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tations of wealth, as she had sustained the hardships of indigence. The genius of her husband has exalted him to the most confpicuous ftation in Europe. In every change of profperity and difgrace he has reclined on the bofom of a faithful friend; and made moifelle Curchord is now the wife of M. Necker, the minifter, and perhaps the legiflator, of the French monarchy.

Charaders of the Style of Swift, Addi

fon, Robertfon, and Hun.

THE favourite companions of my leifure were our English writers fince the revolution: they breathe the fpirit of reafon and liberty; and they moft feasonably contributed to reftore the purity of my own language, which had been corrupted by the long ufe of a foreign idiom. By the judicious advice of Mr. Mallet, I was directed to the writings of Swift and Addifon; wit and fimplicity are their common attributes: but the style of Swift is fupported by manly original vigour; that of Addifon is adorned by the female graces of elegance and mildness. The old reproach, that no Britifh altars had been raised to the mufe of

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hiftory, was recently difproved by the firit performances of Robertfon and Hume, the histories of Scotland and of the Stuarts. I will affume the fumption of faying, that I was not unworthy to read them: nor will I dif. guife my different feelings in the peated perufals. The perfect compofition, the nervous language, the well-turned periods of Dr. Robertson, inflamed me to the ambitious hope that I might one day tread in his footfteps: the calm philofophy, the carelefs inimitable beauties of his friend and rival, often forced me to close the volume with a mixed fenfation of delight and defpair.

Vifit to Rome, Obfervations on Foreign Travel, and Origin of bis Roman Hiftory.

I SHALL advance with rapid bre

vity in the narrative of this tour, in which fomewhat more than a year (April 1764-May 1765) was agree. ably employed. Content with tracing my line of march, and flightly touching on my perfonal feelings, I fhall wave the minute investigation of the fcenes which have been viewed by thoufands, and defcribed by hundreds, of our modern travellers. Rome is the great object of our pilgrimage i and, ft, the journey; zd, the refidence; and 3d, the return; will form the most proper and perfpicuous diand defcended into the plain of Piedvifion. 1. I climbed Mount Cenis, mont, not on the back of an elephant, but on a light ofier feat, in the hands of the dextrous and intrepid chairmen of the Alps. The architecture and government of Turin presented the fame afpect of tame and tiresome uniformity: but the court was regulated and I was introduced to his Sardinian with decent and fplendid economy, majesty Charles Emanuel, who, after fecond rank (proximus longo tamen the incomparable Frederic, held the intervallo) among the kings of Europe. The fize and populoufnefs of Milan could not furprise an inhabitant of London: but the fancy is amufed by a vifit to the Boromean Islands, an enchanted palace, a work of the fairies in the midst of a lake encompaffed with mountains, and far removed from the haunts of men. I was lefs amufed by the marble palaces of Genoa, than by the recent memorials of her deliver

ance (in December 1746) from the Auftrian tyranny; and I took a military furvey of every scene of action within the inclofure of her double walls. My fteps were detained at Parma and Modena, by the precious relics of the Farnefe and Efte collections: but, alas! the far greater part had been already tranfpo:ted, by inheritance or purchase, to Naples and Drefden. By the road of Bologna and the Apennine I at laft reached Florence, where I repofed from June to September, during the heat of the fummer months. In the gallery, and

