Selection from Mr. Gibbon's learned Notes. 477 2 Their firft falutation may be tranfcribed, but cannot be tranflated. It was, that Mofeilama faid or fung: Surge tandem itaque ftrenue permolenda; nam ftratus tibi thorus eft. [nixam. Aut fupinam te humi exporrectam fuftigabo, fi velis, aut fi malis manibus pedibufque The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to idolatry; but, under the reign of Moawiyah, the became a Mutulman, and died at Baffora (Abulfeda, Annal. verf. Reifke, p. 63). 310. The paffion of a Syrian youth completed the ruin of the exiles of DamafA nobleman of this city, of the name of Jonas 62, &c.] cus. 62 On the fate of thefe lovers, whom he names Phocyas and Eudocia, Mr. Hughes has built the Siege of Damafcus, one of our most popular tragedies, and which poffeffes the rare merit of blending nature and history, the manners of the times and the feelings of the heart. The foolish delicacy of the players compelled him to foften the guilt of the hero and the defpair of the heroine. Inftead of a bafe renegado, Phocyas ferves the Arabs as an honourable ally; instead of prompting their purfuit, he flies to the fuccour of his countrymen, and after killing Caled and Derar, is himself mortally wounded, and expires in the prefence of Eudocia, who profeffes her refolution to take the veil at Conftantinople. A frigid catastrophe! 359. Note 156. Besides the Arabic Chronicles of Abulfeda, Elmacin, and Abulpharagius, under the lxxiiid year of the Hegira, we may confult d'Herbelot (Bibliot. Orient. p. 7.), and Ockley (Hift. of the Saracens, vol. II. p. 339-349). The latter has given the laft and pathetic dialogue between Abdallah and his mother; but he has forgot a phyfical effect of ber grief for his death, the return, at the age of ninety, and fatal confequences, of her menfes. 400. A ftill more fatal and irreparable lofs was that of the caliph Soliman, who died of an indigeftion 12 in his camp near Kinnifrin or Chalcis in Syria, as he was preparing to lead against Conftantinople the remaining forces of the Eaft.] 12 The caliph had emptied two baskets of eggs and figs, which he swallowed alternately, and the repaft was concluded with honey and fugar. In one of his pilgrimages to Mecca, Soliman eat, at a fingle meal, feventy pomgranates, a kid, fix fowls, and a huge quantity of the grapes of Tayef. If the bill of fare be correct, we must admire the appetite rather than the luxury of the fovereign of Afia (Abulfeda, Annal. Moflem. p. 126). 608. 55 Note. Of odd particulars, I learn from Malaterra that, &c.—and that the bite of the tarantula provokes a windy difpofition, quæ per anum inbonefta crepitando emergit: a fymptom most ridiculously felt by the whole Norman army in their camp near Palermo (c. 36.) Anna Comnena (1. iv. p. 116.) admires, with fome degree of terror, her mafculine virtues. They were more familiar to the Latins; and though the Apulian (1. iv. p. 273.) mentions her prefence and her wound, he represents her as far lefs intrepid. 1 616. 74 Note. Uxor in hoc bello Roberti forte fagittà Quâdam læfa fuit; quo vulnere territa, nullam The laft is an unlucky word for a feinale prifoner. 653. "Maffoud," fays the Perfian Hiftorian 13, "plunged fingly to oppose the torrent of gleaming arms, exhibiting fuch acts of gigantic valour as never king had before difplayed. A few of his friends, routed by his words and actions, and that innate honour which infpires the brave, feconded their lord fo well, that, wherefoever he turned his fatal word, the enemies were mowed down, or retreated before him. But now, when victory feemed to blow on his ftandard, misfortune was active behind it for, when he looked round, he beheld almoft his whole army, excepting that body he commanded in perfon, devouring the paths of flight."] 13 Dow, Hift. of Hindostan, vol. I. p. 89, 95—98. I have copied this pallage as a specimen of the Perfian manner; but I fufpect, that by fome odd fatality, the style of Ferifhta has been improved by that of Offian. 667. The remains of the fultan were depofited in the tomb of the Seljukian Dvnafty; and the paifenger might read and meditate this ufetal infcription 49: "O ye who have feen the glory of Alp Arfan exalted to the Heavens, repair to Maru, and you will behold it buried in the duft!"] 4° A critic of high renown (the late Dr. Johnfon), who has feverely fcrutinized the epitaphs of Pope, might cavil in this fublime infcription at the words " repair to Maru," fince the reader must already be at Maru before he could perufe the infcription. 