"It is true, Madam, that your fituation is enigmatical; but it is God who has ordained it should be fo. You neither defired nor chofe it, nor even conceived an idea of it yourfelf; it is the work of God: he hides his fecrets from you, and from the world alfo, which would be much amazed if you fhould reveal to it, what you have done in confidence to me. It is God's mystery, who has been pleafed to exalt you for the fanctification of thofe who were born in the highest ftate of elevation. You fill the place of a Queen, and yet have no more privilege nor authority than the meaneft fubject."

And now, Madam, fays M. Des Enfans, please to obferve the Comment, which his Lordfhip makes upon this Letter in the 261ft of his Letters addreffed to his Son.

"My dear Friend,

"Since my laft to you, I have read Madame Maintenon's letters; and am fure they are genuine; and they both entertained and informed me. They have brought me acquainted with the character of that able and artful lady, whom, I am convinced, that I now know, much better than her Directeur, the Abbé de Fenelon (afterwards Archbishop of Cambray) did, when he wrote her the 185th letter; and I know him the better too for that letter. The Abbé, though brimful of the divine love, had a great mind to be First Minifter and Cardinal, in order, no doubt, to have the opportunity of doing the more good. His being Directeur at that time to Madame Maintenon, feemed to be a good step towards those views. She puts herself upon him for a faint, and he was weak enough to believe it: he, on the other hand, would have put himself upon her for a faint too, which, I dare fay, fhe did not believe; but both of them knew, that it was neceffary for them to appear faints to Louis the XIVth, who they knew to be a bigot. It is to be prefumed, nay, indeed, it is plain by that 185th letter, that Madame Maintenon had hinted to her Directeur fome fcruples of confcience, with relation to her commerce with the King; and which I humbly apprehend to have been only fome fcruples of prudence, at once to flatter the bigot character, and increase the defires of the King. The pious Abbé, frightened out of his wits, left the King fhould impute to the Directeur any fcruples or difficulties which he might meet with on the part of the lady, writes her the above-mentioned letter; in which he not only bids her not teaze the King by advice and exhortations, but to have the utmoft fubmiffion to his will; and, that the may not mistake the nature of that fubmiflion, he tells her, it is the fame that Sarah had for Abraham; to which fubmiffion Ifaac perhaps was owing. No bawd could have written a more feducing letter to an innocent country giri, than the Directeur did to his Penitent; who, I dare fay, had no occafion for his good advice. Those who would juftify the good Directeur, alias the pimp, in this affair, must not attempt to do it by faying, that the King and Madame Maintenon were at that time privately married; that the Directeur knew it; and that this was the meaning of his enigna. That is abfolutely impoffible; for that pri

7

vate marriage must have removed all fcruples between the partjes; nay, could not have been contracted upon any other principle, fince it was kept private, and confequently prevented no public feandal. It is therefore extremely evident, that Madame Maintenon could not be married to the King at the time when the fcrupled granting, and when the Directeur advised her to grant, thofe favours which Sarah with fo much fubmiflion granted to Abraham: and what the Directeur is pleafed to call le mystere de Dieu, was most evidently a state of concubinage."

.After taking fome pains to expofe the falfe turn, which Lord C. has given the most interesting paffages in the above Letter, M. Des Enfans adds,

“An air of truth and fincerity reigns through the whole, which seems to have been written by the hand of Piety, under the direction of Prudence.

"Perfectly convinced of Madame de Maintenon's being married, Monfieur de Fenelon propofes the conduct of Sarah to Abraham, as a model for his penitent's imitation, in her behaviour to the king. And here it is that Lord Chesterfield, inflamed with the rage of criticifm, mounts his tilts to acquaint us, in the more dictatorial tone, in what that conduct confisted; and that it occafioned the birth of Ifaac. But as it is of as little confequence to know how Ifaac came into the world, as how he left it, I fhall only stop here to obferve the manner in which our noble critic has explained the example of Sarah. He tells us, that to follow the example of a virtuous wife, was to become a profitute! Indignation glows on my cheek, when I think of fuch an interpretation, and that it was fo conftrued by the Earl of Chesterfield by a minifter fo able, fo difcerning in flate affairs, as to be worthy of prefiding at the council-board of England. Yes, I blush for him, when I think that so great a politician thould have been fo poor a fcholar.

