some memorial of those feculties
with which he has been endowed, and as the mind
can only acquire facility and strength by incessant
exercise, he becomes discontented and miserable
while he omits the requisite labour.
Could the Author have attained the delicate and
'serenely rich beauties of Addison, or the overflowing
strength and philosophical perspicuity of Johnson,
he would not now have to look back with regret and
anxiety on the ineflicacy of !iis own endeavours. But
^hile it is better to have reached even tnediocrity
than to have done nothing, he may on a few themes,
which have for years been revolving in his mind,
still flatter himself with the hope of exciting the
sympathy of readers of cultivated taste.
In the retirement of a studious life, in the bosom of
fields and woods, he is often so filled with the reali-
ties of natural beauty, as to rest contented with pas-
sive admiration. The repose of delight would only
be disturbed by the attempt at description ; and the
colourings of fancy would be more than superfluous.
In the tumult of present joys our ideas are often
too confused to be analyzed. It is from a certain
distance that they are best reflected by the mind.
It is then that the prominent features remain, while
all that tended only to dazzle, has faded away.
Such perhaps may be amongst the reasons why he
has been able to transfuse into these Essays so little
of the spirit or the tints of the enchanting scenery
which surrounds him.
But to waste more words in apology is vain. The
attempt to conciliate the public, or even himself, to
these Essays, if the Essays themselves do not pro-
duce that conciliation, is without hope, and would,
even were it not hopeless, be without final use.
They are now at the mercy of the world, and can-
not be recalled. They stand before the impartial
reader with all their imperfections ; and from them
will the Author's humble capacity for Essay- writing .
be judged, in spite of all he can say. Some will
wonder at his rashness ; some sneer at his stupidity ;
and many, who never tried themselves what it is to
proceed in so perilous a task, will be surprised at
the utter feilure of his attempts.
»9
56
The Author, morbidly alive as his first feelings are
to disappointment or neglect, has learned to endure
with tolerable fortitude, the consequences of com-
mitting himself to the public view ; and if he cannot
always sufficiently moderate his emotions at insult
or neglect, nor suddenly recover from the blight of
ungenerous discouragement, he has taught his mind
to subside gradually into a calmness which can abide
the results of his adventrous love of £ime. Some
friends he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has
secured by these Essays ; and of some noble minds he
has had the good fortune to acquire the praise, whose
approbation replaces him in humour with himself,
and makes him amends for many mortifications.
To Mr. Lofft The Ruminator is indebted for
some pieces of valuable poetry. One other friend
only has he to thank for aid in these Essays. To
the nephew and biographer of a lady of celebrated
learning and genius lately deceased he is obliged
for several papers composed at his desire, which, if
not the most numerous, are the roost valuable of the
series.
For the fate of those which remain, the writer can-
not suppress his solicitude ; for from them it will
probably hereafter be determined, whether he has
justly aspired to some qualities of the mind, of which
the deficiency will hereafter cloud the recollection
of him that he is so anxious should survive the
grave.*
May 21, 1809,
* N.B. The Ruminator was reprinted separately in 1813 iu small
8vo. i aud in ihvt Edition has several additional Essays.
sr
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES,
CONSISTING PRINCIPALLY OF ORIGINAL PAPERS.
Art. DCCLXXIV. BIBLIOTHEC^.*
In entering upon the subject of scarce and curious
books in English literature, I feel considerable diffi-
dence. Neither my inclinations nor my opportuni-
ties have enabled me to pay that attention to it,
which has rendered so very perfect the skill of men,
whose industry has embraced the means afforded by
a long residence in the metropolis, or near public
libraries. But almost from my childhood my mind
has been awake to a moderate and regulated re-
search in this field of enquiry : it is true that I could
neither forsake for it the regions of fancy, nor much
restrain my insatiable thirst for the more elegant, if
not more solid, entertainments of modern literature.
The black-letter mania never took exclusive pos-
session of my head ; and therefore I have often felt
myself a mere novice in these acquirements among
many, whose extensive knowledge of title-pages,
editions, and dates, excited not only my wonder,
but, may I add, my disgust ! Of such I not only
despair of increasing the knowledge, but even of
* This stood in the first volome of the first edition, and ought
perhaps still to have stood there, as introductory. •
i
38
avoiding the contempt. There are others, not in-
fected with this excess of antiquarian curiosity, wh
may be gratified with less recondite information re-
garding the literature of our ancestors ; who maj
be glad to know what has been already written on
subjects, on which every day is producing new pub-
lications, and find it a pleasing and useful employ-
ment to compare the past with the present ; and to
learn to what authors they can effectually apply for
such future enquiries as may occur to them. The
mere black-letter collector, who seldom looks at
any but the first and last pages of his book, ai|d
cares nothing for the intrinsic merits of its contents,
but would value the most despicable nonsense above
the noblest effort of genius, in proportion as it was
rare or unique, is ^ being, to whose skill I would
not, if I could, contribute ; and whose praises I
have no desire to obtain.
I trust I shall not be accused of wanting a due
share of veneration for what is ancient ; something
perhaps even beyond its real worth I am sufficiently
inclined to discover in that which bears the imposing
stamp of time : but it is imposible to surrender all
taste and feeling and discrimination to the ridiculous
judgments and conceited arrogance of trifling and
selfish collectors. If therefore the old books I may
endeavour to bring back into notice, shall seem to
them unworthy of attention, because copies of those
books may not be difficult to be obtained, I warn them
again that such a test of value 1 utterly disclaim. I
wish to aid the researches, and mingle in the dis-
cussions of more rational enquirers ; I would tear
back the veil of oblivion from unjustly neglected
-^
39
authors, and restore and revive the faded laurel to
the brow^s of unfortunate and forgotten poets!
The late ingenious Du. Farmer, and still more
ingenious George Steevens, though both, were I
think, infected with this mania a little beyond what a
severe judgment and exact taste can approve, jet
both made good use of the copious libraries they
formed, as is evinced by the sagacious Essay on the
Learning of Shakspeare, and the acute illustrations
of that incomparable dramatist. The mere sale
catalogues of their books furnish much valuable in-
formation. To extend therefore the recollection of
these catalogues, I shall insert their titles here, ac-
companied by some remarks.
Bihliotheca Farmeriana. A Catalogue of the curious^
valuable, and extensive Librart/y in print and manu'
script, of the late Rev. Richcerd Farmer, D. D,
Canon Residentiari/ of St. PauFs, Master of Ema-
nuel College, and Fellow of the Roi/al and Anti'
quart/ Societies, deceased: comprehending many
rare editions of the Greek and Roman Classics,
and of the most eminent philologers ; a fine Col-
lection of English Histori/, Antiquities, and To'
pography, including all the old Chronicles ; the
most rare and copious assemblage of old English
poetry, that, perhaps, was ever exhibited, <it one
view ; together with a great variety of old plays,
and early printed books, English and Foreign, in
the Black Letter, many of which are extremely
scarce.'^ Sfc. Sfc.
The sale to commence Monday, May 7, 1798, a^
continue. 35 days.
40
This catalogue extends to 379 pages, and the ar-
ticles of books amount to 8155. It seems that Dr.
Farmer once proposed himself to have had a cata-
logue taken of his library, to which he intended to
have prefixed the following Advertisement.
" This collection of books is by no means to be
considered as an essay towards a perfect library ;
the circumstances and the situation of the collector
made such an attempt both unnecessary and im-
practicable. Here are few publications of great
price, which were already to be found in the excel-
lent library of Emanuel College : but it is believed,
that not many private collections contain a greater
number of really curious and scarce books; and
perhaps no one is so rich in the ancient philological
English literature. R. Farmer."
The other Catalogue is entitled,
Bihliotheca Steevensiana. A Catalogue of the curious
and valuable Librari/ of George SteevenSy Esq,
Fellow of the Ro^al and Antiquari/ Societies, lateh/
deceased : comprehending an extraordinary fine col-
lection of books, in classical, philological, histori-
cal, old English, and general literature ; many of
which are extremely rare, Sfc. Sfc.
The sale to commence Tuesday, May 13, 1800, and
continue 10 days.
The articles of books in this catalogue, which con-
sists of 125 pages, only amount to 1930.
In both these libraries, I believe, the rarest articles
were those of old English poetry ; the former pos-
sessed the greatest number ; but in the latter there
were some books of uncommon curiosity. It seems
41
a little singular that on this subject both the Bod-
leian Library, and that of the British Museum, are
very deficient. To the late Mr. Herbert, therefore,
in his new edition of Ames's useful publication of
Typographical Antiquities, these private collections
were eminently serviceable. And Mr. Joseph Rit-
son, unilluminated by a particle of taste or fancy,
and remarkable only for the unceasing drudgery
with which he dedicated his life to one of the hum-
blest departments of literary antiquities, and for the
bitter insolence and foul abuse with which he com-
municated his dull acquisitions to the public, was
equally indebted to the same sources, particularly in
his " Bibliographia Poetica," 1802. Whoever is
acquainted with that strange, but not totally useless,
book, will wonder how it was possible for a man,
with such a fund of materials before him, to compile
a work so utterly lifeless and stupid, so uncheered
by one single ray of light, or one solitary flower ad-
mitted even by chance from the numerous and varied
gardens of poetry, over which he had been travel-
ling! But, poor unhappy spirit, thou art gone!
Perhaps thy restless temper was disease : and mayst
thou find peace in the grave !*
Above all men the late Laureat, whom this pitiable
critic has loaded with the coarsest epithets, has
taught us what use to make of dark and forgotten
materials. Andj among many other instances of
the living, Mr. George Ellis,t in his " Specimens of
our early Poetry," and Mr. Walter Scott, in his
* He died in August or September 1803. See a very affecting
account of his death in the British Critic at that period.
f This amiable and accomplished critic died in tb« spring of 1815.
4:»
interftsting " Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders,"
have exhibited the happy result of the most minute,
and patient investigations, of this kind, with the
most splendiU talents. Nor ought I to omit, (if
delicacy did not make me hesitate) my friend Mr;.
Park, who, with a very accurate and extensive skill
in black letter literature, combines a most elegant
taste, and rich and cultivated imagination.
Art. DCCLXXV. TOPOGRAPHY.
The dull manner in which this department of
literature has been generally conducted, without one
faint ray of fancy to illuminate the dreary paths of
antiquity, has brought it into contempt with men of
elegant learning and feeling hearts. It cannot be
denied, that to extract from court-rolls, deeds of
feoffment, and parish registers, to copy tombstones,
and epitomize wills, to hunt indexes for inquisitions,
and transcribe meagre pedigrees of obscure names,
is a very humble exercise of some of the lowest
qualifications of an attorney's clerk : — But to eluci-
date local history in the manner in which it ought
to be elucidated, is to rescue the worthy from obli-
vion, to delineate the changes of manners, and the
prc^ess of arts, and call back to the fancy the pomp
and splendour of ages that are gone ; to restore the
ruinated castle ; to repeople the deserted mansion,
and bid for a moment the grave render back its in-
habitants to the fond eye of regret. To execute
works of this kind would require powers very dif-
ferent from those of most of our Topographers, and
not very compatible with that industry which the
43
necessary researches would call for. Few men have
united, with the powers of fancy and taste, such la-
borious investi^tion, as the late Mr. Thomas War-
ton. His specimen of a History of Oxfordshire, in
his account of the parish of Kiddington, is a model
for such compilations, and shews how instructive
and entertaining he could have made the account of
a more favoured spot.
But the principal purpose of my entering at pre-
sent on this subject is to introduce the fragment of a
Poem, in which it is attempted to describe the feel-
ings of a tender heart on re-visiting the scenes of
former happiness. It seems to me that such effu-
sions come strictly within the plan of the most valu-
able part of topographical memoirs ; and would add
life, interest, and moral charms to what is now con-
sidered as the most useless and unattractive branch
of modern reading.
A POETICAL FRAGMENT
On a deserted mansion, the supposed place of nativity/
of the person in whose character it is written.
Ah ! poor deserted solitary dome !
Thou wast, the' now so dreary, once my home !
From these lov'd windows was I wont to mark
The swain at noontide cross the chearful park ;
And oft as pensive Eve began to draw
O'er the sweet scene her shadowy veil, I saw
The weary woodman thro' the twilight pace.
His hearth's domestic circle to embrace !
Unnotic'd now bis mournful path he treads ;
No casual ray thy gloomy window sheds ;
44
From thy chill halls no clouds of smoke appear:
No sound of human habitant is here.
The angry Spirits of the wind alone
Shriek thro' thy rooms and 'mid thy turrets groan ;
While the poor villager, who wont to stay.
And near this spot to linger on his way.
Now passes fearful on, nor looks around ;
Starts at each bough, and quakes at every sound.
With trembling footsteps I approach thy gates ;
The massy door upon the hinges grates ;
Hark ! as it opens, what an hollow groan
'Cross the dark hall, and down the aisles, is thrown !
Still as each lov'd apartment I explore.
The ghosts glide by of joys that are no more ;
Cold tremors seize my frame, and to my heart
Despair's chill shafts in clouds of sorrow dart !
O where are all the crew, whose social powers
Speeded beneath these roofs my youthful hours?
Some near yon fane, beneath the turfy mound.
From worldly cares have early quiet found :
Wide o'er the globe dispers'd the rest are seen;
Vast lands extend, deep oceans roll between :
Some iu the burning suns of Asin toil
To win deceitful Fortune's gaudy smile ;
Some in the battle's perils spend their breath.
And grasp at Honour in the arms of Death ;
On Egypt's sandy plains, or 'mid the crew
Of mad rebellion still their course pursae :
Some to the gentler arts of peace apply.
Or with the gown's or senate's labours vie ;
Watch with the moon thro' midnight's tranquil hour.
Learning's exhaustless volumes to explore ;
Or paint bright Fancy's shadowy shapes, which throng
Before the raptur'd sight, in living song.
45
While fondly as the fairy structure grows
With hope of endless fame the bosom glows.
But where are they, whose softer forms display'd
Beauty iu all the charms of youth array'd 1
Which first the breast with love's emotion fili'd.
And with new joys the dove-winged moments thrill'd?
Here glimmered first, amid a thousand wiles.
Thro' the deep blush, Aflfection's purple smiles ;
In murmurs died the voices melting tone.
And the heart throbb'd with softness yet unknown.
On yonder lawn, in yonder tangled shade.
Till twilight stole upon our joys we played ;
Danc'd on the green, or with affected race
Pursued thro' winding walks the wanton chase ;
Or sat on banks of flowers, and told some tale
Where hapless lovers o'er their fate bewail ;
Or bad soft Echo from her mossy seat
The floating music of their songs repeat!
Ye dear companions of my boyish days.
Fair idols of my vows and of my lays,
O whither are ye gone"? what varied fate
Has heaven decreed your riper years to wait ?
The bloom of youth no longer paints your cheeks ;
In your soft eyes gay hope no longer speaks ;
Bright as the hyacinthine rays of Morn,
Your cheeks no more the auburn locks adorn.
Some in the distant shades of privacy
With watchful looks a mother's care supply ;
Some in the realms of fashion feed their pride.
Wafted on dissipation's vapoury tide :
And some alas ! ere yet the silver hair
And tottering footsteps warn'd them to prepare.
Of life's vain course have clos'd the fickle race.
And sudden sunk in chilling death's embrace.
46
But happy they, who, in the quiet grave.
The world's relentless storms no more must brave ;
For here no more had childhood's pure delights
Blessed tiieir sweet days, and hover'd o'er their nights.
Here cruel Fate had early clos'd the door.
That opens to the voice of joy no more;
And still, where'er the wretched exiles stray'd.
Black Care had gloom'd their steps, and Fraud be-
tray'd ;
And Envy scowl'd upon their fairest deeds.
And Calumny, that cursed fiend who feeds
With most delight on those who most aspire
To win pure fame by virtue's holiest fire.
Had damp'd the ardor of the generous breast.
And glory's kindling visions had snpprest. —
The grave contains them now : beneath a heap
Of mouldering turf in silent rest they sleep.
Till the dread day when sounds the trump of fate.
And all with trembling hope their doom must wait.
O ye deep shadowy walks ; ye forest-dells.
Where Solitude with inmost mystery dwells !
Again I hail you ! From the leaf-strown earth
Visions of happy infancy spring forth
At every step I tread ; and to my heart
A momentary ray of joy impart :
But ah ! how soon, with present ills combined.
The dreadful contrast strikes the wounded mind !
The clock that sent its undulating sounds
With deep'tou'd stroke thro' all your distant bounds
From yonder lofty tower, is silent now ;
Silent the horn, that on yon airy brow.
Blew its shrill notes thro' all your calm retreats.
And rous'd the Nyraphs and Dryads from their seats ;
47
And caird sweet Echo, bidding her prolong
Thro' hill and grove and vale the cfaearful song :
Still is the breath of him who wak'd the horn ;
The master's tongue, who did these scenes adorn.
Is silent in the dust ; no more his voice
Bids the deep coverts of your woods rejoice ;
No more the rustic's grateful breasts he chears.
Nor wipes from Poverty her bitter tears ;
No more around him draws the eager cry
Of prattling childhood to attract his eye.
From whence the rays of love and kindness fly ;
No more his lips pronounce the awful tone
Of wisdom, and instruct the bad to moan
Their guilty course ; and virtue still to bear
The load of life with fortitude and prayer.
Beneath the pavement of yon humble fane
Low in the earth his moukleriug bones remain.
Memory shall o'er the spot her vigils keep.
And Friendship and Affection long shall weep ;
And he, who now attempts in simple lays,
His honour'd fame so weakly to emblaze.
Shall never cease, till life its current stays.
To love, to speak, to view with idol eyes.
His merits kindling as they upward rise !
O what a sudden gloom invests the heaven !
Black cloads across the fair expanse are driven:
No sound is heard ; save where a casual breeze
Shakes off the rustling leaves from faded trees.
Hark ! what a gust was that ! a fearful moan
Along the dark'ning forest seems to groan.
Ye holy spirits of my buried sires,
Still e'en in death survive your wonted fires ?
Still hovering round your once lov'd earthly walks.
Is it your voice that in the breeises talks ?
1
}
48
To him who sigbs o'er all your glories gone,
Who weeps your scatter'd grove, your ruin'd lawn ;
Who views with bursting heart your falling towers.
And fills with loud lament your ravag'd bowers ;
To him, perchance your guardian cares extend ;
O'er him perchance with favouring voice ye bend !
O hear me, sainted beings of the air.
One sign, ye smile upon my efforts, spare !
That gust again ! louder it seemed to move.
Rushing across the centre of the grove !
Sure 'tis the signal that ye come at last
To calm ray breast, and soothe my sorrows past :
For long Misfortune's baleful hand has spread
Her iron tortures round my luckless head.
CcBtera desunt.
Art. DCCLXXVI. Original Letter of Mrs. Mon-
tagu to Mrs. Wm. Robinson, of Denton.
Dear Madam, Chaillot, Sept. 19, 1776.
"I HAD the pleasure of receiving jour obliging
letter from the hands of a very lively polite French
lady. Who she is I cannot learn, for at Paris every
body does not know every body as at London. Miss
G and I were going to step into the coach with
an intention to pass one night at Paris ; but I changed
my scheme, and insisted on Madame C staying
the evening : she has travelled a great deal, and is
very amusing. I have called twice at her door, but
did not find her at home ; she wrote me a very ob-
liging note to express her regret. 1 do not know
whether I mentioned to you that I was disgusted
49
with the noise and dirtiness of an hotel garni. I had
the best apartments in the best hotel at Paris. In
my drawing-room I had a fine lustre, noble looking-
glasses, velvet chairs ; and in my bed-chamber a
rich bed with a superb canopy. Poets and philoso-
phers have told us that cares and solicitudes lurk
under rich canopies, but they never told us that at
Paris les punaises lie concealed there ; small evils
it may be said, but I assure you as incompatible with
sound sleep as the most formidable- terrors or the
wildest dreams of ambition. I did not rest well at
night, and in the day for the few hours I was chez
moi I did not enjoy that kind of comfort one feels at
home ; so I was determined to have an habitation
quite to myself. 1 got a pretty small house at
Chaillot with the most delightful prospect ; it was
unfurnished, so I hired furniture. I had not brought
house-linen, but I found a Flemish linen-draper;
then I composed my establishment of servants ; I
have of English, French, Italians, Germans, and
Savoyards ; they cannot combine against me, for
they hardly understand one another ; but they all
understand rae, and we are as quiet and orderly as
possible. I was not ten days from the time I hired
my house before I inhabited it. I made use of it at
first as an house to sleep in at night, and to visit
from in the day, but I soon found out that it was an
house in which one might dine and ask others to
dinner. I got an excellent cook who had lived with
the Prince of Wirtemberg, and have since had
duchesses, and fine ladies, and learned academicians,
to dine with me ; and I live a la mode de Paris, as
much as if I were a native. I have usually only a
VOL. IX. E
50
pair of horses ; but when I go to visit, or any where
at a distance, the man of whom I hire them furnishes
me with six and a postillion, so that 1 have all man«
ner of accommodations.
*' I placed the boys* and Mr. B at a French
school, half a quarter of a mile from hence, where
they have an opportunity of talking French all day
as well as learning it by rule. If they had been
here, the boys must have been continually with ser-
vants, for my nephew being too old for a plaything,
and not yet a man, it would have been impossible to
have introduced him into company. A little child
is the prettiest of animals, but of all companions, to
be sure a human being before it is at years of rational
discourse is the worst, except to those who have a
parental afiection for them ; and though I think it
DO shame to own I have a wonderful delight in my
nephew, whom I have, in a manner, brought up, I
should be very absurd to expect other people should
take more pleasure in my nephew than I do in their
nephews ; nor do I think the conversation of mixed
society very good for children. Things are often
thrown out in a careless imperfect manner, so as to
be very dangerous to young minds; as indigested
food fills the body, indigested opinions do the mind,
with crudities and flatulencies ; and perhaps there is
not any place where a young person could be in more
danger of bei ng hurt by society than at Paris. Till I
had conversed so intimately with the French I did not
imagine they were so different from us in their
opinions, sentiments, mannera and modes of life as
* The present Matthew Montagu, Esq. and the Rev. Montagu
PenniDgtoD.
51
1 find them. In every thing they seem to think per-
fection and excellence to be that which is at the
greatest distance from si«iplicit_y. I verily believe
that if they had the ambrosia of the gods served at
their table they would perfume it, and they would
make a ragout sauce to nectar ; we know very well
they would put rouge on the cheek of Hebe. If au
orator here delivers a very highly adorned period
he is clapt ; at the academy where some verses were
read, which were a translation of Homer, the more
the translator deviated from the simplicity of Homer,
the more loud the applause; at their tragedies an
extravagant verse of the poets and an outrageous
action of the actor is clapped. The Corinthian
architecture is too plain, and they add ornaments
of fency. The fine Grecian forms of vases and
tripods they say are triste, and therefore they adorn
them. It would be very dangerous to inspire young
persons with this contempt of simplicity before
experience taught choice or discretion. The busi-
ness of the toilette is here brought to an art and
a science. Whatever is supposed to add to the
charm of society and conversation is cultivated with
the utmost attention. That mode of life is thought
most eligible that does not leave one moment vacant
from amusement. That style of writing or conver-
'sation the best that is always the most brilliant.
This kind of high colouring gives a splendour to
every thing which is pleasing to a stranger who
considers every object that presents itself as a sight
and as a spectacle, but I think would grow painful
if perpetual. I do not mean to say, that there are
not some persons and some authors who, in their
E 2
52
conversation and writings, have a noble simplicity,
but in general there is too little of it. This taste
of decoration makes every thing pretty, but leaves
nothing great. I like my present way of life so well
I should be glad to stay here two months longer, but
to avoid the dangers of a winter sea and land jour-
ney I shall return, as I intended, the first week in
October.
I had a very agreeable French lady to dine with
me to-day, and am to dine with her at Versailles on
Sunday. As she is a woman of the bed-chamber to
the Queen, she was obliged (being now in waiting)
to ask leave to come to me ; the queen, with her
leave, said something very gracious concerning the
character of your humble servant. The French say
so many civil things from the highest of them to the
lowest, I am glad I did not come to Paris when I
was youn^ enough to have my head turned.
We are going to sup with a most charming Mar-
quise de Dufiints, who, being blind and upwards of
four-score, is polite and gay, and I suppose we shall
stay till after midnight with her. 1 hope to con-
trive to get a peep at you in my journey through
Kent.
Miss G desires her best compliments. I
have sent you a copy of Voltaire's saucy letter on a
translator of Shakspeare's appearing at Paris ; he
was very wrath. Mr. Le Tourneur, whom he
abuses, is a very modest ingenious man. Voltaire
is vexed that the French will see how he has often
stolen from Shakspeare. I could have sent you
some very pretty verses that were made on your
humble servant and Miss G ; but I think sa-
53
tire is always more poignant than praise, and the
verses on us were high panegyric.
I am, Dear Madam,
Your most affectionate Sister and Friend,
and faithful humble Servant,
• E. Montagu.
Two Original Letters of Mrs. Montagu^ containing
accounts of two successive Tours in Scotland, in
1766 and 1770.
The following letters of Mrs. Montagu, may not
improperly find » place here; as they will serve to
diversify those pages, of which it may be prudent
sometimes to relieve the heaviness of the an-
tiquarian matter. Short extracts from these letters
have been already printed in the Gentleman's Maga-
zine.
Mrs. Montagu to Mrs. William Robinson.*
Denton,t Dec. 4, 1766.
♦*** '•You will see, by the date of my letter, I
am still in the northern regions ; but I hope in a
fortnight to return to London. We have had a mild
* The wife of the Rev. William Robinson, third surviving brother
of Mrs. Montagu, and then resident at Denton Court, near Canter-
bury. He was educated at Westminster, and at St. John's College,
Cambridge, where he formed an intimacy with many men of genius
and literature ; particularly Gray, the poet, who paid more than
one visit to him at Denton. He was also Rector of Burfield, Berks,
where he died Dec. 1803, aged about 75.
f Id Northumberland.
64
season ; and this house is remarkably warm ; so that
I have not suffered from cold. Business has taken
up much of my time; and, as we had farms to let
against next May day, and I was willing to seethe
new colliery begin to work, before I left the country,
I had the prudence to get the better of my taste for
society.
'' I spent a month in Scotland this summer, and
made a further progress than Mr. Gray did. An old
iiriend of Mr. Montagu's and mine. Dr. Gregory,
came to us here, and brought his daughter the end of
July ; and summoned me to keep a promise, I had
made him, of letting him be my knight-errant, and
escort me round Scotland.
" The first of August we set forward. I called on
the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland at Alnwick
Castle in my way : it is the most noble othic build-
ing imaginable; its antique form is ^^4 served on the
outside ; within, the apartments are also gothic in
their structure and ornaments; but convenient and
noble; so that modern elegance arranges and con-
ducts antique strength ; and grandeur leaves its sub-
limity of character, but softens what was rude and
unpolished.
*' My next day's journey carried me to Edinburgh,
•where I stayed ten days. I passed my time there very
agreeably ; receiving every polite attention from all
the people of distinction in the town. I never saw
any thing equal to the hospitality of the Scotch.
Every one seemed to make it their business to at-
tend me to all tlie fine places in the neighbourhood;
to invite me to dinner, to supper, &c.
^' As I had declared an intention to go to Glasgow,
55
the Lord Provost of Glasgow insisted on my coming
to his villa near the town, instead of going to a noisy
inn. 1 stayed three days there to see the seats in the
environs ; and the great cathedral, and the college and
academy for painting; and then 1 set out for Inve-
raray. I should first tell you, Glasgow is the most
beautiful town in Great Britain. The houses, ac-
cording to the Scotch fashion, are large and high,
and built of freestone ; the streets very broad, and
built at right angles. All dirty kinds of business
are carried on in separate districts; so that nothing
appears but a noble and elegant simplicity.
" My road from Glasgow for Inveraray layby the
side of the famous lake called Lough-Lomon. Never
did I see the sublime and beautiful so united. . The
lake is in some places eight miles broad; in others
less ; adorned with many islands, of which some rise
in a conical figure, and are covered with fir-trees up
to the summit. Other islands are flatter; and deer
are feeding in their green meadows : in the Lonta-
nanza rise the
Mountains, on whose barren breast
The labouring clouds do seem to rest.
The lake is bright as crystal, and the shore consists
of alabaster pebbles.
" Thus I travelled near twenty miles, till I came
to the village of Luss, where I lay at an inn ; there
being no gentleman's house near it. The next
morning I begun to ascend the Highland mountains.
I got out of my chaise to climb to the top of one, to
take leave of the beautiful lake. The sun had not
been long up ; its beams danced on the lake ; and
56
we saw this lovely water meandring for twenty- five
miles.
" Immediately after I returned to my chaise, I be-
gan to be enclosed in a deep valley, between vast
mountains, down whose furrowed cheeks torrents
rushed impetuously, and united in the vale below.
Winter's rains had so washed away the soil from
some of the steep mountains, there appeared little
but the rocks, which, like the skeleton of a giant, ap-
peared more terrible than the perfect form.
" Other mountains were covered with a dark
brown moss ; the shaggy goats were browzing on
their sides; here and there appeared a storm-struck
tree or blasted shrub, from whence no lark ever
saluted the morn with joyous hymn, or Philomel
soothed the dull ear of night : but from thence the
eagle gave the first lessons of flight to her young,
and taught them to make war on the kids.
*' In the vale of Glencirow, we stopped to dine by
the stream of Cona, so celebrated by Ossian. I
chose to dine amid the rude magnificence of Nature,
rather than in the meanest of the works of Art ; so
did not enter the cottage, which called itself an inn.
From thence my servants brought me firesh herrings
and trout ; and ray lord provost's wife had filled my
maid's chaise with good things ; so very luxuriously
we feasted.
" I wished Ossian would have come to us, and told
us * a tale of other times.' However imagination
and memory assisted ; and we recollefcted many pas-
gages in the very places that inspired them. I
stayed three hours, listening to the roaring stream,
and hoped some ghost would come on the blast of
57
the mountain, and shew us where three grey stones
were erected to his memory.
" After dinner we went on about fourteen miles,
still in the valley, mountain rising above mountain,
till we ascended to Inveraray. There at once we
entered the vale, where lies the vast lake called
Lough-Fine ; of whose dignity I cannot give you a
better notion, than by telling you the great levia-
than had taken his pastime therein the night before
I was there. Though it is forty miles from the sea,
whales come up there often in the herring season.
At Inveraray, I was lodged at a gentleman's house;
invited to another's in the neighbourhood ; and at-
tended round the Duke of Argyle's Policy ; (such are
called the grounds dedicated to beauty and orna-
ment). I went also to see the castle built by the
late Duke. It appears small by the vast objects near
it; this great lake before ; a vast mountain, covered
with fir and beech, behind it; so that relatively the
castle is little.
" I was obliged to return back to Glasgow the
same way, not having time to make the tour of the
Highlands. Lord Provost had an excellent dinner,
and good company ready for us. The next day I
went to Lord Kames's near Stirling, where I had
promised to stay a day. I passed a day very agree-
ably there, but could not comply with their obliging
entreaties to stay a longer time ; but was obliged to
return to Edinburgh. Lord Karnes attended me to
Stirling Castle ; and thence to the Iron Works at
Caron: there again I was on classic ground.
" I dined at Mr. Dundas's. At night I got back
to Edinburgh, where 1 rested myself three days j and
58
then on my road lay at Sir Gilbert Elliot's; and
spent a day witli him and Lady Elliot. They faci-
litated my journey by lending me relays, which the
route did not always furnish : so I sent my own
horses a stage forward. I crossed the Tweed again;
dined and lay at the Bishop of Carlisle's at Rose
Castle, and then came home, much pleased with the
expedition, and grateful for the infinite civilities I
had received.
" My evenings at Edinburgh passed very agreeably
with Dr. Robertson, Dr. Blair, Lord Karnes, and
divers ingenious and agreeable persons. My friend
Dr. Gregory, who was my fellow-traveller, though
he is a mathematician, has a fine imagination, an ele-
gant taste, and every quality to make an agreeable
companion. He came back to Denton with me; but
soon left us. I detained his two daughters ; who are
still witli me. They are most amiable children; they
will return to their papa a few days before I leate this
place.
*' 1 was told Mr. Gray was rather reserved, when
he was in Scotland ; though they were disposed to
pay him great respect. I agree perfectly with him,
that to endeavour to shine in conversation, and to
lay out for admiration is very paltry; the wit of the
company, next to the butt of the company, is the
meanest person in it; but at the same time, when a
man of celebrated talents disdains to mix in common
conversation, or refuses to talk on ordinary subjects,
it betrays a latent pride. There is a much higher
character, than that of a wit, or a poet, or a scavant;
which is that of a rational and sociable being, will-
ing to carry on the commerce of life with aU the
i
59
sweetness, and condescension, decency and virtue
will permit. The great duty of conversation is to
follow suit as you do at whist : if the eldest hand
plays the deuce of diamonds, let not his next neigh-
bour dash down the king of hearts, because his hand
is full of honours. I do not love to see a man of
wit win all the tricks in conversation ; nor yet to
see him sullenly pass. I speak not this of Mr. Gray
in particular ; but it is the common failing of men of
genius, to exert a proud superiority, or maintain a
prouder indolence. I shall be very glad to see Mr.
Gray, whenever he will please to do me the favour.
I think he is the first poet of the age ; but if he comes
to my fire-side, I will teach him not only to speak
prose, but to talk nonsense, if occasion be. I would
not have a poet always sit on the proud summit of
the Forked Hill. I have a great respect for Mr.
Gray, as well as a high admiration.
** I am much grieved at the bad news from Can-
terbury. The Dean* is a great loss to his family.
" Your afiectionate sister,
" E. Montagu."
LETTER II.
The same to th^ same.
Hill street, Nov, 19,1770.
" Your kind letter met me in Hill Street on
Thursday: it welcomed me to London in a very
agreeable manner. I should however have felt a
painful consciousness, how little I deserved such a
* Dean Friend, who married Primate Robinson's sister.
60
favour, if my long omission of correspondence had
not been owing to want of health. I felt ill on my
journey to Denton ; or rather indeed began the jour-
ney indisposed ; and only aggravated my complaints
by travelling.
" Sickness and bad weather deprived me of the
pleasure of seeing the beauties of Derbyshire. How-
ever 1 got a sight of the stately palace of Lord
Scarsdale ; where the arts of ancient Greece, and
the delicate pomp of modern ages, unite to make a
most magnificent habitation. It is the best worth
seeing of any house I suppose, in England ; but I
know not how it is, that one receives but moderate
pleasure in the works of art. There is a littleness
in every work of man. The operations of Nature
are vast and noble; and I found much greater plea-
sure in the contemplation of Lord Bredalbane's
mountains, rocks, and lakes, than in all the efforts of
human art at Lord Scarsdale's.
*' I continued, after my arrival at Denton, in a
very poor state of health, which suited ill with con-
tinual business, and made roe unable to write letters
in the hours of recess and quiet. Dr. Gregory
came from Edinburgh to make me a visit, and per-
suaded me to go back with him. The scheme pro-
mised much pleasure ; and 1 flattered myself, might
be conducive to health ; as the doctor, of whose me-
dical skill I have the highest opinion, would have
time to observe and consider my various complaints.
I was glad also to have an opportunity of amusing
my friend Mrs. Chapone, whom I carried with me
into the north.
" We had a pleasant journey to Edinburgh, where
m
we were most agreeably entertained in Dr. Gregory's
house ; all the literati, and the polite company at
Edinburgh, paying me all kinds of attentions: and,
by the doctor's regimen, ray health greatly improved,
so that I was prevailed upon to indulge my love of
prospects by another trip to the Highlands; my
good friend and physician still attending me.
" The first day's journey was to Lord Barjarg's,*
brother to Mr. Charles Erskine, who was the inti-
mate companion and friendly competitor of my poor
brother Tom.t Each of them was qualified for the
highest honours of his profession, which they would
certainly have attained, had it pleased God to have
granted longer life.
" Lord Barjarg had received great civilities at
Horton,:^ when he was pursuing his law studies in
♦ James Erskine, a juJge of tbe Supreme Civil Court of Scotland,
fifrt by the title of Lord Barjarg, which he afterwards changed for
that of Lord Alva. His father, Charles, also a judge by the title of
Lord Tinwald, was third son of Sir Charles, fourth son of John, 7th
Earl of Mar. From Lord Tinwald's elder brother is descended
JameSj now Earl of Rosslyn. Lord Alva was born 1722, and died
13 May, 1796, the oldest judge in Britain. Charles was his elder
brother; he was born 21 Oct. 171,6, was M. P. and Barrister at
Law J and dying in his father's life-time, was buried ia the chapel of
Lincoln's Inn.
f Thomas Robinson, 2d brother of Mrs. Montagu, was a young
barrister, of eminent and rising talents; he was author of a most
useful Treatise, entitled " The Common Law of Kent ; or the
jCustoms of Gavelkind, with an Appendix concerning Burough-
English. By Thomas Robinson of Lincoln's Inn, Esq." 8vo. whick
having become scarce was reprinted in 1788. He died 29 Dec.
1747.
I Horton, near Hytbe, in Kent, the seat of the Robinsons.
62
England ; so he came to visit me as goon as I got to
Edinburgh ; and in the most friendly manner press-
ed my passing some days at his house in Perth-
shire. 1 got there by an easy day's journey, after
having also walked a long time about the castle
of Stirling, which commands a very beautiful pros-
pect.
" Lord Barjarg's place is very fine; and in a very
singular style. His house looks to the south over
a very rich valley, rendered more fertile, as well as
more beautiful by the meandrings of the river Forth.
Behind his house rise great hills covered with wood ;
and over them stupendous rockg. The goats look
down with an air of philosophic pride, and gravity,
on folks in the valley. One, in particular seemed
to me capable of addressing the famous beast of
Gervaudun, if he had been there, with as much
disdain as Diogenes did the great conqueror of the
east.
<^ Here I passed two days, and then his lordship
and my doctor attended me to my old friend Lord
Kinnoul's.* You may imagine my visit there gave
me a great deal of pleasure, besides what arose from
seeing a fine place. 1 was delighted to find an old
friend enjoying the heart-felt happiness, which at-
tends a life of virtue. Lord Kinnoul is continually
employed in encouraging agriculture and manufac-
tures; protecting the weak from injury, assisting the
distressed, and animating the young people to what-
ever, in their various stations, is most fit and pro-
« Uncle to the late Earl He died 1787, aged 77.
63
per. He appears more happy in this situation, than
when he was whirled about in the vortex of the Duke
of Newcastle.
" The situation of a Scottish nobleman of fortune
is enough to fill the ambition of a reasonable man ;
for they have power to do a great deal of good.
" From Dupplin we went to Lord Bredalbane's
at Taymouth. Here unite the sublime and beauti-
ful. The house is situated in a valley, where the
verdure is the finest imaginable ; and noble beeches
adorn it; and beautiful cascades fall down the
midst of it. Through this valley you are led to a
vast lake : on one side the lake there is a fine coun-
try; on the other mountains lift their heads, and
hide them in the clouds. In some places ranges of
rocks look like vast fortified citadels. I passed two
days in this fine place, where I was entertained with
the greatest politeness, and kindest attentions; Lord
Bredalbane seeming to take the greatest pleasure
in making every thing easy, agreeable, and conve-
nient.
" My next excursion was to Lord Kames^s ; and
then I returned to Edinburgh. With Lord Karnes
and his lady I have had a correspondence, ever since
I was first in Scotland ; so I was there received with
most cordial friendship. I must do the justice to
the Scottish nation to say, they are the most politely
hospitable of any people in the world. I had innu-
merable invitations, of which I could not avail my-
self, having made as long a holiday from my business
in Northumberland, as I could afford.
" I am very glad to find by letters received from my
6i
brother Robinson,* that he thinks himself better for
the waters of Aix^
" The newspapers will inform you of the death of
Mr. George Grenville. I think he is a great loss to
the public; and thougli in these days of ribaldry and
abuse, he was often much calumniated, I believe time
will vindicate his character as a public man. As a
private one, he was quite unblemished. I regret
the loss to myself: I was always pleased and in-
formed by his conversation. He had read a vast
deal ; and had an amazing memory. He had been
versed in business from his youth ; so that he had a
very rich fund of conversation ; and he was good-
natured and very friendly.
" The King's speech has a warlike tone ; but still
we flatter ourselves that the French King's aversion
to war may prevent our being again engaged in one.
It is reported that Mr. De Grey* is to be Lord
Keeper. Lord Chatham was to have spoken in the
House of Lords to day, if poor Mr. Grenville*s
death, which happened at seven this morning,' had
not hindered his appearing in public. I do not find
that any change of ministry is expected.
" My fathert and brother are very well. My sis-
ter has got the head-ach to day. She was so good as
to come to me, and will stay till Mr. Montagu ar-
♦ Matthew Robinson of Horton, Esq. afterwards 2il Lord Rokeby,
who died 22 Nov. 1800, a;t. 88.
f Afterwards Lord Wulsingham.
J Matthew "Robinson of West-Layton, in Yorkshire, Esq. who
died 1778, aged 84. He married the heiress of the Morris's of Hor-
ton, whose mother remarried Dr. Conyers Middleton.
65
r'ies in town. He did not leave Denton, till almost
a week after I came away ; and he w(as stopped at
Durham by waters being out ; but I had the pleasure
of hearing yesterday that he got safe to Darlington,
where he was to pass a few days with a famous ma-
thematician.* But I expect him in town the end of
this week.
" My nephew Morrisf has got great credit at Eton
already. My sister^ has in general her health ex-
tremely well. 1 have got much better than 1 was in
the summer. My doctors order me to forbear writ-
ing; but this letter does not shew my obedience to
them. I wish I could enliven it with more news.
" The celebrated Coterie will go on in spite of all
remonstrances; and there is to be an assembly thrice
a week for the subscribers to the opera into the sub-
scription ; so little impression do rumours of wars,
and apprehensions of the plague, make on the fine
world."
I cannot resist adding the following extract from
another Letter, 1778.
*** " I am sure you will be desirous to hear a
true account of Lord Chatham's accident in the
House of Lords ; and of his present condition of
health. The newspapers are in but little credit in
general ; but their account of that affair has been
very exact. His Lordship had been long confined
♦ This was William Emerson, whose mathematical works are
well known ; and whose eccentricities were Teiy prominent. . He
was bom 1701, and died 26 May, 1783. See Biogr. Diet. V. 341.
t Now Lord Rokeby. + Mrs. Scott.
VOL. IX. F
66
bj a fit of the gout ; ro was debilitated by illness, and
want of exercise. The house was crowded by numbers,
who went to hear him on so critical a state of aflfairs.
The thunder of his eloquence was abated ; and the
lightning of his eye was dimmed to a certain degree,
when he rose to speak ; but the glory of his former
administration threw a mellow lustre around him ;
and his experience of public affairs gave the force
of an oracle to what he said; and a reverential
silence reigned through the senate. He spoke in
answer to the Duke of Richmond : the Duke of
Richmond replied. Then his Lordship rose up to
speak again. The Genius and spirit of Britain
seemed to heave in his bosom : and he sunk down
speechless! He continued half an hour in a fit.
His eldest and second sons, and Lord Mahon, were
in great agony, waiting the doubtful event. At last
he happily recovered ; and though he is very weak,
still I am assured by his family, that he looks better
than he did before this accident."*
LETTER IlL
Mrs. Montagu to Mrs. Robinson, Sfc. at Naples.
Hill Street, 26, Feb, 1762. ,
•*** " I long most impatientlv to hear of your
safe recovery, and the health of the little one, who is
to repay you for all the trouble his first stage of life
will give you. Patience and good humour, which
you possess in a high degree, greatly mitigate all
sufferings. Those, who have most self-love, by a
* It scarce need be added that he died May 11.
67
strange blindness to their interest, have usually the
least of that noble panacea, patience ; which only
can heal all the wounds, the rubs, and the scratches
one receives in this rough world. I believe you
found it an excellent fellow-traveller through Spain :
it makes a smooth road, where the pick-axe has
never levelled the inequalities, and softens the mat-
tress and pillow. I am under some anxiety, lest our
rupture with Spain should occasion you any incon-
venience.
" I am so poor a politician, that if I durst write
on the subject, 1 should be able to give you but a
lame account of the situation of affairs here. In the
House of Commons, every boy who can articulate,
is a speaker, to the great dispatch of business, and
solidity of councils. They sit late every night, as
every young gentleman, who has a handsome person,
a fine coat, a well-shaped leg, or a clear voice, is to
exhibit these advantages.
" To this kind of beau-oratory, and tea-table talk,
the ladies, as is reasonable, resorted very constantly.
At first they attended in such numbers as to fill the
body of the house, on great political questions.
Having all their lives been aiming at conquests,
committing murders, and enslaving mankind, they
were for most violent and bloody measures : desir-
ous of a war with Spain and France, fond of battles
on the Continent, and delighted with the prospect of
victories in the East and West Indies. They wish-
ed to see the chariot of their favourite minister
drawn, like that of the great Sesostris, by six cap-
tive kings !
'' Much glory might have accrued to Great Bd«
f2 m bnfc Jft/r;.*;r.
68
tain from this martial spirit in the ladies : but, whe-
ther by private contrivance, or that of a party who
are inclined to pacific measures, I do not know, a
ghost started up in a dirty obscure alley in the city,
and diverted the attention of the female politicians,
from the glory of their country, to an inquiry, why
Miss Fanny who died of the small pox two
years ago, and suffered herself to be buried, does
now appear in the shape of the sound of a hammer,
and rap and scratch at the head of Miss Parsons's
bed, the daughter of a parish clerk ?
" As I suppose you read the newspapers, you will
see mention of the Ghost ; but without you was here
upon the spot, you could never conceive that the
most bungling performance of the silliest imposture
could take up the attention, and conversation, of all
the fine world. And as the ways of the beau-monde
are always in contradiction to the gospel, they are
determined to shew, that, though they do not believe
in Moses and the prophets, they would believe if one
were to come from the dead, though it was only to
play tricks like a rat behind a wainscot ! You must
not indeed regret being absent, while this farce is
going on. There will be an Elizabeth Canning, or
a Man in a Bottle, or some other folly, for the amuse-
ment of this frivolous generation, at all times !
" But you have some reason to regret having
missed the coronation, perhaps the finest spectacle
in the world. As all old customs are kept up in
this ceremony, there is a mixture of chivalry and
popery, and many circumstances that took their rise
in the barbarism of former times ; and which appear
now very uncouth ; but, upon the whole, it is very
august and magnificent.
69
."The fine person of our young Sovereign was a
great addition to the spectacle : but the Peers and
Peeresses made the chief parade on the occasion.
Almost all the nobility, whom age and infirmities
did not incapacitate, walked in the procession.
The jewels, that were worn on the occasion, would
have made you imagine, that the diamond mines
were in the King of Great Britain's dominions. On
the King's wedding, there appeared the greatest
parade of fine cloaths I ever saw.
. "This winter has been very gay as to amuse-
ments. Never did we see less light from the sun,
or a greater blaze of wax candles ! The presence
of the Duke of Mecklenburgh, the Queen's
youngest brother, has given occasion to many balls
and assemblies. The Queen has not an evening
drawing-room : they have sometimes balls at St.
James's ; but in general their Majesties spend their
time in private, or at Leicester-house, where the
Princess Dowager hardly keeps up the air of a
court. The D. of Y makes himself amends
for want of princely pastimes by very familiarly
frequenting all the public diversions; and has
shared in the amusements of the ghost at Cock
Lane. As all are equal in the grave, a ghost may
be company for the Grand Seignior, without dis-
paragement to human grandeur ! Our young
Queen has a polite address ; and even her civilities
in the circle seem to flow from good humour. She
is cheerful, easy, and artless in her manners, which
greatly charms the King, who, by his situation, is
surrounded by solemnity, ceremony, &c.
" I had the pleasure of hearing from Mr. Pitt
70
that you and my brother were in g;ood health. You
had a great loss in Mr. Pitt's* leaving Naples : he
shines first amongst his young countrymen, even
here. He is to dine here to day with Mrs. Lyttel-
ton, and the Bishop of Carlisle,+ a new bishop, but
-who has long had every qualification to grace the
Reverend Bench !
" You have lately returned us from Italy a very
extraordinary personage, Lady Mary Wortley.
When Nature is at the trouble of making a very
singular person, Time does right in respecting it.
Medals are preserved, when common coin is worn
out ; and as great geniuses are rather matters -of
curiosity than use, this lady seems to be reserved for
a wonder to more than one generation. She does
not look older than when she went abroad; has
more than the vivacity of fifteen; and a memory,
which perhaps is unique. Several people visited
her out of curiosity, which she did not like. I visit
her, because her husband and mine were cousin-
germans ; :|: and though she has not any foolish par-
tiality for her husband, and his relations, I was very
graciously received, and, you may imagine, enter-
tained, by one, who neither thinks, speaks, acts, or
dresses, like any body else. Her domestic is made
* ' I presume, the first Lord Camelford.
f This Bishop was Dr. Charles Lyttelton.
J Lady Mary's husband, Wortley Montagu, was son of Sidney
Montagu, 2d son of the first Earl of Sandwich. He died 22 Jan.
1761, aged 80. Mrs. Montagu's husband, Edward Montagu, was
son of Charles Montagu, 5th son of the first Earl of Sandwich. He
was of Sandleford in Berks, and Denton in Northumberland, and
died 177d. His sister Jemima married Sir Sydney Meadows.
up of all nations ; and when you get into her draw
ing-room, you imagine you are in the first story
of the tower of Babel. An Hungarian servant
takes your name at the door; he gives it to an
Italian, who delivers it to a Frenchman ; the
Frenchman to a Swiss ; and the Swiss to a Po-
lander ; so that by the time you get to her lady-
ship's presence, you have changed your name
five times without the expense of an Act of Par-
liament.*
" My father, brother Morris, and brother Charles,
* In another letter dated the 8th Oct folloviifg, Mrs. Montiiga
writes thus. " Lady Mary W. Montagu returned to England, as
it were, to finish where she began. I wish she had given us an ac-
count of the events that filled the space between. She bad a ter-
rible distemper, the most virulent cancer ever heard of, which soon
carried her off. I met her at my Lady Bute's in June; and she
then looked well j in three weeks after, at my return to London, I
heard she was given over. The hemlock kept her drowsy and free
from pain ; and thq physicians thought, if it had been given early,
might possibly have saved her.
•* She left her son one guinea. He is too much of a sage to be
concerned about money, I presume. When I first knew bim, a rake
and a beau, I did not imagine he would addict himself at one time
to Rabbinical learning ; and then travel all over the east the great
itinerant scavant of the world. One has read, that the great believ-
ers in the transmigration of souls suppose a man, who bas been ra-
pacious and cunning, does penance in the shape of a fox j another,
cruel and bloody, enters the body of a wolf. But I believe my poor
cousin in bis pre-existent state, having broken all moral laws, has
been sentenced to suffer in all the various characters of human lifei
He has run through them all unsuccessfully enough. His dispute
with Mr. Needham has been communicated to me by a gentleman
of the Museum; and I think he will gain no laurels there. But he
speaks as decisively, as if he had been bred in Pharaoh's court, in
all the learning of the Egyptians. He has certainly very uncommoa
parts i but too macb of the rapidity of his mother's genius."
72
are in town. My brother Robinson has been in
Kent most part of the winter. I made my sister a
visit at Bath-£aston, just before the meeting of the
Parliament in November. I had the happiness of
finding her in better health than usual. Lady Bab
Montagu is much recovered of late. I am surprised
she did not try, what a change of climate would do
in her favour.
'^ I own I hare such a spirit of rambling, I want
nothing but liberty to indulge it, to carry me as far
as Rome. I believe, I should make it the limit of
my curiosity. Its ancient greatness, and its present
splendor, make it the object most worth one's at-
tention. I hope his Holiness vrould pardon a he-
retic for reverencing the curule, more than the
papal, chair. One must however own, that if im-
perial Rome was unrivalled in greatness, papal
Home has been unparalleled in policy. I leave to
heroes and statesmen to dispute, whether force or
cunning is the most honourable means to establish
power. One calls violence valour ; the other civilly
terms fraud wisdom : plain sense and plain honesty
cannot reverence either.
*' I am very sorry that you have lost Sir Francis
£yles : an agreeable friend is greatly missed in all
situations ; but must be particularly so in a foreign
country. I envy you the opportunities you have
of getting a familiar acquaintance with the Italian
language. I should be much obliged to you, if you
could get me all the works of Paulus Jovius in
Latin ; Thucydides's History, translated into Ita-
lian by Francisco di Soldo Strozzi, a quarto edition,
1563 ; History of Naples by Angelo di Costanza, a
73
folio, 1582; the best translation of Demosthenes;
the poetical works of Vittoria Colonna ; of Carlo
Marrat's daughter ; and La Conquista di Granada ;
all Cardinal Bembo's works ; the History of the
Incas by Garcilessa de la Vega in Spanish. If you
could any where pick up the old French Romance
of Perce Forest, I should be glad of it ; and also
L'Histoire du Port Royal. I should be glad of the
life of Vittoria Colonna ; but do not know in what
language it is written.
" The town is now in a great uproar from an
outrageous piece of gallantry, as it is called, of the
young Earl of ***, who has carried off Miss ***
***, as it is said, to Holland. He wrote a letter
to his wife, one of the best and most beautiful
women in the world, to tell her he had quitted her
for ever ; that she was too good and too tender for
him ; and he had so violent a passion for Missy, he
could not help doing as he did. It will not be long,
before
the maid
-<i-
Will weep the fury of her love betray'd.
His affections are as uncertain, as they are un-
lawful, and ungenerous. Nothing more than a
total want of honour, and honesty, is necessary, to
make a man follow the dictates of a loose unbridled
passion. But what could prevail on the un-
happy girl to quit her parents, country, reputation,
and all her future hopes in life, one cannot ima-
gine ! One should hardly imagine too, that a girl,
who has flirted for some years with the pretty men
in town j
74
Has been finest at every fine shew.
And froiick'd it all the long day,
should be taken with the simple passion of some
village nymph, single out her shepherd, and live
under a mountain by the purlin"^ of a rill, con-
tentedly,
" The world forgetting, by the world forgot !"
J-"i.!v;
" It seems Miss *** *** was a great lover of
French novels; and much enamoured of Mr. Rous-
seau's Julie. How much have these writers to
answer for, who make vice into a regular system,
gild it with specious colours, and deceive the mind
into guilt, it would have started at, without the aid
of art and cheat of sentiment. I have wrote the
names of the delinquents very plain, as God forbid
their crime should be imputed to any innocent per-
son. There is danger of that, if one does not ex-
plain oneself.
" I believe one may affirm, though it is not de-
clared in form, that our young Queen is in a way
to promise us an heir to Great Britain in a few
months. Lady Sarah Lennox is very soon to be
mEurried to Sir William Bunbury's son ; and Lady
Raymond, it is said, to Lord Robert Bertie. Mr.
Beauclerk was to have been married to Miss Dray-
cott ; but, by a certain coldness in his manner, she
^cied her lead-mines were rather the objects of
his love than herself; and so, after the licence
was taken out, she gave him his cong^. Rosa-
mond's pond was never thought of by the forsaken
swain. His prudent parents thought of the trans-
76
mutation of metals, and to how much gold the
lead might have been changed ; and rather regret
the loss.
" I am very glad you have the good fortune to
have Sir Richard Lyttelton, and the Duchess of
Bridgewater, at Naples. I know not any house,
where the sweet civilities of life are so well dis-
pensed, as at theirs. Sir Richard adds to elegance
of manners, a most agreeable vivacity and wit in
conversation. He was made for society, such as
society should be. I shall be glad, when you write,
to hear of the Duchess of Bridgewater's health ; and
the recovery of Sir Richard's legs : though he sits
smiling in his great chair with constant good hu-
mour, it is pity he should be confined to it ! I wish
you would present my compliments to him and my
Lady Duchess,
"In the way of public news, I should tell you,.
Lord Halifax is adored in Ireland." o iiijMl.
Art. DCCLXXVII. Desullori/ observations on
the sensibilities and eccentricities of men of genius:
with remarks on Poets.
The herd of servile imitators bring every thing
into disgrace by affectation and excess. In those
departments of literature, which require genius,
this is more particularly the case. For a little
while the tinsel copier becomes the rage of the pub-
lic, till the glare of his colours satiates ; and then,
as the tide suddenly turns, the just fame of the ori-
ginal is drawn back into the vortex, and is sunk in
76
one common ruin. On these occasiions every yelp-
ing cur joins in echoing the cry of contempt, and
some new whim engages the temporary curiosity of
the mob.
There was a time when Rousseau was the idol of
the admirers of genius ; and all his weaknesses and
extravagances were respected as the necessary con-
comitants of his extraordinary powers. Imme-
diately there arose multitudes of absurd followers,
who, having at length corrupted the judgments of
their indiscriminate readers, brought neglect and
condemnation upon their original. For some years
therefore we Iiave heard the mob, the learned as
well as the unlearned mob, talk in terms of uniform
contempt and anger, of what they are pleased to
call " the morbid sensibilities of sickly genius."
Were this disapprobation confined to pretended
feelings, of which the discovery requires a very small
share of sagaciousness, it would be just. But it
seems as if they meant to put their mark of scorn on
every eccentricity of him who lives in that high
temperament, in which alone works of genius can
be produced.
Can we believe that Burns would have possessed
the powers to produce his exquisite poem of " Tam
O'Shanter" without having often trembled at some
of those images, which the expansive blaze of his
genius has there painted ? Without a continued
familiarity with all those hurried and impetuous
feelings, which brought him to a premature grave,
could he have written those enchanting songs
ivhich breathe so high a tone of fancy and passion ?
77
In the cold regions of worldly prudence, in the
selfish habitations of dull propriety, may be found
riches and health, and long life, and an insipid
respect. But, if he vvho is born with the higher
talents, long accustoms himself to the discipline of
such habits, the splendour of his imagination will
become impenetrably huddled up in the fogs of this
heavy atmosphere, and he will scarce be able to
produce higher eflforts of intellect, than one " of
Nature's fools."
When Beattie gave up his ambition to metaphy-
sical philosophy, he ceased to be a poet. The lyre
of Edwin, which had breathed all the soul of poetry
in his first canto, began to flag and grow dull in
the second ; and then lost its tones, and never vi-
brated for the last thirty years of the owner's life.
I certainly am too prejudiced to give a candid opi-
nion; but I would have preferred a few more
stanzas, in the style of the first, from the Minsti'el's
harp, to all the bulky volumes of prose that Beattie
wrote.
How delightful to have left a perpetual memo-
rial of some of those " ten thousand glorious
visions," which are always floating across the brain
of the highly endowed ! But for those, who possess
the ability, to go to the grave without having pre-
served a relic of them; to have suffered them to
have passed " like the fleeting clouds," without one
attempt to leave a record of the aspirations of a
more exalted nature, is a mortifying reflection,
which must depress true genius even to despond-
ence. He, in whom Nature has sowed the energies
of vigorous intellect, may,, be tt^fOY.n into ^atipn^
78
where there is nothing to fan the flames within him :
in that case it is probable he may never discover
any qualities above the herd of mankind : but an in-
tf^rnal restlessness and discontent will prej upon his
spirits and embitter his life.
There are no writer's criticisms so calculated to
stifle the habits and the efforts of genius as those of
Johnson. The cause of this is to be sought partly
in the truli/ " morbid" propensities of his temper ;
and partly in the history of his life. I suspect that
in the early resolution
*' NuIIius jurare in verba magistri,"
he soon sought originality at the expence of truth.
His love of contradiction therefore became a disease,
and finding in preceding biographers too much in-
clination to panegyrize the subjects of their me-
moirs, and to contemplate them with a blind admi-
ration, he determined to shew the powers of his
anatomizing pen, and to tear off the veil of respect
that covered them. Thus he was pleased to seize
every opportunity of exhibiting their personal frail-
ties, and mental defects ; and of treating them
sometimes with anger, and sometimes with haughti-
ness. But there was another circumstance which
had a tendency to warp the justice of his sincere
opinions. Early in life he had probably discovered
the inclination of his own imagination to predomi-
nate dangerously over his reason. On this account
he used every exertion to subdue it; to reduce it to
the severest trammels of argumentation, and the
most sober paths of mental employment. Hence he
acquired a habit of preferring the lower depart-
79
ments of the Muse ; he best liked reasoning in
verse ; dry ethical couplets ; and practical observa-
tions upon daily life. His private feelings hesitated
between Dryden and Pope ; and all the praise he
has given to Milton, or Cowley, or Akenside, or
Collins, or Gray, is extorted, penurious, and mixed
with every degrading touch that the ingenuity of
his acute mind, and force of his energetic language
could introduce. • «
The public received these disingenuous lives witK
ill-tempered avidity. They who had never known
what it was to be warmed by the flights of fancy ;
in whose torpid heads the description of Eden, the
wailings over Lycidas, and all the imagery of
Comus never raised one corresponding idea, but
who concealed their lamentable deficiencies of mind
before the awful name of Milton ; now that they
were sanctioned by Johnson, boldly gloried in their
want of taste. All the gall which they had so long
been nourishing in their hearts was now vomited
forth without restraint, and the cry, which dulnes^
had always secretly disseminated against the aberra-
tions of genius, was avowed as the acknowledged
dictate of sense and truth. '
Johnson is a proof, among a thousand glaring
proofs, how little the wisest men " know them-
selves ;" and how often they pride themselves on
points, in which they are strikingly deficient. His
great boast seems to have been his attention to
" That which before us lies in daily life."
Yet did ever any man more offend the proprieties
of daily life than Johnson ? His unhappy and ne-
80
glected person^ his uncouth dress, his rude manners^
and his irregular habits, required the full eminence
of his fame, and force of his talents, to counterba-
lance their offensiveness. Yet probablj' he would
have exclaimed
" Noa tali auxilio, noh defensoribus istis !"
He seems to have thought that he himself required
no such set-offs. And, if we judge him by the rules
by which he judged others, such set-offs ought not
to have availed.
But I trust that I shall never judge by rules so
harsh, and io my opinion so unwise. I regret the
depravity of Johnson's taste, and I lament that ex-
cess of envy and pride, the unconquerable disease
of his disposition, which, in spite of all his efforts,
too frequently overpowered his reason. But 1 ve-
nerate his vast abilities, the strong and original
operations of his mind, his force of ratiocination, and
his luminous and impressive language. I vene-
rate also the mingled goodness of his heart, his
melting charity, his exalted principles, his enlarged
moral notions, and the many sublime virtues of
his mixed and unhappy life. But this is not all :
according to the sentiments I have expressed, I
necessarily go even further. To me it appears that
some of his most offensive eccentricities were
strongly connected with his most prominent excel-
lencies.
To the constant abstraction of his mind, to the
perpetual occupation of thinking, we must surely
attribute much of the neglect of his person, much of
his inattention to polished manners, and the etiquette
81
of the world, and much of his irregular mode of life.
But to this also is certainly attributable the clear-
ness and arrangement of his ideas, the readiness
of his thoughts upon every subject that was pre-
sented to him, and the perspicuity and happiness of
his stile.
Let us hear no more reflections then on the
" morbid" sensibility of the votaries of fancy. He,
whose feelings are not acute, sometimes even to
disease, can never touch the true chords of the lyre.