676. many thoufand children were marked by the knife of circumcifion; and many thoufand captives were devoted to the fervice or the pleafures of their mafters.] 54 54 The emperor, or abbot, defcribe the fcenes of a Turkish camp as if they had been prefent. Matres correpta in confpectu filiarum, multipliciter repetitis diverforum coitibus exabantur (is that the true reading ?); cum filiæ affiftentes carmina præcinere faltando cogerentur: mox eadem pailio ad filias, &c. Vol. VI. p. 9. In the age of the Crufades, the Chriftians, both of the East and Weft, were perfuaded of their lawfulness and merit; their arguments are clouded by the perpetual abufe of Scripture and rhetoric; but they feem to infift on the right of natural and religious defence, their peculiar title to the Holy Land, and the impiety of their Pagan and Mahometan foes.] 20 zo If the reader will turn to the first scene of the first part of Henry the Fourth, he will fee, in the text of Shakspeare, the natural feelings of enthufiafm; and in the notes of Dr. Johnfon, the workings of a bigoted though vigorous mind, greedy of every pretence to hate and perfecute thofe who diffent from his creed. 85. Bernard applauds his own fuccels in the depopulation of Europe; affirms that cities and caftles were emptied of their inhabitants; and computes that only one man was left behind for the confolation of feven widows.] 32 32 Mandaftis et obedivi..... multiplicati funt fuper numerum; vacuantur urbes et caftella; et pene jam non inveniunt quem apprehendant feptem mulieres unum virum; adeo bique viduæ vivis remanent viris. Bernard. Epift. p. 247. We must be careful not to conftrue pene as a fubftantive. 312. 4 Note. In one of the Ramblers, Dr. Johnfon praises Knolles (a General History of the Turks to the prefent Year, London 1603), as the first of hiftorians, unhappy only in the choice of his fubject. Yet I much doubt whether a partial and verbose compilation from Latin writers, thirteen hundred folio pages of fpeeches and battles, can either inftruct or amufe an enlightened age which requires from the hiftorian fome tincture of philofophy and criticism. 478.- the avarice of the rich denied the Emperor, and referved for the Turks, the fecret treasures which might have raifed in their defence whole arinies of mercenaries.] 28 28 Dr. Johnfon, in the tragedy of Irene, has happily feized this characteristic circumStance: The groaning Greeks dig up their golden caverns, The accumulated wealth of hoarding ages; That wealth, which, granted to their weeping prince, Had rang'd embattled nations at their gates. 494. Fear is the first principle of a defpotic government, and his menaces were expreffed in the Oriental ftyle, that the fugitives and deferters, had they the wings of a bird 53, should not efcape from his inexorable juftice.] 53 Thefe wings (Chalcondyles, 1. viii. p. 208.) are no more than an oriental figure: but, in the tragedy of Irene, Mahomet's paffion foars above fenfe and reafon: Should the fierce North, upon his frozen wings, Bear him aloft above the wondering clouds, And feat him in the Pleiads' golden chariot Thence should my fury drag him down to tortures. Befides the extravagance of the rant, I must observe, 1. that the operation of the winds must be confined to the lower region of the air. 2. That the name, etymology, and fable of the Pleiads are purely Greek (Scholiaft. ad Homer. E. 686. Eudocia in Ionià, p. 339. Apollodor. 1. iii. c. 10. Heine, p. 229. not. 682), and had no affinity with the aftronomy of the Eaft (Hyde ad Ulugbeg, Tabul. in Syntagma Differt. tom. I. p. 40, 42. Goguet, Óngine des Arts, &c. tom. VI. p. 73–78. Gebelin, Hift. du Calendrier, p. 73), which Mahomet had studied. 3. The golden chariot does not exift either in fcience or fiction; but I much fear that Dr. Johnfon has confounded the Pleiads with the Great Bear, or Waggon, the Zodiac with a Northern conftellation. Αρκτον θ ήν και άμαξαν επίκλησιν καλεσσια 5:5 I Note. The fame writer has given us, from Fitz-Stephen, a fingular act of cruelty, perpetrated on the clergy by Geoffrey, the father of Henry II. "When he was mafter of Normandy, the chapter of Secz prefumed, without his confent, to proceed to the election of a bishop: upon which he ordered all of them, with the bifhop elect, to be caftrated, and made all their testicles be brought him in a platter." Of the pain and danger they might juftly complain; yet, fince they had vowed chastity he deprived them of a fuperfluous treafure. Mr. Original Letter of Dr. Johnfon.-Anecdotes of Dr. Wallis. 