Illustrations of Sterne: With Other Essays and Verses

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Eifo.x Library

M^

ILLUSTRATIONS

of

STERNE, Kc.

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ILLUSTRATIOl^S

of *

STERNE : .

with

OTHER ESSAYS AND VERSES.

BY

JOHN FERRIAR, M. D.

SECOND SDITIOir.

VOL. 11.

Peace be with the soul qf that charitable and coW'-
teous Author, who, for the common benefit qf hn
yellow -authors, introduced the ingenious way qf
Miscellaneous Writing !

SHAFTBSBURt.

LONDON :

Printed
FOR CADELL AND DAVIES I

^y '■' ■ L ' '. ' ' . :

J. AND J. H ADDOC k;/ IIORsV^ARKfiT; ' '
WARRINGTON* • \ '

1812.

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i f f *

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'A"

OTVYO^

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CONTENTS.

Chapter VIL Uncle Toby* if hobby-horse — .
Amours — StOTy of Sorlisi - — --.-----

Chapter VIII. Mr. Shandy's hypothesis of
Christian names — Miscellaneous Illustrations - - - SO

Additional Notes --. - i>7

Of certain Varieties qf Man — 6;$

Menippean Essay on English Historians - - - 99

On the origin of the Modem Art of Fortifi-
cation — - 129

The Puppet-Shew : a Didactic Poem : partly
translated from Addison's Machince Gesticulantes H7

Of Goiius 161

Dialogue in the Shades - — — -183

The Bibliomania, an Epistle 199

A Northern Prospect ------.----- 217

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ILLUSTRATIONS

of

STERNE.

ILLUSTRATIONS,

CHAPTER VII.

Uncle Tobys Jiobby-horse — Amours-^
Story of Sorlisi.

or Augustine has said very justly, in
his Confessions, that the trifling of adults
is called business : majorum nuga negotia
vocantur. The present times are peculi*
arly indulgent in this respect. What
the last age denominated follies, or
hobby-horses, we style collections : Uncle
T oby's library would have required no
apology, among the hunters of old ballads,
and church-wardens' bills of our day.

Vol. II- B

10 ILLUSTRATIONS

I am sensible that a much better defence
might be made for him : it would be
easy to prove the utility of his studies^
and to shew, not only that the fate of
empires has sometimes depended on the
construction of the retired flank of a
bastion, but tiiat without some portion of
his knowledge, it is impossible to under-
stand completely some of tl^c most in-
teresting passages in modern history.
But I am aware that this " sweet foun-
tain of knowledge," as Sterne names it,
is relished by few : it is " caviar'* to the
generality of readers. They will probaWy
feel more interest in the curious coin-
cidence between the story of Widow
Wadman, and one which made a great
noise ip Ge(:many, a little after the mid*
die of the last century. The origin of
the lady's digress was nearly the same,
but her conduct was very different from
that of Sterne's heroine, and did the high-
est lionour to her purity.. ^ The misadven-
ture of the gentlemaa happened only

OF STERNE. • H

thirty*six years before the siege of Namur *
by King William, where Sterne laid the
scene of Uncle Toby's wound. The
distresses of this pair, who may be almd^
termed the Abelard and Heloise of (Jer*
many (saving that they prosecuted their
affections with the strictest virtue, en iout

* I am in possession of a very curious account of
the siege of Namur^ published under the immediate
direction of King William iir. in 1695, It is a thin
foiio« of sixty*one pages> with very beautiful plaii%
engraved by order of the king. If the late Lord Orfqrd
had seen this work, he would perhaps have giren William
a place among the Rojral authors. Much personal
pique entered into the contests between that hero, and
Louis XI v. I consider this book as a proof of itn
When Louis took Namur, he published a splendid
account of the siege, in folio. The work which I ix^
despribing was William's retort^ and it concludes wit|^
a triumphant* though dignified enumeration of the in«*
creased difficulties, under which the fortress was r^co-
▼ered firom the French arms. One of the plans repre^
9ents the movements of the covering, aud observing
armies, and bears for its device, the conceit of lions
tearing cocks in pieces, which Sir John Vanbrugh was
blamed for adopting, afterwards, at pienheim. It is
difficult to say» whether the inventor or imitator of such
a Rebus had the worse taste. Vanbrugh has shewed
that he was capable of much better things*

B 2

12 ILLUSTRATIONS

bkn et en tout honneur) deserve to be
more generally known. Their history
has been confined to an obscure bode,*
and has never yet found its way into our
language : I diiall therefore venture to
make a sketch of it.

* My readers may perhaps recollect, that
Charles x. of Sweden invaded Denmark,
in 1659; that after passing the Sound,
and taking the casde of Cronenburg, he
laid siege to Copenhagen ; where he lost
so much time in preparing for a general
assault, that the inhabitants, aided by
the gallant exertions of the Dutch canno-
neers, recovered sufficient spijits to re-
pulse him ; and that the Swedes, after
raising the siege, were attacked and
defeated in tlie Isle of Flihnen, where
the remaining part of their amiy was
obliged to surrender at discretion.

In the battle of Fuhncn, which cost

* Valeiitini's Novell® Medtco-legales ; under the
title of Covjtigiuin Eunuchi, Ai» entertalniiig «ele€tion
might be made from this book.

OF STERNE. 13

the Swedes upwards of two tliousand
men, besides several general officers,
Bartholomew de Sorlisi, a young noble-
man in Charles's service, had the mis-
fortune to receive a mudkcTt sh(A of tiie
most cruel nature. He was speedily
cured, and was enabled, by the fidelity
ci his surgeon, to conceal the coiKW-
qMence& of his wound. Disgusted by
this accident with the army, he retired
to an estate which rihe had purchased in
Pomerania, where he endeavoured to
bury his melancholy in the occupations
of a country-life. But in the course-of
time, the desire of society returned, and
having frequent occasions to consult an
old nobleman in the neighbourhood,
respecting the management of his estate,
he insensibly contracted an intimacy
with the family, which consisted of his
friend's wife and daughter. Dorothea
Elizabeth Lichtwer, then a beautiful girl
of sixteen, inspired Sorlisi with so ardent
a passion, tliat he attempted every me*

B 3

U ILLUSTRATIONS

thod to engage her afFections, without
allowing himself to consider the injustice
of his pretensions. His assiduities were
crowned with success; he found his at^
tachment repaid, and soon gained such
an interest in hb mistress's heart, that he
demanded her in marriage. As he had
become a ^vourite with the whole fa-*
jaily, his proposals were readily ac^
cepted ; and if he could have suppressed
.bis secret consciousness, happiness and
joy would have appeared to court him.

Unfortunately, his alliance was dis^
agreeable to some of the lady's relations,
for three excellent reasons : he was ^
stranger, a roman catholic, and his fa-
mily had been but recently ennobled by
Christina. These disqualifications, how-*
ever, might have been surmounted,
especially as Sorlisi, about this time^
became known to the Elector of Saxony,
who appointed him one of his cham-
berlains; but an unexpected piece of
treachery put him into the ban^ of . his
enemies.

^^F 'STERNIS. H

Sorlisi happenedrito cbnsult the p4iy^
sician usually employed in. the Lichtwfi*
family, and in the confidence wbteh
naturally arises between medical med
and their patients, had disclosed to hint
the setret which preyed upon his tnitid;
The officious doctor, forgetting not onlj^
bis inaugural oath, but the obligations
#f honour, and gratitude, betrayed bis
|xUient's confidence to the discontenMd
part of the family^ and furnished theifi
with a .tale capable of overwhelming ihh
ofajeptof their hatred ; especially as about
idiis dme, death deprived the lovers of a
powerful friend in Mr, Lichtwer, Many
iineft would have shrunk from the ob-
loquy which was now let loose against
Soriisi, but he faced the storm gallantly^
and by exposing his life in 'some duets
at the onset, obtained f^n exemption from
any farthei* private itisults.

:But the greatest trial of his firmrte^^
^s yet bebihd : it was impossible kmgei-
to conoeal th€f cause of all his Vexations

B 4

M

10 ILLUSTRATIONS

from his intended bride, and it became
necessary for him to explain his real
atuation. What a painful confession for
Sorlisi, desperately enamoured, and yet
touched with the nicest feelings of ho-
nour! What reproaches might he not
expect from his mistress, when she dis-
covered her affections to be fixed on a
shadow ; the fervent expectations of love
and youth deceived ; with the prospect
of infamy and scorn chnging to her
future connection. Could an inexperi-
enced girl conquer such alarming ob-
stacles to his pursuit ? Sorlisi determined
to try. How he managed this delicate
communication ; with what preparatives
and softenings he introduced his melan-
choly narrative ; and with what emotion
be appealed to the generosity of the fair
one, and the compassion of the matron,
we are left to imagine. Madame de
lichtwer seemed inclined to give up the
match; but the amiable Dorothea de-
clared that no misfortune could affect

OF STERNE. IT

her attachment, and that she was deter-
mined to pass her life with Sorlisi, under
every disadvantage. So exalted a strain
of tenderness could not fail to produce
acquiescence and respect -in the heart of
a mother, and the lovers were soon after
betrothed, in presence of Madame de
Lichtwer and a select party of friends.

To complete their marriage became a
matter of difficuly, for several theologtsts
had taken . the alarm, and murmured so
loudly against the proposed scandal, that
in consequence of the machinations of
their enemies, it was evident that every
clergyman would be deterred from so-
lemnizing the nuptials.

In this urgency^ it was again neces-
sary for Sorlisi to undergo the mortifica-
tion of repeating his unhappy case. He
drew it up in August, 1666, fpr the
opinion of the Ecclesiastical Consistory
at Leip^c, using the feigned names of
Titius and Lucretia, and giving the best
turn to the matter that it would bear.

18 ILLUSTRATIONS

The' Consistory, availing itself of a very
iDtosiderate distinction,* gave a favour-
table answer; though they acknowledged,
'that the impossibility of having ofi&pring
was the only one out of eighteen reasons,
which Luther admitted as a sufficient
plea for divorce.

All that was now wantixig, was a
mandate from the Elector, to authorize
the completion of the marriage ; but as
be thought proper to consult several
tibeologists on the subject, nothing was
decided till the succeeding year, when
the mandate was granted, which im«
posed, at the same time, a discretionary
fine upon Sorlisi, by way of quieting the
tender consciences of those who opposed
the match> for the honour of the Lu-
iberan church.
. The marriage ceremony was therefore.

«

Ut taceai^usy in hac persona virili non qi|idem
talem impotentiam et inhabilitatem obserrari quae gene-
fatio^is actual^ ut scholastic! loquuntur^ sed generationia
^flfectsm taniam impedit* Conjug. Eunuchi, p. i09«

OF ST£RN£t ■■. i»

at length, privately performed at SorMsi's
country-house*

Here the malice of their enemies
might have been expected to rest : but
they returned to the attack with fresh
fury, resolute to dissolve the union,, or
to embitter the lives of this persecuted
pair. Their chaste attachment was to
be subjected to the coarse discussions,
and abominable constructions of duU
theolbgists, animated by party-zeal, and
totally incapable of estimating the send-,
ments of a respectable woman; tbeic
names were to be coupled with scorn
and reproach ; and every efibrt of Teu^n
tonic eloquence was to be employed, to
persuade them that they ought to find
no satisfaction in living together.

The Supreme Ecclesiastical Consistory,
which had hitherto taken no cognizance
of the affair, now interposed, and de-
manded that the parties should be sepa-
rated, to do away the great scandal
which their union gave to the godly.

20 ILLUSTRATIONS

To tkke off the force of this formidable
interference^ Sorlisi had recourse to that
method by which the papal bulls have
been so often tamed. He offered to
enlarge his line to the extent of building
a churchy and providing a stipend for a
preacher. The Consistory could not in-
stantly retract* but tliis proposal certainly
procured time for digesting conciliatory
measiu^. In the mean time, as Ma-
dame de Sorlisi protested that she would
rather die than forsake her husband, her
ghostly directors thought it very edifying
to -punish her contumacy, by refusing
her the sacrament.

In a matter of so much consequence
to the Protestant religion, as the union
of two persons, who preferred each
othiBr*s happiness to the scruples of tlieir
reverences, it was necessary to consult
grave examples. That of our Henry viii.
seems to have occurred to all parties, it
was therefore agreed to collect the opi-
nions of the different theological faculties

\

OP STERNE. i»l

in Germany, of the Lutheran persuasion.
My fair readers must excuse me from
detailing the whole distinctions of those
learned bodies ; for k seems, . that to
counteract the practice of vice, they had
thought it necessary to be completely
masters of every vice in speculation.

The faculty of Hasse-Giesseri professed
great coilcern for the young lady, and
apprehended that her husband could not
fail to torment her inexpressibly ; quoting
the famous passage from St. Basil, '^ iratar
bovis cui comua sunt abscissa, imaginem
impetus fac^re, incredibilem vesaniam
spirando/' After much other reasoning
on her unhappy situation, they con*
eluded, that as the matrimonial cere-
mony had been profaned by this union,
it was necessary to dissolve it immedi-
ately.

I apprehend, that the communication
of the case must have operated in some
very sudden and extraordinary manner
on the faculty of Strasburg, so much

22 ILLUSTRATIONS

agkatlon and wonder do they express on
coming at the knowledge of mch a
scandal, which . they say, ^' cannot be
tolerated, or api^oyed, or defended/'
While they wished to weep tears of blood
over tiie indiscretion of those who had
permitted this union (always saving his
Electoral Highness) they could not avoid
testifying the greatest horror against the
lady's desire to live with her husband :
it was, they said, a moral sin*

So extreme was the agony and per«
turbation of the Strasburg doctors, that
I could not help suspecting their consul
tation had been held in the most dan*
gerous part of a hot autumn ; but, on
referring to the date» I iind it took pLacG
in November, 1667,

Finally, they exclaimed that if the
young couple persisted in their, refusal
to separate, they ought to be banished
from a land of piety; and that severe
punishments should be inflicted pn Ma^
dame de Liclitwer, and those relations

OF STERNE.': 2S

who had. encouraged so damnable a
connection.

The matter worked more gently witb
theiiaGulty of Jena. They made somia
allowances for the strength of attachment
which the parties displayed, and appeared^
to experience some faint touches of hu-
manity. They thought, however, that
as the only excusable motive which
could induce Sorlisi to marry at all must'
be the desire of society, he would have
acted more properly, if he had taken
untQ himself some quiet old woman to
manage his family. And for divers other
reasons, which they reckoned vdry solid,*
it was their opinion that a separation
should take place.

The faculty of Kaenigsberg, proceed-
ing on the principle, volenti nan fit injuria f
thought that great regard should be had
to the contentment expressed by the lady,
although they were not quite satished
with the affair. They put a very subtle
case, in which they imagined that even

24 ILLUSTRATIONS

tbc Pope must permit an union of this
kind : '^ so. si maritus quidam a barbaris
castratur et abhinc mulieri suae cohabitare
et carnaliter, ut ante, se miscere voluerit*'*
And upon the whole they concluded,
that the marriage sliould be deemed valid,
and the parties re-admitted to all religious
privileges.

I am most pleased with the decision
of the faculty of Gripswald : they opined,
that as the lady had got into tlie scrape
with her eyes open, they might suffer
her to take the consequences without
danger to their own souls ; and that as
she had been encouraged by her mother
and several friends in her attachment to
Sorlisi, it did not quite amount to a
mortal transgression.

;,While th€^ huge bodies of divinity
thundered forth their decrees, a shoal of
small writers skirmished on both sides*
The noise of the contest occupied the
attention of all Dresden.

One Dr. Bulaeus, on the part of the

OF STERNE. 25

Sorlisi, proved in form, that tlicre was
nothing so very scandalous and alarm\ng
as had been represented, in their mar-
riage. He shewed, with great modesty,
that excepting the certain prospect of
sterility, they had' no peculiar cause of
dissatisfaction, and that other matches,
equally objectionable in that respect,
were often concluded between persons
of very unequal ages. He also shrewdly
observed, that no small scandal had been
given, by the singular discussions ia
which their reverences had indulged ;
discussions which he considered as snares
for their consciences, and not highly
edifying to the public.

An examination of this paper imme^
diately appeared, by an anonymous wri-
ter, who remarked acutely enough, that
the consent of the parties could not ren-
der a compact legal, which was illegal
in its nature; he proceeded to shew
syllogistically, that the lady had been
blinded respecting certain circumstances.

Vol. II. c

20 ILLUSTRATIONS

by the rank and fortune of Sorlisi) i^d

that tliis match was certainly brought

about by the Devil hiin9elf.-*-To strength^

en his argument, he adds the curious

story quoted by Dr* Warton, in his Es^ay

on Pope, respecting the complaints di

a matron against the barbarities of &

certain Italian duke; adding^ by way

of inference, " huic san6 uxori — pins

credendum, quam nostras Marine inex*

pert£e et nescienti quid distent sera lu^

piiiis/' He adds» that it would be harsh

and uncivil to prefer the fancies of a nw

girl, to tlie unanimous sentiments of an

host of bearded civilians*

Another examiner came forth, who
might be suspected, from his manner,
to have belonged to tlie Acuity of Stras^
burg. He declared, that Madame de
Sorlisi lived **in statu peccaminoso, scan*
daloso et damnabili ; " and gave the most
odious turn to the pure attachment she
had manifested. Will it be believed^
that this furious theologist wished that

OF STERNE. 27

the lovers, instead of being married,
had been cudgelled out of their mutual
affection? He supported this extrava*
^nce by the example of Luther, who
«eems to have been fond of using the
nrgumentum baculinum with his friends.
It is well known that he once compelled
a disputant to come into his opinion,
by the dexti'ous application of a good
cudgel ; and the examiner says, he took
the same method with his maid-servant,
who had been silly enough to fall in
iove, and whom he thrashed into a
severer way of thinking.

It would have been easy to have
replied, that Luther shewed a little more
complaisance for the tender passion,
when he sanctioned the bigamy of the
Elector, his patron ; but the retort would
have been ill received at the court of
Dresden. This terrible doctor, however,

literally called out for clubs ; '* ad bacu-
lum, ad baculum quo pruritum extin-
guite ! ''

C 2

28 Illustrations

A milder adversary, moved by the
largeness of the fine which Sorlisi had
engaged to pay, doubted whether the
parties, upon acknowledging the enor-
mity of their offence, might not be
suffered to live together as brother and
sister, a concession which the unfortu-
nate pair seem to have been at length
willing to make. But upon setting aside
the consideration of the money, and
regarding the scandal and danger likely
to accrue to the protestant church, from
such an indulgence, he reluctantly de-
cided in the negative.

After wearying the reader with this^
ledious detail, he will be glad, for more
reasons than one, to learn, that in May,
166S, the Consistory of Leipsic declared
that the marriage ought to be tolerated,
and the parties to be freed from any
farther vexation or prosecution on that
account. At the same time, the Elector,
to prevent the growth of scandal, ordered
that this case should not be considered

OF STERNE. 29

as a precedent, and that no future in-
dulgence of the same kind should be
permitted.

C 5

30 ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER VIIL

Mr. Shandi/s hypothesis of Christian
names — Miscellaneous illustrations — CoU'
elusion.

1 Think it is D*Aubign6 who mentions
a fact, wrought up by Sterne into a
chapter, that the States of Switzerland
proposed the name of Abednego to be
given to one of the children of Henry II.
of France. Sterne transferred the story,
with his usual carelessness, to Francis I.
Burton certainly should have added to
the happiness of being well-born, that
of being well-named ; and this super-
stition has been so conmion among the
learned, that I wonder how it escaped
him.

/

OF STERNE. 5l

In the general theory respecting Chris-
tian names, I am persuaded that Sterne
had in view Montaigne's Essay des Norm.
^ Chaque nation," says Montaigne, " ii
i)tielques noms qui se prennent, je ne
s^su comment, en mauvaise part; et 1
nous, Jean, Guillaume, Benoist.*^ Mr.
Shandy hafi passed a similar condemnap
tian on some English names, to which
vulgar prejudices are attached. I anl
surprised that Sterne should have with-
hsid a, story which Montaigne has toM,
in support of this fancy. He mentions
3 yoiing vcaxif who* was reclaimed from
sL very dissolute oQurse of life, by ^h^
covering that the name of 1 prostitute
whom he went to visit, was Mary. His
Kformation vyas so exemplary/ that A
chapel was built on the spot where hik
house had stoods and on the same ground
wa$ al^rwards erected the church of our
kdy €if Poiofciers; *^ Cette correction^**
says he, '* voyelle et auriculaire, devo-
tieuse, tira droit a Tame :" it was indeed

a palpable hit.

c 4

$2 ILLUSTRAtlONS

*^ A gentleman^ my neighbour/' pro
ceeds the venerable Gascon, ** preferring
the manners of old times to ours, did not
forget to boast oi the proud and mag-
niticent names o( the ancient nobility,
such as Eton Grumedan, Don Quedragan,
Don Agesilan, or to say that on hearing
them pronounced, he felt that they must
be a difibrent kind of people firom PMer,
Giles, and Jacob.

Another passage contwis, I suspect, a
stroke of satire against the Huguenot
where he compliments them on their
subduing the old names of Charles, Louii^
and Francis, and peopling the world with
Methusalem^ Ezekiels, and Malachis;

It is curious enough, that St. Pierre^
a late writer^ should adopt,^ and treat
largely of this hypothecs, without re-
ferring either to Montaigne or to Sterne*
; Pasquier wrote a~ whole chapter, in
his Richercha sur la France, on the

^ In the Etudes de ta Nature, torn. iiL

OF STERNE. IS

fortune attendant on particular names,
allottted to the French monarchs ; but
Morhoff, who treats gravely of the fata^
lity of Christian Names^ goes much far-
ther, and asserts, that the evil influence
of the original name may be corrected
by assuming another. " Notarunt non-
nulli in£austorum nominum impositione
fortunam bominum labefactari, eorumimf-
mutatwne quoque immutari.* This would
have been a good quotation for Mr J
Shandy, at the Visitation.
- On one occasioh* ^Sterne has pressed a
name into this service to which he had
no right. . '' But who the duce has got
l^d dovim here^ beside her ? quoth my
father, pointing with his cane to a large
tomb-*--as he walked on — It is St Optal^
ar, answered the sacristan-*— And pro-
perty is St Optat placed ! said my
&ther : and what is St. Optat's story I
continued he. St Optat, replied the

« Morboff. Polyhistor. torn. i. p. U$g § aL

saaisUnt was a bl^op» I U^)ugbt sc^
by heaven ! cried 9iy fatber^ iqterruptr
ing him^-*St. Qptat { bow should %. Qptat
fail?"* UnluckUy >)r ail tliis gpo4
laillery, the saint's nan)^ wa$ Qptatifh
which is quite a difieirent affiiir^ unl^
the world should he disposed to admit
the sincerity of the n^lo episcyntffii Ji
Sterne bad looked into PaaqukHft b»
ought hav^ found otfoeir pron^isiqg nanM^
such as St. OppoA'^ynet St. PrQte$.tiatt ao4
several others; Machiavel too utfiKiM
ifs, that, the iirpt pope who altered his
ngme.w^ 09pu(cu$;.he changed \tut
^&^h ^^9fn Imdi^ike.df the.tiormerrt
but indeed all tbme curimities are, aa
Diogenes said on. anoUi^ $ubje?t» .#i7iii^
ktii»m^M^ great marvels for fools.

In th9 F^^^t state of kDowiedgCj, it
wpuld be unpardonable t<i omit a remmrk,
with which an author like Sterne wouU
make bUnselC very merry. It relates to

QiB 3TEiiN£. 3^

the passage, in wbicb jMx. Shindy tceate;
the name of TRISTRAM with ^mcb indigo
nity^ and demands of his supposed ad rer-*
sary, ** Whether he had ever remem*
bered, — whether he had ever read,— or
whether he bad ever heard tellx)f a man,
called Tristram, performing any thing
great or worth recording I r--^^v^he*
would sayr«^Tfti8nrBAW l-^Tbe tbi»g if
impwsible ! '' A student j^f the ffi^if^Qn
able black'letter erudition would bav^
triumphed, w proclaimiQg tb^ redwbted

SirTri^tom, Kfiight of the ^u|)4^h)^
and one of the mo^ fa^lQUS Knights^
errant upon reii^ord* &9rne mil^ht have
replied:

Koft tcriblt^ capis Ctfiniaa nenio Itgit;^

and indeed hi^ pleasant hero has lio
r^emblance to the preux chevalier.

I have a few observations to add,
which are quite unconnected with each
other. Sterne truly resembled Shake^

* « Martial, lib. iu

36 ILLUSTRATIONS

sjpeare's Biron, in the extent of his depfe-
dations from other writers^ for the suppljr
of Tristram :

Hb eye begot occasion for his wit :
For ev'ry object that the one did catch/
The other tnni'd to a mirth^moring jest

Burton furnished the grand magazine^ ^
but many other books, which fell inci-
dentally into his hands, were laid under
contribution.

I am sorry to deprive Sterne oi the
following pretty figure, but justice must
be done to every one.

"In short, my father— ~^vanced
so very slowly with his work, and I
began to live and get forward at such a
rate, that if an event had not happened
— &c. I verily believe I had put by my
father, and left him drawing a sun«dial,
for no better purpose than to be buried
under ground/' ♦

* Tris. Shandy, toI. y, dnp. l6.

OF STERNE. 57

Donne concludes his poem entitled
The Will, with this very thought :

And all your graces ao more use shall ba?e
Than a sun-dial in a grave.