To be in constant terror of exceeding the cold bounds
of propriety, to be perpetually on the watch against
any transient extravagance of mind, is not to be a
poet. It is true that eccentricity alone does not
constitute genius ; and he who is known only by its
foibles, unaccompanied by its advantages, deserves
little mercy. And little can he expect to meet with
it, if he recollects that in the censorious eye of the
world, even the happiest attainments of mental ex-
cellence, will make but little amends for the smallest
deviations from prudence of conduct.
That chilling philosophy, which demands the re-
concilement of qualities nearly incompatible, has
always appeared to me far from true wisdom. We
may lament, but we should attempt to soothe and
treat leniently, the little ebullitions of that fire,
which at other times is exerted to enlighten and
charm us. We should pity rather than despise the
occasional lamentations from the pain of the thorn,
which is too often at the breast of those, who delight
118 by their songs. >
In thus venturing opinions so uncongenial with
those of the great as well as little vulgar, I am aware
VOL. IX. c
8«
of the extent to which I expose m^'self. The selfish
worldling, the interested parent, the struggler in
the paths of ordinary ambition, the stupid, the
sterile-hearted, and the sensual, all will exclaim,
" If such be the effects of poetrj, heaven defend me
and all my connections from being poets!" Poor
wretches ! They need not fear ; poets, they may rest
assured, are not made out of such materials !
It is with some hesitation that I venture to inter-
mix, even thus sparingly, such desultory disquisitions
as this, with the duty I have imposed on myself of
transcribing old title pages, and tables of contents.
But a friend has flattered me by hinting, that a few
more such articles as that which I presumed to in-
sert on the character of Cowper would produce a
pleasing diversity in this work. In a wet morning
therefore, though, with a head distracted by hateful
business, of which I grow daily more impatient, and
far removed from the conveniences of study and
composition, I have assumed the courage to put into
language a train of thoughts, excited by an accidental
observation, which I last night read in a book of
criticism.
July 21, 1805.
Art. DCCLXXVIII. The Wizard. A Kentish
Tale.
Stans pede in uno.
The following Tale comes from a quarter, which
I am not at liberty to disclose. It is an experiment
of rapid and unlaboured Composition (the first 310
I
8i
lines being composed, as I can witness, in one day,)
which I am enjoined to leave to its fate without a
comment.
THEWIZARD.
Canto the First,
'* Whence com'st thou, ancient man, and where
Have past thy numerous days, declare !
Thy beard is long ; thy hair is white.
Yet piercing are thine eyes, and bright;
Thy vigorous step and brawny arm
Might youth e'en in his prime alarm ;
Thy deep Stentorian voice's sound
Echoes these spacious courts around ;
In short thy tone, thy look betrays
The wizard form of ancient days !'*
The old man drew a fearful sigh.
And then he thus began reply ;
** Enquire not thou, too far to know
What mysteries wait us here below ;
But listen, and with patience hear '
That which is fit should meet thine ear !
Learn then, that many a weary age
I've trod the world's tempestuous stage ;
Seen many a generation borne
To rest beneath the funeral urn ;
And many a king, and many a queen
Thro' Europe's various lands have seen
Sit on the throne, then take their flight
To the deep shades of lasting night;
From soil to soil, from east to west 26
My pilgrimage, devoid of rest,
I've still pursued ; for Heaven decrees ***
My weary feet shall have no ease;
q2
84
Tadors, Plantagenets, I've vitw'd,
(For never yet in solitude
Glided my active hours,) and listeu'd
When the last Charles's beauties glisten'd
In splendid robes of gaudy vice.
And could with syren songs entice ;
Tliro' England's bounds from day to day
I've wander'd with the merry lay ;
And still with ease admittance found.
Where in old halls the feast went round.
Thus many a tale could I unfold, ,
Wonld thrill Ihy very soul, if told ;
And many a strange and laughing feat
Tliy wond'ring ears would lightly greet ;
And many a change of house and land.
And nany a child of Fortune's band.
And many a victim of Mischance,
And anny a race, wbose airy dance
Ended in sad Oblivion's grave.
While tome not Virtue's self could save 1"
He pansM: the listener look'd with awe ;
Trath in tbe old ntan^s face he saw : 50
He qnke; and as he spake, grew pale :
** O sire, if thus thou caust unveil
The deeds, that deep beneath the shade
Of tyrant Time have long been laid,
O feli me, when thou once wast here
In golden Bess's hsqppier year.
How did these peopled vills appear 1
Pcfchance fall oflen thou hast been
E*cn on this spot in times between ;
And canst relate, (for still 1 cast
My Cuacy most on what is past)
I
' SB
Scenes of the whiskered chiefs of yore.
Who, where I tread, have trod before ;
Tell the chang'd dress, the aher'd name.
The lost estate, the waning fame ;
How vain te seek in mean descendant
The grandsire's spirit still attendant ;
And with the peer of haughty air
The low progenitor compare ;
Contrast the straw-rooPd cot, that stood
Where bullies now the mansion proud.
And paint from actual observation
The freaks of time on every station !''
Smil'd the old Seer, and strok'd bis beard ;
And vigour in his eye appeared : 75
*• Enquiring youth,'* he glad replied,
** Thy wish can well be gratified :
For when I last was on this plain.
That golden heroine did reign.
In whom the nation well have gloried.
For better monarch ne'er was storied ;
And strangely have I looked about.
To find my ancient patrons out ;
But scarce a trace can now be seen.
Of what in those bright days has been.
The low are high, the high are low.
And ne'er can Time bis orerthrow
In hues more strong and hideous shew!
" The night was gathering round me dark;
The rising groves I 'gan to mark.
Where *«***»*'s heroes wont to call
The pilgrim to the cheerful hall ;
Where spread the feast, and blaz'd the fire, ,
And thrill'd the minstrers joyous lyre. j,
h
86
Quicker my weary footsteps flew.
To reach the place of rest they knew :
I sought the gate ; the pale I cross't ;
But soon in spreading lawns was lost ;
Nor gleam'd the window to the sight.
To draw the traveller aright. 100
Thus wand'ring sad, beneath a thorn
I laid my weary limbs till morn ;
And when the sun began display
The misty charms of opening day.
Lord ! what an altered prospect glar'd !
Clump'd groves, trim plains, and vallies bar*d I
And by a winding gravel road
Up to the splendid dome I trod !
No ***•*♦ there, no rafter'd roof.
Whose dark-brown oak had seemM time proof ;
No belted knights, no coats of mail.
No spreading tables there prevail ;
New names, new manners, and new modes ! —
Each room a silken luxury loads ;
And where five hundred years beheld
One race suspend the gorgeous shield,
A favoured tribe from distant soils
The long-kept heritage despoils !
With sinking heart, with drooping pace
My mournful footsteps I retrace.
1 seek for Sydney's spacious groves^*
Where Genius, Love, and Virtue roves;
Where mighty deeds of chivalry
Upraise th' heroic fame on high,
♦ Penshurst, the well-known seat of the Sydneys. The poet must
not be understood too literally. A descendant, by the female line,
who has taken the name, now possesses, and resides at, this vener*
able old mansioo. Some years ago it was uninhabited.
^
*
87
And splendid show, and regal trains 125
Illume the dome where Honour reigns.
I listen on the distant hill.
To heir what notes the breezes fill !
'Tis silent all : no murmuring tone
Upon the passing gale is blown !
The dreadful stillness glooms my breast :
The worst I'll know, or ere I rest !
Slowly descend my faultering feet ;
And now the massy gate I greet :
O hark with what an hollow sound
My staflfs enquiring blows rebound !
* No coming step my heart rejoices ;
No chearful shout, no mingled voices.
Deserted — dead — not one to state
Their vanish'd glory's cruel fate !
On every tower, through every room.
There hangs a cold and withering gloom ;
And Melancholy with black wings
O'er all her dying requiem sings !
O let me haste to yonder fane.
And o'er their ashes once complain ;
With tears each sacred name bedew.
Then hasten from the heart-breaking view !
** Once more my languid steps I turn.
Where kindred splendors wont to burn. 150
See Knowle's* proud turrets rise to sight.
Where Buckhurst nurs'd his visions bright,
* Knowle, the seat of the Sack villes. Thomas Sackvilfe, created
by Queen Elizabeth, Lord Buckhurst, and by James I. Earl of
Dorset, was a poet of a sublime genius, as appears by his cele-
brated Induction to his Legend of the Duke of Buckingham, in the
*' Mirror for Magistrates" 1559, 4to. See Vol. IIL of Warton's
Hist. Engl. Poetry.
■A .
88
Till hateful business damp'd his flame.
And for vile titles barter'd fame !
I saw him in his youthful glory,
luspir'd with themes of ancient story;
I heard him strike the lyre with rapture.
And every listener's bosom capture !
Beam'd his bright glowing eye, and thrill'd
His quivering form with fancy fill'd.
Till the chill cup of worldly lore
Quench'd the rich thoughts to wake no more !
Then cautious looks, and crabbed mien.
Dry words and selfish hopes are seen.
And now in courtly guise he wanders ; •
Nor more by woods and rivers ponders ! —
But Time hath laid him in the grave.
And his youth's deeds his name shall save ! —
Now as I reach the gorgeous towers,
Methinks again my bosom lours ;
Yet yonder see it lifts its height.
And seems with freshen'd splendor bright.
I view the shield, the name I spell ;
SACKVILLE! 'tis here thou still dost dwell?
Come forth ! — Thou com'st. — Ah, tender boy, 175
Dost thou this princely dome enjoy?
Art thoa the heir of Buckhurst's line ?
O mayst thou with his genius join
Less courtly arts, and manlier spirit.
And thus regard thy proper merit?
But yet the ruff-encircled Don,
Bearded and fierce, I little con
In thee, fair imp of alter'd days.
When Luxury melts with all her rays ! *
* Tbis amiable young Duke died in Ireland by the fall of hia
horse, in Spring, 1815.
m
" Then let me fly to Medway's stream.
Where flowing Wyat us'd to dream
His moral fancies ! Ivied towers,*
'Neath which the silver Naiad pours
Her murmuring waves thro' verdant meads.
Where the rich herd luxuriant feeds.
How often in your still recesses
I've seen the Muse with careless tresses
Scatter her flowers, as Wyat bade,
Ib Spring's enamel'd colours clad !
Lov'd castle, art thou still array'd
In fame, or do thine honours fade?
They fade ! Lo, from the tottering walls
Down in huge heaps the fragment falls ;
And lonely are thy courts ; and still
The voice that whisper'd to the rill ; 200
Thy very name is sunk ; how few
Know it once shone in glory's hue !
" A little farther yet ray stafl*.
And I in Beauty's beams shall quaff
The golden goblet of delight.
With gifts of Tudor's heroine bright.
O fairest Margaret,+ many a day
Didst thou Eliza's favour sway !
The mental treasure, rich repast.
Which can the storms of age outlast.
Thou drew'st, and I with thee can pore
Intent on sacred Wisdom's store.
• Allington Castle, on the banks of the Medway, where lived Sir
Thomas Wyat, the poet, the friend and cotemporary of Lord
Surrey. The family has been extinct near a century. The castle is
a ruin.
f Margaret, wife of John Astley, Esq. of the Palace at Maid-
stone. Her husband was master of the Jewels, to Queen Elizabeth.
She died bis widow, in 1601. See Gent. Mag. Vol. LXVII. p. 548.
90
And, oil, art thou too gone ? No trace
In this fiUl'n dome, of thy fair race ?
None, save where yonder walU enclose
The mouldering bones, in sad repose;
And the sepulchral tablet tells.
Where Astley's only relic dwells !"•
Now paus'd, and sigh'd the reverend Seer ;
His furrow'd cheek betray'd a tear.
The listener caught the infectious sigh, '
And chearing comfort would supply;
But languid, listless, pale and trembling.
The old man's grief is past dissembling. 225
" Why am I doom'd from age to age
To pass this weary pilgrimage ]
Ah, why for ever doom'd to brave
The loss of patrons in the grave ?
Where'er I go, new faces rise ;
New names, new modes, my heart surprize ;
And Fortune's restless wheel removes,
Whate'er my anxious bosom loves !"
*' Take comfort, holy man, and know
He, who has chear'd thy former woe.
Will still support thee thro' the future.
Be but to him an humble suitor !"
" Thou need'st not teach my wounded heart
The balm Religion can impart!
But tbo'^Religion pierce the gloom.
Full deep I feel my tedious doom V
" Rest, venerable patriarch, rest !
Let sleep compose that sorrowing breast !
And when awakes to-morrow's sun.
Thy tale of wonders shall go on \"
* Monuments in Maidstone churcb.
9i»
Low to his host the old man bow'd.
And smil'd with heartfelt gratitude :
The chearing cup his lips assail'd ;
The enlivening beverage prevail'd ;
His bosom heav'd, his cheeks grew red.
And many a witty jest he said :
And many a laughing anecdote
From sires departed could he quote ; 250
And many a tale, more fit to hear
In private, than for public ear.
Of deeds which would destroy the pride
Of those, who now in splendour ride.
Or stain, with ruby spots of blood.
Those who now boast of nought but good.
But these the Muse disdains to sing ;
For sacred is her silver string !
Clos'd were the pilgrim's eyes at last ;
Warm in his cloak his limbs were cast.
And heavy slumbers bound him fast.
Long was the night ; the whistling blast
Howl'd round the rocking dome, like thunder.
And lull'd the old man's dreams in wonder :
In floods, by fits, came down the shower.
And fearful was the torrent's roar !
Slept the strange Seer, as if entranc'd.
While in his brain wild fancy danc'd :
Mov'd his huge limbs, his bosom stirr'd ;
His lips breath'd many a mutter'd word ;
And on his mighty brow was set
Many an huge drop of painful sweat !
The host beheld with shuddering fear
These marks of his strange guest appear.
And anxious watch'd till morning's beams 275
The wondrous Seer's departing dreams.
92
The moniing came; the Bard awoke.
And gladness on his visage broke ;
And thus his host he greeted fair :
** Kind host, whose hospitable care
Shelter'd these grey locks from the storm.
And sootb'd to rest this weary form ;
Long may'st thou reap each sweet reward.
For goodness to a wand'ring Bard!
And long may tliy posterity
The shock of Time's encounters try ;
And when I come, in centuries hence.
To seek their name, and ask their sense,
Stiil may they shine in growing splendor.
With virtuous talent their defender!
** And now recruited strength inspires.
To feed thy wish, my wonted fires.
From gentle Astley's silent urn
I knew not where my steps to turn ;
But long I linger'd, thoughtful, slow,
Fault'ring, uncertain, full of woe ;
Till deep within the woodland shades
An ancient hall my mind upbraids,*
Where Norman knights for many a year
Have heav'd the sword, and hurl'd the spear. 300
Illustrious knights, whose valiant sires
Bold Richard led to Aeon's spires.
Whence safe return'd, in this thy seat,
Ulcomb, they fix'd, their calm retreat
For many a rolling century.
That never saw their virtues die !
* Ulcomb, on the borders of the Weald of Kent, the seat of the
very ancient family of St. Leger from soon after the Conquest, till the
seventeenth century. It was lately the possession and residence of
J. H. P. Clarke, Esq. of JJerbyshirej now, by marriage, of the
Earl of Ormond.
93
Far-fam'd Sir Warham,* when thy hand, »
About to seek a savage land.
Parted from mine, how swell'd my breast,
With prescience of thy fate possest !
What bold descendant shall I find
Within thine ancient bowers reclin'dl
Near as I draw, I mark each sound ;
No name like thine is heard around !
Alas ! 'twas here ! the tower is raz'd ;
The race is gone ; the shield defac'd ;
Here other owners hold their reign,
And thine in distant soils remain !
** I curse my fate, my breast 1 beat.
That still are doom'd my plodding feet
To seek for friends who all are gone;
And still I'm forc'd to journey on !
*' Deep are the roads ; the burning soil
Of rocky sand augments my toil ;
With tongue all parch'd, with dust besmear'd, 325
How vainly have I often steer'd
My course oblique to some known spot.
Where I in happier days forgot
Yet for a little while my sorrow ;
And fresh uprising on the morrow.
Bounding and gay my path pursu'd !
For now 1 meet repulses rude
From faces new, and forms new-fangled.
Selfish and mean, tho' oft bespangled !
* Sir Warham St. Leger, who, as well as his father, Sir Anthony,
enjoyed places of high trust in Ireland, was killed there in a skir-
tnish with the Rebels, temp. Q. Eliz. From that time the family
have been principally resident in that kingdoBi) and hare been en-
Bobled by the title of Doneraile.
9i
•* Now o'er these waves, which turrets crowD,
The moated castle's honours frown ;♦
Echoes the drawbridge as I tread !
Bold Coiepeper, still lift thy head.
And say if all thy knightly train.
Who long have held their valiant reign,
Far spread o'er Cantium's proud domain.
Say, if they yet their power retain?
From yonder grove a Spirit groans ;
A shriek thro' every turret moans !
No warrior answers ; but a sigh
Seems in low murmuring sounds to cry ;
" Tis done! In deep Oblivion's tomb
Long has Coiepeper found his doom !*'
And is it thus ? O thou, whom oft
J dandled with caresses soft 350
On my light knee, when Essex strove
To try a maiden sovereign's love ?
Thou, who in hours of death hast stood
Undaunted at rebellion's flood.
And, by the royal Martyr's side,
Strov'st the mad torrent's course to guide.
Lives then thy name no more ? Are all.
Wealth, honours, buried in the falU
No voice replies : opens no gate !
In other soils again I seek my fate.
** Pause," cried the host, *' thou holy Seer;
Recruit thy strength; thy spirits cheer;
* Leedes Castle, formerly possessed by Lord Coiepeper j for an
account of whom see Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion.
The Knigbtly family of Coiepeper were spread for many ages
over various parts of Kent; but have been long extinct; or, at
least, have lost ail their property, though one male was lately re-
maining.
95
Nor always dwell on tales of grief !
Gay thoughts would give thee some relief !
Tell all the " gorgeous gallery"
Of gallant scenes that lifted high
The court of that heroic dame.
Who stands emblaz'd with mighty fame
In all records of chivalry !
Of Kenil worth's and Elv'tham's shows,*
Where lords and knights in brilliant rows,
Bedeck'd ip splendid heraldry.
Shone at the feast of ladies fair:
And shouts of triumph shook the air."
" O hospitable host, those hours 37.&
Of genuine joy that strew'd with flowers
Each path I trod, will but renew
The darkness of Time's present hue !
AH now is cold, insipid, sad ;
In tinsel affectation clad
The formal table gives no feast.
The weakly pleasure has no zest.
Where op'd the spacious hall of yore,
Rang'd the long tables down the floor.
Mirth sounded with a genuine roar,
Alas, those sounds are heard no more !
Each for himself, the mean design.
At home to save, abroad to shine.
The generous passions die away.
And leave the heart lo vice a prey."
" Thou sorrowing Seer, ah I do not moan
For all heroic virtue gone !
In these vile days a few inherit
A bolder heart, a nobler spirit
* See Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.
96
Than ever in thy vaunted times •
Were told in tales, or sung in rhymes.
Behold at Acre's towers on high.
Smith wave the flag of victory !
And mark across the mighty main
The palm that Nelson's* thunders gain ! 400
With these, by whose immortal sword
Nations are sav'd, and thrones restor'd.
Compare not thou the puny knights.
Whom Fame records for feudal fights !
Eclipyd is all their ancient glory.
And fade the colours of their story !"
" True didst thou say ; but do not chide
The talk of age," the Seer replied :
" We love the past ; it takes a hue
Which ne'er is gain'd by what is new :
Each object seems, by Time's assistance.
Of charm more lovely when at distance !
" I hear the hounds on yonder hill.
0 let me breathe the freshening air ;
Mine ear with joy those echoes fill.
And I must to the woods repair !
With sturdy stride and staff in hand.
Plains, mountains, vallies, I command ;
And youth, as sounds the bom, again
Will seem to flow in every vein.
1 haste away : my host adieu !
This evening to my story true.
Thine hospitable roof I'll seek.
And deeds of former ages speak !" 424
END OF CANTO I.
* This was written and sent to the Printer before the death of that
immortal hero, of whose fame it would be idle for a common pen,
and on this occasion, to attempt the delineation.
97
r
CANTO II. >
The dusk of evening sail'd along ;
Hush'd was the last bird's warbling song;
But, bright within, the high-pil'd heap
A chearful blazing flame did keep,
Where o'er the wide hearth of the Hall
Hung many a trophy on the wall.
For here the host had lov'd to cherish
Marks, that with others gladly perish.
High branch'd the stag's horns on each door.
And gorgeous was th' heraldric lore ;
GlimmerM the black cross, and the red ;
And many a mystic figure spread
In gaudy hues, enrich'd the cieling.
The blood of ancient chiefs revealing ; '
While in the oriel's gloom'd recesses
Shone Knights in all their feudal dresses.
The feast was call'd ; the table stored.
And gaily look'd the lightsome board.
When, faithful to his plighted word,
Knock'd at the door the weary Bard ;|
Long was the way, the chase was hard :
Yet vigorous step, and ruddy look.
The strange old Pilgrim ne'er forsook ;
He loos'd his belt ; he wip'd his brow,
^ And on a bench he threw him now :
Then did he quaff the offer'd bowl.
And gladness in his eye did roll ;
And mingled it with many a jest.
That to th' enlivening draught gaze zest ;
And many a wink, and many a sniile^
And many a cup that interpos'd.
With many a witty comment gloz'd,
VOL. IX. H
98
Tbe transient moment did beguile
Sooth'd memory of all his toil.
Now timid Beauty came to gaze
Upon tbe old Man's mystic waya.
And view his reverend form, and hear
The tale, that struck the wond'riug ear.
The old Man bow'd, and smil'd with glee.
Sweet Beauty at his beck to see.
While, as his visage glow'd with fire.
They touch'd with thrilling notes the wire ;
And where at distance, mouuted high,
Amid the seats of minstrelsy.
The full-mouth*d organ op'd her keys,
A blue-eye'd maiden swept with ease
Its deeper tones ! the mellow sound
'Gan from the vaulted roof rebound.
And o'er the old man's senses stole.
Melted his frame, and rous'd his soul.
" O ye fair Nymphs, whose music thrills
My cold breast, and my fancy fills,
O how can I these gifts requite.
That swell my bosom with delight {
My faultering tongue has lost the art
Visions of rapture to impart;
And feebly from riiy withered brain.
And painful, comes the frozen strain !
What would ye hear, ye blue-eyed Maids?
Where would ye pierce Time's close-drawn shades ?
Would ye to Barbara's distant Down
Resort to hear of old reuown ?
Star of the East,« whose beauty rais'd
A fiame, that all around thee blaz'd,
* Lady Bowyer, <ieught6r of Sir Anthony Aucber of ioiiiiie, was
:
99
Wake from the tomb, and lead the ball
In noble Aucher's jfantient hall ; '
Bring all around the Cantian youth
With vows of everlasting troth :
See poets, statesmen, round thee crowd.
And soldiers breathe their sighs aloud I
Young Cowper* there, with modest mien.
Full pensive in thy train is seen ;
No word he speaks, but in his eye
A thousand thoughts thou may'st descry !
* O hear my suit/ he seems to say ;
* For tho' no splendor I display.
Some spirit whispers to my soul.
That future ages, as they roll, '^ ''
Shall view my now-unhonour'd name, ^
Encircled with resplendent fame ; '
And from my blood a Bard shall rise ^
To lift our glory to the skies I' *'
And there see Hammond^ plead his cause;
Tears from the tender fair he draws.
Ah ! how his glowing accents move
Predicting strains that breathe of love !
But who art thou J of calmer mood.
That seem'st thy offerings to intrude ?
for her exquisite beauty, called Tke Star in the East. Her portrait
was painted by Cornelius Jansen, and is one of his best works. See
fValpoU's Anecd.of Painting, II, 9.
* The ancestors of Earl Cowper, and of William Cowper the poet,
lived, cotempotary with Lady Bowyer, at Ratling Court, in Non-
ingtou in this neighbourhood.
f The ancestors of James Hammond, the elegiac poet, then
lived at St^lbans Court, in Nonington, where the same family still
reside.
X Qibbon, the Historian, whose ancestors then lived at West<
cliffe,near Dover.
h2
100
In terms precise, and studied phrase
Thou talk'st of deeds of ancient days ;
And Learning's lore, and Wisdom's guise.
The richness of thy tongue supplies.
Full many a tale canst thou relate
Of mighty nations sunk by fate I
* O hark !' he cries, ' if, beauteous maid.
My bumble suit may be repaid.
From thee shall spring a wondrous Sage,
Whose praise shall spread from age to age ;
And History's pages shall enshrine
Gibbon's immortal name with thine !"
*' The star is fled ; no more the sound
Of melting music floats around ;
Fall the bold turrets ; sinks the gate.
Where ermin'd banners* with brave state
Mock'd gorgeonsly the wanton air;
And Aucherf rules no longer there.
Ah ! who with sacrilegious whim
Has plac'd the dome of modern trim,|
Where once the massy Gothic tower
Was wont in generous gloom to lourl
In vain I look : no lovely dames
Come forth to fan our dying flames I
In silence on the weedy stream
Echo is left her hours to dream ;
And still is every laurell'd walk.
Where Love and Genius wont to talk !
* The field of the Aucher arms was ermine, with three liont rampant
on « chief.
f The male line of the Aachers became extinct nearly a centurj
•SO' %
I The present mimsioa u a comparatlTely modern building.
101
.E'en o'er yon sacred neighbouring tomb,
Wbere Hooker's* ashes wait their doom.
No spirit kindred wisdom breathes ;
No sage attempts congenial wreathes !"
Art. DCCLXXIX. Fxtempore Lines onseeing a de-
tachment of the Rifle Corps, under Col. Beckwith,
march with military music through Sandgate, on
Oct. 21, 1805,t on their way to emharh for foreign
service.
Farewell, ye Brave ! your steps miy Glory wait.
And Victory ride Protectress of your fate I
As sounds the martial band its cheering notes.
On the charm'dair what mighty Spirit floats !
It animates my soul : it swells my breast.
With mingled thrills of joy and grief possest :
It tells of thousand dreadful dangers brav'd ;
It tells of battles won, and countries sav'd ;
Of Admiration kindling in the eyes.
Whose big drops speak what Art cannot disguise;
Tlie Conqueror's echoing shout; the endless fame.
That plays around the hero's blazing name 1
But ah ! how much it also tells to mourn t
The screaming wife from hnsband's bosom torn ;
The weeping children clinging round their sire ;
The sighing friends, that in despair retire !
But what are those more chasten'd tones I hear 1
What mellower murmurs meet my pensive ear ?
See yon bold youth in calmness urge his way ;
Before his mind no wanton visions play ;
* Richard Hooker, the very learned and far-famed author of the
Ecclesiaslicttl Policy, was rector here, and has a monument in ihe
church. See Walton's Lives.
f The day on which the Battle of Trafjalgar was fought. At the
very hour the author was walking hy the sea at Sandgate, when be
knagined he perceived an unusually awful appearance in the air.
102
But thus, in tiiought eompos'd, he seems to say :
" Farewell, ye lulls, where many a summer's day
" I've pass'd ; where many a sweet autumnal mora,
" And many a wintry noon, with bound and horn,
** I've gladden'd all your echoes I O farewell i <#*i"«
•* Tho* in my heart the parting sigh will swell, ^
" Tis not for ease I sigh, nor dangers shun!
*' Tis Gratitude's sweet sigh for pleasures gone I
" I go at Glory's call in distant fields
** To seek the joy the Conqueror's laurel yields :
** It is my country's call : I go to fight
" Her generous warfare with chastis'd delight.
*' O ye, who now with wat'ry eyes pursue,
" And heaving bosoms, our departing crew,
" Weep not for us ; if favouring Heaven decrees
« Our safe return cross yonder spreading seas,
** With keener rapture we shall view again
" Each well-known cliff, sweet valley, and green plain,
** When wreath'd with honours, conscious of desert,
** We claim the offering of each grateful heart I
'* And should we see your long-lov'd scenes no more,
*' But fall like heroes, on some distant shore,
** Glory shall soothe the torturing hour of Death,
** And Fame shall consecrate our parting breath !"
Art. DCCLXXX. Original Letter of Robert
Bums,
In a collection of miscellaneous papers of the an*
tiquary Grose, which I purchased a few jears since,
I found the following letter written to hini by Bubns,
when the former was collecting the Antiquities of
Scotland : when I premise it was on the second tra-
edition jdiat j^e afterwards formed the inimitable tale
i
103
of " Tam O'Shanter/' I cannot doubt of its being
read with great interest. It were " burning day-
light" to point out to a reader, (and who is not a
reader of Burns?) the thoughts he afterwards trans-
planted into the rhythmical narrative.
O.G.
ZjCtter of Robert Bums to Francis Grose, F. A. S.
concerning Witch-Stories.
Among the many Witch-Stories I have heard re-
lating to Aloway Kirk, I distinctly remember only
two or three.
Upon a stormy night, amid whirling squalls of
>7ind and bitter blasts of hail, in short, on such a
night as the devil would chuse to take the air in, a
farmer or farmer's servant was plodding and plash-
ing homeward with his plough-irons on his shoulder,
having been getting some repairs on them at a
neighbouring smithy. His way lay by the Kirk of
Aloway, and being rather on the anxious look-out
ia approaching a place so well known to be a fa-
v.ourite haunt of the devil and the devil's friends
^d emissaries, be was struck aghast by discovering
through the horrors of the storm and stormy night,
a light, which on his nearer approach, plainly shewed
itself to proceed from the haunted edifice. Whether
he had beien fortified from above on his devout sup-
plication, as is customary with people when they
suspect the immediate presence of Satan ; or whe-
ther, according to another custom, he had got cou-
rageously drunk at the smithy, 1 will not pretend
to determine; but so it was that he ventured to go
up to, nay into the very kirk. As good luck would
104
have it, his temerity came off unpunished. The
members of the infernal junto were all out o some
midnight business or other, and he saw nothing
but a kind of kettle or caldron, depending from the
roof, over the fire, simmering some heads of un-
christened children, limbs of executed malefactors,
&c. for the business of the night. It was, in for a
penny, in for a pound, with the honest ploughman :
so without ceremony he unhooked the caldron from
off the fire, and pouring out the damnable ingredi-
ents, inverted it on his head, and carried it fairly
home, where it remained long in the fkmily a living
evidence of the truth of the story.
Another story which I can prove to be equally au-
thentic was as follows.
On a market day in the town of Ayr, a farmer
from Carrick, and consequently whose way lay by
the very gate of Aloway kirk-yard, in order to cross
the river Doon at the old bridge, which is about two
or three hundred yards further on than the said gate,
had been detained by his business 'till by the time he
reached Aloway, it was the wizard hour, between
night and morning. Though he was terrified, with
a blaze streaming from the kirk, yet as it is a well-
known fact that to turn back on these occasions is
running by far the greatest risk of mischief, he pru-
dently advanced on his road. When he had reached
the gate of the kirk-yard, he was surprised and en-
tertained, through the ribs and arches of an old gothic
window which still faces the highway, to see a dance
of witches merrily footing it round their old sooty
blackguard master, who was keeping them all alive
with the powers of hie bag-pipe. The farmer stop-
ping his horse to observe them a little, could plainly
descry the faces of many old women of his acquaint-
ance and neighbourhood. How the gentleman was
dressed, tradition does not say ; but the ladies were
all in their smocks : and one of them happening un-
luckily to have a smock which was considerably too
short to answer all the purpose of that piece of dress,
our farmer was so tickled that he involuntarily burst
out, with a loud laugh, " VVeel luppen,* Maggy
wi' the short sark!" ahd recollecting himself, in-
stantly spurred his horse to the top of his speed. I
need not mention the universally known fact, that
no diabolical power can pursue you beyond the mid-
dle of a running stream. Lucky it was for the poor
farmer that the river Doon was so near ; for not-
withstanding the speed of his horse, which was a
good one, against he reached the middle of the arch
of the bridge, and consequently the middle of the
stream, the pursuing, vengeful, hags, were so close
at his heels, that one of them actually sprung to |
seize him ; but it was too late, nothing was on her
side of the stream but the horse's tail, which im-
mediately gave way to her infernal grip, as if blasted '
by a stroke of lightning ; but the farmer was be-
yond her reach. However, the unsightly, tailrless
condition of the vigorous steed was to the last hour
of the noble creature's life, an awful warning to
the Carrick farmers, not to stay too late in Ayr
markets.
The last relation I shall give, though equally true,
is not so well identified as the two former, with re-
♦ Luppen, the Scots participle passive of the verb to leap.
106
gard to the scene : but as the best authorities give it
for Alowaj, I shall relate it.
On a summer's evenings about the time that Na-
ture puts on her sables to mourn the expiry of the
chcarful day, a shepherd boy belonging to a farmer
in the immediate neighbourhood of Aloway Kirk,
had just folded his charge, and was returning home.
As he passed the kirk, in the adjoining field, he fell
in with a crew of men and women, who were busy
pulling stems of the plant ragwort. He observed
that as each person pulled a ragwort, he or she got
astride of it and called out, ^' Up horsie !^' on which
the ragwort flew ofl^, like Pegasus, through the air
with its rider. The foolish boy likewise pulled his
. ragwort, and cried with the rest " Up horsie !" and,
strange to tell, away he flew with the company.
The first stage at which the cavalcade stopt, was a
merchant's wine cellar in Bourdeaux, where, with-
out saying by your leave, they quafi'ed away at the
I best the cellar could afford, until the morning, foe to
the imps and works of darkness, threatened to throw
light on the matter, and frightened them from their
carousals.
The poor shepherd lad, being equally a stranger
to the scene and the liquor, heedlessly got himself
drunk ; and when the rest took horse, he fell asleep,
and was found so next day by some of the people
belonging to the merchant. Somebody that under-
stood Scotch, asking him what he was, he said he
was such-a-one's herd in Aloway; and by some
means or other getting home again, he lived long to
tell the world the wondrous tale.
1 am, &c. &c.
Rob. Burns.
107
AnT. DCCLXXXI. Original Letter of the lale
Lord Chesterfield.
(The Superscription lost, but probably addressed to Dr. Monsey.)
Sir, Bath, Nov. 8, 1757.
Upon my word I think myself as much obliged to
you, for your voluntary and unwearied attention to
my miserable deafness, as if your prescriptions had
removed or relieved it. I am now convinced, by
eight years' experience, that nothing can; having
tried every thing that ever was tried, and perhaps
more, i have tried the urine of hares, so long and
so often, that whether male, female, or hermaphro-
dite, 1 have probably had some of every gender: I
have done more, 1 have used the galls of hares ; but
to as little purpose.
I have tried these waters in every possible way ; I
have bathed my head; pumped it; introduced the
stream, and sometimes drops of the water, into my
ears; but all in vain. In short I have left nothing
untried, and have found nothing effectual. Your
little blisters, which I still continue, have given me
more relief than any thing else.
Your faculty will, I hope, pardon me, if, not hav-
ing the vivacity of ladies, I have not their faith nei-
ther. I must own that they always reason right in
general ; but I am sorry to say at the same time,
Uiat they are commonly wrong in every particular.
I stick to that middle point, which their alacrity
makes them leap over. •« *
1 am persuaded that you can do more than other
people ; but then give me leave to add that I fear that
108
more is not a great deal. In the famous g^reat fog,
some years ago, the blind men were the best guides,
having been long used to the streets ; but still they
only groped their way ; they did not see it; You
have, I am sure, too much of the skill, and too little
of the craft, of your profession, to be offended with
this image. I heartily wish that it was not sojust a
one.
Why physical ills exist at all, I do not know ; and
I am very sure that no Doctor of Divinity has ever
yet given me a satisfactory reason for it : but if
there be a reason, that same reason, be it what it
will, must necessarily make the art of medicine pre-
carious, and imperfect : otherwise the end of the
former would be defeated by the latter.
Of all the receipts of deafness, that which you
mention, of the roar of cannon upon Blackheath,
would be to me the most disagreeable ; and whether
French or English, I should be pretty indifferent.
Armies of all kinds are exceedingly like one another;
offensive armies may make defensive ones necessary ;
but they do not make them less dangerous. Those
who can effectually defend, can as surely destroy ; and
the military spirit is not of the neutral kind, but of a
most active nature. The army that defended this
country against Charles the First, subdued, in truth
conquered it, under Cromwell.
Our measure of distress and disgrace is now not
only full, but running over. If we have any public
spirit, we must feel our private ills the less by the
comparison. I know that, whenever I am called off
from my station here, I shall, as Cicero says of the
109
death of Crassus, consider it as mors donata, non vita
erepta. Till when I shall be, with truth,
Your faithful
humble servant,
Chesterfield.
Art. DCCLXXXII. Observations on Modern
Jleraldrt/.
In an age in which the customs and prejudices of
the feudal institution have for the most part not
only ceased to operate, but the very recollection of
them is too generally treated with ridicule j it re-
quires, perhaps, some boldness to enter upon the
subject of Heraldry, the most despised of all its
inventions.
It cannot be denied, that the greater part of the
works upon this, (which its professors are pleased to
call,) science, are inexpressibly puerile and pedantic.
But when its origin and progress are treated his-
torically, which a few authors have done with no
common powers of research, it becomes a topic, on
which the imagination at least may be amused, if
the understanding be not informed. It connects
itself with all the pomp of elder times ; with the
feats of personal valour, and the generous glories of
chivalry.
To value the childish bauble of a painted shield of
parchment, the invention of a modern Herald, for
the consideration of fifty pounds, (my ft-iends
in the Heralds College will excuse me ; for in that
college I trust I have friends, and those the most ac-
complished, and the most respectable in birth; ta-
no
lent and character, of the whole society !) — to value
such a bauble, would argue a degree of follj or
ignorance, which Ciin only be found in the meanest
of intellectual beings. But to prize those ensigns,
which in the times of feudal strictness were the in-
cidents of power and rank, and the rewards of hero-
ism ; under which our ancestors have led their vas-
sals to battle ; and which have adorned their castles
and their halls during ages of more splendid hospi-
tality ; is surely worthy of a cultivated and mag-
nanimous mind! How dastardly should I be to
part with the shield handed down to me by my
fathers, though its origin should be lost in the
obscurity of time, and though the crusade, in
which it was first borne, could no longer be parti-
cularized!
Such are the circumstances which give an esti-
mation to these, otherwise childish, insignia. All
those, which have originated since the cessation of
feudal warfare, are objects of contempt : nay even
such as have been since granted for great acts of per-
gonal bravery, must be deemed insignificant, because
they are not connected with the exercise of that
heroism. When the Baron led his dependents into
the field of war, when, in the days of tilts and tour-
naments, he sallied forth to personal combat, the dis-
tinctive figures on his banner, the charges on his
shield, and the crest on his helmet, were the neces-
sary appendages of his rank and employments. But
where could the gallant Nelson, though he out-
shines in glory all the heroes of antiquity, inter-
mingle with the display of his exploits the silly heral-
dric imitations which the petty ingenuity of a mo-
Ill
dern Garter could assign to his seal, or his carriage !
Or how could the radiant fame of the immortal Sir
Sydney Smith, stoop to a pair of supporters, fabri-
cated, for a few paltry fees, by one who cannot be
supposed capable of appreciating his heroic merits.
What shall we say then to grants, made by Heraldg
on no pretence but the money paid for them ? Per-
haps the greater part of my readers, are not aware
that all ancient, and therefore all honourable, arms
had their origin prior to the existence of an incorpo-
rated body of Heralds. A recorded grant therefore
of a coat by the College goes nearly to the destruc-
tion of the only ground, on which a coat is worth
having. It is true there are a few patents of this
kind, of an earlier date than the cessation of chivalry ;
but they are very few. On this account many an-
cient arms have never even been registered there ;
much less emanated from thence. Of these, the
only proof can be the usage. And yet there are
heralds, who would endeavour to delude the igno-
rant, by pretending that none can be authentic,
which are not recognized by their office.
i should call a coat, which has been invented since
the extinction of the feudal system, not the less
counterfeit because it possesses the fiat of a regular
Herald. It can only be intended by imitative in-
sigiiia, which to a common eye appear like the ge-
nuine, to confound modern families, with those
which are really ancient. If this end be not effected,
surely it cannot be pretended that any end at all is
answered. Does it therefore arise from the arch inge-
nuity, or rather from the laudable simplicity, of the
112
present very able and erudite President of ihe Col-
lege^ that the coats of his rich and charming inven-
tion, bear, in point of the nature, or number and
complication, of the charges he inserts in them, no
more likeness to a shield inscribed with ancient
blazonry, than to an Indian scrawl, or Otaheitaa
breast-plate ? He is not content, like his predeces-
sors, with such meagre allusions as Rooks for the
name of Rooke, Salmons for the name of Salmon,
and Oxen for the name of Oxenden. Had he been to
deck out a coat for the latter, we should have had a
perspective landscape o^ ihe Dens in which the noble
animals were reposing, with the straw, the dung, the
manger, and the oil-cakes on which they were grow-
ing fat ; and lest this should not be sufficient, there
would be added a green chief, adorned with a ship
in full sail, all on dry land, surmounted by a fox's
brush for the banner, and decorated by a dog-kennel
on the deck! And when all this was done, there
would still be added a copiousness of verbal bla-
zon, which would out-rival the unintelligibility of
Christie himself!
About the reign of Hen. VIII. the Heralds wcfc
fond of filling the shields of new grantees with many
and complex bearings ; witness the arms of Paget,
Cromwell, Petre, &c. some of which have since
been simplified: but still the composites were
strictly consistent with the ancient usages of the
art. Something, no doubt, may be conceded in
favour of these more skilful counterfeits, which
have received the sanction of Time, and ornamented
the seals and the furniture of many honourable
persons, who have slept for generations in the
113
tomb. But the distinction between the true and the
false, will always be made bj a curious and severe
investigator.
To aid these inquiries, the works of Wyrley, Cam-
den, Spelman, Byshe, Dugdale, Nisbet, Edmondson,
and Dallaway, in particular, which treat the subject
historically, will afford much valuable information.
But a well-digested, and not tedious treatise, which
would exhibit a series of the most ancient coats
from authentic deeds and monuments, and trace the
few remaining families whose shields had their un-
doubted origin with the Crusades, is still a desider-
atum which yet, I think, it might not be very difficult
to execute. I have a deed in my possession all
fairly written on a little slip of parchment, contain-
ing a grant of land in the time of Hen. II. by the
male ancestor of an honourable Baronet now living,
who a little forgot his venerable descent when he
condescended to head mobs, and look to the support
of a desperate rabble, only fitted for the banner of a
Jack Cade ; and to this deed is annexed the distinct
and handsome seal of his arms, as they have
ever since been borne by his progenitors. There
are several other families, whose antiquity can be
ascertained with equal certainty. But many of these
neither are, nor ever have been, in the highest ranks
of society ; and since the order of knighthood has
fallen into disgrace, have not been graced even with
the humblest titles.
Singular as it may appear to those who are only
superficially acquainted with these investigations,
the records of the Heralds will afford very imperfect
aid on this subject. Some of these families have
VOL. IX. I .
scarcely been recog;nized, while manf of their
branches, relying on their known reputation for
venerable descent, have laughed at the summonses
of Visitors, and saved the fees, which more doubtful
gentry were glad to pay for their pai^sport to be ad-
mitted amongst respectable ranks.*
* A striking and unanswerable iastance of this happened in a
branch of the Chandos family, which, as all the particulars have
come within the Editor's positive knowledge, he ventures to men-
tion.
A near branch of tbat family were settled in a village in Glo»-
cestershire, in the time of Char. II. at the very time that a very
particular and remarkably able Visitation of that County was
made by the celebrated Gregory King. But that Visitation, being
referred to, furnfahed not the slightest notice of these persons.
Had the evidence of their existence or of their relationship beett
weak, this would have been urged as strong negative proo^ not
only of their actual descent, but even of their gentility. But
luckily two tombstones, and a Will, put that fact out of the reach
of cavil. A Herald however, well known for his perseverance and
industry, impressed with a strong prejudice of the omniscience
of his fraternity, yet incapable of conuadicting the direct asser*
tions of an epitaph, found himself in a dilemma which called fortb
all his exertion ; and he set himself to work, till, lo ! he actually
grubbed out from the dusty refuse of the College, the original sum-
mons to the person who was then the head of this branch, and resided
at the family house, to attend the progress of the Vbiting Herald at
the neighbouring town on that occasion. The fact of his residence,
at this very crisis, on the spot, could then no longer be denied ; even
though no note of such summons is entered in the Visitation Book j
nor the slightest hint that such a branch was in bein^. The Gentle-
man therefore must have slighted this call upon him ; and the fal-
lacy of trusting to such a sort of negative testimony must bo
establisheit in every candid mind acquainted with these lacts.
Another branch of this family, of great opulence and figure, were
seated toi' iwo centuries in Somersetshire, during more than one
Visitation ; yet are never noticed in them.
' Yet against a third branch, which had lately emigrated to another
115
There are indeed many things, which have always
required a material reform in the customs of this
eonnty, strong argnineats were, in the face of these facts, judicially
urged in a solemn Court of Law, because they were not registered
ia the Visitation of that new county, soon after their emigration.
Nor is this all. The Visitations, which did notice this family,
exhibited in the family itself omissions still more extraordinary.
The Baronet, for whom the pedigree was drawn, and who gave it the
confirmation of bis own signature, actually suffered it to stand with
the omission of his own two brothers ; both whom he proves to
have been then surviving, by giving them legacies in his Will of an
immediately subsequent date. And even here, incredible as it may
seem, arguments of non-existence were founded on other omissions
of this nugatory document, which disproved itself.
But I must stop — volumes would scarcely contain all of this
nature that this unhappy subject affords. When once the mind is
set afloat from the great principles and strict rules of evidence, (the
protectors of every thing that is dear to us in civil society, our
lives, our properties, our birthrights, our reputations,) what end is
there to individual caprice ? to the wanderings of the brain^
' in endless mazes lost ?
Yet a few more words ; for which, as the fact is curious, I may
stand excused. On the occasion alluded to, the person who had to
make out his case, was called on to dispose of the elder brother of
the Gloucestershire Gentleman, whose summons I have related, but
of whom nothing was known except his baptism. The junior brother
was in possession of the family estate, and H was a little hard to be
called on to trace, at the distance of 150 years, every infant to his
grave.
' that being bom did lie
In his sad nurse's arms an hour or two, and die.
Here therefore ingenuity hoped to have placed an insurmountable
stumbling block. But by the merest accident a copy of a letter
was found in this house by the lady, a stranger in blood, who pos-
sessed the estate, stating that the untraced brother died at the
age of seventeen at Constantinople, where he had attended an
eiAbassy! ! ! ' ' • ■ ' . - I '-"
I 9
116
office; and which would equally redound to the
benefit of themselves, though their fear of the con-
trary has hitherto confirmed their adherence to
them. From the time that Hen. VII. broke in upon
the strictness of Entails, and the Commons gained
an ascendancy in the State, a great number of pri-
vate femilies, partly from the harvest of Abbey-
lands, which soon followed, and partly from Com-
merce and Agriculture,* rose into immediate wealth,
and became the founders of houses, which have ever
since held a rank perhaps next to the Peerage.
Some of these, probably, assumed arms to whic\v
they had no right; others were incapable, either
^om the lapse of time, or mere negligence, of pro-
ducing technical evidence of their title to the coats,
which had descended to them from their ancestors,
and in truth belonged to them. Such people had no
great anxiety to come within the cognizance of the
Heralds of those days ; and several of them are not
therefore to be found in the Visitation Books. But
surely, after the lapse of two centuries, they have
gained a prescriptive right to their coats, which no-
thing but ignorance or mercenary prejudice could
deny. It is almost too absurd, that while sixty
years possession will turn a wrongful into an in-
Such were a few of the strange difficulties which the representa-
tive of one of the few families of ancient nobility had to struggle
with, in endeavouring to establish his birthright. It is surely not
too much to say, that in the eyes of many, who knew the case most
intimately, and whose profound knowledge of the laws of evidence
Bone can doubt, he overcame them all ! But all was vain !
* At that time several families, which have since led the county
of Kent, rose from the rich grazing lands of Bomaey Marsh. I
forbear to particularize, for fear of offence.
117
defeasible title to an estate of 50,000t a year, an
usage of two hundred years cannot give a right to a
coat of arms, of which the original title cannot per-
haps be disproved by an atom of evidence. '
But according to the wise rules of this body, no-
thing of this kind, no prescriptive use, even from
the time of the Plantagenets, will satisfy them ; the
idiotic petitioner of their fiat, who goes with a
shield, which his grandsires have borne, without
dispute, through the reigns of all the Tudors and
all the Stuarts, and submitting to their irrational
authority, requests its enrolment, will be told that
unless he can by evidence, not merely such as would
satisfy a Judge and Jury, but such as they in their
narrow and self-established rules of testimony
choose to call satisfactory, join himself to some
jfomily whose property in these arms has been re-
cognized by the College, he must submit, not merely
to the costs, but to the disgrace, of a new coat,
decked out perhaps by the fertile imagination of
Garter himself! And will this sneaking, dastardly
driveller then thus abandon all the ensigns of his
fathers? Will he forego the simple chevrons, or
fesses, or bends, or escallops, or stars, or crescents,
which have shone for ages in the richly-coloured
Oriel of the venerable Hall ; which have marked
out the portrait of many a belted Knight, and which
have blazoned the massive altar-tomb, under which
those from whom he drew his blood, repose ; will
he forego these, endeared to a cultivated mind by
every thing that is interesting in antiquity, for such
new-i^ngled devices, as, independent of their no-
118
velty, would from the absurdity of their context, be
beneath a child of five years old ?
In consequence of this conduct, a large portion of
those, who form no inconsiderable part of the com-
paratively-ancient gentry of the kingdom, appear
not in the Registers of this Society ; while the low-
est upstarts, East-Indians, brokers, contractors, and
often tradesmen, who have not even a pretension to
birth, and possess no ancient coat to be sacrificed,
crowd to the office, pay freely for a new device,
which in their ignorance they value in proportion as
it combines puerilities and incongruities which never
before entered into an human brain, and having all
their Others and grandfathers, (if they had any !)
raked out from the parish-registers in which alone
they were recorded among their brother-bladtsmiths
and tinkers and publicans, are decorated with a
genealogical table as large as one of the araptest
pages of the office-books will hold ', while t the
top of all appears the mighty symbol of their gen-
tility, a shield glittering in the fi-esbest colours ef
the most skilful painter, and adorned with an enig-
matical confusion of charges, which it would require
a tedious exercise of the most curious eye and most
retentive memory to comprehend. Then it is that
children, and uncles, and aunts, and cousins, are
carried to view with rapturous astonishment thi§
mighty transformation of the Herald's magic wand !
There we read the birth, marriage, and burial of the
father, who kept the Chequers Inn at Corner ;
the grandfather, the horse-leech ; the great grand-
lather, the cobler; and the great great graodfiither,
119
the greatest of all, who had been parish-clerk of the
place of his abode, during one of King James's
Progresses ! Yet, what is a little remarkable, not
one of these amusing factf. appears upon the face of
the record. On the contrary, the staring ejes and
open mouths of all the clan, who come to behold
their new gentility, caught by the splendid blazonry
in the upper corner of the leaf, take them for as
great and honourable personages as ever bore ^
shield : yet wonder secretly,
'■ — With a foolish face of praise, ^
at the power of the conjurer, which could thus
transmute the porter-pot, the cow's horn, the anvil,
and the awl, which they remembered in their former
days, into bucklers and helmets, and banners! —
Auri sacra fames ! What wilt thou not do ?
An apology may be deemed necessary for the free-
dom of these remarks. Yet surely it can scarce be
expected from me to copy, with an abject servility,
the grovelling and fearful sentiments of others on
this subject. I wish to strip from it its pedantic
jargon, its delusions, and its follies, and to set it in
a light consistent with the ideas of a rational, a cul-
tivated, and enlarged mind. Nor have I any wish
to degrade the College of Arms; for some of whose
members 1 entertain the most sincere respect and
good wishes. Indeed with the exception of two or
three, I honestly believe that it has seldom been
more ably and more honourably filled than at pre-
sent. My friend Mr. Lodge will forgive me for
pointing him out, as a man, not merely of literature,
and a very copious knowledge of history, at once
J20
extensive and exact, but of real and unequivocal
genius. The Biographical Notes to his " Illustra-
tions of British History" are not merely compila-
tions, like those of most other editors, (which too
oAen betray little more than well-directed labour)
but are, without one exception, elegant composi-
tions, which exhibit grace of language, discrimina-
tion of character, sagacity and fertility of original
remark, and a fund of moral, and interesting,
sentiments of the most touching kind. The same
character will apply to his very excellent Memoirs
annexed to the Holbein Heads by Bartolozzi. A
gentleman by birth, educated in the army, and having
imbibed all the liberal ideas of his early station,
such a man becomes a College, which professes to
preserve the decaying institutions of chivalry ; from
which those of low origin and education, who have
nothing to recommend them but their expert clerk-
ship, and their patience in digging among head-
stones and parish-registers, ought to be excluded !
For what can adorn this employment so much as a
masterly knowledge of history ; where there is not
merely a memory to register facts, but a luminous
talent to digest, and draw results from them ? If
such a man submit to indolence, if he suffer coarse,
unfeeling, and mercenary, obtrusiveness to step be-
fore him, even though it be too frequently the fate
of genius, how much will his friends, and even the
public, lament it !
'* Step forth; and brush a swarm of fools away.
Then rise and grasp a more malignant prey !"*
* In the first Editioo I bad here named with some praise another
11^1
The arcana of this art can never be difficult to be
acquired, so long as there exist so many treatises on
the subject; and a judicious selection among them
will save much tedious waste of time and toil. A
complete contrast between the nature of ancient and
modern grants will be furnished by a comparison of
" Camden's Gifts," which are set forth in the 2d
Book of Morgan's Sphere of Gentry,* with those of
Modern Kings at Arms in the Appendix to Edmond-
son's Heraldry.
Art. DCCLXXXIII. Modern Heraldry, -
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
I HEARTILY agree with you in reprobating that
miseral^le want of judgment in heraldry, which is
discovered in most of the arms invented of late years.
It was in the reign of Henry the Eighth, when new
&milies began to spring up like mushrooms, that the
ancient simplicity of armorial ensigns began to be
disregarded by the heralds, and numerous colours
and charges were first blended together in the same
shield with ingenious intricacy. But it has been
reserved for the present venerable head of the Col-
lege of Arms to introduce landscape and seascape
into the shields designed to commemorate deeds of
valour and heroism ; and he has done it with most
member of the College, who has since proved himself utterly un-
worthy of it, by a more unprovoked instance of malice and treachery
than perhaps has often disgraced the human character. This may
seem a bold assertion : but the wnilen prooj in his Clerk's own
hand has been exhibited to the assembled Chapter of his own
College.
^ ^ '^ See Cbms.Lit. vol. V. p. 15.
122
admired success. Indeed few heralds have displayed
greater A^riety of foncy, and a more coquettish tem-
per in armoury, than that gentleman : who (if I am
not misinformed) has changed his own coat two 'Or
three times, in humble hope, no doubt, of inspiring
a similar restlessness of humour in others, and of
thereby bringing an additional quantity of grist to
his mill.
I also agree with you in reprobating the effront-
ery, with which the heralds have maintained, and
continue to maintain, that no arms are of authority
whicli have not been registered amongst their own
archives. If this doctrine were just, tiie consequence
would be that arms of comparatively modern in-
vention, are of better airthority than those which a
man and his ancestors have borne, from time before
the existence of the College of Arms, and for time
immemorial, supported by the evidence of ancient
seals, funeral monuments, and other authentic docu-
ments. Surely this is grossly absurd, and the more
absurd if we consider that the heralds seem originally
not to have been instituted for the manufacturing of
armorial ensigns, b\it for the recording those ensigns,
which had been borne by men of honourable lineage,
and which might therefore be borne by their poste-
rity.
Perhaps it would not be too much to presume that
it will be found, on inquiry, that there are no grants
of arms by the English heralds of any very high an-
tiquity, and that the most ancient which can be pro-
duced, either in the original, or in well authenticated
copies, are of a date when the general use of seals
of arms, circumscribed with the names and titles of
the bearers, was wearing away. And it may, I
m
think, very fairly be asked, by what rule of law or
reason a note taken by the heralds, in the sixteenth
century, of the arms which a man's ancestor bore in
the time of King Edward the First, should be a bet-
ter title for his descendant to bear those arms, than
the ancient seal or monument would be from which
such note was taken.
I am told there are instances in which arms have
been denied to a family at one visitation of the he-
ralds, and allowed to the same family at a subse-
quent visitation, without any intermediate grant of
arms to such family from the office. This, if true,
would, decidedly prove that the heralds are not in-
fallible in these matters.
Before I conclude, yoH will permit me to notice a
practice amongst the heralds in the time of James
the First, of reciting in the patents of arms that they
had searched their office for the arms of the family
of A. B. and found that he might lawfully bear Ar-
gent a bend gules, (or otherwise as the case might
be) but there being no crest to the said arms, the
said A. B. had requested them to confirm the said
arms and to grant him a crest, and that there-
fore, and for other causes therein specified, they
granted and confirmed to the said A. B. such arms
and crest. This practice was, in some instances,
highly reprehensible, because such recitals were
made in cases where the heralds bad not found the
arms, which were so confirmed, amongst the records
of their office prior to such confirmation ; and be«
• cause such confirmations, not grounded on prior
evidence, were, in fact, original grants.
J% 26, 1806. S.E.
id4
Art. DCCLXXXIV. Otium divos^ Sfc. Hot.
Lib. IL Od. 16. 'Imitated.
TO LAURA.
1.
** For ease the wand'ring Sailor prays.
Who o'er the wide ^gean strays.
When clouds obscure the pensive moon.
And shut the day-light out too soon.
In hopes of ease the Thracians gloHU
And toils unnumber'd undergo ;
Ease, dearest Laura, always sought.
But ne'er by gold or jewels bought.
3.
Not all the power of envied Pitt,
Purple nor treasures, can remit
The tumults of the wretched mind.
And cares not ev'n to riches kind.
4.
Happy the man, whose frugal board
. , Is with paternal pewter stor'd :
His gentle slumbers ne'er shall hear
Or sordid Lust, or starting Fear.
5.
Why do we leave fair England's soil.
O'er burning India's sands to toil?
No change of clime can change the mind ;
Himself the wand'rer still must find.
6.
Care climbs the lofty vessel's sides.
And with us o'er the ocean glides ;
. The agile horseman sits behind.
Swifter than lightning or the wind.
195
7.
The mind which present prospects please,
The hated future ne'er foresees.
Tempers with smiles the low'ring day.
For none are blest in ev'ry way.
8.
Monthermer died in youthful bloom.
But age fill'd hoary Mansfield's tomb ;
And I perhaps by fate may gain.
What matchless Laura seeks in vain.
9.
Round thee the laughing Graces play.
The Muses, conquer'd, own thy sway.
And all the sweets of Love combine
To bless thy bed with joys divine.
10.
For me, by Fortune's pow'r opprest.
While others pant for ease and rest.
Be this my anxious wish alone
To call thy faithful heart ray own." P. M.
Art. DCCLXXXV. Literart/. Antiquities,
EXPLANATIOK OF AN AKGIENT MEDAL.
<W):THB KDITOR OP CENSURA LITERARIA.
SlR^
I HAVE often wondered, why a work of a supe-
rior kind to the common month> j publications has
never subsisted in this country : whether it be from
a want of purchasers or of sufficient materials, I am
ignorant ; but being desirous to contribute in both
cases to the continuance of yours, I have committed
to paper some thoughts which lately occurred to
126
me in reading relative to an unexplained medal of
Mark Antony and Cleopatra, a type of which is
given in the fifth torn, of the Histoire de F Academic
of the 12mo. edition, at p. 256 ; having on the ob-
verse the head of M. Antony, with this legend, M.
ANTflNIOS ATIOKRATHR OinNISTHS TRlflN
ANARXIN, and on the reverse the head of Cleopa-
tra with this legend, KAEOnATRAS OSlAN SH-
THRAS BASIAISSHS. The authors of that ar-
ticle, in 1731, M. Bonhier and De Boze, seem to be
quite at a loss for the meaning of OIZAN on the
reverse ; and by their account it should seem, that
no satisfactory explanation had been given of it by
any former antiquaries, although it had been pub-
lished by Goltzius, Tristan, Occo, Nonnius, Span*
heim, and Vaillant; for Bonhier says, "that cer-
tainly it is not easy to explain ;" and De Boze
adds, " that every thing which has been urged to
justify the epithet Oo-o-ai^ has so little foundation,
that it can be only ascribed to an error in the
artist." They contend indeed further, that there is
a doubt of its being genuine, or else if it be ge-
nuine, whether it has been rightly read : but against
both these suppositions they themselves uige, that
Occo has published a second medal likewise, with a
similar legend, except that BftcriAto-o-a occurs at the
beginning of it instead of the end, and is in the no-
minative, not the genitive case. I shall not enter
further into their account, nor do I know whether
any later writers have given any more satisfactory
explanation of the legends on this medal, or at-
tempted it \ therefore shall confine myself to mj
own opinion concerning it. It seems then to me to
have been struck in some city of Persia, or some
city in Asia, where an oriental language was chiefly
in use, and but little knowledge of Greek ; appa-
rently soon after Anthony's expedition against Par-
thia, in which Cleopatra accompanied him part of
the way ; for 022AN, or as it may be better di-
vided, 'O. 2. SAN, seems to be an abbreviation of
the common Persian title Schah-SchahiUf the king
of kings / which although here applied to a female,
yet as it is the title of males, therefore the mascu-
line article o has been prefixed to it, as the rest of
the legend is in Greek : that Greek was not per-
fectly understood where it was struck seems con-
firmed by the word <rwT>jpa, which should rather be
ffUTEifx ; and so Bonhier says, that Scaliger has
writ the legend in his notes on Eusebius ; another
similar erroneous use of a vowel occurs, I conceive,
on the obverse. As to Schah-Schahin, Hyde, I be-
lieve, was the first author who has explained it,
where it occurs in Manellinus 19. 2. " Amici Sa-
porem appellabant Achcemenem : vera autem lectio
in ultima editione jam restituta est 2»av l.a.x»,
nempe Schahan Schah est regum-rex." Rel. Pers.
p. 416. This was thirty years before the above-
mentioned dissertation, l^y this it appears, thai
even the Romans were no strangers to the title.
Reland also, in 1706, had observed " H in pro-
nuntiatione Persarum vix auditur ut in Saan saa
pro Schahan Schah." Diss, de ling, Pers. p. 227.
Bayer, in his Histor. Bactr. says " 2A in nummo
Phraartis meo judicio neque urbem neque mooita-
128
rium significat sed DANSA : similiter in nummo
Pharnacis Baa-iXiui f^iyxXov <^apvaxou £I)AN, malo
legere lANSAN quam cum Patino 02IAN vel
cum Spanheimo refingere Bxa-iXiug BxtnXiuVf in torn.
1. 487 de usu Numism." p. 102. By this it appears
that the word occurs also on a Parthian coin, where
Bayer has given us its true meaning. While by the
word refingere Spanheini seems to have thought
OZ2AN an erroneous reading by Patin for Baa-iXtuv.
