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ing, that Lord Townshend, in his reprefentative capacity, had a right to behave to Lord Bellamont as he did at the castle; and that the latter was guilty of a great impropriety in calling him to account for the mistake of an aid-de-camp.

Lord Bellamont was formerly Mr Coote, and afterwards Sir Charles Coote, K. B. having got the red ribband in 1764 [xxvi. 56, xxxiv. 334.], on the recommendation of the Earl of Halifax, on account of his fervices in fuppreffing the White Boys, when his Lordship was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; in 1766, on the death of the Earl of Bellamont, he fucceeded to the title of Baron Colloony [xxviii. 168.]; and in 1767 was created Earl of Bellamont [xxix. 447.]. His Lordship has a lady and feven chil

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There is now no longer, I apprehend, any occafion to give premiums for inducing people to go from hence to America, or for prevailing on the old fettlers there to remove from their poor lands on the fea-coaft, and fit down upon the rich lands over the hills. There are not therefore the fame reafons there might have been formerly for giving away thefe lands to all who afk for them.

Voltaire's opinion of Oliver Cromwell, and his fon Richard.

Liver Cromwell was regarded with admiration by the Puritans and Independents of his time. He was their hero, but his fon Richard is mine. The father was a fanatic, who would now be hiffed in the Houfe of Commons for pronouncing half a sentence of that unintelligible jargon which he vented among his fanatic brethren, while they heard him with gaping mouths, and eyes turned up to heaven, at the name of the Lord. If he were now living, and fhould say, "We must seek the Lord; we must fight the Lord's battles;" if, to the difgrace of human reafon, he should introduce this Jewish jargon into the parlia ment of G. Britain; he would be thought more fit for the fociety of Bedlam, than the command of an army.

Undoubtedly he was brave, and fo

are wolves. There are apes, too, that are as furious as tygers. Of a fanatic he became an adroit politician; that is to fay, the wolf was metamorphofed into a fox. By his knavery he rose to the first ranks that the outragious enthusiafin of the times could give him. He rofe to the pinnacle of grandeur; and like, a thorough-paced villain, trode on the necks of the fanatic wretches who had raised him. He reigned, 'tis true; but he lived in difcontent and horror. His days were uneafy, and his nights without rest. He was a ftranger to the confolations of friendship and fociety. His death was untimely; and certainly more justly so than that of the monarch he brought to the fcaffold.

Mr Penn does not give away his lands; Richard Cromwell, on the contrary, and why fhould the King do fo? Mr Penn, born with an humble, but fenfible mind, to my knowledge, is now getting one fhilling Sterling an acre, or 5 1. per hundred a refufed to keep his father's crown* at the cres, for all he is granting over the hills quite expence of the lives of three or four up to the Ohio, befides referving a quitrent factious fubjects, which he might easily of two fillings an hundred acres. have facrificed to his ambition. He chofe My propofal therefore is, That all the lands that rather to retire to a private station, than the King has a right to grant in thofe parts to be the most powerful affaffin. He rebe fold for a fhilling an acre; and as there jected, without regret, the protectorate, cannot be fo little as twenty millions of to live like a common citizen. Happy acres, they would raife a good million pounds and eafy in the country, he enjoyed a Sterling if matters were prudently managed. good state of health, and poffeffed his The whole fhould not be fold at once, but foul in peace for ninety years, the friend at the rate of two or three millions at a time; and protector of his neighbours. - Let and the money fhould not be carried out of the reader determine which condition he the country, but given to the foldiers for their pay. This would fave England the would chufe, that of the unquiet father, fending money to America, and in thefe dif- or that of the peaceable fon ! treffing times would be a great benefit to the public. I am, &c.

T. B.

So our Author expreffes himself.

A

31

A Catalogue of NEW BOOKS; the Prices, and Publishers Names, annexed: With REMARKS and EXTRACTS.

We fometimes fhew from what works we take thefe Remarks; by annexing M. for Monthly, and C. for Critical Review; G. for Gentleman's, and L. for London Magazine, &c.]

The Ventriloquist. By M. de la Chapelle, cenfor-royal at Paris, &c. French. 12m9. London, De l'Etanville; Paris, Duchefne.

THis work, as the author, at leaft, with fome degree of complacence, more than once declares, is an unique, and on a very fingular and curious fubject. Euftathius indeed, the learned Bishop of Antioch in the fourth century, and his tranflator and commentator Leo Allatius, about the beginning of the feventeenth, have, he acknowledges, likewife treated of the fame matter; but they have difcaffed it only incidentally, and with a particular view to the circumstances attending the vifit made by Saul to the witch of Endor, 1 Sam. xxviii. The prefent author, on the contrary, confiders the fubject in a general light, and confirms all his remarks and reafonings up on it by actual obfervations made on two very capital Ventriloquifts now living. As this is a kind of maiden subject, or at leaft not much known to the generality of readers, we shall dwell fomewhat largely upon it.