I must ako notice a remarkable pla«
giarism, in the character of Yorick,
vol. i. chapter xii, " When, to gratify
*^ a private appetite, it is once resolved
'^ upon, that an innocent and an help-
*^ less creature shall be sacrificed, 'tis an
easy matter to pick up sticks enow
from any thicket where it has strayed,
to make a fire to offer it up with/'
This is taken, almost verbatim, from

(he Bacon I AN A.

I have said that Sterne took the hint
of his marbled pages either from Swift,
or the author of Grabriel John, quisqids
fiat Hie. There is no great merit in his
mourning pages for Yorick, which arc
little superior, in point of invention, to
the black borders of a hawker's elegy,
yet even here an o/iginal genius has
anticipated him.

§€

Sn ILLUSTRATIONS

Every <Mie knows the black pitges' in
Tristram Shandy.; that of prior date b td
be found in Di« Fludd -s Ulriiuque cosmi
Historia,* and is emblematic of the
chaos. Fiudd was a man of extensive
^udition> and ^considerable observation^
but his fancyj( naturally vigorous, was
fermented and depraved, by astrological
aud cabbalistic researches. It will afford
a proof of his strange tkncies, and at the
same time do away ail suspicion of Sterne
in this instance^ to quote the ludicrous
coincidence mentioned by Morhofi; b<s
tween himself and this author. " Cog*-
tandi modum in nobis et speculatiohis
illas rationum, mirific^ quodam in loco,
videlicet in libro de mt/stka cerebri ana*
tome [Fluddius] ob oculos ponit. Solent
ab anatomicis illic delineari genitalia
menibra, utriusque sexus, quod processus
quidam et sinus, eum in modum liguratt
sunt. Hie Fluddius invenit, non quod
pueri in faba, illic dicit gencrari cogita-

* Page 26.

•OF STERNE. 59

tioDes ; quod inibi mirum visum est, cum
ego aliquando joculare carmen de ente
raUanis 6criberem> 6t> ferente ita genio
carminis^ joci gratia finxissem, illic ge«
aerarl entia ratidnie^ ^Kxstea cUm incidt
in istud , Fluidity q^od ne somhiando
quidem cogitavek^ndfy invenisse me, serio
haeCja$seria;|iuddipw"* '

I am notjacquaintcd with the founda^
tion of the carious passages respecting
the possibility of baptizing infants m
utera,^ but I find that Mauriceau adverts
to the circumstencev in his attack on the
Csesarean operation : *' il n' y a pas d' oc-
casions ou on ne puisse bien donner le
Bapt^me h V enfant, durant qu' ii est
encore au ventre deia mere, estant facile
de porter de 1* eau nette par le moyea
du canon d' une seringue jusques sur
quelque paitie de son corps"; — He then
obviates a difficulty un thought of by
Sterne's doctoi^; which persuades me

* MoriioflT. Polyhist. Philoi. lib. ii,. p. I, cap. 1.^.
t Trfsiram Shandy, voU i, chap. xx. '^

iOr iLLUSTSATIONiS

ihat this {)assage of Mauriceau had not
occurred to him — '* et il serolt inutile
d' allcguer que V eau n' y peut pas etre
conduite^ k cause que V enfant est ea*
yelop^S de ses membranes^ qui en em-
pi^chcnt ; car ne s9ait-on pas qu' on les
peut rompre tr^ ais6aient» en cas qu' dies
ne le fussent pas, apres quoi on peut
toucher effectivement son corps/' ♦

This writer has also mentioned the
mischievous effect of strong pressure^
applied to the heads of very young chil-
dren ; which is connected with another
tlieory that Sterne has diverted himself
witi). I have not met with the original
of it in my reading, but will give a
passage from Bui wcr*s Anthropometamor*
pilosis, analogous to Mauriceau's.-f-

* Mauric. Maladies des Femmes GrosMSf p. 347.
(edit Sme. Uo. 1681-)

f I knew a gentlenan who had divers sonsj and %hm
midwiTes and nurses with headbands and stroking had
so altered the Batural mould of their heads, that they
proved children of a tery weak understanding. His
last son only, upon advice g\\Cu him, had no restraint

^^F STEfiNE. 4f

'^^^jrf* Ts^<)tie ffeisage in thfe seventh
t^ffle^ ' Wbi^h the^ cffCiAristances of
Stefift^ d^ath reiider pathetic. ^^A hb^
lebeti ukiihe doctiine of^ pre-sentimdnl;
wpu)d thinfi: itla propttor Hts' theory. '(vR^
is.<as ;iatriMrtj^'IasiSwi&'5/ digression' on*
soSidtieBS^ in the Tafe of a Tub. ? ^*

' .^ Was I in^ q» cortditiontoi'StipukatKI
witbDe^tb^i^^— 4l should i^rtaiftlyi declare
agtinstsobfriitdhg ta it befdib niy^te^;
and- tliei^fore t ^' MVfen n^io^idly '^^ink
iipon the mode fffild ir^rtflk^of tbt^^g
catastrophe^ • whic^ ^^{endralljr takes up
and torments my thoughts as ihiich : asT
the/ eattiifropb^i-iftietl^ but t cbnstaktly
draw, the cumiHf^aerii^s it witli Ihis wishy
that libeiDbpdser :ofia1L%i(ig^im
«der it, thatifrliappdn nc* to me in my

owii hottscH-^bii^'i^thier iri^sonae decent

'u\ : »;iV» :?•-- w; -Mi ;- ^ . I' '. ■■

ipjipiUBdjupi^^fba 99U|Hr)4 gif9)vth of hU heiwi, but was

left, free from ttu; coercive power of headbanda ^and

olhto tinificlal viblehce. ' WUos^ li^ad. aUhough it wer6

1[>igger, yet be bad more wit ignd understanding tbaa

Artificiai €kmigeUnf, f^ 42.

Vol. 1L i>

49 ILLU9T«tATIQMS

MWr7**r-AI^P<n«;,-^I know ityr- tiwjiqoii*

<^ii pf my 6i*m4s» md xhahtsi Mrwta*
of wiping my ^ws wnA smo^v^gmf.

pittow* wiU so. cructfy my aoul^ tlnifc>i
tliaU 4te af SL <tt8tcnf»r wbtdktiny i^y^
aioiin it not aWMO af : ;b\it ia an inn^
the few cold offices I -Wanted^ WovM te
pwch^Med wink' a few guineas, and paid
«• wkbfta iMidMtiiifaed but !pi«aaiii>t
^ttMtt^' hk known that Acrne diviil
lAinied lai^pn^f^. and I iiave beea ttM^
tfm hid dtleiidiliiti c«Uied Umereaitf

^pinog* ..•: •■'■ • ;'.•••

Y«| » |»r«gmph jnlKiriwt-s History of
bis QWD; TiMA» has hesk pdiatod oat, in h
p^ripiii^^ w>MJc>^; Aram ^^ :lhe

smUp!)etKt« Mt4 ^fmtims of 6t^me,> iil
#t P«^^fi<r» w«re,«Af|iMi!^MMk < . TMs
appears to me one of the most curious
detections <>f bis imitatiiMtt; but 1 shatf

«£*>« s»}fpr^54 if xmy «lfewn «qvalbr

i:

*;0entleman*8 Magazine^ fer Jane, l79Si .lyyjfH
the fignaliiFe. i^ vBa* Fi^^\ /^^ v ^

f .: t JO r

mm%p9Cfcd, ^ouM be noticed kenafteri
7he extract fipcmi Bumet fottdnvt :
y "^.He [Aicltbifibopi Lbightoh] uMi
#teiitamy, that if he wcve to <)biMi»«'i
filM^ la die in, k flhouU be an ifitiV'!J^
looking Ukm a pHgrWn's going bdaltv
to wiMin thio : iiK>rkl iira3 aU as aiai inn^iiirf
who nras weaqr of thenoiae znAJCoi^£uiAm
m it He added, thai the officious tikib
dfiitte9B jaod cate iof firieads was an ^entiti*
gkmeDt to a djrkii; hiao; andftbacthc
nocottoeroed attendancei of thoM ^fatt
coutd be (Mocunidinauchaplaofv^voiild
give }es$ disty vbane&" *

Thefi^laonraeaiCdiis thought^ Mw^
ev6f# k 'm tim Cato p£ Cicero : ^^ £ic fitt
vt» cBflcwda tao^am hospitb^ non tani*
quam «ai tlaoM^x «ommorandi eniaa na»^
um difmtarima jM\m dedit, Hon bid>i«*

gyric on the lUerary benefits of shaving :
** I maintaiil h^ (be conoeitet i>f a roo^-

i^v.:.L V--. >..i.L !■■ •"-■■ .._■•!' ." '

# Vol ii. p. 259, »To; * ' i *
D2

Di ILLUSTRATIONS

bed'rded'fiiiiQ arc seven years moretefM
and juvrafiieiLlbr .one' single operation^
l^y i^jtbejrl^idbot. run: a ri^' of: being
a^iftUfWlrlqutte amray, inigbt be carried u^'
Ipiy poniinualsli^vings, to the veryliigfacsC
pitebi ! of. .sublimity." ♦ It is ati bonoup
fftitliink like great men ; upon this occa^*
^MfiU; I iOiudt introduce Sterne to no less
a<|)9i'SQimgd than the Macedonian hero^
Qfitiiri^ rQne of Alexander's battles, Par«

r

in^iio>U[ftcsentedi:hTmabIf> to give aa.
ai^uDt:6f :his arrangements, and t^
fed^ujire' whether any thing remained to
be done: nothing, said Alexander, but;
tlwfc/'the.men should shave. SHAMk!
crifd-Bamuenio: yes, replied the Prince;
do^^yQu.fnot. consider what a batidle-a
long Jbeard aifordfiTito <he enemy ? -f* * - '^
. JRdec J; ,of Russia gave ihe clearest
proof that he reckoned the -custom- ot^
shaskig dstentlidtoih^ progress bf •ciYili-

It. de Barbig«nio^ in Dornayius's Amgl^-
theaUrum Sapientise* . .v ^ .':.:,(, . . ' . » ^ %

OF srauNfe. - 4»

2^4on:Mt 18 pity that' iSfenie flid 4iot
quote this conyincing khuHciil exafrfplA
Horace, too, seems to have thbpgfet'thSE
his philosopher would^^ bar^e. Teasbried
better .without bis feeardj^in ,:: ' ; . i : .3

•>,

Bi te, Datnasippeptiea^e "

Veram-eb consilitii^ doDeD^^lipfi^lMe^ -^

- t Memoifesgarticuli^rarelatif al'hisioiredeFj^ncjO^
Totne 5 ieme. ' * " . -u.'- ^.-. -..j *>iXu . »i»

■ Il» s'en vint dg^c iusques ,i Sens f^w ilrmit U deoe
tout autouCy et leur nt sigmner qu'ns rendis^iu la
intle mi'Roy CtiArlf^! mam ils ir^eh rbtilcnnsntp*rlieft
fipTQf . I])94fn> cstq^^dqla part da QaiiplMn tt.Sdgnear
de Boutonvilliers d tout environ troi3 feps coxphataiUL
L4 fut le roy Charles, le roy Henri, Si' 'le t^x^c de
Boiirgbngne sept jbuit» k^uit <)u'il« VontussMt'^rle-
U^ntf^: : rnais qqap4 iU fvttbt qu'il yi a^oi^ spgntQld

bieor apper^eyt qu'ils etoieut en 'daifger) fut yef^-a^9d$
prcs de.la porte. pour parlor a eux, il yint d.luiui^i
giwriUhonntfc qui a^ff'grande barbe/ mals 'ijuififtJ
Coniiiaillc]ei;vi4 ilM^U ^"^'^p^l^ok^jMli^ji
ivJ, 9* lit n' ODoii .aOf barbe mkux faiii, ,i( wme r#. n' ttm^t
point fctguue 4* couslunie des Anglois. Cela fit qu^tiji^ssitDt

potnt Krguue 4* cousiume aes Jinfiou. ceia nt qu aASsitpt
icm ^V^i^ifkt'^Aikfhe; poW teY^ f^s le d]^C&^l?
niviHMi^^Mi pvlerenltaoi^qu^lB g^rai^ fat fhiu : jn.;

D 3

46 ILLUantATIONS

The plan of the Seotimerital Joumejr
iieeme to have been taken from the Kttk)
l^ftnch pieces, which htve hsA tucii
oelebritjr ; the Voyage of Chapelk and
Bachaumonty and the V^^ageciWcmtalktie^
the merit of which consists in making
trifles con»leraUe* The only fliateml
difference between Sterne's [feasant fn^
ment and these, consists in the want o(
imse. The Freaeh smtknentai tours are
enlivened by rfajrmes of great tarie^,
^ Sb^xw would perhaps have iinitatMl
thm in this respect, if he coqM ha^
tirrilifiu poetry*

^'ildfiqw.is one French writer, whom
Sterne seems to have imitated) it is
MiS^wjiji:^, who^e style^ accordbg to
p'jjUembert, is much more popular in
Enghmd than in his own country. From
him and CrebiUoOp J thinkt Sterne learnt
to practise what^QMindlian had made a
precept : Minii^ est tOTUM ^iqere quam
oitNiA* li9^Ui))| genius enough fot the
attempt, one has ftt^piently fiukd in

• bV STEBKE. ♦?

prttda^^ ^«asur6 by the length of his

^IgnesikNi^ And the etiMr by tt<Il6cttiig M

eiMwittetd r d Sn emei i t and itAbigaiky In

ilk latig^^^. I>f B&Hs StrH^ttkt du ikek

it^iMk- XIF. tayi Vohaire^ mtendeU

fiiifte^ tsKfoMiKf Attt 0it ckerchx de c&ntoT'

liMr. - Our own \irdt6ts are not free fVottt

tiriv (Mor; tud it would Hot be tmwor-

Hvf ib^ taapiitti&ott, ihsit i aetttttadif

^hich i» M'fitueh refined as to itdmit of

several diffiemt senses, may ptthipi k^e

fledirtici cjltiai to atiy seA^* Stehie

hte «ddo0i indulged thc»ef lapses, fyt

whtck lie W8is probably inddbrdl f* ih<f

htiibfpibk foirce of Buitim'sr fihtt Old-

Ett^b^ skewi»

Mi)ra«(4 |Mii t&it i>i0iy tr«H^

Hoa aad, ebuie Km hi*
Cette noire rbetonqne.

. 9i tqp t^rit vent Cachir
I4S Wlks tboM qK'il {lenMSr
BMiev yi »M^ tf ipipl dto

♦ -.

43 ILLUSTRATIONS

Whoever will take the trouble of i€!9mr
paring Sterne's Dialogue withL^hU fiy^
tpetings. In the Sentinieatal Joi^riy^y^^
to that of Jacob with hisAvari(^p^4 k^
Honour,, in the. first part o^\tbe^S#£S^IV
Pjarvenu, will perceive a near ^feseiii-^
hlance. It would be cruel to insert thp.
French declaniattoa. A sliortcr. pfusa^
from the sanae wo^k will shew 4^ t^g
Sbandean manner is very similar to (1)^
of Marivaux. . , .

. Le-Disecteur avoit laiss^ ^parler V aine^^
sans r interrompre, & sembloit mqme i^^
peu |ii(j^u'4 dc 1' c^bstination dc T ^trse. ;,.
' Pre^umt pourtant; ua /air tranquilly ,el;
benin : ma chcre Demoiselle^ ecoutc^
moi, dit il h cette cadette; vous savez
avec quelle affection particuliei;g, ipjycwis
donne mes conseiis a toutes deux.

^.,..

* Compare alsortbe filvt Con^ertaftkm with Me.
Freval, in the .fiaysta'Pltrfenu/ with a'^cenc in the
Sentimental Journ^ V Bajrle, tooy filfntibed Sterne
with some hii«i^-t*ich^Mr. >la<*k»tfrf W^ Exeter has
noticed, in hiyJ%«Mpw' "**^o (H-e^^r^yart of this
book was printed, b^fwe^'taivK Ift^^fsCb^kMb's work.

r* OF STIRNE I 4t

« uO^ r;deniiersi pardes^ ; : h toutes . dcat,
ftaEfi&t{partag6es, de &9on que la Gaidbtts
eB';avoit p'wr le.moiris ies trois quarts Sc
demi pour elle, * dH cb .\ne, fut meme que
iMtf^.refl^etioci •subite.rcru/ii en donna ie
iWte'ik4''mn6Bi*. "• '■'■ '..•"■•, '
c . The admirable story of Uncle Taby
and' thq Fly,-|* which Sterne applied td
ijo€ ^otef>aFatively mild jRieviewers of his
di^r/ codtdipsta Strang qoincidehce.witb
a passage inUh6 £7iA''af&n5 of Balzac^. ".
•.-^'^' Got-^o^ poor devil/' quoth he~4
ff get thee ;gone" — twJiy should. I hur|
" -thefer? This world is surely, wide enough;
*i tOFhoM. both 'thee and mc.'V
' rff N'avCTi jirous point oui pafler/? sayS
Balzac,' 'f de ce Mducheroa qui entra
t* ifem*{!oeil]cHi Rqi:Jaec]ue» d' An^eterre;
?*!uqvjeur;jqyijf il'etoit a la/iS^hasse. Au^
^fM^ .IcVjpjpalkoee prit ;l6 Rpi, U des*
'{.ceftdk 4« Cheval en juradt^ (ce qui
V ImL etfliC: ^jwez prdmaire) il ff appdla

f Tristram Shaady^ vol. iii- chap, ir, :./'. •

iO ILLUSTKATIOKS

f^ aiilheunnix^:il ap^eUa imolenl ie Mem*
^ efta^on^ et fan tkhbswnl; n parole^
f^nuthant anrai^ - lul iKt^il, . n^eii! cv jhrt
^ imex de trm grandt lUymmei fiii Ji ie
*^ iaisse pour te prommar^ sampCU faUk
^^ que tu te viemtes loger dum ma yeuxf^
Sterne is, petliaps^ Uie oolf Writer Who
bas spoken with due pnise of the plei^
sure to be denied torn fith^-poiidt; inr
the Archtnshop^ Dubiavius^ Who pub«
lished a quarto, volaitiet de Pitctni^ hai^
taken tbe matter so comf^ieteljr for
granted^ . that he has not qnce adverted
to it. ^ There is somethings Sir/^ says
Sterne^ '^ in £sh-pond8~43ut ivfcat it is
^ I l€JSi,ve to system^Miildcviand fidbNpond
^ diggBia betwixt 'dn to find oufi<'^4iitt

«' disordeiif transport of bumtfutsy sd
'* ttnacoountabiy bocafaMtiig ki' tf n orderly
^ and a sobai walk ummAf am of fheai^
^ thailba^^» woAd«Nd that neitbef

^ M^etaoim * liWHttm^ fW AAagrS, torn, i-

r

OF STBRNB.: U

'^ Pythagorai^ nor Fbitov nor Solon/ nor
^* Lycurgus^ nor Mahomet/ ndr aj^y of
^^yoiir nqted law-give^ eTor gaverany
•* order riKnit tJieift/'*

The following verses, taken from
Oarew'ftvStartey 'o£ Cornwall, as puUished
by Lord Doaflkanvilie, though not very
pottioal^ may be, to some readers,
oommentary on this piss^^

I nvit not «t «he latfjr^s g«te,

I<(f 4^oi44er dtouus 4owi) ibe rt^ir^
I Taqnt not manhood by debates,
I e^ IM the riser's feanr»

Bic QttMi in mub, tad calm fo sprloB,

My fishfiil popd i# ^ d|(Qlight»

Wbm^^uid. c|i|rtaiit islauad vi^ws,
Hti^fercfd'buJbi, and jotter's cage^
ll^liete inft «ai mdi' the pool Tenc^
A* 90iq||[ iad 4coicto iocreaie or

.W|iK9 boat prea^ his Mrvice J>r«il»
'Aii4 iiet becooies' the' fishcai nest. .

Where mdpng millet^ swallowing htsse/
Me«w«Upng cnb, wry-inoathed floul^
And riif>*Sit i^« ai ereniagi pMr/
For nfe baH at doe. pfaw:e dp look,
"Bttlfftb «i^h)&ch, qjoicit to e^y,

Crieed^ to catch, n^ <o fljf •

• *•'■■ rf . .

* Ttiilrain Shandy, yol. iT« chap, iprii.

52 ILLUSTRATIONS

In heat tiie top, in ^Id the deep;
In spring the mouth the inids 19 ne^p.
With chain^less change by shoafs thy keep,
Fiil, firuitfbl, ready, but not cheap/ '

Thus mean in state and calm in sprite
My fishful pond is my delight. .

• • " ' ■'<■■■■

I have thus put the reader in possession
of every observation respecting this agree-
able author,* which it would be important
or proper to communicate. If his o^
nion of Sterne's learning and originality
•be lessened by the perusal, he must, at
least, admire the dexterity and the good
taste with which he has incorporated in
his work so many passages, written witli
very different views by their respective
authors. It was eyidi^ntly St0rne>. ,pur-
pose to make a pleasant, Saleable book,
coute que'<mte; and after . lakiog his
general plan ffom soipe of the. plder

* I have 8eei;i,,«on;ie anecdote*. of .Sterne, in the

European Magazibe^ in which JViadame.de L

mentioned in the Sentimental jQurp|ey« was. said to be
Madame de Lamberti, and the.CjoUnt d^ B-r — , the
Count de Bretueil ; "^ upon what authority jf^ do not

](now* .-.v :""••'' -f' • 'i.-Vi' ; r;L.;JAiiV '

OF OTEHNfe. J.t

French writers, and from Burton, he
made prize of all the good thoughts that
came in his wa;y; ^ ';

Voltaire has compaired the merits of
Rabelais and Sterne/ as satirists of the
abuse of learning, and, 1 think, has done
neither of them justice. This great dis-
tinction is obvious; that Rabelais derided
aWurdities' then existing in full force,'
and intermingled niuch sterling sense
with the ' gr^est parts of his book i
Sterae^i iqo the <;;pntrary, laughs at many
exploded opinions, and forsaken foo-
leries, an3^cbntnves to ^degrade some of
his most" s6l(snlti passages by a vicious
levity.- Rabelais flew a higher pitcbj^
too, than ' Sterne. . Great part of . the
voyage to the' Pays de iMntemois,^ y/hich
S9 severely stigmatizes the vice^^ pf the
Romish clergy of that age, xjr^, perr

^ I d6* n6t recollect to have seen it pb^erved by
Rtbelaif^B Commentators, ihM^ this nam^/'ili^ well id
the.plan of.the^Salife; is ii|ii|fUed from lacmif h:Vnf9^
History^ Lucian's town is called I.ychnopolis.

4i ILLl7;»tftATIi»fS

formed in inor« hazard o£ &w th^

The follies of the learn^ may aa justly
i^ gqrxectedp as tbft yice6 of byjp^eriles ;
but ii>i: the fomier^ ridicule is a suSicieirt
punisbmentt Ridicule is even mwe
eifecuial to this purpose, 9» weH as ladre
^reeable than ecunility, which is genlh
rally preferred^ notwithsbm^nj^ l^ytb^
learned themselves in tbeir contest^ be»
cau^ anger seizes the readiest weapoos ;

Jamque faces et taxa rokoit ; fiutor «rmir*aiiiiiilral :

And wf^cre a little extmordinary power,
hiSiS accidentally been lodged in the handa
of disputants, they hare hot scrupled to!
employ the most cogent metliods d"
coovtecing (heir adversaries. Dionysius
the ycSunger sept those critics who disr
Kked his verses, (o work in Ihe^quarries;^
and there was a pleasant tyrant, men*
tioned by Horace, wbp obliged his defi-
c^ei^ 4i?btQc^ to k^r^ him read his own
compositiom, mne^m hktwiiis^, by waj^'

* Pluttrchr

OPi SIBBIII;. M

of 4«mmiilalMJBi/ I lay? tething ^; tba
^^ boljr fakk loT/ipiko :mi gun,^ nor of
(be fliictaig oiidgel TOtfa wiueb Lutlier

4e^re^4o avoid T^jUg^ )Bu<

it )»;i^p9S9»ble, on t)^ nufcf^ct^ jtQ fprget
^ ^qchq^hi9fe4 Pemp^^jr, dte last

Mrb^4pHgbi^<§ry ^s M kv sokool in

i^^p .^^f wM^ r'^fifv^ 9f 6»U<m, defenoff
ifi }m 4Q0if^Jm VI 9mm apibi&« The

imprisonment of GtiUteot add i&e ext
ample of Jordano Bruno^ burnt alive for
asserting the plurality of worlds^-f* among
other disgraceful instances, shew that
laughter is the best crisis of an ardent
disputation.

The talents for so delicate an office as
that of a literary censor, are too great
and numerous to be often assembled in

^ Jaa* Nic. Erjrthrse. Pinacotbec.

t Braeker* His. Critic, Phtlosoph. torn. r. p. 28,
19. The fiuBKMtt Sciopptus pnUislMMi a thocltiag letter
•f esQltalion on this tztcvtion.

M lULtSTBATIONS

enft porspn«.. Rabeiais waniDed * deceiic}^^
Stefoe li^arning^ and^yoltaire :fiijfelUy:
laibiaii alohe supported the :^*Ghikiict€S#
^ropedy^ in th^eepieces 'whieh'%^[iaar
te^fce- justly ' ascrib6d : to htiti:- ^ As -thcf
frtHtfo^vtiese of party yet iriFestfc-^tlcp
soph y, a writer with his qualifications
wbitld still do good service in the tfauk?
tif truth« For wit and good serideUhit6d/
ltf^^:iii hitti they emihenfly Were, cMrfi
tttaick nothing fiticcessfuUy which oughf
not to be^demolished,-

t •

/ ■ ■ . ■ •

I ■ ■ - • •

t

• \ •

I • #

■ • : * • 4 . ' i

4 .- i'l'. ■ - .