I am not able to refer to the very words of Span-
heim, but here we find both the right reading and
meaning of the title, with the article ^ in like
manner prefixed, clearly ascertained by Patin and
Bayer, which seem to have perplexed all the other
antiquaries. Bayer adds, in p. 105, that Plutarch
mentions Anthony's giving to Cleopatra and her
sons, after the conquest of Parthia, the title of
BatriXm Boc<riXt(cv, in Antonio; moreover that in
Vaillant another coin has the legend Cleopatras re-
gincB regum. Bayer does not however appear to
have known of the medal in question with the ori-
ental title OS SAN applied to Cleopatra, otherwise
he would not have thought that Patin had read the
word erroneously with an o prefixed on the Par-
thian coin ; which however proves, that it was no
unusual thing to abbreviate the title in this manner,
even among Orientals themselves, although the ex-
amples of it may now be scarce. The Greek a had
the sound if not of aw yet at least of ar ; and Re-
)and has accounted for the omission of the aspirates
when expressed in Greek letters, since they were
but little heard even in Persian itself. This abbre-
1S9
viation may account likewise for what we read in
Hesychius, who says, that Zav means Ztua-, and
Zctvt^£g means 'ifiyBfx.ovihq. Here an annotator on
Hesychius conjectures, that it is formed from Zotuv,
Znv, Zav ; but the sense of vy^y-ovi^ig leads us to a
better derivation; for what connexion in sense is
there between vivens and Jupiter ? but gubernator
has a near connexion with the God of gods ; the
name was therefore rather an imitation of the fo-
reign word Zaan. That it had been naturalized as
well as understood in some Greek cities is further
confirmed by Pausanias : for he says, that at Elis
" Sunt aliquot aenea Jovis simulachra ; appellantur
ca patria voce Zanes." Lib. 5. Now if the name
had been formed from ^auv so universal among the
Greeks, it would have scarcely been so peculiar to
the natives of Elis as to deserve being stigmatized
as a provincial word in that city (patria voce) ; it
was therefore rather the oriental word Zaan, which
had by accident been naturalized there, though not
universally in Greece. Neither is there any thing
extraordinary in the oriental word Schahan Schah
being thus abbreviated and disguised when pro-
nounced or written in Greek letters, if we attend
to similar adulterations of oriental words in modern
languages, and even relative to the word in ques-
tion. Thus Bayer says, in the same page above,
** Persarum reges dicti sunt, sicut nunc Padi- Schah,
ab Indis Pad scha, ita olim Schahin Schah.^^
This, I presume, is the same name which the
English now give to the chief minister of the Ma-
rattas in India, and generally spelt Peshwa, while
VOL. IX. K,
ISO
tiie French write it Pecheva : the origin also appa-
rently of the Turkish word Pacha and Bashaw
^lus otherwise distinguished by foreigners, seems to
be the same.
As to the legend on the obverse of the medal in
question, the French dissertation says nothing of
its explication, nor have I myself any opportunity
to consult concerning it the other antiquaries, above
mentioned, who published the medal ; but there
must evidently be some difficulty concerning the
word or words OIXINIZTHS, &c. Now as the ho-
rizontal line on the top of the third letter of ATIO-
KRATAR is worn out so that T is changed into I,
I suppose that the case has been the same with the
second letter above, which should be a T ; and thus
those letters form o rm KTm^ rpiuv ccv$pwy which I
presume mean, that Anthony was the staff of the trif
unwirate, the artist having writ «<rT>)? for Krrog, just
as on the reverse we found an n formed instead of a,
which becomes another proof of a foreign artist.
hrroi means a mast of a ship, also a distaff, or the
rod on which wool or hemp is hung, in order for the
spinner to draw out threads from it, stamina; it
therefore naturally coincides in sense here with our
own use of the word stcff in such a case. Any fur-
ther information from others on these subjects would
be very acceptable, as books are so numerous and
fo expensive that few can obtain them.
S.
131
Art. DCCLXXX VI. Origin of the name of Mount
Caucasus.
In the sixth vol. of Researches hy the Asiatic Society,
Mr. Wilford has inserted a dissertation on the origin
of the name of mount Caucasus : he saj's " The real
name should be Casas, or Cas; for in Persian Coh
or Cau signifies a mountain. Now if we should
translate Coh-Cas into the Sanscrit tongue, it would
be Casgiri; and actually the true name of this
mountain in Sanscrit is Ohasa-giri, that is, the
mountain of the Chasas, a most antient and powerful
tribe, who inhabited this immense range of moun-
tains, extending even from the eastern limits of
India not only to Persia, but probably as far as to the
Euxine sea. They are often mentioned in the sacred
books of the Hindus ; and their descendants still in '
habit the same mountainous regions, and are called
to this day Ohasas and in some places Cossais. The
Greeks also mention the mountains of Persia as in-
habited by Cossceiy Cusseasi, and Cissii: the Caspian
sea also, and its adjacent mount Caucasus, were pro-
bably denominated for them. In the language of
the Calmuc Tartars, Chasu signifies snow. This
name of Chasagiri is now confined to a few spots,
and that immense range is constantly called in
Sanscrit, Himachel, i. e. snowy mountain, and Hi'
malaya, the abode of Snow; whence the Greeks
formed their name of one part of that range Imaus."
Etymology is little better than the art of conjectur-
ing; happily, however, it has some use; for while
it amuses some, it contributes to preserve relics of
antiquity, which might otherwise be altogether lost.
k2
132
Now as Mr. Wilford conceives Caucasus to be a
compound of two words, I do not dispute but he
may be right with respect to the origin of the last
half of it ; yet as I do not conceive the sacred books
of the Hindus to be so antient as he may suppose,
and as the name of Asia, for that part of the globe is
certainly antient, it seems possible, that Ohasas
might mean only Asiatics^ and that the Hindus gave
that name of C'hasas to all Scythians, and other
western Asiatic tribes, who potiscssed themselves
at different times of different mountainous tracts on
the north of India : for that the Hindus considered
themselves as included within that district called by
the Greeks Asia does not appear. But certainly we
never heard of this ancient and pozeerful tribe be-
fore ; and whether they gave name to Asia or Asia
to them is a matter of doubt; or whether both were
derived from Ohasu, snow, or from any other source,
such as Bochart has given.
What I most doubt of, therefore, is the origin of
the first half of Caucasus. It is indeed true that
CoA does in Persian mean a mountain, which is some-
times mollified into Cuh : thus Gotius thinks, that
Kuhi-stany a part of Persia, is not derived from a
colony of Arabs or Chusites settling there on the
east side of the Euphrates, but '^ a communi mon-
tium nomine Kuhiet stan regio,^^ p. 195 not. in alfer'
gan ; it being a mountainous province. Now as the
name of Caucasus was confined to that portion of
the mountainous range between the Euxine and
Caspian sea, while the more eastern portions were
'called Jmaus mom, or Riphcei, and by other names,
one may rather presume that the name in question
13^
arose from some circumstance peculiar to that moun-
tainous portion, rather than from such a general
word coh, as equally well suited any other mountain
or portion of that enormous range. 1 apprehend,
then, that the C formed one part of the first half of
Caucasus, i. e. Cauc-asus, or else was doubled, as
Cauc-casus ; and that Bayer has unintentionally
pointed out both the property itself and the original
name of it, out of which the Greeks formed the
word Cmic, as the name of the mountain. In the
acts of the Academy at Petersburgh, Bayer inserted
a tract de Sci/thice situ, in which he has these words,
** Herodotus ad occidentem Caspii maris Caucasum
collocat, ad orientem vero immensam planitiem : haec
planities cekbratissima est apud Arabes Persasque
scriptores nomine Kaphgjak et Dascht quod plani-
tiem significat." Now as quod refers to nomen, I
presume that the first word means planities as well
as the second ; but whether Kaphg-ia be a single
word, or two, may admit of some doubt ; however,
either way it may be the origin of the Oreek Kauc,
and also of the Hebrew name Gog. But it is not
merely on the east side of the Caspian sea, that
an immense plain is extended of a desert nature,
for that sea is quite surrounded by immense plains,
except on the south side by a range of hills dividing
those desert plains from the inhabited parts of Asia«
A vast extent of plains also surrounds Astracan on
the north of that sea, called the Step, and the same
on the west of it, called the desert of Astracan ; the
whole frequented only by roving hordes of Scythians,*
formerly and now Tartars, who occasionally depas-
ture on any fertile parts of it. This western desert
134
extends quite to the sea of Asof, or Palus Maeotis,;
and ranges along the whole skies of mount Caucasus
on the north close to the foot of it. We can little
doubt) then, but this western plain had obtained the
same name Kaphgjak as the eastern one. Bayer
doubtless has tried to express the Tartarian and
Persian pronunciation of this word as nearly as he
could in Roman letters; but it is well known that
in those languages there are indistinct sounds of a
guttural and aspirated kind, which no Roman let-
ters can perfectly express : and this possibly is the
cause of that assemblage of consonants phgj in the
middle, the full pronunciation of which the Greeks
would be scarcely bold enough to attempt, or able
to do it with safety to their teeth ; they would there-
fore naturally soften it into KauCfjnst as they soften-
ed other oriental aspirates into s, z, or x. What
the Jews also might pronounce with G hard, as in
Gogj the Greeks might soften into Kauc. Thus
Bayer may have given us the original word, which,
has been thus corrupted in both cases, together
with the true meaning of it. And it may have been
these immense, and as Bayer says celebrated^ plains,
to which this mountain was contiguous, that was
the distinguishing property, which gave rise to the
name of this portion of the long range of mountains
running from west to east, and to the inhabitants of
it, as well as to the mountain itself: for, although
the plains were little habitable, yet the vallies at the
foot of the mountain on both sides were very fertile,
and full of the same race of men, who occasionally
roved over those plains on the north side of it..
Stephanus, an ancient Greek author, expressly saysy.
195
that the inhabited district on the south side was
called Gogarena. " Gogarena est locus inter Col-'
chos et Iberos orientales." Iberia was on the south
side, and Colchis at the western extremity, of the
mountain; this name then included the whole
southern side of it, and sufficiently proves, that it
was called Gog by some nations as well as £auc by
others, and both of them apparently so called from
the contiguous plains : the usual word for which is
still Kaphgjaky among the natives, unless it be two
words Kaphg'iak, and meant to express that part
of the desert plain only which was contiguous to the
ink, i. e. the river Jakartes on the east side of the
Caspian sea : in which case Kaphg would be the
original still, and mean the plains themselves, by
others corrupted into Gog and Kauc. We know
that at first the Romans had no distinct letter for G
different from C, so much were those letters con-
founded in writing as well as pronunciation. Bayer
therefore has here, without any intention, confirmed
the opinion of Bochart long ago, that Gog and Kauc
were the same word: Bochart adds, indeed, that
CauC'Osus came from Kauc-hasan^ for hasan in some
oriental dialects means a fortress^ munimentum ; not
intending thereby any artificial fortress on that
mountain, but that it was the natural bulwark be-
tween the inhabited south part of Asia, and those
desert plains on the north of it. But whether this
derivation be preferable to the Ohasas of Mr. Wil-
ford, as giving origin to the last half of the namt;, I
cannot determine. This only I may mention, that
the names of nations were probably prior to the
names of aggregate countries, so that Chasas rather
136
gave name to Asia than contrariwise: and we know,
that a nation of the name o( Jsch did exist in antient
times, the inhabitants of Asia Minor being probably
those called Aschenaz in scripture. In Celtic Innis
means an island, and is applied to a peninsula as
well as island ; if we could suppose the original in-
habitants of Asia Minor to have been Celts, Asch-
enez might mean the nation dwelling in that penin-
8ula ; and Bochart has even given a reason, either
true or not, why they were called Asth or As, and
from which he derives thename Asia ; but this ety-
mology would not suit so well with Mr. Wilford's
ChasaSy who lived on the north of Persia and India.
There is something however so venerable in anti-
quity, that a peep into it is attended with pleasure
of an awful kind, like the view of old weather-beaten
oaks; and when such immense destruction has been
made of ancient books, it is sometimes even useful
to bring together the scattered relics of antiquated
words, in order to understand those books of anci-
ent times, which have fortunately escaped from the
general ruin caused by ignorance. We know like-
wise that even some of the Gothic nations, who in-
undated the north, and came from the banks of the
Euxine sea, brought with them the memory of hav-
ing formerly lived near a town called As-gard; and
they also gave the name of Ascb to their gods, who
were probably some deified heroes among their an-
cestors, formerly resident near the sea of Asoff.
Thus profane accounts give some aid to scriptural
ones, and the thought of the immensity of time past
has this further utility, of turning our minds to the
thought of future eternity. Immensity of time ii
13f
indeed so vast an object as necessarily to excite our
wonder and astonishment; but when we thus find,
that the ancient residence of Gog in scripture can
be traced to mount Caucasus, and that the name
of scriptural Aschenaz has too much resemblance to
Axenos, the ancient name of the Euxine sea, to be
the effect of accident, we become not only more sen-
sible of the mutability of all human things, but even
impressed with a more ready belief of the future
things, which scripture points out to us, after having
found its accounts so well verified concerning dis-
tant events past, as to render it a supplement to the
lost history of mankind in past ages, beyond all other
records of time. S.
Since my former testimony from Bayer, concern-
ing the probable origin of the name Caucasus^ I have
met with a remarkable confirmation of it in a Me-
moir concerning the Nations inhabiting Mount Cau-
casus, published by Edwards, in 1788, and extracted
out of various books of travels, by Russians into
Tartary, viz. Guldenstadt, Klingstadt, Gaerber, and
Strahlenburg. Now, at p. 31, are these words,
*' The flat countries, near the Volga, were always
called by the Tartars Capchak, which Strahlenburg
supposes to have been corrupted into CasakJ**
Whether Strahlenburg has or not given us a better
derivation of Casak, than Mr. Wilford from Ch' asas,
yet it is evident that the name here of Capchak, for
the plains which surround the Caspian sea, is the
very same which Bayer expressed by Kaphgjak, his
phgj being changed into the guttural aspirate c^/
138
and the author here assures us, that it is no name
newly imposed, but has alwaj/s been the same. We
know also, that the natives of barbarous countries
commonly preserve the ancient names of places
with more tenacity than civilized nations : hence in
Syria, and other parts of Asia, notwithstanding the
new names imposed by the Greeks, Romans, and
Arabs, many of the most ancient names are still cur-
rent among the natives, in the neighbourhood of
them. It appears also, from the above sentence,
that the name in Bayer is not a compound of two
words, as I before suspected to be possible ; and
bow the Greeks could pronounce it otherwise than
by Kauc, I cannot conceive, unless they had pre-
ferred the Gog of the Jews : we are indebted then
much to Bayer, for having first brought this native
name for those plains to light, and to the knowledge
of Europeans ; the meaning of which, even Bochart
did not venture to guess at, although he was plainly
got into the right road ; neither has the author of
this memoir noticed that additional information by
Bayer, that the word of itself signifies a great plain.
We cannot wonder, that it should be so corrupted
by the Greeks as to become scarcely cognizable, if
we consider, that the very same has been done by
the Persians, Arabians, and Turks, who pronounce
Gog and Magog as if written Jagiouge and Ma~
jougej as we are informed by Herbelot; the distinc-
tion between which may possibly have been, that
Gog denoted the people who inhabited the plains
and vallies contiguous to Mount Caucasus, and
Magog the mountain itself; for Ma and Maha, we
find to have al.^aj^s among Orientals included the
15^'
idea of great or high, as they still do amon^ the
Hindoos. It is observable, that the author of the
above memoir no where informs us, by what name
the mountain Caucasus is denoted at present, by its
inhabitants, and only gives us the names of the dif-
ferent nations, who dwell in the vallies and plains
which surround it; who speak a great variety of
languages, many of which have no resemblance to
one another; and in a dozen of these the author gives
us vocabularies of the names of the most common
objects; but unfortunately has totally omitted the
names for plain. Coh, however, never occurs there,
as the name for a mountain ; and it is remarkable,
that in all those languages there is not the least si-
militude to the Scythian, that is, to the common
parent of the Gothic, Saxon, German, and Belgic
tongues ; neither does CA' asu occur as the name for
Snow; but in the dialect of the Os€ti,a. mountain
is named Khohky and among the Tchetchens it means
B.foot, and also a handy so that nothing can be con-
cluded from it. In fact the present inhabitants of
Caucasus seem to be new tribes from the east, who
have settled there, and their languages are so totally
different among themselves, that they must have
come from distant and different parts. It is, there-
fore, only from the Tartars, on the northward of
them, that any information concerning the word
Kaphgjaky in Bayer, can be collected; it seems,
however, already to be sufficiently confirmed, that
it is the ancient name given to the immense deserf
plains, adjacent to the Caspian sea, and equally so
to those on the west, as the east of that seat. Gul-
denstadt seems even tO' have found some traces there
140
still, of the name Kattc ; for, being permitted to
make extracts from a manuscript chronicle in the
Georgian tongue, preserved in the Christian inonas-
terj, near Tiflt's, among the names of other neigh-
bouring nations, he found that of " Kaucas, inhabit-
ing Kaucasranta," which he supposes to mean CaU'
casianSf p. 53.
'As to the latter half of the name of Cauc-asus, I
may now add as a farther proof, that the name of
Asia was probably derived from the name of some
nation, of a nearly similar name, dwelling near the
Euxine sea : that Strabo mentions a considerable
wandering nation of that name, '^ Ex Nomadibus
maxime innotuerunt Asii, Pasiani," &c. lib. ii. We
find also other traces of the scriptural name Asheniz,
in Ascania, the name of a river in Phrygia, and in
the name o^ Ascanius^ given to persons, which, to-
gether with those enumerated by me before, may be
all relics of that nation, which first gave name to
Asia, and which must have been very ancient, as
Herodotus says, that he could give no account why
that country was called Asia. Now it appears also,
by Herodotus, that the country north of the Euxine
sea, even as far east as beyond the Volga, was anci-
ently inhabited by Celts, under the name of Cim-
merians ; which is confirmed by the name of Cimme"
rian Bosphorus, afterwards given to the mouth of
the Palus Maeotis : if then those Asii dwelt near
the Caucasus, or even on the south side of the
Euxine, in Asia Minor, it would be natural for the
Celts, on the north side, to give the name of Asia to
those districts to the south of their own habitations,
occupied by that nation of Asii ; for many names of
141
aggregate countries have been thus formed from the
names of those people dwelling in them, who were
first or best known to some foreign and neighbouring
nation ; just as we now give the. single name of India
to a vast extent of different countries, because the
name of the single nation of Hindoos was first or
best made known to European nations by means of
Alexander and others, and was also nearer to Europe,
than the more distant country of China. The lat-
ter half of Cauc-asus may therefore be another relic
of the name of the same nation, from which Asia
was derived, of which Ch* asus may be another
relic.
I cannot omit mentioning, that in the language of
the Tchetchens, the name for a spirit is Esey, Ssay
which has some resemblance to the Asce of the Go-
thic ancestors of our northern parts, who gave for-
merly this name to their divine beings, wnich might
have been the spirits of some heroic ancestors.
But this is the only word which has the most dis-
tant resemblance to any, in any of the Gothic lan-
guages. / .'i jij',
I cannot but observe also, that it seems rather ex-
traordinary, why the editor of the new edition of
Wells's Geography, should have inserted so many of
Mr. Wilford's Hindu reveries, on this and other sub-
jects, by way of addition to that work. Wells
himself has too many manifestly erroneous opinions,
which ought rather to have been corrected, than ad-
ditions made to them out of Mr. Wilford's medita-
tions ; while no notice whatever is taken of the Spici-
legium GeographicB Sacrce, by Michaelis, nor of the
opinions of any of thelaterand best critics concern--'
U9
ing sacred geography ; neither are the positions ad-
vanced by the editor himself, as his own, supported
by sufficient evidence from facts or arguments ; so
that, between them all, readers of the Jewish scrip-
tures will be rather involved more and more in a
wilderness, than find a companion to the Bible, on
whom they can depend. A judicious and abbrevi-
ated collection from all the latest and best writers,
would have been a useful work in the English lan-
guage, instead of this vast warehouse of ill-sorted
goods. S.
Art. DCCLXXXVII. On the fanciful additions to
the new Edition of Wells* s Geography of the Old
Testament.
TO THE EDITOR OF CEK8UBA LITERARIA.
Sir,
After having given one example in regard to
Caucasus, Gog, and Magog, of the little recommen-
dation, which Mr. Wilford's meditations, deduced
from Sanscrit books, are likely to afford to the ex-
cursions subjoined to the new edition of Wells's Geo-
graphy of the Old Testament, 1 just mentioned, that
in like manner those antiquarian meditations of the
Editor himself seem to be nothing better supported,
either from the facts or arguments adduced in their
favour. Let us, however, now examine, in some
few instances, the evidence contained in them, and
what assistance they are able to afford to a student
of the Jewish scriptures towards the illustration of
any parts of them, that we may judge whether thft
i
143
imaginations there presented to the public be 6t
companions to the Bible, containing many serious
truths.
Now the Editor supposes, agreeably to some Eas-
tern traditions, that the ark of Noah rested on Mount
Ararat, and that this was some part or other of the
long range of mountains called Caucasus or Taurus ;
so that mankind issued from that district both east
and west to occupy other more distant settlements ;
and also that the several devices and symbols, which
various cities afterwards impressed on the coins,
were intended as memorials of their descent from
the neighbourhood of those mountains ; particularly,
that where a bull is found on a coin, it was comme-
morative of the colony having been brought from
the neighbourhood of Mount Taurus in Cilicia, as is
thus expressed in his own words : ** From the an-
nexed plates, the reader will have observed, that our
drift is, to prove that the western cities nnd countries
were peopled from the eastern parts of Caucasus ; that
they preserved memorials of their origin by emblems,
and that these emblems, which have hitherto been con-
temned as mere caprices f are, when properly under-
stood, of great use in the study of ancient geography,
by which only they can be satisfactorily explained.
.As we conceive, that the scripture expressly affirms
the same migrations of mankind from Caucasus, we
consider our discoveries as corroborating the geo-
graphical accounts of scripture ; but these memoranda
were afterwards perverted from their true intentibii
to idolatrous commemorations. We therefore, for
the present, content ourselves with establishing our
general principle." Excursions, p. 29. '^Theplatt
144
4 shews principallj that portion of Caucasus, which
is distinguished as Mount Taurus," p. 20.
Here the writer has not done justice to former
antiquaries in saying, that the devices and symbols
found on coins have been hitherto contemned as mere
caprices ; for they have always been considered as
significative symbols of the cities, where the coins
were struck ; but why such symbols were adopted
in such cities, and to what facts or circumstances in
the history of those cities they referred, this, indeed,
in many cases it has not been possible to discover,
although it has, however, been done in several with
success : it will therefore be well, if this writer can
let in farther light on those symbols, which I am
afraid he will not do, by referring those exhibiting
a Bull as being commemorative of the descent of
the inhabitants from Mount Taurus. The subject
is at least harmless, and this is perhaps the most
which can be said in its favour ; whether his princi-
pie be true or not we do not inquire, but only whe-
ther the writer has adduced such facts and argu-
ments as will tend to render it probable and plausi-
ble. Let us see then what he says. " The figure
18 represents the sun rising behind the back of a
bull, Taurus, which bull is of the breed common in
India, having a lump between the shoulders : it is
taken from Hyde's JRelig. Pers, In another plate
may be seen the sun rising behind a lion, but in this
behind a bull ; the import of this emblem clearly
implies the western situation of those who, when
they made this observation, intended it as the prime
point of their compass, having no better method to
ascertain their bearings' p, 22. But if we turn to
145
Hyde's own account, we shall find, that this emblem
does not so clearly imply what is here affirmed, nor,
indeed, that it has the least relation whatever to it,
for it is a representation of the sun in the celestial
constellation of Taurus, and not of any terrestrial
mountain called Taurus, or the situation of any city
either to the eastward or westward of it. Take
Hyde's own words, *' Cum Sol est in Tauro omnia
florent — ut Virgilius, Candidus auratis aperit cum
cornibus annum Taurus; tunc scilicet (ut monet
Macrobius) Tauro gestante Solem : sic nempe pin-
guntur Signa, adeo ut in hge iconismo exhibeatur
Sol in signo Tauri PersarqjA more designatus. Sic
etiam in nummis Magni Mogul Indiae imperat; ex-
hibetur Corpus Solar.e super dorso Tauri aut Leonis,
-qui illud eodem modo gestat,"p. 115. What could
induce the writer to omit this explication of Hyde,
and to substitute his own erroneous one in its place ?
And, again, instead of the Sun, when represented in
connection with a Lion^ having any reference to
" Mount Lion, or Mount Taurus, as parts of Cau-
casus," as he asserts at p. 19, N". 3, we see that
Hyde more rationally explains such representations
as expressing the Sun in the constellation Leo, To
the same object, doubtless, the coin of Berytus re-
fers at p. 19, N*. 13, and, again, in plate 3, N". 14,
and possibly in other examples, which we have no
foundation for considering as mere caprices, although
we are not able to comprehend the meaning of all
the symbols represented on different ancient coins.
Hitherto we have found no confirmation of the
writer's proposed principle, but only a distortion ot
celestial objects to a pretended representation of
VOL. IX. I.
i
146
terrestrial ones ; in the following example we shall
find a similar distortion of one terrestrial object to
another. In plate 4, N°. 5, at p. 20, the writer sees
in the impression of a seal published by Niebuhr.a
bulPs body and legs, which to those who employ
such spectacles as do not distort objects, will appear
to be more like a lion, a bear, or an elephant, than a
bull; yet in reality, not intended to represent any
one of them, but an imaginary animal with which
the Persians were as well acquainted as Europeans
with the fanciful representation of an unicorn. Cer-
tainly Niebuhr did not think it represented a bull,
for he calls it a fabulous animal, as the view of it in
his Tflft. 20, proves it to be. His account of it is
thus — " In the ruins of Persepolis, on two parallel
walls, is seen on each in relief the fabulous animal
B of my tab. 20, being 17 feet from head to tail — I
obtained also an agate stone, the impression on
which, represents, as there is no doubt, the very
same animal as the above-mentioned larger one,
only the work of the engraver of the stone is not so
good as that of the sculptor." Tom. 2. p. 102,
Now what can candid readers think of an author,
who could transform this anomalous animal into a
bull ? A view of it may be seen at the page and
plate referred to above, as taken from the plate of
Niebuhr, in which same plate Niebuhr gives us also
the larger and more perfect representation of it from
the walls x)f Persepolis, having the face of a man with
a beard of feathers, and a cap like a bushel on its
head, with feathers upon its shoulders, rising up
high over the back as if they were wings, the body
m
and long tail like a dog, the feet with hoofs as in a
horse, but not cloven like a bull ; and jet the author
CQuld find in this heterogeneous animal abuWsbodi/
and legs, which, even in his own plate, appear more
like the body and legs of an elephant. What will
not the love of imaginary system make us believe?
This figure, found represented in Persia, the author
nevertheless considers as a varied emblem of Mount
Caucasus in Asia Minor, as his own words thus tes-
tify. "N°. 5. As we have seen Caucasus alluded
to under three distinctions [a lion, a bull, and an
eagle,'] we shall not be surprised to find such allu-
sion varied into other emblems. This number and
figure shews the bull's bodt/ and legs, the eagle's
wings and human head compounded into one em-
blem ; on one side of it is the sun, on the other side
the moon. It is the impression of an ancient agate
seal brought from Persia by Niebuhr." Excur. p.
30. It is true that the impression on the seal, yet
not the larger figure on the walls, has a sun on one
side and the moon on the other; but by what se-
cret marks the author can discover any connexion
between this compound figure and a mountain
I cannot comprehend. Jupiter, with his thun-
der and lightning, was conceived by the ancients
to have been particularly attached to mountains,
as the Deus loci; but that the sun and moon
were ever supposed to take up their residence
there I never apprehended before I ' read the above
explication of the seal; and certainly the whole
contains such faithful quotations and such accu-
racy in finding out resemblances, as cannot foil
1.2
148
to be instructive to students of sacred geograph^p,
ivho wish to discover the mountain on wliich
Noah's ark rested.
However the author judged right in accumulating
more proofs to the same purport. Thus at the
same p. 20, in some medals of Perinthus, a city of
Greece, he finds a bull with a lump on its back, a
common breed in India, '< to typify Mount Taurus
in Asia Minor, on which the ark rested ;" and he
adds very gravely and truly, " that the bull cannot
be the person in the ark [Noah] neither can it be
the ark itself." Plate 4. No. 1. and 2. These are
such ingenious discoveries, that I will endeavour to
collect gome more of them in order to gratify such
readers as might otherwise doubt, whether new
books in Roman characters excel the old black-let-
ter authors.
When new principles and opinions are started
relative to the illustration of the Jewish scriptures,
and are proposed as certain truths, although in re-
ality they are not only very uncertain, but even
apparently chimerical and erroneous, it is then
highly expedient, that their unsolid foundations
should be pointed out to the public ; otherwise their
specious appearance may induce many persons to
adopt them as true, and the censures due to them
may attach, in some degree, even to those scriptures
themselves, which are the subject of such chimerical
disquisitions. Although then 1 respect all writers,
who propose to instruct mankind, yet the interests
of religious truths ought ever to supersede the de-
ference due to those who may mean well, but whose
zeal is not according to knowledge. I shall there-
m
fore proceed to collect some further proofs of the
erroneous nature of those principles on which the
editor df Wells's Geography depends, or at least of
the insufficient evidence by which they are attempted
to be supported.
Now the type of a coin in his plate 4, fig. 21, ex-
hibits a whole Bull accumbent, having an embroi-
dered vestment thrown over his body, and a pot of
incense smoking under his nose, with a sun over
his head : the editor does not inform us whence this
type is taken, or of what city it may have been the
symbol, if of any ; but he thus explains it at N°. 21
of p. 22. This is " the ^or Aster, or sacred bull of
Egypt at large, expressly shewing the sun on the
head of Taurus ; who reclines on the top of a moun-
tain ; before him is a pot of perfumes smoking : and
he is clad in an embroidered robe, enriched with an '
octagon ornament (in its middle)." Now I am so
unfortunate as not to know what he means in calling
this representation of a bull, the Zor- Aster. Did
he mean to refer to the sense, which Scaliger some-
where gives to the name of the Persian philosopher
Zoroaster, as implying vivens sydus ? If so, one
should suppose, that he considered this bull to be a
symbol of the celestial constellation Taurus. But,
in such case, what connection has it with the sacred
hull of Egypt, which was no symbol of any celestial
constellation, but was only reverenced as a memo-
rial of the utility of oxen in the terrestrial labours
of the field, under the names of Apis or Mnevis, as
Diodorus thus informs us — " Tauri sacri, turn qui
Apis, tum qui Mnevis vocatur, ut Osiridi dicati sunt,
pro diis coluntur— hoc enira animantium genus max*
• 150
me omnium frumcnti inventoribus nd sementem
faciendum et utilitates agriculturae operara commo-
darat." lib. 1. Could one and the same syh^bol be
intended thus to serve the double purpose of repre-
senting both a constellation in the heavens and also
the laborious terrestrial bull in Eg^'pt ? And what
have either of them to do with the top of a mountain^
Mount Taurus, I suppose ? Is it meant to be in-
sinuated, that the Egyptians, by their adoration of
a sacred bull, manifested their descent from Mount
Taurus ? If not, what was meant to be proved in
this article ? This new science oibullism seems to be
here in confusion. As to myself, however, I have
no doubt of the type here represented being only a
Tariation of that mentioned before from Hyde, and!
intended to express the constellation Taurus, as the
sun over the head of the bull testifies ; without
having the least reference either to the sacred ball
of Egypt or to Mount Taurus. The Egyptian Apis
was, in fact, always represented in a different forra^
with large curved horns, and not such short horns
as in the present type : the editor himself has given
a true figure of the Apis at fig. 20, in pi. 4, from the
Isiac table. In the present type the pot of incense
smoking is a mark of the deification of this animal,
that being an essential article of divine worship, and
the embroidered robe over him is another mark ; it
having been common with the ancients to throw
rich robes over the images of their deities on the days
of the festivals held sacred to them. As to the octa-
gon ornament, in the middle of the robe, it may pos-
sibly refer to the period of eight years, after which
the lunar and solar months of the Greeks commenced
151
together again on the same day, and possibly also
began when the sun was in Taurus, as Virgil inti-
mates in the line quoted from him in my last. The
name of Mount Taurus, which the editor writes
under this type, in this plate, is only founded on the
same poetical and theoretic licence, by which he be-
fore found a bulPs body and legs in an imaginary
Persian animal, which is like nothing that ever
existed. The multifarious objects to which the
editor makes the present representation to refer,
viz. Mount Taurus, the Egyptian Apis, and the
constellation Taurus, reminds us of a similar prac-
tice in some etymologists, who, after offering two or
three different etymologies of a word, desire' the
reader to pick and choose which he likes the best :
but wherever a figure of a bull is found, the editor
will as surely be found to make it denote Mount
Taurus, as Mr. Bryant did in proving every name
beginning with an m to be a relic of j^nv the moon.
Thus at p. 22, N°. 16, he gives the following ac-
count of another type represented in his pi. 4, fig.
16. " The demi-bull here with a human head and
a long beard is a medal of Gelas. The Geleans
were seated near the Caspian sea, and were clearly
of Caucasian origin, or rather from Mount Taurus,
which we see they commemorated on their medals
together with its human head: several towns in
Sicily, being colonies of Geleans, adopted nearly
the same type." Now the name of those Geleans
in Asia is always by Strabo and Pliny spelt Geloi ;
whereas the name on this medal is Gelas ; this was
the name of a noted river in Sicily ; and it is a dis-
tinction always preserved between the two places,
152
so that there is not the least pretence for ascribing
this medal to the Geleans, nor for deriving their
origin from Mount Taurus : if therefore any thing
could be proved here in the editor's favour, it would
be that the river Gclas in Sicily had its sources in
Mount Taurus in Asia minor. But in reality the
author appears not to have the least conception of
what such demi-buUs with human faces were intended
to express on medals ; certainly not any high mouri'
tain, but, on the contrary, a low river : it is, indeed,
as unfortunate that he should mistake the one for
the other, as GelcB for Gelasy but this mistake it was,
which misled him to find towns in Sicily which were
colonies of Geleans from M. Taurus, when these
pretended towns were, in fact, only rivers, expressed
by symbols of demi-bulls, as was usual with the an-
cients, of which we are thus informed by ^lian.
*' Quidam colentes Jluvios et imagines eorum fabri-
cantes partim humanam, partim boum figuram iis
affingunt; nam bobus similes faciunt Lacedcmonii
Eurotam, Argivi Cephissum ; in hominum vero
figura Cherronesii et alii plurimi : Atbenienses au-
tem Cephissum colunt ut virum cornutum. Porro
in Sicilia Syracusii Anapum viro assimilant, at
Cyanam fontem ut fseminam honorant ; Agrigentini
fluvium speciosi pueri forma effingentes illi sacri-
ficant." Lib. 2, 33. Hence then we see the reason
of so many bulls being found on coins, and that in-
stead of denoting the descent of the inhabitants of
such cities from Mount Taurus, they express only
some river in their own neighbourhood, and such is,
doubtless, the case of the medal in question, on
which the name also of the river itself is inscribed -,
163
neither was there any town of that name in Sicily.
.3^Uan, however, rather ambiguously mentions those
figures of rivers, which were compounded of a half
bull and a human face with a long beard ; he does
not nevertheless contradict, but that all those bulls,
expressive of rivers, might have had human faces,
and thus that many persons compounded the two
symbols together, which others made use of separ-
ately, a bull and a humanjigure, sometimes male and
sometimes female. Of the last kind the editor has
given us several examples in pi. 3, N°. 17, 18, 19,
where are represented men swimming in rivers at
the feet of a female genius of the city seated on a
rock ; certainly a better symbol of a river than the
fore-half of a bull with a human face, which is, in-
deed, a strange device for the river, unless it was
meant to denote the violent strength of a torrent,
the noise of which was like the lowing of a bull.
But in all this we find no reference intended to a
mountain of the name of Taurus, as the editor sup-
poses, nor as Mr. Bryant, just as strangely con-
tended, that such swimming figures as in N". 17.
&c. were memorials still preserved in Asia of the
deluge, in which the men represented there were
struggling for life. N°. 12, 13, and 17, denote like-
wise some other rivers in pi. 4.
It would be useless to examine all the errors found
in these excursions, as they are not improperly called,
and, indeed, very eccentric ones likewise ; yet it may
be expedient to set readers right with respect to the
cMmasras and triquetra on the coins exhibited there,
which I will therefore consider hereafter.
ISi
Although the examples already produced may be
sufficient to shew the unsolid foundation, upon which
the newprinciple of the Editor of Wells's Geography
rests, concerning symbols found on medals, as being
memorials of the origin of cities from other distant
countries ; particularly that, where a buti is found,
it indicates an origin from Mount Taurus ; yet since
all illustrations any way connected with scripture
acquire some importance from that connection, and
ought likewise to be accompanied with greater
veracity, instead of being liable to censure as the
eccentricities of human fancy and j&ble, I shall there-
fore guard students of scriptural geography against
some more of the delusions contained in the work
under consideration. And this also, more especially,
because I would wish my censures of this author to
be considered as equally applicable to many other
learned romances of the present age, with which we
have been favoured by Warburton, Bryant, Maurice,
Wilford, and others : all of whom have, like this
author, intermixed so much of their own theoretic
imaginations with the few relics of real truth, which
they have presented to their readers ; that it may be
difficult to many persons to separate again the in-
ventions of the writer and the artifices of the
reasoner from the facts collected by the historian and
antiquary. Warburton was, I believe, the original
archetype of this new mode of literature, which has
been followed by many others ; who, although they
have agreed in the mode, yet have applied it to
a great variety of different subjects. And it seems
to have had its origin hence, that they observed the
public to neglect all instruction in solid truths as too
155
dry for the taste of the age, and not sufficiently
amusing for a vacant hour; as well as also, that
writers themselves had got to the utmost extremity
of the line of truth, so that they could find nothing
new to stiy ; hence they both of them agreed to
enter into the region of fable. Warburton led the
way into this new mode, by connecting together a
series of learned romances, interspersed, indeed,
with many curious episodes on various subjects, and
put together in the very epic manner of Herodotus,
himself the father of authorized fable. This was
rendered more engaging by a sufficient quantity of
satire, sneer, and criticism, on the opinions of other
authors, so that it was read by men of ability as
being the current and fashionable tale of the day.
This Jewish and religious romance was succeeded by
Mr. Bryant's etymological romance, containing a
rich medley, concerning both religious and profane
subjects. To these Priestly added a Christian ro-
mance, in his history of early opinions. Mr. Wil-
ford and Maurice compiled Indian romances ; Young,
Agricultural romances ; various authors their several
Travelling romances ; and now, at length we have
got a Geographical and Antiquarian romance con-
cerning the first travels of the descendants of Noah
from Mount Taurus. Upon the whole, they have
verified the observation of Aristotle, that men evi-
dently love hyperbolic exaggeration in every thing
much more than the mere naked truth ; as is plain^
he says, from the common conversation of mankind,
in which they always relate every thing accompanied
with fabulous circumstances beyond the real truth,
156
on purpose to gratify their hearers the more. Hence
it is, that writers of this class are in so much favour
with the public, and those who teach men nothing
but truths can never hope to rise up to a level with
these builders of castles in the air, but must rather
expect, with Icarus, to fall down headlong to their
native and groveling plain ground.
We need then now no longer to wonder, that the
Editor in question undertook, as mentioned in my
last letter, to prove that three diiferent things were
one and the same ; that is, the constellation of the
stars, Taurus in the heavens, the huge mountain
Taurus upon the surface of the earth in Asia, and
the bull Apis in Egypt, beyond the Mediterranean
sea. I had not sufficient paper left in my last to
shew how ingeniously, by the help of antiquarian
rhetoric and etymological logic, he proves, that a
hull on a medal was intended to denote all those
three objects at the same time ; but I will now at-
tempt to supply that deficiency; hoping, however,
that it will at the same time be considered as an
example of the ingenuity and strict mode of reason-
ing employed by all those of his predecessors, above
mentioned, in this new species of literature ; when-
ever they wish to connect together a mountain in
one part of the world with a bull in another beyond
the sea, and with a third as far distant as the heaven
is from the earth. He says then, in addition to the
passage quoted before " it is expressly said by Eu-
stathius, that the region of ITauric CJiersonesus] was
denominated from the animal Taurus, or bull; which
was considered as a memorial of 'O-Siris, the great
157
husbandman^ in E^ypt, who Jirst taught agriculture.
Now this seems to imply, that Siris signified a bull
as well as Taurus ; or else Taurus the bull would
have no relation in its name to the person of whom
it was a memorial : but if Siris was one way of pro-
nouncing Taurus (such as results from comparing
the Hebrew and Chaldee pronunciation of St/r and
Tur), then Taurus had a direct verbal allusion to
its primary object — for the Chaldee word tur or tt/r
vras, by the Hebrews, pronounced Sur, shur, or si/r.
This simple principle accounts for such variations at
once, and only leads to remark further, that the
Chaldee pronunciation tur seems to have prevailed
most among the Asiatic nations we are acquainted
with, therefore Taurus was the name of the moun-
tain among them, and was commemorated under the
figure of a bull." P. 26 and 27. Hence it becomes
very plain, that the Hebrew pronunciation of the
word by St/r and Siris ^ and, consequently, 'O-Siris,
means a bull, like tur or Taurus; for the Egyptian
bull Apis was sacred to Osiris, the great husband'
man, and he had proved before, at fig. 21, that the
Zor-aster, or sacred bull of Egypt, there shews the
sun on the head of Taurus [the constellation].
Thus all the names of these three objects are proved
to mean, in fact, the very same ; and hence the same
symbol of a bull on a medal denotes them all three.
Now I shall not object to the logical accuracy of
this conclusion, but only to the premises, concerning
Tvhat is expressly said by Eustathius ; for unfortu-
nately it happens, that Eustathius never said any
thing of what is there ascribed to him. The Editor
does not, indeed, refer to the work or page quoted
158
bj him, but I presume it must have been from the
commentary by Eustathius on the geography of
Diooysius; and if mistaken in this it is his own
&ult, or rather his own prudence, in omitting the
reference. Eustathius has nothing more, than only
to observe, that when Dionysius mentions the Kim-
roerians as dwelling under Taurus^ " that he means
a different Taurus from that eastern one in Cilicia,
or at least only a distant and northern branch of it,
whence their region is called Tauric Chersonesus y"
without any mention whatever of the animal hull^
or the great husbandman ^Osiris. Toutov raupov
Aiovuo-iOf Xiyn opo? aXXo Trapx rov luov ravpovj ri
01 xijiAjtAfptot, "Ev^oc xat n ravpucm Xtpcrovvri(Tog.
Apudvers. 168. When the foundation thus is taken
away the house falls, and if he cannot find gome
other historic testimony he must depend solely upon
the above mentioned efi/mologic proofs of any con-
nection between the animal^ the mountain^ and the
constellation. I shall only observe further, that I
suppose ^O'siris to be an error of the press for
*0-siris, and that he meant ^ to be the Greek article
the; so that ^-5tW5, by this conjuration, means fA«
bull most certainly ; and why should not Greek be
joined with Hebrew and Egyptian words, just as a
man's head to a bull's body, and this to mean a
river ? I should be apt, however, again to call this
Si fabulous animal rather than a bull ; and certainly,
also, it was a long journey from Mount Taurus for
the word to come first to Greece and then into Syria
before it reached Egypt : or did the Editor mean
159
that, by a common poetic licence, q might be cut off
from Siris as being no necessary part of the word?
It was, indeed, very natural for different and distant
nations to give the same name of bull to a moun-
tain, yet without any imitation one of another; for
a bull is the largest animal known on this side of
India, and by the thick massy form of its neck and
shoulders, not an improper symbol of the vastness
of the object represented : but it is not quite so ob-
yious, that there is any connection between the
names Osiris and Taurus, as that the one should
have been formed from the other ; however, the dif-
ficulty seems to constitute the merit of the deriva-
tion in this new mode of literature, which has, for
its object, whatever is vast, uncommon, or extra-
ordinary, and beyond the puny knowledge of the
rest of mankind :
So that tho' from Taurus Osiris is deriv'd, no doubt.
Yet it must be said, it has travelled a little round about.
Aristotle, however, had extracted a good rule out
of the profane poet Homer, which would be of use
to some Christian annotators on the Bible, that even
one's romances ought to have some appearance of
truth.
Some or other then of the above considerations
clearly set aside all evidence deriveable from every
one of the writer's medallic types having a bull
upon them excepting three, namely, N°. 11, pi. 4,
because it has lost its head and horns, so that it is
more like a mule thsm a bull ; and N°. 14, which
presents a calf sucking a bull, as the Editor conceives
by the help of his glass. X^is, indeed do^s i^ot
160
Beem very natural, yet he thinks it would not be un-
natural if it referred to Mount Taurus ; for as other
articles of the type seem to indicate fertility/, he is
of opinion " that a fertile Mount Bull, maintaining
a herd of calves, would be no absurdity." P. 21.
For my own part, I should think, that the whole
medal rather meant to represent a. famine ; for cer-
tainly nothing but necessity and a total want of all
food could produce such an extraordinary adventure.
As to the third medal, N°. 16, pi. 3, this is the only
one, which has the least appearance of representing
Mount Taurus, for this certainly exhibits the form of
a bull at full length, and has underneath IITAinN.
Now P^lcB was a city at the foot of Mount Taurus,
situate at a common pass from the north of Asia
Minor to the south, often called Pt/lce Cilicice ; but
Cicero calls it Pylae, Tauri : yet still even here it
was not meant to commemorate the descent of the
inhabitants, or their ancestors, from Noah's ark on
the top of Taurus, but merely to distinguish it from
other cities of that name elsewhere, of which there
were many called Pi/lce likewise, and the bull on
the medal answered the same purpose as the phrase
of Cicero would have done for a legend. — These
extravaganzas, however do not diminish the utility
to be derived from' medals, when soberly explained,
but the height of Mount Taurus has, in the present
case, lifted the author's head a little too high into
the clouds; and he will not be dissatisfied, that
others should take a little view from Mount Plea-
sant as well as himself from Mount Bull, in order to
prove, that romance is the order of the day, as our
neighbours, the French, can verify likewise, who
161
have heeh etigaged nearly twenty years in political
romances, and are not yet sick of them^
It is not merely a great variety of animails which
this new science, taught in the additions to Wells's
Geography, proves to be on medals symbols of the
origin of mankind in the neighbourhood of Mount
Taurus, such as bulls, lions, eagles^ goats, arid ser"
pents, but also all the imaginary animals of vtll
nations, sphinxes^ griffins, unicorns, and " chimeeras
dire,' together with horned men, goddesses, and all
other monsters of the human brain. Let us ob-
serve how ingeniously he demonstrates the truth of
his assertions. In pi. 3, his N°. 1, exhibits a lion
with a goat on its back, and the tail of the lion
wreathed round like a serpent ; its end being
formed like a serpent's head. This represents the
chimcEra, which, according to the ancients, was
compounded of a lion, serpent, and goat Under-
neath are the letters ZE, which he conceives to mean
Seriphion, as he calls that island in the Egean sea,
just as Pylae, he before named Pylion^ because the
Greek legend had TrvXiuVf and certainly there is no
material difference between a nominative and geni-
tive case ; so that his orthography is as excellent as
his accuracy in quotation both here and before : for
here he refers for Seriphio to the fourth o. of the
Annals of Tacitus, yet it is difficult to find any such
word there to countenance his own. However,
whether right or not, in referring this medal to Se-
riphos, let us attend to his conclusions concerning
it. He says " the mountain Caucasus is describ«d
VOL. IX. - M
162
as having; three noticeable heads or peaks. These
are symbolized in this medal, N°. 1, which shews a
lion, goat, and serpent conjoined, forming the chi'
tnara: it is a medal of Seriphion. Virgil calls
Seriphion serpentiferam : it was a mere rock. Me-
dalists acknowledge their ignorance of the reason
why the chirasera has been inserted on its medals,
and i^hat can it have possibly to do with Seriphion ?
The reference is perfectly unnatural, and even
monstrous ; there is no conformity between the
symbols and the place symbolized. Taking this as
certain, I suggest that it was colonized from Sera-
pha, a city and a mountainous district in Caucasus,
placed in our map annexed, and well known and
acknowledged : these colonists, to perpetuate the
remembrance of their original station, adopted on
their coins the insignia of that original station ;
thus all becomes easy. The lion, the goat, and the
serpent, are the three most considerable heads of
Caucasus — I have been particular on the type of
this medal, because I think the conclusion clear,
and shall not therefore so particularly examine
every medal : here the very name Seriphion has
likewise been preserved from the parent SeriphaJ'*
p. 18. Thus we have a new explication of the chi-
maera, which the ancients erroneously supposed to
have represented the clearance of Mount Cragus,
in Cilicia, from lions, serpents, and wild goats
(named j^ijuatpat Greek) by the exertions of Belle-
rophon mounted on the winged horse Pegasus. I
have read over the explications of ancient fables, by
the well known Hudibrastic Alexander Ross, but
never found there any thing so curious and learned^
at least so novel. I do not dispute the certainty of
this account of the origin of those islanders in the
Egean sea from Mount Caucasus, but shall only ob-
serve, that I cannot find that well-known city the
Seripha, of Caucasus, to be even mentioned by any
one ancient whatever ; and unfortunately the author
himself also has forgot to insert it in hid annexed
map : po^ibly he could not find the right place for
it ; and, I verily believe, that Wells also has been
so careless as to omit this great city, unless it be the
same as Sephar or Sepharvaim ; but these were cer-
tainly too far to the east for Caucasus : perhaps, it
was the same as the mountain Riphah, for by adding
se to it we may get Seriphah, and this addition is
just as easy as when we before took away O from
O'siris. Moreover, I never before met with the
history of the three peaks of Caucasus, called lion
head, goat head, and serpent head. But it seems
unjust both in the author and other medalists to say
that Seriphos had no concern with the chimsera;
not indeed immediately ; yet it had a distant con-
nexion through the actions of its own hero, Per-
seus : for when he slew Medusa, her drops of blood
produced not only serpents, some of which travelled
into both Mount Cragus and Seriphos itself, but
also the winged horse Pegasus sprung from those
drops ; who, flying over into Greece, was luckily
caught by Bellerophon, as he was drinking at a
fountain near Corinth ; who directly mounted him
and flew into Cilicia, where he destroyed the chi-
msra. So that 1 doubt it will be diflicult to assert
that Seriphos had not as near a connexion with the
chimaera, as with Mount Caucasus : and, possibly,
» 2
164t
the reason of its adopting for its symbol the tail of
the tale instead of the head of it, Perseus himself,
was, because a Perseus riding on the wiitged horse
had been adopted by the Corinthians as their sym-
bol, unless it be rather Bellerophon ; but most cer-
tainly the serpent in the tail of the lion was well
suited to the case of Seriphos, which abounded so
much in serpents, as well as frog::, as required
another such conquest as that over the chimaera it-
self, to clear the island.
The author, moreover, supports the above expli-
cation and his chief principle of such symbols, ex-
pressing the colonies derived from Noah's ark, and
dispersed throughout the world, by means of
another medal of Tarsus in Cilicia, at N°. 2, pi. 3,
exhibiting again the chixnaera under the form of a
lion with the horns of the goat, &c. and a human
figure with bows and arrows standing erect upon
the lion's back, whom he calls a Scythian ; and as
Scythians resided near Mount Caucasus, hence he
concludes, that " the reference of these emblems to
Caucasus is clear, on the principles already ex-
plained." p. 19. Thus this pretended Sct/thian
forms the only connexion between the chimaera and
Caucasus : but why may not that human figure re-
present Bellerophon himself as well as a Scythian 2
He nevertheless concludes it " to be clearlj/ again
the head, principal, or ruler, of Mount Lion and
Taurus," i. e. the commander of a Scythian tribe
on that mountain.
These inquiries are as amusing, and almost as
true, as the tales which children read in Esop's
Fables, where mankind are iqstructed by birds and
165
beasts; and which are thus, bj the author, happily
extended to historic as well as moral instruction :
however, he does not originate all mankind from
Mount Taurus, but allows some part of the human
race to have come from that storehouse of all know-
ledge, human and divine, India. For he had read
in Genesis xi. 2, that mankind journeyed from the
east to Sliinar ; from whence then could they come
except from India ? And agreeably to this he found
some mention made in- Greek authors, " that colo-
nies from Ethiopia, which, he says, means India,
settled in Egypt and in Syria." p. 24. Now he
finds memorials even of these colonies preserved
likewise by the symbols on medals ; for he presents
us with the types of coins, struck in several cities of
Syria, having a female figure, seated on a rock, and
a river flowing at her feet, with a man swimming in
it. Having also observed that some of these had a
temple on the brink of the river, he at first con-
ceived that the men seen swimming were the priests
of the goddess on the rock, who was worshipped in
those temples, and that her priests were performing
their sacred ablutions in the adjacent rivers. " I
acknowledge that I was long in doubt whether the
swimmer denoted one of the religious persons who
bathe in the river.*' p. 16. But as .second thoughts
are often best, " he afterwards, in a medal of Tar-
sus, found the same goddess crowned, and at her /
feet the waves of a river and a man swimming as
usual, but he had horns on his head." ibid. Now
the sight of the horns staggered him much, and in-
duced him to alter his former opinion ; not that he
conceived theluan with the horns to be a victim of
166
the inconstancy of his goddess^ at H'hose feet he lays
prostrate, aud even seems to be peeping ; no, he
obtained his horns in a more honourable way : for
the author had read iu Indian accountiis, that when
the river Ganges leaves the mountains, where its
sources are, and enters the adjacent plains, '' it runs
through some narrow rocks, which the natives call
the cow^s mouth." p. 15. Hence it occurred to the
author, 'Hhat the above type alluded, bei/ond all
contradiction, to the horns on the cow's heady
through which rock the river Ganges passes." p.
16. So that the Indians, who settled in Syria,
brought the cow's horns along with them, when
they left India, and placed them on their own heads,
as a memorial of their origin from the bank of the
Ganges; and thus these symbols confirm the ac-
counts both of scripture and profane historians. He
adds, '^ this medal is further applicable to our pur-
pose, as the goddess sits on a seat decorated with a
iagure of a griffin ; that is, a lion and eagle united,
(two mountains on our principles)." These
mountains, however, are now no longer the heads
of Mount Taurus, but the mountains in which the
Ganges has its source — " and in combining these
ideas it is impossible not to admit their perfect cor-
respondence, though employed in distant parts of
the globe, as being repetitions of the original em-
blems adopted by these colonies, which had quitted
the region of tlieir nativity, but not forgotten its
memorials." So that here we have these symbols
and the science of hullism only at second hand, in
imitation of those invented by the earliest descend-
ants from the ark pf Noali, after it had rested on
Mount Taurus ; but thus the original bull's horns
are now turned into a cow's horns : and as it might
be still doubtful what that goddess has to do here,
he informs us, '^ that it is the image of the Indian
god Vistnou, in a female form, as giving birth to the
river Ganges." p. 15. And why should not a god
be transformed into a goddess, as well as a bull into
a cow, or a cow, suckling its calf, into a bull giving
suck. This is all so sublimely mystical and so
wildly ingeniou?, concerning the antiquities of
mankind, that well may we say of the author with
Ovid,
" In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas ;
Corpora, Di, coeptis (nam, Di mutastis et illas)
Aspirate tuis, duni ab origine mundi
Et Noah, ad haec deducite tempora mythos."
All this far exceeds even the bright imagination
of Mr. Bryant, that the man swimming in tJie river
represented the desolation caused hy the deluge ; and
how superior are both these explications of such
medals to that of Noris ? who could give no better
account of the goddess on such medals, than the
simple explication of its being *' Urbis imago tur-
rita monticulum insidens et habens subtus figuram
fluminis, quo urbs alluitur, et virum ex undis emer-
gentem." p 247 and 343 : which is too suitable to
the abovementioned information of Julian to be
true, that the ancients denoted rivers sometimes by
male and sometimes by female figures ; and some-
times also by a vir cornutus : but how the ancients
came by these horns is now for the first time per-
fectly cleared up. " The mural crown also on the
female head is now shewn to^the high crowned diadem
168
ef Vistrtou ; and that Noah himself drank out of th€
river Ganges at the cozo's mouth.*' In fine, it is not
possible for me to do justice to all the good things
in this new antiquarian novel ; but 1 will exhibit
one example more which proves, beyond all dispute,
that three human feet, found sometimes impressed
on medals, were symbols of the three heads of Mount
Taurus.
._ a
After the author of the additions in question had
ransacked all nature, both in the heavens above and
in the earth beneath, for objects, which might be
considered as symbols of Mount Taurus ; and even
pressed into his service such objects as are not in
nature, but the mere inventions of human fancy,
such as those compounded and imaginary animals of
antiquity, minotaurs, chim^eras, and other monsters,
he at last found some more pretended symbols qf
the same existing in the accidental embellishments
impressed by some ancient artists on some of their
medals ; so that every part of the world is made to
turn its face toward Mount Bull, and even human
legs and feet are found by him to have been em-
ployed as symbolic expressions of the three heads
of it in those cases where triplicitt/ is implied ip
them.
The superstitious veneration of the Pythagoreans
to the numbers of three and seven is very well knowq,
but it has been doubted as to what gave origin to
those whimsical attachments; sorne persons have
supposed, that the idolatrous adoration of the seven
planets produced the current esteem for the number
fCfen,- )3ut what gave rise to that for the numbef
169
three has never been sufficiently known : our pre-
sent author, however, has at last discovered the
mystery, and finds it to have had a very ancient
origin indeed, as having arisen from the account
given by Moses of the situation of Paradise, and
afterwards confirmed still more from the respect paid
by the descendants of Noah to the three heads of
Mount Bull.
Read his own words ; " Armenia alba is one of the
highest regions in the world, for it sends out rivers
in contrary directions toward the^b^/r cardinal points
in the heavens, and contains three mountains. Now
I must remind the reader, that in coincidence with
this account, Moses in Genesis specifies three pro-
vinces, as being adjacent to paradise ; for though the
number of his rivers he four, his provinces are only
three, Ethiopia, Havilah, and Assiria ; and we can
scarcely doubt, that this number was hence received
among the ancients. In proof of this we may refer
to the well-known emblem of Caucasus, a lion, a
goat, and a serpent, [i. e. a chimcerd] three; or the
bull, theeagleand man, three ; or the lion, eagle, and
human head, three; which form i\\e griffin, or the
sphinx.
** But I think there is yet a more simple proof of
this triplicitt/, in the figure called triquetra, which w
formed on medals by a circle, or disk, in the center,
from which issue three bended legs, as it were foU
lowing one another, which are sometimes separated
by ears of corn ; implying 5(? manj/ provinces fertile
ingrain. If these Icgshe thought to hint at tho
long journies, migrations, devious ways of the tra-
vellers, and the ears of corn to signify the provinceSf
170
then the circle or round disk in the middle may
denote the mountain [Taurus 1 presume] ; and thus
it must be owned, their emblematic meaning is not
undeserving of attention." p. ii. Et quidem eris
mihi magnus ApoJlo ! — " Such symbols on medals
are not dubious, but direct allusions to the original
country of the primitive colonists — and the most
ancient cities, whose inhabitants we may reasonably
conclude came directly from Mount Caucasus, adopt-
ed these emblems, at first to maintain a memorial of
their origin, and in later times a proof of their anti-
quity.";?. 12.
(( Having thus been entertained with a sample of the
antediluvian and Noarchic history of the cause of
predilection for the number three, and the symbolic
meaning of the triquetra on medals, that is, three
bended legs and feet, let us next attend to the mo-
dern history of them. Pliny informs us, that Sicily
was by many called Trinacria out Triquetra a iriati'
gula specie (\ih. iii. 8). At each ofthe three angles are
three considerable promontories of rock, whicli say
to the boistrous sea, hitherto shalt thou come and
no further. Hence the Sicilians, at first adopted
three bent horns, as a symbol of their island, which
horns were joined together at one end like the spokes
of a wheel : now horns Mere always in ancient times
considered a significative of power, strength, and
firmness, as is well known. This symbol was both
simple and readily understood, as alluding to the
three promontories of their triangular island. Of
these some examples may be seen in plate 4, fig. 6,
7, and 12 : the two first have only Jcol, inscribed
on them, which seems to mean Colonia; the third
m
has apparently the name of some unknown city, so
that it cannot be determined hence that these were
cities of Sicily ; but we shall see afterwards a more
clear proof of this. For as mankind are soon tired
of what is simple and intelligible, some whimsical
artist, in later times, changed this symbol, under pre-
tence probably of proposed embellishment merely,
and substituted for the three hent horns, a more
mysterious one ofthree bent human legs and feet join'
ed together at the thigh, like the spokes of a wheel,
in imitation of the former symbol : of these, ex-
amples may be seen in the author's pi. 3, fig. 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, and pi. 4, fig. 8 ; and in such incongruous
whimsies as these of ancient medalic artists, he has
discovered mystical allusions to the pretended three
h^ads of Mount Taurus, and also the three fertile
provinces contiguous to paradise ; although the ears
of corn intermixed with the legs probably only al-
luded to the fertility of Sicily in grain, and the legs
themselves were only a fanciful variation of the
three /torw*, expressive of Sicily; not any allusion
to the long journeys, migrations, and devious zoai/s
of the Noarchic travellers from Mount Taurus.
But one of the types on the above medals, fig. 9,
contains a further and important information, which
fixes these symbols to the cities in Sicily, for it has
on it the legend lLipa)co(rtoi',thus proving itto belong
to Syracuse, as the others therefore probably did
to other cities there : one of them also, fig. 7, has
inscribed A Florus triumvir, 3, which at least proves
them not to belong to more ancient times, than the
Roman republic, therefore certainly a few years
later than the age of Noah and his issue.
172
But if any readers prefer mystical romance and
the sublimity of inventive fancy to the simplicity of
history, I have no desire to interrupt their enter-
tainment, but wish them a safe journey to the top
of Mount Caucasus and its three heads. I only
wonder at the strange turn, which the ingenuity of
man sometimes takes, and expect, that before the
author has finished his work, he will find the history
of Noah in the figures formed by the clouds, and
compute the number of years since his death by the
contents in a paper of pins ! Throughout the whole
there is indeed such an extraordinary intermixture
of erudition with extravagant suppositions, that it
appears like a connected dream by a man not quite
awake, and in his learned rather than sober senses.
One observation, however, I may still add, as it
seems to have been misrepresented by the author.
In pi. 4, fig. 7 and 8, he presents two medals, hav-
ing on them two bull's heads joined together at the
neck, with the Sicilian symbol of the triquetra on
the reverse in both ; on which he remarks " This
double bull I take to be a Persian emblem, and
therefore have added, in N°. 9, a similar figure from
the tomb of Naxi Rustan in Persia ; but this pecu-
liarity struck me in these bulls, that they have but
otiehorn. N°. 10 also is given at large by Lebruyny
in which there is also a single horn — this proves the
figure to be emblematical." But there is another
peculiarity, which he has omitted ; the form of the
nose of these pretended bulls is too sharp and point-
ed for that animal, being more like the nose of a
dog; and the figures in all those numbers seem to
be the very same as one of those two fictitious ani»
173
mals, which Niebuhr delineated from the walls of
Persepolis. At p. 175 I gave an account of one of
them, which we may call the Persian sphinx; tha
other Niebuhr calls the Persian unicorn ; it has,
indeed, lost its head, but the form of it may be sup-
plied from his pi. 23, where it is perfect and seized
by a lion, of which he gives an account in his p.