"Abraham feared that the beauty of Sarah, his lawful wife, might be productive of ill confequences to him, as he was going into Egypt with her; he forefaw that the Egyptians would be captivated with her charms, and might probably put him to death if they knew he was her hufband; he therefore commanded her to fay fhe was his lifter. * And it was indifputably in this particular point, that Monfieur de Fenelon prefcribed the imitation of Sarah to Madame de Maintenon; "Sarah, the wife of Abraham, passed for his fifter, in obedience to her husband: you are the king's wife, but do not pass for fuch, in obedience to the king. And thus you are to be fubmiffive to the king, as Sarah was to Abraham. Look upon him as your lord, by the command of God." That is to fay, obey him, as God has or dained that wives fhould obey their hufbands- "Your fituation, (adds the archbishop is enigmatical," which is clearly to be understood

with regard to her being privately married. "The world is ignorant whether you are the wife, or iniftrefs of the king; and the public, who would be amazed, were they as well informed of this matter as I am, lofe themselves in doubts and conjectures: but it is the mystery of God;" which fignifies, that God, whofe decrees we thould unrepiningly adore, has oppofed obstacles, to her unknown, which muft prevent her being declared Queen.'

This M. Des Enfans thinks is the only conftruction that can poffibly be given to the paffages cited, defying fubtilty itself to give them any other confiftent with reafon.

A Difsurfe upon fome late Improvements of the Means for Preferving the Heath of Mariners. 4to. Printed for the Royal Society.

This Difcourfe was delivered on occafion of the difpofal of Sir Godfrey Copley's medal; which was given to Captain Cook for his "Account of the method he had taken to preferve the health of the crew of his majefty's fhip, the Refolution, during her late voyage round the world."On the propriety of fuch difpofal the Prefident makes an obfervation, as much in favour of Captain Cook in particular, as of modern improvements in practical medicine and diet in general.

"I imagine;" fays he, that the name alone of fo worthy a member of this Society would have inclined you to depart from the ftrictness of your rules, by conferring upon him that honour, though you had received no direct communication from him; confidering how meritorious in your eyes that perfon must appear, who hath not only made the most extenfive, but the most inftructive voyages, who hath not only discovered, but furveyed, valt tracts of new coats; who hath difpelled the illufion of a terra aufiralis incognitu, and fixed the bounds of the habitable earth, as well as thofe of the navigable ocean, in the Southern Hemisphere.

66

"I fhall not, however, expatiate on that ample field of praise, but confine my difcourfe to what was the intention of this honorary premium, namely, to crown that Paper of the year which should contain the most useful and moft fuccefsful experimental inquiry. Now what inquiry can be fo ufeful as that which hath for its object the faving the lives of men? and when shall we find one more fuccefstul than that before us? Here are no vain boatings of the empiric, nor ingenious and delufive theories of the dogmatift, but a concife, an artless, and an incontested relation of the means, by which, under the divine favour, Captain Cook, with a company of a hundred and eighteen men, performed a voyage of three years and eighteen days, throughout all the climates from fifty-two degrees North to feventy-one degrees South,

with

*

with the lofs of only one man by a disease. What must enhance to us the value of thefe falutary obfervations, is to fee the practice hath been no lefs fimple than efficacious.

"I would now inquire of the most converfant in the study of Bills of Mortality; whether in the most healthful climate, and the best condition of life, they have ever found fo fmall a number of deaths in fuch a number of men, within that period of time? How great and agreeable then muft our furprize be, after perufing the histories of long navigations in former days, when fo many perished by marine diseases, to find the air of the fea acquitted of all malignity, and in fine that a voyage round the world may be undertaken with lefs danger to health than a common tour in Europe !"

