of the house of Medici. The dic, tionary della Crufca, a moft perfect work in its kind, was forty years in compiling. The Italian language lies under the imputation of weaknefs and effeminacy. On a thorough and candid inquifition, it will be acknowledged foft, but ftrong; gentle, but expreffive; fit indeed for love and compliments. Too much of it has been applied in that ftrain; but look into the hiftorians, I mean thofe of real worth, you will find nervous fenfe, decorated with forcible words, and fupported by judicious obfervations. For a moment let me play the part of a grammarian, and fay, that the diminutives and augmentatives are to be envied by every English writer. The gerunds and infinitive moods, when turned, as frequently, into fubftantives, are fufficient to wipe away all afperfions of imbecility. Whence then, you fay, arife these fuggeftions? I believe I can account for them. my orders from her, as upon her "courage, ftrength, and bravery, "depends the fuccefs of the day.' With full as much propriety the Amazons might have affumed the appellative be; and Acca might have mourned over her mistress Camilla, by exclaiming, "Ah! he was a dear and excellent lady, nor "arms by any incident less embar "raffing, than his petticoats being "in his way." The confufion of fexes muft produce abfurdity and feeming weakness in any language whatever. They arife from a fingular fafhion, deemed politeness, of fpeak-"would be have expired in my ing to men in the feminine gender; a method, which, however eftablished by cuftom, muft always appear to ftrangers, unnatural and abfurd. It is not fufficient to banifh the words thou and thee in the fecond perfon, which are univerfally understood as vulgarifms, but you must be excluded, and the third perfon feminine introduced into the place. Signora ella è malcreato, Three extraordinary Pieces of Wax- *The Academia della Crufca have for their emblem, or device, a Mill They take the title of Crufca, or Bran, as profeffing themfelves to feparate and clear the fine flour from it; that is, the useful and valuable from that which is not fo; as there are fome other academies in Italy which take their title from fome defect or imperfection, which it is their endeavour to deliver themselves from, and study its oppofite; as Otiofi, Ofcuri, Oftinati, &c. Wright. ing O 2 ing to the Gallery at Florence; A Letter from the Countess of Pomfrom the fame. Tcoloured wax-work will for ever strike my memory with hor. HREE reprefentations in tor and admiration. One is the different progrefs of decay upon human bodies after death, from the moment they are laid into their difmal receptacle, to the last abolition of the flefh, a skeleton. The fecond is a moft melancholy reprefentation of the state of perfons either dead, or dying of the plague. Thefe are, both, in glass cabinets, preferved with the utmoft nicety. They were executed during the reign of Ferdinand I. *, while the plague raged in Florence. The operator lived only to finish his work, and then fell a victim to the cruel peftilence, which he had reprefented +. The third (the first performance of the fame author), is an head. The fkin from the kull is turned down from one fide of the face, and the glands are plainly, too plainly, discovered. In viewing thefe pieces, each fpectator endeavours to fly, but cannot. He tries to turn away his eyes, but cannot. He stays against his will, and is chained against his inclination. "Now get you to my lady's "chamber, and tell her, let her "paint an inch thick, to this fa"vour the must come.” He died in 1609. fret, to the Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchefs of Somerset. fo SINCE you have to kind a wish coming to my dreffing-room, I will indulge the agreeable thought that it is effected; and though I do not know how to believe you here, I will imagine I have placed you in my great chair, where, on your left hand, is the fire, (no bad thing, this weather) and, on your right, a window, from which you fee the river, bordered on each fide with meadows, vineyards, corn-fields, villages, and chateaux. I congratulate my own happiness in your arrival. I recount to you my journey, the things I have feen, and the things I was forced to leave unfeen, by the hurry we were in. And as, I believe, you may have heard lefs of St. Germain's than of fome other palaces, I enlarge moft upon that. I tell you it was built by that_polite hero and gallant prince, Francis I. 1. In compliment to his miftrefs, whofe name was Diana, it is erected in form of a Gothic D, with five towers, and is fix ftories high; the three first are ftone, the three highest brick, and there is an open gallery which runs round the middle on the outfide with iron