109; and adds in 110, "that one meets with this
figure, which I call an unicorn, frequently among
those ruins, so that it seems to have been a
very remarkable emblem with the ancient Per-
sians."
At his pi. 25, fig. e, Niebuhr presents a third fic-
titious animal, having but one horn also, which we
may call the Persian grijfwj and this seems to be the
same as that copied by our author at fig. 10, from
Lebruyn, therefore different from the unicorn at N°.
7 and 9.
What these three animals were meant to repre-
sent is quite unknown, but thus far is evident, that
our author had no pretence to call any of them bulls;
for in all of them the heads approach nearer to those
of a deer or a dog. It is, however, very extraordi-
nary, that these Persian fictitious animals should be
found upon medals formed in Sicily, as the triquetra
on N". 6, 7, 8, and 12, indicate.
I will mention a conjecture, which has occurred
to me concerning the origin of this, but which I give
only as an uncertain hint for others to confirm or
refute by future examples of the same kind, which
may present themselves. We know, that Mount
Cragus in Cilicia, which was the scene of Belle-
rophon's exploits, afterwards denoted by the chimcera,
174
was a burning mountain ; hence possibly some city
at the foot of Mount JEina in Sicily might have
adopted likewise the chimmru for its symbol ; and,
in imitation of that, yet at the same time in order to
be distinguished from it, other cities near Mount
i^tna might have adopted other foreign and fictitious
animals of a compounded nature, like the chimsera,
to denote their situation being in the neighbourhood
of the volcano of iEtna.
But however this may be, yet thus much seems
dear, that the coin with Du^axoo-joi/on it was struck
in Sicily, therefore that the iriquetra impressed upon
it rather referred to the three promontories of 2Wn-
acria than to the three heads of Mount Bull ; and
also that no medal with any real bull impressed upon
it has been found by the author, among all those
which have the Sicilian Iriquetra upon them ; and
so end these medalic romances concerning Mount
Bull, and the several colonists who derived their
origin from it.
S.
Art. DCCLXXXVIII. Remarks on the Prmunci-
ation and Name of Jericho.
TO THE EDITOR OP CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR,
There is a practice to which modern periodical
critics are too much addicted, of expressing their
criticisms in such a loose, imperfect, and often er-
roneous manner, that while they are noticing one
mistake or fault in any author, tliey themselves, ia
the course of their remarks, mislead their readeri
into many more errors, and of more consequence
than those few which they correct : thus they mul-
tiply and circulate their own mistakes so much, as
requires the pens of other critics to set things in
their true light to readers in general. I will notice
one example of this, which has just now occurred
to me. A late writer, in some remarks on M. Cha-
teaubriand's Journey to Jerusalem, has these words :
" Either the author himself, or his printer, has com-
mitted an error in calling Jericho Rinha ; it is called
by the Arabs Riha, or Erihay with a strong aspirate
on the H : this is, in fact, its antient Hebrew name ;
for as to Jericho it is a barbarism, of which eastern
pronunciation is perfectly innocent." Now the cor-
rection of Rinha into Riha is perfectly just ; but
this has given rise to other errors of his own, or, at
least to such doubts, as do not entitle him to pro-
nounce, that eastern pronunciation is perfectlit/ inno-
cent. Did he by barbarism mean to say, that it is in
the above French author himself, or in modern na-
tions in general toward the west, while those in the
east have preserved the right pronunciation down
to this day ? Now to whom he here imputes this
pretended barbarism is at least doubtful ; but it
certainly did not originate with modern nations, but
was derived by them from the Greeks and Romans,
if it be a barbarism ; however, there is reason to
believe, that it was not imputable even to them, but
was rather founded upon the oriental pronunciation
current in those ages, and that it has been rather
the moilern Arabs, who have corrupted the pro-
nunciation of the former times, and who therefore
176
are not perfectly innocent. Not only Strabo, and
other profane authors write the word 'Itptp^w, and
the Romans HiericJio ; but we find the same alwajs
in the New Testament, thougli writ by Christians in
Syria, who were well acquainted with the pronun-
ciation of the country in general, and of the Jews in
particular, to whom the town belonged. It is spelt
the same also by the Jewish translators of the Old
Testament, long before, in the Septuagint, as well
as by Josephus aflerwnrds. Is it not rash then to
affirm, that all these were totally ignorant of the
right pronunciation of the name of a town, in their
neighbourhood, during the age in which they lived?
It was certainly thus pronounced by all Syrians who
spoke Greek, and that this was quite different from
the common pronunciation by the natives, who spoke
Syriac, Hebrew, and Chaldee, is an assertion which
no discreet man will venture to make. Nay, on the
contrary, there is good foundation to believe that
the Hebrew name itself, to which the critic refers,
was itself the means of introducing the Greek name,
by the attempts of the Greeks to imitate its pronun-
ciation, as it was current in those ages. For in
Hebrew, according to what seems to have been the
original power of the Hebrew letters which then
prevailed, although greatly changed afterwards, the
name is irihu, or irichu, and this not only among the
ancient Jews, who better understood Hebrew, but
even, in later times, among the Jewish Rabbins in
their writings. Now, in regard to the first syllable,
we find that both Greeks and Romans always as-
pirated the first vowel i into '*£/>X" and Hiericho ,•
177
which testifies that it was then aspirated, although
now possibly not so by the present Arabs in their
name Eriha; nay, even the first vowel seems to be
altogether lost by them in Riha^ if this be true ; so
that the present is only the skeleton of the original
name, and a strong testimony that corruption may
have equally happened to the last syllable as to the
first. Therefore, the only corruption of western
nations has been in pronouncing the first vowel i
like ge^ i. e. as they generally pronounce their con-
sonant J at the beginning of words, both in French
and English ; which has, however, still something of
an aspiration in it, therefore does not essentially
differ from the former aspiration by the Greeks and
Romans, but certainly comes nearer to it than the
present Arabic pronunciation by Eriha, without any
aspirate. The Hebrew vowel, which ends the word,
was originally and properly an m, which, however,
was afterwards sounded by the Jews very differently,
sometimes like o and sometimes like i. Some Greeks
seem to have thought it was then sounded like o
and their w long ; yet others, both in Greek and
Latin, conceived it still to resemble most to an «,
for in Greek it is sometimes found to be spelt ovv,
and in Latin Hierichun, so that they appear to have,
been in doubt between u and o. This proves no-
thing more than the ambiguous sound of it to foreign
ears, not any actual corruption of the original name.
As to the h in the last syllable of the Hebrew hu,
this aspirate is often, in Latin, expressed by an h
likewise, and often by c/t, by which was generally
denoted the Greek p^. What the precise sound of
this letter wa^ has never been determined ; but it
VOL. IX. N
17$
apparently must have included some degree of the
sound of the Greek x, and like our A", because we
often find oriental words with the oriental aspirate
A to be sometimes rendered by x sind sometimes by
k in Greek. This has happened also to this very
word in question ; for, in the geography of Ptolemy,
Jericho is writ Ericos in the printed editions, both
in Greek and Latin, [f/Jixo?,] but in the Basil edi-
tion of 1533, (which, whether the first or not, I have
not examined) it is spelt JEpsntou? : here then we
again find such remains of the final Hebrew vowel
M, as well as in Hierichun abovementioned, as prove
these variations to have only arisen from the am-
biguity of the Hebrew sounds to Greek ears; but,
the very same time, they prove, that the sound of that
Hebrew vowel, then current, approached rather in
Greek to an w or u than to the present orthography
of the Arabs by a, as in Eriha ; and, moreover, that
the oriental aspirate before it had a similar sound
with the Greek ;^, the Latin cA, and hence, with our
English method, of sometimes sounding ch by a k.
Consequently, there is no sufficient proof of Jericho,
as pronounced by the French and ourselves, to be
a corrupted sound of the original Hebrew, but rather
the present Arab words Riha and Eriha, in case the
Arabian sounds be perfectly expressed by those
Roman letters ; which seems, however, rather doubt-
ful, and neither is it perfectly known at present what
were originally the true Hebrew sounds of their
letters, and they are better determined by these at-
tempts of the cotemporary Greeks to imitate them,
than by any traditions transmitted to us by the Jews
179
themselves, who, by their intercourse with so manj
other nations, have entirely lost the ancient pronun-
ciation both of their vowels and consonants, neither
is there sufficient reason to presume that the Arabs
have better preserved them after such a length of
time.
Art. DCCLXXXIX. On the too hastt/ as-
sumption of a modern Critic that Cadi/tis was Je-
rusalem.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
iSIR,
There are two conspicuous defects in those who
professedly sit in critical judgment upon the writings
of other authors, which one would wish to see
amended, if they desire to gain a superiority over
their rivals. Sometimes they advance new and pe-
culiar opinions of their own, or such, at least, as are
scarcely known to the learned world, and, depend-
ing upon the presumed certainty of such opinions,
censure other authors for not having adopted the
same, although they never had any opportunity to
hear of them before ; and, although, even now those
critics have made public either none of the reasons
by which such opinions may be supported, or at
least, only such a superficial and confused sketch of
them, as can convince nobody of their good founda-
tion.
I gave an example of this defect, in my last letter,
respecting Jericho ; and, certainly, this is not a me-
thod to arrive at superiority in criticism, or to give
N 2
180
satisfaction to such readers as wish to know what
are the most rational opinions held by the learned
public upon any subject which occurs.
But there is likewise another common defect, of
which 1 shall give an example in my present paper,
and which is of a directly opposite kind ; this, in-
stead of starting new and untenable opinions of a
critic's own formation, consists in retailing old and
disputed opinions as certain, which have, indeed,
been long before the public, but have been opposed
by later writers ; and, if not quite refuted, yet, at
least, the credit of them has been so far shaken that
rational inquirers are at a loss how to determine be-
tween the two; and, without any impeachment to a
man's understanding, some persons may embrace
one opinion and some the other.
In this case a public critic seems as if he was only
conversant with those who lived in a former century,
if he thus takes not the least notice of the contrary
opinions of those who have writ in the present cen-
tury, and thus only adopts the notions of our great
grandfathers. Readers will wish to know the latest
opinions on every subject, as well as the earliest,
and then form a judgment for themselves between
them.
The critic, abovementioned, on M. Chateaubri-
and's Journey to Jerusalem, will supply us like-
wise with an example of this defect in modern criti-
cism : for he says to this purport, " When Herodo-
tus mentions the capture by Pharaoh Necho of a
great city, in Syria, called Cady tis, he meant Jerusa-
lem ; for the current name of it is still called Kuds
by the natives, which means the Ao/y city; and so
I
181
it was anciently termed likewise, namely, Kedesli in
Hebrew, from which Herodotus formed his name
Cadytis.''''
Now, the earliest of modern authors conceived
Herodotus to mean Cadesh-harnea ; but as this was
too far inland for Necho to take in his road from
Egypt, Lightfort presumed that Jerusalem was
rather meant, as this was known by the name of
Kedesh likewise ; in this he was too hastily followed
by Hyde in his notes to Peritsol (p. 19;) by Prideaux,
and others, none of whom, however, seem to have
accurately compared the account of Herodotus con-
cerning the situation of Cadytis with the situation
of Jerusalem. Nay, they even mistook the sense
of one of his words, which is not ov^iuv, mountains^
but ovftav^ borders.
This mistake of the Latin translator. Valla, con-
firmed to them, that Jerusalem was meant, it being
in a mountainous district. Hyde produces this very
circumstance as a proof in favour of Jerusalem, and
neither Perizonius nor Reland afterwards corrected
the error, but confirmed it, for he even writes the
word oMotx instead of oupa. [^Palest, illustr. p. 669].
This shews that our grandfathers are not entitled t
implicit credit ; and the critic in question ought to
have hesitated before he adopted their opinion, un-
less he had, at the same time, been able to remove
the objections which have been since made to it.
It does not appear, by his extract, that the French
author took either side of the question, therefore
the critic has been altogether a volunteer with re-
spect to the subject ; and this rendered it the more
18i
incumbent on him to have guided his readers into a
right path, and shewn them how very doubtful, at
least, the opinion of those earlier authors was, in-
stead of decidedly embracing it ; and this without the
least notice of its having been since opposed by that
great orientalist Reland, and such objections made by
him as cannot be easily removed. In this he had been
also anticipated, in some degree, by Leclerc, (2 K.
23) and by Perizonius [^gypt. orig. p. 417]. Jack-
son also appears to have been convinced by Reland
'^ Those learned men who supposed Kadytis to be
Jerusalem seem to be mistaken." Vol. I. 344, in
note.
Thus far, however, it is only a war between autho-
rities, yet this ought not to have been concealed
from readers under a peremptory assertion of a con-
trary opinion, if the critic chose to introduce this
subject, though irrelevant to the contents of his
French author, as hereby uninformed readers must
be led into error, and those better informed be dis-
satisfied with such assertions, as represent what is
very uncertain, to be an article certainly agreed to
by all learned men.
The objections of Reland are these — " Mini me
convenit haec opinio [de Hierosolyma] cum ipso
Herodoto ; versatur enim in describenda ora mariti-
moy in qu& non erat Jerusalem : dicit quod, a Ca-
dyti usque ad montem Casium regio erat dilioni
ArabiccB. An Hoc dici potest de regione quae est ad
austrum HierosolymaB ? Non puto : Adde quod vide-
atur urbs Cady tis conspecta ab ipso Herodoto ; si
ea Jerusalem fuisset, num neglexisset mentionem
Templi et tot stupendorum operum, quibus ilia
183
Hrbs prsB alils eniinuit, quum ipse rerum quas vidit
in urbibus minus nobiiibus mentionem faciat accuf
ratam ?"
In fact, between Jerusalem, and the Arabian desert,
intervened the whole tribe of Judah; and on the
coast between Joppe, the nearest port to Jerusalem,
and the same desert were the two whole tribes of
Dan and Simeon. How then could he saj, with the
least truth, that " ab Hid (sc. Cadyti) quaB urbs est
(ubi mihi videtur) non multo minor Sardibus, empO'
ria maritima usque ad (Casium montem) sunt di-
tionis Arabicae." When, in truth, between Joppe,
and the Arabian desert, were the sea-ports, Jamnia,
Ascalon, Accaron, Asotus, and Gaza, all belonging
to the Jews, whom he expressly calls Syrians, when
he mentions the victory of Nechao over them ; and,
moreover, from the commencement of the Arabian
desert, near Gaza, there is not a single port, or har-
bour, all the way until one comes to Pelusium and
Egypt.
It is evident then that this account of the situation
of Cadytis is quite inconsistent with the situation of
Jerusalem in the inland mountainous country, and
he seems even to make it a sea-port ; for he saj'S
from that city, Cadytis, the sea-ports all belong to the
Arabians ; what is this but to call Cadytis also a sea-
port ? There are, indeed, a few small towns upon
the sea coasts of the Arabian desert, if it was these
that he calls Emporia ; but still he makes the Ara-
bian desert a dominion, at least, to begin at Cadytis,
in which case he could only mean Gaza by Cadytis
and he might, perhaps, as well have formed that
name from Gaza as from Kedesh, if we consider how
Graza was pronounced by the Syrians ; for the G h
not written by them ; their name being only Aza,
which they pronounced, however, with such a gut-
tural aspirate before it, as the Greeks expressed by
a G in writing, though it was rather Gh or CA, and
the s rather ts or ds, so that it would sound Chatsa
or Chadsa, and many such words thus beginning
with G the Greeks sometimes changed to K.
It has not occurred to me that Herodotus any
where mentions Gaza in his history ; if he has, he
then could not mean Gaza by Cady-tis ; but as to
tis that may be merely an adjunct termination,
which the Greeks frequently added to oriental
names : and we hav« certainly other Greek changes
of oriental names nearly similar. Thus Gedor, in
1 Chr. iv. 39, is by £u8ebiu8 writ Kf^ou? ; and Chat-
sur in 2 K. 15, 29, in English Hazor, is in the Sept.
Ao-wp, and with the aspirate added might easily be-
come in Greek Kao-wp, or Kasyr ; why then from
Gaza, i. e. Chadsa, might not Herodotus form KadOy
or ^flf/y, just as easily as from Kedesh? Gaza he
certainly must have actually seen himself in his pas-
sage to Egypt, and his own words prove him to have
seen the city Cadytis in question.
But it is, however, more easy to say what city it
was not, if his description be accurate, than what it
was ; and if we cannot depend upon his description
of the situation of the city, much less can we depend
upon our own derivation of the name of it, either
from Kedesh or Chadsa, or any other ornamental
name.
Upon the whole then no critic ought, with any
185
confidence, to pronounce it to be Jerusalem, unless
he can, at the same time, produce some further and
better proofs of it than have been adduced hitherto,
and which do not depend upon mere conjectures
concerning its oriental derivation, as is the case at
present, excepting this single fact, that Nechao did
take Jerusalem after his victory and not before it.
But then Herodotus certainly mistook Megiddo^
where the Jews agree that the battle was fought in
the kingdom of Israel, and on the north of Jerusa-
lem, for Magdolus, which Antoninus places on the
confines of Egypt, near Pelusium; consequently, he
might have reasonably thought the capture of Gaza
also to have happened after that victory, if this was
the city meant by him. So that nothing else is cer-
tain except that either these modern critics must be
mistaken, who suppose Cadytis to be Jerusalem ;
or if not, then Herodotus must be strangely mis-
taken in describing Cadytis as situated contiguous
to the Arabian dominion and desert, and, at the
same time, near the coast, if not actually a sea-port
town.
Whatever is doubtful in ancient history ought to
be represented as doubtful, and the unlearned not
imposed on by pretended learning, which amounts
to nothing more than uncertain, and those often
fanciful conjectures, concerning the derivations of
names, from oriental sources.
Mr. Beloe has altogether omitted to translate the
word Qupcov, but in his note on Magdolum be has
also retained the erroneous sense of it, in calling
Cadytis a mountainous cily^ and thus inclining others
to agree to his opinion of its being Jerusalem in the
186
mountains. But if this was actually the city meant
hy Herodotus, and now called Kuds^ we have here
another excellent specimen how well the Arabians
have preserved the right pronunciation of the an-
cient oriental name Kedesh, or Kcdeschah^ or Kede-
thOf as our critic contended in my last.
S.
Art. DCCXC. Defects of Modem Criticism.
to the editor of cen8ura literaria.
Sir,
I HAVE often lamented the present state of public
critcism ; for although there are many who under-
take the office, yet there are too many reasons to be
dissatisfied with all of them : it is not sufficient for
public instruction to be only just informed what is
the opinion of an author, or of the person, who sits
in judgment upon him, whether he agrees with or
differs from the author criticised; for the public
wants further information, wants evidence and rea-
sons why one opinion is preferable to some other ;
without this a mere combat between opinions tends
to no advances in knowledge, but either leaves the
public under its former uncertainty, or adds still a
greater uncertainty by some new opinion being
started without any evidence to support it.
In two former Letters I have given examples of
both these defects in modern criticism ; I shall now
take notice of a third defect, which is, that even
when some reasons and evidence are produced in
187
support of any opinion, they are generally such as
are servilely copied and retailed from former writers,
without the force of them being duly weighed ; and
often also with some assertions added to them, which
either are not true, or if they be true, certainly
weaken and sometimes altogether destroy all the
force before contained in such reasons and evidence.
Of this defect I will, in like manner, notice an ex-
ample which happens to lie before me : to criticise
whole books, or to stem the torrent of false criti-
cism, are Herculean labours; but it may present
some useful information to others if we occasionally
examine particular subjects and the remarks which
have been made public concerning them. Mr.
Hurwitz, master of a Jewish academy, near Lon-
don, has lately, to his great credit, published a
book to facilitate the study of the Hebrew language,
more particularly among those of his own nation :
in this he had occasion to mention the antiquity of
the present Hebrew letters in which the Jewish
scriptures are writ; and is of opinion that they are
the most ancient ones ever made use of by the Jews,
notwithstanding that other learned Jews, even in
the most ancient times, have been of a different
opinion, and asserted that the Samaritan and Syrian
letters were the original ones, in which their scrip-
tures were writ, and that the present Hebrew letters
were first introduced by Ezra. Modern Christians
of learning have been equally divided in their
opinions, on this subject, as the Jews themselves.
Now as to which of these two opinions is entitled to
most credit I do not undertake to determine: some-
thing rational has been urged on both sides, and it
188
requires a very comprehensive view of the subject
to balance the evidence, so as to pronounce as to
which preponderates on the whole. But a late
writer, in his account of this book, has adopted the
opposite opinion to that of M. Hurwitz, and has
also given his reasons for it, which I here trans-
cribe.
<^ The arguments of the author are not original,
and he has not stated the opposite arguments in full
strength. His reasonings to prove that the present
Hebrew letters are of pristine antiquity we must
pronounce incompetent : and he will feel our objec-
tions at once, when we ask him what he would have
thought and said had these letters, and no others,
appeared on the public coins of the Maccabees,
Simon, &c. who were priests as well as civil rulers,
and who most surely cannot be suspected either of
defective knowledge or of any inclination in favour
of heretics ? These priests (he would have said)
used the priestly or sacred letters. Let him then
give this fact its full force in favour of the Samaritan
type."
Now here we may first observe, that if Mr. Hur-
witz's arguments are not original, so neither is this
of his examiner, but a hackneyed one as old as the
age of Scaliger, that is, 200 years ago : and if M.
Hurwitz has not stated the opposite arguments in
their full strength, so neither has his examiner stated
even his own argument in full strength; but, on the
contrary, has had the same misfortune as has often
happened to repeaters of old tales, that is, that it
was a good story when he heard it, but he unfortu-
nately spoilt the whole in repeating it : for we shall
189
find that, as 1 observed before, he has himself added
something which is not true; and has also added
something, which, if it be true, yet weakens at least,
if it does not altogether destroy, all the force of his
argument. As a proof of these defects, he says,
" that Samaritan, and not Hebrew, letters have ap-
peared on the coins of the Maccabees, Simon, Sfc,
who were priests as M'ell as civil rulers." Here the
whole is in the plural number, and readers must
necessarily conceive that coins have appeared of ^
several other priests, among the Maccabees, beside
Simon, for he adds, &c. " But this is not known
to be true ; no coin has ever been discovered with
any other name upon it than Simon; some indeed
have been found with no name upon them, but as
they have similar types upon them with those hav-
ing the name of Simon, i. e. some sacred utensil of
the Jews, or a legend, in Samaritan letters, applica-
ble only to Simon, such as the liberation of Israel,
no person ever before ascribed any of these coins to
any other priest among the Maccabees, except Simon
onli/." Thus far he has added what is not true ;
but he has moreover added in the argument, what if
it be true, helps to weaken and destroy it. For
Scaliger and others, who at first made use of this
argument in favour of the pristine antiquity of the
Samaritan and Syrian letters, on account of their
being found on coins struck by the Jewish rulers
themselves, had no knowledge that the name of
Simon was to be found on any of them ; nothing
more of the legends had been deciphered in their
time than a Samaritan S on some, and on others an
190
S followed at a distance by an N. Hence they con-
cluded that these were the first letters either of
Hamuel or of Solomon, and that all the others were
coins of some of the Jewish Kings before the seventy
years of captivity : now if this had been true, their
argument was a good one, that these very ancient
coins with Samaritan letters proved the pristine an-
tiquitj^ of the Syrian before the Hebrew letters ; and
Scaliger even pronounced those to be insane who
should think otherwise. " Visuntur hodie Sicifi, qui
quotidie lerosolymiseffodiuntur, etsub regibus luda
in U8U fuerunt ; in illis nummis esedem literae incisae
sunt, qu;e in scriptis Samaritanorum leguntur, et pu-
tare veterum Hebraeorum alias literas fuisse quam
quae in illis nummis visuntur et quee sub regibus luda
Id commerciis erant, extremae est insaniae. In Eu"
seb. anitnadv. Apud Ann. 1617. Now the above dis-
sentient from M. Hurwitz has entirely spoilt this
argument of Scaliger, by adding that the coins in
question were not struck until the time of Simon,
and oXher priests, in the age of the Maccabees; that
is, almost 1000 years after Solomon, and about 400
years after there had ceased to be any kings at all
among the Jews ; and after so many revolutions bad
happened to the nation, by their being captives for
seventy years at Babylon, and other calamities, that
they had lost, in a great measure, even the use of
their Hebrew language, and the ancient names even
of their mont'iS, iXi^T' Sore, possibli/, of their ancient
letters likewise. After their return they were sur-
rounded by Syrian nations for above 300 years, with
whom they could not bold any communication, un-
191
less they could either induce the Syrians to learn
the letters which they brought with them from Baby-
lon, or else themselves learn those of the Syrians ;
and that they rather might do the latter is probable,
because we find that they certainly then learned even
the Syrian language ; so that at last, in our Saviour's
time, their current language consisted of as much
Syriac as Hebrew and Babylonian mixed together,
as is proved in the New Testament, where the few
words of their then current language preserved
there are all Syriac. In this state of facts how is it
possible for any one to conclude from any proofs of
Syriac, i. e. Samaritan, letters being then in use
among them, that they were the same letters as had
been anciently/ in use during the Jewish Kings, and
not rather acquired from the Syrians after their re-
turn, just as well as the Syrian language during the
300 years of intercourse with them ? This can only
prove that they were used by the Jews at that time,
and not that they had been in use 400 or 1000 years
before any of the above revolutions had happened
to the Jews. It is evident, therefore, that from
the moment that the name of Simon was dis-
covered on the coins instead of Solomon, the argu-
ment of Scaliger was totally at an end ; and that if
the fact be true that this name is found there, the
mention of this, by the critic in question, can only
prove his want of discernment, not the pristine anti-
quity of the Samaritan letters. I do not, however,
mean by this either to affirm or deny the more an-
cient use of Semaritan letters by the Jews, but only
that this evidence of their more ancient use has no
192
solidity in it, although selected by the writer in
question as being alone a sufficient proof against the
contrary opinion of iM. Ilurwitz. It is, in fact, the
very same thing as if any writer, a thousand years
hence, on finding a coin of G. III. with a legend, in
Roman capitals, should hence conclude that the
English had always used Roman capitals, and no
others, from the most ancient times, ever since the
conquest of the island by the Romans, notwithstand-
ing the revolutions it had undergone in the times of
the Saxons, Danes, and Normans ; and yet we know
that in general very different letters have been
chiefly in use here, not only Saxon letters formerly,
but even iu the reign of G. 111. smaller Roman
letters and Italian letters, and in writings many dif-
ferent sorts, all which differ as much from Roman
capitals as Hebrew letters do from Samaritan. In
feet, also the priests at one hundred years after
Simon, Sfc. used Greek capitals on their coins, which
would just as well prove the pristine antiquilt/ of
Greek letters among the Jews, as those of Simon
prove it concerning Samaritan ones ; or rather prove
only that in different ages different letters were in
current use, just as antiquaries at present judge of
the antiquity of MSS. by the different forms of the
letters employed in them. One would wish then to
find a more solid kind of criticism adopted in public
judgments of new books, that we may at least ad-
vance in knowledge as we do in age.
193
AftT. DCCXCI. On the present State of Public
Criticism.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
StR,
As in my former letter I doubted of the discretion
of the writer who made use of the argument there
mentioned for the pristine antiquity of Syriac letters
among the Jews, I ought, in justice, however, to
commend his ingenuous conduct in not concealing
from his readers the name of Simon, in order the
better to conceal the weakness of his argument ; and
1 must now accuse others of being less ingenuous and
more guarded in this respect.
Who it was that first discovered the name of Simon
on Jewish coins 1 cannot determine, but it certainly
is mentioned as early as in the second tom. of the
(Edipus of Kircher. That this was published be-
fore the Prolegomena of Walton, in 1657, I cannot
affirm ; but the name of Simon appeared certainly
soon after in Hottinger's Dissert, de nummis orienta-
lium,p. 144.(1662.) Walton therefore may, pos-
sibly, not be liable to the accusation of having in-
tentionally suppressed this fact of the name of Simon
being discovered on some of those coins, when he
adopted the abovementioned argument of Scaliger
in words, if possible, more peremptory and dogmatic
than Scaliger himself. " Praecipuum argiimentum
pro litteris Samaritanis, et qucd luce sua evidenter
hoc probat (cui nemo nisi qui luscus vel oculos
claudit assentiri non possit) ductum est ex antiquis
Sicilis et numismatis Hebraeorum ante Captivitatem
cusis, immo ante defectionem decern tribuum ex
VOL. IX. o
194
ruderibus Hierosolyinitanis olim et hodie effbssis,"
c. iii.
. To some other men of learning, however, this had
then not appeared so clear by its own light as to en-
title Walton to express himself so confidently ; for
Strickard, quoted hy hiiu in this wry chapter, doubt-
ed of the antiquity ascribed to these coins by Scaliger,
and doubted rightly, as has since appeared. He snysy
'^ Quod Samaritani residuam habeant anliqiiam Her
brasorum scripturam, id nequaquam credo — nee
quicquam hie iWi probat sicli." Bechinalh, Sfc.p. 82,
(0)24:.) For how, indeed, could the use of Sama-
ritan letters by the^ews, after their return from Ba-
bylon, prove the use of them before the captivity,
unless also their use of the Syrian language, in later
times than the captivity, prove, at the same time,
their use of it before that event ? And hovy can be
reconciled what Walton says above with his follow^
ing account of the currency of the Syrian language
among the Jews in the time of Christ, " Ipsi N.
Foederis scriptores hac lingua (Syriaca) sibi verno'
cula Judaeis et aliis circumvicinus populis caelestia
oracula promulgarint — iuimo ipsi Salvatori vernacula
erat, quam una cum lacte materna suxit— hinc mult^
verba in N. T. pure Syriaca, ut Raka in Matt. V4
immo Domini nomen ln<rovg est Syriacum {^rurijf)
et nomen etiam Messias, se unctus" c. 13.
How could it be expected that those who thus spoke
Syriac should not also write Syriac, and write it io
such Syrian letters as were current in that age ?
This only, therefore, has Simon done not above 140
years before Christ, out of the 586, between the
captivity and the vulgar era ; and can it be reason-
195
ably pretended that the Syrian language was drawn
from one source, the current language of all the
neighbouring nations, but the Syrian letters from
another source, the ancient use of them by the Jews
before their captivity to Babylon, and four or five
hundred years before Simon ?
If it be urged that his name is not on all the coins,
this is true, and some may, possibly, be of later date,
but none of an earlier one ; as there is no evidence
but that before his time all Jewish money passed by
weight, and he first obtained from the Macedonian
Kings in Syria a liberty to coin money, as mentioned
jn 1. Maccab. ch. xv. 6.
Beside this, most of those other coins which have
not Simon on them have the liberation of Zion, which
legend can only again apply to the age of Simon or
after him ; and their weight, size, form and types,
are all so similar, as to indicate their orign in nearly
the same age.
But although Walton might, possibly, have ob-
tained no information of the name of Simon on those
coins, (for, indeed, they are so difficult to read that
scarcely any two orientalists agree in finding the
vel-y same letters ; and, although the writer in ques-
tion has been either so ingenuous, or so unguarded,
as to tell his readers a fact, which destroyed his own
argument,) yet the same favourable construction can-
not be put upon the conduct of several others who,
since Walton, have still adhered to the old argument
of Scaliger, after the fact of (he high antiquity of the
coins adopted by him had been disproved by the Utter
events and legends on them of either Simony &r the
libtration of Zion.
o 2
196
Thas, for instance, Prideaux, so late as 1715,
writes in the same coiifident strain with Scaliger and
Walton. " The opinion of most learned men, and
upon s^ood grounds, is in favour of the antiquity of
the Samaritan letters among the Jews ; for there are
many old Jewish shekels frequently dug up in
Judsea with this inscription on them, in Samaritan
letters, lerusalem Kedeskah, i. e. Jerusalem the holy,
which shews that they could not be the coins of the
Samaritans themselves, who would not call Jerusa-
lem holj/ ; they must therefore be the coins of the
two tribes before the captivity ; this proves the Sa-
maritan to be that character, which was then in use
among them. — I think this argument from the she-
kels is unanswerable." Jnn. 446, sect. 5.
But why must they have been coined before the
captivity and not as well after it, even if they had had
no other legend than Jerusalem theholj/ ? And more
especially still why suppress those other legends
Simeon and liberation of Zion, which would have
proved the date of the coinage in these at least to
have been after the captivity ? While that of the
Holy was equally suitable to every age as well
after as before. Why also suppress the fact that
some learned men had, even before the discovery of
those other two legends, expressed their doubts of
the high antiquity given to them by Scaliger^ as
Strickard abovementioned, Kirche, and others, and
afterwards Hottinger also in 1662, Buxtorf in 1662,
and Stephanus Morinus de lingua primceva in 1694,
*' PraBcedentes observationes abunde declarant post
captivitatem potuisse nummos illos cudi," p. 266.
Harduin also in Chronol. vet. Test; and the great
I
107
orientalist Reland, who, in 1702, wrote some tracts
to explain the legends of those coins, jet never so
much as hints at any of the coins being struck before
the captivity ; on the contrary he confirms the legends
on them of Simeon and liberation of Zion^ or else
from the Greeks^ and on others such dates as would
bring them down 200 years later than Alexander,
and fifty than Simon. Ottius also, who soon after
opposed Reland as to these /a/er dates, yet confirmed
those others.
All this information, before 1715, Prideaux has
suppressed, and pretended that most learned men
judged the directly contrary ; in which, although he
was in an error, yet he was at least consistent in it,
for he was cautious enough in his words to conceal
every thing against his own error ; but the present
critic has both adopted the same error, and in the
same moment by the name Simon exposed a proof
against it to public view in the same sentence, and
thus refuted himself; with additions likewise by
himsdf, altogether destitute of proof, by putting
priests in the plural and an Sfc. to the name of
Simon. It has not, indeed been proved that they
were all coined by him ; but by what marks can it
be proved that they were not ? Especially, since it
is certain, that the tt/pes were different under his suc-
cessors.
Thus criticism goes on from bad to worse, and
substitutes its own suppositions for actual truths;
after which it draws conclusions as certain ones from
its own previous and uncertain suppositions, while,
at the same time, it rejects such conclusions as ne^
cessarily follow, even from the imperfect state of the
198
truths presented to us by the writer hiniKelf. Have
I not reason then to lament the present state of
public criticism, which can itself act in this prepos-
terous manner, while it sits in judgment upon the
labours and abilities of other writers ? The critic,
nevertheless, presumes that M. Ilurwitz wiW feel
the force of his objections, in which, however, od/$
can see nothing but inconsistency both with himself
and truth : and this produced b^ his own additions
and stated facts.
But beside its being so natural and easy for the
Jews after the captivity to learn the Syriac letters
along with the Syriac language, there was another
reason which would induce them to impress those
letters on their coins, independent of their being so
well known to themselves as well as to all the neigh-
bouring nations f that is, the great religious scruples
they had adopted against applying what they esteem-
ed //o/y to common and vulgar uses. Not only was
Jerusalem holy, but the language of their scripture
was holy, and even the letters in which it was writ
were holy likewise. The most ancient writings of
the Jews, extant, repeatedly call the Hebrew letters
scriptura sancta. Wherever also the name of Jeho-
vah occured in their scriptures, they would neither
pronounce it nor write it, but change it to Adonai,
lest it should be profaned by vulgar use even among
themselves.
The same religious scruples would prevent them
equally from impressing the hoij/ Hebrew letters
upou coins to be profaned by the hands of all the
heathen nations around, beside that other nations
knew nothing of their forms any more than pf the
W9
sense of Hebrew words, and even not many of them-
selves in the age of Simon. So that when he began
to coin money, he would scarcely employ Greek
letters, as it would be a badge of his being still in
subjection to the Greeks ; and to make use of He-
brew letters would be liable to the abovementioned
objections. What letters then could he use so well
as Syriac, which were free from these objections,
and better understood both by the Jews and others ?
Instead then of the use of Syrian letters by him, or
any later piiests, being a proof of the use of them
before the captivity, it is only a proof of their having
|3ecpme as common among the Jews 300 years after
the captivity as the Syrian language whs also. It
still continued in some use, on their coins, down tp
the age of Christ; but after the subjugation of the
Jews by Alexander, and the assumption of the title
of kings, the high priests had assumed Greek names,
and, by degrees, they began then to make less use
of Syrian legends on their coins, for they afterwards
employed Greek capitals, as M. Barthelemy has
abewn: some few Syrian letters, however, were still
found on the reverses, while Greek capitals were
used on the obverses. This again indicates that
Syrian letters had not been impressed at first on ac-
count of their pristine antiquitt/, but on account of
the convenience of their use in more modern time^,
for they were again changed for Greek letters, as
soon as the Greek tongue and convenience better
recommended Greek letters; which in this case
again the Jews, in course, learned along with jthe
Greek language, just as before they had learned
Syrian letters along with the Syrian language; aud
200
these two acquisitions as naturally and necessarily
accompanied one another, as school-boys now learn
Greek letters along with the Greek language.
Such seems to have been the true state of facts ; but
whether it was so cannot be proved, however, with
respect to the causes of them ; concerning which we
can only form probable conjectures, and not proofs.
Now these are so far from confirming the opinion
of the critic in question, that the Jewish priests
would be induced to impress Hebrew letters on their
coins, because they were the original holy letters in
which their sacred scriptures were writ, that this on
the contrary would be with them a direct obstacle to
their use in the legends of their coins, and is a sup-
position as unsolid as the several facts which he has
supposed, in like manner, but which are certainly
not true. S.
Independently of the reasons already alleged why
the examiner of Mr. Hurwitz's book has urged no
solid objections to the antiquity of the present He-
brew letters, unless he would have produced some
better one than that drawn from Samaritan letters
being found on Jewish coins struck in so late an age
as that of the Maccabees, four hundred years after
the cessation of kings in Judah, there is still another
fact which sets aside still more all evidence deriva-
ble from that source, and which is, that there is no
sufficient certainty of any of those coins having
been actually struck even so early as the age of
Simon the Maccabee, but, on the contrary, convinc-
ing evidence, that some of them at least, and,
possibly, all of them, were not coined until after the-
201
reign of Trajan, two hundred and forty years later
than Simon abovementioned. It may, -indeed, be
true, that the examiner might not know of this fact,
since it is but a recent discovery ascertained only
within these twenty years, and but little known in
Britain ; as the article on this subject, writ by M.
Barthelemy happened to be publishel during the
first scenes of the French Revolution,when the public
here were too intent upon the strange political events
then going forward in the world to give any atten-
tion to revolutions in literature, namely in 1790 ;
and I believe that very few copies of the Journal des
Scavans for that year were imported here, which
contained Barthelemy's letter upon this subject,*that
Journal itself having entirely ceased in 1792. I
will, therefore, give a full account of all the circum-
stances relative to this discovery, extracted partly
from that letter, and partly from the Memoirs de
V Academic for 1713, tom. iii. intermixed with my
own remarks, where I have found any particulars
deficient or erroneously stated in those French ac-
counts..
In 1713 a M. Henrion communicated to the
French academy a silver coin discovered in the
cabinet of M. de Pontcarre, at Rouen, of the or-
dinary size of such silver coins as were currient
under the Roman Emperors, which plainly appear-
ed to have been first struck with the usual type and
legend found on other coins of Trajan, and in Ro-
man capitals, some of which were still visible both
^on the obverse and reverse : but since that first type
it had been superstruck with another type and
legend in Samaritan letters, having on one side a
202
lyre with the words Chirout Iroushelem^ the liberation
of lerusaJevi, and on the other side a bunch of grapes
with Schemoun inscribed, i. e. Simon. It happened
that the remains of several of the former Roman
capitals had become still visible, by tho second im-
pression having been but partially made over the
surface of the coin and so as not to cover it com-
pletely', thus leaving a small vacant space between
the outward edge of the second impression and the
original edge of the coin ; on which vacant space
the Roman capitals, or one half of them, were stiU
plainly to be seen, and expressing part of the usual
legends on Trajan's coins. Hence Henrion con-
tended that this and all the other coins, commonly
ascribed to Simon the Maccabee. were, in reality,
not struck by him, and not until the reigns either of
Trajan or Adrian his successor, two hundred and
forty years later ; he therefore thought it probable
that those coins were struck by the Jewish impostor
Barcochebas, who, in the reign of Adrian pretended
to be the Messiah, and whom the Jews then actually
acknowledged as their king. This Henrion coA-
firmed by the following reasons added to the evi-
dence of the coin itself, that it had not been struck
until during or after the reign of Trajan. " 1. That,
as Barcochebas lived two centuries and a half later
than Simon the Maccabee, it was more probable for
his coinage to be now preserved than that of Simon,
and Scaliger has expressly affirmed from the testi-
mony of some Jewish Rabbin, whose name he has
. not quoted, that Barcochebas did actually coin money.
2. That no coin has hitherto been discovered either
of Jonathan, the brother and predecessor (^ Simoo,
203
nor yet of Johannes Hyrcanus his son and suc-
cessor : the former, indeed, is to be little expected,
as it was not until the reign of Simon himself,
tj^at the privilege of coining money was extorted
from the Macedonian kings of Syria ; but that his
successor, Johannes, should not have continued to
make any use of the privilege so valiantly obtained
by Simon, and so much valued by the Jews, seems
to be unaccountable; and equally so that none of
them should now be found, when so many of Simon's
are discovered frequently, more especially since Si-
mon reigned only eight years, whereas Johannes
reigned thirty-one years. 3. That according to the
best deciphering of the legends on. the coins ascribed
to Simon, there are found on them the dates of the
first, second, third, and fourth years, but no later
dates ; novv these dates agree to the duration of the
rebellion by Barcochebas, which was three years and
a half, as Jerom informs us. The Jewish Rabbins,
indeed, say longer, and Eusebius less, but either he,
or Jerom, might mean after Barcochebas was ac-
knowledged by the Jews as King and Messiah, or
else they might mean the mere duration of his war
with the Romans in Judea ; whereas the Rabbins
might mean from his first secret preparations for re-
bellion to the end of all such commotions in Dgypt,
Lybia, and elsewhere, after the capture of Barco-
chebas himself by the Romans ; for they relate also
that his son, for some time, succeeded him. Now,
that Simon the Maccabee should coin money only
during four years of his reign out of eight, suits less
with the duration of his reign than with that of Bar-
cochebas."
204
Yet notwithstanding these reasons urged by I|en-
rion, all the French academicians rose up in arms
against this new opinion, and the coin which sup-
ported it, just as if it had been a heresy in litera-
ture. Some said the coin might not be genuine;
yet they could not deny but that the form, size, and
other circumstances, were perfectly similar to other
silver coins of Trajan : others allowed it to be ge-
nuine, but contended that the legend of Trajan had
been superstruck over the type and legend of Simon,
not contrariwise ; yet mere inspection proved the
contrary, as one half of some of the Roman capitals
were obscured just so far as the type of Simon
reached them. Others said that the Roman capi-
tals had been formed on the vacant space of the
coin by an engraver ; but then the letters would
have been indented, not raised up, higher than the
surface of the coin. Accordingly, the chief opposer
of Henrion placed no dependence on any of these
objections, but acknowledged the fact that a coin of
Trajan had been superstruck by a type and legend
of Simon ; this, however, he pretended to have been
done by some curious Jew in that reign, when the
real coins of Simon were almost worn out and be-
come scarce; on which account, in order to preserve
the memory of them, he caused a coin of Trajan to
be superstruck with the same type and legend, as
had been found on some real coins of Simon, merely
in order to preserve a specimen of those ancient and
almost defaced ones. This conjecture he attempted
to support by asserting that no ancient author has(
mentioned any such fact as that Barcochebas had
ever coined any money [this, however, is not traej.
905
Another of his objections was that according to Sca-
liger, and others, these Jewish coins have been ge-
nerally found buried in the ruins of Jerusalem,
which had been destroyed by Titus in the seventieth
year of Christ, almost fifty years before the rebellion
of the Jews, under Barcochebas : how then should
the coins of Barcochebas be found buried under
those ruins? they must have been coins more ancient
than that seventieth year to be buried there [but we
shall find that there is no more strength in this sup-
port than in the former onesj. It was further urged,
that it does not appear by any ancient accounts that
Barcochebas was ever in possession of Jerusalem ;
how then should his coins be found there chiefly ?
[But this assertion is equally untenable]. Urged by
such unsolid and frivolous subterfuges as these, the
French academy refused to acknowledge the evi-
dence of a plain fact, that the coin in question, with
.the name of Simon on it, was not struck with that
type and Samaritan legend until the reign of Tra-
jan, therefore, probably, by Barcochebas, during his
rebellion in the succeeding reign of Adrian ; and thus
prejudice, arising from a former mistake in opinion,
prevailed over the obvious evidence of the eyes and
senses concerning the coin in question.
Under this sentence of condemnation the matter
has rested until the years 1781 and 1790 ; in the
latter of whicli M. Bartheleiny published a letter in
the Journal des Sgavans^ with an account of further
discoveries on this subject. lie there informs us,
that the above coin of Henrion is still extant in the
cabinet of the Abbe de Tersan, that he has exa-
mined it, that its type oa one side is a bunch of
906
grapes with the Samaritan letters ti and », the pro-
bable remains of Shemoun^ formed round it : on the
other side a lyre, around which are the letter*
which, according to the opinion of all orientalists,
form the two words which denote the liberation of
Jerusalem. Besides these the followini^ Roman
capitals are visible round the lyre TRAl — P.M.
TR. P. COS. Around the bunch of grapes may
also be distinguished these — R. OPTI— INC. the
whole apparently had been as follows : Trajano—-
Pontijici maxima— Tribunitia potestate consuli—
S. P. Q. R. optima principi ; which is the very
same legend as is found on many of Trajan's coins,
and some vestiges of a head may also be still traced
under the type of the lyre. Yet all these proofs of
this coin having been originally one of Trajan's
were superseded in 1713 without any sufficient evi-
dence to the contrary; but the fact has been since
confirmed, beyond doubt, by the discovery of other
coins of the same kind. For M. Barthelemy, in
this letter, further informs the public, that when
Bayer was about to publish at Madrid his tract De
numm. Htbraso- Samaritan, in 1781, M. Woid^,
author of the Coptic Lexicon, sent to him an ac-
count of two other silver coins of a similar kind,
which he had discovered in the cabinet of Mr.
Hunter at London, and which account Bayer ac-
cordingly annexed to this above tract. One of these
has on one side a bunch of grapes, with the name
Simon, in Samaritan letters ; on the other side is a
palm tree with the legend liberation of Jerusalem,
both superstruck on coins of Trajan, one having
also some remains of a Greek legend, such as is ge-
207
nerally found on other coins of that Emperor,
giving him the titles of Augustus, Germanicus, Da-
cius, and Consul the fourth time. Since this Bar-
thelemj has himself found, in the collection of Abbe
de Tersan, a fourth coin, superstruck like the others,
having on one side a bunch of grapes with these
three letters o, m, n, of the Samaritan legend still
visible round it, being the last of the name Schc'
moun, and beside these the Roman capitals T R —
i.e. Tribunitia — ; on the other side the same Sama-
ritan legend liberation of Jerusalem round two co-
lumns; on the right side of which may be seen just
peeping out two leaves of laurel, which seem to
have been the end of a laurel crown ; of which may
be discovered also the knot by which the crown was
tied close to the outline of a head, which the second
impression has covered and rendered invisible.
Nevertheless, one may still recognize that it was
the head of Trajan by several marks, which it would
be too long to point out here.
Such is M. Barthelemy's account of these late
discoveries : let us then consider the conclusions to
be drawn from them. He says, " that the legends
hitherto found on any of these Jewish coins are one
or other of these, Simon, Prince of Israel, — first,
second, third, or fourth year — Liberation of Jeru-
salem, or else of Israel, or Redemption of Israel, or
Slow, which legends seem to be all relative to the
same event : was this event then under Simon the
Maccabee, or two hundred and forty years later, in
the reigns either of Trajan or Adrian ? Much may
be said on both sides."
In order to avoid prolixity, I shall not translate
208
here his statements of both sides of the question, bS
I shall afterwards enumerate them along with my
own statements. 11 is conclusion from the whole is
this '' amidst the probabilities, which justify one of
other of the above opinions, 1 had rather propose
questions than undertake to resolve them ; and in
hazarding the following remarks it is rather done
in order to procure more propej* ones from others,
which may serve to throw some light upon the sub-
ject. It is only those coins, with which we are now
concerned, that were formerly attributed to Sinwn
the Maccabce, whether they have his name Upon
them or have not:* but certainly the public has
been hitherto deceived in ascribing* the same origin
to all of them ; and iilce must now distribute them
into different classes, as M. Woide also has pro-
posed in his letter to M. Bayer. The fabric of
some of them is conformable to that of the coins of
those Syrian kings who lived in the second century
before Christ, which includes the time of Simon the
Maccabee, [i. e. 14Q hef. Chr.'] but there are others
on which the letters of the legends are so inverted,
disfigured, and transposed, that they seem not to
have been struck until the second century after Christ,
when the artists began to be no longer conversant
with Samaritan letters. There are, thirdly, other
coins among them, on which none of those marks oc-
cur, which characterize one century rather than any
other ; to which, therefore, we cannot assign their
* Here Bartbelemy confirms what I mentioned in a fotmer letter,
that those coins of this class which had not the name ot Simon on
\hem wtre yet ascribed to Simon only, as well as the others^ «bich
hare bis name.
209
proper age and class until some new discoveriea
have been made to assist us."
" As to the second class, abovementioned, those
coins of Trajan which have been superstruck with
Samaritan types, it is more easy to assign to thetn
their right age, than the event, which was the ob-
ject in view : all the four of this class hitherto dis-
covered mention the name of Simon, and also of the
liberation of Jerusalem: concerning these then we
must conclude on one or other of the two following
facts ; either that in the second century of Christ the
Jews then were governed by some prince of the
name of Simon ; or else that they then modelled
their coins according to the mode of their more an-
cient coins in the age of the Maccabees. In favour
of the former of these conclusions it may be observed
that M. Henrion has confidently given the name of
Simon to Barcochebas, but I have never been able
to find any ancient author who testifies to his name
being Simon ; so that I judge it more reasonable to
have recourse to the second member of the alterna-
tive proposed with respect to the second class of
coins as abovementioned."
" According to this latter supposition then we
know that under Adrian the Jews attempted to
shake oflF the Roman yoke, just as their ancestors
had shaken off, under Simon, the yoke of the Greek
kings in Syria. Sue!) similar circumstances might
naturally inspire a similar hope ; and in order to
excite that hope the more warmly among them, their
chiefs might have thought that no better method
could be devised than to stamp their current money
with the name of Simon, and such other inscriptions
VOL. IX. p
i
210
as might assist in perpetuating his glory : for as the
current coins of the first epoch, those of the Macca-
bee chiefs, attested the success whch had attended
their attempt ; so these coins, thus struck at this se-
cond attempt against the Romans, served as a kind
of promise of success again. In 1749 I read to the
French Academy a memoir, in which I shewed,
among other things, that some use was still made of
Samaritan letters on Jewish coins, although in a less
degree, down to the fortieth year before Christ; and
that it might, possibl)', have been continued down
to still later times, at least, on public monuments :
accordingly the above coins, superstruck in the
reign of Trajan, with Samaritan letters, prove that
the uste of them did actually subsist so late as the
second century after Christ. It was, however, in a
less degree ; for, in some coins which I produced in
that memoir of the two Alexanders, kings of Judea,
after the high priests had assumed the title of king,
we find on the reverses the legend of Johannes Rex
on some, and Jonathan Rex on others in the Hebrew
language, and Samaritan letters ; while the obverses
have BaKTiAtwf AAs^av^^ou in Greek capitals. So
also a coin of Antigonus, the last king before Herod,
has Bao-jAtw? AkTiyovou in capitals, on the obverse,
but high-priest, i. e. Kohen Gadol, on the reverse,
in Samaritan letters." This practice of assuming
Greek names, in addition to the Jewish names, was
begun by Aristobulus, whose Jewish name was Ju-
das, the grandson to Simon, and the first high priest
who assumed the title of king; except -that his
father, Johannes, had commonly obtained the addi-
tional name of HyrcanuSy but we do not know that
2ll
he ever styled himself so, as I believe that no coins
of him have been as yet discovered, although he
ruled the Jews thirty-one years. M. Barthelemy
has shewn also that such double names were in use
among the Phenicians likewise in torn. 30 of Me-
moires de P Academ. In my next, 1 will balance the
testimonies on both sides of the question concerning
the supposed antiquity of the coins, with the name
of Simon on them, some of which M. Barthelemy
has represented in a more favourable light as
belonging to Simon the Maccabee, than the evi-
dence can support. '
Art. DCCXCII. On carli/ Jewish Coins,
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR, >
It has been shewn, in my last letter, tliat Barthe-
lemy has distributed all Jewish coins into three
classes. 1. Those which he conceives to be attend-
ed with some evidence of their having been coined
by Simon Maccabee. 2. Those which were certainly
not coined before the reign of Trajan. 3. Those
which have no marks whereby it can be ascertained
in what age they were coined. It is proposed then
to balance the evidence for or against each of these
three classes.
Now, as to the third of them, we have to observe,
that Barthelemy hereby acknowledges that the le-
gends and types on many of them will just as well
suit with the rebellion under Barcochebas against
the Romans as the emancipation of the Jews from
the Greeks under Simon the Maccabee : of this na-
p2
212
ture then is the liberation of Israel, and also the
dates of the first, second, third, and fourth years;
for although that rehellion lasted only about four
years, yet as Simon did not obtain the right of coin-
age until near the middle of his reign of eight years,
there could not be more than four years also to he
dated afterwards by him in case Simon reckoned
them from the first year of coinage, and not from
the first of his reign ; but as we cannot know which
of these two methods he adopted, this circumstance
of thu dates, therefore, contains no mark in favour
of either age in question in the first and second
classes : except that in 1 Maccab. xiii. 42, and xiv.
27, the dates are from the accession^ which makes
against these being his coins.
As to the second class it appears that there are
only four coins which are known with certainty to
belong to it : and in regard to the Jirst class, if we
cannot find any mark which can enable us, with
equal certainty as in the second class, to determine
whether any one of those coins has a right to be in-
cluded under the Jirst, then it follows that all the
Jewish coins, except the above four, ought, in re-
ality, to be included in the third cIslss, and that this
distribution, into three classes, is imaginary and de-
lusive. One would have expected, therefore, that
Barthelemy would have pointed out some marks
whereby those of the Jirst class might be distinguish-
ed from the third ; yet all that he says on this head
is this — " There are some coins, which, by their
fabric (fabrique) being conformable to the coins of
the kings of Syria, in the second century, before
Christ, maj/ go back, (peuvent) so far as to the age
213
of Simon Maccabee ; there are others on which the
letters are so inverted, disfigured, and transposed,
that they seem not to have been struck until the se-
cond century after Christ, when the workmen began
to be no longer conversant with Samaritan letters."
But all those coins examined by Reland and Ot-
tius, which, if any, they thought to belong to the
age of Simon Maccabee, have their letters as much
disfigured as any others whatever ; for any person,
therefore, to pretend that it is possible to distinguish
between the disfigurement arising from the incapacity
of the artist, and that from the corrosion of time and
the deficiencies of parts of letters, by their being
worn away, is again all imagination, not any actual
and certain marks of difference. It is, in fact, only
by comparing several coins together that any of the
legends can be deciphered, the letters worn away in
one being ascertained by some other; and no one
legend can be read by itself alone, as those two au-
thors acknowledge, and Barthelemy also himself:
and as to transposition, this is often found even in
Greek inscriptions of the best age : but before it can
be ascertained that there is any such transposition
in these legends, it is necessary to know what the
word would be if written without any. • Now
this is very difiicult to know, as is evident by the
different words, which Reland and Ottius pretend
to read on the very same coin, one finding the word
Zion where the other finds the Greeks; and still
further by the very different words arising from the
disjoined letters there found, if differently combined
together into words, as appears again from the dis-.
cordant readings of the above two authors \ for one
SI4
finds a date of 224:M year on a coin where the other
finds fourth year only. What the properties are,
which Barthelemy includes under the word fabri'
que, introduces still further uncertainty, especially
as in another place he calls it module. If the size in
one of them, or the chief of the properties included
xxwAex- fabric and model, then so far as has been hi-
therto ascertained by representations of those coins
by Reland and others, it does not appear that the
size of those ascribed by them to Simon Maccabee
differ any way materially from those certainly struck
under Trajan ; or if there be any difference it has
not been pointed out in books, and ought to be stated
more precisely before we can admit that uncertain
word fabric or model, to become a sufficient mark
whether it was coined under the Syrian kings, or
two hundred years later, under Trajan ; so that
Barthelemy should have told us by what species of
raedallic sagacity he could smell out this difference
as to the age in which a coin was struck by means of
the fabric, as he expresses himself, the meaning of
which he ought to have explained, and what are the
constituent parts of it ; at present it may mean just
what any one fancies.
There are, indeed, some coins of a larger size than
the rest ; but in general these have been reprobated
as spurious, and if not, yet it is only the difference in
the fabric of the smaller ones, such as those ex-
amined by Reland, and those struck under Trajan,
on which the determination must depend. There-
fore before any conclusion can be drawn any way
from this mark of antiquity pointed out above by
Barthelemy, a clear account must be given, as to
215
what articles of fabric the four of Trajan differ
from all the rest; and whetherany of the remainder
differ so much among themselves, that those ascribed
by Reland and Oltius, or others, to Simon Macca-
bee, have a fabric of antiquity clearly different from
the rest of them ; remembring also that even those
smaller ones of Reland are of such different weights^
if not sizes^ that Ottius says, " some of them weigh
half an ounce and a quarter part more, others not
quite a fourth of an ounce, others still less." p. 85.
Now amidst such differences as these it would be
curious to know what peculiarity in point oi fabric
alone will prove any one of them to be more ancient
than the others. Until this be better known the
word fabric seems to mean nothing else than medalic
imagination ; just as the readings of the legends
sometimes do likewise, although in less degree, as
for instance where Reland and Hottinger read the
sense of illicbonum, Ottius finds the name Simeon,
(p. 83), and Zion instead of the Greeks : how can
Barthelemy find coins of such different weights to
agree all to the fabric of royal Syrian ones ?
But even if such faithful sensations of antiquity
can be acquired by long habit, as shall enable one to
distinguish by their/a6nc such different coins struck
at two hundred years from one another; yet why
might not Barcochebas, in the reign of Adrian,
form coins, which were yet, by accident, only simi-
lar to the fabric of coins by the Syrian kings, while
he therein imitated the coins of some of those free
cities then existing in Syria, which were chiefly cur-
rent in Asia; and which free cities might have pre-
^rved the fabric of those of the Syrian kings, whose
216
kingdom ended only 170 years before Barcoclieba»,
to which the establishment of free cities succeeded,
called aulononiesy under the protection of the Ro-
mans. Now, however these cities might alter the
legends and types of Royal Syrian coins before cur-
rent, yet they might preserve the former size, or
fabric, and intrinsic value, still the same, for the
convenience of commerce, together with other con-
stituent parts of the fabric, whatever these might be ;
and these Barcochebas might imitate for the very
same reason, — the convenience of having his own
coins become readily current, in order to procure
necessaries for his army. His coins, moreover,
might not be formed by himself in Judea, but by the
Jews, his associates, in different parts of Asia; for
they were all in commotion from one end of Asia
to the other, and even in Egypt and Lybia. Some
sent money, and some men, and they would, doubt-
less, send the money if coined by themselves, io
such a form as would make it readily pass current,
rather than invent a new and different fabric : but
it would be very extraordinary if in all those friendly
cities every one of them should, in the space of 170
years, have altogether altered the fabric of the coins
issued before under the Syrian kings ; or that al-
though coming from such different and distant parts
of Asia they should be all alike in fabric, legends,
or types. Some of those Jewish coins then having
Simon on them might hence resemble, in fabric, the
coins of the Syrian kings, without having been ac-
tually struck during the existence of those kings in
the second century before Christ ; and thus this cir-
cumstance of the similar fabric of the coins does obt
217
aione become a sufficiently distinguishing; mark
whether they were struck under Simon Maccabee or
Simon Barcochebas, as Barthelemy pretends : and
this is the only mark which he mentions as being; able
to prove that any one of the coins in question belong
to \\\QJirst of his three classes, and to Simon Macca-
bee, not Baicochebas. So that without some better
proof, his first and third class ought to be ranged to-
gether as being both of them equally doubtful with
respect to their age of coinage ; and thus there are,
in reality, only two classes.
There is, however, another circumstance which,
although not mentioned by him, may be considered
by others as a mark of difference in point of anti-
quity, and which is, the great variety of types upon
those coins; this may be thought to indicate that
they could not be all of them coined by Barcochebas
in the short space of his reign of four years or less;
but must have been struck in several different reigns
in the 240 years between Simon Maccabee and Bar-
cochebas. But this mark of difference I have ob-
viated already, since that diversity might have been
caused by the coins being struck by different bodies
of Jews, in many different and distant parts of the
world, who sent money to the assistance of Barco-
chebas in Judea.
It may, indeed, be still suggested, that not only are
the types different, but even when the very same
objects are represented, such as the pot of manna,
or Aaron's rod budding, scarcely any two of them
are alike in form ; but this again might be produced
by the very same cause as before ; for diflerent per-
jions, in different regions might happen to agree in
218
exhibiting the same sacred utensils on the coins, and
yet give them very different forms ; since not any one
of them might know, in the age of Barcochebas,
what the real forms had been, it being then sixty
years since those utensils had been carried away to
Rome by Titus, and exhibited at his triumph there.
Nay, such a diversity is more likely to have happen-
ed thus under Barcochebas than under Simon Mac-
cabee, for during his last four years of reign, after
he had once fixed on a suitable type, what motive
could he have for changing it so often in that short
space of time ? Those which have different types,
indeed, may have been formed by some of his succes-
sors, but even the same types give different forms to
the same utensils, even when they have all the name
of Simon on them, and also have the letters of the
game legend differently formed ; and sometimes,
moreover, one has a letter in the same legend, not
found in any other of the same type and legend.
Thus the fourth letter, in the first of Reland, before
the end, is the fifth letter in his second coin, before
the end of the same legend ; which, if not a mere
error of the artist, gives such a different sense as
proves it, at least, to be coined in a very distant time
from Simon ; and if it be an error of the artist only,
then it proves that no conclusion can be derived from
such errors and transpositions in letters concerning
the real age of the coinage. Now such variations as
these in the same types, or such diversity in the
types themselves, might just as well be caused by the
coins being struck by different bodies of Jews, in
different nations, in the same short reign of Barco-
chebas, as by different artists in different reigni
219
among the successors of Simon : but whenever such
diversities appear in coins having the name of Simon
on them, they are thus more easily accounted for
under Barcochebas than under Simon the Maccabee,
or, at least, just as easily ; so that no conclusion can
be drawn hence either way toward arranging such
coins in different classes, as if formed in different
ages. There is one further circumstance, however,
which makes rather in favour of all these coins be-
longing to Barcochebas ; this is, that no coins have
been found of Johannes Hyrcanus, successor to
Simon, although he reigned thirty-one years, and
Simon only four, after having obtained the right of
coinage. Did then Johannes renounce the privilege,
or have all his coins perished, although such various
ones of his predecessors have been preserved ? At
least it has not occurred to me that any such have
been ever discovered; if there have, it must have
been of late years in the collections of Peierin,
Bayer, or later ones; and if any coins of Johannes
are to be found there, it is to be wished that some
person, who has had opportunity to consult those
collections, would inform the public of it in your
publication, that we may obtain some new grounds
for consideration. Until then we must conclude,
that if Johannes did coin money, he may hane pre-
served the types, and, possibly, the name of Simon
on them ; so that some of those, now in our posses-
sion, may really belong to Johannes. But this is
mere conjecture, and it is more probable that they
have all perished, therefore that those of his prede-
cessor Simon have perished likewise; and thus that
220
the coins so generally now preserved belong rather
to Barcocheba-, who lived 240 years later.