I

Ventriloquism, if we may be allowed to ufe the term, in order to avoid circumlocution, is a peculiar gift, art, or quality, of which certain perfons are and have been poffeffed, by means of which they have been enabled to modify the voice in fuch a manner, as to make it appear to thofe prefent to proceed from the belly of the fpeakers, (from which circumftance it derives its appellation), or rather to make it feem to proceed from any difance, or in any direction whatever. Some faint traces of this art or faculty are to be found in the writings of the ancients; but many more are to be discovered there, if we adopt the author's opinion, that the refponfes of many of the ancient oracles were actually delivered by perfons Let poffeffed of this quality, fo very capable of being applied to the purposes of priestbe craft and delufion. Nay, it will appear

in the course of this article, that an entire community even of priests themselves, in the very neighbourhood of Paris, as we conjecture, were fairly taken in by it, A in confequence of an innocent piece of

waggery plaid off upon them, by a person who poffeffes this talent in a very eminent degree.

The author of this performance is known to many of the curious, by an invention of his that has lately been announced in fome of the foreign papers, which he calls the fcaphandre, and of which we shall give a short account at the end of this article. Having brought this ufeful piece of machinery, as he affirms, to its utmost perfection, his attention was excited towards a new and very different object, in conféquence of a converfation at which he was prefent about two years ago; in which fome perfons of learning and probity related many furprifing circumftances concerning the talents of a certain ventriloquift, one M. St Gille, a grocer at St Germain enLaye, not far from Paris; whofe powers in that way were aftonishing, and had given occafion to many fingular and diverting fcenes. The author was fo ftruck at the marvellous anecdotes related to him, that he immediately formed the refolution of firft afcertaining the matter of fact by the teftimony of his own fenfes, and then of inquiring into the cause and manner in which the phenomena were produced.

After fome preparatory and neceffary fteps, (for M. St Gille, he had been told, did not chufe to gratify the curiofity of every one), the Abbé waited upon him, informed him of his defign, and was very cordially received. He was taken into a parlour on the ground-floor, when M. St Gille and himself fat on the oppofite fides of a small fire, with only a table between them; the author keeping his eyes conftantly fixed upon M. St Gille all the time. Half an hour had passed, during which that gentleman diverted the Abbé with the relation of many comic scenes which he had given occafion to by this talent of his; when, all on a fudden, the Abbé heard himself called by his name and title, in a voice that feemed to

come from the roof of a houfe at a diftance. He was almoft petrified with aftonishment. On recollecting himself, however, and afking M. St Gille, whether he had not just then given him a spe

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cimen of his art, he was answered only by afmile: but while the Abbé was pointing to the houfe from which the voice had appeared to him to proceed, his furprife was augmented on hearing himself anfwered," It was not from that quarter,' apparently in the fame kind of voice as before, but which now feemed to ifue from under the earth, at one of the corners of the room. In fhort this factitious voice played, as it were, every where about him, and feemed to proceed from any quarter, or diftance, from which the operator chofe to tranfmit it to him. The illufion was fo very strong, that, prepared as the Abbé was for this kind of converfation, his mere fenfes were abfolutely incapable of undeceiving him. Though confcious that the voice proceeded from the mouth of M. St Gille, that gentleman appeared abfolutely mute, while he was exercifing this talent; nor could the Author perceive any change whatever in his countenance. He obferved, however, at this first visit, that M. St Gille contrived, but without any affectation, to prefent only the profile of his face to him while he was fpeaking as a ventriloquist.

The Abbé, who is a moft unconfcionable and multifarious digreffor, and is continually starting out of his way to explain or difcufs the minuteft matter that comes across him, proceeds directly from his narrative of the firft vifit he made to M. St Gille, to account for all the circumftances attending Saul's conference with the witch of Endor; and endeavours to fhew, that the fpeech fuppofed to be addreffed to Saul by the ghoft of Samuel, actually proceeded from the mouth of the reputed forcerefs, whom he fuppofes to have been a capital ventriloquist. On thefe grounds he explains that tranfaction, and reconciles all its circumflances to the relation given of it in the Bible; where, it is to be observed, that Saul is not said to have feen Samuel, but only to have heard a voice; which, it now appears, a ventriloquist can produce, and tranfmit from any quarter, and with any degree of ftrength whatever. He afterwards brings many inftances to prove, that the ancient oracles principally fupported their credit, and derived their influence, from the exercife of this particular art. This fuppofition, he thinks, will not appear by any means forced or incredible; whether we reflect on the nature of the art itself, fo very capable

