they will then confefs, thai there never existed in the world men who by bold atchievement have gained more for their Lord and King, than we the brave conquerors; amongst the most valiant of whom I was confidered as one, and am the moft ancient of all. I fay, again, that I myself-I, am a true conqueror: and the most ancient of all." In a dialogue between Fame and himself, the author thus humourously defcribes the fate of his companions "Oh excellent and illuftrious fame! defired and fought for by the good and virtuous, but fhunned and hated by the malicious, why do you not exalt us as our merits deferve? Know, goddess, that of five hundred and fifty foldiers who left the island of Cuba with Cortes, at the moment that I am writing this history in the year 1568, no more than five are living, the reft having been killed in the wars, facrificed to idols, or died naturally. In anfwer to your question, concerning their tombs and monuments, I tell you that their tombs are the maws of cannibal Indians, who devoured their limbs, and of tigers, ferpents, and birds of prey, which feasted on their mangled bodies. Such were their fepulchres, and fuch their monuments! but to me it appears that the names of thofe ought to be written in letters of gold, who died fo cruel a death, for the fervice of God and his Majesty, to give light to thofe who were in darkness, and to procure wealth which all men defire.' Of himself he fays— I have therefore, according to this account, been present in one hundred and nineteen battles and engagements; and it is not extra. ordinary if I praife myself, as what I fay is the mere truth. Nor are thefe old ftories or hiftories of Romans, of many ages paft; for evi. dent and true are the many and notable fervices which I have rendered; first to God, then to his Majefty, and all Chriftendom; and I give thanks and praifes to our Lord Jefus Chrift, that I escaped from all dangers, to make these things manifeft; and I alfo fay, and praise myself thereon, that I have been in as many battles and engagements as, according to history, the emperor Henry the fourth." There is a wonderful fimplicity, as our readers must have perceived, in the ftyle of this book; and making fome allowance for the fuperftitious spirit of the times, which the author himfelf had not wholly efcaped, though evidently a man of ftrong mind, and determined courage, it bears the strongest marks of authenticity, and is certainly curious, as containing the only true and faithful account of the Conqueft of Mexico. ART. ART, II, Memoirs of Modern Philofophers. (Concluded from P. 39.) HE confinement of Julia at the farm-houfe, from under The protection of her father, gave the infidious Vallaton full opportunity of effecting his nefarious purposes. Propofals of marriage being made to Captain Delmond for her union with Major Minden, affift the defigns of the hero. The tyranny of parental authority, and the glory of being among the number of those who refift the inftitutions of a "diftempered ftate of civilization," are the motives which he urges for the renunciation of all filial duties. The ftruggle is great,, and extremely well fupported; but love and vanity finally prevail, and fhe flies to his arms and, of course, to mifery.. The fcheme of failing to the Cape ftill appears to proceed. We fhall give the circular letter of Citizen Myope, in quality of Secretary. Who is there deferving of the title of philofopher, that does not feel the aggravated evils which the prefent odious inftitutions of society impofe on its wretched victim? Who is there among the enlightened, the men without a God, that does not with to elcape from this world of mifery, where the prejudices of mankind are ever preparing for him the bitter draught of obloquy and contempt? Are not. all our energies wafted iu the fruitlefs lamentation of irremediable evils; and our powers blunted, and rendered obtrufe, by the obftacles which the unjuft inftitutions of fociety throw in the way of perfecti-. bility? pro "Who is there among us, whom the unequal diftribution of perty does not fill with envy, refentment, and defpair? Who is there among us, that cannot recollect the time when be fecretly called in queftion the arbitrary divifion of property established in fociety, and felt inclined to appropriate to bis own ufe many things, the poffeffion of which appeared to bim defirable ?