This conclusion is strengthened by another fact;
for the successor to that Johannes was Aristobulus,
as he called himself by his Greek name, although
his Jewish name was Judas. He was the first high
priest who assumed the title of king ; but he reign-
ed only one year, and was succeeded by Alexander
Jannaeus. Now Barthelemy mentions that of late
years a few coins have been discovered with the
name of AXs^anJ'^ou BacrtAfw? on the obverses, and
on the reverses having, in Syrian letters, either
Cohen-Gadol, i. e. high priest ^ or Johannes Rex on
some, and on others Jonathan Rex, so far as he has
been able hitherto to decipher the legends ; but they
are all so corroded and defaced, that he is in doubt
as to which of those two Jewish names, in Samaritan
letters, is upon them : if then so few of these later
coins have been discovered and this of late only,
owing, possibly, to some circumstance favourable to
preservation ; and if even these are uncertain whe-
ther belonging to Alexander Jannaeus above fifty
years after Simon, or to a later Aristobulus Alexan-
der, in the time of Herod, 150 years after Simon ;
if so few of these, and these so much defaced, have
been preserved, and those of Simon's immediate suc-
cessor, Johannes, all perished, is it probable that so
many of Simon, himself, before Johannes, should be
preserved and in so much better preservation than
those of ant/ of his successors ? For indeed even those
'of Antigonus, the last king before Herod, although
found in more plenty, are yet all more or less defaced
I
221
[toutes plus ou moin defaces.] I doubt, therefore,
that all those coins hitherto ascribed to Simon Mac-
cabee ought rather to be arranged under Simon Bar-
cochebas, or, at least, that none of them are entitled
to be included in the jirst class, as being, with any
certainty, of an earlier age, or any way whatever
distinguishable from those doubtful ones which form
the third class of Jewish coins, and which may, pos-
sibly, all belong to Barcochebas likewise. Thus the
only cause why some of them have Simon on them,
while others, nearly with the same types, have not
that name, may be, because he was not at first ac->.
knowledged by the Jews as king ; but when he was
so he then assumed the title of Simon, Prince of
Israel, on his subsequent coins. Yet even here we
may discover one other fact in favour of these coins
belonging all to him, which is, that he styles himself
Prince of Israel/ whereas, in the book of Macca-
bees, Simon is always styled Prince of the Jews,
loxiSxiwv ; which title, as it might seem to exclude
the scattered descendants of the kingdom of Israel,
for this reason Barcochebas might prefer that of
Israel, that he might equally ingratiate himself with
these, and thus unite those of both kingdoms under
this more extensive and general name.
Hitherto we have examined only w hether any one
of the coins, in Barthelemy's^r*< class, commonly as-
cribed to Simon Maccabee, has any marks which can
give to them a claim to an earlier antiquity than
those in the third class. It remains to inquire whe-
ther those of a doubtful age, in the third class, have
any marks which are less consistent "with the later age
i
22S
of Barcochebas, under Adrian, than ivith that of
Simon 240 years before.
Now, among the objections which may be started
against all of this third class, belonging to Barcoclie'
bas, one is what has been urged by Barthelemy him-
self, that although Flenrion positively gives the name
of Simon to Barcochebas, yet he has produced no au-
thority for it, neither is it known that there is any
author extant who attributes that name to him.
This is, indeed, true ; but then neither is there any
author extant who mentions what his Jewish name
was originally ;• for as to Barcochebas, it is well
known to be only a fictitious one: no one then can
affirm that his name was not Simon; but how many
names of eminent Romans, their wives, or sons, have,
in like manner, not been mentioned by any authors
now extant, in respect to what are called their prse-
nomens ? And yet, afterwards, they have been
brought to light by means of medals of them disco-
vered in modern times, on which their praenomens,
and other names, have been all enumerated. The
very same may be the case here, and these coins may
have recovered the original Jewish name Simon,
which had before been buried under the appellation
of Barcochebas.
Scaliger informs us, from some rabbinical and
doubtful authority, that bis name was originally
Cotsiha, which, if ever so true, might, however, be
only a secondary one, of which frequent examples
occur among their high priests and others ; thus
the name of Caiaphas had Josephus prefixed to it.
This objection then bas no weight ; nay, even sup-
posing that Simon had not been the real name of
Barcochebas, yet it would still be of no force; and
Barthelemj himself has already given a sufficient
answer to such an objection in my last letter, in sug-
gesting that he might wish to represent himself as a
second Simon : but it might, very probably, be his
real name ; for Barthelemy has shewn also, in my
last, that the Jewish name of Alexander Jannaeus
was hitherto unknown ; yet it now appears from
some of his coins, discovered of late, to have been
either Jonathan or Johannes.
Another objection which may possibly be started
is, whether there be any testimony of Barcochebas
having ever actually coined any money ; this, how-
ever, Barthelemy does not dispute against the asser-
tion of it by Henrion, but refers us for proof of it to
Basnage, in his Hist, of Jews, book vi. ch. 9. Now,
as 1 have no opportunity of consulting Basnage, it
were to be wished that any person who has, would
communicate in your publication what Basnage says
on the subject. I can therefore, at present, only
refer to the authority of Scaliger, who quotes such
a fact from some rabbinical author, but does not
mention who his author was. " Cochebas est Stella
apud Hebrasos, sed frequentius dicitur Bar-cocheba
Jilius Stellce ; Judsei vocant eumfilius mendacii, quum
ejus verum nomen esset Cutsba, quomodo vocata est
moneta ejus nomine cusa, sed ipse voluit se Cucheba
vocari postquam tyrannidem arripuit. In veterum
Judeorum comraentariis scribitur '^ Ben Cuziba,
qui vocatus est Ben Cocba se gessit pro Messia :
Ideo vocatus est Ben Cochba (id est jGiiius Stellae)
234
quia deprehendit de se dictum esse Perrexit Stella
ex »7flco6, 4't'." [Animadv. Euseb. p. 215.]
Biisnage may possibly inform us from wU'dt Jewish
commentary these words are quoted. Now if the
coins of this impostor were so well known among
the ancient Rabbins, that they gave them the name
Kii Cutsba, w\\A{. has! now become of them that no
such coins should be known at present either hy the
Jews or Christians? This induces a suspicion that
the coins of Simon are these very coins of Barco-
chebas, and which were, in more ancient times, well
known to have been manufactured by that impostor,
or, at least, that some of them are of that class which
it becomes, therefore, necessary to distinguish with
certainty from the others, before any safe conclusions
can be drawn from any of them ; and there might
have been also still another reason why he impressed
the name of Simon on what were coined by himself;
for this was the name of that Jewish chief who de-
fended Jerusalem against Titus, but being taken
was carried to Rome along with the sacred utensils,
and after being led in triumph was put to death.
The recollection of this event, thus renewed on coins,
by the types of those sacred utensils, and the name
Simon, would become another incentive daily pre-
sent to the Jews to excite them to revenge against
the Romans. The name of Simon, therefore, was,
on several accounts, well suited to the occasion, and
to the types of sacred utensils impressed upon the
coins; moreover, as the types on the coins of some
of the successors of the Maccabees were very dif-
ferent, as Bartheleray has shewn, namely, one or
raoti cornucopias, and an anchor, wheels and
crowns; this confirms that sacred utensils had not
been tjpes generally employed by the Jews and
derived from the practice of antiquity, but rather
adopted on some particular occasion; and none
could be more suitable to those types than the re-
collection of their having been within sixty years
before all carried away to Rome and profaned by
heathen hands in vulgar uses. It is, however, true,
that no sacred utensils are found on those four coins
certainly coined after Trajan ; but Ottius, at p. 83,
reads Simeon on a coin, with sacred utensils, and
Reland a different word : the above four neverthe-
less have other types, which are suitable to the
event of Barcochebas, viz. a bunch of grapes on one
side on all of them, while on the other one has a lyre,
two others a palm tree, and the fourih two columns.
The variations here even in four of them only hav-
ing the name of Simon^ and similar variations on
others, which have not his name, prove that the sub-
jects of the types cannot serve alone as marks, whe-
ther ai\v coin is to be ranked in the first class or the
third. The types, however, on those four, although
different, yet may admit of as proper an application
to the event under Barcochebas as to the age of the
Maccabees, and possibly a more proper one. For
a bunch of grapes was a fit symbol of that plenty of
wine, corn, and oil, which the Jews universally ex-
pected under the Messiah ; and, although the sacred
utensils might have been the first types employed in
order to excite the Jews to rebellion, yet when he
was once acknowledged by them asking and Messiah,
he might then first begin to a6i>^, his name &nd iitlep
VOL. IX. Q
226
and the grapes as a symbol of his Messiahship ;
which was, indeed^ so firmly considered by the
Jews as an indication of the advent of the Messiah,
that Christ himself refers to it when he says in Mark
xiv. " I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
nhtil I drink it new in the kingdom of God ;" and
the miracle of water turned into wine served the
same pnrpose of a proof to the Jews of that advent.
Jhat the same was intended here by the bunch of
grapes we cannot affirm, but it is, in some degree,
supported by the palm tree on other coins: that
tree, indeed, was the common pyrabol of Judea, and
as such appears on coins of Titus struck in memory
of the capture of Jerusalem : but the palm trees of
Simon are different ; they are represented as so full
of fruit, that the branches bend down low enough
for persons, standing under them, to pluck the fruit
with their hands and fill baskets with thcra; yet the
palm is a tall tree, and the fruit scarcely ever grows
very low. There could not be a more fit symbol of
the plenty expected under the Messiah. The lyre
again might serve the same purpose of expressing
the harmony which, under Barcochebas, would not
subsist between Judah and Israel, just as the title of
Prince of Israel^ assumed on other coins, instead of
Prince of the Jews^ and the two columns, on other
coins, might denote this happy union of those two
kingdoms. That such was the intention of those
types I cannot assert, and ©nly mean to shew, that
they might hare as apposite an application to the
age of Barcochebas, if not a more suitable one, than
to that of the Maccabees ; so that no conclusion can
arise against their belonging all to Barcochebas from
«27
the subjects of the types impressed, any more than
from the diversity in them ; which diversity is so con-
spicuous in those four coins, alone, struck under
Trajan, as removes still more clearly any evidence
derivable from these circumstances toward arrang-
ing any of the coins, either under the^r^^ class or
the third, any more than from the name, or othpr
legends. A similar diversity is found in the types
of Greek coins relative to the very same events ;
variation seems, in those ages, to have been every
where the order of the day, and every artist invented
just as he chose- for himself: but it would, with
greater probability, happen during the extensive in-
fluence which the insurrection, under Barcochebas,
had over the whole body of Jews, however dispersed,
ia distant and diflerent nations, than under the con-
tracted government of Simon and Maccabee, during
which no variation could take place except by his
own express direction. Now, at a time when coin-
age was so novel, uniformity was rather desirable
than diversity, that distant cities might know whose
coins they were which were tendered to them in com-
merce ; whereas those under Barcochebas might be
coined by different bodiesof Jews, in distant nations,
some of whom sent money to him, and some men;
but who could not have conferred together to agree
either upon the same subject for a type, or the same
form, for it, even if they did, by accident, coincide in
the same subject; neither after sixty years could
there be many Jews, then living, who could remem-
ber what the real form of the pot of manna, or any
other sacred utensil, had been, as they must then
q2
22d
have been above seventy years of age ; hence that
diversity in forms !
So for as we have examined hitherto we have
been able to discover no mark whatever, which is
able to appropriate any one of the coins in the Jirst
class any more than in the second to Simon Macca-
bee rather than to Barcochebas, whether they have
the name of Simon upon them or have not ; but on
the contrary have found several circumstances to be
rather favourable to the claim of the in)postor than
the Maccabee chief, although indeed none of them
so decisively, as in the case of the secowrf class. We
have seen also that even if any argument can be
drawn from the diversity in the types and the dif-
ferent forms of the same utensils, yet it can be less
probably accounted for in the short space of four
years reign by Simon after coinage, than in the same
space of four years under Barcochebas.
Possibly however it may be still suggested, that
such diversity might arise from similar though not
exactly the same types, and also even similar legends
of Simon, &c. having been continued by the succes-
sors of Simon down to the extinction of that race of
high priests. But neither will this remove the dif-
ficulty; for Simon was succeeded by his son Jo-
hannes Hyrcanus during thirty-one years, and the
latter by his son Aristobulus during one year, who
first assumed the title of king^ and was succeeded
by Alexander Jannaeus: so that there were only
thirty-two years from the death of Simon to the ac-
cession of Alexander. Now under Alexander it
appears, that the types were different, namely an
anchor on one side and a kind of wheel on the other
with Jonathan high-priest; thus there was only a
course of thirty-two years in which that diversity of
form could arise, and this chiefly under the sanie
high priest Johannes Hyrcanus, even supposing the
fact of which we are ignorant, that he continued to
impress similar types and legends with Simon, and
did not change them during his whole reign as his
successor Alexander certainly did.
Now the Jewish historian Ganz quotes from R,
Abraham "quod juxta ejus verba protractum fuit
regnum Cuzibae et filiorum ejus per 21 annos ante
internecionem apud Either [ap. ann. 880]." Bux-
torf adds either copied from Ganz or by both from
some rabbinical relation that 4,000,000 of Jews
were slain. [Si/nag. Jud. c. 50.] This is doubt-
less Jewish exaggeration, but even this shews the
great extent of that insurrection in Asia, Egypt and
Lybia. Buxtorf adds also that Adrian besieged Bi-
ther 3| years, and this may be what Jerom an4
others meant, when they confined the whole time of
the insurrection to that short space instead of the
siege of Either.
There was then still greater room for diversity in
the forms of types on coins, struck by these Jews in
different nations during this insurrection than during
the abovementioned thirty-two years in the confined
limits of the high priests in Judea : and it must cer-
tainly have required a large sum of money to main-
tain the army of Barcochebas^ which was probably
230
sent from different nations, where when the Jews
coi.'ld not obtain a sufficiency of the monoy current
there, they were compelled to coin other money
oat. of their own precious oflfects to send to Bar-
cochebas. Diversity then again is no proof either
way.
If any coins of Johannes Hyrcanus have been
preserved this will ascertain whether he did in
reality preserve the name of Simon and similar
types on his own coins or not, just as the successors
of Alexander of Greece preserved his head upon
their coins after his death. But 1 have already
mentioned that no coins of Johannes are known to
me as having been hitherto discovered, unless some
of those with the name of Simon rather belong to
Johannes in reality. Barthelemy also in his letter
seems to me to confirm, that no coins of Johannes
Hyrcanus have ever been discovered ; but those
who have access to the book of Bayer can still better
ascertain this fact. For at present I can only ob-
serve, that when Barthelemy mentioned some coins
with BoKTtAfw? AXi^ccv^^ov on one side and Jonathan
high priest on the other, he adds that Bayer doubted
whether the name was not rather Johannes, " for,
says Bayer, we have coins absolutely like tliem in
regard to the metal, model and ti/pes, with the name
of Johannes on them :" but he does not add whether
they had also both the same Greek name and legend
or not as those of Barthelemy ; type will scarcely
include name also.
Who then did either Bayer or Barthelemy sup-
pose the Johannes in question to be ? They could
Hot suppose it to mean Johannes Hyrcanus, be-
sal
cause Barthelemy couples it with the n£iiiie o^ Alex-
ander king in Greek capitals^ and the title of king
had not been assumed until after the death of Jo-
hannes Hyrcanus. It must then have been some
later high priest of the name of Johannes, which has
hitherto laid hid under the Greek names of these
king^, and possibly either Alexander Jann£eus,
grandson to .Simon, or else a later Alexander, 150
years after Simon : as both of them then are quite
silent ct)ncerning Johannes Hyrcanus, this seems to
imply, though not indeed with absolute certainty,
that neither of them knew of any coins of that Jo-
hannes surnaraed Hyrcanus the son of Simon ; and
Barthelemy proceeds moreover to prove by other
coins, t^at he had rightly read the name Jonathan
and not Johannes as Bayer suspected. ,^
-If however the coins referred to by Bayer with
Johannes on them did nevertheless refer to Jo-
hannes Hyrcanus in his own mind, yet this at least
follows thence, that in this very next succession to
Simon under his son, Jewish sacred utensils were
no longer in use on Jewish coins, but an anchor and
wheel: hence again the diversity found on those
coins in the forms of the utensils could not have
arisen from their being the work of different artists
in a long succession of different reigns ; but are more
probably to be accounted for by their being coined
by different bodies of Jews in different nations
during the insurrection of Barcochebas.
As then this circumstance o{ diversity makes every
way rather in favour ot Barcochebas than of Simoi|,
so there is still another circumstance, which makes
it s^l jwftre ^tj[opgly io favour of tjie jnj^^stojr ;
252
which is, that the title of high priest has never yet
been discovered among the other legends on those
coins, and this is very extraordinary if any of them
were in reality the coins of Simon : for we find him
in the book of Maccabees always called high priest
as well as Prince of the Jews ; it was indeed
the former which gave him claim to the latter,
and it was by the Jews considered as a situation
of so much dignity and importance, that one could
never expect to find it altogether sunk and forgot
by himself under the title of Prince of Israel only
on any coins or contracts relative to his own sub-
jects.
In 1 Maccab. xiii. 42, we read " In the 170th
year the people of Israel began to write in their in-
struments and contracts — In the first year of Simon
the high priest, the governor and leader of the Jews
—again in xiv. 27 — in the 172d year being the third
year of Simon the high priest, Sfc." — In xv. I. like-
wise "Antiochus sent letters to Simon the priest
and prince of the Jews, beginning with Antiochus
the king to Simon the high priest and prince of his
nation, S^c. and repeatedly in other places down to
the last verse, where it is said that Johannes was
made high priest after his father. Now that this
title should not be found on coins of Barcochebas
is no wonder, for he never was high priest although
the Jews had made him prince of Israel ; and in the
above quotations it is observable also that the years
are numbered from the accession of Simon to be
high priest, not from his obtaining a grant to coin
money, which is not mentioned until some time af-
terward ia x>. 6. "I give thee leave also to coin
money for thy country with thy own stamp :" so
that there is no proof that the date of 4th year on
the coins can mean from the time of obtaining the
right of coinage; which leaves an important ques-
tion to be still answered, why no later dates have
been discovered, in case these coins were struck by
Simon and reckoned from his accession; but with
respect to Barcochebas that question is easily an-
swered, because he might reign no longer than four
years from the time of his being acknowledged as
prince of Israel.
It does not however appear to be quite certain,
that the dates of 1st 2d 3d and 4th years are
actually to be found on those coins ascribed to Si-
mon ; for though Ottius reads them so, yet Reland
does not : and in fact there are so many other cir-
cumstances left in doubt by the writers on this sub-
ject as renders any conclusions very uncertain ; such
doubts however are no more unfavourable to Bar-
cochebas than to Simon Maccabee. ' h<»;jdB<T
But with respect to the title of high priest being
never found inscribed, Barthelemy himself could
not help noticing this fact, although he afterwards
forgets too much its importance in balancing the
evidence " on doit I'etre d'avantage surpris de n'y
pas voir le titre de grand pretre, qui lui attiroit tant
de respect, et qui suivant les passages, que je viens
de citer [de 1 Afaccab.'] paroissit dans tous les actes
6manes de lui (Simon)." p. 829, du Journal. To
which we may add further, that Barthelemy himself
has shewn above that this title is found also on the real
coins of the kings Alexander and Antigonus at even
150 years after Simonand in Samaritan letters on the
234
reverses, notwithstanding that the more important
tide of king is found on the obverses and in Greek
capitals. The fact then that Barcochebas was not
high-priest, although made prince of Israel, can
alone account for the omission of the former when
the latter title occurs ou those coins, this being the
only instance in which these two titles did not be-
long to the same person, for the Herods never
adopted either of them.
It was urged still further against Henrion as an
objection to these being the coins of Barcochebas,
that as they are chiefly found in the ruins of Jeru-
salem, they must then have been deposited there
before the destruction of that city in the seventieth
year of Christ by Titus ; but the insurrection under
Barcochebas did not happen it is said until the
eighteenth of Adrian, nearly sixty years afterwards.
Now in answer to this objection it must be remem-
bered, that a new city was built by Adrian and in-
habited by Greeks and other colonies sent there,
which has since been all destroyed in its turn as well
as the Jewish city : who then can determine at pre-
sent, even if they were inclined to distinguish be-
tween the two ruins, whether the coins are found
among the ruins of the old city or the later one of
Adrian; probably there is not a single house now
standing, which was erected in the reign of Adrian,
and that the two ruins are so intermixed as to be no
longer distinguishable, without which this objection
amounts to nothing. An addition therefore has
been made to it, that it does not appear by any an-
cient author that Barcochebas was ever in posses-
sion of Jerusalem. So far may be true, but no
objection follows from it, for it is certainly related
that he fixed his residence and army at Either; now
although it may not be quite certain where this town
was situated in Palestine, yet Eusebius says, that it
was not •eery far distant from Jerusalem \rm Ispoo-o-
AujtAWv ov (r(poipoc Toppa J'jEO'TwtraJ (4. 6.) which is quite
enough for our purpose ; for the money of a large
army will always chiefly find its way to the chief
city ; and it is the same thing whether it was dropt
by the soldiers themselves or by those who had re-
ceived it from them for necessaries. Eusebius con-
firms that the Romans slew [^vpix$a.g of these rebels,
which means strictly several multiplas of 10,000,
but it is often used indefinitely to signify an infinite
number : it appears also by him, that Either was a
strong position, for he calls it o^vpur^sn, whereas all
the defences of Jerusalem had been levelled with
the ground by Titus; which was a sufficient reason
for his choosing to fix himself in a stronger place,
yet it does not follow hence that he was never in
possession of Jerusalem by himself or by some part
of his army.
These are the chief objections against the coinage
of Barcochebas, none of which have much force;
while there are three facts strongly in his favour :
1st that the ancient Jews well knew of his havino-
coined money either by himself or his friends, to
which they gave his name of Cuziba, and of which
Basnage may possibly have given some further in-
formation: 2dly, that four of those coins are now
proved to have been struck since the accession of
Trajan, which are therefore probably four of those
236
very coins called Cuziha bj the ancient Jews, and
liavin^;; the name on them apparently of Schemouru,
but more certainly the liberation of Jerusalem on the
reverses : 3dly, that many others have either the
same name Scliemoun or else the liberation of Jeru-
salem or both lep^ends, which must therefore be
reasonably deemed of the fame coinage as those
other four, and consequently belong to Barcochebas ;
this affords a presumption of all the others, although
having not those legends, yet that they areof the very
same species, if they have as t^jjies a representation
of any of the same objects relative to the Jews, as
what are found on those with the above legends on
them. Thus all the coins in question seem to be-
long to Barcochebas, but one class of them at least
almost certainly so, i. e. the second class.
There are indeed some difficulties concerning
these coins, yet not sufficiently cleared up by Reland,
Ottius and others ; but possibly Bayer may have re-
moved some of them at least, and if not, yet they
equally affi3ct either of the two opinions concerning
the age of coinage, therefore make no more in favour
of one than the other. Such as the difficulty of de-
termining with absolute certainty the powers of the
letters, ai d also that words are to be formed out of
them. Hence it is not sufficiently proved, whether
the dates of 1, 2, 3 and 4 are on any of them
together with other such doubts relative to the le»
gends.
But such doubts seldom occur, as tend to prove a
coin to belong rather to Simon than to Barcochebas,
therefore are of no importance to our present in-
quiry whether settled one way or another; in some
23T
few cases however they possibly may affect this in-
qiiirv, of which I can at present recollect only one
example, where Reland reads liberation from the
Greeks, and Ottius with others liberation of Zion,
the words denoting Greeks and Zion differing in the
Syriac very little from one another. If Greeks he
the real word it would afford a good proof of that
coin belonging to Simon the Maccabee; but in the
present uncertain reading of that legend it can prove
nothing. Hence it appears, that wherever such
doubts as these occur, no proofs either way can be
founded upon them and they are totally foreign from
the subject : as are also all disagreements between
writers concerning what sacred utensils are thought
to be represented on the coins, and arising from the
defaced condition of these coins, which different per-
sons may wish to supply in different modes; for if
they be all really Jewish utensils it is of no moment
whether they be cups of thanksgiving or pots of
manna ; and either way they no more prove any
thing in favour of the age of Simon than of Barco-
chebas.
But there are other doubts also subsisting con-
cerning some articles, which are of more importance
to our inquiry by being relative to the size, weight,
value and fabric of the coins ; for we have seen,
that this has been the onli/ evidence, upon which
Barthelemy attempts to adjudge some of the coins to
Simon rather than to Barcochebas ; but he has not
pointed out any one coin in particular of this kind,
which lie thinks to have a similar fabric to those of
the Syrian kings in the second century before Christ;
which too general assertion then leaves us still
^8
totally in the dark either how to confirm or how to
oppose this pretended proof of antiquity in some of
the coins.
All or almost all of those coins which have Simon
or liberation of Jerusalem on them are of bronse,
and are very different from those shekels mentioned
by Prideaux, which are of silver, and larger, being
almost of the size and value of half a crown with
Jerusalem the holy on them ; but which legend by
being equally suitable to every age can prove
nothing either way concerning the time of their
coinage, and most of these are also now esteemed
to be forgeries of Jews of later ages. Reland him-
self says in his third letter to Ottius, '' Gaudeo
eatenus inter nos convenire, quod nee hi nee
uUi veterum * Hebraeorum nummi' ante Maccabae-
orum tempora sint percussi, quodque sicli isti et alii
nummi literis Ilebraeis quadratis insigniti, qui magno
numero circum ferentur orones pro adulterinis sint
habendi," p. 95. Here isli must refer to the sicli
mentioned by Ottius in his own letter, whose words
are '' omnes nummi Samaiitani (exceptis siclis ar-
genteis, si modo veri denlur) ad Maccabaeorum tem-
pora referri possunt," p. 82.
Now except the four coins in silver superstruck
on Trajan's coins, all the rest which are mentioned
by the above authors are in bronse, unless it be one
of Ludoir?, the legend on which is read by these
authors so differently, that it proves nothing ; it is
possible however that Bayer may have since pro-
duced some others of silver with Simon on them ;
which if they be of the size of shekels, like that of
Ludolf, let us attend to what Ottius likewise says
239
concerning these " Argentei, qui Siclorum nomine
veniunt, dubium hactenus apud me fidera invenerunt,
ex duodeciip, quos oculis manibusque tractavi, vix
unus est, quem originalem indubie agnoscere pos-
sim," jp. 53. We have no concern then with any
but those in bronse, which are of a much smaller
kind. If
Reland has engraven four or five, and all ap-
parently of the same size, which coins he declares
that he considers as genuine, if any are so. But
Ottius produces other four, having similar legends
and types with those of Reland, and these he de-
scribes as being of very different weights, and to so
great a degree, that some are but half the weight of
others ; can they then be all of the same size ? or
could those of Reland be so ? when Ottius declares
that his own resembled those of Reland so much
that '^ in nummo minore, qui mih: secundus est, ei
in Relandina dissertatione tres nummi priores re-
spondent," j». 65. And again "In tertio meo, qui
vestro, ut opinor, quarto respondet, &c."|7. 75. . Or
could those of Reland be all of the same weight or
value? Notwithstanding that Ottius declares of
his own bronse ones that " Cum appendissem N".
I, observavi Semiunciam una cum quarta parte
pendere: Alterum N°. 2non plane quartam uncise:
N°. 3 minus." — Colligemus ergo majorem N°. 1
esse Semigera (Judaica) et 40 talibus asneis ad con-
ficiendum Siclum fuisse opus — et N". 2, qui tribus
tuis respondet non plus valverit quam as minutus,
vel assarim — qua coniparatione facta pro Siclo tales
13Q postulentur : N°. 3 arbitramur ejsse quadranfetn
240
^ qao servator dicit, non exibis donee reddideris
rrp^arov xoiJ'pakTTjf. p. 86.
Such then being the different weights and value
and consequently different s/rw of the four examined
by Reland, and the four by Ottius, what marks are
there on these, by which Barthelemy can discpver
that they are of ?i fabric more conformable to the
Syrian coins in the age of the Maccabees 140 years
before Clirist, than to that of Barcochebas 100 years
after Christ ? Might not the same Jewish weights
long remain alike?
Similar differences doubtless subsist between all
those other bronse coins, which have the types and
legends of Simon and liberation of Jerusalem on
them, so far as respects the constituent parts of their
fabric ; so that it seems not possible to judge of the
age of their coinage by their present fabric in their
present worn and debased condition, in which it is
as difficult to determine exactly what their types are,
as what their legends are; and still more difficult to
judge of their age by comparing ihefabnc of these
Jewish coins with Greek ones. We must therefore
conclude that Barthelemy had no good coins distinct
from the third class of them, which includes all those
of an uncertain age; they being all equally uncer-
tain except the Jbwr in his second class, coined indis-
putably later than the accession of Trajan 100 yea: s
after Clirist.
But although their /rt&nc can contain no evidence
whatever of their age, yet I have pointed out that
there are other articles in their legends and types,
which appear to be more favourable to the age and
241
circumstances of Barchochebas than to Simon the
Maccabee; especially since all the others resemble
in so many particulars to those four now known with
certainty not to be coined before the reign of Tra-
jan, and also since written evidence, as quoted by
Scaliger, has preserved an account, that Barcoche-
bas both did coin money, and also that it was well
known to be his by some ancient Jews, of which
coins however no knowledge now subsists unless
these, erroneously ascribed to Simon Maccabee, be
the coins in question, called by those ancient Jews,
Coziba, after the name of that impostor.
I may add that the legends are not always ex-
pressed by the same Syriac word signifying liberation^
but sometimes by two other Syrian words, of nearly
the same sense, such as vindication of Zion^ redemp'
lion of Zion ; now this is another circumstance in
favour of the age of Barcochebas,; for beside so
many diversities in the t^pes what motive could Si-
mon the Maccabee have in the short space of four
years to employ also such different words in the
legends, and all of them nearly synonimous ? But
this variety is more easily accounted for, if the
coins were struck by different bodies of Jews in
different cities of the Roman empire ; for every one
knows that it is scarcely possible to get different
bodjes of men to agree exactly in the same things
when it depends altogether on their own will and
pleasure, .even supposing them to have had per-
fect knowledge of one another's inclinations and.
opinions.
As a further confirmation that the sacred Jewish
utensils and the bunch of grapes were quite proper
VOL. IX. &
242
symbols of the advent of the Messiah, I may quote
what Buxtorf relates on this subject, namely, that
there were ten signs of that advent generally current
among the Jews; of which the sixth was " quod
turn Messias regem romanorum bello persequetur et
sacra vasa, quae tanquam thesaurus in imperatoris
(Eliani [the name of Adrian was GElius] a»dibus
reservantur, Hierosolumara referet," c. 40 Si/nag,
Judaic. — Then also the Messiah was to give a grand
feast to all Jews whatever, and that beside provi-
sions of every kind of animals the ** generosissimum
et praestantissimum vinum bibetur, quod in Paradiso
crevit, ibidemque adhuc in Adami cella vinaria
reservatur." Ibid. This last opinion they founded
upon those words of Psalm 75,- " In the hand of
the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, and he
poureth out of the same ;" so that the type of the
cup on some coins may refer to the same expectation
as the bunch of grapes on others. To the same ex-
pectation also may the palm tree be referred, agree-
ably to the 92d Psalm, " The just one shall flourish
as a palm tree."
The above traditionary sign of the advent of the
Messiah, by the recoveri/ of the Jewish sacred utensils
preserved in the treasure house of the Emperor
OElianus, seems as if it had been founded at first
upon the expectation of the Jews in their insurrec-
tion under Barcochebas, of their being able to re-
cover those sacred articles at that time under that
Emperor of the name of CElius ; and points out a
weighty reason why such sacred utensils might be
adopted on their coins as types suitable to the occa-
•ion. It was likewise to- the above grand feast bj
the Messiah expected by the Jews when he arrived,
that Christ referred, by the words quoted before
from St. Mark, and of this the marriage~fea,st in
Cana, at which water was made wine, might appear
to the Jews as a percursive type and symbol, to
shadow out and ascertain to them the fact of the
Messiah being actually come in the person of Christ
to hold the grand feast expected by them in the
above tradition. To the same tradition and expec-
tation of the Jews were those words of the governor
of the feast accommodated when he said to the
bridegroom thou hast kept the best wine until now,
agreeably to the tradition that in the feast of the
Messiah the wine would be prcestantissimum.
This general extensiveness of these traditions
among the Jews confirms the propriety of the bunch
of grapes on the coins of Barcochebas as a sign of
his being the Messiah; which could not indeed be
doubted by any when Rabbi Akiba, who had 24,000
scholars, said to him en ipsum regemMessiam ! and also
applied to him the prophecy concerning the Messiah
in Numbers, '.' a star shall arise out of Jacob and a
sceptre out of Israel," for which reason he assumed
the name of Bar-cochebas, son of the star, as above-
mentioned bv Scaliger.
To the same purport might tend that type of the
cpms in question, which so frequently occurs of
AarorHs rod budding, as affording a representation of
the sceptre predicted. All these circumstances seem
to unite together in ascertaining these coins to have
been all struck during the rebellion under that
impostor, by all the types as well as legends being
so suitable to that occasion, although varied in so
244
many different modes ; a fact, which they af least
prove much more securely, than the Samaritan let-
ters found employed there can prove the use of Sa-
maritan letters by the Jews above 1000 years before,
as the examiner of Mr. Hurwitz pretends.
Where we cannot obtain demonstrations, we must
be content with probabilities; and we have found
Barthelemy himself judging it to be probable, " that
all the coins related to the same event, those, which
have not the name of Simon, as well as those which
have :" if this then be probable in case that event
happened under the Maccabees, it must be equally
probable, in case the omission of the title of high-
priest and several other circumstances rather pre-
ponderate in adjudging that event to be the insur-
rection under Barcochebas. S.
Art. DCCXCIII. Confirmation of the meaning of
the word " Tt/e."
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
• " He was a man
Of an unbounded Stomach, ever ranking
Himself with Princes : one who by suggestion
Tyed all the kingdom."
ShakspeXre, Henry viii,
SIR,
The excellent illustration* of the word tt/ed in
the above passage, by your correspondent S. may be,
in some degree, supported by the following stanza
from a poetical tract, mentioned by Mr. Beloe,t as
* In the article of Gusman Hindeand Hannam outstripped, 1657.
See C«m. Lit. Vol. VI. p. 295.
f Aaecdotes of Literature, Vol. I. p. 389.
24S
holding a place in the Garrick collection, entitled
" A Dialogue betweene the Comen Secretary and
Jelowsy, touchjnnge the Unstablenes of Harlottes."
" Jelowsy.
" She that can no coun»ayII kepe.
And lyghtly wyll sobbe and wepe,
Laughe agayne, and wote not why,
Wyll she not sone be tyced to foly V
It seems plain from the orthography of the word
here used for enticed, that the etymology of the verb
to entice, which Dr. Johnson declares to be uncertain,
is the same as that of <o tie (leogan). The syllable
en is a subsequent arbitrary addition, such as is often
used in forming a verb from a substantive without
changing its termination, as slave, enslave, rich,
enrich^ Sfc. ; and indeed many persons, of provincial
education, use the word tice for entice to this day.
Or, perhaps, Shakspeare actually wrote it/ced'in the
passage in dispute : a single letter is all that the
word we have wants, to become so.
Farrar^s Building, Inner Temple,
February 7, 1808. Barron Field.
Art. DCCXCIV. Etymology of the word Entice,
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR,
With respect to the word entice, mentioned by
your correspondent, although Johnson had not dis-
covered its origin, yet, in case it was derived from
the Saxon, there is another root in that language,
beside Teogan, from which it might have descended
just as well ; this is Tihban, to persuade. I do not|
246
however, find any examples which might induce us
to conceive that either g in the one, or t in the other,
were ever changed into c or 5, so that it is only pos-
sible either way. However, 1 am persuaded that
entice was not derived from the Saxon at all, but
from the French word enticher to stain , spot, or cor-
rupt; and formerly, not improbably, it might in
French have signified entice; which, however, is
now changed to inciter ; yet, if not, it might acquire
in time this sense in English, as there is but a thin
partition betiveen being enticing to evil, and being
stained or corrupted with actual evil. As the past
participle entiche means being corrupted, the present
participle entichans, when in use, would naturally
mean corrupting; and if the French now use only
the past participle stained and corrupted, why might
not the Norman English have retained in that word
only the present tense, as meaning corrupting, that
is, enticing to evil ?
As to the derivation of enticher in French, it ap-
pears from Lacombe's Dictionary of Old French,
that it was formerly spelt with an e instead of i.
Thus he says, entecM means entichS, souille, sali ;
and this leads us to discern the origin of it. He
gives this example:
*' Pardone moi tous mes peches
Dequels je sui fort enteches, Fabry,
Pardon me all my sins
With which I am much spotted."
Now Pelletier, in his Dictionary of Bas-breton,
says, that Taich with them is the French tache, spot,
fl, natural or moral defect : and he adds that M. Roust
247
gel writes it Tech, vice ; and also. IXi tech, without
vice. Hence, it appear :<, that enticher has been
changed from entecher, and this from entacher, to fill
with spots, and that en is a necessary part of the
word, just as in altacher and de-tacher ; which is a
further proof that* ew/«ce does not come either from
the Saxon Teogan or Tihtan, (since it every where
carries en as a mark of its origin along with it,) but
from the French, in which such prepositions are
common. Tice then, in English, can be only an ab-
breviation oi entice, as was very common in old ver-
sifications, in order to have a foot less in a word,
which occurs repeatedly in the old versification of
the Psalms, and elsewhere ; thus hests for behests,
and spie for espie»
In regard to the French wprd tache^ spot, Menage
takes no notice of its origin in his etymological dic-
tionary, but it is undoubtedly not from Saxon, but a
Gaulish corruption of the Latin tactus, just as iji the
verbs attachcr, detacher. The substantive itself,
Tach, still remains in the Bas-breton, as Pelletier
says, to mean a nail ; but I believe that it is now
lost out of the French : it is preserved, however, in
Spanish where Tacho means also a small nail, as
Tack does in English ; that is, it denotes the means
by which one thing is tacked to another (tacta.)
Now, because the heads of nails appear like spots
upon surfaces, hence it came to signify also a spot,
as a secondary sense of the word, and thus a stain, or
contamination, as a third sense, either of a natural or
moral kind. Scaliger, in his Conjectanea on Varro,
observes, " In Gallia vocunt 2ac hoc est maculam
vel naevum^ ab ea similitudine a clayis; c|^ui^tai)|^uain
248
nsvi ill plagula sparsi sunt." Pelletier is clear that
it is not originally a Celtic or Breton word, but im-
ported there from the Gaulish language, which we
know was corrupted Latin in part, just as Patch
with us was formed from the Latin Patagium, and
in a similar sense, but M'hich is neither to be found
in Celtic or Gothic : so neither is tache to be found
in this sense in any Gothic language except French,
which confirms its derivation from Gaulish and cor-
rupt Latin. Tasche, indeed, now writ, TAche, runs
through all Gothic languages, German, French,
Dutch, Belgic, English, &c, in its own proper senses,
which are two, either to mean a Task^ or else a
Purse or Pocket ; but this is quite a different word
from tache^ a s'pot : so that it has had a gradual
change from tacta to tacy tache^ taichy tach, tech and
itch, and thus gave origin to en-ticher, entice.
S.
Art. DCCXCV. Observations on the Third Re-
port of the Commissioners for making new Roads
in Scotland,
to the editor of censura literaria.
Sir,
Some extracts having been lately published of the
Third Report of the Commissioners appointed by
Parliament for making new roads in Scotland, and
relative to the survey of Scotland made soon after
the Rebellion in 1745, by the direction of William
Duke of Cumberland, I find there several facts as*
serted concerning that survey, which are altogether
idestitute of foundation ; and, 1 presume, they can
U9
have arisen only from the Commissioners not having
received their information from authentic sources :
the extracts are to this purport : " The inconve-
nience, to which we were subject by the want of an
accurate map of Scotland, as mentioned in our last
report, caused us to inquire into the practicability
of remedying the effect, and in this we have succeed-
ed beyond our expectations, as it was discovered that
his Majesty's library contained an original survey
of the whole of the main land. This survey was
commenced in 1747 under the direction of Col.
Watson, then Assistant Quarter Master General
there, and carried on principally by Lieut. Roy,
afterwards a General, assisted by others, each of
whom surveyed the districts allotted to him ; they
first surveyed the Highlands, and afterwards it was
determined to extend the survey to the southern
parts, the whole being on a scale of nearly two inches
to a mile. The survey having proceeded from small
beginnings is not strictly trigonometrical, but de-
pending chiefly on the magnetic meridian, which
experience has demonstrated to be peculiarly vari-
ous in different parts of Scotland; and Leiut. Roy
must have found it very difficult, in the then scarcity
of known positions and authentic charts of the coast,
to have combined the various unconnected parts of
the survey in a manner worthy of such a laborious
and accurate work. These difficulties, however,
have been since, in a degree, overcome; and we
have reason to believe that no labour has been
spared in procuring information for the adjustment
and improvement of the map, which we have em-
ployed Mr. Arrowsmith to copy and reduce froa
250
the original survey with his Majesty's gracious per-
mission. In order to render the map correct and
complete in every respect, it has become necessary
for Mr, Arrowsmith to form an extensive collection
of new materials, to which we have contributed our
best endeavours, by consulting Mr. Play fair, Pro-
fessor in the University of Edinburgh, Mr. Jack-
son of Air, and several other scientific persons of
eminence, in order to supply some of the most iro^
portant particulars. The map, which Mr. Arrow-
smith has produced, after two years labour, has re-
ceived the unanimous testimony of its accuracy from
all persons acquainted with the various parts of Scot-
land, and he is soon to furnish a memoir shewing
the authorities on which his map is constructed,
which renders it unnecessary to enter into any fur-
ther detail of the rt55w/fl»ce received toward a per-
formance so honourable to the state of the arts and
so interesting to the British public."
The Commissioners rightly call the survey a la-
borious and accurate work, but at the same time they
have aiBrmed some facts concerning it which tend
to diminish its credit, but which are altogether mis-
represented. 1 can only hope that they proceeded
from erroneous information, and were not calculated
merely to enhance the labours of Mr. Arrowsmith's
map, and the scientific persons connected with him :
when he publishes the memoir abovementioned, we
shall see what corrections have been obtained from
their assistance ; in the mean time 1 cannot perceive,
by inspection, any deviations from the original sur-
vey, except apparently in one instance, concerning
the propriety of which I much doubt, and hope the
memoir will demonstrate tliat it has been done with
good advice.
As to the mistakes of the Commissioners them-
selves, when they object to the survey, that it is not
strictly trigonometrical, I presume their meaning to
be, that it was not made by the intersections of a
long series of triangles. This is indeed true, and
that would have been the most accurate method,
but it was not adopted for very good reasons ; such
as when they rightly observe, " that the survey pro-
ceeded from small beginnings ;" for nothing more
was intended at first than to survey the lines of Ge-
neral Wade's roads, through the middle of the High-
lands, for the use of the Duke of Cumberland, then
commander in chief; which he found of so much
benefit, that he obtained from the then ministry a
grant of money to add to it a survey of the High-
lands on the west coast in Rossshire, then one of the
most disafiected parts of the country, but now, so
happily are things altered, that the Rossshire militia
is one of the best regiments in the service of their
country. Afterwards further grants were obtained
for further additions, but always piece-meal. Yet
if it had been otherwise, a series of triangles was
quite impracticable in the Highlands, where a person
is confined in narrow valleys, not a quarter of a
mile broad, surrounded with immense mountains,
and where, from the winding of vallies round the
mountains, together with the obstructions from
woods, rocks, and precipices, it was generally im«
possible to see a quarter of a mile either before or
behind. No other method therefore could be adopt-
ed ihaQ that of running lines through the wilder-
I
252
ness with as distant tsati6ns as could be obtained,
and measurin"^ with a chain from station to station,
after taking the bearings between them with a the-
odolite, which were duly registered in a surcey-hool(^
properly ruled for that purpose, and protracted in
the subsequent winter upon rolls of large paper
pasted together. The Commissioners then, who
know the nature of the country, ought not to have
mentioned in such an ambiguous phrase, however
learned a one, a circumstance which others, who do
not know the country, may construe as implying
some defect either of the method employed, or the
execution of it by those employed vc\ it.
To this, however, the Commissioners have added
another misrepresentation in saying *' that the sur-
vey depended chiefly on the magnetic meridian."
What the meaning of these enigmatic words are can
be only guessed from what follows ; " that experi-
ence has demonstrated it to be peculiarly various in
different parts of Scotland." Let the variation of
the magnetic needle be ever so different in different
parts of that country, it has not the least connection
wliatever with the survey ; which, as I have shewn
above, was not made by bearings ascertained by the
magnetic needle, but by the graduations on thelimba
of the theodolites employed at the stations, and these
connected together through the whole country by
actual mensuration ; from which stations all visible
objects on both sides were fixed by the intersection
of bearings taken from different stations. The Com-
missioners then surely ought not to have asserted,
in their report made to Parliament, a fact, which is
not true, and which they could have only obtained
233
from the idle reports of some spectators at the sta-
tions, who knew nothing of what they talked about :
what may have given rise to such erroneous reports
was probably this ; a compass box was fixed on the
top of each theodolite, capable of being easily taken
off when wanted : the attention of the spectators
was generally more attracted by that than any thing
else, as they had never seen such a thing before,
and some of them asked whether it was alive, on
seeing the needle turn without being touched.
Were these proper sources for Commissioners to
draw information from in a report to Parliament?
The compass box, was, however, occasionally used
in particular cases : for in carrying the lines of sur-
vey through the principal vallies among the moun-
tains, there occurred repeatedly small rivulets, which
they call burns, descending from the hollows, be-
tween different mountains ; it was necessary to as-
certain the direction of their courses, and of the long
hollows through which they flowed, which generally
could not be seen from the low stations near the
chief rivers, into which they ran : so that it often be-
came expedient to clamber up to some eminence or
precipice in order to take a view of the course of
those burns, and of the hills which surrounded the
hollows or glens belonging to them. But it was
impossible, without the utmost danger to the theo-
dolites, to carry them up to the top of those preci-
pices; in which cases the compass box was taken
off and carried in their stead, they having been pur-:
posely graduated exactly in the same manner as the
limbs of the theodolites ; and by their means the
direction of those glens and burns was ascertained,
254
together with such representations of them in pencil,
upon the sketch book, as the view of them presented
This was quite sufficient for such uninhabited hol-
lows between the mountains, and if the theodolites
and measurements had been always carried up to
the heads of all those petty glens, which are so nu-
merous, I suppose that the survey would have been
scarcely finished at this day. Yet such is the accu-
rate account of the' Commissioners to Parliament,
and such is the justice which they have done to those
employed in that laborious and accurate work ! But
beside registering in the survei/-book all such bear-
ings and intersections of distant objects visible on
both sides of the lines of survey, a sketch-book was
employed throughout the whole way, and after the
bearings were entered recourse was had to the sketch-
book in passing from one station to another; in
which was delineated, in pencil, the face of the
whole country around, the declivities and woods on
mountains, bendings of the rivers, situation of vil-
lages, gentlemen's houses, gardens, and every thing
else which could be better expressed by imitation
than by words and bearings: so that if the lines of
fiurvey, by the theodolites, be called the body, the
•sketch-book may be called the life and soul of the
survey ; without this it would have been as tame
and inexpressive as the plan of an estate, where a
black line represents a hedge, and a wood is denoted
by the word zcood, or by such scratches of a pen as
imitate nothing. I challenge the Commissioners to
point out a parallel to the survey in his Majesty's
library throughout the world, either for the great
extent of it, or the minute accuracy of all the par-
255
ticular parts, but above all by the expressive repre-
sentation of the face of that wild country ; so that
if a person bred there in his youth should re-
turn after a long absence in the East Indies and see
that survey, he would immediately exclaim, " Ah,
I behold again the face of my dear country, and the
scenes of my youth; in that village, under that
mountain, I was born ; in that river I used to fish,
in that wood to shoot roebucks, and upon that moun-
tain to pursue the ptarmigans," and the whole would
appear to him as if he was raised up in a balloon
into the air to view and recognize the objects of his
former acquaintance below. For this advantage,
indeed, the surveyors were much indebted to the
rising genius of Mr. Paul Sandby, then a youth ;
yet if the surveyors had not in their sketch-books de-
lineated faithful pictures of the mountains and val-
lies for a foundation to be embellished by his ex-
pressive pencil, his imitation would have produced
no resemblance of them. But while the Commis-
sioners acknowledge, with justice, that Mr. Sand-
by's pencil added " singular advantage to the beauty
of the map," they ought to have sought also for bet-
ter information concerning the manner in which it
had been formed, than by a relation of vulgar errors,
which could be only collected from among the
common people, who remembered the survey being
made.
Here, however, a testimony is given to the beauty
of the survey, as well as before to its accuracy^ and
to the great labour in making it ; nevertheless, it is
still urged, that corrections were found necessary i
but as these pretended corrections are mentioned, as
i
256
beings only what arose from the supposition of the
survey being made by the magnetic needle, they
may be just as imaginary as that erroneous suppo-
sition. When the abovementioned memoir shall be
published, we shall then see what corrections havo
been made ; but at present, so far as 1 can perceive,
by inspection and measurement, I cannot find any
alteration whatever from the survey, except, pos-
sibly, one case ; the propriety of which I much doubt,
and rather presume it to be an error copied from
former maps, as it is one of the three chief articles
in which the survey differs from former maps. I
had long ago made a small reduction from it, of the
line of the coast quite around the country surveyed;
and on comparing it with Arrowsraith's new map, I
find not the least difference, except in the above
single article, so far as I can perceive at present.
But as to what the Commissioners add, '' that Lieu-
tenant Roy, afterwards a general officer, must have
found it very difficult to ^ave combined the various
unconnected parts of the survey in a manner worthy
of such a work;" this shews, that they have through-
out been only writing a romance, formed out of their
own theoretic fancies, but which they have laid, how-
ever, on the table of the parliament ; for I have
shewn above, that in the lines of survey, every dis-
tant visible object was fixed, as they proceeded, by
intersections of their bearings from different stations
on both sides: how then could those lines of survey
be unconnected^ which were thus necessarily con-
nected together from beginning to end, at every in-
termediate, visible object which occurred, but espe-
cially at the very beginning and end ; which were
957
always a parish kirk, bridge, or gentleman's house
or some such other permanent and remarkable ob-
ject; which could not escape being fixed by both
of those surveyors, who undertook contiguous dis-
tricts ? When one has to refute accusations depend-
ing upon fact, or not fact, the task is more easy,
than thus to fight against those imaginary wind-
mills in the air, which the commissioners have been
pleased to exhibit upon the parliamentary table.
But, if even there had been any such difficulty as
alleged, yet those employed would have had no oc-
casion to call in Lieutenant Roy to remove it; who
was rather indebted to them for assistance, than they
to him ; for, until they came to his aid, he had never
employed a skctch-hoolc, on which the chief excel-
lence of the survey depended; but he was discerning
enough to adopt it, and at last, indeed, excelled in
it. It was futile then, to add, " that the above diffi'
cullies have been since overcome," which never did
exist, except in Utopia. But although there were
no such difficulties^ yet it is possible that there may
be some errors in some parts of such an extensive
work ; yet not arising from any of those- causes
pointed out by the commissioners, but, possibly, in
part, from the narrow national motive of the quar-
ter-raaster-general, who would have the theodolites
made in Edinburgh, and not at London; so that al-
though they were sufficient for such partial surveys
as were at first intended, yet were by no means ac-
curately enough graduated for such an extended
work as the whole country. Another cause is also
manifest ; for, by measurement over such a rough
country, hills, vallies, and precipices, it is impossi-
VOL. IX. s
258
blc but that the measurements must be sometimes
longer than the real truth, yet never could be short-
er, unless through some mistake, whic^ was as care-
fuWy guarded against as possible. Hence it would
follow, that two surveys beginning at the same ob-
ject, and carried through diilerent districts to end at
the very same object, might meet together at that
object without any apparent difference, and yet both
of them l)e erroneous ; which, however, could not
Ije discovered, because they might be both equally
erroneous, by their measurements being both too
long, through the same cause, of the inequalities of
the ground measured by both. This, however, is
known, that no such errors of any importance did
appear at the meeting of surveys through different
districts ; but it cannot be affirmed, nevertheless,
that there were no errors, by reason of their being
thus necessarily hid from observation, by their being
produced as abovementioned, by causes equally/ ope-
rating in both cases; either the similar imperfections
of the instruments, or the similar measurements on
uneven surfaces. If the Commissioners had stated
these causes of error, necessarily arising from the
method of survey employed, they would have shewn
some knowledge of the true state of things; and if
the scientific professors employed to make corrections^
have, in reality, made any, they must have been such
errors as might be produced by the causes above-
mentioned, which certainly it was expedient to rec-
tify. It can be only hoped, that the ostentatious
pretences of such corrections being made, may not
be now set forth for a similar purpose as affected the
surveyors themselves before, that is, to enhance the
259
importance of the improvements pretended to be
made in Arrowsmith's map, though at the expense
of the credit of the survey; just as the quarter-mas-
ter-general had before recommended himself, with-
out the recommendation of any other person : so
that those employed, sung at last to the tune of the
shepherd in the pastoral. Sic vos non vobis mellifica-
tis apes ; nevertheless, those who lived long enough,
arrived, by their merit, to distinguished situations,
although not through the path of justice.
It only remains to mention one other fact ; for,
although the survey was not made by the magnetic
needle, as the Commissioners suggest, yet the pro-
traction on paper was made according to the mag-
netic meridian, full allowance being first made for
the reputed variation of it at Edinburgh ; that is,
the first measurement between two stations at Edin-
burgh protracted on the first roll of paper, was made
to have the same angle with the edges of the paper,
as it was found to have with the magnetic meridian
so corrected by the reputed variation of the needle :
the effect of this would be, that the top of the rolls
would be the true north, as is usual in maps ; and,
let the variations be ever so various in different
parts of the country, these would no more affect the
reputed variation at Edinburgh, which had been as-
certained before by the diligent experiments of se-
veral able men, than there could be any difficulty^
as mentioned above, in connecting together what
had never been unconnected. Yet an accumulation
of small errors, after so many stations, and all tend-
ing the same way, whether caused by the similar im-
perfection of the instruments, or the unevenness of
s ^
260
the ground, might at the end produce some errors
of moment, without any possibility of prevention by
the care of those employed : and these would be
communicated by the protractions on paper. But
at present, there is no reason to presume that any
such errors have been discovered by the scientific
men, to whom the Commissioners had recourse ; be-
cause, as they have formed a romance concerning
the pretended causes of them, on supposition of the
survey being made by the magnetic needle, a fact
which never existed, they may have equally ro-
manced concerning the errors themselves, and de-
duced both of them out of their own imaginations.
In fact, there seems to me one proof of this in Ar-
rowsmith's map; for the meridian there, which
passes through Sterlings passes also very near to Fort
George, on the east of it ; and from thence, very near
to Strathi/- Heady at the northernmost part of Scot-
land; that is, through the very middle of Scotland,
from north to south. Now this is the very direction of
that meridian in the small reduction abovemention-
ed, which I had made from the survey. But this
could not have been the case, if the assumed north
point in the protraction had not been the true north
point, as found by those scientific men themselves ;
for otherwise the whole body of the country toge-
ther, would have been turned, in the protraction,
too much either to the east or west ; although the
relative position of every particular place in it, with
respect to its neighbours, would have still remained
the same ; therefore no error appears to have arisen,
any more from making the edges of the rolls true
meridians, by the means abovementioned, than from
261
that other pretended cause, the different variations of
the needle in different places ; which has just as much
to do with the survey, as it has with the moon.
That meridian through Sterling, passes also exactly
in the same manner in DorreV^ larger map of Scot-
land, published before the survey was finished;
which is a further refutation of the accusation in the
said report, " of the survey depenaing chiejly on
the magnetic meridian." With respect, however,
to the direction of east and west, I do perceive one
variation in the new map, which, it is to be hoped,
the memoir will be able to justify, as in this it equally
differs from Dorret's map. Without this, the pre-
tence of such corrections being necessary, can be con-
sidered only as a disingenuous mode of recommend-
ing the new map at the expense of the survey, from
which it was copied ; the accuracy of which is hid-
den, from obvious view, under a multiplicity of rolls
of paper; but which would, have been more easily
seen, if the Commissioners had obtained access to
the reduction of it made by the same persons as the
large survey. As they make no mention of this, but
employed Arrowsraith to make a new reduction,
they seem to have had no knowledge of one existing
before ; so that it cannot be in the king's library ;
possibly it may be deposited at the board of ordnance :
but I have heard it reported, that it had been seen
in the possession of a person who had great interest
with the duke of Cumberland : yet, that the Com-
missioners should have obtained no knowledge of
the existence of such a reduction, shews again how
little tiiey drew their information from original and
authentic sources. If the large survey was a beauty^
262
the reduction was a beauty of beauties, shaded like
the other by the pencil of Mr. Sandby ; but where it
is to be now found, I am ignorant; I can only aflirm
that 1 have^een it. One cannot then but wonder at
the thoughtless indifference of mankind to articles
of value, until the very moment when they are want-
ed, from William duke of Cumberland, down to the
Commissioners. And even when they begin to re-
cover from that indifference, they then suffer them-
selves to be misled by the artifices and ostentatious
pretences of such as want to turn every thing to their
own benefit or commendation. The survey at first
experienced the neglect and degradation, of being
kept for some time in pawn, before public money
could be obtained to redeem it. It has since under-
gone a second misrepresentation, by persons, whom
I have proved incompetent to appreciate the nature
of it : and whether the corrections of it, now pre-
tended to. be made in Arrowsmith's map, may not
prove a third misfortune, remains still to be ascer-
tained, when the memoir abovementioned, shall be
published. So great is the aim of all to profit by
that survey; and yet so little t^e inclination of any
to do justice, to what they allow to be both highly
useful and beautiful !
Fact against Puff.
LETTER II.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR,
Having, in a former letter, shewn from what ad-
mirable and authentic sources of information the
263
Commissioners of New Roads in Scotland had de-
rived, in their third report to Parliament, the account
given there of the survey of Scotland, now in his
Majesty's library, begun in 1747, and of the manner
in which it was formed, as stated and edited appa-
rently by those very profound scientific men, who
were consulted concerning corrections necessary to
be made in that survey ; yet although justice thus has
been done by them, in<i learned manner, to some of
the labours and difficulties which occurred in exe-
cuting that work, they have, nevertheless, noticed
only a very small portion of the various labours, dif-
ficulties, obstructions, unfortunate events, privations
and starvations, which impeded the business and
helped to produce those errors, so kindly undertaken
to be corrected by them. It may, therefore, be ac-
ceptable to such persons as are fond of reading
books of travels, to be still further informed con-
cerning the nature of that arduous undertaking, and
of the events which occurred in its execution, which
helped also to stimulate still more the zeal and pati-
ence of the surveyors in the prosecution of a work
altogether an unique of its kind in the history of the
world. Such a minute relation of the many hair-
breadth escapes they encountered, may, at least,
palliate if not altogether excuse their failings, and
perhaps may induce others to condole with them in
their misfortune of not having obtained more feeling
judges of their case than such as sit high in profes-
sional chairs and meetings of Commissioners, with
good dinners and bottles of wine before them every
day ; the variations of which are more interesting
than the variations of the magnetic meridian, and
264
both more pleasantly to be comprehended and di*
gested than the difference between east and west
bearings.
It must, in truth, be confessed, that the survej of
all the highlands of Scotland was an arduous task,
in which greater abilities were found requisite, than
even the Commissioners seem to have suspected, if
we may judge by the specimen they have mentioned
of there being a necessity to call in Lieut. Roy to
assist in connecting together what had never been
unconnected : but Bsjinis coronal opus, so it may be
truly said with Horace, that the task thereby laid on
their shoulders was no less than ex jimo et futno
dare lucem ; which means, in plain English, that it
was no easy matter either to find or see their way
through that wilderness so as happily to come out of
it without loss of limbs, after being up to their knees
all day for whole months together in wet moss, and
bogs, and dirt, their noses offended with filth, their
eyes red and blind with the smoke of peat-firing,
their skins punctured with domiciliated insects more
certainly alive than the magnetic needle, and their
stomachs always craving with little hope of being
satisfied, except with what some or other of their
senses would reject; in fine, their state was only
somewhat short of the miserable case of Tantalus;
for, to the misery of having nothing to appease a
craving appetite, they had not, indeed, that other
misery added, like him, of seeing before them good
things which they would wish to eat, without being
able to obtain them ; as I am confidently informed
by the relations of those inexperienced young men
who were concerned, to their sorrow, in that expe>
i
265
riment of trying what might be done by dint of per-
severing labour, without any other recorapence than
to have it afterwards said that it has been well done.
Yet the learned Commissioners have now deprived
them even of this consolatory commendation, ever
since they found out the hitherto undiscovered secret,
that the variations of the magnetic needle in Scot-
land are so great as to alter even the direction of the
pole itself: and this, I presume, they have set forth
in their report to Parliament, as a specimen of the
other important discoveries to be contained in the
memoir which is to be published by their associated
professors.
They have, however, said nothing in commenda-
tion of the politic conduct of the assistant quarter-
master-general, their countryman, of his very kind
speeches, shrewd grins of satisfaction and flattering
promises, which served, like oil, to make the ma-
chine work the better, until he had himself obtained
all the grits of the mill, and left to the others all the
fatigue of working it in a reputable way; and evea
of tliis advantage the Commissioners and their as-
sociates have now attempted to deprive them, with
great credit and a conspicuous display of their own
superior abilities.
The whole scene reminds me of a case which hap-
pened in a campaign of Flanders, when a breach
' having been made in a besieged town, an officer .
marched briskly at the head of his men to the attack
of it, but when arrived at the foot of the breach be
turned about, pulling off his hat, with a low bow to
his followers, and saying, "Well done, my brave
lads, there is the breach, and there is the enemy,
266
march on as briskly as before and fear nothing. I
will now go behind in order to see you safe up and
shew you the way ; our noble commiindcr will re-
ward us all." He accordingly lived to receive
the reward ; the rest lost either their limbs or their
lives.
It may possibly afford some amusement to your
readers if in like manner I give a minute relation of
some of the adventures, distresses, and catastrophes,
of those young surveyors who wandered almost as
many summers in the highland wilderness as the
Israelites sojourned in the desert of Sin ; and the
Commissioners also, themselves, will hereby see
that there were more and greater difficulties to en-
counter than those arising from the variations of the
magnetic meridian. Now their first difficulty re-
spected that sustenance which is the staff of life, and
also the preservation of their lives, it being neces-
sary that they should come out alive from among the
many impending rocks, the bogs and mosses, in order
to be able to tell of the various wonders which they
saw among them, as well as of their own sorrows,
and the causes of them.