' ,...'».'. • . . > •

» >

ADDITIONAL NOTES

tothe
ILLUSTRATIONS OF STERNE;

Note L page 10,

The foUowiag extract from the Piece* Interesmntei
€t peu cqnnues, p. 196^ may serve in place of a whole
history.

'' II y a on fait assez curieux, tr^s-sur et pen connu«~
au sujet du collier de V ordre du S, Esprit : la devotion
s' allioit autrefois avec le plus pand debordement des
moeurs, et la mode n' en est pas absolument passee.

Le motif public de Henri iii. en instituant P ordre
du Saint'Esprit, fut la defense de la catholicity^ par
«ne association de seigneurs qui ambitionneroient d' y
entrer.

Le voeu secret fut d' en faire hommage d sa soeur
Marguerite de Yalois^ qu' il aimoit plus que firatemel-
lement.

Le S* Esprit est le symbole de I'amour les omemens
du collier etoient les Monogra^nmes de Marguerite et

Vol. il e

58 ADDITIONAL NOTES.

de Henri, s^pares alternativement par un autre Mono-
gramme symbolique, compose d' un f phi et d' un } delta
joints ensemble; ^, auquel on faisoit signifier fideUa
pour Jidelta en Italien^ eijideliie en Fran9ois* Henri iy.
instruit de t^ myjs^oe^ ohp^a le CpUier par delibera-
tion au chnpiife ^u 7' Jt^vter'l5i[)tii k' rempla^a par
deux trophees d'armes, le f et le Monogramme de
Marguerite. J^ en ai vu to preuves non suspectes/'

Duclos, who was the collector of these curious anec-
dotes, is Ttiy' IHgh aulkdrb/. J^ ^^p tr^tt^/tif this fact
appears from other proof* In Segar's Honor Militaric
4* Civil, published in 1602» is a full-length portrait of
Henry iv. in the habit of the order, and the mysterious
symbols appear most distinctly, not only on the collar*
but embroidered, of a very large size, round the robe«

1 \«r

N^ie IL p^ge 52

Eachard's works are now in the hand^ of few persons*
It will ^e interestiiig however to his admirers, to men-
tion, ttia^ a coojipl^te oi^tline of the Crrbuncf^ (^nd Causes
if % QojtffmpP of thfi Clet^wA^ be &^nd in Burton,
in thii s^ctipn ei^tiUjf^^ $it(4M ^ Cause qf Melancholy,
(roiiap. ^1 tQ37. '

Ji<^efn^ pq^lO.

The French translator of Tristram Shandy, wb«
knew nothing of Burton, confesses hijipself strangely
^ puzzled With the fi-agment on Whiskers. «' Vainemeni
il a voulu eclaircir ce chapitre par des recherches his^
torwucs; le stiiVJhdt de set peiMt a ete de trouper que
Miles. Rehdufiei h Tosseuse sont citSes dans phsteurs

ADDITIONAL NOTES. 59

livres,' ei notammerU dans les memoires de Margueiire dc
Vahis, comme maitresses de Henri IV, §tuant au Guiol^
Maronetu, Battarelle, S^c. S^c. U hasard les lui a qfferles
dona la nontbreiue liste des temotns entendue au proces
de Girard Sf la Cadteie."

It would have diverted Sterne extremely, to have
seen a Frenchman seeking to illustrate his lucubrations,
by historical t-aearches.

Ample notice is taken of La Fosseuse, in the Memoirs
of the Queen of Navarre, written by herself; a book^
which^ independant of the elegance of its style, is
recommended by many curious anecdotes, and a dis-
play of talents worthy of better direction.

We find Iteboiirs» as well as La Fosseuse, also men-
tioned in the Cofifessiom de Sancyt ^and as much infor-
mation respecting them» as could be wished, b added
IB L' Etoile's notes.

Ret)ours is mentioned by Brantome. The source of
the other names pointed out by the translator is suffi-
ciently probable*

Note IV. page 82.

I have mentioned, in another work, the practice
fmce general on the continent, of destroying dying
persons', by violently pullihg away the pillows irom
beneath their heads. There is a treatise on this subject
preserved by Valentini, written with a degree of pomp
and affectation, which equally defies a serious perusal,
and the power of burlesque. The author first disputes
concerning the definition of a pillow ; and after a great
deal of emdition, gives the following : Eh aliquid sup^
poiitufn capiH nastro whkwmdi gratia adinventum. In

S2

60 ADDITIONAL NOTES.

the next section comes the ety molojify, lest the reader
should still be uncertain concerning the meaning of the
word pillow. Here puhinar is very naturally deduced
from polula, a foot-balh and it follows, like a chain,
ihsit polula comes from bulbus, a root. We may apply
the French epigram of De Cailly to this sort of. deri*
vation :

A(fana vient d' Equus, sans donte ;
Mais il iaut avouer aussi,
QLm* en venant de la jusqu' ici
11 SI bien chang^ sar la route.

As if all this precision were not suflicient^ another
definition follows, of the component matter of a pillow.

Hoc est puhinar,' seu lectus capitis bretior, hoe est
omne id quod ad ejus elevationem et erectionem adhibetur,
sive ex plumis vel sirantentis constet, nut alia comtnodm
pro persona ac loci conditione materia. The author
concludes with this severe commination against these
piiiow-jerkers : quod dum ita contra conscientiam rectamp
Deique ac legum voluntate/th agant, se privent animi
tranquillitate^ simulque peccatis exponant gravies imist
unde Deum scelerum horum vindicem severum habeant
metuendupi. Id ergo nejiat, cavenda hose solicite omni'
bus est cervicularum subductio, ut per se illicita et tn*
justa, Sfc.

Note r.

Bruscambille's Prologue on Noses,

Or Messieurs, puisque nous sommes sur la matiere
des nez, ne laiisons pas un beau champs sans le cultiver:

ADDITIONAL NOTES. 61

^e proverbe si commun en France de dire voila qui n*a
pas de nez nous y servira beaucoup ; c* est une maniere
de parler commune d tout le monde^ & dont on se sert
irequemment ; je vous prends vous m^mes d temoins.
Messieurs, n' est-il pas vrai que quand on veut mepriser
quelque chose on se sert ordinairemcnt de ce proverbe ;
si par example un homme com me moi qui ne suis pas
des plus habiles en tout genre, hazarde parmi le public
quelque oeuvre ou discours imparfait comme celui que
j* ai presentement en bouche, ne dira-t-on pas en le
ineprisant. voiid qui n' a point de nez*

On en pourra dire autant d' un peintre, d* un orfevre,
de 1' auteor d' un pitoyable livre, & generalement de
tonte sorte de choses qui ne seroit pas dans le goiit des
Messieurs qui se qualifient du nez fin ; de maniere qu' d
leur sentiment tout ce qui n' a point de riez est mepris-
able & ne merite pas de voir le jour. £t c' est la
raison pourquoi 1' on cache ordinairement le cul comme
etant . on visage qui n' a point de nez ; & au contraire
la face est toujours decouverte a cause qu' il y a dans le
milieu un nez; un homme sans nez est rejette des
femmes, Le phisionomiste Albeit le grand, aussi bien
que le S9avant Trismegiste, disent que Ics femmes
estiment les grands nez nobles & de bonne race, les
mediocres de c^ntentement & les petits de bon appetit.
Souvent les grands arbres plantez en bonne terre fructi-
fient noblement.

S^avez-vous, Messieurs, pourquoi le sexe feminin
n* est pas si bien pourv6 de nez que le masculin ?
U on tient & 1' on assure que c' est d cause du pea
d* ^tat que la curicuse Pandore fit de 1' Ordonnance de
Jap^ter^ lequel lui ayant bailie la boete ou etoient

E 3

62 ADDITIONAL NOTES.

rcDfermez tous les malheurs & infortunes^ avec defenie
^;cpresse de I' ouvrir, cette miserable curiectse fht si fort
(entecy que Jupiter n' eut pas pliiiot le cul toiini6»
^u' elle e6t le nez dedaas : je vois que vous riez de
cette expression. Messieurs, ne vous imaginez pas que
je veulle dire qt|e Pandore e(it mis le nez dans le cul
de Jupiter^ aussitot qu' il s' en fut alle^ cette exprcssioa
equivoque tombe sur la boete fatale dans laquellesa
curiosite la porta i y mettre son nez> c' est^i-dire, i y
regarder coiitre la defense de Jupiter. De quoi cette
divinite etant indignee, permit que les malbeurs» dis-
graces & infortune^ renfermez dans cette boete , se
repandissent impitoyablement sur la terre : et voil4 un
echantillon de V obligation que nous avons aux femmcs
qui veulent fourrer leur nez par tout.

Je n' entreprend point de faire ici une ample descrip-
tion des differens nez avec les proprietez singulieres qui
leur sont annexees, j' en dirois pent ^tre trop des grands
nez au prejudice des nez mediocres, des petits nez»
des nez cornusj des nez plats & autres de toute sortc
d' espece, je me contente de dire que les grands nez ont
Veaucoup d' avantage sur les petits pour les odeurs dont
Us sont 1' organe nature!, d' autant que par leur capacite
plus eteadue ils peuvent recevoir plusde vapeurs odori*
ferentes & que celles qui montent de bas en baut leur
peuvent moins ^chapper qu'aux petits nes : en un mot»
Messieurs, si c' est quel que chose de beau, de boa. dd
loiiable* d' avantageux en tout genre d' avoir du nez*
il le doit ^tre encore plus d' avoir du grand nez : tin
boTnme qui a du nez sent toutes choses, celui qui n* %
point de nez ne se sent pas soi-m^me; le nea discerne
les senteurs comme V c^il les couleurs, V aveugle peut

ADDITIONAL NOTES. 53

juger des senteurs^ & ]es vents du Pais-Bas qui souflent
& la sourdine dans ses chausses sont d^couyertes par
V experience de son nez. Je linis» Messieurs^ en tous
disant que si j' avois un pied de nez dayantage> je feroiA
un discours qui auroit plus de nez ; & je crains que
quelque m^disant ne yienne ici critiquer sur ce mien
verbiage & ne publie d mon deshonneur & au yotre,
que vous ^tes des idiots de yous laiser ainsi mener par
le nez.

¥4

OF CERTAIN

VARIETIES OF MAN,

described by Authors.

-who reads

Incessantly, and ^ hi$ Miffing 'brings not

A spirit and judgment equal or superior,

(And wlial lie brttgs» wbitt n^ lie ctMH^hfre seek ?}

Uncertain and unsettled still remains.

Deep Ters'd in books ^nd shallow in himself*

Milton*

OF CERTAIN VARIETIES OF

MAN.

In the various fortunes of opinions,
it may be observed, that when a tenet
happens to be refuted, after having
gained for a time implicit belief, eveiy
one begins to wonder that it should have
acquired any credit. This is the progress
of what has been called philosophical
truth, than which nothing is more abso^
lute during its reign, and nothing but
life more tran$itory in its duration. There
18 this great difference between the extinct
tion of opinions and that of men, that
the former lose their characters with their
existence, while the latter generally
encrease their estimation by dying ; for

68 OF CERTAIN

excepting an epitaph on the Pineal glands
which was written after physiologists had
degraded it from the seat of the soul, I
recollect no example of gratitude to a
decayed theory.

Every age cherishes its favourite errors,
which serve to divert the succeeding
generation. We ridicule our predecessors
for their belief in the fiery sphere of
Aristotle, or the vortices of Descairtes,
without reflecting, that some of our pre-
sent opinions may afford equal subject
of derision to posterity. Why does the
history of opinions contain such a list of
errors and falsehoods, but because men
have so long mistaken their conjectures
concerning facts, for facts themselves ?

Much of this evil has certainly pro-
-ceeded from undue defeiience to autho^
ritie^. Authors have believed assertions
y witliout enquiry; and might well be
expected to assign ridiculous causes,
when they engaged to account for event*
that never existed. '

VARIETIES OF MAN. 09

I have been led into this train of re-
flection, by trying to discover the true
foundations, on which the existence of
sooie monstrous varieties of our species
has been supposed. Every philosophical
reader is acquainted with the theory of
Lord Monboddo on this subject, on
which Mr. Tooke has bestowed such
masterly satire, that we may justly apply
to the author of the £«•«« Ureponra^ what
Milton has said of Tasso, in his Manstis,
though in a different sense :

fleternis inscripsit nomina chartis.

I expected to have found the clue to
this romance of philosophy, in Linnaeus's
Systema Natura, because he has men-
tioned, under the genus. Homo, the
varieties of the Homo Tjogbdytes, or
pygmy, and the Homo Caudatus, the
man with a tail (Lord Monboddo's pa-
triarch) ; but the greater number of

authorities has occurred to me -in casual

ft

reading.

to OP CEfttAIN

Homer is the first author who mentions
tlie pygmies, and is cited as the chief of
the opinion, by all writers on this Sttfcyect.
The Trojans, says he, moved on to Ixittte
with shouts and acclamations, like the
noise of the cranes, when they flj^scream-
ing over the ocean, bearing slaughtei*
and death to the pygmier:

K^aTrn riiyt srrroirrai, ra-' 'HLMioifcXo poiSv^
*Avipaffl TbyiAotoin fim m wfpa fifwmJ^

Aristotle delivers their history as an
indubitable truth. *' It is not fabulous,
but certain, that a diminutive race of
men, and it is said of horses, exists;
living in caverns, whence they take the
name of Troglodytes. They fight wittt
cranes.*' -f-

But it was not enough with the oWet

♦ Iliad, r.

t Histor. Animal, lib. viii. cap. xih

VARft¥H» OF MAN. n

nSttibSsts^ to. shwten a wbc^ jiatUm to
three spans^ or to oblige men

Caodanun longos sinaatipi ^Qcere trades;

but the species was tortured into more
fimtastie shapes tban are t^ be found in
the Temptation ot St. Anthony. These
transfi^gwations rest both on Pagan and
Christian authority^ and if any thing
OQuld'be sup^rted by the mere force of
repeated "assertion^ the monstrous varieties
of man would beconoe undeniable.

Sooie. pf thip Ral^bis have published
extravagant diKttno^ respect'mg our firi^
parents, on this subject; according to

B^yl«4( ^'.Q\iel^ies-uns d' eux disent qu'
Eve fut form^e de la queue de son man«
Ik preteRdaitf que Dteu, aiant donnS
d' flbord un queue .au corps d'Adanv
s' aper9Ut epfin quVelle diminiioit U
beaut6 de cct ouvrage, et qu* ainsi il prit
la resolution de la couper, mais il ne
laissa pas de s'en servir pour en produire

72 OF CBItTAIN

la fetnme <)u' il donna au premie hoa^
me."*

Pliny exerted surprising industry in
accumulating authorities for human mon-
sters ; -f many of these wel-e supposed to
exist among the northern nations, such
as the Arimaspi, who had only one eye,
and employed themselves in stealing gold
from the Gryphons, those compound
animals which the ancieilt naturalists
have dressed up for us. Milton employs
this fable in a fine simile,, describing
Satan's laborious flight through the chaos.

As when a Gryphon through the wilderness
With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale,
Porsues the Arimaspian, who by steahh
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd
The guarded gold. Par. Lost. b. «. 945.

One of the authorities quoted for thk
Btory is Herodotus, who expressly says
tliat he does not believe it. J

* Baylej Diction. Crit. Art. Eye.
f Lib. viii. c. ii.
J Clio.

VARIETIES OF MAN. 7S

Another race of the Scythians Mfere
bom with feet turned behind the leg,
'* aversis post crura plantis/' and were
(of course) wonderfully swift, Othei-s
bad heads resembling those of dogs, with
long ears» and were armed with talons ;
Ctesias says^ they were in number one
hundred and twenty thousand. This is
** profound and solid lying." In other
nations, the people were menocolous,
that is, liaving only one leg,* or scian
podou^ having feet so large as to shelter
the whole body, in a supine posture ;
these were the first parasols : In majori
eestu humi jacentes resupini, umbra se
pedum protegunt. Near these, accord-
iog to Pliny, lived the pygmies, but
tliey must be confessed to look extremely
small beside such astonishing neighbours.
Yet they had still better company ; for
westward of the pygmies lived a nation
without necks, and with eyes in their

* See modern authorities for this story, in the Orig.
and Prog, of Lang. toI. i. b. ii. c. iii.

Vol. II. F

74 OF CERTAIN

shouldeni; and near them^ the Astomores,
who have no mouths, and are nourished
by the smell of fruits and fiowers.

This is the substance of a diapter
wliicb has ornamented the pages' of many
a naturalist and cosmographer, with
figures so ingeniously horrible, as almost
to beget a belief of their reality, by the
apparent difficulty of feigning them.

It must be owned, in vindicaticHi of
Pliny,^ that he asserts none of these woo*
ders without authority, and that many
of theni are mentioned simply as facts
advanced by former writers. Several of
his relatione are taken from those of the
Greeks, said to have been emjJpyed by
Alexander in embassies to the eastern
princes. Pliny's attention has preserved
the folly of these men, which could have
well been spared, to our days.

Pomponius Mefe* says, the pygmies
inhabited pait of Egypt, and fought

* I^ib, iu. c. 34.

VARIETre? OF MAN. 75

Wi^ the ftrauea to preserre their com.
Sqjiiajus alao 9fi$Qrt^ their existence.*

Strabp remark3^ on this subject^ that
IQC^ti^f .th^.wnt^ on India, before his
age« , y\[£tG egregious . liars.
.;».;A.ulus Gellius, however, asserts the
existence of pygmies,*f* and Eustathius,
iotba notes on Dionysius.
- /iEliaa is quoted as supporting the same
ppinionf.and even as describing the Pyg^
m^ean. iorm x>f government. Whoevex
takes the trouble: of reading i£lian'a
gCQPunt4 will perceive that he relates
the, wb9le as. an idle story; but this is
tjttf .Jiziethod oi making quotations, to
which literary adepts generally think
themselves, entided.
. From these ppre fountains a croud of

litter aujtbors. have drawn the belief of

• • • '

pygmies ; St. .^Uigustine comes first, by
right^^. as -an assecter of the pygmies,

« ^ Cap*. XT.

f Lib. iv* o ix.
• % :Hi»t AiiiiB. lib- xv. c. xix»

in De Ciritat. Dei. lib. xyi* c. yiii.

F 2

76 OF CERTAIN

Majolus, Anlonius Itane, Jovius (de
rebus Moscovitarum) Ocjericus (de re-
bus Indicts) Caspar Scbottus^ in his Col-
lection of wonders^ Joannes Eusebiw
Kierembergensis, Caspar Bartholine, ia
an express dissertation, Weinrichius^ Li-
cetus, and Cassanio. I do not pretend
to have consulted all these respectable
authors (who are nothing less than Cla*
rissimi) on this subject, but I find thetn
quoted by many others, with whom It
would be easy to swell the list.

Writers differ greatly in their accounts
of the seat of the Pygmies, being chiefly
solicitous to remove them sufficiently £ir
from themselves, accord'mg to a just
remark of iEneas Sylvius, semper langmi
miracula fugere. The prophet Ezekiel
speaks of Tyre as being garrisoned by
Pygmies.* Horstius supposes the sense
of this passage to be^ that the centinelsi^
on the lofty towers of that city, appeared,

* Chap. 27. Our tranahttioD calls tlima Gatmna^
dims.

»

VARfiBTIES OF MAN. 77

to t Spectator on the ground, of a very
diminutive size.

It is les6 surprising that Str Augustine
should .credit the reality of Pygmies, be-
cause he had been an eye-witness of
greater wonders: he asserts, in one of
his sermons^ [ad fratres in eremo] that
he had preached to a nation without
headst and with eyes in their breasts.
This may indeed be considered, by those
who explain away every thing, as a
figurative expression ; but we must not
pretend to understand St« Augustine bet-
ter than the learned bishop Majolus,
who quotes this passage in his Dies
Cmiculitres, as a certain proof of the
monstrous varieties. Besides, it would be
uncharitable to reject a fact of so much
consequence, in the decision of that
curious question. An monstra saluiis aterna
capKiaf which the learned bishop af*
firms, because of St. Augustine's mission
to the Acephali.*

* In the modem editions of St. Augustine's works,
this passage J8 retrenched-

F 3

7« OF CERTAIN

The force of party has extended
even to these fictions, apparently remote
enough from either civil or religious
divisions. Thus, the Monachus Marmus,
Episcopus Mafinus, K Fittdo-Monackus,
in Ambrosini's edition of the frightful
folio 6f Aldrovandus de Monstris, seem
to have been engendered in the extre4
mity of hatred against religious orders. !

It is to be regretted, that among his
other treasures, Palaspbatus has omitted
to place a derivation of the belief io
Pygmies: possibly because the WDiii*di(|
not admit of a pun.

There is no proot^ unless thisifipble be
supposed a proof, that the ancie»t$/ werd
acquainted v^ith those varieties^ which
are really inferior to the usual standard
of human size; was this . Qpinion :an
approach to the hypothesis of ^e Sail9
qf Beings f Such it seems to have faeeo
in the hands of Paracelsus, who supposed
the Pygmies to be different in their origin
from men, and to consist of th^ Cgro
Non Adamka,

VARfBTIES OF MAN. 7?

Scalier is blamed by Aldrovandus^ in
his Treatise de Mottstris,* and by Bulwer,
in his Artificial Changelingp\ for denying
the existence of Pygmies, because they
cannot be found in Ethiopia or Arabia,
where Pliny and Mela had placed them :
thia circumstance, both the modems
think of no weight ; argumentum nullius
ualoris. They missed one strong argu-
ment, that is, Pomponius Mela's asser-
tion, that the Pygmies were extirpated
by their wars with the cranes. Of this
Addison baB availed himself very success-
fully, in his War of the Pygmies and
Cranes; in the introduction to which,
he has raised up a new and beautifui
landscape of the ruins of the Pygmean
empire :

Nunc si qob dmra evadat per saxa viator.
Besertosque lares, et valles ossibus albas
Exiguis yidet» et yeStigia parra stupescit.
' Besolata tenet yictrix impime volocHs
Begna, et secaro crepitat Grus imprdba nido.

♦ Page 40.
*t Page 4.99.

F 4

80 OF CERTIAN

' He has even furnished, from tbis story,
a highly poetical origin of the fairies :

Elysii valles nunc agmine lustrat inani^
£t Teterum Heroiim miscetur grandibus umbri§
Plebs parva : aut li quid fidei mereatur anilia
Fslbula, Pastores per noctis opaca pusillas
Saepe rident Umbras, Pygmseos corpore cassos^
Dam secnra Gniom, et yeteres oblita labofes^
Lsetitiae penitus vacat, indulgetque cbonsis,
Angustosque terit callesj Tiridesque per orbes
Tarba levis salit, et l^mwum cognomii^e gaudet*"*

Unless we can resolve -to adopt MelaV
account of the matter, however, I believe
Scaliger's objection must remain, in full

•

* Perbapt we owe this elegant passage to thc^ follow-
ing lines in Paradise Lost, where the fallen spirits in
Paademontam contract their sixe to gain room, and
Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian Mount, or faery elves.
Whose midnight revels by a forest side '
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees^
Or dreams he sees, while over-^head the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth
Wheels her pale oourse^ they on their mirth and

dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear i
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

Book u vcr* 780*

VARIETIES OF MAN- 8t

torce^ against the existence of LinhaBus's
Troglodyte ; for pygmies arc not found
in the habitations which he assigns them,
namely, the confines of Ethiopia, the
caves of Java, Amboyna, and TernatCt
or in Malacca, The Albinos, on whose
peculiarities he appears to found his deh-
nition, were never proved to exist as a
nation ; ♦ on the contrary, wherever the
history of an Albino could be traced, it
was found to have been born in ordinary
society. It is true Linnasus attempts to
distinguish between his Troglodyte and
map, by ascribing to the former the
^embrana Nktitans^ but anatomists in
general know very well, that man pos*
sesse9 that membrane also, though with-
out the power of expansion.

Besides, Linnseus's Troglodytes ar6
placed at a very great distance from the
9Upposed seat of the Albinos, which is
said by the best authorities in this case to
be near the isthoius of Darien. Whether^

^ Wafer's single testimony if not ttifficient proof*

99 OF CERTAIl*

then, the Pygmean history be derived
from the frequent appearance of dwarfi
in society, or whether, like the Short
Club in the Guardian, it be the inren*
tion of ambitious little men, we must
send back

-the small in&nlay

Warr'd on by cranes-

to the poetical quarter, for sound geogia-
phy and natural history disclaim them*

Linnaeus admits, with rather more
hesitation, his vaiiety of the Homo Cmtr
iatus! he is uncertain whether he ought
to be ranked with men or ape$, and is
•deterred from placing him among the
latter, chiefly because he lights his own
fire, and roasts his victuals. •'Homo
Caudatus, hirsutus, incola orbis antaro*
tici^ nobis ignotus, ideoqne utrum ad
hominis aut simis^ genus p&rtineat, not|
^teniiiino. Minim quod ignem excitct^
eamemque asset, quamvis et cnida voret,
tcsttmonio peregrinantium.* Of the few

VARllSTlES OF MAN. si

aUliborif^'Wfaich ILitittftus has ph^duced
ill M<{>p<>ft of' thh variety, I hare only
been able ta consolt one; but others have
ci(:^tTed to me at different times, which
I iiiti Dow going to mention^ '
' Pati^nias is the most andient authority
ftlr the existence of nien with tails.* He
is tAote frcquentfy quoted to this pur-
pM0, because he derived his «tory from
the- viery petson- who saw such a- race;
'yk die insulaef Satyriades, at which he
totiched,' *bn being driven westward while
he was sailing for Italy. TTic inhabitants^
siyS'Piutemas/ are red/ ahd- have tails
not xiixiich less than those of horses. '

Plir^ introduces among his other wod-
<fers, men with hairy tails, of wbnderftd
swiftness, but I diink vrithout any antha-
rity. This is all the testimony lafibrded'
by antiquity of the - Caudatory variety,
unless the fable of the Fauns be reckoned
some confirmation. Modem times have
produced more advocates for it. After

* Attic lib. i^ p. 4$.