479 Mr. URBAN, June 20. ACCORDING to the best accounts we have received of Dr. Johnton's life, it appears, that pecuniary diftreffes were none of the leaft of thofe calamities which difturbed his mind, and deftroyed the equability of his temper. A detail of fuch inftances would, indeed, be interefting only to our humanity; but the following letter, written by the Dr. when under arreft for a very trifling fum, appears to me worthy of being recorded in your Mifcellany. Had the Dr. been alive, he would not have been afhamed to own it, nor offended at its being made public. AMERUS. ance; To Mr. S. RICHARDSON *. SIR, Gough-square, March 16,1756. I AM obliged to intreat your affift I am now under an arreft for five pounds eighteen fhillings. Mr. Strahan, from whom I fhould have received the neceffary help in this cafe, is not at home, and I am afraid of not finding Mr. Millar. If you will be so good as to fend me this fum, I will very gratefully repay you, and add it to all former obligations. I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble fervant, SAM. JOHNSON. Sent fix guineas. Witnefs William Richardfon. Note. I have fhewn the original of the above letter to your printer, that there may be no doubt of its authenticity. The witnefs was Mr. Richardfon's nephew, and fucceffor in his bufinefs. Original Letter of Dr. WALLIS, with Jome Particulars of his Penfion, &c. I Oxford, Feb. 12, 1700-1. "May it please your GRACE, HUMBLY thank your Grace alfo for your great favour in your letter of Feb. 8, in being mindful of our concerns. I have acquainted Judge Blencowe with the contents of it; who will, I prefume, wait on your Grace on that account, if my letter to him come not too late to his hands (the term now expiring). But I doubt the failure is not for want of foliciting at the Exchequer, but rather for want of an order directed thither; for the Judge hath already caufed enquiry to be made there, and finds, indeed, an order there lodged for the bufinets of Mr. Wallis and Mr. The celebrated author of Clariffa, Sir Charles Grandifon, and Pamela, &c. Marston's learning Arabick (which your Grace's letter mentions), but nothing about Mr. Blencowe's learning to decy pher: which makes me doubt that, though his Majefty did intend it, yet the order was either not drawn up, or not fent. The whole ftory of this affair appears in a letter of Dr. Charles to your Grace laft fummer. And your Grace will be mighty kind to us, if you can direct the Judge how that bufinefs (where-ever the omiffion be) may be retrieved. I am, my Lord, your Grace's very humble and moft obedient fervant, JOHN WALLIS For the moft Reverend Father in God the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his Grace at Lambeth.” The fubject of the above letter, and of thofe in our laft, p. 380, was a penfion of rool. a year, with furvivoribir to his grandfon, Mr. William Blencowe (fon of his daughter and Mr. Justice Blencowe), whom he had inftructed in the art of decyphering at the particular defire of his Majefty; which is a convincing proof what a great value that great man (who knew the value of it better than any other perfon) had for that fcience, and the pains he took to prevent its being loft at the Dr's deceafe; which, from his great age at that time, could not have been supposed at a great distance. The ftyle of the patent was as follows: "Whereas we are graciously pleased to grant and allow unto our trufty and well-beloved John Wallis, doctor im divinity, and William Blencowe, gentleman, his grandfon, and the furvivor of them, one annuity, or yearly fum, of one hundred pounds, as well in confideration of the good fervice performed, and to be performed, by the faid Dr. Wallis, in inftructing his faid grandfon in the art of decyphering, as for the encouragement of the faid William Blencowe diligently to apply himself to the ftudy and learning thereof: the fame to commence," &c. &c. That the Dr. had, long before this, taught the art to his own fon, is evidept from a letter of the Dr's, dated he fays, "I have been fhewing my son, from Oxford, Feb. 28, 1694, wherein John Wallis, efq. (of Soundels, near * John Wallis, efq. mentioned in Biog. Brit. vol. VI. p. 4135; where, in line 3. "eldeft" fhould be omitted; 1. 