It was not known by them, at first, that by the
cabins of the inhabitants being covered only with
divots, that is, flags, consisting of the roots of grass
and heather, the rain would make its way through ,
them in stormy weather ; hence, the first morning
after the surveyors entered among those stupendous
mountains, on awaking they found their hands and
sleeves covered with black spots like ink; they
were frightened at the sight and considered it as a
prodigy of ill omen to them, like the storm of frogs
267
in Egypt; but still more when on turning their faces
to heaven to say their prayers as they laid in bed,
they soon found their mouths and eyes filled with a
black rain, which seemed to confirm to them that
they had got into the kingdom of the devil ; further
examination, however, of the room and canopy over
their heads, for ceiling it had none, at length calmed
their fears, but suggested the prudent step, however,
never afterwards to pray in bed with their mouths
open.
On viewing also the neighbouring apartments to
their bed room, they found themselves to be separat-
ed only by a broken partition of wicker work from
the habitation of the cows and other animals, who
now began to salute the rising sun with a variety of
pleasant noises ; the calves and cows lowed alter-
nately, the goats and sheep bleated, the pigs grunted,
and all the bed-fellows thus joined in a concert of
music, by which they proved themselves to be as
hungry as the travellers began now to be them-
selves; but on inquiring for the larder they found
it to be at the opposite end of the cabin, into which
none are admitted but the mistress herself; it is call-
ed Ben, the house, an abbreviation, I suppose, of
behind the house ; but I assure you it was not a
Cloacina, although containing a good collection of
nosegays; this is the store room for all the family;
here the good wife deposits all her dainties, her but-
ter and cheese, milk and whey, barley bannocks,
goat-hams, and also near the sea haddocks dried in
the sun over the steam of a dunghill to give them a
relish, which the storeroom itself does not diminish.
Here also are deposited all her own trinkets of orna-
268
ment, together with the dirty linen'of the family, her
own tattered petticoats, and her husband's best
trowsers and breeches, when he has any. This is,
in fine, the sanctum sanctorum of the family, which
the good wife guarded with a jenlous eye from the
soldiers, who accompanied the surveyors, as Cerbe-
rus watched the banks of the river Styx : but it was
soon found, however, that a few halfpence would
turn the key of the store-room, just as a good sop is
said to stop easily that hell-dog's barking ; and thus,
when the husband was absent, a bason of milk might
be obtained, if wanted, by such gentle insinuations.
These, however, were only the unlicensed fees of
office, and such as are not disdained by the chief
butlers and bakers of Pharaoh in his more exten-
sive government. Yet, in truth, if not urged by ne-
cessity in a very hot day, one ought to be rather
paid for drinking the milk, than to buy it, as it had
always swimming on the surface a plentiful crop of
blacks from the smoky roof, together with straws and
hairs, some from the cows and others from the maids,
as they often were forced to scratch their heads
over the milk pail for want of combs, and there
was generally urgent necessity for such scratch-
ings.
Time and thirst, however, soon brought their sto-
machs to, and the soldiers were ingenious in dis-
covering a method to prevent this dirty mess from
descending into their throats, which was by dipping
the upper lip and nose very deep into the dish of
milk, after wiping their own nose, and those of their
companions, and thus they inhaled the liquid only
£rom below: by this means the above delicacies
269
floating on the surface were stopped in their pro-
gress by gathering round about the nose, where they
formed a circle of various colours like a halo about
the moon. Goat's milk, however, has a very rank
taste, as well as strong smell ; especially as from
the necessary method of milking the goats from be-
hind, some additions are often made to the liquor,
while the milk maid holds up the goat's tail in
her mouth ; but hungry dogs eat dirty pudding.
The payments made for these regales were al-
ways seen to be put into a privy purse tied close
under her petticoat before, as is the purse of the men
likewise ; and untutored nature seems to have sug-
gested this cautious mode of keeping all privy and
precious articles close together; yet some of the
satirical soldiers said it was done in order to tell
them what more might be had for money. With these
fees of office the good wife buys a new broach to
keep her plaid together, or to pay for a jug of
whiskey, when some of her old cronies in the neigh-
bourhood come to visit her, for although the men
will sit in a circle for hours together talking of news,
drinking whiskey out of a horn cup, and treating one
another with snuff out of a ram's horn, yet they
judge that spring water is the best liquor for wo-
men to keep them cool and chaste. As the pin-
money thus obtained for the wife's own use was pro-
fitable and conducive to her private views, so it was
still more eminently useful and refreshing to those
weary travellers in a sultry day, who otherwise
could procure nothing else to drink than spring
water along with the women, (as whiskey burnt their
mouths and increased their thirst :) but the grant of
270
a bason of milk was too often confined to the sur-
veyors alone as an honorary present, and a child was
generally sent with the soldiers to shew them the
best spring, accompanied with the loan of a dirty
can. They, however, preferred another method,
which the examples of the natives had taught them,
and which was to lie down flat on their bellies and
suck up the element with their mouths quite fresh as
it issued from the earth, and just as cows and horses
drink. It must, in truth, be allowed, that spring
water so drank is super excellent ; and, indeed,
the only good thing in the country, except in salmon
season ; it is also as plentiful as excellent ; so that
1 believe it to be habit alone which makes men pay
high for wine and strong liquors, or else from their
having never tasted the luxury of such spring water
in a hot day, just as many never saw the natural
beauty of a rising sun.
As to provisions they never could discover there
any eatable which engaged their affection so much
as the above liquid element. The venison is of
the red-deer kind, and both strong and seldom to be
obtained ,• the roebucks as seldom, they being very
shy and quick-sighted, so as not easily shot, except
at the edges of woods in an evening, when they
come out of cover to feed, but as quickly run in
again : hence the soldiers used to ask, when any of
their companions were absent late at night, whether
they had been to shoot a roebuck or a highland lass,
as both of them always hastily ran to the cover in an
evening when pursued, they being as shy as the roe-
bucks by day light.
The chief food consisted eternally of capper, cap-
271
per, capper, that is, of thin oat biscuit, which stuck
in their throats even with cheese and butter ; and
yet the natives as familiarly invite a friend to come
and eat a capper with them, or to take an egg, as in
England to eat a piece of mutton with them. As
the Scotch are all said to be lamed, this seems one
proof of it, for the least instructed of the natives
could inform them that capper was a Latin word
preserved in the highlands ever since the time of the
Romans from Caper a he-goat; and, indeed, one
should think there was some truth in this, as it is
not to be found in Shaw's Gaelic Dictionary, nor yet
in Lhuyd's Irish Dictionary ; but it was not clearly
comprehended how a he-goat produces cheese and
butter, yet, possibly, the Commissioners may be able
to give as good an account of this as of the magnetic
meridian.
Sometimes, however, the natives offered the variety
of another dish, which they called sowim ; this is a
brown jelly made by steeping bran in water until it
turns sour, and is then eaten with a little milk,
which was only a change from rank to sour ; they,
therefore, preferred goat-cheese, though full of hairs,
and not a little strong; whether these were the
hairs of that animal, or some of Pope's hairs left in
sight, they did not examine, from their length or
coarseness : but as the foxes and hares of that coun-
try have very thick coats of hair given by nature to
preserve them in the severity of winter, so it was ob-
served that the milkmaids had very long and thick
brushes on their heads, intended, doubtless, by na-
ture to preserve their constitutional warmth in a cold
272
climate : it is no wonder then that these were pro-
fusely scattered into every thing.
Once, however, they had another variety offered
to thera ; for one morning a man came almost out of
breath to say that they might now be able to purchase
some fresh meat, for he had observed that the gen-
tlemen travellers bought old stale eggs, old dried fish,
old hens, and old women, for want of younger
things, but he could now procure them something
quite young — " JVelly friendy xehut is it /" " Why,
a young calf." How old is it ? " Oh, not above a
day old, and I din'ney ken whether it was born
alive." " Oo't away, oo't a\<^ay, maun," says their
Highland guide (who always made himself inter-
preter also) ^' the maun means, gen)'men, a slinked
calf, and in gude troth it be unky gude ating, if well
dressed, in its own waters."
The experiment, however, was not tried ; and
some better hope was excited on being told, that at
the houses in view was a public house, which they
call a change-house y in expectation of obtaining a
little beer ; but that name is given very improperly,
for they found there no change at all, no beer, and
nothing but whiskey and capper, capper, was sold
there, which might, indeed, be changed for their
money. The good wife, however, told them kindly
that if they would stay all night she would brew
them some beer in her iron kettle : but the weather
was fine and could not be lost ; for never was the
proverb more true than there, that hay must be made
while the sun shines; since fi'equently afler a fine
morning the white clouds might be seen skimming
klon^ the sides of the distant mountain!^, and wtiell
they came nigh, most certainly delus^ed the whole
valley with a flood ; their chief rains being in th6
middle of summer, which helped, indeed, to cOol
the air, but impeded the surveying operations, and
too often caught them, where they could obtain
no other shelter than a rock or a shattered pin6
tree.
The common sign for a change-house, is every-
where alike ; no change iii that any more than in
capper, and consists of only an old broom stuck
tipon a broomstick, and fixed iip at one end of tb6
house until the wind blows it down. The cabiii
itself is always also of the same construction as the
others, the walls being only stones piled upon on6
another without any cement, so that the wind blows
through every hole between them ; for which reason
and many others which were both felt, smelt, and
seen, the surveying parties preferred their tents,
which they always carried with them, and pitched
on some dry spot of grass at night ; except when th6
wind was high, which generally rushed with such
violence through narrow vallies, as soon to overset
those temporary towers of Babel, and leave them
exposed naked at midnight to the wind and rain, and
the weather was always very changeable and de-
ceitful. In these cases they were forced to tak6
shelter, if it may be so called, in the neighbouring
cabins, or become friendly associates to their cattl6
till the storm was over ; but on the west coast it
often rains every day for two months together, in
the middle of summer, attended with storms of
tvind.
TOL. IX. T
97i
These misfortunes, however, gave an opportunity
of seeing the decorations of those cabins within, the
fire of which is in the middle with a small hole at top,
for such smoke to escape as dues not come out at
the low door, afler taking a whirl quite round the
house; but there was little room found for wet
strangers to drjr themselves, and as little fire, the
family sitting 'close round it, like so many cats on
their bums : sometimes, indeed, a stone of honour
was kept in the cabin for the master of it, or to be
offered to strangers to sit on, as a hospitable kind of
grm chair, and afterwards to serve for their pillow
at night. The darkness of night, however, and the
artificial darkness caui^ed by the smoke, the inge-
nuity of the natives have found out a method to
illume, in some degree, by means of natural candles,
which ever since the time of the Romans have laid
hid in their peat-mosses ; for their woods being then
burnt down, the pine trees have ever since laid at
length immersed in those mosses, and are sow be-
come so much like touch-wood, that by shivering off
slices of them they serve in the place of candles,
with the assistance of one of the children, who take
it in turns to be candlesticks : for by holding a shiver
ofthat fir wood in each hand, and lighting at th.e
fire the opposite ends, they raise a blaze; which is
constantly kept up by the child's breaking off the
little burnt ends, by rubbing one end against the
other, and thus renewing the blaze.
The operation of making oat cakes for capper
was also found to be by flattening the dough with
the hands into round and thin cakes like pan-cakes,
and then drying them over the fire in a thin plate
m
6f iron, called the girdle. After having fhe first
time seen this operation, a soldier was always placed
sentry for the future over the maid, who made the
cakes, in order to discover whether she had not got
the itch between her fingers. Sometimes, indeed,
the soldiers were able to buy a half starved sheep^
for which they paid three or four shillings, and di-
Tided it among them to be broiled over their next
fire ; but the sheep are so starved in winter that no
good mutton is to be had until near Michaelmas j
and this was the only flesh meat that was ever tasted
for six months together, unless when the surveyors
could buy an old hen, or were invited to some Laird's
house to partake of a roast fowl.
It is certain, however, that notwithstanding all
these privations the parties did return after many
hair-breadth escapes, without the loss either of lives
or limbs, but as certainly they did only just live and
vegetate. With respect to sleep, indeed, they fared
better ; for fatigue always brought on balmy sleep
and pleasant dreams, and although not on soft beds
of down, yet at least on sweet ones, when they slept
in their tents ; for they soon learnt from the natives
the luxury of sleeping there on beds made of
heather, rather than the beds at the change-houses,
to be scarified in the morning with fleas and lice,
unless when forced into those hovels by storms of
wind and rain : oh, the sweet beds of flowery
heather, which never obstructed that restorer of the
human frame, balmy sleep, and the oblivion of all
former sorrows and fatigues ! It was able even to
say peace to the cravings of a hungry stomach until
t2
f76
the morning came, and tapper came again ! Except
that blessing of sound sleep at night, they tasted of
no other in the day time, unless the tea and sugar
which they carried always along with them, and
which the pure spring water heightened into a
luxury. These were the two panaceas, which made
them forget both past calamities and present ail-
ments ; for in hot weather tea kept until cold was
the best and only draught, which they could depend
upon obtaining to allay their thirst, and which they
always carried in a bottle, as others do cordials ; and
after their being wet, if it was made hot again it be-
came a sovereign preventive of colds.
But there is great dexterity, however, required in
making up beds of heather, which deserves a patent
more than any medical nostrums, and which consists
in keeping all the small flowery ends upon the top
of the bed, and squeezing down the coarser and
harsher ends into the bottom; and such were the
only luxuries enjoyed by the surveyors ! And now
ye dainty epicures of London, travelled coxcombs,
haranguing over French dishes, ye chairmen of
city feasts and corporation dinners, with napkins
tucked under your chins, who search the East and
West Indies for poignant sauces to give relish to
your languid stomachs, oppressed with fulness and
heavy port- wine ; who send to the ends of the world
for tasteless turtle, and pretend ecstatic joy at the
sight of domestic cod if crimpt alive, or lobsters
roasted at a slow fire, until they shriek out in vain
for pity from man ; if ye did but know the luxury
of a draught of fresh spring water after the &tigue:
277
of a long walk, in a hot daj, over sharp rocks, or
mosses, which shake under one, with wet and sore
feet from morning to night, one's face either scorched
with the sun or else drizzled over with a soaking
mist ; if ye did but know how sweet is repose of
body on a knoll of grass, all stretched at ease
beside a bubbling spring of cooling refreshment,
under the shade of an old weather-beaterf tattered
pine tree, which has braved many a storm in order
now to afford cover from the sultry suh, then
would ye know the great difference between the
natural enjoyments of human life, and the pre-
tended artificial ones of senses benumbed by pleni-
tude, between the real substance and the mere name
of pleasure !
Sometimes, however, the surveying parties came
to little nests of buildings which they call towns,
three or four of which are forced to club together to
send one member to Parliament, just as nine tailors
make a man. Here they expected to find more
comfortable change-houses, but still scarce any
change at all for the better ; their motto is every
where semper idem; for although in some things
they were, indeed, varied, yet no effectual change ;
even the tents and beds of heather we still regretted
to preserve one from the fairies ; the dishes of pro-
vision, however, were a little different, though still
no flesh meat but starved mutton. One dish offered
up was called a haggis, being a kind of thin pud-
ding put into the guts of animals, and much of the
same colour and smell as the original contents.
Another was black sheep's-head broth ; not that the
978
sheep there have naturally black faces like 'the
Norfolk sheep, but they are sent to the blacksmith's
shop to have the hair singed ofT with hot irons,
fvhich renders them black, and hence the broth has
the taste of singed hair, or burnt woollen cloth,
^hich is considered there as a haut-guut. Another
dish was frightened chicken broth. A great alarm
was one« day caused at hearing all the landlord's
yard in an uproar, master and mistress, men, maids,
and children, running about helter skelter, the bens
screaming, ducks quacking, dogs barking, raea
hallooing, maids squeaking, children clapping their
hands like mad devils ; at first it was thought that
the house was on fire or hell broke loose, but it
soon appeared that they were only in chase of aa
old hen, whose screams prociuimed her capture, and
po the chase ended. She was soon cut into small
pieces^ and boiled with Scotch barley, and some
eggs broken into the liquor with chopped kale, a kind
of sprout, and thus broih made of the whole. It wag
said that the chase would help to make the hen eat
tender, just as in England they bait bulls for the
same purpose ; but it was with difficulty that the
flesh of the old yellow dame could be picked tirovi
the boqes, and tliis they call chicken broth.
TI^ principal change tbund in these towns was ii)
the signs of the change-houses ; for, instead of aa
old broomstick, the whole side of a house was here
tiransformed into a sign, being painted oyer with
diverse devises symbolic of meat and drink. On
one place was painted a Jarge bottle with the beer
st^uirting; put hig^h, mi »^f^ formiiig » wQiistjrous
arch, like a rainbow, it fell into a drinking^ glass
placed to receive it ; in another part was a large
black kettle with a piece of beef sticking out of the
top of it, &c.
It must be confessed that these signs were mort
appropriate than a broomstick, the rooms beings
never swept ; and the only thing blameable was to
fimd that Puff has his houses there as well as iri
London ; for on being invited in by the sight of
boiling beef, nothing was found within but still
capper, capper, and the beer was also as small and
vapid as the sign was large and witty — nothing but
capper and small beer being to be procured there.
No company was found in the house except that im-
pudent fellow Puff, who was just arrived from Lon-
don in his post chaise and four, and had seated him-
self by the kitchen fire in his arm chair, smoking
his pipe, and giggling at the travellers being so
nicely taken in by his stratagems : as they went
away, vexed at the disappointment. Puff cried, in an
upbraiding tone, " that he thought Englishmeil
knew better than to expect more except just to see
boiled beef h^re, without tasting it ; foi' they eat so
much of it in England that none was to be had any
where else in Europe" — the apology was not m<>re'
agreeable than the disappointment.
They were entertained however, here, by the ap-
proach of a public crier of lost goods : his first cry
was " I let ye to wit, that there was tint yestreen a
twa year old shealtrie," and so on, describing the
itaEli'ks. His next cry was " I let ye to wit, that
there was tint yestreen a wee bit she beamie ; gft^
280
had on a blue coat, and under her small mutch were
to be seen a few red hairs between her twa lugs."
It W98 wished to have this cry interpreted, but the^
were afraid to ask the landlady, lest it should put
|ier to the blush ; but the highland guide coming
past at that instant, it was found that a mutch meant
pothing but a cap on her head, with a few red hairs
ynder it between her ears. Here also they met with
a novel kind of ferry boat, which entertained them
much ; there bejiig an adjacent river, without any
bridge, the highland girls hire themselves out to
carry passengers over on their backs when the water
is high, After having made your bargain you get
up with your arms round her neck ; she then very
dexterously pulls up her coats, which she tucks up
In a huge bundle before her, and without any fear
of the open air, wind, or water, trots cross the
stream with a staff in one hand whjle the other
stands guard over her bundle before ; sq that if the
}oad on her shoulders should extend his haqi)
(which is against the law of the land) the protu-
berance before is so large that he could not reach
))eyond that bundle. Necessity is said to be the
inother of invention, and has here found out un*
thought-pf advantage in the dress of women abov9
that of men, as by the above natural method pur*
Qued nothing is wetted which is the worse for being
i^^hed, for shoes and stockings they never wear ;
^xpept, indeed, when they go to kirk on a Sunday,
And then they are parried in the hands until near the
)(irkf wherp they sit dowp on a knoU of grass aii4
put PA tt^ir sandals, tp which place they agt^in jo^
281
pair after kirk to pull them off, and go home bare-
foot. The surveying parties were once invited to
a wedding and dance, and the same mode was prac-
tised there also ; for after the dance was over, each
partner attended his lass to the nearest green spot,
and helped her to pull off her shoes and stockings
before she returned home. If such frugal ways were
observed in England so many men would not be
ruined by their wives' extravagance ; and if Puff
had not writ about what he did not understand, I
should have never made known these good examples
set by the daughters of Eve in the north.
P.S. I have since found that Shaw, in his Gaelic
Dictionary, does mention capper, but he spells it
Ceapaire ; and as his next word is Ceapairaniy to
spread upon, or daub, he seems to conceive this
latter verb to have given origin to Ceapaire, a piece
of bread and butter. So that the /arwec? derivation
of it from the Latin Caper, a he-goat, can be only
one of Puff's inventions, with which he first puffed
up the Scotch, and then imposed upon the English
traveller, as if it had been derived from Latin 2000
years ago.
Fact and Hunger against Puff and
hvxvRY.
289
Art. DCCXCVI. On Vaccination,
to the editor of censura literaria.
Sir,
The subject of vaccination being now under con*
sideration in Parliament, and it being the opinion
there, that it was very expedient to collect together
all facts relative to the certainty of its security
against the small-pox, I will mention one fact, which
in part came under my own knowledge, but which
has never yet been mentioned by any writer on the
subject, and which is, that it seems expedient to in-
quire, whether if a person be inoculated with the
small pox after the cow pock had taken effect, the
inoculated arm may not nevertheless be so much
affected with the small-pox as to communicate it to
others, although no fever or eruption affected the
rest of the body. A case happened to a husband-
man last summer, which seems to render this
doubtful. A fdrmer had a child inoculated with
the cow pock a twelvemonth before very success-
fully, but the small pox being last summer much in
a neighbouring village, to which he often sent his
servants, he got Ins child inoculated with the small
pox, lest his servants should bring the infection
home in their clothes, and for greater security to
his child, but did not confine the child within doors;
a small inflammation took place round the incision,
and he went into the barn as usual, where a youngs
man was threshing, who took hold of the inoculated
band, as frequently before; and within ten days
28S
after was taken with small pox and died. He bad
been very careful to avoid any of the servants, who
went near the infected village, and was himself per-
suaded that he caught it of the child. Now the
child's arm afterwards grew worse, and so stiff, that
he could scarcely lift it to his mouth ; so that they
sent for a physician, who thought the inflammation
would go away, but could find no signs, that the
body had been any way affected with eruptions. I
saw the arm soon after the young man was taken ill,
and there were then yellow protuberances all round
the place of incision, as if they were filled with the
matter of small pox pimples when at the height be-
fore they flatten ; in time they dispersed but then
looked very angry like whitlows on fingers just
before they break. Is it not then possible, that al-
though the cow pock had prevented fever and erup-
tions on the body, yet that the small pox might have
a partial and local effect upon the arm and place of
incision ; sufiicient to raise contagion enough to
communicate the small pox by contact to another
person ? If it be possible, this ought to be generally
known and guarded against, when a person is ino-
culated with small pox afier cow pock. May we
not also hence infer, when a person is susceptible
of the small pox afterwards, it arises from the cow
pock before having had a similar partial effect on
the arm only, like the small pox in the above case,
without sufliciently affecting the whole body ? Those
then only ought perhaps to think themselves safe by
the cow pock, who find themselves made ill for a
day or two,
S.
284
Abt. DCC;XCVII. On a passage in Galatinus De
Arcanis Cutholicce Veritatis.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSUBA LITBRARIA.
SIR,
Your correspondent P. M. is informed, that I
cannot find the passage, concerning which he makes
inquiry in Raymond Martin's Pugio Fidei; but ia
Galatinus de arcanis CatholiccB veritatis it occurs in
his book, 1st. cap. 3, the title to which is as follows,
'' De authenticis Judaeorum scriptoribus, qui Christi
antecesserunt adventum, ex quorum potissimum
scriptis compactus est Talmud." In the middle of
which chapter is the following passage : " Rabbenu
Haccados librum scripsit, quern Gale razeya i. e. rc-
velatorem secretorutn nuncupavit, qui certe non ab re
Doctor sanctus est, cum spiritu sancto afflatus, ita
plane eo in libro cuncta Domini nostri Jesu Christi
mjsteria aperuerit, ut non futura prasdixisse sed res
gestas tanquam Evangelista narrasse, videatur.
Quern paulo post Rabbi Nehumias Haccanae filius
secutus, non ea tantum quae a prophetis de Messia
occult^ tradita fuerant,lympidi6sime patefecit, verum
etiam se ab ejus adventu per quinquagenta tantum
annos procul esse asseruit. Unde Haccanae filio suo,
quem Messiam ipsum visum visurum et sperabat et
gaudebat, ut eum de Messiae rojsteriis certiorem
faceret, epistolam scripsit, quam Iggereth hassodoth
i. e. epistolam secretorum appellari voluit. Per
idem fere tempus (anno ante Christi natalem circiter
secundo et quadragesimo) Jonathas Usielis filiui
totum vetus testamentum in Chaldaeam vertit lin^
m
quam.'* The book is in dialogue between Capnio
and Galatinus ; these words are by the latter ; Cap-
nio makes a short answer and objection relative to
the Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan, but says not a
syllable on the subject of the prediction. However
Galatinus resumes it in his subsequent ch. iv. in the
following words. " In actibus apostolicis scribitur,
Maxima parssacerdotumobtemperabatjidei; et ho-
rum nonnulli multa de Christo mirandascripserunt;
quorum opuscula aliqua adhuc exstant apud Judaeos,
quamvis ea ne ad manus nostras perveniant, pro
viribus occulere nitantur : et inter ccetera sunt ea,
quae literis mandavit Rabbi ille Haccanas NehumiaB
iilius, qui cum omnia Redemptoris nostri gesta et
iniracula prout oculis viderat, scripsisset, sic denique
dixit. Ego Haccanas sum unus ex illis, qui credunt
in eum, et ablui me aquis Sanctis^ in ejusque viis rectis
incedo ; to which translation he prefixes the original
Hebrew words of Haccanas.
Now the words ad manus nostras and inter ccetera
seem to render it doubtful, that although he quotes
the Hebrew words themselves, yet that he had never
himself seen the written opusculum of Haccanas the
son, but set them down from the report only of
others : and the words opuscula aliqua may be
equally thought to imply, that likewise he had never
seen the epistle of Nehumiah, called epistola secre-
torum in the preceding chapter ; at least in neither
chapter does he affirm, that he had seen and read
either of them. This doubt is strengthened by,
Capnio in his answers not taking the least notice of
such a remarkable prediction and information by the
father and son : whereas in his answer to another
286
article there Capnio thus clearly expresses himself
as having^ read concerning th«* Talmud " Es,o verd
in Jlebrakis reperi Uteris, Talmud a pluribus doc-
toribus fui85»e coUectum." Moreover, in ch. 6 and
7 when he quotes any sentence in Hebrew, he ex-
pressly adds the chapters and book, in which it is to
be found, not only with respect to Hosea, Ezekiel,
and Genesis but also in the book Zonr, and the ex-
press title of the chapter Sala in the Talmud, whence
he quotes a passage against the purity of Jesus
Christ ; yet omits all such minute references in the
abovementioned remarkable testimonies in bis fa-
vour, which indicate again that he wrote these rather
from hearsay.
In the same 4th chapter he peremptorily affirms,
that the book of Wisdom was writ by Philo, and the
12th and 13th verses of ch 2 were meant of Christ
in particular, he being there called dog Otou, the Son
of God, an interpretation exploded even in the
English translation ; and he adds, " In sequentibus
capitibus multa de martyrum victoria et ecclesiae
Christi statu deque universali Judicio praedicit."
Here he just as readily makes Philo a prophet as he
did Nehumiah in the preceding chapter ; and ex-
pressly affirms, that the Nicene council received the
book tanquam sancti spiritus dictamine scriptum ; yet
afterwards he owns it to be doubtful whether Philo
was actually a Christian. I think that the prediction
deserves but little credit.
S.
287
Art. DCCXCVIII. Defence of Grotius.
TO THE EDITOR O P CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR,
I AM sorry to differ from P. M. * in regard to Gro-
tius, to whom 1 think he has not done justice ; for
as to his commentary on the Old Testament, it must
surely be acceptable to readers to be informed what
the real facts were, literally, which are denoted by
any sentences there, as well as what the secondary
senses of them are, which either have, or may be
<^D8idered as prophetic and typically descriptive of
the Messiah or any circum^itances relative to his ad-
vent: in truth, without knowing precisely what the
types were themselves, we cannot well judge what
things or acts can or cannot with propriety be typi-
fied by them. Grotius then ought rather to be
commended than condemned for having been the
first commentator who had attentively applied him-
self to point out those literal senses ; while all
others before had confined themselves too much to
the typical senses only, or the spiritual ones, as the
French call them, which may be considered as de»
scriptive of something relative to the Messiah.
The Jews themselves had committed the same
fault before, by dwelling too much in their com-
mentaries on those senses of passages in the Bible,
which they thought applicable tp the Messiah, or
which they rather distorted from their real meaning
in order to force them to become types of the Mes-
siah ; their constant practice indeed was to ransack
every corner of their scriptures for such forced
* See No. XXXVI. of the Ruminato rin Vol. Vlll.
288
senses, and to find as many of them in the pastoral
of Solomon as in the predictions of their prophets;
a huge collection of which may be found in the de-
fence of Christianity by Raymond Martyn, and are
there urged by him as evidence, that the Jews them-
selves after Christ as well as before had interpreted
these passages predictive of the Messiah in the same
senses as they have been since applied by Christians
to Jesus Christ : but they had entirely omitted the
strict grammatical meaning of those passages, and
what actions or objects the sacred authors themselves
intended primarily to describe by their own words,
according to the most critical and judicious senses,
which the subject before them and the context might
naturally lead a reader to conceive.
In this the Jews were too readily followed by the
first Christian commentators, and it was high time
for Grotius to alter this mode of wild criticism on
the Bible; which he performed with great credit to
his learning as well as Christian belief; yet that he
sometimes fell into errors is indeed true, and what
author is without them ? But that he said some-
times so little about the typical senses relative to
Christ was owing to the abovementioned object of
discovering the literal ones being chiefly in his view ;
and it cannot be candidly concluded that he thought
the worse of those others, but only that he confined
himself to his principal subject, as the others were
well known before ; and he did not propose that his
commentary should include ecery thing which might
be wanted for the information of others, but only
that in which others had before been conspicuously
deficient. By such an accusation even Lederc also.
289 '
whose commentary proposed to be moi'e cotfiprcken-
sive^ might be equally condemned ; for we might
find there also x-xamples, as may be seen below
whereafter explaining the literal senses of passages,
he adds little more than those words which P. M.
objects to in Grotius, " Haj notae congruunt potius
in Christum."
It is natural enough for writers to be brief con-
cerning what is well known, after having been diffuse
concerning what is less known ; and there is no con-
tradiction in Grotius for saying that the fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah was congruous to Jesus Christ,
better than to Jeremiah or any other person, to
whom the Jews or himself, according to their inter-
pretation, had applied it before in the literal senses
so ascribed to it by them : in fact, it is only saying
the same as before " Hsec congruunt potius ad
Christum quam ad Jeremiam ;" for though it should
be ever so true, that the account there was actually
meant of Jeremiah, yet there are still many particu-
lars, though not all, concerning which that question
may be asked at this distance of time " Quis potest^
SfC." who is now able to say that these things agree
to Jeremiah ? But we are able to say that they are
congruous to Christ, as we have better information
concerning the events of his life. The accusation
then in this particular example does not appear to
me better founded, than the general objection of his
giving too much attention to the literal senses of
what occurs in the Old Testament, *' and rejecting
for the most part all typical and secondary ones."
But the objection to Grotius is still less solid,
" that he pays too great regard to Talmudic tablet)
VOL. IX. tr
290
nnd Talmudic interpretations," if we may judge by
those particular exam\Ae6, which the writer produces
as proofs of this defect. For, in regard to tlie pro-
phecy of Nehumiah, 1 have shewn, that Jenkins has
erroneously accused Grotius of deriving this from
the Talnnud, as P. M. himself suspected; and that
on the contrary it originated with Christians ; for
Galatinus copied it from a book pretended to be writ
by a Jew, but apparently a spurious work writ by a
Christian in the name of a Jew in order to give it
the greater credit, and impose upon other Christians,
extra muros peccatur et intra. If Grotius was here
deceived, he was deceived by a Christian fable, and
not by a Talmudic one.
Another particular example, which he produces,
is, " that it was obviously the view of the later Jews
to insert in their Talmuds such interpretations of
the scriptures as might justify their rejection of
Christ as the promised Messiah : for which reason
they appropriated many of the most striking pro-
phecies concerning Christ to particular persons in
Jewish history — in which unfair and erroneous me-
thod of interpreting prophecy Grotius generally
agrees with them — and misled in this manner he
applies the fifty-second and fifty- third chapters of
leaiah almost wholly to Jeremiah, and does not even
mention the name of Christ except once, when be
says " Hac congrxiunt potius in Christum." But is
not this once as good as a hundred times, since it
includes the whole of these prophecies and gives the
preference to this application of all of them to Christ
rather than to Jeremiah ? Has Leclerc done better ?
'In all his notes on the fifty-second chapter he laeo-
.Zf .JOV
tions only once that any part of it is applicable to
Christ, hutonce also he rejects a sentence as being
applicable at all to Christ, as some erroneously sup-
posed ; until he comes to the very last verse, and
then he only says more coldly than Grotius, " the
prophet here describes Christ more clearly than be-
fore," clarius quain in versu priori. And how does
he begin in his tifty-third chapter ? It is by telling
us " That the Messiah is described in this chapter,
yet still not without being covered under veils (noft
^ine involucris), so that what he says may agree in
some degree (aliquatenus) with any pious Jews — bijt
it squares n)uch more aptly and fully to the Mes-
siah," or as he afterwards expresses himself, more
aptly and elegantly. Here then Leclerc applies this
chapter just as much to pious Jews, as Grotius does
to Jeremiah, as being the primary senses of the con-
tents: but what nice critic can discover any such
^eat diflPerence between these two expositions of
Grotius and Leclerc in these two chapters, as that
the fornier should be accused " of haying done more
harm than good to the Christian religion ?" And
that powithstanding " his deservedly esteemed and
excellent book on the truth of the Christian rel^-
gion." Comparisons may be sometimes odious, bi|it
Crindour requires, that we should not condemn in
one man what is not judged condemnable in others,
and where there is scarcely any difference of imporjt-
ance in their conduct.
General accusations, not substantiated hyparticfi-
lar examples in proof of them, can be only refuted
by such a general vindication, as that I think thus,
whU,e yjpu think otherwise : and the only otHr par-
v2
29$
ticular example 1 can discover in the letter in ques-
tion relates to the mere name of Jeremiah. I have
shewn above, that althoHghGrotins alone is accused
of having been " misled by those Talmudic fables,"
yet in reality be differs from Leclerc and some other
Christians only in his applying mt/ servant to mean
Jeremiah in particular and expressly by name as
being one person living at the time of the captivity ;
while Leclerc applies it in a more general way to
several unnamed pious Jews living- at the same time ;
and I may now add that many Jews and Christians
likewise apply it only in a still more general way to
the whole people of the Jews before, at, and after that
captivity, as being the primary sense oXmy servant ;
which other Christians however judge to be appli-
cable immediately to Christ and to no other, without
having had any such primary allusion to any other
person or persons whatever at the time of the cap-
tivity. Therefore if it was this explication of my
servant^ by Grotius, as having had a prior or primary
application to some other person before Christ, on
account of which the writer says, that Grotius was
misled hy the Talmud, yet others are here again at
least equally accusable of the same fault, and also
before the time of Grotius as well as since : but if
the accusation respected merely the name of Jere-
miah, then it is certainly not true that Grotius could
have derived his explication by that wflwe from the
Talmud, for not a syllable of any such name as
Jeremiah is to be found so applied in the Talmud as
a primary sense. Neither is it more true that the
Talmud or Talmudic authors do ever give the
phrase my servant any primary sense whatever
293
either by the name Jeremiah^ or pious JewSy or any
other of any kind, but always uniformly explain it
as meaning immediately the Messiah, like many
Christians; and the same explanation is continued
there throughout the whole chapters fifty-two and
fifty-three, as meaning every where the Messiah only.
If then Grotius has any where been misled in his
explanations by the Talmud, yet it certainly is not
in this particular article about Jeremiah, which the
letter lays to his charge; and concerning which
he ought rather to have been reproved by the letter
writer for not having followed the exj^cations in the
Talmud.
Thus we find, that it is a very different thing to
make a loose general accusation, and to support it
by a particular example in proof. The real fact is,
that the explication ct^my servant, by Jeremiah, was
Jirst introduced by Saadias at the beginning of the
tenth century, 500 years after the compilation of the
Talmud; nor do I know that he was ever followed
in this explication by any other person, either Jew
or Christian, except Grotius : Grotius ought then
to have been blamed for deserting the Talmud and
Talmudic authors in order to adopt an erroneous
critical explanation by a learned Jew in modern
times; of which erroneous explanations there were
other examples by other learned Jews, and by which
Grotius might have been just as much misled from
the sense of m?/ servant in the Talmud, viz. Kimchi
and Abene^ra, both of whom explain mi/ servant to
mean often t\\e Jewish people in general, yet not
alwq?/s; and it appears from Origen against Celsus,
that some Jews had explained the phrase in the
294
same way ev6n before the Talmud ; and the same
sense has been adopted by some Christians likewise.
Thus everyway we find that with respect to this'
particular accusation concerning Jeremiah Grotius
stands quite clear of having been misled bi/ Talmudic
fables or explanations out of opposition to Christi-
anity, ftnd to have been misled merely by the critical
judgment of a learned Jew in modern times : and
this also in opposition to one other learned Jew^
Solomon Jarchi, who had on the contrary set Gro*
tlus the better example of follozcing the Talmud,
by interpreting, like that, mi/ servant to mean im-
mediately the Messiah and no other person, jUst aS
most Christians do at present. In this instance then
Crotius has not shewn any predilection for the Tal-
mud, but on the contrary deserted it, where he might
have better followed it safely.
But it may poscibly be still urged, that although
iSrotius did not here follow the Talmud, yet he is
equally blameable for following the interpretation of
Jews fn modem times, who adopted such literal
Senses out of opposition to Christiauit}'. But can
this be asserted with candour after my haying shewn
that the Christians, Leclerc, and others, allow these
two chapters to have a primary reference to certain
pious Jezcs at the time of the captivity and only a
secondurt/ one to the Messiah ? If it be once allowed
that those chapters have a primary reiierence to some
pther person than Christ, it seems to be a matter of
j)o importance to Christianity whether by that
primary person be meant certain pious Jews or the
^hole people of Jews , or any single person by nafnt
Whether Jeremiah, I^iab, or any other. SaadiaB
295
then or Abenezra can no more be thought to have
intended to oppose Christianity bj their own literal
interpretations than Leclerc, but to have been all
guided by their own grammatical and critical opi-
nions only of the real sense of those chapters, as
accordingly they all in their notes on it profess to be,
and Grotius also the same.
Now as a further confirmation that this only was
their real, though mistaken view, I may mention that
a similar instance has occurred even in the present
times concerning a very learned and esteemed an-
notator on the prophets, RostmuUer, who in 1793
published his translation and notes on Isaiah, and
who explains those two chapters as containing a
vindication of God and expostulation by Isaiah with
the Jews concerning God's providence in his deal«
ings with them relative to their captivity and re-
storation^, without having even any secondary refer-
ence whatever to the Messiah in general or Christ
in particular : so that my seroant is said by him to
mean either Isaiah himself or Jeremiah, or some
prophet or other, by whose mouth God would or
had declared his intentions to the Jews, sometime?
one prophet and sometimes another, yet chiefly
Isaiah himself. How little then did Grotius differ
from this late expositor in having substituted Jere-
miali as meaning my servant and prophet? It may
be almost said that Saadias prophesied of the inter-
pretation by Rosemuller; and as all those Jews
profess in their notes to be guided throughout by
their own conceptions of the meaning of the text,
it would be uncandid to suppose that they were
secretly influenced by enmity to Christianity any
290
Boore than Grotiusand RosemuUer, both professedly
Christians.
I will quote some part of what RosemuUer says
on this subject, and then others may judge whether
Grotius did not express his own construition of
those chapters sufficiently in saying Congruunt potiui
in Christum, i. e. primarily/ and solely ; while Le-
derc gives them only a secondary application to
Christ and primarily to certain pious Jews, and while
RosemuUer allows them no application to Christ
whatever ; more especially as it was a matter foreign
to the chief object in view by Grotius, which was to
investigate what certain passages of scripture might
mean, if literally explained according to the most
grammatical senses of the text, which others before
himself had explained onli/ agreeably to their own
conceptions of their typical or spiritual senses if
applied to Christ, and in senses different trom one
another. Now RosemuUer says, " Vix dici potest
quam inanem operam in hac Isaiae particuld navave-*
rint Christian! interpretes; vaticinationes de Ec-
elesiae ChristianaB fatis fero ubique in ilia expresses
fuisse plerique statuunt, horum igitur hariolationes
sine damno ignoj-abimus. Preef. Scholia in vetus
test. torn. Hi. sect. 3. Lips. 1793.
Accordingly, throughout all his subsequent notes
on the fifty-second and fifty-third chapter, he never
allows that any one sentence whatever has even a
secondary reference to Christ, but that all are solely
predictive by Isaiah of facts and circumstances con«
cerning the conduct of the Jews, and the propriety
of God's dealings with them in consequence of their
^ttire negleet of the denunciations against theip
297
misconduct which would be made by his prophets
Jeremiahattd others; so that m?/ servants, according
to him, always means either the Brst predictor Isa-
iah himself, or some Vdier prophet, Jeremiah, or some
other, who lived during the time of the captivity and
Tjoould repeat to the same purport as Isaiah 100 years
before. This explication of these two chapters he
supports still further as the right one in an Addita-
mentum at the end of his notes i'l Isaiah, which it
may be acceptable to your readers, if I transcribe
verbatim, since they may otherwise have no oppor-
tunity of knowing his opinions on this subject, and
at the same time of perceiving how far this last com-
mentator supports the interpretations of Saadias and,
Grotius.
" Magnus est interpretum dissensus, quisnam sit
Servus Jehovce, de quo hie multa prasclara in c. lii.
et liiir Sunt, qui Messiam a vate hie describi pu-
tant, idque maxime ob Matth. xii. IS — 21, ubi lo-
cus noster ad Jesum Messiam refertur. Sed constat
evangeliorum scriptores ex singular! quadam scripta
sacra interpretandi ratione, quse tunc inter Juda^os
recepta esset, multa prophetarum aliorumque scrip-
torum Hebraeorum locade il/ewminterpretatosesse,
quae e scriptorum consilio de aliis personis agerent,
Quare, ubi de sententia et scopo loci alicujus ex li-
bris Hebraeis questio agitur, novi testament! aucto-
ritas est nulla ; sed semper ex scriptoris Hebraei con-
texu sententiarumque serie sensus erit investigan-
dus. Atque nostrum quidem hie Messiae mentionem
fecere potuisse, qualem quidem fingere solerent illius
aBvi scriptores, nee vetat res ipsa, nee orationis nex-
ys; unde etiani nonnuUi ejc Hebraeis eruditi, veluti
208
Kimchius, qualuor comnKita priora de- Messia sunt
ioterprctati. Sed qimm in toto hoc libro Sertus
Jekovce semper sit vd propheta vel populus Israeli'
item, ut mox probabimus, nunquam Messias, et prae-
terea ver*;n8 septimus ilium Jehovae mwistrum, de
quo sub hnjus capitis initio, eandem libcrtatem ex
exilio annunciantem describit (vide meam interpre-
tationem) ilia sententia parum est probabilis. Sed
multo minus etiara vero est similis eorum sententia,
qui Cyrum hie intelligi volunt, de quo supra 41, 25.
Nam et hie nee unquam Jehovm minister appcUatur,
nee quo jure tam praeclara de ipso dici potuerint,
qualia legimus, facile patet. Sed quod rem plane
perficit, est caput 49, huic loco plane parallelum,
quod nemo facile ad Cyrum retulerit. Ac mihi qui-
dem non ita difficile intellectu videtur, quamnam
personam noster hie describat. Etenim cum miniS'
tri Jehovcp nomine nunc propheta appelletur (veluti
supra 20-3, infra 44, 26, et 50, 10) nunc jiopulus Is-
raeliticusj et is quidem ssepius in his capitibus, vid.
41,8—42,19—43, 10—44,1, 21—45,4—48, 20;
iis in locis, uhi ejus personae, qua; mitiistri Jehovce
appellatione indicatur, nomen non est adjectum, ex
contextu atque ex iis rebus quae de ilia persona di-
cuntur, quisnam sit intelligendus, debebit judicari.
Atque ilia quidem, quee hoc loco ministro il/i Jehoxas
tribuuntur, non populum Israeliticum sed prophetam
innui clard ostendunt. Primo enim nunquam po-
pulus Israeliticus afflaiu divino instinctus dicitur, sed
semper propheta, vid. 48, 16 — 69, 21 — 61, 1 : deinde
verba ver. 6, de propheta esse intelligenda, patet ex
49, 6, ubi confer notam. Denique versus noster sep-
timus sensu prorsus convenit cum cap. 61, 1, ubi
prophetAtn loqui, nemo negabit. PraBterea quam
bene omnia, quae hie legimus, prophetcs conveniant,
et. ipsa nostra intefpretatione, puto, patebit."
'* Sunt interpretes non minus docti quam acuti,
qai in priore parte cap. 49, Israelitarum piorum, sive
paucorum illorum, qui Jehovam colerent, caetum,
sub ministri divini persona inductum a poeta putent.
Quam sententiam quidera non paruin commendat
vers. 3, ex quo primo aspectu colligeres, populum
Israeliticum, ut saepe alias, ita hoc in loco vocari
ministrum Jehovce. Fateor me ipsum diu fluctuatum
iSsse inter illam interpretationem, et earn, quae de
Vate haec omnia dicta accipit. Re tamen diligen-
tius perpensa, cum omnera reliquam hanc orationem
multo facilius ad prophetam quam ad populum re*
ferri sentirem, versum ilium teriium aliter interpre-
tandum esse intellexi, quam primo obtutu accipien-
dus yidetur. Succurrit deinde dubitanti etiam hoc,
quod, qui de se ipso absolute in prima persona lo-
quitur, semper est horum Vaticiniorum auctor i. e.
Jehova, sive qui ab ipso suggesta enuntiat Fflfcs."
p. 96Q.
Now why should Saadias and Grotius be accused
of injury to Christianity more than Leclerc and
Roseraullei*, on account of all of them thus search-
ing out the primary and literal senses of the pro-
phetic ^^rds of Isaiah concerning the eonduct of
Jews afterwards, and the future admonitions to
them by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel relative
to the captivity and restoration from it, when even
Lowth, Bishop of London, found no objection against
explaining literaUt/ those words of chap. lii. 7, " How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
300
tliat bringetb good tidings — that saith unto Zion,
thy God reigueth; and as meaning the good news of
the deliverance from Babt/lonish captivity (vid. his
note 7) notwithstanding that he afterwards adds
" The ideas of Isaiah are in their full extent evan-
gelical also, and accordingly St. Paul has with the
utmost propriety applied this passage to the preach-
ing of the Christian gospel." Let us be uniform in
our Judgments of others, if we wish to be just and
candid and nothuraoursomein accusations.
I have only to add, that it may be proper to pro-
duce an example from the Talmud, that it actually
on the contrary explains these chapters of Isaiah as
meaning immediately the Messiah only without any
mention of Jeremiah or any literal and other pri-
mary interpretation whatever; and among several
others Raymund Martyn supplies me with the sub-
sequent one — " In ch. liii. 4, Ipse infirmitates noS'
tras accepitj <5fc. Judai haec de Messia explicunt in
glossa Talmudica tract. Sanhedrin cap. II. i. e.
Ipse etiam Messias plagis afficietur juxta illud
EsaiaB liii. 5. Ipse vulneratus est propter prccva-
ricationes nostras^ ^t. Etiam vers. 4. script um est,
vere infirmitates nostras ipse accepit, Sfc." p. 127.
The same explication is given also in their Chaldee
paraphrases, and in Talmudic authors, and in all
their allegorical or typical commentaries writ since
the Talmud ; nay, Jarchi adds in general by the Rab-
bins, for on £s. lii. 13, he says, magistri nostripicB
memoriaz affirmant hcec de Messia did. p. 429. Gro-
tius then did not follow Talmudic fables, but the
grammatical expositions of some modern critical
.tJ^WS since the revival of learning in the west, and
m
in contradiction to all former Jewish expositions in
the Talmud and elsewhere. S.
P. S. I am now still more convinced that Nehu-
miah's prophecy is not to be found in Raymund Mar-
tyn^s Pugeo Fidei any more than in the Talmud,
but that it originated with Galatinus, who seems to
have been misled by a spurious book writ by some
Christian in the name of a Jew, and and it is not
quite clear whether he had ever seen that book him-
self. For the Pugeo Fidei was writ and circulated
in MS. long before Galatinus published his own
book : now Mausacus in his Prolegomena to Pugeo
Fidei accuses Galatinus of having copied from it al-
most every article, on which dependence may be
placed as taken from genuine books of the Jews,
but that he had intermixed many other articles co-
pied by himself from spurious works, such as Mar-
tin had rejected : and among others that very book
Gale Razeia, which Galatinus quotes along with the
other opusculum containing Nehumiah's prophecy,
which is therefore equally liable to suspicion of being
spurious. The words of Mausacus are as follow—
" Galatinus ex Judceo Christianus, libros Arcanis
Catholics veritatis, Pugiene Jidei nondum edito,
publicare ausus est, ex quo quaecunque sunt bona;
notae in sua Arcana transfudit, suppress© Martini
nomine, nan paucis etiam duhice et inccrtce Jidei addi-
tis; ex.gr. Gale Raseiam Rabbini Haccalasch i. e.
revelans Arcana — soli Galatino valde familiare'm, et
credendum est firmiter spuriumeum esse et supposi-
tium; ex Buxtorfii Bibliolheca discamus de ejus fide
niultos semper dubitasse, et ulterius advcrtendum
502
est Judsis I'psis fuisse semper ignotunaet abils nullo
in pretio habituin, quaoivis non erubuerit Galatiuus
euni tribuere celebri illi apud liebraeos luagistro tra-
ditionum Haccadosch dicto; sed alii jam diu odoratt
sunt, magno illi Judaeorum doctori et infestissimo
Christianas religionis hobti non posse assignari opus
de uiysterio Triiiitutis ita distincte ut apud ipsum
Athanasium tractate, et nee solidius vel fidei nos-
tree convenicntius de eo aut de eucharistiae Sacra-
mento disseratur apud patres ante concilium Nice-
num ; quod non omiserc:: Casaubonus et Thomsonus
notare, quando Scaliger, per epistolas intei rogavit,
qui fieri potuit, ut magister ille, ob doctriiiam Rab-
benu Ilakkadoscli dictus a sua gente, egerit de tran-
substantionis similumque vocabulorum explicatione :
solus Galatinus ausus est interserere h(EC nauci et
plane ridicula inter innumeras alias, auctorita^es bo-
na} tidei a Martino nostro allatas."
The books mentioned b^ Galatinus immediately
after seem to be of the same kind, namely', the opus-
cula of Nebumiah and Placcanas, and as such to be
included among those opposed above by Mausacus
to the good authorities made use of by Raymond
Martin. - S.
NOTE BY THE EDITOR.
The very profound learnings and deep rejections
oj my most ingenious Correspondent S. to whom this
ZDork is so much indebted, are at all times entitled to
the highest consideration^ but I doubt zohether he has
not in the present case misunderstood the assertions of
P. M. who will probably in a future Number favour
303
me hy explaining his ideas more at large, which no
man can do with more candour, more integrity^ and a
purer love of truth.
Art. DCCXCI^. Further Remarks on the Merits
of Grotius.
TdTHE EDITOR ioF CENSDRA LITERARIA.
Sir,
I BEG leave to return my thanks to your respect-
able and learned correspondent S. for his obliging
and ready attention to ray request concerning the
passage in Galatinus. It seems to me strongly to
confirm the opinion which 1 hazarded of Grotius,
with regard to his merit as a theological writer.
He ought not to have mentioned so doubtful a cir-
cumstance as an undeniable fact ; and if he chose to
mention it at all, he should at least have quoted his
authority for it. Both Bayle and Moreri say that
Galatinus took the whole substance of his work
from Porchet, without any acknowledgment of it,
as Porchet himself had done confessedly from R.
•Martini's Pugio Fidei. This last work, written in
the 13th century, was republished in the 17th.
Which of these editions your correspondent has
examined he does not say ; but it seems probable
that the foundation of the story is to be met with
somewhere in the first. 1 entirely agree with S.
that Galatinus had never seen the opusculum to
which he refers, though he speaks of it purposely in
ambiguous terms, and that the story itself therefore
stands on a very slight foundatipu. Happily the
304
christian religion needs not such support ; and it
has received more injury from injudicious defenders
than from open enemies Neither of the 'i almuds
can be considered us any authority : they were
compiled from traditions of which no other vestiges
are extant ; nor is it at all probable that any other
antient opuscula are now in the hands of the Jews.
For the Talmuds were a receptacle for every sort
of tradition, however absurd, and however contra-
dictory ; * and Galutinus has been justly censured
for paying too much attention to the Talniudic
trifling.t
As to Philo, he is not singular in supposing him
to have been the author of the Book of Wisdom, for
Jerome mentions this to have been the opinion of
some of the ancients. The Council of Trent, in
conformity with some of the more ancient councils,
considers this book as canonical, and it is so re-
ceived at present in the Roman Catholic Church.
Accordingly, in Duhamell's edition of the Vulgate,
this passage, ch. 11, 12, and \3^ is applied to Christ.
** Quae sequuntur, apertam de Christi passione con-
tinent prophetiam." I know not what to make of
utor dfs ; in Grabe's and the Vatican Septuagint it
* As a proof of this, the great Rabbi Hillel affirmed, that King
Hezekiah was the expected Messiah ; which was very properly con-
tradicted by R. Joseph, because Hezekiah lived under the first
temple, and Zecbariab prophesied of the Messiah under the second
temple. R- Hillel ait: non dabitur Israeli Messias. Jam enim
compotiti illi sunt vivente Ezcchia. R. Joseph condonat ipsi do-
mino ipsius. Ezechias quando vixit? Stante tempio primo. At
Zecharias vaticinatus est sub tempio secundo : £xuUa valde, iix,
Zecb. ix. 9. Talmud Sanbedrin, xi. 36.
f Ntmio studio Talmudi.arum nugarum. Rainoldus apad Coch.
Sanbed. xi. 37. in notis.
305
is irctiSoi Kiij5i8 ; with which our present translation
a^ees. But in the old version it is rendered God's
son. Grotius gives a decided opinion concerning
this Book of Wisdom, and as usual without deigning
to produce any authority for it. He affirms that it
was written by a 3^w^ after the time of Ezra, but
before that of Simeon the high priest, and translated
into Greek, with additions and alterations, by a
certain learned christian. It seems, however, to
be hardly doubtful, that both this work and Eccle-
siasticiis were written after the coming of Christ.
P.M.
Art. DCCC. Reply of the Defender of Grotius.
to the editor of censura literaria.
Sir,
It is a great obstruction to progress in literature,
that authors are often too negligent concerning the
minutiae of facts, for a contrary conduct would pre-
vent many erroneous conclusions deduced from
them : thus P. M. informs us ^' that both Bayle and
Moreri say, that Galatinus took the whole substance
of his work from Porchet, as Porchet himself had
done from Martini." * But this is impossible ; for
the book of Galatinus was published tive years be-
fore the book of Porchet, as appears from the prole-
gomena of Maussacus to Martini, where Porchet's
book is dated in 1530, but that of Galatinus as early
♦ P, M. ij not answerable for the errors of Baj;le or Moreri.
Editor.
VOL. IX. X
906
as 1516 for the first edition ; hut there was a second
at Frankfort in 1602, from which I have made the
quotations in my letter. Martini died about 1^4,
and his work was only read in MS. until 1651, whei}
it was first published at Paris from a copy found in
the library of Tholouse, and then almost unknown^
with notes by De Voisin : this gave Galatinus and
Porchet opportunity to pilfer from it without dis-
covery, until that first publication of it. P. M. erro-
neously then considers that first publication as a re-
publication, of which there was one indeed in 16S7
at Leipsic.
Now, it is from the first edition in 1651, that 1
have made my quotations, and I have not found
there the least good reason for bis supposing it *^ to
be probable that the foundation of t!ie story about
Nehumiah is to be met with in the first edition." *
On the contrary, neither the titles to the chapters,
nor the contents of them, so far as I have read them,
contain any thing relative to that subject; nor yet
the copious index, which has no references to any
other of the names than Haccadosch, and these only
in the notes of Devoisin, relative merely to the date
at which he might have compiled the Mishna: there
is also a list prefixed of all the authors quoted by
Martini, in which not even the name of Haccadosch
appears. But although Galatinus did not copy
from Porchet, yet he certainly did from Martini ;
and in Collier's Hist. Diet, there is a truer account
of these facts under the word Rai/mund, than in the
* This followd from the credit given to Bayle aod Moreri.
Editor.
307
above one of Bayle, and taken from some of the
works of M. Simon, where much is rightly substi-
tuted for zo/iole ; as accordingly I have proved from
the prolegomena by Maussacus, that Galatinus in-
serted man?/ articles of his own from spurioua
books: now, that erroneous word whole seems to
be what has misled P. M. still to conceive that
something about Nehumiah is to be found in the
Jirst edition of Martini. As to the censure however
of Galatinus by Reinoldus concerning his nimio
studio Talmudicarum Jiugarum, it must be equally
applicable to all the three authors, if to any one ;
yet it is rather an unreasonable one, since it was the
very object of their books to prove, that the expli-
cations of the Jews themselves both in the Talmud
and elsewhere, applied all passages in scripture rela-
tive to the Messiah in the same manner as the Chris-
tians themselves ; and this first writ opportunely by
Martin at a time when the Jews in Spain, before
1284, possessed almost all the learning then current
in that nation, of which Martini was a native, viz.
in Catalonia, and they had converted also many
Christians to Judaism. «
With respect to Philo that some ancient Chris-
tians had supposed him author of the Book of
Wisdom, and some modern ones also, is indeed
true; but then they supposed also, that the pas-
sages in that book, which were thought to glance at
Christianity were writ historicall?/, by his being
himself converted to Christianity by St. Peter at
Rome, therefore after the passion of Christ, not
prophetically/. What P. M. quotes from Duhamel
of a prophetic nature relates merely to the passion
X 2
30§
of Christ himself; but I know of no author ancient
or modern, except Galatinus, who made Philo pro-
phecy also de Martyrum victoriis et ecclesicB Chrisli
stalUf or whoever before asserted that the Nicene
council* received the book ianquam sancti spiritus
dictamine scriptum, and not rather as an historic tes-
timony concerning Christianity, in case they did not
receive it as a mere Jewish book.
But however this might have been, yet at least it
appears from that diversity in the opinions of the
ancient Christians (if any of them did so anciently
suppose the twentieth verse to be a prophecy of the
death of Christ and not a relation of it) while some
of them thus conceived Philo to have writ before
the passion, and others made him not to become a
Christian author until his journey to Rome after it,
that neither of the opinions is entitled to much cre-
dibility. As little evidence also had Grotius to
affirm that it was interpolated after Christ, though
composed by a Jew before ; and just as little evi-
dence has P. M. to conceive that the whole of it
was writ after Christ: I find no satisfactory evi-
dence either way, therefore cannot but wonder at
the readiness with which such affirmations t are
made with so little evidence to support them, when
there is sufficient evidence throughout the whole,
that it was writ by a Jew, from the constant com-
ments upon early Jewish history, while nothing is
said but in one place, which can be strained into
any reference to Christ, viz. in the second chapter;
'^ But other councilii have. Editor.
f This is not an affirmation of P. M. but merely an inference.
Editor.
309
jet even this of such a general nature relative to
the unhappy fates which too often befall righteous
men, that it might just as well have been writ by
any rational heathen as by a Jew or Christian. It
is the mode of expression chiefly' which proves it to
come from the pen of a ^ew, by a righteous man
being called a child of the Lord, and a Son of God,
with other Jewish ideas ; but why should these
phrases be here strained into any reference to
Christ, when the same phrase is applied afterwards
to the whole Jewish nation ? In chap, xviii. 13, the
writer says, " that the Egyptians on finding their
first born children slain, acknowledged the Jewish
nation to be the Son of God,'^ u}[ji.oXoyn<rxv S"£ou vtop
Xocov nvoii. Tremellius rightly renders this in the
singular populum filium esse dei ; but the English is
in the plural, yet in the same sense, to be the sons of
God. Now how acts the vulgate? It omhs Jilium
altogether (populum dei se esse) and thus by substi-
tuting se for illos, it in fact makes the Egyptians
sons of God instead of the Jews. This was appa-
rently done, that Son of God before might be more
readily confined by readers to Christ.
Such are the arts of some translators and the
neglects of others in not adhering to the originals I
An error of the press made Jto; hov in ray letter in-
stead of u»o? •9-£oii, which plirase occurs in the eigh-
teenth verse, as 7ra»^« xu/jiou does in the thirteenth,
and both which Tremellius renders accurately.
Both of them also are quoted by Galatinus, but
here again we may observe an artifice in the vul-
gate ; for it renders both phrases by filium Deiy for
310
the same reason as before ; and honce it was, that
the old English translation ha? God's son, and I
suppose, in both verses, like the vulgate. The evi-
dence of these words having any reference to Christ
must have appeared very precarious to the trans-
lator, when such arts were thought requisite to
support that interpretation. I cannot believe, how-
ever, that the zeal of the first Christians was so cold,
or their judgment so little, as to write nineteen
chapters containing reflections altogether relative to
events in ancient Jewish history, in order to intro-
duce so early as in the second chapter a single verse,
in which the words Son of God occur, and which
may be applied to Christ, yet are applied in such a
levelling manner, that it makes every righteous man
just as much a Son of God as Christ himself. '^ If
the just man be the Son of God, he will help him,
and deliver him from his enemies." Now why
should not every just man be as well called a Son of
God^ as the whole Jewish nation ?
S.
P. S. The above verse was plainly imitated from
Psalm xxii. 8. " He trusted in God, that he would
deliver him, let him deliver him seeing he delighted
in him." HAirio-iv £7rt Kuptof pvcoic-^u ocxjtov oti QiXh
avTov. This was the very verse which the Phari-
sees applied to Christ at his crucifixion, " He
trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will
have him, for he said I am the Son of God UaroiS-iv
tvi rov d'fov ; fvcxo'^^u vvv ocvroVf n d'^Xci xvjov, &c."
Now it was this application to Christ of that verse,
mi
which probably first led the ancient Christians to
apply also to Christ the imitation of it in the Book
of Wisdom as abovementioned, and hence might
arise the supposition that Philo was instructed in
Christianity, or that he there predicted the passion
of Christ ; especially as the phrase Son of God was
found in Wisdom^ added to the words of the psalm ;
but no real Christian in that early age would have
ever voluntarily employed Son of God in such a fa-
miliar and disrespectful manner as to apply it to the
Jewish nation, who crucified Christ, as well as to
every righteous man without distinction. And that
the author himself, whoever he was, merely in-
tended to imitate the words of the psalm is con-
firmed not only by the sense, but also by his em-
ploying the very same word pvcnxi for will deliver :
there seems some room also for doubt, whether the
thought of the Pharisees, when they applied that
verse to Christ and joined to it the Son of God,
was not drawn from the same words in the
Book of Wisdom, rather than from the words of
Christ (who always called himself the Son of
Man) in order thus to make it the more applicable
to him ; and thus that this speech of those Pharisees
may possibly be thought to become some testimony
of the existence of the Book of Wisdom before
Christ.