8i OF CERTAIN

the natives of Europe began to petie*
trate into the east, authorities multiplied.
Marco Paolo, who had the fate to be
disbelieved in every credible assertion,
was believed, when he reported that be
saw in the kingdom of Lambri men with
tails of the length of a spah.^ Petcx
Martyr describes a nation in India, who
have hard, immoveable, crooked tails,
of a span* long, resembling those of cro^
codiles ; so inconveniently appendedt
adds he, that they are obliged to use
perforated seats.

Majolus, Androvandus, and Bi^w^r,
quote a story from Major, and Joannes
Neirembergensis, of a generation pro-
duced with tails, in Ken^ or Dorset-
shire, as a punishment of some dbrespect
sfaewed to the inissionary, St. Augustine^
soon after bis landing. Bulwer was
informed,*^ that in his time^ there was
1 family in Kent, whose descendants

* Lfb* iii* c xviii*

t Arti|l Cbang. p. ilO-

VARIETIES OF MAN. B5

were tailed ; *' insomuch/* says he, ** that
you may know any- one to be rightly
descended of that family, by having a
tail/* He adds, as a more probable
account, that the inhabitants of Stroud,
near Rochester, incurred the curse of
tuls, by cutting off the tail of Archbishop
Beckef s horse. ** Insomuch as you may
know a man of Stroud by his long taile.
And to make it a little more credible,
that the rump-bone, among brutish and
strong-docked nations, doth often sprout
out with such an excrescence, or beastly
emanation, I am informed by an honest
young man of Captain Morris's company,
in Lieutenant General Ireton's regiment,
that at Cashel in the county of Tipperary,
in the province. of Munster, in Carrick
P^ck church, seated on a hill or rock,
stormed by the Lord Inchiquin, and
where there Were near seven hundred
put to the sword, and none saved but
the major's wife and his son ; there were
found among the slain of the Irish, when

ta ^^jpF;. CERTAIN

^ey wejre ^pp^dn divers that bad tails
npar 4 quarlferf^' a yard long, ., The
telator,. (ffing vcfy.diffident qf thttruti^ of
this4tOPy9 after enquiry,^ was efisured p^
the ceitaii^ty the^^o^ by /<vrty soldifti^
that te^i^ed upqa 4helr patl)s. thpjl w^^;
Qye^witaes^Sji bping present at tl^ ^^tjon^;
li U. reported alsotha^ in Spam th^^ jf^

such anort^ertoUpd »ation.'' ^. . _ .^

The $tory of the miracje of ^ i^igu^
tine seen)$ to have gswned ,9urrep<;yifi;
early tloies^ as we learn from a p^^g^
in Fuller's Worthies^ " When tbefp^^^p*
peoed in Palestine a difference b€^\ivj^^t.
Robert, brother ^f Saint L^wj^ king .q^
Fi:ance» and pur ^W^iliia^ ^ngspi^^ Ea^l
of Salisbury, h^re how the Freffc^maf)
ipsHJtQd.oiif nation^ , Mqtthtw^ P^rif, A^ l)^
1J150, p, 7flO, ,Q ^imidor^na.cflwiiift^/^
^d^midolo^ita^I^qu^np^beat^s, qi|aii|. a^i]|%.
dus prse^i\s foret e^erp^tys, si i^ ^f^^u/^
purgaretur Gta^idafis. *' O the CQiyaf^
linens of .jth^se fearful io^taH$ / ,liqff^

bappie, how cleajae would jthisQur ^m^

yARIETIES OF HAN. 87

be, were it but purged from iailes znd

I might add the testimony of Sir John
Maundevyle, of fabulous memory, w^ie
there not reason to fearr, that in the con<^
ceptions of unphilosophical readers, fae
would disgrace so much good company*
There is less necessity foar employing any
doubtful evidence, because the celebrated
Dr. Harvey is my next witness. He
introduces a story of a tailed nation, in
his fourth Exercitatlon de (Seneratione
^Aaimalium, chiefly, it would seem, for
the sake of the foot, for it has very little
connection with his subject* *' Chirurgiis
quidam," saith the learned doctor, '^ vir
probus,' mihique familiaris, ex India
Orientali redux, bona fide mihi narravit^
in Insular Bornese locis a mare remoti<-
oribus & montosis, nasci hodie genus
faom'mum caudatum (uti olim alibi acci-
disse apud Pausanium legimus) e quibus
fegr^ captdm virginem (sunt enira sylvi-

* Fuller's Worthicg. Kent.

sa OF CERTAIN

cola?) ipse vidit, cum cauda carnosa,
crassa, spithamse Idngitudine, intra clu*
nes reflexa, quas anum &c pudenda ope-
liebat/' Slight hints are sufficient tor
men of genius; and wc may perceivie
by the inference we are about to add^
with how much reason nature is jealous
of discovering her mysteries, since Dr.
Harvey having gotten a tail of a span
long into his hands^ immediately fathoms
the .final cause of the structure with it;
'* Usque adeo velari ea loca voluit natura."
This great authority proved a seasomable
support to the caudatory system, at a
time when anatomists were much divided
concerning it. Among some it made
such progress, that Caspar Hofiman did
not scruple to call the Os Coccygis, the
mark fof a tail in untailed animals;
*' caiida in non-caudatis nota.'' But Rio-
Ian, that pompous declaimer on the
dignity of the human frame, sharply
reprehended Hoffinan for this irreverend
expression, which shocked his delicacy

VARIETIES OF MAN. 89

severely, and moreover touched him in
a tender part ; 1 mean, his hypothesis
cx£ the final cause of the sedentary pos«
ture. '' Homo enim ad sedendi com^
moditatem/' says he, *' solus nates habet,
iit.commod^ sedere possit ad meditandum
et philosophandum. Sedens enim anima
(ex Aristot. 7. Phys.) prudentior est/'

Diemerbroeck, an eminent writer on
the plague, and author of a System of
Anatomy, in quarto, says, he saw a

child newly born (in 1638), which had
a tail a foot and half in length, resem«

bling a monkey's. The mother told him,
that she had been frightened by a mon-
key at an early period of gestation.

Aldrovandus gives a figure of a mon-
strous foetus with a tail ; Caspar Schottus
(in 1662) introduced a tailed man into
his Choice Collection of Prodigies; what
a happy time had literary men, when
philosophical books were made up of
such diveiting extravagancies !

In that volume of the Miscellanea

Vol. II. G

90 OF CERTAIN

Curiosa, published in 1689, Dr. Michael
Frederic Lochncr relates a case of a Puec
caudatus, which came under bis ov/n
inspection. The story, which must lose
by repetition, out of the doctor's owa
quaint Latin, is briefly this. Dr. L.ochner
was consulted for the son of a respectable
family, about eight years of age. When
tlie particulars of his disease were en-
quired into, the parents, instead of an-
swering, shook their heads and w^pt.
The doctor was confounded, till recol-
lecting, he says, the Titulus jurisconsul-
torius de ventre inspiciendo, he began to
unbutton his patient's waistcoat ; but the
patient stopped him, by giving him t»
understand that the complaint lay else-
where : on exploring then the peccantis
pueritiae bifolium calendarium (4s be
facetiously phrases it after Barleeus), he
found a tail reflected between the but-
tocks, of the length of a man's middle
finger, and thickness of the thumb. Tlie
parents wore desirous of amputation, but

VARIETIES OF MAN. 91

•

tibe doctor persuaded them that no in-
convenience would attend this ornament,
and thus, says he, they retired peaceably
-with their Ascaiiiolus caudatus. He adds,
•that Dr, David Zollicofer observed a
similar case at Basil, and the celebrated
'Blancard another in Holland.

In another volume of the Miscellanea
Curiosa, to which I cannot immediately

refer, a learned physician describes a
puer caudatus, whom he examined care-
folly, in consequence of hearing him
derided by his play-fellows, on the sub-
ject of this unlucky appendage.
• I must regret my inability to consult
the Collection 4^ 1' Academic Royale de
Sciences,* for a paper on Men with
Tails, published under the promising
name of Otto Helbigius. I find a quo-
tation from an author of this name, in
Dr. Lochner's note, asserting the exist-
dkce of Homines Caudati in the island of
Formosa.

* This is a separate work from the Memoirs.

6 2

92 OF CERTAIN

Here the matter appears to have rested,
till the year 1771, when Dr. Guindant
published his Variations de la Nature dans
r Espece Humaine, in which he took
occasion to assert the existence of men
with tails, and even to corroborate the
opinion with new examples. One of
these occurred at Orleans, in 1718, where
the subject,, ashamed of his tail, submitted
to an operation for its removal, which
cost him his life. There can be no doubt
of this fact, because it was taken from the
Mercure for the month of September in
that year. Doctor Guindant mentions
two other instances, at Aix in Provence,
one of a girl named Martine, the other
of a Procureur named Berard, but he does
not specify the length of their tails,
And in his extreme zeal for the caudatory
system, he asserts, that a man's courage
is not diminished by such an appendage;
as a proof of which, he mentions the
Sieur de Cruvellier of La Ciotat, who,
though he had a tail, distinguished him-

VARIETIES OF MAN. 93

self greatly in some actions against the
Turks. It is rather surprising, that the
ingenious doctor did not consider the
extraordinary necessity of courage, in a
man who has a tail, as that peculiarity
must expose him to many affronts.

Dr. Guindant adds, but I fear from
report, that the southern part of the
island of Formosa, the Molucca and
Philippine islands, contain whole races
of men witli tails, and that in the burn-
ing desarts of Borneo^ the greatest part
of the inhabitants are tailed.

An experimental philosopher of the
highest reputation, furnishes another au-
thority.

^' Travellers make mention of a nation
with tails, in the islands of Nicobar, Java,
Manilla, Formosa, and others. Koping
relates, that when the ship on which he
was aboard anchored near Nicobar, a
number of blackish yellow people, hav-
ing cat*s tails, came on board. They
wanted iron in exchange for their parrots,

Q 3

94 OF CERTAIN

but as nobody would trade with them,
they wrung their birds' heads of^ and
eat them raw. Bontius saw from the
mountains, in the island Borneo'^ a
nation whose tails were only a few inobes
long, and in all probability only * an
elongation of the Os Coccygis. Ptoloimy
already had made mention of a people
having tails,'' &c. &c.-f-

The latest evidence of such confornsa-
tion (in the case of the school-inastef of
Inverness :{: ) is an honourable and learned
writer, who has erected a most stupend>>
ous hypothesis 6n this imequal founda*
tion of a span. What would Boileaufff
Ass say to all this evidence ?

O ! que si T ane alors, d bon droit misantrope^
f ou?oit trouver la voix qu'l ent au terns ^li9sip49
De tons cotez^ docteur, voiant les tuMoames Icprz,

* la viewing a sarage cloUied with the skin of a
quadruped, a traveller, intent on wonders, jfldght mis-'
take the tail of his piey for a natural appendage.

t Bergman's Physical Description of the Earfh,

♦ Orig. and Prog, of Lang, vol, i. h. it. e. HI.

VARIETIES OF MAN. 95

Qq' U diroit de bon coBur^ sans en etre jaloux.
Content de se& diardons, et secouant sa tete^
Ma lbi> aon plus que nous, rhomme n'est qu'une
bete!

^ There are few stonger proofs of* the
inutility of single observations, than this
afiair of the Homines Caudati. The only
soliid^ foundation of any of these stories,
is an accidental elongation of the os coc-
cygis, which we can easily conceive to
happen, as tliat lx)ne consists of four
pieces: redundancies in other parts of
the body are so frequent, in monstrous
cases, that we cannot wonder to find a
J€HRt occasionaliy ' added to this part.
Th«s it m, that a few instances of dwarfs
zve multiplied by writers into nations ;
fewer instanees of accidental raal-confor-
mfttion of parts produce other nations —
m books.

Men have complained for many years,
and we complain at present, of want of
facts; yet it appears, that in books of
good character we find more facts than
can be credited. Do we not want good

G 4

90 OF CERTAIN

observers rather than new facts ? And
is not the indiscriminate collection of
facts an encreasing evil? It is certain
that in consulting authors on the subjects
they profess to examine, we are eom<>
monly as much disappointed as Mr.
Shandy, when he applies to Rubenius
for the ancient construction of a pair of
breeches. Chemistry is perhaps improv-
ing under the fashionable method, be-
cause the principal experunents are fre-
quently repeated, and because its objects
being permanent, former errors have
many chances of being discovered ; but
in other branches of knowledge, the
number of facts, on the whole, over-
balances their credibility. It is unfortu-
nate, that since the means of publication
have been so much facilitated, every
man thinks himself entitled to observe
and to publish. How many collections
of pretended facts are daily offered to
medical men, in which it is happy for
inapkind if the author's weakness be

VARIETIES OF MAN. 97

sufficiently evident, to destroy, at first
sight, the credit of his observations !
Writers who publish merely for the sake
of reputation, may be solid enough for
those who read for the sole purpose of
talking, but every man who is in quest
of real knowledge must lament, that so
few books are written with a design to
mstruct, and so very many only to sur*
prise or amuse.

MENIPPEAN ESSAY

on

ENGLISH HISTORIANS.

Iliad: ix.

The fuUowiDg essay consists of prose and verse iatermixed^ a
practice not very common at present, which may therefore require
some explanation. Among the French writers, this mode has been
mach used in many celebrated productions ; in this country, the
excellence of Cowley's mixed pieces has served rather to deter, than
to invite imitation. I recollect only two essays written on this plan,
the PolUe Philosopher, and the Essay on Delicacy, the first by
Mr, Forrest, and the latter by Dr. Lancaster ; but the poetry of
those gentlemen differed so little from their prose, that the transition
produced no remarkable effect. It ^eems favourable to an author's
exertions, that he should be obliged to proceed no farther in verse,
than his poetical impulse determines him ; and that upon a change
of subject, or a total defidency of poetical ideas, he should be per-
mitted to betake himself to prose. The best poets are unequal^ and
are obliged to admit occasionally weak or insipid vertes, fbr the pur-
pose of connecting the better parts of their work. But it must be
allowed, that many laborious productions would have been much
improved, if only the happier passages had appeared in the poetical
form, and the remainder had been printed as plain prose. Much
fatigue would thus have been spared to the author, and much disgust
to the reader. It must be owned that there is something imposing
in the appearance of verse; as a noted critic lately mistocA the
nonsensc'verses in Pope^s Miscellanies for a serious love poem ; but
my proposal is intended for the relief of a class of writers very dif-
ferent from FopCi

MENIPPEAN ESSAY ON ENGLISH

HISTORIANS.

OiNCE English writers have disco-
vered the secret of uniting elegance and
interest with, the narration of facts, histo-
rical compositions have multiplied greatly
in the language. The avidity with
which they are perused was indeed to
be expected, at a time when the love of
reading proceeds to a degree of dissipa-
tion. In these productions, the reader
feels his understanding improved, and
his taste gratified at the same time ; and
for the sake of those who can only be
allured by the dainties of knowledge,
some historians have condescended to
adopt the style of novellists, and to relieve
the asperities of negociation and war, by
tender dialogue and luscious description.

102 MENIPPEAN ESSAY ON

If some writers, envious of the treasures
they mean to impart, have sullenly in-
volved themselves in Latin, they are
however not more difficult than those
who present us with asnigfnatical Erig-
lish.

It was very late, before the class of
historians became a respectable depart-
ment of our literature. The natural
reserve and coldness of our cpmitiymep
^seems even to have influenced their pub-
lications, and to have made them sensible
of the difficulty of telling the gravest
story to the world. Meanwhile, tradi^
tion, corrupted by poetry, and other
seductive causes, offered our own histoi;y
to the reader, in a state more proper to .
exercise his critical powers, than to fur-
uisli him with eidier agreeable or useful
information.

From btitds, inspired by mead^ or Celtic be«r«

. Burst forth the bloody feud, or vision drear.
Till each attendant bagpipe squ^ak'd for fear : *

* At thy well -sharpened thumb, from shore to shore
The trebles squeak for fear, the bases roar.

Mac Pleckno*

ENGLISH filSTCRIANSL 10$

They sang how Pin M«c Coul ^ controird th& &gU,
Or Merito ravM with more than seoond^'ugiit.
Down Time's Wng stream ^ke dying music floats^
And cheats th' impatient ear with broken notes*
Luird by the murmurv anttqoariaiis sn6re#
Of Highland<-epic8 dream, said JOmid^ore ;
Or on the seeming steep, and shadowy plain.
Hunt the glass-castle, or Phenician faae.f

Next dolefiil ballads troll'd th' immortal theme,
Sfflig to the ear, or whisti'd to the team : I
Tho' wicked wks, from age to age, refine
The homely ditties of the hob-nail-4iiuse.
Long tost, the sport of mountain- air and winds, |(
; These P-^— y cormments, and these Edwards bindStf
Now fiom his store each restless rival draws
Thyme's tamish'd flowers, blunt points* and rusty

saws.
Till oar bright shelves, in gilded pride, display
' The trash our wiser fathers threw away.

Our early hist'ry shuns the judging eye»
In convents bred, the urchin leamM to lie ;
White phantoms wave their palms in golden meads.
And the pale school-boy trembles a^ he reads.

The later chroniclers, with little skill.
Darkling and dull, drew round th' historic mill*

* FingaU

t Glass-castle.] Vitrified forts in Scotland ; and the
celebrated ship^temples in Ireland.

X Sung to the wheel, and sung unto the paile.

Hall's Virgidem,

II — — rapidis ludibria ventis. Virc.

10* MENIPPEAN ESSAY ON

In wild confbsion strow'd, appear the feats
Of shews and battles, duels, ballsy acrd treats ;
Here the rick arms yictorioos Edward bore.
There the round oaths which gpreat Eliza swore :
And qaaint deTices, jasts, and knightly flames.
And gay caparisons, and dainty dames«

The most striking defect in the present
figure of history, is not meagreness, but
inflation, which distorts her features, and
confounds her proportions. Like the
Roman,* who thought it increased his
dignity to wear robes too long for his^
body, and shoes too large for his feet,
some of our writers in this style have
endeavoured to adapt huge words, and
immeasurable periods to every trifling
occurrence.

Such tumid lines a failing age betray.

As bloated limbs beieq^eak the heart's decay.

Some critics, fond of discovering ana-
logies in science and art, have compared
history with architecture: in this country,
the progress of taste in both has some

* Plin. Epistol.

VHNGUSITHBrraKlA'BrSf fOS

degree of ' cdrrespondence. > -The-dailo
tales^ and wild- historical ballads/ hift^
be compared to the cav'es and suthlnef
bowers of our remote ancestcfrs. Inf thc
monkish histories, the religious gidbm of
the monastery perpetusllly ovgrshadbws
us. And indeed, the similarity of old
histories to Gothic edifices is so impres-
kite, that we often meet with the thought.
Two. beautiful passages immediately stig<^
gest themselves, Mr, Hayley, in hi^
Essay on History, says of Loi^d Cliren-
tkm: ^ '■

Yet shall his labours long adorn our isle,
« Like the proud glories of some Gothia|iile : '^

They« tbo' constructed by a bigot's hfladda . . r
Nor nicely finished, -nor correctly plann'd,*
• With solemn majesty, and piotis glbom, "

An awful influence o'er the mind assume ; .

And from the alien eyes of ev'ry sect
Attract obseiTMicey and command respect.

Strada, in the second part of his
Muretus, offers us neiaxly the same image

•\

* This appears to me a harsh censure of the playful
elegance, and comples. regularity^ of Gothic architec-
ture*

Vol. II. H

100 ICENIPPEAK ESSASr iQN

on th« iS^pme subject :«-^^ ut ooanuUcb
9^mm sufnxum rudes attritae ac yetiuritate
fHTf^inpil^iii QorruptQS rellgiosius inter-
4ilm coiufitur* quam qua^ magaiiico
9i|i)t opere ntque eleganti; sic ilia iuf
curiQ«» 96Fmofii8 ^truavra sfl^pqnumero
iqajoreiQ h^t venerfition^m do fidem/'
Tp. pursue the figur^t the ivork^ oC
our histori9n$, who wr<He befoi^ t}i€l
reign of Jamais I. way b^ compared
to the old baronial castles, strong and
dreary, full of dark and circultQus pasi»
sages, but interesting by the very melAii<»
choly which they hispjce. In these
compodtions, the glimmering sentiments,
obscure explanations, and the inartificial
combination of incidents, refund US of
Gray^s

Rich mtiAmK tf»t exclod* fim U9I1C,
And passages which lead to nothing**

As the study of the Qr^ and Instill
writers prevailed among us, a mixed

♦ Long Story.

ENGUSH HISTORIANS. r07

style was introduced, similar to tlmt
which we condemn in buildings of the
seventeenth century; where we perceive
an unsuccessful attempt to combine an-
cient elegance with modern rudeness.
Where an ornament, beautiful in itself,
is often misplaced, so as to appear ridi*
culous; the artist, for example, trans-
ferring those decorations which would
have graced the nobler parts of the
edifice, to add to the enormity of an
overrgrown chimney.

At length the aera of elegant simplicity
afi-ived, when our writers and artists
became convinced, that the easiest mcr
thod of excelling, consisted in a close
imitation of the models of antiquity.
We have seen good taste carried nearly
to its point of perfection ; and as great
exertions seem to exhaust the moral, as
well as the phjrsical world, we have
perhaps witnessed the first symptoms of
its decay. Robertson was simple and
cbrrect; Hume was more lofty, uniform,

H 2

106 MBNIPPEAN ESSAY ON

and approached the point of Attic ele-
gance. But other authors have thought
it necessary, to cover their marble with
gold and azure ; in their avidity of beau-
ties, they have amassed the most incon-
gruous figures, and have blended them
in one glare of barbarous magnificence.*
An excess of polish and refinement,
among other inconveniences, tempts the
historian to suppress or vary the strongs
original expressions, which trying occa-
sions extort from men of genius. Yet
these, infinitely superior to phrases which
have cooled in the critical balance, al-
wajrs form the brightest ornaments of a
well-composed history. They transport
our imagination to the scene, domesti-
cate us with eminent men, and afford us
a kind of temporary existence in other
ages. Few of our writers, excepting

* Such writers oblige us to recollect Quintilian's
obsenration respecting figures; '' sicut ornant oratio-
nem opportune posits, ita ineptusimas esse am
immodic^ petontur*'^

ENGUSH HISTORIANa 109

lioyd^ have attended sufficiently to the
preservation of these flashes of sentiment
and intelligence. A single word sorne^
times conveys as much information of
character and principles, as a whole
dissertation. An old French historian,
for example, in describing the punish-
ment of some peasants, defeated in an
insurrection, by an officer of the Empe-
ror's, in 1525, displays the ferocious
intolerance of that time by one epithet
'* II punit grievemment les prisonniersi
signamment les meurtriers du Comte
d* Helfesteki, et entre autres un, sur
lequel il pratiqua une GENTILLE inven-
tion. Le criminel fut contraint amasser
un tas dc bois, autour d' un posteau,
jich6 au milieu d* une grande place,
auquel puis apres on le lie, d' une chesne
portant un peu outr6 le bois. Ainsi
quand V executeur cut allum6 le feu de
toutes parts, le malheureux couroit autour
se rotissant peu a peu luy mesme."*

* LaTal, Hiat, des Guerres Ciyiles, p. 24,

H 3

liu M£N1PP£AN ESSAY ON

When a prevalent taste for a certain
smoothness and splendor of style 19 esta-
blished, the value of such a deconatien
is easily over-i'ated. And writers, capa*^
ble of dmng good service by a laba(iCHi&
union of facts, are compelled to waste
their exertions; in imitating those fiayou*<
rite turns of expression, which they caa
never incorporate with their own dicbod^
by the strongest mechanical effoits. It
gives pain to a good-natured reader^ to
see his author engaged in such unavail-
ing struggles ; for some persons can iio
more acquire a good style, than a grace*
ful mannei) and in both instances, t^
affectation of unattainable graces only
adds distortion to clown ishness.

Vain such a boast of polish'd style,
W€ seem to hear the rasping file

As thro' the labottrM lines we drudge ;
If sullen nature grace deny.
Not VfiSTats can the fault supply.

Nor win to praise the sneering judge.