* And yet for these noble and natural fentiments, (when reduced to action) the unjuft and arbitrary inftitutions of fociety have prepared prifons and fetters! The odious fyftem of coercion is exerted to impofe the most injurious reftraints on these falutary flights of genius; and property is thus hemmed in on every fide. "Nor is the endeavour to get rid of the encumbrances by which we are weighed down, lefs abortive, or attended with confequences lefs deplorable. "Has any of us, in the ferment of youthful paflion, bound him felf by marriage? In vain does he ftruggle to throw off the yoke; he * "Pol. Juf. vol. i. 4to. edit, p. 89. is bound by the chains of this abfurd and immoral inftitution, and reftrained from feeking in variety the renovating charm of novelty, that rich magazine from which the materials of knowledge are to be derived. "Who would not gladly escape from this scene of mifery? Who would not rejoice to anticipate that reasonable state of fociety, with all thofe improvements which true philofophy will, in the course of a few ages, generate throughout the world? "Is he at a lofs where to fly? Does he fear that the debafing reftraint imposed by religion, and laws, and notions of government, will meet him in every direction, and pursue him to the fartheft corner of the world? Let him rejoice to learn, that there is yet a refuge for philofophy; that there is now a region where the whole of our glori ous fyftem is practifed in its full extent. In the interior parts of Africa an exalted race of mortals is discovered, who fo far from having their minds cramped in the fetters of fuperftition, and their energies reftrained by the galling yoke of law, do not fo much as believe in a Supreme Being, and have neither any code of laws, nor any form of government! "Let us join this pure and enlightened race! Let us haften to quit the corrupt wilderness of ill-conftituted fociety, the rank and rotten soil from which every finer fbrub draws poifon as it grows.* Let us feek in the philofophical fociety of the Hottentots that happier field and purer air, where talents and fentiments may expand into virtue, and germinate into general usefulness.. "Does any female citizen groan under the flavish and unnatural yoke of parental authority, or to wish to fhake off the chains of the odious and immoral institution, to which so much of the depravity of the world may be traced? Let her embrace the opportunity that is now offered, to obtain the glorious boon of liberty: let her haften to become a member of that fociety, where her virtues will be duly honoured, and her energies expand in the wide field of univerfal utility. "Is any philofopher thoroughly convinced of the truth of these gloomy reprefentations of the prefent virtue-fmothering state of fociety, which he has been at fo much pains to propagate? In the bofom of the Gonoquais horde, let him feek an afylum from the oppreffive hand of political institution, and from all obligations to the obfervance of that common honefty which is a non-conductor to all the Sympathies of the human heart.t As in the dark and gloomy wilderness which we at present so unfortunately inhabit, there is no poffibility of moving without mo ney, a fum muft of neceffity be raised to freight a fhip, and lay in requifites for the voyage, Contributions for this purpose will be received by Citizen Vallaton, who has generously undertaken the conduct of the important enterprize. As it is probable that many phi * See Caleb Williams." lofophers lofophers may not be provided with fpecie, from fuch as have it not in their power to contribute their quota in cafh, any fort of goods will be received that can be converted into articles of general utility. As an example worthy of imitation, we here think it neceffary to in-. form our fellow-citizens, that Citizen Glib has beftowed the whole of his circulating library upon the fociety. The fuperfluous books, fuch as hiftory, travels, natural philofophy, and divinity, are to be fold for the benefit of the fund. The novels and metaphyfical effays are referved for the inftruction of the philofophers. "By order of the Hottentotian Committee, "BEN. MYOPE, Sec.” In the mean time, the heroine of the tale is tormenting herself, and Henry Sidney, with her paffion, the origin of which is moft admirably well given by herself in a converfation with Julia. Part of it we offer to our readers as an excellent imitation of that vicious and detestable stuff which has iffued from the pen of M-y H-s. Indeed the whole character of Bridgetina fo ftrongly refembles that of this impaffioned Godwinian, that it is impoffible to be mistaken. "Is it poffible that Henry Sidney can really have engaged your affections? Poffible!' faid Bridgetina, it is not only poffible, but literally and demonftrably true. The history of my fenfations are equally interefting and inftructive. You will there fee, how fenfation