rails; within, is a + These admirable pieces were the workmanship of Crejetano Julio Zummo, a Sicilian ecclefiaftic, whofe picture hangs near them. Keyfler. This prince (who died in 1547) built many of the royal palaces in France, and adorned them all with pictures, ftatues, tapestry, and all kinds of choice and coftly furniture, and is faid never to have been equalled in generofity, Sweetness of temper, and magnificence. was at St. Germain's, loft her youngest fon, whofe ftory has fomething fo particular, that (as I can anfwer both for the truth and knowledge of the perfons who told it me) believing it may entertain you, will relate it. court that coaches, to the degree of a duke, have privilege of entering, and the whole caftle is encompaffed with a large dry ditch; over which are draw-bridges. The emblem of this king was a falamander in flames, which is placed alternately with a crowned F round the tur- He was born about the time of rets, as also carried over the gate- the revolution, and chriftened way. The apartments within are Charles. As foon as his mother noble, and the conveniences for was able to travel, (as I faid bethe fervants very great. The gar- fore) .fhe followed her husband, dens are not large, but there is, taking this boy along with her; perhaps, the finest terras in the whofe beauty, when he grew up, world on the fide of the forest, two was only equalled by the wit, pothousand seven hundred yards long, litenefs, and a thousand other perand fifty broad, from which you fections that he poffeffed, and that have a view of the Seine, and a made him the admiration and demost beautiful country. The foreft light of all his acquaintance. When itself is of vaft extent, and finely he was old enough, he entered into wooded, cut into walks and ftars; the army, where his behaviour was and is by nature as much fitted for anfwerable to all his other merits. walking, as any garden in England One winter that his regiment was is by art. In this palace the fuc- quartered in Normandy, he lodged ceeding kings of France generally in the house of an officer, who had lived, till Lewis XIV. (who was an only daughter, young, pretty, born here) built Verfailles, much and ingenious. You will eafily more extenfive, lefs noble, and re- guefs, the event of this acquaintfigned this to King James II. fince ance was firft a liking, and then a the death of whofe widow, the royal love; and that fo violent and open lodgings have been unfurnished, on his fide, that the father thought and it is now of much the fame ufe fit to interpofe, and tell him, with that Somerset-houfe is in London. all the refpect due from an inferior, There are ftill fome remains of that and all the warmth of an alarmed abdicated court: amongst others, parent, that he knew his daughis Lady Middleton, fifter to Ladyter undeferving of the honour of Weftmoreland, and two years older than herself, in perfect poffeffion of her health and fenfes. She followed her husband out of England, was lady of the bed-chamber to Queen Mary, and governefs to the Princess Louifa, whofe picture I faw, and, if I had not feen it there, fhould have taken it for our Princefs Caroline. This poor lady, while I being his wife, but also thought her above being his miftrefs." On this, he was obliged to quit the houfe, but could not quit his paffion; and finding equal return from the young lady, he, to affure her of his faith, and himself of hers, gave and received a contract. As this affair could not pafs in filence, Lord Clare, (who was his colonel) The Earl of Middleton, Secretary of State to King James II, and others of his relations, fent word of it to Lady Middleton, who immediately ordered him to return home; where the made ufe of so many arguments, threats, and perfuafions, (amongst others, that he would ruin the young woman he loved, as well as himself) that, after contending with them for two or three years, he yielded to write a letter, in which he faid, that, "he believed it would be happier "for her to think no more of a man whose friends were deter*mined never to receive her; and that he might not be a hindrance to her fortune elsewhere, he re"turned her promife, and defired his." The lady fent it directly, affuring him the had never taken it with an intention to injure him, whofe happiness the preferred to her own, and heartily wifhed it him in fome more worthy choice; but did not long outlive her generofity, and his change, falling into a confumption, and dying within the year. The news of which made fuch an impreffion on Mr. Middleton, that, from the moft lively, he became the most melancholy, of men; and, though he lived fome years after, he never enjoyed life, for the laft three months of which, he fecluded himself