Indeed, if an elegant writer adopt a fa-
vourite class of metaphors, it is ptinued

19" •M;tefti>ifideion hf hisi iffiilurtorsi Af
one . Uttte, all o^citMrreAcds ^tti liki^ i(
riicef ; aflt6rwar(k;.fhey wei« like^a battle;
l8t»l}r^ tfaey hal^ te^eoibltfd at sfai^. At
ptewrif^ tfght ai^d darkness are the fa*
vmttitteowces of figures. Every sublet
is- iuntinOM, or shaded ; and every author,
P^klA to exhibit hb lanthorn at noott like
Diog^es, IB eGfger to ^ hoM his fartibuig
C&ndletd tbesu^/'^

Wh^ti an! histo^itfh rnerely translates'
iff f>aiCch^work, like Kndles (whom i>r.-
Johifeon ha9 unfortunaffely dragged into
notice, by injtidkriou^ praise), he is easily
misled by* the forssal track of those grave
mitboi^, who tt^t alt pMKs of their sub-
ject irt> the satWe manner. When the
story thofs comes unexpectedly to a full
stop^ a very ludicrous^ surprise often fol-
lows the most tragical history. To avoid
the offence of particular ap{rfication, 1
shall try the effect of abstracting such a
passage from Laval, whom I have just

* Young's Lore of Fame.
H 4

quoted.' It rQlate$.to the siege of ;IV>(tky:8^'
by the. French ,PrQte8tai>t^, in 15€9. ,,^o

** On the 24th of A||gU8ty .the festivnti
of St Bartholomew, the besiegers began# ;
e%rly in the morningt to b^ttpr in breqj^hf'
with twenty^two piece? pf cannon ; and
fired all day without intermission, so
bri^ly that tlie whole city shook. . They;
seepied :defermified to overtiirn evecj
thing, by so furious an attack, for they
had never raged in such a manner before;
^n4 it \y^ said, that this was their kist.
effoitt^ if, we cpuld resist ; which, tb^
woujd be nothing more to apprehends
They were^ so diligent, that they fir^t
near eight hundred cannon shot that day;
so tliat several officers declared, that con-'
sidering the number of their guns, it jwas
impossible to .keep up a more terrible
discharge.

" The garrison expected the assault,
about two or three o'clock in the after-
noon, when it was supposed that the
breach would be practicable; and in

fiEiot;^ a3x>ut half an £our past one^ it was;
so larg^ that for more than an hundred
fooeSf a maittm horseback^ ih complete
armotir, might haVe entered H without
difficulty. . About that time, theirqfore,
the enemy^drew up iii order of battle, bii:
die rising ground of the suburb, covered:
in. front by a wall, which extends from*
St. Cyprkn to the ssud suburbs ' They*
were all in white surcoats • -,- - and we
could see their.officers flying from rank
to' rank, haranguing and encouraging
them. They seemed to threaten, at the>
same time, die. Pr^ I* Abbessc and Pont
Joubert, which, notwithstanding the in-
limdation, they expected to force : they
had also on this side' lanbthbr ; division of
iheir troops, who Were in full expectation
of supping in^ the town;' and tailed to our

people to get ready for ^ them. In

the mean time, they fired from all their
batteries, especially on those places which
they designed to attack.

*' The poor townspeople, thoiigh quite

ynaccustomed to stidi diiuxider^ > woe km
deiatigable in carrying bedi^ £inciae%!
faoivel^ and otiber thin^ t» cx>Ter ^bor
breach. Every one did ins duty, withoal.
being tercified by seeing hk nagbboitt^
fftU. --*•• A single buUet would' carry oft
four or five good* soldiers; and aeiiiecat
poor people, workmen, and odi^n^. vifew
kiUed while they were busy in repatinng
the breach ; while the nobility wbe wi»i^
present were covered with. the bkxid^iS
the dain, yet kept thdt poets, to ear
courage the men. It is a cerGain ftdt*
that several persons were kitted .iwtwee»
the legs o£ the Sieurs du Lude and (d4
Rufiec, so that their dothea were dtfedr
in bloody yet they did not quit tfiei
breach, but shewed theaselves on tib«
top of it, to evince their ^crtty> to
eibcounter the enemy .-•« When « they
shw what countenance the enemy kept^
the alarm«bell was rung, to give notiicet
of the assault, and. the Srs« de Guise and)
du Lude, having ordered^ every Ofle* te

ENGLISH HISTOKIANSU lis

kb post, took, respectively, the chai^
of the breaches^ one of that of Pr6
1' Abbes&e, and the wliole of that face;
the other, of that which was made that
day, between St. Radegonde and SL
Sulpice; both very large, and difficult
to be defended.

The Italians bevig prepared to go to
&e breach, and harangued by one of
their leaders, swore on the crucifix to
die sooner than to fail in their duty.
And before they took their post, falling
on their knees, in the church of St.
Radegonde, they devote4l themselves to
God with such earnestness, that the by**

standers could not refrain from tears.

' '^ In the mean time, the principal
bdies of Poitiers retired into the castle,
and betook thein3elves to their prayers
with great fervency^ A strong body of
horse patroled the streets, to prevent dis-
orders, and compel the people to assist
in the^defence. Every thing thus pre*
pared, Mr. de Guise and his brother.

lia MENIPPEAN ESSAY ON

with a good troop of brave men» guarded
all the breaches of Pr6 V Abbesse and
Pont Joubert (where the town was open
to an assault), and at the grand breach,
newly made, was the Count du Lude,
who defended the centre, with the Sieur
de RufFec and other gentlemen on his
right. The Sieur de Montpezac, with
fiome gentlemen of his dependance, was
stationed on the left.

" The enemy, who, from the^ 'rising
grounds, saw almost every th'mg that
passed in the town, perceiving the firm
countenance which the garrison shewed,

DID NOT COME TO THE ASSAULT."

However ridiculous th'is lame and
impotent conclu^on may appear, it is
yet more inconvenient, that historians,
fond oi! a figurative style, are extremely
averse to deliver any fact, in a manner
intelligible to readers less instructed than
themselves^. They often notice an im-
portant event, as a possible case, and
tempt the reader, from the plain road

ENGLISH HISTORIANS. in

of narration^ into pleasing and spoitfiri
fields of digression, where he is some-
times arrested by a display of the ** non-
▼ulgaris eruditio," and sometimes by ex-
hibitions not very suitable to the dignity
of history.

Let us suppose an author of this class
to describe some event, which he desires
to rescue from obscurity, such as the
taking of Cashel in Ireland, during
Cromwell's usurpation; a fact equally
illustrious with many, which the in^
dustry of modern historians has deigned
to illuminate.

'* A numerous body of natives, dis-
trusting the mercy of the victors, had
fortified themselves on the steep and
difficult hill of Cashel, in the county of
Tipperary. A royal residence, converted
by the piety of its monarch into a mag-
nificent cathedral, and once dignified by
the priestly functions of the Prince of
Munster, offered at once the means of
defence^ and the jpotives of resistance.

lis ]ICENIFP£AN ESSAY ON

A generous enemy would have respected
the attachments of patriotism and reli-
gion ; but Ireton had learned to despbe
the impression of episcopal grandeur.

** On the northern side of the choir,
was elevated one of those lofty, conical
towers, which have exercised the genius
of antiquaries, respecting their origin and
destination. The most probable opinion
assigns them to the sect of Stylita,^
anchorites, who to withdraw their atten-
tion more completely from sublunary
objects, mounted the aspiring summit of
a tower or pillar, and consumed the
xevolving years of a monotpnus existence,
in gazing intently on the heavenly bodies.
Some of the ancient philosophical sects,
received their denominations from their
)f^^c€S of instruction : these holy men,

* '« Dr. Campbell, in bis Philosophical Surrey of
the South of Ireland* supposed these towers to. have
Veen belfriei, because he foand bells or bell-ropes in
•most of those which he had seen. Po$t hoc, ergo prop-
ter hoc, I fear, is bad logic. The best view of ob|c of
tbcsfe towers; is in the Vlrtubsi's MasC^intf; plate kkir.**

XKGUSH HISTORIANS. 119

condesoending^ in this instancy ta follow
a heathen example, took the uanie of
pillarHclimfoerfi^ from tlie ^eat of tbeir
contemplations.

" Simeon^ a shepherd of Syria, founded
this sect in the eighth century. Perhaps^
as superstition is strongly imitative, Uie
austerities of Simeon drew their origin
fjDom the mysterious exercises, annually
performed in Syria, on elevations appa<*
rently very different in their original
design. From the tradittonai honoui:B
of the colossal symbols, dedicated by
Bacchus to Juno, in the sacred city,*

* '' See the treatise Thpi rnii Xuplm; ^es, inserted
amoQg Lucian's pieces* In the description of the
temple of Hierapolis^ the author, whoever he was,
treats at some length of these singular antiquities.

** ■ ■ nm feOiKoiit MfOfft sy roi^ mfmnihmoun ii/o
KOfTa fmaXoi* £71 Ttfv sviypofifAa toioiSs ^ivtyiypsivrat^

TOr£A£ ♦AAAOTS AIONYSOS
HPHPi liHTHPi ANEeHKA.

Od^ mmamailta^ of a sinilar kind* erected in the

same tmplet to Bacdbns, contained the napoa^utemf or,

in the fiunilw bngvage of the antiqiieriaD (ism I camot

,120 MENIPPEAN ESSAY QIS

an imagination inflamed by solitude and
a burning sky, would pant after the
pure and privileged region of watchful
seclusion. But even in Syria, it became
necessary to shelter the candidate for
ascetic honours, in his permanent resi*
dence, when the places of the inanimate
Neurospasta were supplied by the vigouc
of living saints. The majestic emblem
was therefore excavated, and a winding
staircase facilitated the access -of the

m

votary. Perhaps an arched roof conoh
pleted the figure, and the hermit^ ele-
Vatcd on the mystical summit, enjoyed
the visionary raptures Qf his proximity

suspect Luciao of writing such acoTd patalojjue of
absurdities) avifof fUMpa; uc (iOm sraroii^aN^y . fU7A^
aiidta txovraf. He adds, that oue of the colossal Sakfm
was yearly ascended, by a man who remained on the
summit for seven days. The read^ who wished' to
know how such a monuhient» three hui^ML cabits
high, according to the original* or even tiiirtf* by the
correction of criticism, could be ascended without the
4id of steps, or any security for the feel, may coiMiih
Reitsius's excellent edition of Lucian, torn- iii. p. 475,
Wtere hit'oiriostty will be amply grtuific^'^^

ENGLISH HISTORIANS. 131

^€o superior intelligences. Such an edifiae»
in the hour of danger, could only serre
to dcscfy the approach of an enemy,
marked by the progress of terror and
desolation. On minds rendered fierce
and sanguinary, by the h^bit of deciding
theological di^erences with the point of
the sword, the religion of antiquity could
not operate; and. if the regiment of
Inchiquitl was destined h> the attack, it
was probably designed to weaken the
imputation of cruelty, which an English
commander would have incurred by tlie
refusal of xjuarter." *

Our passion for oriental history, and
the peculiar character of the specimens
with which we have been favoured, must
remind the most careless observer of the
distorted railing, shapeless pavilions, and
gilded dragons, which the love of what
was called Chinese architecture poured

* " In the extermination of the garrison, insult was
added to outrage: the victors pretended, that among"
/tbe slain, several kamincs caudati were didCQvered.''

Vol. J I. I

VJ2 MCNirPIAN BSUY ON

inlo our fields and gardens^ a few yeart
ago. Indoed, tlie ajttiuction of nofeltf,
however )iideoii9» iias proceeded no far,
that in leading some late producttom,
one cannot avoid thinking of the SiciHan
Fri>ncey wiio surrounded his villa with
statues of monsters, only remarkable by
the extrcmeriess of their distance from
truth and. probability.

But^ tired of this extravagance, we
now begin to recal the Gothic labours of
our ancestors into ouf pleasure^ounds ;
we opown the artificial mound with the
shivered donjon, and wind the ivy round
the un&iisbed pinnacles of the mimic
abbey. While good taste is contented
with simply restoring the traces of ancient
grandeur, caprice disfigures whatever it
attempts to embelUsh, and prefers ab-
surdity of invention to correct imitation.
So it has fared with those who have
revived select portions of English history,
mingled with a certain degree of senti-
ment aad fiction. In some of these

BNeUSH HISTORIANS. 125

attempts, the small chasms of private
history are so dextrously supplied, and
the bare line of general narration is so
happily 6rnamented, that we readily giv6
up our fancy to a delusion, whicji in-
structs while it imposes on us. In the
inferior productions of this kind, all
intricacy and distress revert to the com-
mon peace-breaker of novels, love. All
state-mysteiies and revolutions are im-
puted to some sighing damsel in her ruff
and farthingale :

Some whisker'd peer, with song and sonnet big ;
' Some tender Damon, in his lion-wig ;

and the author, presuming on his reader's
inadvertence, does not scruple to bestow
youth, and the hearts of young ladies on
a paralytic senator, or to represent a
beauty as inexperienced and frail in her
grand climacteric. An anachronism of
thirty or forty years, however injurious
to ancient characters, is easily over-
looked :

I 2

124 MENIPPEAN ESSAY ON

Thus harshly Maro treats the Tyrian dame ;
Tho' sev'ring time protects her spotless fame :
Safe from the pious chief's imputed lust^
Scarce ey'n their skeletoDs could mingle dutt*
Ye beauteous maids, who (ire the modem lay«
With merit humble, and with virtue gay,
Tho' with such sacred heat your charms allure^
Tliat cTv'ry melting thought but runs more pure,
(As, on Helvetian hills, the virgin-snow
Takes its fine pol'ish from the solar ^ow)
Yield your soft pity to the injor'd shade.
Whom Virgil's arms, disdaining time, invade.
No guiding angel taught her to descry^
Thro' fdblcd dreams, the ruler of the tky ; .
JSo hope yet fann'd the soul's immortal flame,.
Her hell was ceasure, her religion fame.
Of these short hopes, ye poet^, what abuse ;
Penelope is chaste,''^ and. Dido loose !,

- It must be owned, however, that in
the passion for restoring ancient beauties,
some deception has taken plac£. If an
authorj-f- professing to vindicate the cha-
racter of an unfortunate princess, lias
thought proper to falsify the features of

* Tradition has made very free with the clmfaoter
of this lady, notwithstanding the praises bestowed on It
)[)y Homer. In some parts of Greece, altars were raised
to her, as the patroness of promiscuous intercourse.

t Dr. Stuart, in his Hist, of Scotland.

ENGLISH HISTORIANS. . 125

a medal yet in existence,* what credit
shaJl we give to liis account ol' circum-
stances which he could only know by
conjecture ? Some of the champions in
this cause have, displayed great abilities,
and great charity; and nobody, 1 ima-
gine, could be more surprised by the
result of their enquiries, than th« un-
happy subject of thenu

Could she from cold oblivion peep.

And see her modern portrait shine^

So pure, so holy, so divine>
Round which ev'n wits and scholars weep ;
The nymph, ivho on the mountain's steep

Once more adorn'd poor Darnley's brow f
Would rouse her from her tedious sleep.

With ihany a hymn, and many a vow ;
And dr-awing from her bosom deep

Those tales *bout which historians vary.
Beg, while her humble sinews bow,

Pirotection from the new St. Mary .

* See the profile of Queen Mary, in that work,
where the fettoraa are very different from the pinched
cheeks and turned up nose of the celebrated medal,
from which it is said to be taken. It is a curious fact,
that the portrait alluded to, is copied from a profile of
Jvlift^onzaga.

t A tradition^ iirom which a hill, in the neighbour-
hood of LintithgoWf takes the denomination of Cocu
h Roy.

I 3

126 M£NIPP£AN ISSAY ON

By the uncertainty of historical truth,
and by the appearance of success, which
in certain periods, attends the worst men,
and the most wicked designs, some have
been induced to prefer romantic to real
history, as the more favourable to virtue.
But tiction is always more feeble than
truth ; for the most difficult task of ima-
gination, is the invention of incidents;
and those who wish to improve by
experience, cannot be too accurate in
determining the real gonnection of the
facts, from which they are ta conclude.
A fable may illustrate a moral apoph-
thegm, but can add no force to a poli-
tical maxim.

Some eminent philosophers, 'op the
contrary, attaching too much importance
to mathematical demonstration, have
wished to confine the knowledge of
history to certain undeniable facts, and
would deprive us of some oi its most
engaging passages, to prevent the po»i-
bility of deception. But the es§e<ice of

history, or indeed of any study, te^tiU
ring much labour, is always apt to qva*'
porate in the moment of eftj&yfiieitt.
It 19 nearly impossible to fraiisniit fh*
result of our own labours into tl>e iHiihdii
of others, who have not quahfied them-
selves for their reception by the neces-
sary degree of previous research. Or,
if they are understood, they can only
furnish the reader with an author's opi-
nions, of which he knows not the foun-
dation, and that can never become active
sources of knowledge, like those which
he might obtain by his own exertions.
After all, how small is the class of
readers, who study history, with the
expectation of acquiring virtue or expe-
rience ! To those who are destitute of
the habits and discipline of literature,
history is little better than a splendid
pantomime, where some of the spectators
are delighted with the dexterity and bold-
ness of the hero, others with the magni-
ficence of the scenes, and the astonishing

I 4

laa HSNIPPEAN ESSAY k€.

changes of the machii]^ery ; from such
an entertainment, the majority carry
away, perhaps, as many moral impress
sions, as they Would receive from the
Study of Thucydides or Davila,

ON THE ORIGIN

of

THE MODERN ART

of

FORTIFICATION,

/

•: » '

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN
ART OF FORTIFICATION.

IT is generally agreed, among mili-
tary writers, that the method of fortifying
places Vitb bastions was .introduced into
It^y, abqut the beginning of the six-
teenth century. But the author of this
^eat change in the art of war has never
b^en accurately traced, I have been
induced, by Folard's reflections on this
subject,* to make some enquiry into it;,
the yesult of which will perhaps surprize
the reader.

The first bastions which were seen in
Europe,, were constructed by the Turks^
for the defence of Otranto, in Apulia,

* Hisl. de Polybt)^ iqm. m, p. d» & Scq.

132 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE

which they occupied, from the time of
their invasion, in 1480, to a late period
in the succeeding year.* They de-
fended this place against the whole power
of Italy, and only capitulated in conse-
<}uence of the death of Mahomet II*
After their departure, the Italians, were
surprized to find works of a new appear-
ance; and Guillet-f- says, that their gene-
ral, Trivulzio, recommended an imita-
tion of them to the. Christian engineers.
I have unfortunately mislaid a reference
to an Italian writer, who corroborates
'the fact.

To the Turks, then, we owe this im-
provement; and it becpmes a niatte?* of
curiosity, to enquire by what means they
Nvere kd to its adoption'; '"'

It had occurred to ttie, riiariy years
ago, that Tacitus had described the walls
of Jerusalem, as constructed In sorne

degree, on the modern principle of a

' ' ' •

* Folard^ Morator, Annal. torn, xxiii* p. 1668.
t y\» d^ Mab^mfA ii» Liv, ii, p. 37 U

MODERN ART OF FOKTEPICATION. ISS

flanking defence; but finding that Folard
ridiculed the idea, I ^had given it up,
dU some observations in the Memoirs of-
Prince Eugene, lately published, and an*
examiliJatioD of a pas^ge, mis-quoted by
Folard, renewed my first opinion.

* Qui croirait*, says the prince, ' que
' j*ai appris quelque chose des Turcs, et
' queles Turcs aient appris quelque chose
' des ^oniains i Cela. leur . est re^t^, je
' crpis, vdes colonies, cpmrne les formes
* etrusques des Vases, des cruches qdoif
' tronve ch^s Cbaqiie ptys^/ This b
said, on. the Subject of field-intrench-
ments, which he had learned from tliC;
Turks to rabe to the height of twenty
feet. The passage in Tacitus, to whicti
I bavq alluded, runs as follows.

^'.Duos coUes. in immensum editos
<^ claudebant miiri per artem obliqui,
*• aut introrsus sinuati, ut latera oppug*
'* nantium ad ictus palescerent, Extrema
'* rupU abrupta, et turres, ubi mons ju-
** visset, in sexaginta ^des, inter devexa

134 ON THE ORIGIN OF .THE

'' in dentetios vioenosque attDllebaoittirj
*f lYiim specie, ^ac priocui intuentibuis ffliu
'> res. Alk intus m»nia,« nsg\Bd circuiti^
^^ jecta^ conspicuoqufO £aistigio tunis;^ Axi^*^
^ tonia in lionorem M^ Anttoii abHerode'
** appelhtoi" * ^ ^ ,r . J

The only word^ in th is pasiagir, ^ ith
can admit of any dispute, are, *';obliqui,
aut Vntorw^ sinuati/' which ^Fotard ti^ii&-
lates, by " salient Sc fisi-enierittg arigJes^^'
and which he discredits, because, he says,
Josephus has given a <Iifterent account
of the works. But iti is cle^> - 'thit Josi-"
phw, afiter mentiomng the Dth» walls,
describes the three towers^; erected by-
Herody on the. old wall, in a manner
corresponding to ' tliat of Tttcitus ; onl^
that he omits to notice the curvatures o?
the works. * I shall quote :& part of his
account^ the whale being too long foi:'
insertion.

•' Now as to these three towers, the
** height was prodigious, and y«t the

* 1 acit, Histor. Kb. v.

MODB8N AKTOii FORTmOllTION. 155

^ place they were Taised upon^ made it
^^ seem much more than it was. For the
■^ old wail they stood upon was itself
'^erected upon a very &igh jrieoe of
^^ giomid; md these turrets agam were
'^ advanced iipoa the top of a moantainy
*' that was yet thirty cubits higher than
** ibe ancient walL Ncidier were they
^ less JwlmiraUe for the materials they
^' wese^ made of, ikmk for the structure.
^ The stones were neither common, tior
*' of a weight to be removed with hands:
'^ but of white marbie cut into blocks of
** twenty cubiis bng, ten in breadth^ and
" five cubits deep: and so artificially piit
^ together, that there were no joints to
^^ be seen, but every distinct tower looked
** like one entire piece/' ♦

ViHalpandus, who followed Josephus
chiefiy, has also omitted to notice the
flanks.

But Tacitus lived at the time of the
siege of Jerusalem; he probably had

^ Josephus, translated by V Estrange* Book wL
^hap« yi

i36 CMf THE ORIGIN OF TOB

conversed with officers who served under
Titus; and he hds described the works
with more appearance of militaiy know-
Jedge than Josephus, who was only-
anxious to boast the magniiicenoe of their
stiucture. There is certainly no contra^
diction between them.

Anunianus Marcellinus furnishes a most
curious passage, which, if we may de-
pend on it, shews that flanking defences
had existed, long before this -celebrated
siege.

In speaking of the campaign, of Sapor,
khig of Persia^ in Mesopotamia, he add^ ;
^**VlRTAM adoriri disposuit, munimen*
''turn %'aldc vetustum, ut a^diiicatum d
«* Macedone credatur AlexandrOi in ex-
•' trenio quidem Mesopotamia^ situm, sed
*^ niuris velut SiHuasis circumdatum et
** Conwiis^ instructioneque varia inac*
" ccssum."*

I sirongly suspect that Folard had

* Ltb. X3t. c, vi. ' •

Tiie instmciio varia may have been atiala^oas -to tbe
intricate Gateways of the East,

MOD£ftN ART OF FORTIFIC ATfON, 1 37

never examined this passage; because
he remarks on it, that the historian must
have been mistaken ; lor, although the
town was* old, the walls were not. On
the contraty, the pointed expressions of
Ammianus lead us to suppose, that the
genius of Alexander had anticipated this
pttliciple. of defence, by many centuries.
All^ this positiveness, on the part of Folard,
aldose from a misapprehension, owing to
his ignorance of the ancient languages,
and his proneness to accommodate every
thing to the recent state of fortification.
He could Understand nothing but redents,
by the words 'sinuosi, and comuti,' but
I ^eodceive that they convey a different
meaning.

lift GORONELLi's ISOLARIO, and in his
description of the More A, we see con-
cave flanks, which form segments of
considerable circles in the curtins, instead
of sti^ight lilies ; and these I apprehend
to resemble the sinuosities mentioned
both by Tacitus, and Ammianus. That

Vol. II. ' k

tbqy \trere CQ£iifi4 from lopre aiH^^
bwJdings, wlliph oo Ipnger exi^t, i«i
highly probable., I r^£er tb« reader pur^
tjffdiarly to Uae Tiews of ljf^p9»t» and,
Q^igf^ La CoroneU^ for qxagftpkw, of thb
GonsttUfftioOf T^e ei^prossion, ' <rAr9i«r
/]^* u^ by Ammiaausj is paiticulAily
descrlpl^ve oftbis lundof wprji; Ibmg^
it ba$. beea aj^liedt by n^Qd^mi XoLtm
Wfitecs on mUijt^fy a£S^» to ^ hoi^iir
wock.

By attending tp tbft cwipii^. woik of.
Proc^^M^y ncpi J(Tftri«vr4n^ We ase enabled
to 9ae^%i\ the date of several deviatk>w
from tihie ancient mode: of fortiftcatipii,.
andvoii^pproiicbeti to the mpd^vm. n^M^.
When the emperor Justinian adopted, ft
dftfcwive ^ystww, to? tbe^ «$!«» f rqniier,
by the constfAiQ^QD oKrepwr of £(HMe»eflk>
aod by £(>ctified Unesi, he besftowed pvh
tugulw attention on the reH^ificatiofi of;
D4,949, lik Mesopotaonia. As the place
wa^ tbReatened by the BarbariAP8> he
diij^tt not opei> it, by d.ei»olisbing thfr

MODranH ART OF FORTHnCAOriON. ISf

ancieiM waHir ; he thcreliDre soryoundisd
Ihem with aa outer,, lower waiU ^
¥aumQr> which In more muodern tiin<?^
4K:cupt0di : the Becmev and faectme this
Ritrs»4frafye.* At the bottom of each
of the towers, ht cdnstructed a squared
^ork; and thus gave origin, at once,
to bastioxied towers, and to the square
bastion ; of the latter, vestiges appear to
have existed, evea in the seventeenth
century. -f* He introduced, also, the
round-turrets in the middle of the towers,
of whteh Conway casde affords exam?-*
pies.