efpecially in the tribune, I firft acknowledged, at the feet of the Venus of Medicis, that the chiffel may difpute the preeminepce with the pencil, à truth in the fine arts which cannot on this fide of the Alps be felt or understood. At home I had taken fome leffons of Italian: on the fpot I read, with a learned native, the claffics of the Tuscan idiom: but the fhortnefs of my time, and the ufe of the French language, prevented my acquiring any facility of speaking; and I was a filent fpectator in the converfations of our envoy, fir Horace Mann, whofe moft ferious bufinefs was that of entertaining the English at his hofpitable table. After leaving Florence, I compared the folitude of Pifa with the industry of Lucca and Leghorn, and continued my journey through Sienna to Rome, where I arrived in the beginning of October. 2. My temper is not very fufceptible of enthufiafm: and the enthufiafm which I do not feel, I have ever fcorned to affect. the university of Padua is a dying tàBut, at the diftance of twenty-five years, I can neither forget nor exprefs the strong emotions which agitated my mind as I first approached and entered the eternal city. After a fleeplefs night, I trod, with a lofty ftep, the ruins of the forum; each memorable spot where Romulus food, or Tully fpoke, or Cæfar fell, was at once prefent to my eye; and several days of intoxication were loft or enjoyed before I could defcend to a cool and minute investigation. My guide was Mr. Byers, a Scotch antiquary of experience and tafte; but, in the daily labour of eighteen weeks, the powers of attention were fometimes fatigued, till was myself qualified, in a laft review, to felect and study the capital works of ancient and modern art. Six weeks were borrowed for my tour of Naples, the most populous of cities, relative to its fize, whofe luxurious inhabitants feem to dwell on the confines of paradife and hell-fire. I was prefented to the boy-king by our new envoy, fir William Hamilton; who, wifely diverting his correspondence

from the fecretary of ftate to the Royal Society and British Mufeum, has elucidated a country of fuch ineftimable value to the naturalift and antiquarian. On my return, I fondly embraced, for the last time, the miracles of Rome; but I departed without kiffing the feet of Rezzonico (Clement XIII.) who neither poffeffed the wit of his predeceffor Lambertini, nor the virtues of his fucceffor Ganganelli 3. In my pilgrimage from Rome to Loretto I again crofied the Apennine; from the coaft of the Adriatic I traversed a fruitful and populous country, which could alone difprove the paradox of Montefquieu, that modern Italy is a defert. Without adopting the exclufive prejudice of the natives, I fincerely admire the paintings of the Bologna fchool. I haftened to efcape from the fad folitude of Ferrara, which in the age of Cæfar was ftill more defolate. The fpectacle of Venice af forded fome hours of aftonishment;

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per but Verona ftill boafts her amphitheatre, and his native Vicenza is adorned by the claffic architecture of Palladio: the road of Lombardy and Piedmont (did Montefquieu find them without inhabitants ) led me back to Milan, Turin, and the paffage of Mount Cenis, where I again croffed the Alps in my way to Lyons.

The ufe of foreign travel has been often debated as a general question; but the conclufion must be finally applied to the character and circumftances of each individual. With the education of boys, where or how they may pafs over fome juvenile years with the leaft mifchief to themfelves or others, I have no concern. But after fuppofing the previous and indifpenfa ble requifites of age, judgment, a competent knowledge of men and books, and a freedom from domeftic prejudices, I will briefly defcribe the qualifications which I deem moft.effential to a traveller. He fhould be endowed with an active, indefatigable vigour of mind and body, which can feize every mode of conveyance, and

fupport, with a careless fmile, every hardship of the road, the weather, or the inn. The benefits of foreign travel will correfpond with the degrees of thefe qualifications; but, in this fketch, thofe to whom I am known wil! not accuse me of framing my own panegyric. It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I fat mufing amid the ruins of the capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were finging vefpers in the temple of Jupiter*, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city firft started to my mind. But my original plan was circumfcribed to the decay of the city rather than of the empire: and, though my reading and reflections began to point toward that object, fome years elapfed, and feveral avocations intervened, before I was seriously engaged in the execution of that laborious work.

Character of Dr. Maty.

By defcent and education Dr. Maty, though born in Holland, might be confidered as a Frenchman'; but he was fixed in London by the practice of phyfic, and an office in the British Mufeum. His reputation was justly founded on the eighteen volumes of the Journal Britannique, which he had fupported, almoft alone, with perfeverance and fuccefs. This humble though ufeful labour, which had once been dignified by the genius of Bayle and the learning of Le Clerc, was not difgraced by the tafte, the knowledge, and the judgment of Maty he exhibits a candid and pleafing view of the ftate of literature in England during a period of fix years (January 1730-December 1755); and, far different from his angry fon, he handles the rod of criticifm with the tenderness and reluctance of a parent. The author of the Journal Britannique fometimes afpires to the character of a poet and philofopher: his ftyle is pure and elegant; and in his virtues, or even in his defects, he

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may be ranked as one of the last dilciples of the fchool of Fontenelle.