S.
'■ a
31S
4rt. DCCCI. Supplement to some articles in the
letters on Simon^s coins.
to the editor of ceifsura literaria.
Sir,
I NOW find that the second torn, of Kircher's
CEdipus was published at Rome in 1653, but as the
transmission of books from foreign countries was not
then so quick as it has been since, it is still very pos-
sible that WaltOQ might know nothing of the con-
tents of that book when he published his own in
1657. I find however that the coins of Simon had
been made known to the public before the appear-
ance of Kircher s book hy a Jew of the name of
Moses Alaschar ; for that book of Alaschar is quoted
by Morinus in his tract de Samarit. pentat. p. 209,
which was published as early as 1631 : it docs not
however appear whether Alaschar had or not dis-
covered the name of Simon on them, but he had de-
ciphered the legend of liberation of Zion, yet this
alone was not sufficient to prove to Walton thatthey
were coined since the captivity.
All legends, which had been found on Jewish coins
before Alaschar, were only shekel of Israel or Jeru-
salem the holt/j and they were of the larger kinds
called shekels, which are now generally conceived
to be all of them forgeries by the Jews to impose on
Europeans, who were studious of Jewish antiqui-
ties : so that the too confident assertions of Scaliger,
Walton and Prideaux, were founded merely on error,
or at best on coins not so sufficiently authenticated
as those of Simon have been since.
Hence we see how very slowly truth comes tq
313
ilirlit : but for the examiner of Mr. Hurwitz to re-
main under such an old error, and make use of an
exploded argument after better evidence and more
certain and later facts have been laid before the pub-
lic, is less excusable. As to Prideaux it seems
scarcely possible, but that he must have known the
name of Simon to have been found on the only
Jewisli coins now esteemed genuine; since I have
pointed out so many authors by whom that name is
mentioned before 1715 as found on such coins : his
omission then of all notice of them seems to have
arisen from his conviction, that coins struck under
the Maccabees in so late an age as 500 years after
the captivity could never prove the use of Samaritan
letters before the captivity ; and yet the examiner
of Hurwitz has taken up as a capital evidence that
very one which Prideaux rejected, and so have others.
But the date of the coinage of the larger shekels was
also at least uncertain, if not worse proof for Pri-
deaux to employ.
To my former catalogue of authors who had men-
tioned the name of Simon being on those coins before
1715 I may now add M. Simon in his Bibliotheque
de Sanjore in 1708, on account of his remarkable re-
cantation of that argument in favour of the pristine
antiquity of Samaritan letters founded on Jewish
coins : his 27th and 28th chapters of torn. 2 are ex-
pressly concerning this subject. He begins thus :
" One ought not to be surprised, that I have in some
measure changed my opinion concerning the anti-
quity of Samaritan letters among the Jews; in mat-
ters of criticism one often makes new discoveries :
when I first published my works, I was in the common
314
opinion concerning this subject with almost all other
learned men; but I have since had evident proofs
that what has been generally said concerning the
antiquity of shekels in Samaritan letters, is not al-
together well founded." P. S89.
" Ancient Jews, and others who have followed
them, did not know that these shekels were struck
long afler Solomon under the Maccabees ; as appears
visibly, because they were struck in the name of the
chief priest Simon, which name is to be found on
several coins where some learned authors have read
different legends." P. 400.
" It cannot be denied that the Maccabee chiefs
made use of Samaritan letters, but it does not neces-
sarily follow hence, that the Jews made use of them
in their most earli/ times." P. 409.
Possibly Prideaux might have been as well con-
vinced as M. Simon, or by him that no argument in
favour of the antiquity of Samaritan letters could be
drawn from those coins having the name of Simon
on them, yet he appears to have tliought otherwise
concerning the shekels with the legend of Jerusalem
the holy ; and yet Reland and Ottius had before
1715 equally reprobated these for not affording any
adequate evidence, as M. Simon has both classes.
But thus it happens, that some well-known and po«
pular authors instead of assisting us to make fur-
ther advances in knowledge often pull men back
again into the errors of a century or two before, and
mislead others to adopt their own exploded errors :
it is the business then of those, who sit in judgment
upon new books, to form such a better acquaintance
with the criticisms of former times as to be able to
correct such errors, instead of lending a helping hand
315
to lead us back again into an age of ignorance ; of
which misconduct the examiner of Mr. Hurwitz has
by no means afibrded any singular specimen among
the public critics.
M. Simon goes on to support the propriety of his
recantation by quoting some further information
concerning Jewish coins from Bouteroue in his
Recherches des Monnoyes de France, published as
early as 1666 ; which being a scarce book, and con-
taining some particulars not noticed by Reland and
Ottius, I shall copy some articles in further illustra-
tion of my preceding letters. Now Bouteroue men-
tions one silver coin, which is exactly like the coin
of Henrion, having a bunch of grapes on one side
and on the other a lyre with the legend liberation of
Jerusalem ; but in this coin the first letter of Sche-
moun, namely S, is visible as well as the last two
letters: he mentions also another coin, on which
it is only the two last letters, which are defaced.
These confirm the name to have been Schemoun.
The former of these is in silver, but the laller
is in bronse : this confirms that the four silver
ones of the second class, struck on coins of Tra-
jan, were of the same nature in other respects
with the bronse ones, and relative to the same
event with those coins examined by Reland and
Ottius, which were all in bronse with liberation
of Jerusalem on them also ; and it does not ap-
pear that they knew of any silver ones of those
smaller sizes, but only of the large silver shekels
worth two shillings and four pence. Bouteroue
calls the latter of his above two coins, viz. that in
bronse a quarter shekel, but another in bronse he calls
a shekel; which cannot be rightly surnamed, yet it
31jS
still sliews how great a difference there must be in the
sizes of those bronse coins as well as values. Which
then of these different sizes in bronse did Barthelemy
mean to say were conformable to the fabric of coins of
Syrian kings ?
It appears by Bouteroue's account of their types
and legends, that these were all the very same with
those on the smaller bronse coins of Reland and
Ottius, which Ottius also had found to be of very
different weights. Bouteroue seems more right in
the name with respect to the silver coins ; for his
firsty which was like the silver one of Henrion, he
calls a quarter shekel, or dracme^ of silver. Now a
dracme, in French, is an eighth part of an ounce
troy ; if then an ounce was worth five shillings, the
eighth would be seven pence halfpenny, and thus be
a quarter part of two shillings and four pence, the
greatest value of a shekel. It would be curious
therefore to know, whether the two silver ones, in
Mr. Hunter's collection, struck on coins of Trajan,
weigh a dracme likewise : if they do, or apparently
did so before worn and defaced, it would prove that
«// these silver coins were rather formed in conformitj/
to the silver coins of the Roman Emperors than of
Hebrew weights or the Syrian kings. It is indeed
possible even that these silver ones of Bouteroue
might have been originally coins of Trajan also, al-
though so well superstruck, as that the Roman let-
ters were all obscured : it would also be of some use
to know whether there be any others of these silver
coins of a different weight from those of a dracme
(except the shekels,) or whether all of them are not
conformed to the weight of Trajan's silver coins,
317
rather than to Ilebrew weights, or to the coins of
the Syrian kings. Without knowing some more of
these particulars it is impossible to make any thing
of Barthelemy's proof of there being Vijirst class con-
formable to Syrian royal coins: for as Bouteroue
confirms the account of Ottius, that the bronse ones
are of very different weights and sizes, did Barthe-
lemy mean that all of these were conformable to
royal Syrian coins, or only some of them ; if the lat-
ter what are we to think of the rest ? Which never-
theless Reland and Ottius thought to be all equally
coins of Simon Maccabee ; and can any distinction
in point of antiquity be made while they are all so
similar in their types and legends? Every way then
that we can survey Barthelemy's argument from such
conformitt/f for making a difference between the^r*^
and third classes it amounts to nothing satisfactory :
all the above authors have indeed omitted to men-
tion many necessary articles of information, for
which reason I have added those of Bouteroue from
Simon's Bibliotheque, as the work itself of Bouteroue
is scarce.
It appears further from Morinus in his Exercitat.
Samaritan, p. 125, that a Moses Nachman, who lived
before 1300, had mentioned his seeing some Jewish
shekels of the larger class, which had on them shekel
of Israel and Jerusalem the holi/, together with pots
of manna and Aaron's rod for types : if these were
genuine, still from the similarity of their types to the
lesser ones there is no reason to suppose these also
to be of greater antiquity than those having Simon
on them; therefore Prideaux had no sufficient au-
thority for speaking so confidently of their antiquity,
318
and of the proof arising from such shekels concern-
ing the antiquity of Samaritan letters. But possibly
Bayer, whose book is scarce also, may have cleared
up some of the above articles of insufficient infor-
mation; at present I can find no foundation for at-
tributing greater antiquity to some than toothers;
and as four of them are now with certainty proved
not to be more ancient than Trajan, the same is pro-
bably the case with all the rest, especially as I
have pointed out several circumstances attending
them more suitable to Barcochcbas than to Simon
Maccabee.
After having thus invalidated this favourite evi-
dence for the antiquity of Samaritan letters, readers
possibly may wish to know whether there be any
other which is more solid. I confess that I think
there is not; what Mr. Hurwitz has urged against
them I am ignorant, having not read his book ; but
the only other evidence for them is from Jewish
tradition in the Talmud. M. Simon however him-
self acknowledges, that the traditions there on this
subject are in direct opposition to one another, as
Buxtorf has also proved ever since 1662, in his
Dissert, de origine ling. Ilebr. He says " that he
is convinced that Buxtorf has sufficiently proved
from the Talmud, that although in one passage [aC'
cording to the common interpretation of it~\ Mar Sutra
affirms the antiquity of the Samaritan letters, yet
in the same place of the Gemava of the same tract,
Sanhedrtn, R. Simeon says the directly contrary after
Rabbi Eleazar, and affirms that neither the Jewish
language nor letters had undergone any change by
Ezra." P. 425, torn. 2,
319
ISuch contradictory traditions then can amount ta
no evidence, especially since Simon adds, ** that no>
dependence whatever is to be placed on any tradi«
tions in either of the Talmuds.'^ Les traditions
qui n'ont point d'autre fondation que le Talmud
sont peu eroyables ; ce vaste ouvrage est si plein de
contradictions, que le plus souvent il ne merite pas
qu'on y ait egard : on y voit des docteurs, qui se
combattent avec force les uns les autres sur leurs
traditions," p. 427. Accordingly, learned Jew*
themselves have had different opinions on this sub-
ject ever since ; but one further evidence has oc-
curred to me of which 1 have seen no hint before,
which is, that even that passage of Mar Sutra, above
mentioned, which has been made the onlj/ founda-
tion for the antiquity of Samaritan letters, appears
to me to have been altogether misinterpreted by Raf
Chasda, whose interpretation of it is subjoined in the
Talmud ; and that Mar Sutra actually meant to af-
firm the directly contrary to what Raf Chasda sup-
poses him to mean : now it is that interpretation by
Raf Chasda which the Jews and Christians haVie
adopted ever since, but I apprehend very erroneous-
ly, and this is the only passage in the Talmud in fa-
vour of Samaritan letters.
I was led to this opinion by a remark in the above
work of Simon, in which he asserts " that there i»
one evident error in the common interpretation of
that passage in question (which I will mention after-
wards) in regard to one assertion in it," p. 426.
Now I wonder that the perception of this error did
not carry him further, and as far as myself to per-
ceive that the vshole interpretation was erroneous,
320
and has made Mar Sutra affirm the directly contrary
to his real meaning. Let me first quote the whole
passage itself, and then point out the above error j
the words added in Italics, between crotchets, ascer-
tain the senses which Raf Chasda gives to the pre-
ceding words, and which have been given to them
ever since; but the question is whether those be the
right senses. ^' Dixit Mar Sutra ; in principio data
est lex Israeli scriptura Ebraea (Samarkand) et lin-
gua S^ncta (EbrcBa) : iterum data est ipsis in diebus
Ezra; scriptviriiAssyr\ac&(EbrcEa) et lingua AramaBa
(Chaldceica). Elegerunt pro Israelitis (Judceis)
scripturam AssyriacamC^^rcea/w^i-'t linguam sanctam
(Ebrceam) ; et reliquerunt Idiotis (Samaritanis)
scripturam Ebraeani (Samarilanam) et linguam
Aramaeam (Chaldiacam). Quinam sunt Idiotae ?
Raf Chasda dixit Cuthaei (Samaritani). Qusenam
est scriptura Ebraea ? Raf Chasda dixit Libonaah
(Samaritatia).^'
Now, at the mere reading of the above so inter-
preted, I think that every reader must find himself
astonished at almost every national name being made
to have a sense quite different from what he bad
ever been used to before ; yet such is the interpreta-
tion of Chasda, if Israelitis means Judoiis, as it must
do K Idiotis means Samaritanis ; and accordingly so
all Jews and Christians understand those words,
even Simon himself. But what is the error above
referred to? It is, " that these Rabbins do not say
what is really true, when they affirm * that there
was left to the Artbaeans (Samaritans) the scriptura
EbrcEa and lingua Chaldaica.'' For it is certain that
the Samaritan pentateuch is in lingua sacra (Ebrasa)
321
not in Chaldaica, and in the same language with that
of the Jews themselves, although it is writ in Sa-
maritan letters, not in the letters of the Jewish pen-
tateuch."
. This is such an evident and gross blunder, that it
seems very wonderful how the interpretation by Raf
Chasda could be so generally adopted, and he must
therefore certainly have mistaken the s«nse of Idiotis,
when he explains it to mean the whole nation of Sa-,
maritcms instead of the private commonalty of the
Jews, which is the most proper and general meaning
o^Idiotis; and of whom it is actually true that their
paraphrases of the pentateuch in the lingua Chal-
daica were writ in the letters of the lingua sancta,
i.e. in Hebrew letters ; but it is not true of the
Samaritans, as Simon rightly remarks: the latter
had indeed a paraphrase likewise, but this was in
Samaritan letters as well as language. Now this
alteration of the sense of Idiotis necessarily alters
the sense of every national name throughout the
whole passage, and restores them to such senses, as
they have every where else and ought to have here
also. The explications in the crotchets will then
stand thus. " Dixit Mar Sutra : In principio data
est lex Israeli (et Judseis et Israelitis) scriptura
Ebraea (EbraBa et linguS, sancta (Ebraea) : iterum
data est lex ipsis diebus Ezras scriptura Assyriaca
(Syriaca et Samaritana) et lingua Aramaea (Chal-
daica). Elegerunt pro Israelitis (Samaritanis)scrip-
turam Assy riacam (Samaritanam) et linguam sanctam
(Ebraeam) et reliquerunt Idiotis (privatis Judaeis)
scripturam Ebraeam (Ebrseam) et linguam Arameeam
(Chaldaicam)."
VOL. IX. T
322
ThuB every assertion is true and every name lias'
its right and common sense ; but it must be observed
tliat when Mar Sutra says that iterum data est lex
scripturd Assyiiaca el lingua Aratnceuy he cannot
mean that these two innovations were united in one
and the same copy, for this would not be true ; but
only that these two innovations were certainly made
under Ezra, in two different copies however of the
pentateuch. For the Samaritan copy was afterwards
writ in Samaritan letters for the Samaritans (As-
syriaca,) and the Jewish copy was afterwards para-
phrased in the Chaldee language (Aramsea) for the
use of private Jezos. That Sutra thus meant differ'
ent copies for the use of differmt persons is evident
by his subsequent words, eligerunt and reliquerunt*.
When persons make choice of any thing, they must
necessarily choose one out of two or more things ;
and thus out of the two innovations they chose Assy-
rian letters for the Samaritans ; but thus the second
innovation of Chaldee language they left (reliquC'
runt) to the private Jews. He could not have used
reliquemnt with any propriety, if he had not meant
that what was thus left was the remainder of the two
innovations before mentioned, and which were after
this manner diroided between the copies by the Jews
and Samaritans.
By this exposition, which necessarily results from
giving the right sense to Idiotisy it appears that even
this passage in the Talmud, if rightly explained,
affirms the present Hebrew letters to have been the
original letters of the pentateuch, not the Samaritan
ones : and this also several Jews have asserted in
the same chapter of the Talmud, and others ex>
pfessecl their astonishment that Suira should say
that the Samaritan letters were the original ones, as
Simon himself thus affirms, " in the very same
place of the Gemava of the tract Sanhedrin^ R. Si-
meon says expressly after R. Eleazar the directly
contrary to Mar Sutra above; he there affirms, that
as the language of the people of Israel was not
changed by Ezra, so also there was no change in
their letters at that time." P. 425.
Buxtorf also produces the testimony of R. Abra-
ham Harophe in these words — " Obstupescit cor
meum, quomodo id ascendere potuerit in animum
MarSutrae: an instar hominis est Deus, ut mutet
aliquid circa scripturam legis, prout ab ipsomet est
data lex publice in oculis totius Israelis in monte
Sinae ? Aut ut peniteat ipsum linguce illius propriae
Judaeorum — mutando cam in alienam scripturam
tempore Ezrae," p. 199. He was misled by the false
interpretation of Sutra's words, which Raf Chasda
had given in the Talmud, as all others have been
ever since, and his implicit reverence for the Tal-
mud would not permit him to suppose that there was
any mistake concerning the sense of any thing af-
firmed there : he differed so far however from Raf
Chasda, that he attempted to explain Assi/riaca in a
little different sense, but it is a puerile and unsolid
evasion; he did not perceive where the real and
original error existed, i. e. in the erroneous sense of
Idiotis ; and if this word be capable of such a
further sense in Hebrew as it has sometimes in
Greek and Latin of expressing contempt on account
of ignorance, I should not wonder if Chasda was
not hence only induced to apply it to the Samaritans
Y 2
92i
rather than to the Jews ; but almost certainly he has
given a blundering explication of the true facts
which Mar Sutra had expressed both properly and
intclligiblj, and also agreeably to the common senses
elsewhere of the words he employed. Chasda is
moreover equally singular in the use of his own
word Libonaahf which, I believe, does not occur
anywhere else to mean Samaritans : once I sup-
posed it to be derived from Libanusy that mountain
being the boundary between Coelosyria and Pales-
tine, beyond which latter the Jewish territories did
not extend ; but then it would rather denote Syrian
than Samaritan letters. Therefore I rather presume
the word to be formed from JLehonahy a town men-
tioned in Judges, xxi. 19, and situated near Bethel
and Sichera in Samaria. We know, that in Ecclesi-
asticus, chap. 50, Samaritans are meant by men of
Sichem, and might therefore be as well denoted by
men of Lebonah.
Upon the whole then it hence appears, that there
never was from the first any good foundation for
conceiving the Jewish scriptures to have been writ
in Samaritan letters originally, from any ancient
traditions in the Talmud any more than from any
ancient Jewish coins discovered in modern times,
and the opinion has been founded altogether upon
error in both cases; in the one case upon an error
in language, in the otlicr on an error in reasoning,
or in reading, or both.
It is however true that there is so much similarity
between Hebrew letters and Samaritan ones, that
they seem to have been originally both of the same
stock, and either that the less complicated Hebrew
325
letters were an abridged manner of writing Samari-
tan letters, or else contrariwise the Samaritan ones
a more laborious and intricate mode invented after-
wards for forming Hebrew letters. M. Simon is of
the former opinion, that Hebrew letters were a cur-
sory and epistolic mode of writing Syrian ones,which
may thus be considered as capitals when contrasted
with a small running hand. But I do not perceive
how we can hence form any conclusion as to which
of the two is most ancient. For mankind sometimes
indeed refine through time by adopting greater sim-
plicity, but at other times by introduction of more
intricate modes of ornament; thus the Saxon letters
were only Latin letters spoilt by an excess of intri-
cate ornament, while, on the contrary, Greek and
Latin letters seem to have been simplifications of the
more intricate oriental letters. No objection then
against the pristine antiquit?/ of Hebrew letters in
the Jewish scriptures can be formed upon this foun-
dation any more than on any others : and possibly
the sole cause of any such opinion having become
current among the Jews, as that Ezra had intro-
duced a new species of letters, may have been, that
those Jews and Israelites who remained in Judea
and Israel during the captivity, had then so entirely
lost the use of their pristine Hebrew letters, and so
universally along with the Samaritans adapted Syrian
letters, that upon the return from captivity they
thought the original Hebrew letters of the Jews to
be quite a new set brought with them from Babylon ;
although they were in reality only the ancient He-
brew letters preserved there, when they had been
lai
326
lost and forgot every where in iJudca itself and in
the kingdom of Israel.
Lastly, the above right explication of Mar Sutra's
words gives information also concerning a fact, which
has been much disputed among learned Christians,
this is, what the origin was of the Samaritan penta-
teuch, and what antiquity ought to be attributed to
it ; for some have supposed it to be a copy derived
from such as were current in the kingdom of Israel,
before it ceased to be a kingdom ; but this is no
way probable, for Hebrew letters, were then under-
stood and current there, not Samaritan ones, which
were not introduced there until afterwards. Leclerc
again has supposed it to be derived from that copy of
the scriptures, which was carried to Samaria by the
priest, whom Esarchaddon sent there to teach the
Samaritans the law of the Jews, and who turned, as
he supposed, the Hebrew letters into Samaritan
ones. Others have ascribed a later origin to it, but
without being able to determine the precise time.
Now Mar Sutra has there determined the time, so
far as his own opinion and information are able to
determine it, namely, when Ezra formed a corrected
copy of the Hebrew Bible ; and this seems no way im-
probable : for Ezra finding, that all the Jews as well
as Israelites, who had not quitted Palestine had forgot
the Hebrew letters, and many of those also who re-
turned from captivity were better acquainted with
Chaldean or Syrian letters than the original Hebrew
pnes, might just as naturally direct the Hebrew letters
^o be turned into Syrian or Samaritan ones for the be-
nefit of the Israelites, as to paraphrase the Hebrew
language bj a Cbaldee translation for the benefit of
those Jews who had lost the Hebrew tongue. And
Simon is himself of opinion that Chaldee paraphrases
were in use as early as the time of Ezra, although
not the same paraphrases which we have now ; why
then also not just as well the scriptures be writ then
first in Samaritan letters, both alterations being of
equal benefit to some or other of the Jews and Isra-
elites. " Les paraphrases Chaldaiques on pent a la
verite faire remonter jusqu' au tems d' Esdras," p.
426. These circumstances confirm the fact asserted
bj Sutra, that the law was then given in two new modesy
namely, of Samaritan letters, and also of the Chaldee
language ; the former for the benefit of the Israelites^
the latter for that of the Jews chiefly. The above
true state then of the question concerning the anti-
quity of Samaritan letters shews with what caution
readers ought to trust implicitly to the opinions even
of such writers, as in general appear to be writers
of fideKty; ibr sometimes they hastily or negligently
take up with ill-founded facts, and draw from them
such ill-founded consequences as to form an intricate
mass of error, from which the subject is scarcely ever
altogether extricated in future times to the perfect
satisfaction of all parties, wiiilethe authority of for-
mer learned men stands so much in contradiction to
the evidence of our own reason, that many are al-
most tempted to disbelieve it, when thus opposed by
the respect due to the reason of others during a cen-
tury or two before. It is fortunate, however, that I
have been anticipated by an author so inteUigent
concerning such subjects as M. Simon. S.
S28
P. 8. It seems probable that the Hebrew word
expressing Idiota does admit of a like contemptuous
sense as in Greek and Latin, because I find that it
admits it in Arabic. In the Coran Sur Ixii. 2, Ma-
homet, says, " that he was sent an apostle among
IdiotaSf^ and immediately adds, for thei/ were heforq
in gross error. Also in the Arabic translation of Er-
penius, of the N. Test. Greeks as opposed to Jews is
rendered by Idiotas in Acts ^ix. 10 & 17 ; ^Isp in
xxi. 28, as being still in error from ignorance. And
this sense might mislead R. Chasda to apply it to Sa-
maritans, when it only meant to distinguish private
Jews from their rulers and teachers.
S.
Art. DCCCII. On the modern CorruptionofStem-
fiold's Version of the Psalms.
us hi tr
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSUEA LITEHABIA,,;:^
SIR,
As some persons, I find, have doubted whether
there are so many variations between the ancient
editions of Stemhold's version and the modern ones,
as I have mentioned in my last, the following com-
parison between them will sufficiently convince them
of the truth of the fact with respect to that short por-
tion alone of the ninetieth Psalm.
'' Edit, of 1597.
V. 2. Thf earth and all abroad.
3S9
Edit, of 1715.
The earth and world abroad.
V. 3. And then thou sayest againe return,
Againe ye sons of men.
Thou unto them dost say again
Return ye sons of men,
¥. 5. All as a sleep and like the grass.
Ev'n as a sleep or like the grass.
V. 7. And of thy fervent wrath and fume
And of thy fervent wrath O Lord.
V. 8. Our privie faults, yea, eke our thoughts. 1'"'**^
Our privy faults yea all our thoughts. '^
V. 10. Our time is threescore yeeres and ten
That we do live on mould.
If we see fourscore, surely then '
We count him wondrous old. '^
'I
y . 10. T7ie time of our abode on earth
Is three score yuars and ten.
But if we come to four score years, ''
Our life is grievous then. '*
V. 11. Yet of this time the strength and age,
The which we count upon.
Is nothing else but painfull grief.
V. 11. For of this time the strength and chief,
We dote so much upon^
Is nothing else but pain and grief.
y. 12. Who once doth know what strength is there, ^
What might thine anger hath.
y. 12. Whet man doth know what power, and
What might thine anger hath."
}t
330
Now if so many alterations were made, many for
the worse and none for the better, except sometimes
an obsolete word removed, it were to be wished that
a different plan had been adopted, that of equaUj re-
moving the most flat and vulgar expressions, in
order that bj substituting more select phrases the
insipidity might be removed without destroying the
simplicity of language. This is an excellence in
poetry, of which the writers in Elizabeth's reign
seem to have had no conception ; for they often over-
whelm their thoughts under a profusion of high-flown,
pompous and turgid expressions, which lift us up to
the third heavens, and then in the very next line we
sink down again, along with Sternhold, far below the
level of mediocrity, and down to the very dust of
the ground. Now as essences are so much in fashion,
it seems to me possible however to have extracted
firom Sternhold's lines an essence of some better po-
etic effect, by the preparation above-mentioned ;
whereas the opposition between the high flights of
other Elizabethan poets and their inclination to
creep upon the ground, presents itself so continually,
as renders the operation more difficult in them, and
indeed almost impossible without a double distilla-
tion from the grosser materials, in order to be able
to extract any poetic essence, even in almost any two
stanzas together, without the spirit evaporating al-
together. The Psalms by Sternhold, so modelled,
would have been more acceptable to common con-
gregations than any new version in a higher style ;
and it was with this view, that I have given a sam-
ple of such an essence of Sternhold, in which more
331
is retained from the ancient edition of 1597, than
frona the variations in the later ones,
S,
In Shakespear's As You Like It the following lines
Rve known to all.
** Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky.
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot ;
Tho' thou the waters warp,
Tby sting is not so sharp
As friends rememb'red not."
But I doubt whether all persons understand in the
same sense the line Tho' thou the waters warp. The
word warp is now always used in a bad sense to de«
note the perversion of an object from its right state
to one less natural or proper, as when a board is
said to be warped : among weavers only it is still used
in a sense approaching nearer to its original mean-
ing of /o auorA;; thus their first parallel threads ex-
tended for a web are called the warp, as being the
foundation of the work^ which fire afterwards crossed
by other threads by means of the shuttle, and called
the woof. Did Shakespear then mean to suggest,
that the conversion of water into ice might be con-
sidered as a perversion of it from its right state ?
This may be possible, and, I believe, it is thus gene*
rally understood; yet it seems to be both an un-
common and even harsh kind of expression. Or did
he allude to the parallel threads of icicles hanging
from the eaves of houses, which in the first scene of
this act he calls the icy phangf and may here mean
by the sharp sting ? Now I doubt whether he meant
either sense, and did not rather use warp here in its
original sense of merely to work upon the waters,
which primitive sense the word still retained in his
age, and is often employed in that sense in the ver-
sion by Sternhold ; nay, I know of no example there,
where it has any other meaning, the idea of perver-
sion not being then included in warping. Thus in
Ps. 52.
** Why doth thy minde yet still devise
Such wicked wiles to warp?
Thy tongue untrue in forging lyes
Is like a rasour sharp."
Where we may observe also that it rhymes to the
very same word sharp as in the poet, and is a mere
variation of the prose version, " Thy tongue de-
viseth mischiefs like a sharp razor, warJcing deceit-
fully." This extensive sense weorpan always has in
the Anglo-Saxon, i. e. projicerCy jactare^ immittere,
and to do any thing in general ; a mole was called
a mould warp, on account of its throwing out the
mould and working under ground. Again in the
seventh Psalm,
" He whets bis sword, bis bowe he bends.
Aiming where he may hit.
And doth prepare his mortal darts.
His arrows keen and sharp.
For them that do me persecute.
Whilst he doth mischiefe warp."
Here warp means again to work mischief in the
333
original sense of the Saxon word; in the prose it is
only conceived mischief: but the edition of Stern-
hold of 1713 has changed it to harp. " And do at
mischief harp." In another Psalm we have,
" What vantage or what thing
Gettcst thou thus for to sting ?
Thy tongue doth hurt, Iweene,
No less than arrows keen." 120th.
In these lines we find go many thoughts, words
and rhymes, similar to those lines of Shakespear,
that one would be almost tempted to think those
psalms to have been uppermost in the poet's mind
at the time of composition, and although he followed
the ungodly trade of a poet, yet that he did some-
tiroes go to church and sing psalms, and even re-
membered them the next day : he had only to change
the meaning mutatis mutandis from inveighing against
the malice of open enemies to the above lines against
the ingratitude of false friends; and we have no rea-
son to conceive that he meant any thing more by to
warp the waters than to operate upon, or work upon
the waters, agreeably to the sense of warp in the ver-
sion of his cotemporary Sternhold. We have seen
in the case of Coligny's ghost how ready he was to
turn every thing which he read to use, and pluck
flowers from every bush in his way. i
P.S. It being mentioned in Peacham's Gentleman,*
that Hawking has been noticed by Firmicus, in his as-
trology, who lived under Constantine, I find there the '
following words : "In Virgine si Mercurius fuerit
inventus, quicunque sic eum habuerint fortes erunt
etindustrii, sagaces, cquorum nutritore?, accipitrum,
* See Article oh HawWtig, Vol. X. '' " '•^-*
334
falconam cneterarumque avium, quae ad aucupia per-
tinent, similiter et canum, molossorum, vertagorum
et qui sunt ad venationes accommodati. Homines
quoque et milites tenebunt, omniaque munimenta ad
militiam pertinentia, ac plurimum equestri jacula-
tione delectabuntur." Lib. v. 8. Query whether
the Greeks had preceded the Romans in this art?
S.
Art. DCCCIII. On Shakspeare's Learning.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITBRARIA.
SIR,
Notwithstanding Dr. Farmer's Essay on the
deficiency of Shakspearc in learning, I must ac-
knowledge myself to be one who does not conceive
that his proofs of that fact sufficiently warrant his
conclusions from them : " that his studies were de-
monstrably confined to nature and his own language''
is, as Dr. Farmer concludes, true enough; but when
it is added " that he only picked up in conversation
a familiar phrase or two of French, or remembered
enough of his school-boy's learning to put higj hagy
hog, in the mouths of others" (p. 93) ; he seems to
me to go beyond any evidence produced by him of
little knowledge of languages in Shakspeare. He
proves indeed sufficiently, that Shakspeare chiefly
read English books, by his copying sometimes mi-
nutely the very errors made in them, many of which
he might have corrected, if he had consulted the ori-
ginal Latin books made use of by those writers ; but
this does not prove that he was not able to read La-
335
tin well enough to examine those originals if he
chose; it only proves his indolence and indifference
about accuracy in minute articles of no importance
to the chief object in view of supplying himself with
subjects for dramatic compositions. Do we not every
day meet with numberless instances of similar and
much greater oversights by persons well skilled in
Greek as well as Latin, and professed critics also of
the writings and abilities of others? If Shakspeare
made an ignorant man pronounce the French word
hras like the English brass, and evidently on pur-
pose as being a probable mistake by such an un-
learned speaker; has not one learned modern in
writing Latin made Paginibus of Paginis, and an-
other mentioned a person as being born in the reign
of Charles the First^ and yet as dying in 1600, full
twenty-five years before the accession of that king ?
Such mistakes arise not from ignorance, but a heed-
less inattention, while their thoughts are better oc-
cupied with more important subjects ; as those of
Shakspeare were with forming his plots and his
characters, instead of examining critically a great
Greek volume to see whether he ought to write on
this side of Tiber or on that side of Tiber; which
however very possibly he might not be able to read ;
but Latin was more universally learnt in that age,
and even by women, many of whom could both write
and speak it; therefore it is not likely that he should
be so very difBcient in that language, as some would
persuade us, by evidence, which does not amount to
sufficient proofs of the fact. Nay, even although he
had a sufficiency of Latin to understand any Latin
book, if he chose to do it, yet how many in modem
336
times, under the same circumstances, are led by mere
indolence to prefer translations of them, in case they
cannot read Latin with such perfect ease, as never
to be at a loss for the meaning of a word, so as to be
forced to read some sentences twice over betbre they
can understand them rightly. That Shakspeare
was not an eminent Latin scholar may be very true,
but that he was so totally ignorant as to know no-
thing more than hie, hcec, hoc, must have better
proofs before 1 can be convinced ; and the same in
regard to French likewise ; his errors concerning
both which seem to have arisen either from mere
indifference about petty articles o^ accuracy, or else
studiously, in order to suit with some of his igno-^
rant characters, from whom one might as well ex-
pect good French and Latin as from Master Punch.
I have been confirmed in this opinion by a casual
discovery of Shakspeare having imitated a whole
French line and description in a long French epic
poem, written by Garnier, called the Henriade, like
Voltaire's, and on the same subject, first published
in 1594, and which poem he not improbably read as
well as Hollinshed, in order to search for subjects
for the tragic drama. This imitation occurred to
me many years ago, and as the original French lines
in question were not quoted by Steevens, nor do I
know that they have been noticed by any later editor,
I will therefore repeat what occurred to me on this
subject long ago.
\n As You hike It, Shakspeare gives an affecting
description of the diff'erent manners of men in the
different ages of life, which closes with these lines.
S37
*' What ends Ihfs strange eventful history
Is second childishness and mere oblivion.
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing."
Now one cannot but wonder what could induce
him to end his serious description of human life with
a line which approaches to a low kind of the ludi-
crous by that gibberish of a repeated intermixture of
French and English, as if he was ridiculing a fo-
reigner who spoke bad English ; it is like comic
farce after a deep tragedy. One would have rather
expected that he would have closed his account with
a line, which had expressive strength at least, if not
elegance to recommend it ; and why have recourse
for an insipid preposition to a language of which he
is said to have been totally ignorant ? 1 always sup-
posed therefore that there must have been some pe-
culiar circumstance well known in those times, which
must have induced him to give this motley garb to
his language and thus transfer buffoonery to a tragic
subject : but what that circumstance was I could not
discover until I accidentally in a foreign literary
journal, met with a review of a republication of that
poem of Gamier at Paris, in which were inserted, as
a specimen of the poem, a description ofthe appear-
ance of the ghost of Admiral Coligny on the night
after his murder at the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
and in the following lines :
" Sans pieds, sans mains, sans nez, sans oreilles, sans
yeux,
Meurtri de toutes parts; la barbe et les cheveux
Poudreux, ensanglantez, chose presque incredible !
Tant cette vision etoit triste et horrible !"
VOL. IX. ' z
338
Here it immediately appeared to what author
Shakespeare had gone for the archetype of his own
description of the last stage of old age, which, by a
parody on the above lines, he meant to represent like
to that mutilated ghost ; and this seems to indicate
that he had read that poem in the original; for we
even find the meurlri de ioules parts imitated by
sans any thing. A friend of mine formerly mention-
ed this to Mr. Steevens, and he has briefly noticed
this parody, if 1 recollect rightly, in his joint edition
along with Johnson, but he did not copy the original
lines of Garnier; nor so far as I know any editor
since ; which however are too remarkable to be al-
together consigned to oblivion ; and it is not very
likely, that any Englishman will ever read through
that long dull poem; neither should I myself have
known of those lines, if they had not been quoted as
a specimen. Steevens's note is so very brief as to
be quite obscure in regard to what consequence he
thought deducible from the imitation : he seems to
suggest as if there might have been some English
translation of the poem published, though now un-
known ; this is the constant refuge for Shakspeare^s
knowledge of any thing writ originally in another
language. But even if the fact were true, yet no
translator would have preserved the repetition of that
word sans ; for this he must have gone to the French
poem itself, therefore must at least have been able
to read that line in French, if not also the whole
description of the ghost ; and if that, why not
able also to read other French books ? It may, in-
deed, be supposed^ that some friend may have shewa
him the above description, and explained to him the
339
meaning of the French lines, but this is only to
make a second supposition in order to support a
former one made without sufficient foundation : we
may just as well make a single supposition at once,
that he was himself able to read and understand it,
since he has evidently derived from it his own de-
scription of the decrepitude of old age. But in truth
I wish that he had never seen the ghost, nor had
been frightened by its horrible appearance from a
more pathetic lamentation over the last joyless state
of man, than by such a minute enumeration of the
lameness, aches, bruises, corns and cramps incident
to the mortal machine in the fifth and last act of hu-
man life. Upon the whole, if his copy of a single
word from the old translation of Plutarch, viz. " on
this side Tiber," is a proof of his having read that
historian, why also is not his copy of the repetition
of sans f and his parody of Coligny's ghost, an equally
good proof of his having read the poem of Garnier
in the original French language. To reason other-
wise is to say, that when he gives us bad French,
this proves him not to understand it ; and that when
he gives us good French, applied with propriety and
even with ingenuity, yet this again equally proves
that he neither understood what he wrote, nor was
so much as able to read the French lines, which he
has thus so wittily imitated, instead of so pathe-
tically as one would have rather wished.
S.
zS
340
A Ji T . D C C C I V. On the best mode of explaining the
Scriptural prophecies.
TO THE EDITOR OF CEN8URA LITERARIA.
SIR,
Although the /}ar/iC«/or case of Groti us has been
sufficiently discussed, yet there result from it consi-
derations of a general nature, which materially af-
fect other commentators^ relative to that mode of ex-
plaining scriptural prophecies, which has ever since
been adopted by the best of them, more or less, down
to Lowth, Bishop of London, who has followed that
example more than others ; and these demand illus-
tration, in order that the authors of them may not
be involved in a similar condemnation of weakening
the evidence in favour of Christ being the promised
Messiah. Now it was an ancient and useful advice
nequid nimis, and this is equally applicable to the
present and other subjects of literature, as to the
conduct of men in common life : Horace also had
long ago observed Brevis esse lahoro obscurus Jio ;
when men run into extremes they introduce greater
difficulties than what they seek to avoid ; prudence
therefore ought to restrain them near to the medium
point between excess and deficiency, both of which
terminate in error. It has been the want of ad-
hering to this rule, which has caused the discordant
opinions concerning the right mode of interpreting
the prophecies concerning Christ ; and even an au-
thor, who does adhere to it, will be in danger from
that very circumstance of his medium neutrality of
dissatisfying two opposite parties, both of whom run
341
rnto extremes. Thus I have mentioned already tlie
too great disposition of the ancient Jews for finding
typical, allegorical, and mystical senses hidden in
every part of scripture, especially relative to the
Messiah ; but the fault of the late learned Jews since
Saadias has been the directly opposite, by their find-
ing every where nothing hut literal senses applicable
altogether to the history of the times in question,
without having any signification prefigurative of
events concerning the Messiah : the earlier Christian
expositors were too much inclined to follow the ex-
ample of the ancient Jews ; hence when later ones
of better discernment began to reprobate that me-
thod, they fell under the censure of favouring the
literal senses of the later Jews, and of undermining
Christianity. Ilinc illw lachrimce. Even in the
pastoral song of Solomon, where an expressive de-
scription is given of the pleasant arrival of spring
after the severity of winter, the ancient Jews found
hidden under it a secondary and mystical descrip-
tion of the happy arrival of the kingdom of the Mes-
siah after a long period of human sin and misery.
*' Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone,
the flowers appear upon the earth, the time of the
singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle
is heard ; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines give a good smell, arise and come
away." Ch. ii. il. This is the Jewish typical
commentary Tikkune Soh explains thus — "Canti-
<jum Canticorum est illius regis, ad quern Paz pro-
prie spectat, illud canticum locum habebit illo tem-
pore quo peccatores ex mundo perierent," i. e. tem-
pore Messiae. Every one sees the extravagance of
342
such explanations as these ; but when you apply tite
same censure to some other passages in scripture,
which have been more anciently considered as pro-
phetically descriptive of the Messiah, then some are
apt to exclaim, no, now you go too far; for to give
a mere literal and historic sense to such passages, as
have been always considered to be predictive of the
Messiah, is to undermine Christianity. Where then
is the point at which commentators can stop with
the approbation of all readers? Different readers
will have different opinions, and what one approves
another will reject. Fortunately however the me-
dium point between too typical and too literal ex-
plications is not of the nature of a mathematical
point, which has neither breadth nor thickness, but
it admits of a great degree of latitude toward both
extremes ; so that expositors may depart from the
precise tnedium point and tend toward either ex-
treme without any detriment to the prophecies con-
cerning the Messiah ; for either way there will be still
prophetic passages enough left, which will satisfy the
demands of both parties of readers, and they may
both of them, without danger to their Christian faith,
peaceably and charitably give up many prophecies
to their Christian neighbours, yet without deeming
them as turned into adversaries, or themselves de-
prived of sufficient evidence of the full literal ac-
complishment of other prophecies in Jesus Christ.
Those readers, who after the ancient Jews and
first Christians, find predictive descriptions of the
Messiah and mistical hidden senses in alinost every
noun, verb, and participle of scripture, must end in
fanatical enthusiasm ; while those on the other baud,
343
who adhere so strictly to literal interpretation, along
wilh the later Jews, as to admit of no parts of scrip-
ture having a latent and secondary meaning ex-
pressed in an allegoric manner by a more literal one,
whether by words or by actions^ must end in scep-
ticism concerning the evidence of Christianity de-
'duced from the prophetic parts of scripture. But
there is a medium way between these extremes,
Avhich has with propriety been adopted by expositors
since the examples set by Grotius, that of admitting
nothing as typical of the Messiah, which beside its
literal meaning and application to historic events,
does not carry with it some strong and reasonable
evidence of some distant future event being actually
shadowed out and prefigured by some present one;
but in doing this different persons may still disagree
with respect to more or less, just as in politics and
many other subjects, yet without any essential de-
triment to Christianity in the one case, any more
than to good government in the other; and by these
means they may keep some where in the middle be-
tween opposite extremes, instead of running along
with the Jews from one extreme to another. This
may indeed be difficult to execute while the judg-
ments of readers are so different, but it can pro-
duce no ill consequences, although an expositor
should deviate a little too much from the true me-
dium either way, unless to those, who possess no-
thing of the spirit of Christianity while they dispute
about the proofs of it, by their having no charitable
forbearance for the errors and different opinions of
one another. It might just as well be expected that
every man's palate should equally relish the very
344
same food, and should therefore quarrel with his
next-door neighbour because he loved beef rather
than mutton.
Now that there are wwie passages not onl^' in pro-
fane authors but also in scripture, in which lieside
the tirst most obvious and ostensible meaning, a dif-
ferent latent and secondary one is understood and
obliquely thus conveyed to readers, is so evident,
that examples of it occur in every author ancient or
modern. Thus when Tarquin was afraid to send a
message to his son by words, he cut off in presence
of the messenger the highest tops ofa bed of poppies
with his walking stick, the latent meming of which,
when reported to his son, was immediately under-
stood by him to he, that he should cut off the heads
of the principal citizens. Here the typical sense
was conveyed by an action, but in many other cases
by a relation in rtJorrf* only. Thus in 2 Chr. xxv.
18, " Joasli King of Israel sent to Amaziah King
of Judah saving, the thistle that was in Lebanon
sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, give
thy daughter to my son to wife, and there passed
by a wild beast and trode down the thistle." Some-
tiroes also :£ords are united with gestures, and some-
times also gestures may supply the place both of
xeords and acdons. Such allegoric passages occur so
often both in profane and scriptural writers, and
the meaning is so clear, that no disagreement ever
arises concerning them any more than of the al-
legories in Esop's fables ; but there are also others
which may be of more doubtful interpretation. But,
on the contrary, there are some in which the typical
or latent meaning intended to be conveyed, is, as the .
S45
Bishop of London justly observes, more clearly to
be understood than to what the literal meaning of
the words themselves refers. This use of allegoric
and typical expressions was more frequent in ancient
times than at present, and scriptural language every
where abounds with it; for which frequency War-
burton has assigned as a reason, that in the infancy
of language information by gestures^ or actions, or
allegoric words, helped to supply the poverty of lan-
guage, and the deficiency of skill in argumentation.
It is evident also by the success of Esopian allegoric
fables in the instruction of children, that it is an
easy and popular mode of information. Sometimes
also words are annexed to actions for the better con-
ception of the meaning. Thus Isaiah relates, " that
he walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign
unto Egypt, that the King of Assyria should so lead
the Egyptians away prisoners."
Those readers then, who reduce along with the
later Jews all passages in scripture strictly to their
literal senses, without allowing any latent, secon-
dary, and typical meaning whatever, err as much in
one extreme, as the ancient Jews did in the other,
both in the Talmud and elsewhere, by turning every
thing into allegory. But what may at first seem
wonderful is, that the same commentator should be
censured for following the typical senses of the Tal-
mud too much, and yet equally censured for adopt-
ing the too literal explications of the later Jews, al-
though these two archetypes are in direct opposition
to one another by running into opposite extremes :
this could only arise from a similar cause, as in poli-
tical factions, in which every man, who is neutral
346
enough to follow his own best reason only, and not
the hue and cry of party disputes, will be certain of
being equally blamed by both parlies, and blamed
for opposite defects. Grotius rightly allowed those
passages to have a literal meaning only, which he
could not deny consistently with reason and truth ;
but nevertheless he maintained that others beside
the primary and literal sense had also a secondary
and typical one relative to the Messiah, wherever he
found good critical reasons to maintain it consistent-
ly with apparent truth ; and in this conduct he has
been followed, and thereby amply justified, by the
Bishop of London, as will appear by the subjoined
note to ch. xl. ver. 1 ; and this equally vindicates
that mode of exposition by both authors at the same
time, which it was my object both to illustrate and
justify by the foregoing observations, lest he should
equall}' fall under a similar condemnation.
" Isaiah in the foregoing chapter had delivered a
very explicit declaration of the impending dissolution
of the kingdom of Judah, and of the captivitt/ of the
royal house of David and of the people also under
the Kings of Babylon. But as the subject of his
subsequent prophesies was to be chiefly of a con-
solatory kind, he opens them here with giving a pro*
mise of the restoration of the kingdom and the re-
turn of the people from that captivity by the merci-
ful interposition of God in their favour. The views
of the prophet however are not confined to this event ;
but as that restoration was necessary in the design
and order of Providence for the fulfilling of God's
promises of establishing a more glorious and an
everlasting kingdom, under the Messiah, of the
I
347
fiiinily of David, the prophet connects these two
events together, and scarcely ever treats of the /br-
mer without throwing in some intimation [tj/pical
prefigurations] of the latter; and sometimes is so
fully possessed with the glories of the future more
remote kingdom, that he seems to leave the more im-»
mediate subject of his commission [concerning the re-
lurn from Bahylon'] almost out of the question.
This evangelical sense of the prophecy is so apparent,
and stands forth in so strong a lights that some inter-
preters cannot see that it has any other ^ and will not
allow the prophecy to have any relation at all to the
return from Babylon ; it may be useful then to con-
sider carefully the images under which he displays
his subject — if the literal sense of his prophecy can*
not be questioned, much less surely can the object
oiihe typical sense, which, I think, is allowed on all
hands, even by Grotius himself. If both senses are
to be admitted, here is a plain example of the alle-
goric or double sense, as it is commonly called, of
prophecy, which the sacred writers of the iSew
Testament clearly suppose, and according to which
they frequently frame their interpretations of pas-
sages in the Old Testament. Of the foundation of
which sort of allegory see my book de S. Poes.
Hebr.PrcBlect.il.
Agreeably to this account I have mentioned be-
fore, that the Bishop explains literally those words
"How beautiful upon the mountains,' &c. of the
good news of the delivery from Babylon, which the
evangelist applies propheticallij to the advent of
Christ; and the same in a variety of other passages
afterwards. Now this serves as a le^iion and ex-
348
ample to us of the great latitude of that medium
mode of explication between the two opposite ex-
tremes of being all literal or all tt/pical^ which the
prophecies admit of, and which readers may reason-
ably allow to their expositors and to one another,
without loading them with suspicions of an inten-
tion to undermine the evidences for the Messiahship
of Jesus. For here we find that this learned ad-
vocate for Christianity is directly at variance with
another more ancient advocate, Origen, who was
one of those, who would not allow these prophecies
of Isaiah and the servant referred to in them to have
any relation at all to the return from Babt/lon, and he
could not see that they had any other sense than what
related to the Messiah, ^usi as many do at present;
in which he differed also (just as well as the Bishop)
from Saadias, Grotius, and Rosemuller, as to my
servant referring to some prophet or other, instead of
the uhole people of Israel in captivity ; and yet there
is no need of testimonies to prove that those writers
were all equally true Christians or well designing
men. But after so many different explications as
have been given of the contents of the fifty-third
chapter, both by ancients and moderns, Jews and
Christians, during the space of 1600 years from the
time of Origen, it is certainly somewhat remarkable,
that the sense which Origen reprobated in the be-
ginning of that period, should be the very sense
which the late Bisliop of London should defend at
the end of it, namely, that my servant means the
. whole people of Israel in captivity, and thus should
justify the interpretation of those Jews of that early
age; although in opposition to Origen the most
349
Cliristian advocate then existing.* Let this ex-
ample be applied to the case of others in their not
rejecting some literal explications of the modern
Jews, which theconrictionof their reason could not
* The words of Origen are these " Memini me dim in quddam
cum Judaeorum sai)ientibus disputatione usum de hac prophetii
in capite 53, quam Judaeus aiebat vaticinari de uno integro populo
disperio tt percussu occa^ione dispersionis Judaeorum inter gentca
plurimas — in ea disputatione niultis verbis coargui, ha;c, quae de
nna aliqua personS. praidieta sunt, non rectfe illos referre ad inte-
grum populum ; sciscitabarqiie ex cujus persona dicatur " Hie pec-
cata nostra fert," — manifest^ enim hi qui dudnm in peccatis fue-
rant, servatoris pasgione sanati hajc diuunt apud prophetam futura
videutem, sive sint ex illo populo sive ex gentibus^ — si euim juxta
illorum opini«neni populus est de quo propbfetatur, quomodo propter
iniquitates populi dei hie ad mortem ductus est, nisi intelligamus
de quopiam alio quam de dei populo ? Quis autem is est nisi Jesus
Christus ? Contra Cels. I. i. p. 42. It is equally difficult to reconcile
the explication of the Bishop as above uiih these words of other
writers. " It was very little to be expected, that any scholar of the
present age would revive the obsolete application of my servant to
the Jewish people, which has been so often proved to be unfounded,
and which even Grotius has reprobated in his refutation of that
opinion first broached by Celsus's Jew." — This he may have done
properly if it was meant solely of the Jewish people and not also
typically and ultimately of Christ, which latter he maintains equally
with the Bishop, as his own words thus prove. " Ipsa autem his-
toria Christi nos admonet ita directam a deo mentem prophette
loquentis, ut quod de populo Israelilico ab ipso dicebalur non minus
rect6, aut etiam rectius in Christum conveniret." And hence he
adds, " that the delivery from captivity in Egypt was as it were a
prefigurative sketch of the delivery by Christ, majoris libertatis per
Christum paricp rudimentum quoddamfuit. (Not. Matth. i. 22.) This
is the same with the explication of the Bishop concerning the deli-
very from captivity at Babylon. Again, " Verba ipsa prophetae ad
ultimum illud complementum obtinent significatum magis proprium
magisque exceltentem." (Matth. ii. 15.) In the Letters of M. Simon
are two being a full vindication of Grotius, and in course of Lowtb.
'Ibm. Hi. Utter 26, 27. . ^
350
refuse any more, than this late head of the Christian
church in his ingenuous and candid statement of the
above subject in question.
This revival and defence of the propriety of typi-
cal and allegoric prophecies had been begun by
Martin in his Pugio Fidei, in which he made a vast
collection of all the allegoric interpretations of scrip-
ture by the ancient Jews, both weeds and flowers,
and by the productions of wl;ich he meant to oppose
the too literal expositions of the same passages by
the modern learned Jews in Spain of his own age;
and to shew that if there was any defect in such
typical explications, as applied by Christians to
Christ, yet it was at least a defect, of which the
ancient Jews had themselves set the example, who
had applied those same passages to their expected
Messiah : so that the literal interpretations of those
modern Jews were at best innovations reprobated
by their ancestors. This was at least a good argu-
ment ad hominem, as it is expressed ; but it was re-
served for the later commentators from Grotius down
to Lowth Bishop of London to justify this mode of
interpretation as being an equally good one ad omnes
homines ; so that what Martin begun, Grotius cor-
rected, and Lowth completed.*
* The real author was so little known before the publication of
Pugio Fidei in 1651, that notwitbstandiog the opportunities for ex-
tensive inquiry which Jos. Scaliger possessed, yet he supposed the
author to have been Raymundus Sf bond. M. Simon confirms that
R. Juda Haccadosch never wrote any such book, as Galeraseia
ascribed to him by Gaiatinus, it being a spurious tract, as well
■s several others (be says) quoted by Oalatinus. (Bibliotb. Choisee,
p. 76.i
351
There has however been one objection advanced
by Collins against allegorical evidence in propecies,
as if they must in consequence be uncertain, unsolid
and chimerical. (Liter. Proph. p. S.) But to draw
such a conclusion is in reality to impose upon the
rational faculties of readers : for the truth is, that
facts or general truths conveyed to the understand-
ings of men by means of allegories have just as much
perspicuity, solidity, and certainty, as by the most
direct means of information in words which can be
employed. Is not the allegoric message by Tarquin
to his.son (which was indeed only borrowed from a
similar allegory by a celebrated Greek) just as intel-
ligible, and as little uncertain and chimerical, as if
he had said behead the chief citizens ? So at least
those citizens found it to be, and had no reason to
question the meaning of the allegory. Is not the
contempt of Joash for the power of Amaziah just as
clearly evident by his allegoric message to him, as if
he had said in direct words, 1 defy and despise you?
Is not the moral truth recommended by the parable
of the good Samaritan equally intelligible, certain
and true, as if it had been a real history instead of
a supposed one, and had been found in an ancient
historian related in the plainest words ? All such
truths have been always found to be impressed on
the mind with as much, if not with more force by
means of allegory than by the most formal and
direct precepts in words. Such evasions then as
these are in contradicion to the universal experience
of mankind : and if possible, still more so, whenever
information oY distant facts and truths is conveyed to
men allegorically by means of present and real facts
352
and truths, such a^ the redemption of mankind in
general by the return from the actual captivity and
slavery of the particular nation of the Jews : for
the fact predicted cannot be the less certain because
the fact which allegoricaily prefigures it is a real
fact and not a supposed one. The mind of man
easily discerns similitudes and contrarities, and it is
by means of the similitude that the information is
conveyed in allegories, whether the facts which con-
vey it be real or only supposed : but similitude alone
is not. sufficient to convey information, unless also
it be evident, that the speaker intended by such a
similitude in some present object to give information
concerning some distant one; and in this consists
one chief defect in the many allegoric interpretations
of scriptural prophecies by the Jews in Pugio Fidei,
that the speaker had himself no idea of them, and
never intended to prefigure any such facts, as those
Jews suppose ; as for example in the description of
the return of spring in the Song of Solomon. But
another chief defect is, that even if it were probable
that the speaker might intend an allegory, yet it
ought not to be admitted us such, in case the simili-
tude arises only by putting a forced sense upon the
construction of the words, which is not obviously
and naturally contained in them. In such cases as
these and in no other can an allegory be deemed
uncertain in its meaning and chimerical: and in fact
all language is in a great degree only a continued
tissue of metaphors and allegories, the latter being
a more continued and consistent course of the for-
mer ; so that there could be no certainty in any thing
which is writ or spoken, if metaphors and allegories
333
destroyed it, and rendered what is said chimerical.
For these reasons Grotius and the Bishop have re-
jected all allegorical prophecies, which might thus
seem to any persons chimerical, and retained only
those, which the prophets evidently intended as
such, and which contained obvious prefigurations of
future events, and thus have separated the chaff from
the corn; on which account they have sometimes
been blamed for adopting too much merely literal
senses. But if any person should wish not to go
quite so far, or else to go still further than these
authors in adopting allegoric prefigurations of future
things, yet this is only going a little more or less
toward one of the two extremes, and does not de-
stroy that proposed medium between the two;
which admits of such a latitude, as no single person
can reasonably limit or determine for all other men ;
and therefore admits them all within the pale of
well-intending Christians, notwithstanding such mi-
nute differences in their opinions. These different
shades of opinion do in fact. amount to nothing more
than as in the following case, viz. if several persons
of a company see some pieces of gold coin upon a
table, many may possibly think their colour not so
much of the right gold colour as is generally the
case, some may be judged to be too pale and others
of too deep a hue for gold ; and yet after better in-
spection they may all conclude that they really are
good gold, stamped, as they see, by the most un-
equivocal marks of the supreme authority of the
royal name impressed upon them. S.
die nativit. ann. aetat 80-
VOL. IX. A A
354
^HT. DCCCV. On the Mode of Interpreting the
Prophecies.
to the editor of censura literaria.
Sir,
With very great respect for the learning and
talents of your venerable Correspondent S. to whom
I think all your readers are under much obligation,
I must differ from him with regard to some of the
positions stated in his letter inserted in your last
Number. That there is a medium to be observed
between the wholly literal and wholly allegorical or
mystical interpretation of the prophecies cannot be
denied. But the difficulty still remains to know
where to draw the line. Good and eminent men,
Jews as well as Christians, ancients as well as mo-
derns, have erred on both sides. In our own days
we have seen the virtuous and learned Bishop Home
allegorizing almost the whole of the scriptures ; and
Rosemuller (as 1 judge from what S. says of him)
reducing them again to their literal meaning. Yet
surely there is a line to be drawn, safe at least,
though neither inclusive nor exclusive of a great
part of the Bible, which is from the information of
the New Testament. Whatever Rosemuller or any
other commentator may say, while 1 believe in the
general inspiration of the apostles I must also be-
lieve that those prophecies which they expressly
quote, and to the completion of which in their own
sight they bear witness, were in the proper sense
prophecies and fo be fulfilled at a future time, how-
ever literally they might appear to be accomplished
in their first and most obvious sense : and references
of this kind in the New Testament are too numer-
ous and well known to make it necessary to quote
them. That these were also the sentiments of Bi-
shop Lowth, who in the opinion of S". maintains the
literal in opposition to the mystic sense of prophecj,
appears from his own words, in a part of the very
note which he quoted in your last ; " yet obvious
and plain," says the Bishop, " as I think this literal
sense is, w© have nevertheless the irrefragable au-
thority of John the Baptist, and of our blessed Sa-
viour himself, as recorded by all the evangelists, for
explaining this exordium (of the xlth ch. of Isaiah)
of the prophecy of the opening of the gospel by the
preaching of John, and of the introducing of the
kingdom of Messiah." — " And this we shall find to
be the case in many subsequent parts also of this
prophecy, where passages manifestly relating to the
deliverance of the Jewish nation, effected by Cyrus,
are with good reason and upon undoubted authority
to be understood of the redemption wrought for
mankind by Christ."
" If the literal sense of the prophecy cannot be
questioned, much less surely can the spiritual ;
which I think is allowed on all hands, even by Gro-
tius himself."*
I cannot therefore see how Lowth " completed
what Martin begun and Grotius corrected." For in
reality Lowth was not a commentator but a trans-
lator. It was to the structure and imagery of the
* Even by Gfdius; it may then be observed here, obiter, that the
Bishop evidently me^ns to infer that Grotius attached himself too
strictly to the literal interpretation of prophecy.
A a2
359
language to which he particularly applied his atten"
tion, both in his Isaiah, and in his " Prazlectionep
de sacra Poesi"* In neither of them does he en-
large on the scope and design of the prophecy ex-
plained, though he sometimes refers to it in a short
and cursory manner. But let him speak for himself.
*' Whatever senses are supposed to be included in
the prophet's words, spiritual, mystical, allegorical^
analogical, or the like, they must all depend upon
the literal sense."t And a'gain, " The X design of
the notes is to give the reasons and authorities on
which the translation is founded; to rectify or to
explain the words of the text ; to illustrate the
ideas, the images, and the allusions of the prophet,
by referring to objects, notions and customs, which
peculiarly belong to his age and his country ; and to
point out the beauties of particular passages. I
sometimes indeed endeavour to open the design of
the prophecy, to shew the connection between its
parts, and to point out the event which it foretels.
But in general I must entreat the reader to be satis-
fied with my endeavours faithfully to express the
literal sense, which is all that I undertake. If he
would go deeper into the mystical sense, into theo-
logical, historical, and chronological disquisitions,
there are many learned expositors to whom he may
hare recourse, who have written full commentaries
on this prophet ; to which title the present work has
no pretensions." The literal sense therefore in
* It is not meant that no other subjects are embraced in this
elegant work, but that the explanation of the prophecies makes no
part of it.
f Preliminary Dissertation, p. lii. % ^^' P* IxxiiL
357
which the Bishop is supposed to follow or agree
with Grotius, is in reality only the literal manner in
which he has thought proper to translate his original.
It refers merely to the version, not to the explana-
tion of the prophecy. With respect to the 40th
chapter, Lowth certainly supposes that the prophecy
has a double meaning, the one nearer and the other
more remote ; but I am at a loss to discover where
fS. has found (as he asserts p. 298) that Lowth
differs from Origen concerning the meaning of the
53d chapter. 1 can find nothing like it either in his
notes or in his Praelections. In the latter (Praelect.
xix.) he uses this strong expression about it, " il-
Instre illud Vaticinium de Messiae humilitate &
peenis piacularibus." In the former he introduces
this prophecy by saying, " here Babylon is at once
dropped. — The prophet's views are almost wholly
engrossed by the superior part of his subject. He
introduces the Messiah as appearing at first in the
lowest state of humiliation ; and obviates the offence
which would be occasioned by it, by declaring the
important and necessary cause of it, and foreshow-
ing the glory which should follow it." The only
place in which the Bishop mentions Origen is to
introduce a note by Dr. Kennicot on the eighth
verse, to prove, a various reading of the Hebrew
from the Ixx ; nor does he in any of his notes even
hint at any application of this prophecy to any other
person primarily or remotely, but to Christ alone.
P. M
358
Art. DCCCVI. On Arrowsmith's Map; the
Highland Roads ,• and the Caledonian Canal.
A sense of public duty demands the insertion of
the following^ important communication. No one
will suspect the Editor of having local or personal
prejudices on this subject to gratify.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LITERARIA.