He constructed^ on tlie level ground,
inhere the enemy might easily approach,
to the southward, an advanced ditch, ia
form of a. half-mocMEi, in front of the
vaiMiuiir, and resting on the wall at its
estrcmities. This ditch was lined pa**
tially by a lower wall, and was, in tac^

* P. 30, 31. cap, i. lib. ii.

t See Lotich* de Rebus Germanicis, T* i. View of
SaxenhautfMi.

K 3

UO ON THE ORIGIN OF THE

an out-work, resembling very much the
Fer-a-cheval, / only perhaps of a larger
size. I shall quote Procx>pius*s words*
as Mr. Gibbons has only mentioned it

generally. Taippw tSh navroi fmifouSii^ tufwr Tt nm

rS VfOTSixl^fjtaTi to TrifOf iim^^Bv^ iiaroi fiiiv itapMig
ff/mrknaofjuvog^ offarA re TrarraTtao'n toi^ vtihsfUMg Mrror-
fiaofJiiPOfy h fjuHpa is iunig if; erro$ vporttxto-fta difjLsvof
sTtpov, u in ipefSrif sv ToT^opma ppovpoucri Vmfuuoi n n
Vf^jS&XK MM vpoTaxifTfjiatog t5 rripH affontrn^arrtf^ owtp
ri Tsixwi vpo0s0Kirrcu,

In fortifying Martyropolis, in Meso-
potamia, Justinian terrassed the space
between the old and new walls ; this wa?
another advance in the art.*

At what precise time the improvement
was made, of presenting an angle of the
square tower to the country, instead of
the face, I am not able to point out.
It seems to have been first suggested, by
the superior chance which it afforded,
of eluding the impression of the battering
ram. In Cassa's views of the walls of

* p. 55.

MODEBN ART OF FORTIFICATION. 141

Pola, this construction appears, in the
ancient foundations, as well as in thq
modern superstructure.* Tliis, with the
talus given to the wall, were the imme-
diate fore-runners of the Bastion.

It appears then, that, from the time
of Justinian, Mesopotamia became the
school of the arts of attack and defence
relating to sieges. The places, originally
fortified against the Persians, fell subse*
qqently into the hands of the Turks, who
made their progress chiefly by sieges;
and in the course of their long and
sanguinary struggles, after the introduce
tion of artillery, the invention of the
bastion seems to have arisen, from the
models of flanking fortification, of which
they had become possessed. During the
reign of Mahomet ll, the Turks were in
tihe full tide of their military glory.
They threatened, at that time, the con-
quest of Germany qnd It^ly, as well as

^ Mr* Morier obseryed this construction in the towers
of Kbor« in Persia.

K 3

142 ON THE ORIGIN OP THB

of the Greek lalands ; nor was ^ d&m
ger of the oo&tinefit averted^ tUl the battle
of Lepanto.

- The personal character of Mahomet ll«
favoured imjMOTements in the arts of air
tack and defence^ in a remeu^kablQdegtee.
He may be ooosidered, in thid leE^ct,
aB 4>e fore*runaer of Louis xiv. Guillet
ascribes to him the inventicm of mortars.^
In arranging the siege of Coi;istantiiM^le«
he exhausted the military scnence of his
age.^ Guillet even assert^ thait crosfr-
batteries were employed by &e Turks
08t that occasion, but he ascribes the
sugg^tion of the practice to au Huo«
garian4

Bstfletus has hinted geDcally^^ that
Scanderbeg, the disti43^ished adversary
of Mahomet^ endeavourod lx> fortify his
places a^^unst the kcod^ inveqtipn of^

♦T. i,p. 16,

t P- 1*J^-
X P, 16«-

I lib. 7.

MODBUr ART OP S^OR^ItlCATlON. 143

.urtiilery ; but liere we 6nd tiie iinidoubted
cngai df the talus in military works.
^^ Ad Portafm ipsatn urbis turr'fni itig^xl^
^ ttm MKdissfnmm oonMruxete, non ta-
^men fr^trecta fades mnrorum nlict^^
ffiW opportUHM injuria tsset^ ^d viluti
^ JAdBNSy utfacilius eluderet ictus nutchA^
■^ ruarumJ'^

. Tjhis passi^, relating to die fotlifioa<-
UcMis of Ctoye, which has beeh we^^
looked by Gaillet, fumidies a most curi<-
]0us epoch in the improvement of military
wiencew Baiietus adds» ^* ro6 a ibrma
'' pedis ^arpaci vulgari imagis ppoprto
^ vocabulo eum appellamus/' CVom
these exlpre^bioiis, we may not <oi>ly infbr
4b3k this advanced work was the origitial
lafai4hilMon of engtoeers^ but wb alM
dediAce Iram l^tice the term ^inf^
svbick alnil subsistb^ to denote th^ s}<^
of tlie ditch. The dlite of this improves-
melit is 1465.

K 4

144 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ' \

It is unnecessary to add, that Croye
w as afterwards taken by the Turks, in
1477. During this interval of twelve
years, it is not improbable tl)at other
alterations had been made in the works,
and that the Turkish engineers misght
have found in Croye the models of their
constructions at Otranto. Whatever ad-
ditions they may have made, it appears
certainly from the detail of Barletus, that
the first great effort towards the modem
art of fortification originated in the genius
of the Christian hero, whose history de*
serves to be more accurately known*

But their rapid degeneracy in military
knowledge deprived the Turks of the be*
nefit of their own inventions. The people
who first constructed bastibns, and who
first opened trenches before towns, were
proved, two hundred' years afterwards,
by the siege of VientiH, in 1688> to
have sunk into the depth of stupid bar*
barity. Embarrassed by their own num-
bers, aqd encamped wkhout preeaution,

MODERN ART OF FORTIFICATION. 145

tbeyi fled' before a handful of light ca-
valry* -

The Polygonal bastions of Rhodes, as
they -appear m the plans of Dapper, and
the Due de Cbbiseul,^ present an unfor-
tunaite att^ncipt to modernize the Roman
towers, of the same form. I believe very
few instances of a similar constructioh
are to be found, excepting the lines of
Precop. The slope of the summit of
the parapet, seems, from the account of
the accurate Sandys, to have been first
practised in the works of the Valetta,
after the deliverance of Malta from the
Turks. " The walls on the inside," says
he, " are not above six foot high, un-
imbattald, and shelving on the outside.'*
♦To have noticed this construction, after
having seen the principal cities pf Italy,
would have been trifling, if the method
had not then been new.

In Antella's plan of the Valetta,
published in 1600, we find casemates in

♦ p. 233.

I

THE ARGUMENT.

Exordium — Merry Andrew — 77ie Boaih — Entrance qf
ihe Puppets -^PUNCff-^Revellings — SimiU-^A Battle
—AMERICAN WAR— PIETY IN PATTENS-
OMBRES CHINOISES-^A Simile— PATAGONIAN
THEATRE— SERIOUS BALLETS— A Vision— Phi^
losopky of Puppet- Shetus — The Marquis de Casaux —
Poets are Puppets — Conclusion.

•

THE PUPPET-SHEW.

T.

H£ wondrous pageants of ah humble train^
A tiny race^ and nation void of brs^in^
I sing. No heavenly spark inflamM their hearts ;
Their framer guiltless of Promethean arts.

Where the hoarse drurt, and motley droll invite
The gaping mob, with foretaste of delight.
Where jests are dealt to please the long-ear'd crew.
As old as Miller's, and as C— t — y's new.

Admiranda cano levium spectacula rerum,
Exiguam gentem, et vacuum sine mente popellura ;
Quem, non surreptis cseli de fomice flammis,
Innocua melior fabricaverat arte Prometheus.

Compita qua risu fervent, glomeratque tumultam
HistriOf delectatque inhiantem scommate turbam.

150 THE PUPPET-SHEW.

Led by the love of sights, or love of fan.
To pit and gallery the audience run.
Not equal benches hold the staring rows.
Bat peerage-like, the fees their worth disclose.
At length, the figur'd cartain rolls away ;
Fall on the narrow stage the tapers play.
Where crossing wires deceive the curioos eye^
That else too plai^tbe homely firavd .would spy.
And now the actors croud, in squeaking droves^
By painted domes, and Lilliputian groves ;
'Mid scanty scenes, like us they sport or jar* • •
In narrow passes forms tii' esibalfeM; war;.
Our pomps, our cares contracted tm a spaoi.
The little miitoics play gigamiq man.

•^mmm

Quotquot laetitise studio aut novitate tenentar,
Undique congressi permissa sedilia complent.
Nee confusus honos ; nummo subsellia cedunt
Diverso, et varii ad pretium stat copia scamni.
Tandem ubi subtrahitur velamen, lumina passim
Angusto» penetrant; adittts, qua f^rima ▼isdm
Fila seouit, ne com vacuo datur eve tetetea#
Pervia frUM pateat : moK' stradnla turba penatsa
Ingreditui* piclos> et maenia sqoalickat ftico*
Hie hwiiiles inter scenas, angnstaque .ci««sta^,
Quicquid agunt homines, coneursus^ bvHa^ sriaoiplKMl

Bat ol«i! Ifa^ifist Aej»' PiiBGhineli» rise.
Of hoaner a^oeo^ and tmnendoos ahaa I
An ample clai|i>iMs jcrkta'a ro«ad coofines.
His well-taughl 9fm with vivM^ ■M>iion. sbioeii ;.
Far-stretch'd befioreliis. jutting pavncb appeaun.
His lolly baek.o'erwhelina hiskambled eara :
Not with mpre teivor toi facb wiieeping' goivn
Thro' countiy-danoea ploda tke lab'rmg olowni,
Than the smaH heroes> t\m^Abe parted sheet*
See his broad paimek (Nreoede bin diitanc'd leet.
Proud of hit balkv tLtk4 <' fan^e tw^a-handad sway/'
He reigiuu the tymit ofthe pi^petNpiay*
Gibes his poor wooden slaves in wanton fit,
*' And shakes the clcriasy bench wiife.*' antic ** wk."

w^»"i»r^^

Ludit in exigao plebeCuIa parva theatro*

Sed praeter reliquos incedit Homuncio rauca
Voce strepensj major sobnectit fibula vestera^
£t referunt vivos errantia lumina mottis ;
In ventrem. tumet immodicum.; poae eminet ingens
A tergo.gibhu^; Pygmaeum territat agmen
Majer^ at im«0(aQam miratair tnrba, gigantem.
Hie magna fretus mole^ imparibusque lacertis
Confisivi) |^ra9iiiijactat6onvitia.vuJgo,
£t crebrQ,s«tlvit» Upid^m capji^ ora cacbinno.

) 52 THE iFUFPET-SHEW^

When courtly lordb and shining damts are seen
Round btouteoiuf Grisild' or St. George's Queen,
His saucy laugh disturbs the Milemn plaoe«
And the room echoes to his pert griiiiaoe«;
Or wilder still, his lawless flame inyades .
The modest beauties of the vamish'd. maids;
The varnish'd maids with disapproving iiiai, .
And coy reliictance« shun the saucy kiss.

But undisturb'd the meaner forms advanceb
And ply their little limbs in busy dance.

And oft with glia'nogpasle and tinsel gay»
The wooden race their birth-day robes displays
In marshaird order trip the ladies bright.
And lordlings sparkle on the vulgar sight.
While the small people, joining in the press.
Revive the dream of Pygmy-happiness :

Quaiiquam res agitur solcnni seria pompa, -

Spemit sollicitum intractabilis ille tuilittUmb, ' * ■ •

Et risu iuiportunus adest, atque omnia turbat*

Nee raro invadit molles, pictamqne prbtervo •

Ore petit Nympham, invitoque dat oscula ligiio.

Sed comitum vulgus diversis membra fatigant ' '
Ludis, et vario lascivit mobile saltu.' M

Sft^pe etiam gemmis rutila, let spectabilis anro, '• '
Lignea gens prodit^ nitidisque auperWl in l>ftrji.

As if the warlike dwarfs, relaxed from toila.
In knightly glories ricb, and feathered spoils^
Had quenchM in gentle ease, and soothing strains^
The airy terrors of the hostile cranes.

So when the sCars their middle station keep.
The sportive Faries o'er the greensward sweep ;
In merry round they print the narrow ring.
And wave the yielding grass with nimble spring, ,
Whence kindly juices the glad soil bedew.
And the rich circle shoots with darker hue.

But sudden clouds the happy scene o'ercast.
Wars, horrid wars resound their dreadful blast*

Nam, quoties feslam celebrat sub imagine lucem,
Ordine composite Nympharum incedit honestum
Agmen, et exigui proceres, parvique Quirites.
Pygmaeos credas positis mitescere bellis,
Jamque infensa Gruum temnentes prselia, tutps
Indulgere jocis, tenerisque vacare choreis.
Tales, cum medio labuntur sidera caelo,
Parvi subsiliunt Lemures, populusque pusillus
Festivos, rediens snapper vestigia, gyros
Ducit, et angustum crebro pede pulsitat orbem*
Mane patent gressus ; hinc succos terra feraces
Concipit, in multam pubentia gramina surgunt
Luxuriem, tenerisque virescit circulus herbis.

Vol. II. L

f5V THE PUPPBT-SHEW;

Their hasty ansoi the wooden warrion aei^e^
And desp'rate conbat iaterriipts ibw Mte*
So short our pleaiBiir^B :• thut our Uim withsttod !
So dash'd with car« i« ev'ry mortal goodr

Now front to froBt the daoaliiig lines appear*
Raise the thiu swor^ or point the taper apcari
With martial port thejr meditate the Mow^
And lereird-muskets threat' the daring focb
Hark ! the smart crackers spit their fiery breaftli^
His8> bounce* and thyuBder in the field of difliath.
Thro' er'ry arch the mingled bunts reeound ;
Thick-faliing warriors strew th' unhappy grnynd.

Sometimes the sad detail of civil rage
Lifits to sublimer aim the pygmy-tage.
From Bunker's Hill now flaming rosin darts.
Now dreadful Howe appals the Yankey -hearts ;
Here Burgoyne, forc'd to yield, forbid to fly,
A well- dissembled Puppet ! seems to sigh.

At non tranquillas nulla abdunt nubila luoes»
Saepe gravi surgunt bella» horrida bella tqmuUu.
Arma ciet truculenta cohors, placidamque quietem
Dirumpunt pugnas ; usque adeo inaincera volup^
Omnibus, et mists castigant gaudia curae.
Jam gladii, tubulique ingesto sulphurc fcjetj.

THE POPPHr-aHEW*. 1 55

A little Calp^ jihootsrciittlBSSiifresy-,.;.. v .;•.'
On B^niveik'* gibbet Andh^^s fofih expiretr '
Or Ro4iie|it^s.tiiiiiider'6eiids'th»69ilkiifofl' --! , -
Thro' caamM biiiowB, to die de^pths beloir. «

Inventive Fo<>lopiiO(dfMW this ivit Id dcrfeeii^ . . ^
Socratic puppets«raad!tli/.iHDBiBgiMnbttQfBC»| . < -t

Hence chasten'.d.'ioiveJus<ji'inniliieikitb'ip^^ ' ^'

The patjtaiifdrbeautyr ft^<il)lie^n'ii>ilB('S^ife.
Great lord of ir»nyx! he 8W97^4 ^^'^c^ -
The {)eed«st J^Ji^ p^ the pup{>«twsta^ ; . :'

NexU:iflleagFe Fm&ce, |vho dauld ^^Tcrd-qe -morr.
Substantial f9rn».U> grace a ntai'sitore»:
Sarcastic^; ibvght in airy space to flit : -

Her Eastiern shades^ witbempty^Muhdrof wsb.
Lo! half-conceal'dd^e de3tt^«o«^ puppet |}lays^
Beneath the attlul v«il?s.iiidaig8iitiblaKe;
In flippant French tbe feadess figniifii jar.
And foreign pounds perpkx the Ust^tting tar.
But soon tb' imperfpeb £b#Btt. disgust jdif eye« ;'• ..

PcQtensi9^Uj^,ba4^, ^^g^uti^^ue arma, ^oidiiseqac
T^orum ingeatf&sul^unt; 4^t daustra fr^gorem .
Hoiv;eiid<RQx ruptp^iAndent^ bit^miQe charts
Q9ff^^sa3 reddivo^ qrefiito^ et sibila i»is^ept.
Sternitur omne solum pereuntibus ; undique caesae
Apparent tnrmae^ cirilis crimina belli.

L3

156 THE TUPPET.SHEW:

Darkling they come* and unregretted fly :

So when the wandering chief the ghosts surrey 'd.

That " squeak and gihber'^ in th' infcsval shade.

His wonder past^ he Tiew'd with cardeis ease

Forms impotent alike to hurt or please*

Then high the gen'rous enralation ran,

Th' ennobled poppet towering into man.

Fair in the SUrand the pleasing Jtage was foond.

With lovely art, and happy graces croim'd.

There Shakespeare's vni in wooden gestures shoDe«

There J* — ^p-*Hi's« blest» to please the eye alone !

With rapid step a nobler band succeeds.
The Fantoccini, known by deathless deeds;
Scarce man himself their promptness. can surpass
To trim the tapei:> or present the glass.

Behold NoTetre the mimic art restore I
Medea raves and Phaedra weeps no more.
Here sense and shew decide their long dispute, *
For man turns puppet, and the stage » mute.
Ungraceful Hamlets, aukward Romeo's By :
Let Mother Goosb*^ more worthy themes supply.

* Thb passage might Very well have been written
at the tilbe when the poem is' dated ; for the entertain-
ment'of Selima and Axor was taken from 'the' story
of Beauty and the Beast, in Mother Gbose^^ Tales.
The stage is now farther indefaiC^ W that leanied
author. ' • : - '^" ' ' -^

^' y

*t

THE PUPPET-SHEW. , 157

On the vast stage, o*er many an acre spread.
Be lowing herds and numerous squadrons led ;
While Bnui Bb ARiy fierce the fatal key demands.
Or Puss IH Boots acquires the Ogress lands ;
Or fair Rbd Riding-Hood, in luckless hoar,
A helpless victim falls to fraud and pow'r.

Proceed, great days I till poetry expire.
Till Congreve pall us^ and till Shakespeare tire ;
Till ev'ry tongue its useless art let fall.
And moping Silence roost in Riifus' hall ;
Till nimble preachers foot the moral dance.
Till cap'ring envoys check the pow'r of France,
And full St* Stephen's see, with mute surprise.
The Opposition sink, and Premier rise.

But oh I what God inspires my boding mind
To paint the glimm'ring prospect yet behind !
I see in gesture ev'ry wish exprest.
Each art, each science quit the lightened breast :
No wand' ring eyes the distant heav'ns explore.
On two legs tott'ring, man d^cends to four*
Then, great Monboddo> proves thy system true ;
Again in caves shall h^rd the naked crew;
Again the happy savages shall trail
(A long-lost gifl !) the graceful length of tail :
In that blest moment, by indulgent heav'n.
Thy wish, Rousseauf and Swifl's revenge are given.

Now, whence the pupp6t*s various' functions came
The muse shall teach/ and make instuction fktat.'

L 3

15» THE PUPPET-SHBW.

The workmen first the luxDJSringlogs wSorm,.
And chip> and torture into human form ;
Ne:(t ftring the limbss and clasp tbe. jj»illt« witih ailj
Add piece to piece« »iid lufisw'rifig part Ho part i
Then wheeling puUiei joiQ> and flowing cord$«
Whose secret influence guides the wooden lords*
And now the nice machin<i Completed standi*
And bears the skilful prin^ of ma^ter*bands |
Seems in its new creation to rejoice^
Th' imparted n^otions and the grafted voice }
As justly turning to the ruling sprinfs
As votes to ministers^ or hearts to kings»

Nunc tamen undo geniis ducat« quae dextra la«
tentes
Suppeditet vires* quem pospat turba moventem*
Expediam. Truncos opif^x. et inutile lignum
Cogit in hnmansis species> et robore natam
Progeniem telo efformat^ nexuque tenaci
Crura ligat pedibus^ hi^merisque acoommodat arme$,
£t membris membra aptal;» et artubus iiisuit artus^
Tunc habi(es addit trochleas* qui bus arte pu^mn
Versat onus» moliqu^ manu famulatus ioerti.. . .
Sufficit.oecultQs motus^ vocemqu^ ministral«

THE IPUPPET-SHEW. 159

Hence, learned Casaux,* thy earnest thoughts
hegan j

To trace the jointed frame of polishM man.
In some low booth, that on the rampart lies.
To catch in heedless throngs Parisian flies.
Where the wise Hebrew shone in tinsel-light.
Or Europe's princes charmed thy tender sight,
Thy soul divined, for such the will of fate.
The shifting puppet-shew of pow'r and state.

Poets themselves in puppet-motions sport.
And steal sweet Toices from th' Aonian court ;
Transporting sounds ! that pass, with strugglmg pain.
Our narrow organs in a ruder strain.
See, classic Addison with ease combines
Yirgilian accents in his sportive lines :
But mine, weak offspring of a languid age.
Love the low roof, and haunt the humble stag^-—
Congenial themes the mimic muse requires.
And on mean altars lights her scanty fires.

His structa anxiliis jam machina tola peritos
Ostendit sulcos, duri et vestigia ferri :
Hinc salit, atque agili se sublevat incita motu,
Yo^esque emittit tenues, et non sua yerba.

^ Author of the Mechanism qf Society*

OF GENIUS.

Fropii:fi^^t«4 9firk^ anf dale^
Edg'd with poplar pale.
The parting Genius is with sighing sent-

Milton.

OF GENIUS.

I

LT is useful to observe the effect of
our early reading, in perpetuating false
impressions even among tbc^e who boast
an emancipation from all prejudices of
education, Hume's classical knowledge
was too strong for his scepticism ; for in
one of his essays he supposes it probable>
that such a scheme as that of the ancient
mythology may have been carried \m6
cflfect, at some period, in some part of
the solar system* Camoens makes the
Virgin Mary intercede with Jupiter,
wh^n the Portuguese are in danger, and
seems as much attached to one religion
as to the other. Vossius, of whom
Charles II. used to say, that he believed
every thing but the Bible^ was another

164 OF GENIUS.

instance of the ease with which men
suffer the grossest impostures to gain
upon them, when they are unhappily
recommended by elegance and wit.* I
am apt to imagine, jthat the extrava-
gancies of the ancient poets, engraved
on our minds by the rod, and too par-
tially entertained by our relish of 4he
more sober beauties of those authors,
have sometimes deceived us in our csti-
male of human faculties, and have sup-
ported, unperceived, something of lite-
rary superstition and metaphysical mys-
ticism, even to the present time. When
we speak of a man who has made any
considerable discovery in science of art,
who has painted a good picture, written
a fine poem, or a very good novel, we

* It is saidy that when Yossius^ who was a canon
6f Windsor, lay on his death-bed, the Dean came to
persuade him to receive the sacrament.^ Vossius rejected
the proposal w^itb indignity : after ^me altercntioD,
the Bean gravely said ; *' Mr. Vossius^ if you will not
recetve it for the love of God, take it, at least for the
l^onopr of the chapter.'^

calk hiiti a tnaii<i^ genius #itbout und^r^
standing our own meafning^ v ©ooks tinve'
teen: Wfittenj^siftdeed,'^- tb^'^tplain -the
woi;d genius,i^i>tif *'^eilkew and' rea^^rs^
have contii*ticd= *y doubt; forf authors
haira agyefed^ in* ' the t^itie error, o^f coti^
stdering' gertltu^'fts-afdisriiidt power' of tlie
ttfttid, while^' ift • fdality, it - originally
denoted something totally independent

«

I know not whether \^eakness or pride
Contributed more to those delusions,
which appropriated a divinity; to preside
over the most usual, and the least digni-
fied of our natural functions, but if the
ancients supposed themselves to be super-
naturally assisted on such occasions, it is
not wonderful that they should lay claim
to superior protection, in the bright and
enviable moments of literary success.
They believed, that evety man was under
the ditectioil of one of the smaller deities,
or aerial daemons ; a sort of valets to the

im OP OENIUB^

superior gods,^ and accbcding to &neC£^
tiitoits of men ; like the usual arraiDge^
ment in families, of d^inction upon
oarth* Sepone in prsescsitia quae xps^F
busdain placent: uoicuique noatrum pee*"
dagogum dari Deum, hon. quSden ordi^
n4riunii sed hufic anferioris notm^,-^
eoruni numero quOs Qvidius ftt( nf^ pkbti
^eos^ ]*'■'■'■ ^

Tliese obsequious inhabitants of.,th»
au", who at their leisure-hour^ chafcd
swallows and crows, obtained the general^
name of genius. Apd some epaUient
Qi€A}, in their atrabilious moments^ have
fancied lliat they discerned the presence
of such attendants. It would appear,

f Apulidius de pao S^ctgttis. ■ ■ qugedam 'dn

TVise mediae potesUtes^ inter suqunum a^hera et ijnfim^a
terras, ^w******** inter te'rricolag cselicolasquft ' vec-
toTM, hmc precom, Inde d^nonim ^**i^ Homtii ehtny
muoMt ejt opara aU)u« cHica t^ nt Amubadi. aoupLiiff
orbiutem oculi comm^arentnri Flai^inio ei^iipick
pericuhnn cladis prsdicaht, &G«'"

t J>cnec, tipi.st. ex, ; ' * " •

conSm^d ihoi ipfluenob of the geniuB^
cht^fiy to : piiesages^, ^aidt-ilivec$tloM m
rdigioMs eeremooies.. The pgete thought
tbeiKVHslves v£ Bifficteiat' impbitaiice^ta
daserve ^ aeparato estaUisbment^ and
n^de their g^iiu stationMjiion ^^nassusL
B^. filter the inUxxiuction.of Christianttfv
wh^n the leafiiCKJi enoJ^arrBssed themseivet,
by ret^'mwg the Platoqic doctrine of
d^nsons^ to grace their systems of magic,
the genius w% ivot ocly considered as a
superjuatiira) ^ttetndant, but as a being
pQ§$^a$ed of most esUei^vQ kuawkdge,
\fbich be W9§ d^^p^Aed to comosiikniGate ^
on certain considerations. Marinus, a
bic^apiher of PiH>dus> has afiserted that
R,uhnu3, a man Oif consequeoce, and no.
dpJUJ^t a very ^hle ^tatosman^ abeerved
oa€ day tljbe head ^f Produs surrouaded
witJi rays {svi<;h as we denominate ai
g^y) while he was teaching ; ^ ut A^s
vino signo," says Brucker, " tjualis in
hoc compare dji^^ion lateret, omnes intel-

168^ OF GENIUS.

ligerent^^ Non puduit itaque Maiiniim/ '
vibe bujus Compilatoreniy dif inse impi^ '
rationis (Ami; kwimoiai) participem eum fu<^ '
is9e> asserere, et vultiun oculosque ac ora '
divinos radios spar»s8e mentiri/' Proclus *
afiected to believe, that he was as^sted >
iu the composition of his works by the '
gpddess Cybele. Hence the visionary
hopes of forming a commerce with an-
gelic existences, which dissipated the
hours of many ardent scholars. The^
Paracelsian and Rosicrucian follies^ and '
the most sincere part of Alchemy, as
well, perhaps, as some late sects, derive
their orign from this mixed and doubtful
source.