Parliamentary Characters.

By the friendship of Mr. (now lord) Eliot, who had married my first Coufin, I was returned at the general election for the borough of Lelkeard. I took my feat at the beginning of the memorable contéft between Great Britain and America, and supported, with many a fincere and filent vote, the rights, though not, perhaps, the intereft, of the mother country. After a fleeting illufive hope, prudence condemned me to acquiefce in the humble ftation of a mute. I was not armed by nature and education with the intrepid energy of mind and voice. Vincentum ftrepitus, et natum rebus agendis.

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Timidity was fortified by pride, and
even the fuccefs of my pen difcouraged
the trial of my voice. But I affifted
at the debates of a free affembly; I
liftened to the attack and defence of
eloquence and reafon; I had a near
profpect of the characters, views, and
paffions of the firft men of the age.
The caufe of government was ably
vindicated by lord North, a statesman
of fpotlefs integrity, a confummate
mafter of debate, who could wield,
with equal dexterity, the arms of
fon and of ridicule. He was feated
on the treafury-bench between his at-
torney and folicitor general, the two
pillars of the law and ftate, magis
pares quam fimiles; and the minilter
might indulge in a fhort flumber,
while he was upholden on either hand
by the majeftic sense of Thurlow, and
the skilful eloquence of Wedderburne.
From the adverfe fide of the house an
ardent and powerful oppofition' was
fupported, by the lively declamation
of Barré, the legal acuteness of Dunn-
ing, the profufe and philofophic fancy
of Burke, and the argumentative ve-

* Now the church of the Zoccolants, or Franciscan friars.

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hemence of Fox *, who in the con- fended; and the fubject of the momentous conteft was the union or fe paration of Great Britain and America. The eight feffions that I fat in parliament were a fchool of civil pru dence, the firft and moft effential virtue of an hiftorian.

duct of a party approved himfelfequal to the conduct of an empire. By fuch men every operation of peace and war, every principle of juftice or policy, every queflion of authority and freedom, was attacked and de

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In another place, Mr. Gibbon thes characterizes Mr. Fox: In his tour of Swifferland, (September 1788) Mr. Fox gave me two days of free and private fociety. He feemed to feel, and even to envy, the happiness of my fituation; while I admired the powers of a fuperior man, as they are blended in his attractive character with the foftnefs and fimplicity of a child. Perhaps no human being was ever more perfectly exempt from the taint of malevolence, vanity, or falfehood. In another place, where Mr. Gibbon again mentions Mr. Fox, he thus characterizes Mr, Pitt, in a letter to ford Sheffield, dated March 21, 1785: Of the public I have little to fay; I never was a very warm patriot, and I grow every day a citizen of the world. The fcramble for power or profit at Westminster or St. James', and the names of Pitt and Fox, become less interefting to me, than thofe of Cælar and Pompey. Your are not a friend of the young minifter, but he is a great favourite on the continent, as he appears to be till; and you must own that the fairnel's of his character, his eloquence, his application to business, and even his youth, must prepoffefs at least the ignorant in his favour. Of the merit or defects of his administration I cannot pretend to speak; but I find, from the complaints of fome interested perfons, that his retraints on the fmuggling of tea have already ruined the Eaft India companies of Antwerp and Sweden, and that even the Dutch will icarcely find it worth their while to fend any ships to China.

Sir,

ON THE STUDY OF NATURE.
To the Editor of the Univerfal Magazine.