SIR,
Having lately seen your Miscellany, I read in it
two communications from Fact against Puff.
These contain some severe truths, from the effects
-of which the Commissioners for Highland Roads
and Bridges cannot escape ; nor the Scotch nation
claim exemption. 1 trouble you with this letter in
order to explain to Fact the probable reason why
Arrowsmith's Memoir has not been published ; and
to communicate some important information to the
Commissioners, on a subject of which they appear
to be as ignorant, as of the mode employed for con-
structing the great Map from Roy's justly celebrated
Survey.
It is very well known, that in the Memoir there
was a description of a new discovery by Mr. Arrow-
smith, w;hich was neither more nor less than that of
a method of finding the variation of the magnetic
needle. It is very probable that the Memoir was to
be made subservient to the annunciation of the dis-
covery; for on its being submitted to the revisal
of scientific men about two years ago or more, they
pronouqced Mr. Arrowsmith's lucubrations to be
359
little if at all better than nonsense. I do npt know
that Mr. Arrowsmith is yet convinced that his dis-
covery is good for nothing; but it is likely that he
is ; and that the Memoir has become so crippled jiy
so severe an amputation as to be unfit to appear.
Indeed it could . contain no other information than
that Profes-or Plajfair, Mr. Nimmo of Inverness,
and a few private individuals had compared the map
with such parts of the country as they best knew.
Mr. Playfair has often travelled through the High-
lands and other parts of Scotland not frequented by
ordinary tourists ; and as he is undoubtedly one of
the few profound mathematicians which inhabit
Great Britain, his authority is of the highest order.
Mr. Nimmo is a young man of very considerable
talents and learning; and he has rendered a most
important service in delineating the boundaries of
the northern counties. While executing the task
assigned to him, he experienced many of those pri-
vations and annoyances so glowingly described by
your Correspondent in his second communication. In
every instance when it was not possible for Arrowsmith
to procure authority for deviating from the original
survey, we find the map perfectly correct. But he
has neglected many alterations which were necessary
on account of the removal of villages, and the
changes in the names of places, which have taken
place since the survey was made. The Commis-
sioners have certainly trusted too much to Arrow-
smith, who ought to have been contented with the
profits of publishing a copy of Roy's survey, with-
out permitting his ambition to dare to correct it.
360
In one of the reports of the progress of the Cale-
donian Canal the Commissioners gravely state that
a steam engine, which was not immediately wanted,
had been sunk for preservation in one of the lakes
If this statement be true, it betrays a most unpar-
donable degree of ignorance. The meanest labourer
on the canal knows that any thing made of iron,
especially an apparatus, the goodness of which de-
pends on the smoothness of its surface, will be de-
stroyed by such treatment. How this has escaped
censure in the House of Commons it is not easy to
discover. But the statement k false, and the Com-
missioners have allowed themselves to be grossly
deceived by their tutor Mr. Telford. The engine in
question was put upon a raft, in order to render its
conveyance easy. The raft gave way ; and the en-
gine was lost. Whether the canal was originally
intended as a tub to amuse the Highland whale, or
as a big gew-gaw to divert some great treasury
babies I do not know. But the whale is tired of
it ; and John Bull had better take care of those he
trusts with such expensive playthings as steam-
engines.
Another Fact against Puff.
Aet. DCCCVII. Reply to S.'s Defence of
Grotius.
to the editor of cehsdra literaria.
Sir,
The kind but flattering note, appended to the
learned and ingenious vindication of Grotius, by
your correspondent S. obliges me to say a few words,
361
contrary to my original intention, explanatory of mj
first letter on that subject. It was very far from
my wish to be drawn into a controversy concerning
the merits of Grotius, for which I have neither time
nor inclination ; and my only reason for writing any
thing concerning him, was to obtain some account
of the story of Nehumias. Being satisfied in that
by the obliging attention of your friend S. I should
have left your readers to draw their own conclusions
from our different ideas of Grotius's theological
writings, had you not, by your note, seemed to think
it incumbent on me to explain some part of my
meaning, which >S. has perhaps mistaken.
On referring to my letter, p. 92, I believe it will
be found that 1 accused Grotius, first, of paying too
much attention to Jewish and Talmudic writings;
and, secondly, of contradicting himself ; of which I
produced what appeared to me to be an instance.
Concerning the first of these, I spoke from the
general impression upon my mind, occasioned by a
not inattentive perusal of his observations upon
those prophecies principally which are commonly
referred to the Messiah. And I think this impres-
sion justified, not only by his frequent quotations of
the opinions, both of the ancient and modern Jews,
and what seems, to me, his general disinclination to
apply to the Messiah several prophecies which are
usually so applied by Christian writers; but also,
because in his own preface, he avows that he was
chiefly guided by the Jewish interpretations in his
Commentary on the Law;* in which division of the
't' As 1 have not at present that preface by me^ I mention tbi
particular from memory.
362
Old Testament several of the most remarkable pro-
phecies of the Messiah are included.
But this as jour correspondent 5. justly observes,
is merely an opinion ; and those who study Grutius,
will of course judge for themselves, and form their
own conclusions. Of the second accu'^ation 1 pro-
duced an example; but concerning this, let it be
observed, that 1 did not say that Grotius took his
explication of the 52d and 63d chapters of Isaiah
from the Talmud. I know that several passages of
the Talmud apply parts of those chapters to the
Messiah, though the more modern, and some of the
ancient Jews did not. The expression with which
I introduced it, was '* Misled in this manner ;" i. e.
by this too great attention to the opinions of the
Jews aAer Christ ; and it seems remarkable, that in
his observations on this prophecy, in his book " De
Veritate, &c." he never mentions the name of Jere-
miah at all, nor seems to think it worth his while to
contradict the application of it to him. Whether,
when a writer says of the very same passage, " Hae *
notaB in Jeremiam congruunt prius sed potius in
Christum ;'* and *^ Quis potest nominari aut regum
aut prophetarum in quem haec congruunt? nemo
sane," he contradicts himself or not, I leave to your
readers to determine.*
* Since I made the observation upon this passage, I have found
it strongly confirmed by the respectable opinion of Whitby, is his
note on Acts viii. 31. *' And though Grotius, in bis notes upon this
chapter, endeavours to interpret the words concerning the prophet
Jeremy, yet in his excellent book of the Truth of the Christian
Religion, hariDg cited this whole chapter (Isaiah liii.) h^ inquires.
363
With respect to the jrest of your correspondent's
able defence of Grotius, I have only to observe, that
it is nothing to my argument, whether Le Clerc, and
other Christian writers, have agreed with him or not.
For I have said nothing concerning them, nor men-
tioned Le Clerc's name, but as a translator of Gro-
tius. If 1 had, it would not have been in a very
favourable manner; nor can I think him a sincere
friend to the Christian religion, who wrote with so
much violence against Leslie, one of the most close
and powerful reasoners that has ever exercised his ^
pen in the cause of that religion.
I cannot find by my own observation, nor have
1 heard before, that the criticism of Grotius was
chiefly applied to the literal sense of the Bible, as S.
affirms. Neither in his own, nor in the more ela-
borate preface of Moody, is there, I believe, any
intimation of that kind. In his own, if I remember
right, he says, that in his Commentary on the Pro-
phets, he has principally endeavoured to reconcile
the historical with the mystic, or prophetic sense.
He professes, therefore, to attend to them both ; for
which reason it has always seemed very strange to i
me, that he should take so little, or sometimes even
no notice, of passages in his Commentary, upon
which he lays a considerable stress in his treatisn JQe
Veritate Relig. Christ.
That the story of Nehumias rests upon no suffi-
cient foundation is very evident; but 1 never said
that Grotius took it either from the Talmud, or from
Saw potest nominari, &c." The word endeavours clearly shows
Whitby's idea of the commentatur's bias.
364
the Jews. Jenkin said he found it in the Talmud ;
and Le Clerc thought he remembered that he said
be had received it from a Jew. But it is obvious
that it could not be a Jewish fable, because it would
be so strong a proof against them : and in that light
Grotius certainly considered it, and therefore intro-
duced it, though very injudiciously, into his work,
in confirmation of a truth which stands in need of no
such assistance.
And here, Sir, I must enter ray protest against
Rosemuller's doctrine, as quoted by S, that the New
Testament is of no authority in determining the
sense of passages in the prophets supposed to relate
to the Messiah. It is well known, that not every
accommodation, or coincidence of local circum-
stances or expression, which is merely introduced by
that it might be fulfilled, shews that the passage so
applied was really a prophecy ; but when a prophecy
is expressly cited, and the attention of the people
called to the present accomplishment of it, it cannot
be supposed but that the prophecy was really com-
pleted by such event. In the instance which Rose-
muller brings, of Matt. xii. 18, &c. there seems to
be a strange mistake ; for the passage there quoted,
" locus noster," does not relate to the chapters of
Isaiah there spoken of, the 52d and 53d, but to the
42d. But that prophecy is quoted by St. John, ch.
xii. 38, and applied in a manner so remarkable, as
to leave no room to suppose it to be a mere accom-
modation : These things said Esaias, when he saw his
glory, and spake of him. It is also applied directly
by Philip, Acts viii. 35, when the Ethiopian eunuch
was reading the prophecy without understanding it,
363
" He opened his mouth, and began at the same Sctip'
ture, and preached unto him Jesus." Can there
then be a doubt, that both John and Philip under-
stood that prophecy to relate to Jesus ?
I am very glad to find that S. intimates his opinion
to be different from Rosemuller's concerning that
wonderful prophecy, which I consider as one of the
bulwarks of Christianity ; and wholly inapplicable to
any other person, or persons, than Jesus. It was in-
deed very little to be expected that any scholar of the
present age would revive the obsolete application of
it to the Jewish people, which has been so often
proved to be unfounded, by men, at least, as emi-
nent as RosemuUer. But this is not the place to
enter upon such a controversy ; and in taking my
leave of Grotius, I would willingly make him an
amende honorable, hy quoting his refutation of this
opinion first broached by Celsus's Jew ; but that the
passage is too long, and the work itself to be found
in every library.*
P. M
P. S. Since I wrote the above, upon looking into
Dr. Gregory Sharpens " Second Argument," I find
these words, in speaking of the prophecy of Mi-
cah, used by that able and eminent author : " If
Grotius had not wrested every word of this oracle
from its obvious meaniBg, thaii, blinded with Jewish'
* See Grot, de Verit. &c. Lib. v. sect. xix. See also upon this in-..
teresting subject, Chandler's very able, learned, and masterly " De-
fence of Christianity ;" " Leslie's Truth of Christianity demonstrat-
ed ;" " Lowths Isaiah ;" Dr. Gregory Sharpe's " Second Argument ;'*
and " Granville Sharp on the Prophecies."
prejudices, he might apply it in a primary sense to
Zorubhabel," p. 188. Again, in the next page, after
quoting Grotius, he adds, " Here one would be al-
most tempted to think that the Jew had snatched up
the pen, and inserted the word reeled' And again, in
another place, p. 190, " Strange interpretation of an
oracle, so hard to be wrested from the Christians, by
a Christian; though in his interpretation of ancient
oracles, applied to Clirist, rede dicatur, a Jewish
interpreter." To this Dr. Sharp adds, in p. 361,
Houbigant's opinion of his Commentary : " Pere
Houbigant, who has reason to be displeased with
Grotius for interpreting so many prophecies con-
cerning the Messiah, as if in a primary sense they
related to other persons, here entirely agi'ees with
him," &c. These passages need no comment.
P.M.
Aug. 12, 1808.
Art. DCCCVllI. Original Poems hy the late
Henry Kirke White.
Mr. Southey's intention to publish the Life and
Poetical Remains of the late Mr. Henry Kirke
White, has already been announced. I am not a
little proud to record my gratitude to that great
poet for the communication of the following most
exquisite specimens, which I am sure every reader
of sensibility or fancy will read with as much delight
as I have done. They have never before been
printed, and are a treasure, which, while they adorn
my pages, will necessarily raise the expectations of
the public very high for the appearance of the work,
361
in which Mr. Soutbey has so amiably engaged.
What must be the charm of a life of such a writer
written by another of such endowments as Mr. Sou-
they ? But I will not by my pen detain the reader any
longer from these most beautiful relics.
Denton, May 24, 1807.
Poetical Relics of Henry Kirke White.
SONNET.
" Yes, 'twill be over soon. This sickly dream
Of life will vanish from my feverish brain.
And death my wearied spirit will redeem
From this wild region of continual pain.
Yon brook will glide as softly as before.
Yon landscape smile, yon golden harvest grow.
Yon sprightly lark on mounting wing will soar
When Henry's name is heard no more below.
I sigh when all my youthful friends caress ;
They laugh in health and future evils brave;
Them shall a wife and smiling children bless.
While I am mouldering iu my silent grave.
God of the just ! thou gav'st the bitter cup !
I bow to thy behest and drink it up."
SONNET.
" Gently, most gently, on tliy victim's head.
Consumption, lay thine hand ! Let me decay.
Like the expiring lamp, unseen, away.
And softly go to slumber with the dead.
And if 'tis true what holy men have said.
That straiuit angelic oft foretel the day
Of death, to- those good men who fall thy prey,
O let the aerial music, round my bed.
S68
Dissolving slow in dying syrapLony,
Wliisp«r the solemn warning to mine ear;
That I may bid my weeping friends good-bye.
Ere I depart upon my journey drear ;
And, smiling faintly on the painful past.
Compose my decent head, and breathe my last.'
SOLITUDE.
" It is not that my lot is low.
That bids the silent tear to flow :
It is not grief that bids me moan ;
It is that I am all alone.
In woods and glens I love to roam.
When the tir'd bedger hies hira home ;
Or by the woodland pool to rest.
When pale the star looks in its breast.
Yet when the silent evening sighs
With hallowed airs and symphonies.
My spirit takes another tone.
And sighs that it is all alone.
The autumn leaf is sear and dead ;
It floats upon the water's bed :
I would not be a leaf, to die
Without recording sorrow's sigh !
The woods and winds with sullen waiL
Tell all the same unvaried tale:
I've none to smile when I am free.
And when I sigh to sigh with me.
Yet in my dreams a form I view.
That thinks of me and loves me too]:—
I start, — and when the vision's flowo
I weep that I am all alone."
A»T. DCCCIX. The Contented Knight, or the
Carp too Cunning, A Ballad from a MS»
*^ To the tune of St. George and the Dragon.
" Within the wood a virgin ash
Had twenty summers seen :
The elves and faries mark'd it oft.
As they tript along the green ;
But the woodman cut it with his axe.
He cruelly fell'd it down,
A rod to make for the Knight of the lake,
A Knight of no renown ;
Turn it taper and round. Turner,
Turn it taper and round.
For my line is of the grey palfrey's tail.
And it is slender and sound.
St. George he was for England,
St, Denis he was for France,
St. Patrick taught the Irishman
To tune the merry harp ;
At the bottom of the slimy pool
There lurks a crafty Carp,
Were he at the bottom of my line,,
How merrily he would dance.
Id the Pacific Ocean
There dwelt a mighty Whale,
And o'er the waves from London town
There went a noble sail ;
With hooks and crooks and ropes and boats
'Twas furnishM in and out,
Boat-steerers, and line-managers,
Harpooners bold and stout :
VOL. IX. B B
370
The dart flew true, and the monster slew.
The seaman bless'd the day ;
All from bis fin a bone so thin
At the top of my rod does play.
St. George. &c.
Moulded and mix'd is the magic mass.
The sun is below the hill.
O'er the dark water flits the bat.
Hoarse sounds the murmuring rill.
Slowly bends the willow's bough
To the beetle's sullen tune.
And grim and red is the angry head
Of the archer in the moon.
Softly, softly, spread the spell.
Softly spread it around.
But name not the magic mixture
To mortal, that breathes on ground.
St. George, &c.
The Squire has tapped at the bower window,
*' The day is one hour old ;
Thine armour assume, the work of the loom.
To defend thee from the cold."
The Knight arose, and donn'd his clothes.
For one hour old was the day.
His armour he took, his rod, and bis hook.
And his line of the palfrey gray.
He has brush'd the dew from off the lawn,
He has taken the depth by the rule,
" Here is gentle to eat, come partake of the treat.
Sly tenant of the pool."
St. George, &c.
The Carp peep'd out from his reedy bed,
And forth he slyly crept.
371
But he lik'd not the look, for he saw the black hook.
So be turn'd his tail and slept.
There is a flower grows in the field.
Some call it Marygold a.
And that, which one fish would not take,
Another surely would a.
And the Knight had read in the books of the dead.
So the Knight did not repine ; '
For they, that cannot get carp. Sir,
Upon tench may very well dine.
St. George, &c.
He has brush'd the dew from the lawn again.
He has taken the depth by the rule,
" Here is boil'd bean and pea, come breakfast with me.
Sly tenant of the pool."
The carp peep'd forth from his reedy bed.
The Carp peep'd forth in time ;
But he lik'd not the smell, so he cried go to Hell,
And he stuck his nose in the slime.
But the Knight had read in the books of the dead.
And the Knight did not repine ;
For they that cannot get carp. Sir,
Upon tench may very well dine.
St. George, &c.
Then up rose the Lord of Penbury's board.
Well skiird in the musical lore.
And be swore by himself, tho' cunning the elf.
He wou'd charm him, and draw him ashore.
The middle of day he chose for the play.
And he fiddled as in went the line ;
But the Carp kept his head in his reedy bed ;
He chose not to dance or to dine.
" I prithee come dance me a reel. Carp,
I prithee come dance me a reel ;"
B B 2
372
I thank ye, my Lord, I've no taste for your board.
You'd rauch better play to the eel."
St. George, &c.
FINIS.
Art. DCCCX. Stanzas to a Flower.
I see thee, at the trembling dawn,
Inhale the spirit of the morn ;
When shadows fall, I still am near,
And mark thee bath'd in evening's tear
Most feelingly ;
Because, lov'd flower, to thee is lent
A sweet, a hidden sentiment.
That can a mournful bliss impart.
Can vibrate through my aching heart
Most tenderly^
When pensive memory turns to me.
When thoughts are thoughts of agony.
Near thee I sorrowing vigils keep.
And teach my languid eye to weep
Most fervently.
Yet thou canst lift a fragile form
Unmindful of the passing storm.
Canst bid the tender blossom live»
And to the winds its fragrance give
Most fearlessly.
That thought had fiU'd my musing mind.
That thought my sorrow had refia'd.
373
When soft a mourniag spirit gave,
*' He too shall bloom beyond the grave.
Most gloriously !"
Hence does a quiet hope await
To soothe the anguish of my fate,
And with a pensive rapture bless.
And with a faith, a tenderness
Most heavenly!
jB«ry St. Edmunds. ****,
Art. DCCCXI. Extraordinary instance of Pre'
diction^ copied from a paper found among the
MSS. of a celebrated literari/ person, lately
deceased.
Extract of a Letter, dated Oct. 21, ]763, relating to the story of the
School-boys at Winchester.
*' If a boy at Winchester school was now to
foretel the deaths of three persons belonging to that
society, by name, in the compass of half a year ; and
the order in which they should die, and the very
day and hour of the death of one of them ; you, and
I, no doubt, should look upon him as a very great
fool and impostor. But if this prophecy of his
should be verified by the event, in every particular,
exactly as he foretold it, should not we change our
opinions ? And think, that the story he had told,
however ridiculous, was true ?
" This, I think, is the case of Needs's story ; and
if so, the only doubt must be, ' whether he really
foretold it, so fully and exactly, as is supposed
above?'"
374
That he did, will appear from a short paper, (the
original of which subsists) written and signed by
Dr. Fletcher, then the under master of Winchester
school, who was present at the examination of some
of his school-fellows, about this affair, and who at-
tended Needs himself in his last hours.
From an attested copy of Dr. Fletcher's paper.
*' Forder says, that within a fortnight after the
return of our scholars, i. e. about the beginning of
June, as he was speaking of the Bishop of Win-
chester to Needs, Needs repeated to Forder, ' that
the Bishop and Mr. Carman, a chaplain of the col-
lege, would die before Christmas.' Some time
after, when Mr. Carman fell sick. Needs repeated to
Forder, * that the Bishop and Mr. Carman should
die before Christmas, and that he himself should
die before that time.' He says farther, that it was
usual for his school -fellows, to jest at him for this
prediction. He says also, that on Friday, the 33d
of August, Needs told Burton, sen. (who has since
left school) upon his saying, * Needs, thou art a
prophet, and foretellest the Bishop's death, and
Mr. Carman's, prithee, tell me, when thou thyself
shalt die?' that he should die the Thursday
fortnight following ; * which,' said he, (counting
the days upon his fingers) * will be the 12th of Sep-
tember.'
" Coker sen. says * that before Whitsuntide last,
he heard Needs say, thai the Bishop of Winchester,
Mr. Carman, and himself, should die before Christ-
mas.* He said also, * that Mr. Carman should die
373
6rst; himself next ; and the old man should survive
Ihem both ; but should die a considerable time be-
fore Christmas.'
" Rymes says, that three weeks before Needs died,
he said to him, ' His in vain to send for a doctor, for
I shall die the 12th of September.'
"In the morning, he said to me, ^ Is this Thurs-
day morning, and 1 to die to-day, and no better
prepared ?','
" E: rounds says, ' that more than a fortnight be-
fore Needs died, he told him, that in a dream an
angel appeared to him, and told him that he should
die on Thursday, the 12th of September, about three
o'clock in the afternoon."
J. Fletgheb.
** My copy is attested by Philip, a son of the doc-
tor, who adds, that his father was by Needs when
he died, and that he died just as Trinity clock struck
three.
" Mem. The then Bishop of Winchester died in
five or six weeks after Needs, (I think on the first
of Nov.) and was succeeded by Sir Jonathan Tre-
lawney. Dr. Conybeare, late Bishop ot Oxford,
has told me, that the famous Dr. Atterbury, Bishop
of Rochester, (no over-credulous man) having had a
full account of this prediction from persons of credit,
and of its having been fulfilled so particularly as to
Carman's and Needs's parts in it, sent a full account
of the whole to his great friend Sir Jonathan, who
he knew had views towards Winchester, to incite
him to strengthen his interests that way, as much
376
and as fast as he possibly could. Sir Jonathan did
so, and got the bishopric by it."
Art. DCCCXII. Conjecture concerning the Hero
of the Nuthrown Maid. With some Anecdotes of
the Cliffords.
Dn. Whitakee, in his excellent History of the
Deanery of Craven in Yorkshire,* has, in his ac-
count of Skipton Castle, one of the residences of the
illustrious house of Clifford, conjectured with great
probability that Henry Lord Clifford, the first Earl
of Cumberland, was the hero of the beautiful Ballad
of the Nutbrown Maid, a poem, which the more I
read it, the more I admire.
Dr. Whitaker observes, that this young nobleman
was, during his fether's life, led by the extrava-
gances of the court into pecuniary embarrassments.
" The method," he adds, " which this high-spirited
young man took to supply his necessities is cha-
* Xondon, 1805, 4to. This is the most delightful of all the works
on English topography, which I have met with. It is the production
of a mind abounding with an enlightened and sublime morality,
and a rich and picturesque imagination ; of a master of language,
who has the skill not only to digest and arrange bis materials, but
to draw notes from them, such as are exactly suited to persons fond
of these pursuits; yet such as, rising dimly and indistinctly in their
own heads, they want the ability to grasp and communicate. Dr.
Whitaker possesses the power to embody these subtle ideas,
*• Turn them to shape, and give to airy nothing
A local habitation, and a name."
tncteristic of the times : instead of resorting to
Jews and monej-lenders, computing the value of
his father's life, and raising great sums by antici-
pation, methods which are better suited to the calm
unenterprizing dissipation of the present age,
Henry Clifford turned outlaw, assembled a band
of dissolute followers, harrassed the religious
houses, beat their tenants, and forced the inhabi-
tants of whole villages to take sanctuary in their
churches."
The historian then gives in a note the suggestion,
which is the object of the present article.
" I hope," says he, " it will be thought no extra-
vagant conjecture, that Henry Clifford was the hero
of the Nutbrown Maid. That beautiful poem was
first printed about 1521, and from the use of the
word spleen, which was introduced into the English
language by the study of the Greek physicians, it
could not have been written long before. Little
perhaps can be inferred from the general qualifica-
tion of an outlaw's skill in archery ; ' Such an ar-
chere as men say that ye be / compared with the
circumstance of the Earl of Cumberland's providing
himself with all the apparatus of the bow in the
following account : but when * The Man! specifi-
cally describes Westmorland as his heritage, we
must either suppose the whole story to be a fiction,
or refer it to one of the wild adventures of Henry
Clifford, who really led the life of an outlaw within
ten years of the time. The great lynage of the lady
may well agree with Lady Percy;* and what is
* He married Lady Margaret Percy, daughter of Henry fifth
Earl of Northumberland.
378
more probable than that this wild joung man,
among his other feats, may have lurked in the forests
of the Percy family, and won the lady's heart under
a disguise, which he had taken care to assure her
concealed a Knight ? That the rank of the parties
is inverted in the Ballad may be considered as no-
thing more than a decent veil of poetical fiction
thrown over a recent and well-known fact. The
Barony of Westmoreland was the inheritance of
Henry Clifford alone."
Having thus touched upon a most romantic in-
cident of this great family, I cannot refrain from
adding to my article some more particulars re-
garding them. Their vast domains, and all the
wild splendour of the feudal habits which they ex-
hibited, fill the imagination with the sentiments and
the figures of a rich romance. I see them still pur-
suing their manly sports over the picturesque and
magnificent solitudes of Craven ; I see them after-
wards presiding with courteous state at the hall of
hospitality ; unweakened by effeminate luxuries,
and unsophisticated by the rivalry or artifices of
commerce and manufactures ! It would be deceitful
to deny, that some private and personal considera-
tions mix themselves with the interest 1 take in
these images. Among the mingled blood that flows
in my veins, no fear of ridicule shall deter me from
owning my pride that I am immediately derived
from this high and heroic house through a lofty and
379
undegraded channel.* Injustice may withhold
from me titles and rank ; they are baubles, which
are often bestowed on the most low-born, and base-
minded of the people ; it cannot annihilate, or alter
the blood which is the gift of Nature ! It must be
my own fault if that shall be debased. If treachery,
extortion, and oppression ; if foul and incessant ca-
lumny and misrepresentation ; if the pestilent
poison of vipers nourished in the bosom ofaf.imily,
be trials to a resolute spirit, I have known them
all ; and my spirit is yet unbroken ! But my ene-
mies shall have the triumph of knowing, that these
conflicts too often have irritated my nerves, and
suspended my intellectual industry ! The waves
and weathers of time have shaken to its very foun-
dation the solitary remaining branch of an ancient
and once flourishing stock. The very blows and
bruises it has received have served only as provoca-
tions to new insults ; and circumstances, which in
other cases have operated as pleas for favour and
support, have been used in this as reasons for addi-
tional wrongs !
From the summary of the Lives of the Clif-
fords, &c. a MS. folio, drawn up under the di-
rection of their heiress, the celebrated Countess of
Dorset and Pembroke, I shall here borrow some
extracts.
"John Lord Clifford, born April 8, 1435, was
* Stanley and Egerton*
380
the person to whose hand is ascribed the death of
the Earl of Rutland, K. Edw. IV.'s brother;"
but the memorialist contends, that this Earl was
seventeen instead of twelve jears old, and was
probably killed in the battle as a soldier. His
death happened Dec. 31, 1460 ; and Lord Clifford
himself was slain about the 29th of March following
at Towton.
" His son, Henry Lord Clifford, born 1454, was
between six and seven years of age at his father*g
death ; for whose act the family was soon afterwards
attainted. He was one of the examples of the va-
riety of fortunes in the world ; for at seven years old
he was put into the habit of a shepherd's boy by the
care and love of an industrious mother to conceal
his birth and parentage; for had he been known to
have been his father's son and heir, in all probability
he would either have been put in prison, or banish-
ed, or put to death ; so odious was the memory of
his father for killing the young Earl of Rutland, and
for being so desperate a commander in battle against
the House of York which then reigned.
" So in the condition of a shepherd's boy at Lan-
nesborough, where his mother then lived for the
most part, did this Lord Clifibrd spend his youth
till he was about fourteen years of age, about which
time his mother's father, Henry Bromflet, Lord
Vesey, died.
" And a little after his death it came to be mur-
mured at coiirt, that his daughter's two sons were
alive, about which their mother was examined ; but
her answers were, that she had given directions to
send them both beyond seas, to be bred there, and
581
she did not know whether thej were dead or alive,
which equivocation of her's did the better pass, be-
cause presently after her husband's death, she sent
both her sons away to the sea-side ; the younger of
which, called Richard Clifford, was indeed transport-
ed over the seas into the Low Countries, to be bred
there, where he died not long after ; so as his elder
brother Henry, Lord Clifford, had after his restitu-
tion the enjoyment of that little estate, that this Ri-
chard, his younger brother, should have had, if he
had lived.
" But her eldest son, Henry Lord Clifford, was
secretly conveyed back to Lannesborough again,
and committed to the hands of shepherds, as
aforesaid, which shepherds' wives had formerly been
servants in that family, as attending the nurse who
gave him suck, which made him, being a child, more
willing to submit to that mean condition, where they
infused into him that belief, that he must either be
content to live in that manner, or be utterly undone.
" And as he did grow to more years, he was still
more capable of this danger, if he had been discover-
ed; and, therefore, presently after his grandfather,
the Lord Vesey, was dead, the said murmur of his
being alive being more and more whispered at the
court, made his said loving mother by means of her
second husband Sir Lancelot Thirkeld, to send him
away with the said shepherds and their wives to Cum-
berland, to be kept as a shepherd there, sometimes
at Thrilcot, and amongst his father-in law's kindred ;
and sometimes on the borders of Scotland, where
they took land purposely for thcbe shepherds who
had the custody of him^ where many times his fa-
3S9t
ther-in-law came purposely to visit him, and some-
tiineR iiis mother, though very secretly.
^' Bv this mean kind of breeding, this inconveni-
ence l)^fel Mm, that he could neither write nor read ;
fur they durst not bring him up in any kind of learn'
ing, for fear, lest by it his birth should be discovered ;
yet after he came to his lands and honours, he learn-
ed to write his name only.
" And after this Henry, Lord Clifford, had lived
twenty-four or twenty-five years in this obscure
manner, and that himself was grown to be about
thirty one or thirty-two years of age, Henry VI 1th
then obtaining his crown, did in the first part of his
reign, in 1486, restore him in blood and honour,
and to all his baronies and castles.
" This Henry Lord Clifford, did, after he came to
his estate exceedingly delight in astronomy, and the
contemplation of the stars, which it is likely he was
seasoned in, during the time of his shepherd's life.
He built a great part of Barden * tower, which is
now much decayed ; and there he lived much, which
it is thought he did rather, because in that place he
furnished himself with materials and instruments for
that study.
^' He was a plain man, and lived, for the most
part, a country life, and came seldom either to the
* " He retired," says Whitaker, " to the solitude of Barden,
where he seems tu have enlarged the tower out of a common keep-
er's lodge, and whert be found a retreat equally favourable to taste,
to instructioD, and to devotion. The narrow limits of bis residence
shew that he bad learned to despite the pomp of greatness, and that
a small train of servants could suffice him, wbo had lived to the age
of thirty a servant himself."
383
court or to London, but when he was called thither
to sit in them, as a peer of the realm, in which par-
liament it is reported he behaved himself wisely and
nobly like a good Englishman.
" He died when he was sixty-nine or seventy years
old, 23d April, 1523."*
Ill the lately published poems of Wordsworth is a
song on the restoration of this Lord Clifford, put
into the mouth of an ancient Minstrel of the family.
The poem open thus : +
" High in the breathless hall the Minstrel sate,
And Emont's murmur mingled with the song.
The words of ancient time I thus translate,
A festal strain that hath been silent long.
From town to town, from tower to tower.
The red rose is a gladsome flower.
Her thirty years of winter past.
The red rose is reviv'd at last ; , '
She lifts her head for endless Spring,
For everlasting blossoming !''
The Minstrel, after alluding to the perils whicli
drove the youth of the hero into concealment, pro-
ceeds thus :
" Alas ! when evil men are strong.
No life is good, no pleasure long.
The boy must part from Mosedale's groves.
And leave Blencathara's rugged coves,
* Harl. MSS. 6177. This Ix)rd Clifford married Anne daughter
of Sir John St. John of Bletsoe.
f Quoted from the EdiuburgL Review, the original not having
reached the Editor.
384
And quit the flowers that Summer brings
To Glendcramakin's lofty springs ;
Must vanish, and his careless cheer
fie turn'd to heaviness and fear.
— Give Sir Lancelot Threlkeld praise !
Hear it, good man, old in days !
Thou tree of covert and of rest
For this young bird that is distrest.
Among thy branches safe he lay,
And he was free to sport and play.
When falcons were abroad for prey."
The poem closes in this manner.
" Now another day is come,
Fitter hope, and nobler doom :
He hath thrown aside his crook.
And hath buried deep his book ;
Armour rusting in his halls
On the blood of CliiFord calls ;—
' Quell the Scot,' exclaims the lance,
' Rear me to the heart of France/
Is the longing of the shield —
Tell thy name, thou trembling field ;
Field of death, where'er thou be.
Groan thou with our victory !
Happy day and mighty hour.
When our shepherd in his power,
MaiI'd and hors'd, with lance and sword.
To his ancestors restor'd.
Like a re-appearing star.
Like a glory from afar.
First shall head the flock of war!"
" Alas I the fervent harper did not know
That for a tranquil soul the lay was framed.
385-
Who, long compell'd in>4iumble walks to go,
Was.soften'd into feeling, sooth'd, and tamed.
In him the savage virtue of the race,
Revenge, and all ferocious thoughts were dead :
Nor did he change ; but kept in lofty place
The wisdom which adversity had bred.
Glad were the vales, and every cottage hearth ;
The shepherd Lord was honour'd more and more :
And ages after he was laid in earth,
* The good Lord Clifford' was the name he bore."
After having thus cited from the poems of another
on the subject of Lord Clifford, it may appear pre-
sumptuous to add any thing of my own. I hppe I
shall not be considered as attempting any rivalry by
the insertion of the three following sonnets, which
have occurred to me, in the progress of this article.
SONNET I.
I wish I could have heard thy long-tried lore.
Thou virtuous Lord of Skipton ! Thou could'st well
From sage Experience, that best teacher, tell.
How far within the Shepherd's humble door
l!ives the sure happiness, that on the floor
Of gay Baronial Halls disdains to dwell,
Tho' deck'd with many a feast, and many a spell
Of gorgeous rhyme, and echoing with the roar
Of Pleasure clamorous round the fuU-crown'd bowl !
Thou had'st, (and who had doubted thee?) exprest.
What empty baubles are the ermin'd stole.
Proud coronet, rich walls with tapestry dresf,
VOL. IX. C c
S86
And music lulling the sick frame to rest !
—Bliss only haunts the pure contented soul f
SONNET II.
Month after month, and year succeeding year.
When still the budding Spring, and yet again
The eddying leaf upon the dingy plain
Saw thee still happy in thy humble sphere.
But still as each return of foliage sere.
And still as on the warm banks of the lane,
Shelter'd with covering wood, the primrose train
Began to ope their yellow buds, a tear
Would start unbidden from thy placid cheek.
And a deep pang would swell thy honest heart.
At hopes so long deferr'd ; — yet could'st thou speak,
Would'st thou not thus the precious truth impart 1
*• Dearer those scenes, tho' roix'd with many a sigh.
Than all the joys that Grandeur can supply !"*
SONNET 111.
Stietch'd en some mountain's side, commanding wood.
Tale, mead, and spreading lake, with distant hills
lligh tow'ring from its feet, thy bosom fills
Its large desires with a sublimer food :
Tliine eye is upward bent on every cloud.
And ever as thy shaping fancy wills.
Thy raptur'd sight with air-drawn visions thrills^
And thy soul flies on heavenly forms to brood.
Ah ! how are then forgot the groveling joys
Of earth's ambition vile, the din of war.
The tinsel pomp that human cares employs.
The trumpet thro' each tower resounding far !
Hopes, terrors, virtues, crimes, and flattering state.
All fade before the shepherd's simple fate !
3S7
This Peer's son, Henry 1st Earl of Cumberland,
" was bred up, for the most part, in his childhood
and youth with Henry VHI. Living so much
about the court drew him so much to love London,
and the southern parts, as that there he became a
great waster of his estate, which caused him after to
sell much fair lands and possessions, and more
than his ancestors had consumed in many years
before.
" It also, as is thought, made him more stout and
less submitting to his old father, Henry, Lord Clif-
ford, than otherwise he would have been ; for there
were great dissensions betwixt him and his father,
especially after his father was married to his second
wife.
** After many royal favours, the greatest, wherein
the said King did express the most of his affection
and respect unto this Earl, was his willingness to
have his niece the Lady Eleanor Brandon, his
youngest sister's youngest daughter, married to this
Earl's eldest son, Henry Lord Clifford, which mar-
riage was accomplished and solemnized at Midsum-
mer, the 27th year of his reign, in 1537, in the house
of her father Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk,
which was then a goodly palace in Southwark, near
London, and Hard by St. Mary Overy's there, where
the King himself was present in person at the mar-
riage, which marriage was solemnized that time
four years, after the death of the said Lady Elea-
nor's mother, who was Mary the French Queen.
** For the more magnificent entertainment of the
young lady, the great gallery and tower at Skipton
were built, which gallery and tower so suddenly
c c 2
388
built were afterwards the chief residence, when in
Craven, to the Countess of Pembroke and Dorset ;
the round tower thei'e bein^ the said Countess's
lodging chamber — the said castle being totally de-
molished in Dec. 16^9, having been made a garrison
on both sides.
" This Earl of Cumberland was one of the most
eminent lords of his time for nobleness, gallantry,
and courtship. He died April 22, 1542, aged 49.
*« Henry, 2d Earl of Cumberland, was born 1517 ;
married, when about twenty years old, to the Lady
Eleanor Brandon, her Grace, the youngest daughter,
and at length coheir to Charles Brandon, Duke of
Suffolk, by Mary, the French Queen, which Queen
died about four years before her daughter Eleanor
was married.
" Which daughter of hers lived wife to this
Henry, Earl of Cumberland, about ten years and
five months, half of the time thereof when he was
Lord Clifford, and the other half when her husband
was Earl of Cumberland; for she died in Broug-
ham Castle in Westmorland, about the latter end
of November, in 1547, and was buried in the
vault in Skipton church in Craven, leaving but one
child after her at her death, which was the Lady
Clifford, Countess of Derby.
" The Lady Margaret Clifford, when she was
about fifteen years old, was married in much glory
in the chapel at Whitehall, King Philip and Queen
Mary being both present at the said marriage, to
Henry Stanley, Lord Strange, on Feb. 7, 1555.
" Which said Lord Strange, by the decease of his
father, became Earl of Derby on Oct. 4, 1572.
.^89
" He died 1593, and the said Margaret overlived
him^three years and more ; forshedied^Sept. 29, 1596,
in her house, then newly built, in Clerkenwell, with-
out the close, at London, when she was about fifty-
six years old, and was hurried in the abbey at West-
minster.
" She had two- sons by him, who were succes-
sively, one after another. Earls of Derby.
" Her eldest son, Ferdinando, Earl of Derby, died
before her, leaving no children, but daughters,* be-
hind him, the I6th of April, 1594.
" Her 2d son, William, Earl of Derby, died a
little before Michaelmas, in 1641, leaving his son
James, Earl of Derby, to succeed him, who was be-
headed at Bolton, in Lancaster, in Oct. 1651.
" This Henry, 2d Earl, was, in his youth be-
fore he betook himself to a retired country life, a
great waster of his estate, and sold much land,
&c.
" But after, towards his latter end, when the said
Earl lived a country life, he grew so rich, as that he
did purchase lands, and leases and tythes, to a great
value, both of old Sir Thomas Chaloner, the widow
Lady Drury, and others.
" He was much addicted to the study and practice
of alchymy and chemistry, and a great distiller of
waters, and making of other chemical extractions for
medicines, and very studious in all manner of learn-
ing, so as he had an excellent library both of writ-
* These coheirs of Earl Ferdinando were Lady Anne, married to
Grey Brydges, Lord Chandos j Lady Frances, wife of John Egerton,
Earl of Bridgewater; and Lady Elizabeth, wife of Henry Hastings,
Earl of Huntingdon.
390
ten hand books and printed books : to which he waa
exceedingly addicted, especially towards his latter
end, when he had given over living at court and at
London, to which places he came seldom after the
death of his wife^ and, as we have heard, but three
times."*
The Editor trusts he was few readers who will not
be entertained with these interesting anecdotes.
They will now peruse the beautiful Ballad of the
Nut-brown Maid with increased delight, when they
believe it to be founded on the real incidents of a ro-
mantic and illustrious House. Dr. Whitaker's
History of Craven will furnish a multitude of other
curious and amusing particulars.
Aht. DCCCXill. On the Hero of the Nut-brown
Maid — and on Kirke White.
TO THE EDITOR OF CENSURA LlTERARIA.
SIR,
1 WAS much interested by your anecdotes of
the Cliffords in the last Article; but surely the
conjecture of Dr. Whitaker, respecting Henry
Clifford, first Earl of Cumberland, being the
hero of the Ballad of the Nut-brown Maid, though
strengthened by the suppositions of my friend him-
self, must be inaccurate. Dr. Wbitaker's mistake
most probably arose from his unacquaintance with a
prior edition of Arnold's Chronicle to that of 1531 ;
• Harl. MSS. 6177.
391
your's from forgetfulness of the fact, which stands
recorded in your own pages.* The last entry in the
list of mayors and sheriffs, in the copy of Arnold, in
my possession, has the date xviii Hen. VII. or 1502,
in which year the book appears to have been printed.
The subsequent edition, described by Oldys, carries
down the list of mayors, &c. to the xiith or xiiith of
Henry Vlll. or 1521. Now as the Nut-brown Maid
is printed in both editions, it cannot be assigned
to a later origin than 1502, and at that tim&
the Henry Clifford spoken of was only nine years
old ; that he was the hero of the Ballad is therefore
impossible.
The origin of the Nut-brown Maid is certainly a
curious inquiry. If the credibility of a poet's testi-
mony could as readily be admitted in the courts of
literature as in those of Parnassus, we could at once
determine the era in which it was written, though
not its author. Prior says,
" No longer shall the Nut-brown Maid be old,
Tho' since her youth three hundred years have roU'd."
This carries it back to the time of the '* dreadful
Edward;" (Ed. III.) and other passages in Henry
and Emma, which is avowedly founded on the more
ancient Ballad, still more decidedly refer to the reign
of that gallant Prince, who disdaining the inglorious
task of awaiting the coming of an enemy on our own
shores,
*' Led his free Britons to the Gallic war."
* See it in Arnold's Chronicle, Gens. Lit. Vol. f.
•392
The question is whether Prior really had a copy of
the Nut-brown Maid three hundred years old, or
whether he wrote under a common poetical licence,
which ascribes antiquity to things recent, in order to
increase the interest. My own opinion is, that the
Ballad is much more ancient than the Chronicle :
my reasons are, that the latter is more like the over-
flowing of a common-place book, a melange of hete-
rogeneous and collected oddities, than a work of-
any originality, and that the phraseology and ortho-
graphy of the Nut-brown Maid are both of a prior
date to the commencement of the sixteenth century.
Perhaps, however, I am myself mistaken ; and, as
I have my own hypothesis to advance, founded on
what you and Dr. Whitaker* have said, I shall
feel the more easy if 1 am. The more romantic
air which the Ballad would assume, if the personages
could be connected with real history, I must own
would, with me, give it additional interest. I mean
not, however, to take it from the Cliffords.
" The Barony of Westmoreland," says Dr. Whita-
ker, " was the inheritance of Henry Clifford alone."
It was also the inheritance of his father Henry, Lord
Clifford, he whom the circumstances of the times
made a ^ shepherd's boy, who was obliged to put on
various disguises to secure himself from danger ;
and, instead of giving the festive treat in the halls
and palaces of his ancestors, was forced to seek his
own scanty portion in mountain solitudes and wood-
land recesses. He then may be truly said to have been
* This gentleman says, that " the word spleen was introduced
into the English lan^age by the study of the Greek pby siciaos. " I
am pretty sure it may be found in Chaucer.
393'
a "bannyshed man,'' and an " outlawe." For nearly
thirty years lie was obliged to forego the patrimony
of his fathers, and in that period, if, as I surmise,
he was the real hero of the Nutrbrown Maid, the
adventure recorded in the poem took place. The
great lynage of the lady, and her being a BarorCs
childe, agree perfectly with the descent of his first
wife, Anne, daughter of Sir John St. John of Bletsoe.
Was De Clifford, however, * an Erie's son ?'* '
Prior's *' Henry and Emma," though beautiful in
itself, does not please me when considered as " mo-
delled" upon the Nut-brown Maid. The chasteness
and simplicity of the original are all lost in his more
extended poem. He has loaded it with meretricious
ornaments ; he has divested it of grace to make it
fine. He talks of "angry 'Jove," of the "bridled
doves of the Queen of Beauty," of Cynthia, and
Cupid, and Mars, and Saturn, and the Dog-star :
things unheard of in the exquisite piece which he
professes to have taken for his archetype. 1 will
admit that he has written a very elegant poem, but ,
like Pope's translation from the blind Grecian, it is
not Homer. To modernize the Nut-brown Maid
appears to me a desideratum, and 1 should much like
to see it done by your pen.
KiRKE White.
What an amazing reach of genius appears in the
" Remains of Henry Kirke White !" How unfor-
tunate that he should have been lost to the world
* No : but such miaute exactness is not requisite. Edilur.
994
almost as soon as known. I greatly lament the cir-
cumstances that forced him to studies so directly con-
trary to his natural talents : and, though I admire
the resolution with which he compelled his mind to
pursuits uncongenial to his soul, I much wish that
that resolution had not been strained to so high a
pitch. A gentleman, from Cambridge, called on
me some days ago, and said, it was his belief, as well
as of many others at the University, that the imme-
diate cause of the death of this lamented youth was
the very close and severe application by which he
prepared himself for the examinations then about to
commence. He also stated, and 1 think the fact
does honour to Cambridge, that the prize in every
class, on which he had written, was awarded to him
as if living, through the superior merit of his pro-
ductions, and that the rewards thus deserved were
afterwards sent to one of his brothers.
Art. DCCCXIV. Sei^eral Letters of Mr. William
Hammond during his three years'' Travells abroad
in France, Italy, Germany, and Holland, [frofn
Jan. 2, 1656 to May 6, 1658.J Written by him
unto his father Anthony Hammond Esquire of
Wilberton near Ely, herein inserted and transcribed
ftfler the same copy^s, as they were written by him,
1695.
This is a MS. volume in the possession of William
Hammond, Esq. of St. Albans Court, in the parish
of Nonington, in East Kent, the descendant and
heir male of the ingenious writer. Anthony Ham-
mond, Esq. the father of the author, whose princi-
395
pal seat was at St. Albans Court, died at liis house
at Wilberton in the Isle of Ely, Sept. 24, 1661. He
married Anne daughter of the celebrated Sir Dudley
Digges of Chilham Castle in Kent, and had by her
also a younger son, Anthony, who was seated at
Somersham in Huntingdonshire, and dying 1680,
was grandfather of James Hammond the elegiac
poet, who died June 7, 1742.*
The following extracts regarding Christina
Queen of Sweden, are curious, as they were writ-
ten by an eye-witness.
MOST HOND. FATHER, " Lj'ons, Aug. 28, 1637,
" The third of this present month I presented you
my most humble thanks for your's of June 29th
wherein 1 also presumed to enclose one for my
uncle Edward Diggs. The rarity and variety of
things incident to a traveller that lyes long at the
same place, makes this paper come somewhat tardy
after the rest. And since you have thought fit to
communicate my uncouth lettres to my uncle, I am
almost ashamed to write to Wilberton, when 1 can
ad({ nothing that may tend to the satisfaction of his
queries. 1 hope before I quit these southern parts
to be able to give a general and coherent account
which may in some manner expiate the small pro-
gress I seem to make in the beginning : Chi ha
tempo, ha vita, says the Italian; and if my uncle
please but to allow me time enough, I need not
despair to render a rational account of a matter of
fact.
* From authentic family papers. See also Gent. Mag. Vol.
LVII. p. 780 J and Pedigree of the Hammond Family in " Tnpo-
graphicid Mucellanies, n91f' 4to.
396
*' The remarkable variety that this summer has af-
forded us, is that 'tis now at length our turns to
have a sight of the rambling Queen of Swede;
who lies incognita at a raarchant's house, about a
league from this town. There have been already
sent over so many ingenious descriptions of her,
that I dare not venture upon any thing that way ;
yet I believe the subject wou'd be different enough :
for hitherto she has been described in princely and
magnificent entrys and treatments; now the relator
may search out expressions of a royall poverty,
treated by the unmercifuU haughty ness of a mar-
chandising towne. Really, Sir, it is a very sensible
and feeling sight to us ramblers, to see the Queen of
Travellers crawle neglectedly thorow the proud
streets of Lyons in a thredbare coach, drawn by six
consumptive horses, that seem to have been kept at
the same rock with Pharaoh's lean kine. Yet this
cloude makes her quitt neither her spritely carriage,
manlike behaviour, nor her hermaphrodite's habit.
She still retains the humour of despising her own
sex, and takes notice of no visits or obeisance, that
women do to her. Our curiosity carried us t'other
day to the country house where she lodged. The
roome we saw her in, was decently spacious ; at the
furthermost end of which she was merrily reading a
copy of verses to a RecoUecte-Monke and two mar-
chants ; the other end was filled with spectators,
most of which were the chief dames of Lyons, who
had stay'd there almost an hour without the least
notice, or nod of the Queen's; and at length were
as negligently frighted out, by her Majesty's manly
397
Collation brought, consisting chiefly of Frontinac
wines and Westphalia bacon.
" Her traine was made up of all quarters of Eu-
rope, being in number about fifteen or twenty lusty
fellows ; some Italians, some Spaniards, but most
Swedes, and many French. She keeps but one dirty
creature of her own sex, who has no office about
her person, but serves only to keep keys and looke
after linen. The cause of her stay here is to wait
the King's answer, of whom she begs leave to spend
the rest of her time at Paris. 'Tis thought she may
prevaile, coming in season, now his Majesty is
pleased with his victorious reducing of Montmedy."
Paris, Jan. 16, 1658.
" The Queen of Swede has utterly lost her credit
in France and Italy, since her putting to death the
Duke of Parma's kinsman, her Major Dorao; and it
is said she is now gone to visitt Madrid."
" Florence, June 9, 1658. '
" Since my last of the 24th of May, I am gott up*
as far as Florence, whither I arrived on the 6th of
this June. The obliging civility of my uncle Mar'
sharrCs* nephew, Mr. Brown, forc't me to spend
these fifteen days about the sea- coasts in seeing
Lucca, Pysa, and Leghorne; where for five or six
days I lodged in his house. Really, sir, the town
itself is able to tempt a traveller to spend some days
in considering it, which, though it be but little, is so
• Who married his aunt The writer himself afterwards married
W% cousin, the daughter of Sir John Marsham.
neat and compacted, and does so swarm with people
of all nations ; and that multitude does so unani-
mously consent in an industrious way of raising their
fortunes ; that, methinks, my time was not ill spent
in staying there a little to view them. 'Tis now the
shop and center of the Mediterranean trade ; and by
the conversation I have had with the marchants and
captains of ships, I fancy myself to understand all
the several parts of the Straits ; and, am afraid, un-
derstand more of marchandisingthan ever my brother
D.* will doe ; sed ne sutor ultra crepidam. Be
pleased to pardon the physician, that meddles in
feeling the pulse of all sorts of affairs, as well as that
of all kinds of bodys. 1 will promise constancy to
the profession you have put me upon; for, since I
have escaped that grand temptation of turning soul-
dier, when in my journey from Lyons to Marseilles
I was so caress'd and allur'd by the French nobility,
'twill argue but a very low spirit to become waver-
ing at the baits of any other profession, since all
must truckle to that of war. 1 have not yet been
.long enough in Florence to know whether I like it,
or dislike it ; but however I find it, I am resolved
Padua shall be my summer's seat, that by fulfill-
ing my promise 1 may expiate the fault, I com-
mitted, in making such huddling haste out of
Paris.
" I have not yet had the opportunity of hearing
of the progress of the French army in Mantua; but
when I came to Padua, one of the French colonells
has promised to keep correspondence with me. We
* Qa. Dudley Hammond ?
399
hear tbat the poor Queen of Sweden is secured
in Home, and therefore likel^^er to end her famous
rojall travells in a prison, than in a monastery. The
reason why is not yet publickly known : some say,
'tis in revenge of the murder of her Major Domo in
Fontainbleau ; but most that she meddled in the
Duke of Modena's interest against the Pope ; and
that at her passage from Madeira to Ferrara she
endeavoured to make Ferrara revolt to its ancient
master, the Duke. 'Tis also confirmed that the Ve-
netians have lost their impregnable fort on the isle
of Corfu, by an accident of gunpowder.
" These seas are now famous for none but our
English exploits ; and Generall Stokes is now scowr-
ing of them with some fifteen men of war; he lately
took severall of the Majorcans, and executed some
eight or ten English at Marseilles, whom he took
in those enemy's vessells. The marchants expect
him every week at Leghorne, where, 'tis thought,
he will revenge himself of the town and castle, for
having shot above two hundred shot at him, when he
was last there ; upon his siezing upon a Majorcan
in their road."
« Paris, Oct. 27, 1658.
" I dare not presume to give any account of for-
reigne affairs, having missed the Gazettes for some
weeks ; but I may safely confirm the report of the
famous Venetian victory over the Turks. What
the proceedings of the King of Sweden are, is very
doubtfully reported ; some say, he carries all before
him ; others, that the Russian has fallen upon him
400
and besieged and taken Riga, which makes him
leave the thoughts of Dantzlck, and take care of his
own kingdome. The manJy Queen of Swede
about six weeks since past thorow this town with
great applause, and visiting the King at Compeigne.
is now returned into Italy. We hear of a loss the
King of Spain had hy sea in some of his West India
ships; but are as yet very far from a certaine rela-
tion of it, further than that they were taken by our
English vessells. But of all countrys I can hear
least of England and its affairs. Our Protector's
Resident lyes still in Paris ; and when I am thorovvly
settled, I shall endeavour to infurme myself from
him, or his followers, being desirous to know the
effects of this sifted Parliament."*
Art. DCCCXV. Cibber^s Lives of the Poets.
Of the Lives of the Poets published in 1753 by
Cibber or Shiels, a full account has been given in
the late edition of the Theatrum Poetarum, p. li.
but the advertisement of that work appears entitled
to a more lasting register than the columns of a
newspaper.
♦ See Milton's Epigram on the Queen of Sweden, beginning
" Bellipotens Virgo ;" and many curious particulars of this eccen*
trie woman, with a print of her, in Todd's Milton, VI. 266 ; where
ate anecdotes of her by another Kentish man — Dean Bargrave-^
copied by Mr. Todd from the Dean's MS. notes to a book in the
library of Canterbury Cathedral. The print of her, here mentioned,
is taken from Deau Cargrave's own sketch, which he had cut in brass.
See a. p. 270.
5
401
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ire-
land, to the present time. Compiled from ample
materials, scattered in a veriety of books, and espe-
cially from the MS. notes of the late ingenious Mr.
Coxeter and others, collected front this design. Bt/
Mr. Gibber. Printed, SfC, This worif is published on
the following terms. 1. That it shall consist of
four* neat pocket volumes, handsomeli/ printed.
2. That it shall be published in numbers, 8fc. 3.
That five numbers shall make a volume ; so that the
whole work will not exceed the price of ten shillings
unbound.
** To the public.
** The professors of no art have conferred more
honour on our nation than the poets. All countries
have been diligent in preserving the memoirs of those
who have, either by their actions or writings, drawn
the attention of the world upon them. It is ^ tri-
bute due to the illustrious dead, and has a tendency
to awaken in the minds of the living, the laudable
principle of emulation. As there is no reading at
once so entertaining and instructive, as that of
biography, so none ought to have the preference to
it. It yields the most striking pictures of life, and
shews us the many vicissitudes to which we are ex-
posed in the course of that important journey. It
has happened that the lives of the literati have been
less attended to, than those of men of action, whe-
♦ The work extended to five volumes, — a similar exceeding oc-
curred in Warton'3 History : the advertisement of the first volume,
says " this work will consist of two volumes, 4to.
VOL, IX. D D
40S
ther in the field or senate ; possibly because accounts
of them are more difficult to be attained, as they
move in a retired sphere, and may therefore be
thought incapable of exciting so much curiosity, or
affecting the mind with equal force : but, certain it
is, that familiar life, the knowledge of which is of
the highest importance, might often be strikingly
exhibited, were its various scenes but sufficiently
known and properly illustrated. Of this, the most
affecting instances will be found in the lives of the
Poets, whose indigence has so often subjected them
to experience variety of fortune, and whose parts
and genius have been so much concerned in furnish-
ing entertainment to the public. As the poets
generally converse more at large, than other men,
their lives must naturally be productive of such in-
cidents, as cannot but please those, who deem the
study of human nature, and lessons of life, the most
important.
" The lives of the Poets have been less perfectly
given to the world, than the figure they have made
in it, and the share they have in our admiration,
naturally demand. The dramatic authors indeed
have had some writers who have transmitted ac-
counts of their works to posterity. Of these Lang-
baine is by far the most considerable. He was a
man of extensive reading, and has taken a great
deal of pains to trace the sources from which our
poets have derived their plots ; he has given a cata-
logue of their plays, and, as far as his reading served
him, very accurately : he has much improved upon
Winstanley and Philips, and his account of the poets
403
is certainly the best now extant.* Jacob's per-
formance is a most contemptible one ; he has given
himself no trouble to gain iutelligenee, and has
scarcely transcribed Langbaine with accuracy. Mrs.
Cooper, author of ' The Muses' Library,' has been
industrious in collecting the works and some me-
moirs of the poets who preceded Spenser, but her
plan did not admit of enlarging, and she has furnished
but little intelligence concerning them. The general
error into which Langbaine, Mrs. Cooper, and all
the other biographers, have fallen, is this ; they have
considered the poets merely as such, without tracing
their connexions in civil life, the various circum-
stances they have been in, their patronage, their em-
ployments, and in short, the figure they made as
members of the community ; which omission has
rendered their accounts less interesting, and while
they have shewn us the poet, they have quite ne-
glected the man. Many of the poets, besides their
excellency in that profession, were held in esteem by
men in power, and filled civil employments with
honour and reputation ; various particulars of their
* Wiiistanley published his volume as " a brief Essay of the works
and writings of above two hundred poets," though his account only
extends to one hundred and forty-five j and of those given, as a
brief Essay, both incomplete and incorrect : this deficiency obtained
the work more notice than has attended Langbaine's " Account of
the English Dramatic Poets," which is still of intrinsic value,
though neglected. " This author has been by many reflected on in
order to acquire a reputation to themselves, yet he never had, uor
perhaps ever will have a competitor for industry, diligence, and
exactness, in the province he has undertaken." MS. note on L.
1760.
D d2
404
lives are to be found in the annals of the age in
which they lived, and which were connected with
those of their patron.
'^ But these particulars lie scattered in a variety
of books, and the collecting them together and pro-
perly arranging them, is as yet unattempted, and is
no easy task to accomplish. This, however, we
have endeavoured to do, and if we are able to exe-
cute our plan, their lives will prove entertaining,
and many articles of intelligence, omitted by others^
will be brought to light. Another advantage we
imagine our plan has over those who have gone be-
fore us in the same attempt, is, that we have not
confined ourselves to dramatic writers only, bpt
have taken in all who have had any name as poets,
of whatsoever class : and have besides given some
account of their other writings ; so that if they had
any excellence independent of poetry, it will appear
in full view to the reader. We have likewise con-
sidered the poets, not as they rise alphabetically,
but chronologically, from Chaucer,* the morning
* Having mentioned Warton, the name of Chaucer will serve for
the introduction of the following lines, published anonymously, in
1774.
/ On reading tJie criticism, on Chaucer's Squire's Tale in fVarUm's
Historij of English Poetry.
,f* As erst on Cam's green iparge, with sedge bedight,
I mark'd in Chaucer's page how Sarra's Lord,
Begirt with many a swarthy Moorish Knight,
.Crown'd at his birth-day festival the board.
Much did I grieve, that o'er a page so pure
Devouring Time bad cast his dim disguise :
405
star of English poetry, to the present times ; and
we promise in the course of this work, to make
short quotations by way of specimen from every
author, 'so that the readers will be able to discern
the progress of poetry from its origin in Chaucer to
^ts consummation in Dryden.^ He will discover
As April show'rs by gloomy fits obscure ,
The noon-tide raiiance of the smiling skies.
• Lo Warton came — from the romantic tale
To clear the rust that canker'd all around :
His skilful hand unlocks each magic vale,
And opes each flowery forest's rocky bound.
At this, long drooping in forlorn despair,
His painted wing Imagination plumes,
Pleas'd that her favourite strain, by Warton's care,
Its genuine charms add native grace resumes."
These lines must have been Warton's own, as he afterwards used
many of them in his Stanzas to Upton. See his Poems,
* Dryden, in the Astraea Redux, a poem on the Restoration of
Charles the Second, has the following couplet,
" An horrid stillness first invades the ear,
And in that silence we the tempest fear."
Which was ridiculed in these lines,
" Laureat, who was both learn'd and florid,
Was damn'd long since for silence horrid :
Nor had there been such clutter made,
But that his silence did invade ;
Invade and so it might, that's clear;
But what did it invade? an Ear!"
* Capt. Radcliff's News from Hell,
406
the gradual improvements made in versification,
its rise and fall ; and, in a word, the complete his-
tory of poetry will appear before him. In the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, for instance, numbers and
harmony were carried to a great perfection by the
Earl of Surry, Spenser, and Fairfax ; in the reign
of James and Charles the First, they grew harsher ;
at the Restoration, when taste and politeness began
again to revive. Waller restored them to the
smoothness they had lost : Dryden reached the
highest excellence of numbers, and completed the
power of poetry.
*' In the course of this work we shall be particu-
lar in quoting authorities for every fact advanced,
as it is fit the reader should not be left at an uncer-
tainty ; and where we find judicious criticisms on
the works of our authors, we shall take care to in-
sert them, and shall seldom give our opinion in the
decision of what degree of merit is due to them.
We may venture, however, in order to enliven the
narration as much as possible, sometimes to throw
in a reflection, and, in facts, that are disputed, to
sum up the evidence on both sides. But though
Notwithstanding this burlesque, Shakspeare has something like it,
and which perhaps Dryden thought of —
'* The hum of either army stilly sounds.
Henry 5th.
Errat. stilly means continually, &!c. perk, but qu ? [This is copied
from the hand-writing of the late iTr. Farmer, who, from the words
abbreviated, appears to have doubted as to the strict sense of the
word stilly. Mr. Malone explains it gently, lowly.]
407
the poets were often involved in parties, and en-
gaged in the vicissitudes of state, we shall endea-
vour to illustrate their conduct, without any satiri-
cal remarks, or favourable colouring; never de-
tracting from the merit of one, or raising the
reputation of another, on account of political prin-
ciples."
J. H.
END OF VOL. IX.
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Gensura literaria 2d ed.
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