To this difcourfe is annexed Captain Cook's account ittelf, as read before the fociety on the 7th of March laft: from which we learn that the ufe of fweet-wort, four-krout, portable foup, the rob of lemons and oranges and fugar, inftead of oil, affifted by fuitable rules of living, contributed chiefly to the extraordinary state of good health, observed in his fhip's-crew.

The Diaboliad, a Poem. Dedicated to the Worst Man in his Majefty's Dominions. 4to. 1s. 6d. Kearfly.

We should be forry, for the honour of the nobility, (if the author of the Diaboliad might be fuppofed to infinuate the truth) to understand that the worst man in his majefty's dominions is to be found among the Lords.If this infinuation be not fcandalum magnatum, we know not what is except, indeed, the author meant to pay the whole body of the peerage a compliment, by fuggefting that even the throne of Hell is too dignified a ftation to be filled by any but a perfon of quality.— His tale is that

"The devil, grown old, was anxious to prepare

A fit fucceflor for the Infernal chair."

He does not inform us, however, whether Satan, like some other primitive chriftian monarchs, intends to refign and retire to a monaftery; or whether he really thinks him/elf mortal, and prefumes to make his peace with God in articulo mortis. We mention this, as, in the latter cafe, we conceive the Bench of Bithops would immediately fee and dispatch the College of Phyficians, to prevent his decease.-Be this as it will, the poet pretends that the devil has made an offer of his infernal chair, to

This was a phebifis pulmonalis terminating in a dropfy. Mr. Patten, furgeon to the Refintions who mentioned to metais cafe, obferved that this man began fo early to complain of a cough and other confumptive fymptoms, which had never left him, that his lungs must have been affected before he came on board.

the

the man of fashion beft qualified to fill it.-On the principle of the author's motto, that

"To reign is worth ambition, tho' in Hell,"

it is no wonder that as many candidates fhould ftart, particularly among our younger fprigs of family, as on the declaration of a vacant borough. After exhibiting their feveral pretenfions, the poet prefers the patron, to whom he has dedicated his work, in the following lines, which conclude this diabolical

poem.

"But as he spoke, there iffued from the crowd, ****** the bafe, the cruel, and the proud; And eager cried, "I Boaft fuperior claim "To Hell s dark throne, and * * *

is my name.

"What, fhall that ftripling lord contend with me ? "I have four fons as old and bad as he!

"Whate'er he fwears, I'll fwear-he fays, I'll fay!
"And look, all-gracious king, my hairs are grey !""
Th' aftonish'd demons on each other gaz'd,

And Satan's felf fat filent and amaz`d;
Revolving, in his dubious mind, the state
And crimes of each afpiring candidate ;

When clanking chains, and doleful shrieks were heard,
And injur'd *******`s raving ghost appear d : *
His bofom heav'd with many a torturing figh,

And bloody ftreams gufh'd forth from either eye.
With piteous look he did a tale unfold,

Black with fuch horrid deeds, that, being told,
Hell's craggy vaults with acclamations ring,
And joyful shouts of

****

* fhall be king!"

Should our readers be at any lofs to know who is meant by the fix ftars in the laft line, we would recommend them, as we ourfelves do not know, to Mr. P, partner to Mr. A. Ws, as one of the beft decypherers of poetical libels and

fatirical innuendos.

W.

The Repofitory: a Select Collection of fugitive Pieces of Wit and Humour, in Profe and Verfe. By the most eminent Writers. 12mo. 2 vols. 6s. Dilly.

To this entertaining collection is annexed the following pre

face.

* See the Letters of Junius, where that able writer has obferved, with his usual fpirit and good fenfe, upon this guilty tranfaction. Junius felt for human nature, and would not fuffer his pen to trace all the particulars of it. To degrade the crimi nal, they fhould be remembered; but fot the fake of humanity, they had better be forgotten.

It