13, for "Blenco" r. "Blencowe;" and, in the note, col. 66 after 2, any body elfe" add except his for." He was born in 1651. Nettlebed, 61 Nettlebed, in Oxfordshire), from time to time, how I proceed; and teaching him (fo far as it is to be taught) how to do the like, and have made ufe of his affiftance (when we were together) in decyphering divers letters, who is of capacity enough to understand it, but complains of the fatigue, as not being worth his while to undergo and nothing but a long practice (befides a natural fagacity) can render a man expert at it." LETTER to the EARL OF MANSFIELD, figned by the COUNSEL of the KING'S BENCH BAR, ho bad practifed in the Court during his Lordship's Adminifiration. IT "MY LORD, June 19. T was our wifh to have waited perfonally upon your Lordship in a body, to have taken our public leave of you on your retiring from the office of Chief Juftice of England; but judging of your Lordship's feelings upon fuch an occafion by our own, and confidering, befides, that our numbers might be inconvenient, we defire in this manner affectionately to affure your Lordship, that we regret, with a juft fenfibility, the lofs of a Magiftrate, whofe confpicuous and exalted talents conferred dignity upon the profeffion; whofe enlightened and regular adminiftration of juftice made its duties lefs difficult and laborions; and whofe manners rendered them pleafant and refpectable. But, while we lament our lofs, we remember, with peculiar fatisfaction, that your Lordthip is not cut off from us by the fudden ftroke of paintul dif temper, or the more diftrefling ebb of thofe extraordinary faculties which have fo long diftinguifhed you amongst men; but that it has pleafed God to allow, to the evening of an ufeful and illuftrious life, the pureft enjoyments which Nature has ever allotted to it-the unclouded reflections of a fuperior and unfading mind over its varied events, and the happy conicioufnels that it has been faithfully and ensinently devoted to the higheft duties of human fociety, in the moft diftinguished nation upon earth. May the fealon of this high fatisfaction bear its proportion to the lengthen ed days of your activity and firength !” Signed, &c. The letter, thus figned, being tranfmitted to the venerable Ead by Mr. Erkine, at the gore of Mr. Bearcroft, the fenior of that Bar, and the reit of the gentlemen who had fubfcribed to it, his Lordship, without detaining the fervant five minutes, returned the following answer: To the Hon. T. ERSKINE, Serjeant's-Inn. DEAR SIR, Caen Wood, June 19. I CANNOT but be extremely flattered by the letter which I this moment have the honour to receive. If I have given fatisfaction, it is owing to the learning and candour of the Bar; the liberality and integrity of their practice freed the judicial investigation of Truth and Juftice from many diffi culties. The memory of the affistance 1 have received from them, and the deep impreffion which the extraordinary mark they have now given me of their approbation and affection has made upon my mind, will be a fource of perpe tual confolation in my decline of life, under the preffure of bodily infirmities, which made it my duty to retire. I am, dear Sir, with gratitude to you and the other gentlemen, your molt affectionate, and obliged humble fervant, MANSFIELD." Thus, cqually honourable to both parties, termiuates the laft correspondence betwixt his Lordship and the Bar!That few, if any, have adorned the profeffion like Lord Mansfield, another age will judge better than the prefent, when time fhall have removed preju dice, and fubdued animofity; and then, perhaps, it will be allowed, that, gene rally fpeaking, his law was unimpeached, and his manners and talents unimpeachable! CHOROGRAPHOs affures p. 2. it is impof fible to fecure the falmon fry without prohi biting fly-fishing, he having frequently taken many by this means. The amufement of fly-fishing is in high efteem; and fome old inhabitants of Worcester attribute the prefent fcarcity of falmon entirely to this caufe. There are many old indentures now in Worcester, by which it is covenanted, the apprentices fhall not be compelled to eat falmon more than twice a week. Salmon now fells at 10 d. per pound. POLYXENA with great pleasure informs A. B. that a two-fhilling book of cafes, and cures effected by Mr. Colborne's medicine, may be bad at Cadell's the bookfeller, under fuch refpectable names, that the efficacy of the medicine is beyond all doubt. E. T. is much pleafed with the account of the virtues of Golden Rod, and its peculiar efficacy in gravelly complaints (see p. 103); and withes to know the precife quantity to be ufed, and the method of using it. The A Commemoration of the The GLEANER, No 1. "Thou shalt teach it diligently unto thy "children, and fhalt talk of it when thou "fitteft in thine houfe, and when thou "walkeft by the way, and when thou "lieft down, and when thou rifeft