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other nourishment but that small
quan
tity of mould, and almoft impercepti
ble particles, which the rain and air
bring thither. Thefe liverworts dy-
ing, at laft turn into a very fine earth;
on this bed, the imbricated or fcaly
liverwort find a place wherein to ftrike
their roots: these alfo die after a time,
rot and turn to mould; and then the
various kinds of moffes find their pro-
per place, and nourishment: lastly,
thefe dying in their turn, and rotting,
afford fuch a plenty of new-i
ew-formed
mould, that herbs and fhrubs cafily
root and live upon it.

Thiftles are peculiarly ufeful in af fifting and promoting the growth of other plants. Suppofe a heap of clay, which for many years has fupplied no vegetation; let the feeds of the thistle blow there and grow, thefe plants will not only thrive themselves, but attracting by their leaves the moisture of the air, fend it into the clay by means of their roots, and render the

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ground more nutritious. Under thefe circumstances, lefs hardy plants will take root, and, fheltered under the leaves of the thiftles, will flourish in great abundance..

The bog-mofs covers, deep bogs with its fpungy fubftance, and thus by degrees turns them into fertile meadows; other kinds of moffes preferve the minute feeds of plants during the winter, fhelter their roots, and prevent them from freezing.

The greatest part of all the black mould which covers the earth, is compofed of dead vegetables; for when a plant has loft its ftem, the root remains, rots by degrees, and changes into mould. By thefe means, this kind of earth is mixed with fandy foils, by the contrivance of nature nearly in the fame way as dung thrown upon Fields is wrought into the earth by the induftry of the husbandman.

The earth thus prepared, again offers to plants from its bofom that fupport, which it has received from them. When feeds are committed to the ground; they draw to themfelves, accommodate to their nature and turn into plants, the more fubtle parts of this mould wonderfully compounded with air and water. The truth of this affertion is proved from a chymical experiment: a piece of oak, when decompounded, yields one-third of air, a third of water, and a third of charcoal or earth. From thefe plants, when they die, juft the fame mould is formed as gave birth to them originally, but in fuch a manner, as to yield a greater quantity than before. Vegetables therefore increase the black mould; and thus fertility remains continually uninterrupted. For earth could not furnish its annual confumption, unless it was conftantly recruited by new fupplies.

That trees when they are dry or cat down may not remain ufelefs, nature haftens their deftruction in a fingular way. Firit, the liverworts begin to ftrike root in them, afterward the noifture is drawn out of them, and putrefaction follows. Then the

mushrooms find a fit place for nourishment, and corrupt them ftill more. The musk-beetle next forces a way between the bark and the wood. Other beetles and caterpillars form an infinite number of holes through the trunk. Lastly, the wood-pickers, in feeking for infects, wear away the tree already corrupted, till the whole paffes into earth.

Thus the firft vegetation is produced, and thus it is continued, till it enables us to raife thofe innumerable. plants, which afford a study for the whole life of man; and though all have not time to acquire confiderable knowledge on this fubject, yet every one may contrive to obtain a tolerable degree of curious information.

There are perfons, who call them→ felves rational creatures, that come into the world, and remain there even to old age, who never faw the creation but from afar: juft like the brute beaft, which cannot fail of feeing the verdure and various colours that clothe the earth, but proceed no farther. If any one fhould be carried into a botanic garden to fee the immenfe quantity of plants brought together from all countries, with incredible trouble, care and expence, fhould he only obferve that the leaves were green, and the flowers of various colours, 'could he be truly and juftly faid to have feen the garden?

Linnæus ufed to excite the attention of his audience by apt fimilitudes when he was reading upon natural philofophy to his pupils; one of his fables was as follows: the feven wife men of Greece, meeting at Athens, agreed that every one fhould mention what he thought the greatest wonder in the creation. One of them, of higher conceptions than the reft, propofed the opinion of fome of the aftronomers about the fixed ftars, which they be lieved to be fo many funs, each with its revolving planets well ftored with plants, animals, and other productions, like the earth. Fired with this thought, they agreed to fupplicate Jupiter that he would permit them to

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