This wild conjunction of mythology
and magic formed a spell, not easily to
be broken. An undefined veneration
was attached to the term genius, which
became more powerful as it was less
understood. The influence of classical

' * UifU Critic. Phtlosoph. torn, iu p. 352*

©F GBKIUS. 169

imagery, and its perpetual recurrence
to inspiration, supported an impression,
which, like the terror of nocturnal illu-
sions, though disclauned in public, and
no longer existing as a system, still haunts
the hours pf silence and solitude. Poets,
at all times the most incorrigible of the
lit^ary trib^, still dream of impulse,
and mistake their own idleness for the
frown of Minerva. Morhoff, one oC
those singular characters, who acquire
the belief of common errors, by extenr
siye reading and profound meditation,
was so struck with this impression, that
he wrote a whole chapter, de eo, qmd in
diciplinis divinum est. He has indeed
faintly rejected the syncretistic follies of
the former age, but he perhaps allowed
inspiration radier too largely, when he
granted it to an Italian improvisatore,
and to Valentine Greatrak.*

The concluding lines of Buchannan's
address to Ma^ Queen of Scots, which

*. Polfbistor^ Lflenr. U)>. i. oap..xii, § 15«28.

Vol. II. M

170 opeKNiva

have been reckoned so obscuie, taoEf be
easily explained by tbio yiew^'of the foc^
mer acceptation of genius^

Non tatnen ausQs eram male natum exponere fcBtum,
Ne mihi displlceant qufe placnere tihf. '

Nam qnod ab ingenio domini sperate nequibaaC^ . ; .
Debebunt genio forsitan ilia tuo. . j^

The feebleness of the puef's^iertis {ig
his modesty led him to speak); iii^ to hff
protected by the genius of the Queeti,
MiTiich, by the courtesy of thfrage. Wis?
deemed of superior rank aftfd pbwer ttf
the genius of a private petsom I cannot
suspect so excellent a f)oet as Buchahnati,'
of any intentional pfciy on the word.s/
ingenium and gcniUs. In the Ajik
Mastigophorus, Sophocles ascrifteS tfe^
hero's execrations to his effl ^ehius;,^ Vhb
alone, he says, could have irivfenCed th6iSi.

Lord Verulam had inarty Strange fan-i
:ies^ about the genius attendant on glr^t

OF G£N1US. 171

; ]]€ sublirne^ his notions on this
Mjbjoct with Van Helroonfs doctrine of
transmitted sfHrits, which referred all
eminence in military and civil afiairs, as
well as in Irit, to the fprce of perspira-
tion* '

The genii were sometimes supposed
to be the spirits of departed men, espe-
cially those which were thought to reri^it
the places of their former residence^ or
the scenes of their destruction: hence
that passage in Milton ;

Henceforth thou art the gjenius of the shore^
In thy large recompense, and shalt be good
To alf that wander in the peritomr Sood.*

With 1^1 this (contagious; mysticism
floating from brain to brain> it 49 not to
be wondered, that poets should be pre-
sumptuous atid idle, or thit readers
should be slavishly tiiHidJ The votary
of poeticat fren5?y iincied him^lf enter.

>. ' ;

M 2

172 OF GENIUS,

ing the temple of Apollo^ and invested
with the sacred characters of a priest and
a prophet, when he " poured forth his
unpren^editated verse/' while the multi-
tude, combining the most distant ana*
logics, believed that in the writings of
eminent poets, they discovered predic-
tions, in which the author himself had
been unconsciously prompted by his
genius.

It was not enough to admire Virgil as
a great Poet; his votaries were deter-
mined to venerate him as a prophet, and
almost as a god. While altars were
erected, and incense was burnt to him,
by some of the first restorers of letters,
the credulous explored their destinies in
his pages, by the aid of false transla-
tion, and distorted inference. It is well
known, that Charles I. was greatly dis-
concerted and digressed, on finding the
Sortes VirgilianaB un£Eivourable, at the
beginning of the civil war. With the
liberties of application allowed in these

OF OENIU& 173

cases, lit is easy to find a prophecy of
any event, after it has taken place. If,
for instance, a prediction is wanted of
the calamities occasioned by the Prag-
matic Sanction, it is ready in Juvenal ;

Inde cadunt partes, ex foedere Pragmaticorum.

In this manner, the celebrated prophecies
of Nostradamus have acquired the pro-
tection, even of the learned. Morho£if
dwells with grear satisfaction, on the
number of important events predicted by
thisman^ who wrote his rhapsodies in
1555. One of hisrhimes was supposed
to be accomplished sixteen years after^
ward^ by the massacre of St. Bartho-
lomew ;.

£n grande cite» qui n' a pain qu' a demy.
Encore un couple St* Bartheleniy.

t ...

But unluckily, in another quatrain,
he foretold that in. 1707^ the Turks
would conquer the northern parts of
Europe, not foreseeing Prince Eugene.

M 3

174 OP .GENIUS.

The couplet I have quoted, might, with
the usual latitude of aj^propriating pre*
dictions, be applied to later occurrepcefi^
as some degree oC iim^wiy m Xhe course
of human d&nr^ tumst Qfteiii recur^ when
miracles are put of the question. But
to shew how easily the rank of prbphet
may be <^ius obtained, I shall ^quote t
passage from Camfiiarius's Hotm Sub*
Gisivw, my editiopD of* wliicfa w^s pub*
lifiiied one hundred add thiitj^x jeacs
^go, which beats more tniQute cbaiacteiB
of resemblance 1o recent eventi^ than
any thing I have met witii ;-**•*• Ne ex-
empla IMn kmgife petamw quid obsecro
noil perpessi 'Sunt feamines miseri nuper
in carnificinis Gallicis, prsesertim Lute*
tiana ? Quid eniqi vulgu^ veluti ludos
ageret, quibufis humaam sanguis effun-
deretur, ssvitise, crudelitatis, libidinis,
tarpitudiiiis, ignominiaw iam io eoe^ui
neci destiiiati erant, quasn in alios qui
pro imioxiis kabebantor, et ^uidam Qon
solum •eiga vum^ sed erga morkuos ctiaxn.

OF OENlUft i'75

hdh habita ratiotie aetatis, dignitatis, con-
dkiofiw^ aut 6CXM6, omieit ?

Wc can mwe easily pardon this tribute
to those works, which are the pride and
delight of all ages, when we consider
the 9tgm aiwi conditions annexed to the
diarftcter of a propliet, during the pre-
^ItvkCe of the heathen mythology, and
tacitly acknowledged by those who pay
attention to the ravings of Brothers, of the
Cheshire boy, among ourselves. AVhen
fiienzy and imposture usurp the regard,
Mfhioh is only due to the oracles of tj'uth^
k becomes interesting to know the source
of a deiusion, capable of existing among-
arty iJlass' of men, in ages which boast
ttie possessiorf of true religion. The
state of mind in which xapn were an-
ciently supposed to acquire a knowledge
of futurity, was farmed by dreaming,
drjunjke^^uii^ss, madness, epilepsy, or the
taipproaoh of death. In one word, deli-
rriarii was the characteristic of a prophet?
;we oannpt be ^ a lo^ for that of his

flifllmir^i^.

M 4f

176 OF GENIUS.

The Platonic philosophers of the
lectic class, thought that predictions were
communicated during sleep, or immedi-
ately on awtdcing, by low voices.* This
is now a very prevalent vulgar error,
tliough undoubtedly of Platonic doscenU
In the ecstasy, which may be considered
as a morbid state, a number of objects is
obtruded on the prophet's senses, from
which he can seldom form any coi>
jecturc. Such was the celebrated vision
of Arise Evans,-!* in which he saw the
restoration and succession of monarchy
in this country delineated in the palm of
his hand, without being able to deduce
more from it, than that after four reigns
there would be a change of blood. \ In

* Bracker, torn. ii. p. 444*

f Appendix to the first Tolume of Jortin's Remarks
on Ecclesiaslical History. • '

^ I have in my possession a saiftll tract by this man«
written in 1056^ to prove that Charles ii. was the
Messiah^ destined to restore the Jews« in which is a
prediction ttill more circumstantial and remarkable;
" But I sayt he that lives five years to an end, shaU
see King Charles Stuart flourish on his throne*. to the

OF 6BNIUS. 177

all' these operatk^ns the genius.acts; die
proj^et is passive, and genersdlyjigno*
rant. •■•■■? '.' .J.' •:■>• ^.■- ,,

It appears not improbable, that oiLitxt
toxicating potion was given to thePjndrai^
by. way of ensuring the strength 6£ [her
pestasy.* There seems.ta have Jnaeii
some traditionary knowledge handed
down on this subject, for in Dr. Haninett;
Atqhbbhop of York's J) wovery of .Pb*
pish Impostures, . ik^ g^rh who wew
exorcised had delinum ep^cUi^d^ by natlWr
ous potions^ and fumigatioos. ,\ .v

, . Delinpps iexclamatiw^ . .u\ G«artetii ^»

- ■ ♦ 1. , «

amazement of all the world, for God will brmg bim in
without l^obdfshed/' light, to tlie JeWs; p! Si ^ Birt
uiaric the jaggliiig of this felt^w. This egregioiiJ ipii^
phecy» t^oMgh Sjajd to be printed in 1656 mi theji«|Qf^
title-page, was ui'realify, mXy fuhtUKed in \66^/four
years after the event. In this instance, therefore, he
«^:clearjy gnilty( of inposture^ PinphecioH at that
tjip)^ were i party rJBiatters. Evans, propheaii^ for t3m
Royalists i Lilly, a more soccessfol knav^ for the
republicans.

*y:The Pythia. kl ways drank, before she placed har-
self on the Tripod.

"■• mS^ u

• • -

fti sm maojMh

necessary for those who aspired to. the
tdiaixKiar'? o£urfS0op|ielF^Mia'r4ii|i|fi 'Ihe

wiihldidtediaapisni^ ^ijuobai'sUklcecaiidet
hsakx, the laitiof-fi^hmg at the^ motltiiy
Jb&i:dK iQbbi asii&uc|aii ><idfe US, held
likiiMlk to be ^salcitedw -fipiteptic -com-
pi!£nt9 have €)eHamlf been ^^itnliair'*ib
MMm of'^grealutlleMte: ^CMitf>M P^tef «
«lid Mtl^al olibm bf dlstbguidh^ merits
were subject t^epifepsy.' Biit^it'camiiat
%^iip|ki9ed4hart^«^ im^MwA'by

the disease.

t fTv 1?; ^>^ohappyAu:oM|witoi)ce,,4wt
;jpi|ibM)ph staiQngtbeiiied,

tttoer, •» Pb^phyhu^ ♦♦* »6 s^^reto mtilti myfelo ex
divino afflatu interdum diaseniisse, ideoque proVureotk
lmMtiniiiiisii9MA«tAT*'' Bnackec Hirt*. -Crifcjiphflos.
tbin« ii. p. 245. ... m .• j\i .' » <: <-

PlatoV foUowers, by ibeirv d^^^t^tiqiM^

sign of inspiration* i Tft the misfartwiC
of nuakiwL tfe^ ta^ifi»f s pf l^^^q^ti^.jbfiMB^
often been more regard^^O(tiaci^t}i^\l»ffg*"

mfeOfte :^ Wise..a9<»a; imkr^iteh ^iffire-
fweficeie^iigk ::n0trtQ?rhayte hw 8ww^
hOBf d by< ^bdAQt9<)|>bQ6s. i Th^f^^wMy
hMe bemi tme of tine: oxote? ic 4^rsiiQi»
mlcd^ ted i' only £o\' tlw |M[^eFB ftitdl .< i^lah;
waineft of Athens. < No cIomIH, <he «aide
causes Mtfhichy in a strong debtee, fiio^
duce madipfsss^ may in a Mr<r t>ni$Ki8W
the natiir^k powom <o£ 4:ioie^ niad. • : ^C^^^^^im^
andlft meluftdHdy Jist of tUudcknisi iiamf3%
appear^ ia wnM patis of t&etf wntiigi^
as mad a$ the author ef Httrlathrumboi^
whikt m «lfaeri : diey liiiCQver ' B/a dsXiti*
ordinary acuteness and sagacity^: The
popular prophets of tbkr emntrf # latere
all really w affectedly nmd. They am
now Iktle fcad or respected; Uint (he|F

180 OF GENIUS.

were Ibrmcriy powerftil engines of fac*
(ion, and became the objects of repeated
acts of the legislature. Lcs reves^ as
Voltaire says of Plato, donnoient alws de
grmSie rejnaatum.

The courteous demop& of antiquity
have vanished, but they have left a kind
df mag^ splendor over the heads of meii
of talents, which tiie herd of metaphy^
sici&ns has beheld with awe. If a person
of unassisted good sense were to enquire,
what constitutes a man of genius, he
would discover it to be a vigorous and
successful exertion of the mind; on some
particular subject, or a general alacrity
and facility of intellectual labour. In a
word> that genius consists in the power
of doing best^ what many endeavour to
do welL\ •■■■•-. . •- '. : ■ •■;>
• In the best treatises on: this subject^
there, his been much of a fallacious
method, which imposes ^ually on the
author and the reader ; I mean, a prolix
description of facts, substituted for a

OF GENIUS. 181

theory of their causes. Undoubtedly this
kind of writing would be useful, if it
were appreciated at its just value ; but its
facility, and its pretensions create pre-
judices against the more slow and diffi-
cult method of induction. Moliere has
characterized this false philosophy by a
single stioke : *' Quare facit opium dor-
mire ? — Quia est in eo virtus dormitiva/*
Behold the fruit of many a huge and
thorny metaphysical quarto f

>

' '. . I »

DIALOGUE

IN

THE SHADES.

- t

« ■ •

DIALOGUE IN THE SHADES.

LUCIAN. NEODIDACTUS,

Lucian.

.You appear very melancholy, for
9, philosopher of the new stoical sect.
Do you regret the glory, which you
doubtless enjoyed m.the^ther world?
Or do you dislike the griro equality of
the stalking skeletons which surround
you ? We cannot bos^t, indeed, of our
gj^iety, but we have tranquillity, which
to a philosopher is much better. We
enjoy our exemption from the pertur^-
bations of life, as the wearied mariner
reposes in the still gloomi succeed mg a
mighty tempest.

Vol. II. N

186 DIALOGUE IN

Neodidactus.

Enjoy yourselves as you will ; I am
tormented by anxiety and doubt. By
professing the doctrines of the new and
pure phUdsppbf tipWi ^ttii my Cha-
racter was ruined, and I was abandoned
by society. Here, Tfitid no one disposed
to investigate; tj^y principles, excepting
yourself, who, I suppose, intend to laugh
at nie, according to your custom. I
had learned, indeed, from our msjiter,
that '' the tvlsii hiah Is satisfted with"' no-
thing:*' that "he b ii6t sdd&fied v/lth
his o^vn dttoitlrii8fits, br efciri with hU

grihciples kticj bisirilbn^i''* biit t tefef
iat mlhfe hav^ i)i-bdu(ied the eWremity
of wretchecilii^ss.

tjUcian.

You musj then be fxtr^mely yrisei orj
your own prinqiples. But b^ oot de?
jected. The wftrWi J perceifCjr pri^f ften

♦ Godwin's Enquiry <5dncerning Political «tqsticf
Tol. i. p. 268. 2nd edition, ' .*'''} - . »*

THE, mAvm^ w

i($ 9ld charaqleii : mankind i^av^ sjel4oa]|*
tfpubl^4 their benefactors with ei^presj^
i^lpqs of gratitude.

Neodidactus.

I beg that you may never again men-
tion so disagreeable a word to me. Gra-
titude, according to the new philosophy,
" is no part either of justice or yirtiic}"*
n»y we hold it to be actually a yicej-f-
when it results niprely from our sen^se of
benefits conferred on us.

By the Gracps! tliis is very strange
philosophy. In teaching men to be
pngr^teful, ^o yoij not fender them
wicked ?

Neodiflaciti^.

We do not embarrass ourselyes much
wkh the distinctions of virtue and vice ;

p. 130,

t Ibid. p.?(5CI.

N 2

188 DIALOGUE IN

the motives and the tendencies of hutnaii
actions are so complex, and their results
so uncertain, that we find it difficult to
assign them places under those desig-
nations. We even doubt whether there
be any such thing as vice.

Lucian.

You puzzle me : let me beg that you
would . explain yourself a little more
clearly ; unless your philosophy enjoins
you to be obscure.

Neodidactus.

I will explain myself most gladly.
Know then, that " vice, as it is com-^
monly understood, is, so far as regards
the motive, purely negative,"* and that
** actions in the highest degree injurious
to the public have often proceeded
from motives uncommonly conscienU-
ous. The most determined political
assassins, Clen^ent^ Ravaillac, Danuens,

♦ Enqaiiy^ Tpl. i. p. 153, 154.

t
1

THE SHADES. ng

and Gerard, seem to have been deeply
penetrated with anxiety for the eternal
welfare of mankind.'* Our sublime
contemplations lead us also to believe,
that " benevolence probably had its part
in lighting the fires of Smidifield, and
pointing the daggers of St. Bartholo-
mew/' ♦

Lucian.

If I rightly understand you, murder
tmd persecution are justifiable on the
principles of the new philosophy.

Neodidactvs.

• Our only rule is the promotion of
general good, by strict, impartial justice;
whatever inconveniences may arise to
individuals from this system, we disregard
them, and as we allow no merit to
actions which respect the good of indi-
viduals only, so wc perceive no demerit
in those which benefit the public, though

. ^ JEnqniry, voL u p. \5%, 154. .

N 3

100 DiALkSkttJE tt*

they may considerably lAjute iiiiditi^uab.
JPustice, etcraal justice must prev«H.

m

Lucian.

But how sbaU this orelr^ruUii^ juabcto
be ascertained, or Ikifiited ? If every
ttian IS to decide for Wmself and the
world, confusion, and universal ratn
must ensue.

Neodidactus.

You speak, O Lucian, (rf man in hifi
present state ; but we regard him in the
state of perfection, to which he may
attain by instirucftion and experience.
We /hope the time will arrive, when
neither government nor luws will be
necessary to the exktence of society;
iter morality is nothing but the calculi
tion of the probaibie advantages^ or 4kh
advantages oi our actions.

Lucidn.^

By what means, then, shall those be
corrected, who may-crr'ito tbteir calcula-

imn9 tf^oepQCjtm^ tbe public igood,^ mi
^eternal just'cQe ? For I mffpQ»g y;ou x:a|i
iiafvUy expee^ that aU axen m'HL noasoii
with equal acuteness, in the moat efi-
lightened periods*

Neodidacttts.

. fiy |)ers^asioll;; iJtiQ ^plyf"^ allow^^e
jtnqtfepd of .^yppressin^ human er^iiQF?.
Thp establi^hijafjnt of pQ«iti>je.laws is an
jiusult.tp.tl?e%^il5|r pf j^^^^ s6 greatly
^p \ve .detect their influqijce,. ,tl?^f we
'9px^sid?r aa. feppest lawyer ,^,?i w;pi?e
jweCTiber.pf society i^^ip adi^jqjj^t^pne,!
J:je.cause the tqf^ of integrity palliate^
^pd income degre? ipa^ ^^e U.l effqq^
of law.

Tiw pait.of your pbik^qph^y i&^pt so
4)ew as you imagine. AU rpuni^nente^

*

Enquiry » irol. L p. 180.
t ToU ii p- 3»9, 4p0u
t Vol. ii. p.. 999.

M 4

192 BIALOGUB IK

then, would be banished from your le*
public, excepting the long di^uises,
to which you would oblige criminals to
listen. ^

Neodidactks.

Punishment is nothing^lse than force,*
and he who suffers it must be debased,
and insensible of the difference between
right and wrong, if he does not consider
it as unjust.-f" " I hare deeply reflected,
suppose, upon the nature of virtue, and
am convinced that a certain proceeding
^s incumbent on me. But the hangman,
supported' by an act of parliament, a^ure^
ine that I am mistaken.*' \ Can any
thing be more atrocious? more injurious
to our sublime speculations ?

Lueian.

Doubtless phiios(^phers of your sect
fnust- sometimes be thus disagreeably irt-

* Vol, L p. 181.

t Enquiiy, voi. i. p. 18 !•

X lb. p. 1 78, 17».

THE SHADES. lOd

^terrupted, in their progress to perfection.
-But in a society without laws, without
;the fear < of punishtnent for; offences,
'without the distinctions of virtue and
Tice, and destitute of th^ ties of ^gratitude
and friendship I feel it difi^jeuU to con-
ceive, how the transactions necessary to
existence can be cjarrifed on. You must
depend mucb on family attach];n^ts,
and on the inviolable regard which indi-*
viduals.shoyld pay tq their propiises.

Neodidactus.

■ % < - » • * ^

I J

. : Family attachments we regard as silly,
and even criminal,, when. they tend to
bias our opinions;, and as: to promises,
our master has written a long chapter,
to prove that they a^ great evils, and
are oidy ^o be observed, when we find it.
ponyenient. ;

• • • . « - ■ ' »

•'L V"J .■..^/i i ii

• ■

Did It never occur to you, that this
system might produce raqre evil than

iM DI4kLa9^S IN

jgfwA^ in i&e Mforhi I and l^t you htw
bQenffecpMMieoiJmg. a ptan, which m-
jBtea^ 0£ penfeotiii^ M^n^ - and improviAg
isociety^ must b^ ^^^mt^mtivie of ^imy
fastimaUe quality inhk breaa^ and jEitUft
^me bisa agam into aatag^ aQhti^ }

Neodidactus.

V^ iSMteot always answer for ^eveotsr.
** Evciy thing is connected in the uni-
verse, if any man asserted ttert, if
Alexander had not bathed himself in the
river Cydnus, Shakespeare would never
Juvre wntteny it wouk) be imposnble to
srfiinn.that his assertioii was ustiue;"'^
JSucdi is pur doctrine.

Your lo^c is equafly adnfirabfe vi4fh
your morality ; this species of Dophfsiii
has been explodi^d rWith contempt by
good authors; you now revive it as one

^^ ^Bllquir)^j -Toll i. pi l*>;

1 1.

1-HE AAADfiB. 39S

tify^UV discoveries, and yoQ tmy per«
liit>s i^te it to the fasik of those which
ibertt qftidigfiatkm.

Niodidaetus^

t •. ' '

Be not too hasty, facetious 'Greek;
you miscalculate, like all those who err,
the quantity of energy necessary for this
occasion. Our master "has taken many
bf the things which you * disapprove,
from the writings ^ your friend Swift,

Lucian.

Yes, I am. ttsydK^ <thilt a great part
of your new philosophy is stolen from
Gtflliver's Trffvete, and 'drtt the repiiblic
^f beWes was tb«^ •afwbetype 4f ywir
'perfetJt 'men."* Birt'come, that we 'tnarf
|MM^ 'tft good hmnoUr, I will ffedt ^oti
with a sefrtimem, which I derive from a
dear friend of Swift. " We are for a

199 DIALOGUE IV

just partition of the world, for every
man hath a right to ^enjoy life. We
retrench the superfluities .of' mankind.
The world is avaricious, and we hate
avarice. A covetous fellow, like a jack-
daw, ^Stteals what he was never made to
enjoy, for the sake of hiding it. These
are the robbers of mankind, for money
was niade for the free-hearted and ge-
nerous : and where is the injury of taking
from another, what he has not the heart
to make use of ? " What is your opinion
of this ?

