and tropes at hap-hazard, he frequently confounded a company of females, who thought him very learned, but very unintelligible.

Being confidered as a prodigy of genius and literature among his friends and relations, they thought there was nothing wanting to make him the accomplished orator, but to get rid of that broad accent which frequently is difcoverable in the Caledonians; accordingly they equipped him at all points to make a tour into England, where he might polifh his pronunciation, and return to Edinburgh to teach his fellow citizens to fpeak as well as himself. Flushed with the enterprize, our young Cicero fet off with eagerness for the metropolis of England, which he found fo agreeable to his tafle, that he determined to let his countrymen take their chance for chafte pronunciation, as he refolved never again to vifit the banks of the Tweed: but, that his errand might not be totally overlooked, he chose to reverse it, and, inftead of returning to Scotland to learn the Caledonians to speak English, he remained here to teach us to speak Scotch. As a proof of his fuperlative modefly, he undertook to infruct the univerfity of Oxford in the true pronunciation of the English tongue, and in the definition of fuch phrafes as were not generally underflood. He was, however, rather unfortunate in explaining the meaning of the word monotony, at which the young ftudents were fo much enraged, that he was obliged to make a hafty retreat, to fave himself from being tofled in a blanket. "The term monotony, my lads, (faid he) has been very generally mifunderflood by the best English writers; but I'fe tell you what monotony is, as fettled by myfelf, David Hume, Dr. Robinson, and the best authors of the North-aan is guilty of that fault when he speaks a' his words in ae tone: and now, my lad, ye ken what monotony is." He nevertheless, foon after, opened a fubfcription to give a courfe of lectures upon the Sublime and Beautiful, at a certain city hall; but, whether diffident of his capacity for the undertaking, or not thinking his fubfcription fufficiently compleat, he has till now remained filent on these two extenfive topics.

In the mean while he made feveral excurfions into different parts of England, and amongst others, being invited to a gentleman's feat in Effex, he remained there fome weeks. There were

at the fame time fome other gentlemen upon a like vifit, who formed a very agreeable fociety. Our hero, however, though he admired the company and converfation of learned men, always entertained a predilection in favour of the fair fex; and his hoft having a very agreeable, and, according to report, an amorous fifter, his attention was chiefly fixed upon her. His frequent abfence from the company of his male friends occafioned fome fufpicion, and the gentlemen (among whom were fome of the cler cal robe) fallied forth in queft of their friend-when, to the fcandal of the reverend fpectators, they difcovered our Caledonian hero in fuch a predica ment with the lady, that we must leave our readers to fuggeft it.

This adventure afforded fome groundwork for raillery, which the Orator, though he possesses a tolerable share of effrontery, could not withstand: and he was obliged to decamp a la Sourdine.

Upon his return to the capital, he found his finances in fuch a flate that they required an immediate recruit. His fcanty purfe had long been exhausted; his oratorial fubfcription was reduced to the last period, and therefore a temporary expedient for railing the neceffary fupplies could no longer be delayed.

He was poffeffed of fome valuable manuscripts; but he had not been properly introduced to thofe patrons of the mufes, the bookfellers: they were unacquainted with his merit, or elfe, doubtlefs, as a Scotch author, he would foon have flourished in the annals of literature. The only perspective now before him was the pulpit.-He had penned fome animated difcourfes that could not fail drawing tears from old women and children. He engaged a roftrum in the O-J- and fucceeded beyond his moft pious withes. He not only collected a numerous but a polite congregation, who bestowed upon him the greatest applause, Their zeal in his behalf was fo great, that they entered into a fubfcription for his chapel, and a general preclufion took place against those who had not fufficient generofity or wealth to fupport our hero in luxury.

A popular preacher, especially a mongst the Diffenters, is a character of fo exalted a nature, that he is confidered as fomewhat fuperior to mortality. Invitations, intreaties, and fupplications load his chimney-piece; and he is become one of the best friends to the

card

card-makers and engravers in town. Compliments upon compliments hourly await him, and he confers a fingular favour where he confers his company.