generates intereft, intereft generates paffions, paffions generate powers; and fenfations, paffions, powers, all working together, produce affociations, and habits, and ideas, and fenfibilities. Julia! Julia! what a heart-moving history is mine.' "It was almoft impoffible even for Julia to refrain from laughing at the figure of Bridgetina, as the pronounced these words. Every feature screwed into formality, and every distorted limb fprawling in affected agitation, fhe prefented fuch an apparent antidote to the tender paffion, that the mention of love from her lips had in it fomething irrefiftibly ridiculous. It was with fome difficulty that Julia could fufficiently command her voice to defire her to proceed; which at length, after stretching her craggy neck, wiping the rheum from her eyes, and fixing them on the fharp point of her turned-up nofe, fhe faid as follows: The remoter caufes of those affociations which formed the texture of my character, might, I know, very probably be traced to fome transaction in the feraglio of the Great Mogul, or to fome fpirited and noble enterprize of the Cham of Tartary; but as the investigation would be tedious, and, for want of proper data, perhaps impracticable, I fhall not go beyond my birth, but content myfelf with arranging under feven heads (I love to methodise) the feven generating caufes of the energies which ftamp my individuality, bferving, that it is by a proper attention to these fine and evanefcent ftrokes, that the knowledge of mind is alone to be attained. fift of thefe characters forming eras was the hour of my birth. The The midwife midwife who was to attend my mother, happening to be a mile or two out of town, her delay fuddenly excited an energetic impetuofity which fcorned to wait for her arrival, and generated a noble fpirit of independence, which brought me into the world without affistance. About two hours after I was born, the germ of other paffions was produced. The nurfe, who from fome early affociations had acquired a habit of getting drunk, let me fall upon the floor. A torrent of refentment and indignation gufhed upon my heart, and the bitter tears that followed were a certain indication of the important confequences which that accident was to have upon my future life. The third power-infpiring era is ftill more worthy of attention. It was, indeed, the fountain-head of all my feelings, the fource of those fenfibilities and propenfities, which have been the fprings of every action, the cause of every movement of it; my foul is therefore well worthy the attention of every philofophic mind, of every lover of minute inveftigation. Not to keep you in fufpenfe, (a thing ill-fuited to the energy of my character) I haften to inform you, that my mother not being able to fuckle me herself, a young woman was brought into the houfe to be my wet-nurse who fome months before had borne a child to the parish-clerk. He kept a little day-fchool in Muddy-lane; and Jenny, whofe education had been neglected in her infancy, had resorted to him to learn to read, and foon became fo enamoured of literature, that from one of those affociations so natural to the human mind, the conceived a tender paffion for her inftructor. Imagination lent its aid, and an impor tunate fenfibility, panting for good unalloyed, compleated the feduction." With her milk I greedily abforbed the delicious poifon which circulated through every vein; and love of literature, and im. portunate fenfibility, became from thenceforth the predominant features of my character. Early did the fruits of the affociations thus formed expand to view: by the time I was four years old, I would have liftened for hours to the ftory of little Red Ridinghood; and on a particular investigation of this important era, I have learned from an old domeftic, that I could actually, at the age of five years, repeat the whole hiftory of the Glass Slipper, without missing a fingle word!" She then proceeds to state some other trifling circumstances, among which is her attachment to an apothecary, on whose marriage to another fhe thus defcribes her own fenfations. "How shall I describe my fufferings! How fhall I recount the falt, the bitter tears I fhed! I yearn to be useful, (cried I) but the inexpreffible yearnings of a foul which pants for general utility, is, by the odious inftitutions of a diftempered civilization, rendered abortive. O divine Philofophy! by thy light I am taught to perceive that happiness is the only true end of existence. To be happy, it is necessary "See Emma Courtnay, a philofophial novel; to which Mifs Botherim feems indebted for fome of her finest thoughts.” for |