up. "And thou fhalt write it upon the posts "of thy houfe, and on thy gates." Deut. ch. vi. T has been a custom, highly laudable in all ages and in all countries, to folemnize, at ftated periods, thofe important events in the hiftory of mankind which have fortunately decided the fate of nations. The Jews ftill yearly ob.. ferve, by divine command, their deli verance from Egyptian bondage. At Athens, the deftruction of a tyrant, which in the confequence reftored its free form of government, was long celebrated. The Fugalia were inftituted by the Romans, to perpetuate the remembrance of the expulfion of their Tarquin race of Kings. In like manner, by the Hocktide Games, our Saxon ancestors preferved the memory of their vengeance on Danish ufurpation. But it is truly fingular, that we have established no fimilar feftival to commemorate the rejection of the defpo tic Houfe of Stuart. To a contemplative mind it cannot but appear groffly neglectful, that the anniversary of the Revolution should hitherto have been fuffered to pass unheeded. That ever-glorious Revolution, which, by changing the fucceffion to the Crown, fo effectually annihilated the prepofterous doctrine of the divine right of Kings, and paffive obedience of fubjects, and confequently infured to the people of England the future fecure enjoyment of their property and liberty: a blefling to which alone we are indebted for that fuperiority which has fo eminently distinguished this ifland, relatively fmall and remote as it is, above any other ftate in Europe. What Englishman, who looks around him and views the neighbouring kingdoms attached to particular families as a private inheritance, and the people regarded by their imperious rulers as little better than an herd of cattle on a farm; nay, in Germany, by the royal dealers in human fleth, fold, and driven like theep to the flaughter; but must feel deeply thankful to his forefathers for having to nobly vindicated the inherent right of the meanest individual to freedom. The * This was received before the commemoration in Scotland was announced EDIT. GENT. MAG. June, 1788. Revolution recommended. 481 Declaration of Rights + ftands confpicu oufly above the Great Charter in this particular, as it protects alike the peafant and the peer: not fo Magna Charta that tolerated all the oppreffions of feudal vaffalage. We have of late years feen the Jubilee of a Poet, and the Commemoration of a Mufician; and furely it would be ingrateful in the extreme to William, our great deliverer from popery and tyranny, not to notice the clofe of the century which has experienced the beneficial effects of the fyftem of government, the moft perfect the world has produced, that was happily fettled under his aufpices. It is indeed to be regretted, that the thankfgiving appointed in our Li turgy for the timely arrival of William, to preferve our political and religious rights from being overwhelmed by arbitrary power, fhould be fo confounded with the efcape from the GunpowderPlot, that by numbers it is almeft forgotten: whereas a whole day is fet apart by Parliament to dignify the Refloration of the profligate Charles, the penfioner of France, the abettor of popery, and But the epocha of the Revolution, that the enemy of parliamentary legiflation. æra of confirmed liberty, should not only be fanctified by an exclufive fervice in our churches, it should also be kept with annual public feftivity; fo that the peo ple at large may have a due and lafting fenfe of this providential interpofition to rescue us when finking into defpotism. The talents of the most celebrated mafters of the imitative arts were debafed by Louis the Fourteenth in difplay ing to pofterity his matfacres and devaf tations. That the oftentation of an abfolute monarch fhould mifemploy the ingenuity of his dependents might be tribute it, that the genius of liberty has expected; but to what caufe can we at fo feldom infpired the painters of this biting to the prefent and fucceeding genation to ennoble their science, by exhinerations the patriotic actions of their countrymen in civil life? Reprefentations of this kind unite utility with ele gance; they cherish in the mind the moft generous principles, and incite a + The Bill of Rights" declares and "enacts, that all and fingular the rights and "liberties, afferted and claimed in the faid "declaration, are the true, ancient, and in dubitable rights and liberties of the people "of this kingdom, and to fhall be eftéemed "allowed, adjudged, deemed, and taken to "be.” 1 W. & M. fof, 2. cap. 2. cl. 6. com |