Such now was the fituation of our Caledonian preacher. Well might his friends and relations inceffantly intreat him to return to Edinburgh, and give them the true ton of pronunciation: he found the tweets of his prefent connections too potent to forego; befides, he had ere now another cause of detention in this metropolis.

From the fpecimen we have given of his Effex adventure, it cannot be fuppofed that he was formed of thofe Dif Jenting materials, which the rigid Caledonians confider as the basis of virtue. He was made of different clay, and he found this a far more favourable climate than his native land for its culture. It cannot be doubted that in his prefent exalted fituation he had many indirect overtures for an honourable female alliance. His perfon agreeable, his converfation engaging, his preaching ravishing-thefe were indeed attractions that few females of his perfuafion could withftand. He was inceffantly advertised of many good matches that he might almost be fure of. But neither wealth, family connexions, or even beauty, could feduce him: his heart was already fixed, and though the connubial knot had not been legally tied, it seemed fo closely interwoven, that probably death alone will unravel it.

After this difclofure, it may appear fuperfluous to add he has a connexion with a lady who has fo many attracti ons, not to fay charms, that she is to him irrefiftible.

Mrs. Sns is the daughter of an opulent tradesman in the city, who afforded her an education suitable to her fituation and expectancies. Her genius and abilities feemed to outftrip the tuition of her mafters, and the attained knowledge, as it were, by anticipation. Mufic and dancing were not omitted; but these were by her confidered only as recreations and relaxations from more valuable avocations. Hiftory, geography, and even natural philofophy, were objects of her frequent application, and in thefe fue made, in a short time, a very confiderable progrefs. Nor were the polite languages over-looked; the fpoke French with great fluency and a very good accent, and the was able to read any Italian author. Such accom

tention of every one acquainted with her. The women envied and the men admired.

Soon after her return from the boarding-fchool, fhe was addreffed upon honourable terms by many fuitors; but her father, who was a prudent man, and who, according to the civic doctrine, always had an eye to the main chance, would listen to no propofals but those which came from a man of fubftance, and therefore rejected all overtures from the gay and the giddy. Mr. S-ns was a man after his own heart he was fteady--he was opulent. Thefe were fufficient recommendations to the old gentleman as to wit, learning, fentiment, elegance, or gentility, they never once entered his head in the confideration of a husband for his daughter. Mr. Sns was an excellent arithmetician-no man knew the course of exchange better than him—no man kept his books more regularly, or paid his bills more punctually.

Mr.S -ns was accordingly fixed up on as a partner for life for Mifs B. She was prudent, fo was obedient: as to the man, the faw his real character; but the diffembled her fentiments. She made a good wife, he an excellent plodding husband. He got money, and the spent it. Sometimes indeed fome little bickerings would arise concerning her expences; but her extravagance, if the phrase may be allowed, was fo moderate, that he could not complain with propriety.

Too ftrict attention to bufinefs brought on a complication of diforders, which in a fhort time led him to the grave. The young widow had early many fuitors; but one very difagreeable hufband had given her a furfeit to matrimony. She had read the hiftory of Ninon de l'Enclos, and greatly approved of her fentiments in love: a fhort time made her adopt them. She went to an evening lecture in the O- J——, where the firft faw and heard our hero. She returned with such a predilection in his favour, that she not only became a profelyte to his doctrines, but a fervent admirer of his perfon and abilities. The event is well known-the is a perfect convert to his religious tenets, to his temper, difpofitions, and even paffions.

Of St. Paul's Shipwreck.