from all company, and died of a fever that had no appearance of being mortal. You fee, dear Madam, by the length of my difcourfe, I do not mean to part foon with you, whenever you come, for I find myfelf on the laft fide of my paper, and have not asked you one of those many things I want to know. The our acquaintances, must be agreeable to hear of, if you relate them; for even the Duke of Marlborough's purchase, in Lady Hertford's letter, is worth the money. Write me word then, dear Madam, what is doing where we do no more, but, fafe in harbour, fee the main covered with floating veffels, fome failing with aufpicious gales, fome ftruggling with adverfe winds, fome cruifing, fome finking. I am not out of humour with the world, though retired from it, and therefore thould take as much pleasure in hearing how it goes, as in feeing a new play; where, though I am no actor, I am as attentive to the opening, progrefs, and catastrophe of the plot. I believe, you will more than once wish, (if you have the patience to read this out) that I had thought of concluding fooner; but fince I have gone so far, I must detain you fo much longer, as to fay, I am, dear Madam, Your Ladyfhip's most faithful, humble fervant, Henrietta Louisa Pomfret, The Good-Senfe and Piety of the following Letter, will be obvious to every Reader, whilft every Heart muft fympathize with the amiable Sufferer. Dutchefs-Dowager of SOMERSET, to Mrs. actions, the words, the defigns of Am forry, good Mrs. 1754. to find that your illness feems rather zii 264 This lady, as eminent for her virtues as her rank, the friend of Mrs. Rowe, died in 1754. She was eldest daughter of the Hon, Henry Thynne, (only rather to increase than diminish; yet the difpofition of mind with which you receive this painful difpenfation, feems to convert your fufferings into a bleffing: while you refign to the will of God in fo patient a manner, this disease feems only the chaftifement of a wife and merciful Being, who chasteneth not for his own pleasure, but for our profit. Were I not convinced of this great truth, I fear I must long fince have funk under the burden of forrow, which God faw fit to wean my foolish heart from this vain world, and fhow me how little all the grandeur and riches of it avail to happiness. He gave me a fon*, who promised all that the fondest wishes of the fondeft parents could hope; an honour to his family, an ornament to his country; with a heart early attached to all the duties of religion and fociety, with the advantage of ftrong and uninterrupted health, joined to, a form, which, when he came into Italy, made him more generally known by the name of the "Eng"lish angel," than by that of his family. I know, this account may look like a mother's fondnefs; perhaps it was too much so once: but alas! it now only ferves to fhow the uncertainty and frailty of all human dependence. This juftly beloved child was fnatched from us before we could hear of his illness: that fatal difeafe, the fmall-pox, feized him at Bologna, and carried him off the evening of his birthday †, on which he had completed nineteen years. Two polls before, I had a letter from him, written with all the life and innocent chearfulness inherent to his nature; the next but one came from his afflicted governor 1, to acquaint his unhappy father, that he had loft the most dutiful and best of fons, the pride and hope of his declining age. He bore the ftroke like a wife man and a' Chriftian, but never forgot, nor ceafed to figh for it. A long series of pain and infirmity, which was daily gaining ground, fhowed me the fword which appeared fufpended over my, head by an almoft cobweb thread, long before it dropped §. As to my bodily pains, I blefs God, they are by no means infupportable at prefent: I rather fuffer a languid ftate of weaknefs, which wastes my flesh and confumes my fpirits by a gentle decay, than any frightful fuffering, and am fpending thofe remains of nature which were almost exhaufted in continued care and anxiety for the fufferings of a perfon dearer to me than myfelf. My daughter II, who is very good (only fon of Thomas Lord Viscount Weymouth) and mother of the present Dutchefs of Northumberland. * George Lord Viscount Beauchamp, who died at Bologna in Italy, September 11, 1744. + September 11, 1744. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Dalton was tutor to Lord Beauchamp; but the "Supplement to the Biographical Dictionary," (published in 1767) fays, "a "bad ftate of health prevented him from attending his pupil on his travels "abroad, and faved him the mortification of being an eye-witnefs of his "death." § Algernon Duke of Somerfet died Feb. 7, 1749-50. The Countess (now Dutchefs) of Northumberland. 04 |