Neodidactus.

iJt is admirably expressed, in the true
^rit of* our philosophy, and of impartial
jii^tioe/; Indeed our master has said
something very like it* Pray, in what
diving work is this great truth to be
foutid ? .

* Enquiry^ vol. 5. p. 2JS, aad toL ii. p. 444, 445.

THE SHADES. 197

Lucian.

In the Beggar's Opera; it expresses
the sentiments of a gang of Highway-
men, an institution which approaches
nearer to your idea of perfect society,
than any other with which I am ac-
quainted.

THE

BIBLIOMANIA,

■ • ■ ■ ' . . ■ •

AN . ,r

EPISTLE,

TO

RICHARD HEBER, Esq.

Hie, inquis. Veto quisquain faxit Olttum.
Pinge duos Angues ;

Pen. Sat. 1. /. 108.

s

THE BIBLIOMANIA, AN EPISTLE,

TO

RICHARD HEBER, Esq.

w,

HAT wild dssires, what restless totments seize
The hapless man, who feels the book-disease^
If niggard Fortune cramp bis genVous mind»
And Prudence quench the Spark by heaven assignM !
With wistfid glance his aching eyes behold
The Princeps-copy^ clad in blue and gold.
Where the tall Book-case^ with partition thin.
Displays^ yet guards the tempting charms within :
So great Facardin riew'd^ as sages* tell^
Fair Crystalline immvr'd in lucid cell.

Not thus the few, by happier forUue grac'd.
And blest, like you« with talents, wealth and taste.
Who gather nobly, with judieious hand*
The Muse's treasures ^om each letterM strand.
For you the Monk illumM his pictured page.
For you. the press defies the Spoils of age i
Faustixs for you infernal tortures bore.
For you EaASKusf starvM on Adrians shore.

* Sages, Coimt Hamilton, in the Shmtre Facardim,
and Mr. M. Lewis, m his Tales of Romance.

t See the Vpiitenda Sordiim, in his Colloquies, where
he coraphmm 9oieeHii§^y of tite spare Venetian diet

Vol. II. o

202 THE BIBLIOMANIA,

The Folio-Aldus loaBs your happy Shelves,
And dapper Elzevirs, like fairy elves^
Shew their light forms amidst the well-gilt Twelves;
In slender type the Giolitos shine.
And hold Bodoni stamps bis Roman line.
.For you the LouvnB opes its regal doors.
And either Didot lends his hrilliant stores :
With faultless types, and costly sculptures bright^'
Ibakra's Quixote charms your ravished sight :
Laborde in splendid tablets shall explain
Thy beauties, glorious, tho* unhappy Spain!
O, hallowed name, the theme of future years,
Embalm'd in Patriot-blood, and England's tears.
Be thine fresh honours from the tuneful tongue.
By Isis' streams which mourning Zion sung ! ,
' . But devious oft* from ev'ry classic Muse,
The keen Collector meaner paths will choose :
And first the Margin's breadth his soul employe.
Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys.
In tain might Homer roll the tide of song.
Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng;
If crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade-
Or too oblfque, or near, the edge invade.
The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye.

No Margin ! * turns in haste, and scorns to buy.
He turns where Pybus rears his Atlas-head,
Or Maj>oc's mass conceals its veins of l^d.
The glossy lines in polishM order stsmd.
While the vast margin spreads on either hand.
Like Russian wastes^ that edge th^ 6qz^ deep.

AN EPISTLE. 265

• Chill with pale glare^ and lull to mortal sleep.*

Or English books^ neglected and forgot.
Excite his wibh in many a dusty lot :
Whatever trash Midwinter gave to day.
Or Harper's rhiming sons, in paper grey*
At ev'ry auction, bent on fresh supplies^ /
He cons his Catalogue with anxious eyes :
Where'er the slim Italics mark the page.
Curious and rare his ardent mind engage.
Unlike the Swans, in Tuscan Song display^.
He hovers eager o'^ Oblivion's Shade,
To snatch obscurest names from endless night.
And give Cokain or Fletcher f back to light.
In red morocco drest he loves to boast
The bloody murder, or the yelling ghost ;
Or dismal ballads, sung to crouds of old.
Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold^
Yet to th' unhonourM dead be Satire just ;

* It may be said that Cluintilian recommends mar-
gins ; but it is with a view to their being occasionally
occupied : Debet vacare etiam locus, in quo ootentur
quae scribentibus solent extra ordinem, id est ex aliis
quam qui sunt in manibus loci, occurrere. Irrumpunt
enim optimi nonnunquam Sensus, quos neque inserere
oportet, neque differre tutum est.

Instit. Lib. X. C. 3.
He was therefore no Margin-man, in the modem Sense.

t Fletcher. A translator of lyiartial. A very bad
Poet, but exceeding^ Mcaret. • * .'

O 2

90^ THE BIBLIOMANIA,

Some flowers* ^ smell sweet* and blosaotti in their

dust."
'Tis thas ev'n Shieley boasts a golden line.
And LovELiiGS strtkes* by fits, a note divine.
Th' unequal gleams like midnigbt-ligbtnings plaj.
And deepen'd gloom succeeds, in place of day*

But humati bliss stilt meets some enyious storm ^
He droops to view his Patntbr's mangled form :
Presumptuous grief, while pensive Tiste fephMH
O'er the frail rdks of her Attic Shrines !
O for that power, lor which magicians vye.
To look through earth, and secret hoards deSscry !
I'd spurn such genM as Marinelf beheld.
And all the wealth Aladdin's cavern held.
Might I divine in what mysterious gloom
The rolls of sacred bards have found their tomb ;
Beneath what mould' ring tower, or waste ohanpaon'.
Is hid Menander, sweetest of the train}
Where rests Antimacrus' forgotten lyre.
Where gentle Sappho's still sieductive fire ;

* Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet, and blossom in the ^ust.

Shirlet.
Perhaps Shirley had in view this passage of Peraius:
Nunc non e tumulo, fortanataque fevilla
Nascentur Violse ?

Sat, I. 1.37.

t Faesic Qomm

AN EPISTLE. 205

Or he,''^ whom chief the laughing Muses owoj
Yet skilled with softest accents to bemoan
Sweet Philomel^t in strains so like her own.

.e menial train has prov'd the Scourge of witj

* Aristophanes.
|- See his exquisite hymn to the Nightingale^ in his

X Brunck supposes these charming yerses to haya
been intended^ as a parody on a passage in the Helen*
of Euripides.

If Aristophanes designed his hymn as a burlesque^
the effect of it is totally lost on a modern reader. He
appears to have rivalled Euripides, in this instance^
in his own style ; and if, on other occasions; he has
severely scrutinized the defects* he has here seized the
peculiar beautiea of that writer.

It is surprising that Mr. Fox should have entertained
an opinion, expressed in some of his letters, which
have been lately published, that the song of the Night-
ingale was considered* by the Greek Poets, as cheerful.
Euripides* in (be passage alluded Uh says of the
Nightingalej

ffl TOW edoiorinav opftBa fuAA)3bV,
And Aristophanes characterizes her song thus;

* Opnkf, I< 69S.
O 3

206 THE BIBLIOMANIA,

Ev'n Omar burnt less Science than the spk.
Earthquakes and wars remit their deadly rage.
But ev'ry feast demands some fated page*
Ye Towers of Julias^* ye alone remain
Of all the piles that saw our nation's stain.
When Harry's sway opprest the groaning realm.
And Lust and Rapine seiz'd the wav'ring helm.
Then ruffian-hands defaced the sacred &nes»
Their saintly statues, and their storied panes ;
Then from the chest, with ancient art embost.
The Penman's pious scrolls were rudely tost ;
Then richest manuscripts* profusely spread.
The brawny Churl *s devouring Oven fed :
And thence Collectors date the beav'niy ire.
That wrapt Augusta's domes in sheets of fire.f

To which we may add this decisive passage from the
<£dipus Coloneus of Sophocles ;

iv^a xiyua fufiprreu
^Ofjuino'a /MoXir onlivn 1. 671.

From a curious letter, on the study &f Greek poetry,
published in Trotter's Memoirs of Mr. Fox, wc leam
that he had ** never read a word of Aristophanes."
There are, indeed, too many repulsive passages in that
dramatist, but he does not merit neglect*

* Gray,

t The fire of London.

AN EPISTLE. 207

Taste^ tho' misled* may yet some purpose gain^
But Fashion guides a * book- compelling train.
Once^ far apart from Learning's moping crew»
The traveird beau display'd his red-heel'd shoe,
TiU Orford ro$e> and told of rhiming Peers,
Eepeating noble words to polishM ears ; f
Taught the gay oroud to prize a fluU'ring name^
In trifling toiPd^ nor ' blushed to find it fame/
The lettered fop now takes a larger scope>
With classic furniture* designM by Hope.
Now warmM by Orpokd* and by Granger schooled.
In Paper books, superbly gilt and tool'd.
He pastes, from injur'd volumes snipt away.
His Engli^ Heads, in chronicled array.
Torn from their destinM page, (unworthy meed
Of knightly counsel, and heroic deed)
Not Fai THORN e's stroke> nor Field's own types can

save
J The gallant Veres, and one-eyed Ogle brave.

* Cloud-compelling Jove. Pope's Iliad.

t — — — gaudent praenomine molles

Auriculas.

Juvenal.

X The gallant Veres, and one-eyed Ogle. Three fine
heads, for the sake of which, the beautiful and interest-
ing Commentaries of Sir Francis Vere have been muti-
lated by Collectors of English portraits*

O 4

aos THE BIBLIOMANIA,

Indignant readers leek the image fled.
And curse the busy fool, who wmu a head.

Proudly be sbews^ with many a smile elate.
The scrambling subjects of the priwOe plaic ;
While Time their actions and their names berea?e£^
They grin for ever in the guarded leaves.

Like Poets, bom, in vain Collectors strive
To cross their Fate, and learn the art to thrive.
Like Cacus, bent to tame their struggling will.
The tyrant- passion drags them backward still :
Ev'n L debarred of ease> and studious hours.
Confess, mid' anxious toil, its lurking powers.
How pure the joy, when first my hands unfold
The small, rare vohime, black with tarnisk'd gold !
The Eye skims restless, like the roving b«3e»
O'er flowers of wit, or song, or repartee.
While sweet as Springs, iiew4»iibbling from the stone.
Glides through the breast some pleasing theme un-
known.
Now dipt in * Rossi's terse and classic style.
His harmlt^s tales awake a transient smiie.
Now Bouchet's motley stores my thoughts arrest.
With wond'rous reading, and with learned jest.
Bouchetf whose tomes a grateful line demand,

* Generally known by the name of Janus Nicius
Erythrseus. The allusion is to his Pinacotheca. .

f Les Serees de Guillaume Bouchet, a book of an-
common rarity. I possess a handsome copy, by the
kindness of Colonel Stanley.

AN EPISTLE. 20t

The valued gift of Stanlet's liberal hand.
Now sadly pleased, tbroagh &died Rome I slray>
And mix regrets with gentle Du Bbllat }*
Or turn, with keen delight, the enrions 'page«
Where havdy f Pasqtiin braves the Ponti£F*8 rage.

As im the fragrant garden blooms the rose.
So tny % rich manuscript in crimson glows.
' Sweet/ cries the Sage/|| * to view the in&nt-dvets,
« The first rude efibfts of the dawning press 1 *
But sweeter far to me these bright designs.
Ere Caxton's blocks imprest their clumsy lines.
'* But oh I my Muse/' § what madness would engage

* Les Regrtt8f by Joachim dn Beilay, contain a
most amusing and instnicttve Act^otmt of &ome, in the
16th Century.

f Pieisquiliorum Tomi duo^

% Les diets Moraux des Philosophes, an illuminated
manuscript; dated 147 i. See Dibdin's TypOgraphi*
cal Antiquities, for an account of this work.

II Res sane delectationis plena est, jucundo koc
aspectu pascece oculos, et prima ilia aurese artis oein-
templari experimenta. Ipsa tjrporum ruditas, ipsa
ilia atr|i crassaque Itleramm facies, bell^ tangit sensui^
nobisque vivis vekiti coloribus gradus istos delineat,
per quos pautatim a teneris unguicnlis, et ipsis ere-
pundiis in masculam illam, qui nunc floret, ^tatem ars
excusoria crevit.

Schelhorn, Afflsenkates Literartae. T. i. p. 5«
§ Addison.

SIO THE BIBLIOMANIA,

To sing the miniatiirei, and vellam-page ?
Steal from some happy bard a spark of fire.
Whose nerer-check'd descriptiong never tire !
" Pictures a score this carious work adorn,
" Of nen esteemM in learning's early mom.
** On yeltom stapds inscrib'd each sage's name*
*' Their portraits ridi with gold and minium flame ;
*' Some walk in gardens trim, or books p^ use,
" Or white-robM baids address a gothic muse,
'* No brisk^ deep-bosom'd, Attic maiden she*
'* But starch and prim, and scarcely £ur to see.
*' Square beards» and kmg-ear'd caps, and fiirs abouod/
** And decent robes depending sweep the ground ;
** Nay • strange extreme of fiishion's sovereign rule,
<« Some hold what belles have termed a Ridicuie.
** (The lovely tnflers think not, as they trip,
*' Their bag was fashioo'd from the Cynic's scrip- )- *

*' Then happy seats appear in beauteous dyes*
** The softest verdure, and the clearest skies ;
" Stately and frtir the porch and airy hall,
'* And costly tapestry clothes the naked wall.
« St. Gregory hard at study there I spy, -
" His glory and tiara strike the eye ;
•' His books welKbound, with many a gilded ^K>t>
'* A clever reading-desk has Gregory got !
** Had the tenth Leo thus his leisure spent,
*' We ye( had pray'd in Latin, and kept Lent.

*' But greater bliss the charming picture fills^
•* When golden sun-bean^f smile on verdant hills,
** Or soft retreats in flow'ry vales are made^

AN EPISTLE. 211

" Where the young forest rears its tender shade.

'« Then at safe distance pinnacles arc seen,

•' And glittering towers surmount the swelling green ;

'* Gay belts of war ! the city's specious pride,

" Which sullen cares, and quivering anguish hide.

" For near the lofty fane or opening square*

*' The sad blind alley teems with hopeless care.

*' Dire, in those ancient times, the wretch's plight,

*' Ere the dim pane transmitted scanty light :

" When ill-join'd shutters barred the longing view,

** And where light flow'd» the winter entered too,

'* As shivering hands the wooden leaf withdrew.

** Their's was the shapeless bolt, the dunghill-floor,

** And blackenM thatch the humble ca\res peep'd o'er:

'' Without, the putrid kennel choak'd the way,

*' And all was filth, disgust, and deep dismay.

** No ballads then bedecked the laborer's cot,

** Nor Francis Moore foreboded cold or hot :

«' Whose cuts grotesque, and artless rhymes supply,

** (What ev'n the poor require) the poor man's library

*' More solid good the mystic church with- held ;

** Their eyes the sacred yolume ne'er beheld,

*' Save when at church the reader tum'd with care,

" The glitt'ring leavest and spoke the foreign prayer ?

«< With doubtful hope the pauper's bosom beat,

<< He lefl, unedified' his gloomy seat.

" Or when the Freer> on some high festal day

«« Would relics rare* and miracles display ;

*' And pratCf as tell the sly Italian drolls*

'' Of Gabriel's feather* or St. Lawrence' coals.

^\2 TH£ BIBLIOMANIA,

" In sin the wretch might live* ia sin might die ;
«' Give money — money, was the preacher's cry.

** Then light arose-— the darklmg cot was blest,
** When Timdal's volume came* a hoarded gaest.
*' Fierce whiskered guards that volume sought in vain,
^' Enjoy'd by stealth, and hid with ani^ious pain*
'' While all around was penury and gloom,
" It ahew'd the boundless bliss beyond the tomb ;
'* Freed firom the TOial {Mriest, the feudal rod,
" H led tl^ sufferer's weary steps to God ;
*' And when his painiul course on earth was run^
" This, his sole wealth* descended to his son.

'* Now* when no tyrant-statutes cramp belief^
'* When Smithfieki's cmly marr^rrs are its beef,
" Amidst the crouds whom rarer books entice,
*' Still Tittdal's Bible is a gem of price.
*' True9 the blest owner now no longer fears
*' The bishop's summons thund'ring in hts ears,
« No more he turns the leares with trembling hope,
'< Or dreads lest Satan come* in g^ise of Pope;
*' On that stout shel£ where ev'n Polemics sleep,
** He shews its boards* inclosed in lasting sheep.
*' There long untouch^ may Tindal's labours \jt
•* For bool^ collectors read not what they buy/*

Can I forget my Cassas? * fav'rite theme !
Where truth exceeds Romances boldest dream.
In those rude wilds, by wand'rers scarcely trod.
Before the pencil* Fancy drops her rod ;

* Voyage Pittoresque de 1* Istrie et de la Dalmatie*.

AN EMSTLR 21 j

O^erawM, she sees transcendent nature reign.
And trembling -copies what she dar'd not (eigti.
But scarcer books had kept their station here.
Had warning Cynthius touch'd my in^t-eat^
And shew'd the grave collector's toil employ *d.
To gain the works my childish sport destroyed.
^Parismus then had shone in decent pride.
And bold St. G£orge> with Sabra at his side : f
And Reynard's wiles, J by learned clerks pomtrayM,
Dame Partlet wrong'd, and Is grim sore bewray 'd :
And eke that code>|| of wit the peerless store»
Where peruk'd beaux their hooded dames adore.
These once were mine» till, reckless of their scope*
I left their charms for Milton and for Pope.
And who can say, what books, matur'd by age.
May tempt, in future days, the reader's rage ?
How, flush'd with joy, the Bibliomane may shew
His Carrs uncut and CoTTLBSt fair in row ;
May point, with conscious pride, to env^ying throngs
His Holcroft's dramasy and his Dimond's soii^ f
So winter-apples, by the prudent Dame
Are hosorded late, and wither into fame.
So Antiquarians pierce the Barrow's soil,

* History of Parismus and Parismenos, once a child's
book, now exceedingly scarce and dear.

t History of the Seven Champions.
X History of fiejnard the Pox» very scarce and dear.
U Academy ofComplimentSrtcTy curious and scarce.

f 14 THE BIBLIOMANIA,

And loads of crockery pay their learned toil ;
The wond^rons fragments rich museums grace*
And es*ry Pipkin rises up a Vase.

With deep concenif the curious bid me tell*
Why no Black- Letter dignifies my cell :
No Caxton ? Pynson ? in defence I plead
One simple fact ; I only buy io read.
I leave to those whom headstrong fashion rules*
Dame Julian Bernees» and the Ship of Fools ;
The cheapest page of wit* or genuine sense
Outweighs the uncut copy's wild expence*
What coxcomb would avow th' absurd excess*
To choose his friends, not for their parts, but dresa ?
Yet the choice Bard becomes same ancient stains;
I loye» in Gothic type* my Chaucer's strains ;
And Spbmcee's dulcet song as deeply charms*
When his light folio boasts Eliza's arms.
Nay doubly fair the Aldine pages seem*
Where^ broadly gilt, illumin'd letters gleam.
For stupid prose my fancy -iiever throbs.
In spite of ▼ellam-leaves* or silver knobs*

But D— n's strains should tell the sad reverse*
When Business calls*, inveterate foe to verse !
Tell how * the Demon clapys his iron hands,'
' Waves his lank locks* and scours along the lands/
Though wintry blasts^ or summer's fire 1 go^
To scenes of danger, and to sights of woe.
Ev'n wheli to Margate ev'ry cockney roves,
Aud brainsick poets long for shelt'ring groves^
Whos^ lofty ^hades excljade tjbe pppntide glow#

AN EPISTLE. 215

While Zephyrs breathe* and waters trill below,*
Me rigid Fate averts* by tasks like these*
From heavenly musings* and from lettered ease.

Such wholesome checks the better Genius sends^
From dire rehearsals to protect our^ friends :
Else when the social rites our joys renew*
The stuff'd Portfolio would alarm your view*
Whence volleying rhimes your patience would over-
come.
And, spite of kindness* drive you early home.
So when the traveller's hasty footsteps glide
Near smoaking lava* oh Vesuvio's side.
Hoarse-mutt' ring thunders from the depths proceed*
And spouting fires incite his eager speed.
Appal rd he flies, while rattling show'rs invade*
Invoking ev'ry Saint for instant aid :
Breathless* amaz'd* he seeks the distant shore*
And vows to tempt the dang'rous gulph no more*

* Errare per lucos, amoenae,
Quos et aquae subeunt et s^urse.

NORTHERN PROSPECT;

AN ODfi.

Thon sbalt not Iwgh in this les^ Musq — .

Bomnb's Sfh Satirt,

VOL. II.

The following ode contains ideas* suggested by the
extraordinary prospect from a rook, in the neighbour-
hood of Alnwick Castle. That view comprehends a
series of antiquities, deeply interesting, not only by
their magnificence, but by their rdation *to history ;
and frequently recollected by the author, amidst the
exertions of active life* as the favourite scenes of his
^outh. Some readers may, perhaps, suppose that the
thoughts are not sufficiently developed. £ut I have
always considered it as essential to the ode, that it
should indicate impressions» without dwelling upon
them. The torrent of ideas> which characterizes this
species of poetry, only presents an object with force,
to hurry it more rapidly beyond the view of th«
spectator.

A NORTHERN PROSPECT.

W.

HEN blazing noon illumes the plain.
And tips each ijpiry dome with qui v' ring fire.
Where Ratcheugh^s pillared rocks aspire
Swift let my steps the airy height attain^
Around the various prospect thrown,
Th' expanded sea's majestic zone
In many a floating tint reflects the beam ;
Dark stretch the wood's high-shel taring arms.
The village spreads her simple charms.
And shines afar the silver-winding stream.

Bold on the eye advance those tow'rs.
Where Percy boasts his princely bowers.

Crown the slope-hilL and awe the subject-vale^
In faded glory Wark worth's turrets rise.
And- point to yonder cell* the raptur'd eyes.

Where figur'd rocks record the Hermit's tale,
Swifl o'er Howick's attic hall*
And shelter'd Craster's sylvan walL

• The Hermitage.
P2

220 A NORTHERN PROSPECT.

The view ezcarsiye flies.
Where Dunstonburgh * o'erhangs the roaring tide,
And lifbt his shattered arms^ and mourns his ruinM
pride.

Trembling o'er the rocky ground.

His gettiiHf aeadsr a hoUow «y«]^
Like the vexM sea, when t^und'ring winds are Aed ;

" Relentless bands, which these proud works de-
fec'd! -'

Mistaken kraric^, with strcfa costfy waste
To rear the hardy peas^nt^ simple shed !
See Alnwick tower hi 6othic pride ;

The marsh exhale, the beath recede.
In graceful wave the ductile riVer glide ;

'Tis liberal power's creative deed.
And far-conspicuous on the Wiit'py 'waste,
Bambrough^ huge rock the massy structures crown ;

On the black vale when rolling vapours spread.
The turrets gleam high o'er the driving blast ;

Sharp t rear'd tb.eir drooping head.

Beneath old Cheviot's frown, ,

See Ford's J white line the verdant slope adprii.;

But when shall rise my vernal mom ?

* A romantic fbrtress, nearly demolished to enlai*^^
a farm-house, which lies at its feet.

t Dr. Sharp, late Archdeacon of Northumberland
X Ford Castle, repair'd hjhf^ INlaval.

A NORTHERISr PROSFBCTT. 281

These fragiuents of Lancaatri?tti pride.

These broken halls» these' jutting mounds o'erthvown.
Rough gales* as thro' the niould^rii^ arch they hftste,

Learn^ soften'd^ to bt»noan;
Whil^ deaf fling waves, with aggregated roar>
SurmouTit the wall they vainly laah'd before/'

Dim -shewn in yonder leafy glade^
Sequestered Huln her fair enclosure rears.
Sweet hope of peaceful years.
Well might'st thou haunt that cloisterM shade !
Let those proud trophies* tell
Where hostile monarchs fought and felF,
These walls beleag'ring round ;
Unhurt by war's tumultuous rage.
The tranquil monk illum'd the page.
Safe in thy consecrated ground.

Amid yon* happy woods
The careless rustic seeks his game.
Or in the murm'ring floods
Ensnares the fry, by loneness tame ;
Nor heeds where creeping ivy's trail
O'er knightly trophies draws its veil ;
Nor, as the crumbling turrets fade,

* Monuments in the pleasurergrounds of the Duke
of Northumberland, whkh coKimemqiDate the captivity
of one king of Scotland, and the death of another,
while they were besieging i3i« castle of Alnwick.

2d2 A NORTHERN PROSPECT,

Remarks the abbey's shorten'd shade ;

UnmoyM alike by piety and ^me.

Ye who catch at glory's flame.

To yon* majestic walls repair ;

Know Tyson,t Vescy,t or Fitzharding* there
Spread their rich bamiers in the fluttering gale;
Learn to contemn, from their neglected tale.
The wild ambition of a name.

t The Saxon, and first Norman Lords of Alnwick,
* Founder of W ark worth Castle.

FINIS.

J, AND J. HADDOCK,

PRINTERS,

WARRINGTON.

y.f-^

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