To the Editor of the Hibernian Magazine, SIR,

at

300 pages, a Latin Differtation, entitled, D. Paulus Apoftolus in mari quod nunc Venetus finus dicitur naufragus, et Melita Dalmatenfis injulæ poft naufragium bofpes, &c. i. e. "An effay, in which it is proved that the fhipwreck of St. Paul, mentioned in the 27th and 28th chapters of the Acts, happened on the coafts of the island of Meleda, in Dalmatia, and not on the coafts of the ifle of Malta." By Ignatio Giorgi, a Benedictine of the congregation of Meleda; with a fhort treatife on the dogs of Malta. This writer here fhews, " I. That the island of Meleda, above mentioned, which is in the Adriatic, not far from Ragufa, was alfo called Melita, in the time of St. Luke; and that the ifland of Malta is at a great diftance from what is now called the Adriatic, nor was ever, by any ancient writer, fuppofed to extend near fo far. 2. That the tempeftuous wind Euroclydon, (which our author demonftrates to have been not the N. E. (Euro aquilo) but the S. E.) muft have driven the fhip not to Malta, but into the Adriatic; and that in the fame manner Acrotatus, a Lacedæmonian, going from Peloponnefus to Sicily, and the Jewish hiftorian, Jofephus, failing, like St. Paul, from Judea to Rome, were both driven into the Adriatic. 3. That the name of harbarians, twice given to the natives by St. Luke, is extremely applicable to the inhabitants of Illyria, but by no means fo to the Greeks, who inhabited Malta; a circumftance which has embarraffed Lightfoot, Bochart, Cellarius, and all other commentators. That there is

no fuch quicksand as that on which St.

Paul's fhip was loft, at Malta, but there are many towards the fouth point of Meleda. At the former, near la cafa di S. Paolo, there is indeed, a rock, on which it is pretended the veffel truck, but this, the hiftory fhews, was not the cafe. A ftill more convincing proof that the apoftle was not at Malta is fuggefted by his having been bit there by a venomous ferpent, as there are none fuch in all that ifland, and even the earth of it is a specific against the bites of ferpents. And as to St. Paul's having wrought a miracle to deliver that ifland for ever from venomous animals, a miracle of fuch importance would, furely, have been recorded by St. Luke, as well as the cure of Publius, and others, or as the fign which the fhip carried. But, on the contrary, the bite of vipers is remarkably malignant in Illyria, and particularly in the island of Meleda.

To fum up all, Meleda is lefs known than Malta; it bears the fame name; to establish the commonly received opinion, the Adriatic gulph muft be made to extend to Malta; St. Paul's fhip mutt be driven to the South by a South-East wind; he must find barbarians in an ifland peopled by Greeks and Romans; the prow of his fhip must have ftuck in a rock; and, lastly, he must be bitten by a viper in a country where there are none."

This differtation, curious as it is, I fhould not now have recapitulated, were it not for the following remarkable circumftance, viz. that the very learned Mr. Bryant, in his Obfervations and Enquiries relating to various Parts of Antient Hiftory (publifhed in 1767), has two Differtations, 1. On the wind Euroclydon; 2. On St. Paul's fhipwreck; in both of which, particularly the laft, he has fupported the fame opinions by the fame arguments as M. Giorgi, But this only proves, that two men of genius and learning may adopt the fame mode of reafoning without either borrowing from the other, and thus be both original, as it is well known that Mr. Bryant never faw or heard of M. Giorgi's performance before the publication of his own, and, if he had, would probably have suppressed it.

Yours, &c.

CRITO.

The true Author discovered of Pompey the Little, a celebrated Novel, attributed to the late Dr. Sir John Hill.

a

fome memoirs of the life of the late Sir John Hill, communicated by one who seems to have been acquainted with that very eccentric Knight and Doctor, the Memorial itt has inadvertently enumerated among his writings, The Adventures of Pompey the Little. And equally mistaken was Lady Luxborough in afcribing them repeatedly (in her late Letters) to Mr. Fielding. Whereas there is not a doubt of this pleafing romance being a jeu d'efprit of the Rev. Mr. Coventry, of Magdalen College, Cambridge, to whom the public would probably have been much more indebted, had he not been cut off by the small pox foon after he had been prefented by his relation, Lord Coventry, to the living of Edgware, in Middlefex. To him we alfo owe a fine poem on Penthurit, (where he frequently vifited the late Mr. Perry,) inferted in Dodfley's Miscellanies.

that thefe are the men who gave rife to the present difputes.