of impofing on the multitude; or on the various other confiderations here offered in fupport of it. The vocal or speaking oaks, for inftance, of Dodina, (the feat of one of the most celebrated of the ancient oracles), receive from hence a much more fimple and plaufible folution, than from any of the hypothefes invented by the authors who have treated on this fubject. There was no neceffity, he ob-, ferves, to conceal the priest, who was to utter the refponfes, in a hollow tree; or to form fubterraneous cavities for his reception. Thefe contrivances could fcarce be executed or employed without frequent danger of difcovery; whereas a fingle ventriloque, without any apparatus, could render not only oaks, but even rocks and clouds, vocal, without any hazard of detection.

After various difcuffions, more or less connected with his principal subject, the author relates at length all the teftimonies that he has been able to collect, relating to the few ventriloquifts that have been described by different authors, within the laft two or three hundred years. From this collection we fhall only extract the fubftance of a little history given by Brodeau, a learned critic in the 16th century; who relates one of the fingular feats performed by a moft capital ventriloquift and cheat, in his time; who had not only the talent of emitting a voice, from any diftance, or in any direction; but had likewife a particular knack at counterfeiting the tone or manner of speaking of thofe with whom he had at any time converfed. He was called Louis Brabant, and was valet de chambre to Francis I. Our countryman Dickenfon fpeaks of him particularly, in his tract, intitled, Delphi Phenicizantes, printed in 12mo, at Oxford, in 1655.

Louis, it feems, had fallen moft defperately in love with a young, handfome, and rich heirefs; but was rejected by the parents, as an unfuitable match for their daughter, on account of the lowners of bis circumftances. The young lady's father dying, he makes a vifit to the widow, who was totally ignorant of his fingular talent. Suddenly, on his first appearance, in open day, in her ow houfe, and in the prefence of feveral perfons who were with her, fhe hears herfelf accofted, in a voice perfectly refembling that of her dead husband, and which feemed to proceed from above; exclaiming, "Give my daughter in marriage to

Louis Brabant. He is a man of great fortune, and of an excellent character. I now endure the inexpreffible torments of purgatory, for having refused her to him. If you obey this admonition, I fhall foon be delivered from this place of torment. You will at the fame time provide a worthy husband for your daughter, and procure everlasting repofe to the foul of your poor hufband."

The widow could not for a moment refift this dread fummons, which had not the moft diftant appearance of proceeding from Louis Brabant; whofe countenance exhibited no visible change, and whofe lips were clofe and motionlefs, during the delivery of it. Accordingly the confents immediately to receive him for her fon-in-law. Louis's finances, however, were in a very low fituation; and the formalities attending the marriage-contract rendered it neceffary for him to exhibit fome fhew of riches, and not to give the ghoft the lie-direct. He accordingly goes to work upon a fresh fubject; one Cornu, an old and rich banker at Lyons; who had accumulated immenfe wealth by ufury and extortion, and was known to be haunted by remore of confcience on account of the manner in which he had acquired it.

Paffing over the preliminary steps and preparations, behold Louis Brabant téte ate with the old ufurer, in his little back parlour, preparing him for his en fuing operations upon him, by artfully turning the conversation upon religious fubjects; on demons and fpectres, the pains of purgatory, and the torments of hell. During an interval of filence between them, a voice is heard, which to the aftonished banker seems to be that of his deceased father, complaining, as in the former cafe, of his dreadful fituation in purgatory, and calling upon him to deliver him inftantly from thence, by putting into the hands of Louis Brabant, then with him, a large fum for the redemption of Chriftians then in flavery with the Turks; threatening him at the fame time with eternal damnation, if he did not take this method to expiate likewife his own fins. The reader will naturally fuppofe that Louis Brabant affected a due degree of aftonishment upon the occafion; and further promoted the deception, by acknowledging his having devoted himself to the profecution of the charitable defign imputed to him by the ghoft.

VOL. XXXV.

An old ufurer is naturally fufpicious. Accordingly the wary banker makes a fecond appointment with the ghoft's delegate, for the next day; and, to render any defign of impofing upon him utterly abortive, takes him into the open fields'; where not a house, or a tree, or even a bufh, or a pit, were in fight, capable of screening any fuppofed confederate. This extraordinary caution excited the ventriloquift on his part, to exert all the powers of his art. Where-ever the banker conducts him, at every ftep, his ears are faluted on all fides, with the complaints and groans, not only of his father, but of all his deceafed relations, imploring him for the love of God, and in the name of every faint in the calendar, to have mercy on his own foul and theirs, by effectually seconding with his purse the intentions of his worthy companion. Cornu could no longer refift the voice of heaven; and accordingly carries his guest home with him, and pays him down 10,000 crowns; with which the honest ventriloquift returns to Paris, and marries his miftrefs. The catastrophe was fatal. The fecret was afterwards blown, and reached the ufurer's ears; who was fo much affected by the lofs of his money, and the mortifying railleries of his neighbours, that he took to his bed, and died.