Now, fir, in order to answer your learned argument, I fhall take the liberty, first,

To enquire into the cause and reafon of that rule or principle in our conftitution, which says, that freemen shall be bound by thofe laws only, to which they confent; and then I fhall endeavour, fecondly,

To answer the particulars you have advanced :

ift, Every man in a ftate of nature, has fuch an abfolute power over his property, that it cannot be taken from him without his confent; and this right no form of government whatever, can jufly deprive him of.-But as in every flate it is neceffary that its members should contribute fome part of their property, for the general use and welfare of the whole; and as it would be contrary to their natural rights, that this property or any part of it, fhould be at the arbitrary will and difpofal of any but them felves; it has been fo contrived in our excellent conftitution, that the members of it shall have an opportunity of giving their confent, as to the giving up any part of their property for the general advantage and fupport of the ftate.

To fuppofe a power in any part of a ftate to difpofe in an arbitrary and unlimited manner of the rights and property of the reft, is unnatural, unjust and tyrannical. And tho' this may be practifed in places where people confent to be faves, yet no man or fet men has a right to exercise this power over any who ehoofe to be free-and even thofe who live under the most defpotic states, where their perfons and property are at the arbitrary difpofal of fome rapacious tyrant, may yet be faid in fome measure to part with their property by their confent ;elfe, why do they live under fuch a fyftem of government? why do they confent to continue in bondage?-He that ets a man take away his property, with out refufing him, may be faid to confent to his taking it.

It is true, if a fubject of Great Britain, who is intitled to the great priviledge of being bound by thofe laws only 10 which he confents, fhould leave his native country to take his refidence in another, where by the nature and mode of its government, he is deprived of this privilege; he may then be faid to part with, or furrender this privilege, and fubmit to be governed by laws, to which his confent is not given or required. But

in this cafe, as I before obferved, his property, tho' taken from him without his actual confent, is not yet taken without what we may reafonably term, his implied confent; for by leaving that country in which he might exercise this right, and going to another where he knew he might not exercise it, he tacitly confents to and agrees with that form of government, under which he has chofen to live:—and therefore, whatever part of his property is taken from him there in an arbitrary manner, his confent to the taking it is certainly implied.-I mention this to fhew, that without this confent, either exprefs or implied, it is plain no man's property can, under any form of government, be jufly or properly taken from him.

Molyneux arguing this matter with respect to Ireland, flates it in this rational and comprehenfive manner.' All men (fays he) are by nature in a state of equality, in refpect of jurifdiction or dominion: this I take to be a principle in itself fo evident, that it ftands in need of little proof. "Tis not to be conceived, that creatures of the fame fpecies and rank, promifcuously born to all the fame advantages of nature, and the use of the fame faculties, fhould be fubordinate and fubject one to another; these to this or that of the fame kind. On this equality in nature is founded that right which all men claim, of being free from all fubjection to pofitive laws, 'till by their own confent, they give up their freedom by entering into civil focieties, for the common benefit of all the members thereof.-And on this confent depends the obligation of all buman laws; infomuch that, without it, by the una nimous opinion of all jurifts, no fan&tions are of any force.'-And in fupport of this argument he appeals to the authority of the learned Hooker, who in his Ecclef. Polity, book i. fect. 10, has the following words:- Howbeit, (fays he) laws do not take their conftraining force from the quality of fuch as devile them, but from that power which doth give them the ftrength of laws. That which we fpake before, concerning the power of government, muft here be applied to the power of making laws whereby to govern, which power God hath over all; and by the natural law, whereunto he hath made all fubject, the lawful power of making laws, to command whole politic focieties of men, belongeth fo properly unto the fame entire focieties, that for any prince or potentate, of what kind foever upon earth,