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Confidering the fuperftitious and credulous fpirit of the age when this piece of deceit is faid to have been practifed, the preceding relation appears by no means incredible. We very naturally recollect on this occafion the audiences given to a very bungling ghoft, in our own times, and in our own capital; where fome reputed found heads were said to have been strangely unhinged by the clumfy manœuvres of the dumb ghoft of Cocklane, who converfed only by fcratching and knocking. Had the faid ghoft been a finifhed ventriloquift, particularly, if in the folemn and evermemorable vifit made to the gloomy vault of Clerkenwell, Fanny had accofted her fagacious and inquifitive nocturnal vifitants with a speech from her coffin, couched in awful and ghoftly terms, the intellectual concuffion must have been complete and irrefiftible [xxiv. 149. 392.]. This at leaft is certain, that in the days of King James, or later fill in New England, a man would have ftood a fair chance of being hanged on even less subftantial evidence. [xxxiv. 719.]

This laft-mentioned trick of Louis
Brabant,

E

Brabant, played off on the old ufurer, alone, is even exceeded by an innocent piece of waggery, not long ago practifed with fuccefs, by the author's hero, M. St Gille, on a whole community. Out of refpect to the minifters of religion, the author does not specify the fcene of this adventure; which, however, he obferves, needs no particular authentication, as the whole affair is very well known at Paris. The following are the outlines of this modern hiftory, which may ferve as a proper companion, and as a kind of voucher, to the preceding.

M. St Gille returning home from a place whither his bufinefs had carried him, fought for fhelter from an approaching thunder ftorm, in a neighbouring convent. Finding the whole community in mourning, he inquires the caufe; and is told, that one of their body had died lately, who was the ornament and delight of the whole fociety. To pafs away the time, he walks into the church, attended by fome of the religious, who fhew him the tomb of their deceafed brother, and fpeak feelingly of the feanty honours they had beftowed on his memory. Suddenly a voice is heard, apparently proceeding from the roof of the quire, lamenting the fituation of the defunct in purgatory, and reproaching the

brotherhood with their lukewarmness and want of zeal on his account. The friars, as foon as their aftonifliment gave them power to fpeak, confult together, and agree to acquaint the reft of the community with this fingular event, fo interefting to the whole fociety.

M. St Gille, who wished to carry on the joke fill further, diffuades them from taking this ftep; telling them that they will be treated by their abfent brethren as a fet of fools and vifionaries. He recommends to them, however, the immediately calling the whole community into the church, where the ghoft of their departed brother may probably reiterate his complaints. Accordingly all the friars, novices, lay-brothers, and even the domeftics of the convent, are immediately fummoned and collected together. In a fhort time the voice from the roof renewed its lamentation and reproaches; and the whole convent fell on their faces, and vowed a folemn reparation. As a first step, they chaunted à De profundis in full choir; during the intervals of which the ghoft occafionally expreffed the comfort he received from their pious exercifes

and ejaculations on his behalf. When all was over, the Prior entered into a ferious converfation with M. St Gille, and, on the ftrength of what had juft paffed, fagaciously inveighed against the abfurd incredulity of our modern fceptics and pretended philofophers, on the article of ghofts or apparitions. M. St Gille thought it now high time to difabufe the good fathers. This purpose, however, he found it extremely difficult to effect, till he had prevailed upon them to return with him into the church, and there be witness of the manner in which he had conducted this ludicrous deception.

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verfes

The realms of time and space, all fancy-free,
Check'd in his rapid courfe, obey the call
Of fome barbarian, who by found enflav'd,
And deaf to manly melody, proclaims,
"No farther fhalt thou go?" Pent in his cage,
Th' imprifon'd eagle fits, and beats his bars;
His eye is rais'd to heaven. Tho' many a
Has feen him pine in fad captivity, (moon
Still to the thunderer's throne he longs to bear
The bolt of vengeance; ftill he thirts to dip
His daring pinions in the fount of light.

We cannot think, that an iron chain, cramping a fair feather, and pinning the Mufe to the ground, are congruous,, much less elegant images. Forging a chain to crampa feather, is too much like charging a culverin to kill a moth; and, furely, a chain is not an inftrument by which what it fecures or reftrains can be faid to be pinned. Neither can we think, that quick thought, under the similitude of an eagle, can with propriety be reprefented as impatient to bear the bolt of vengeance to the throne of Jove.

Rhyme,

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