At leaping ore a Midsommer bon-fire, "Memorials of Worthy Persons: two Decads: by Cl. Barksdale." 21mo. Lond. 1661. Of Barksdale, who compiled this work, a long account is given in Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses: 1st edit. vol. ii. 613, 614; 2d edit. vol. ii. p. 812. He was born at * Winchcombe, in Gloucestershire, Nov. 23, 1609; educated at Abingdon, in Berkshire; and afterwards, in 1025, entered of Merton College, Oxford; but removing to Gloucester Hall, since Worcester College, he there became a, graduate of the University. During the troubles of the civil war, he was a sufferer for the cause of Charles the First; but, at the restoration, was presented to the parsonage of Naunton, near Hawling and Stow in the Wold, in Gloucestershire, which he retained till bis death, Jan. 6th, 1687. His principal pieces were: "Monumenta Literaria: sive obitus et Elogia doctorum Virorum, ex Historiis Jac. Aug. Thuani." Lond. 1610, Beside a great number of Translations from the Latin. The third Decad of the "Memorials of Worthy Persons," was printed at Oxford, in duodecimo, 1662: the fourth, in 1663; and the fifth, under the title of "A Remembrance of Excellent Men." 8vo. Lond. 1670. The following is the character of the ever-memorable JOHN HALES: 1. Mr. John Hales, sometime (Fellow of Merton Colledge, and) Greek Professor of the University of Oxford, long Fellow of Eton Colledge, and, at last, also Prebendary of Windsore, was a man, I think, of as great a sharpness, quickness, and subtilty of wit, as ever this, or perhaps any nation, bred. sible, to equall the largenesse of his capacity; 2. His industry did strive, if it were poswhereby he became as great a master of po lite, various, and universal learning, as ever yet converst with books. 3. Proportionate to his reading was his meditation, which furnished him with a judgement beyond the vulgar reach of man, built upon unordinary notions, raised out of strange observations, and comprehensive thoughts within himself. So that he really was a most prodigious example of an acute and piercing wit; of a vast and illimited knowledge; of a severe and profound judgement. he had other ornaments sufficient to endear 4. Yet, had he never understood a letter, him. For he was of a nature (as we ordinarily speak) so kind, so sweet, so courting all mankind; of an affability so prompt, so ready to receive all conditions of men, that I conceive it were as easy a task for any one to become so knowing as so obliging. 5. As a Christian, none more ever ac- of it, or more curious in the search; which not prove 6. He took, indeed, to himself a liberty of The following are the characters given judgin", not of others, but for himself; and in the two first Decads> if ever any man might be allowed in these matters matters to judge, it was he, who had so long, so much, so advantageously considered; and which is more, never had the least world ly design in his determinations. 7. He was not only most truly and strictly just in his secular transactions, most exemplarily meek and humble, notwithstanding his perfections, but, beyond all example, charitable, giving unto all, preserving nothing but his books, to continue his learning and himself; which, when he had before digested, he was forced at last to feed upon, at the same time the happiest and most unfortunate belluo of books; the grand example of learning, and of the envy and contempt which followeth it. 8. While he lived none was ever more sollicited and urged to write, and thereby truly to teach the world, than he; none ever so resolved (pardon the expression, so obstinate,) against it. His facile and courteous nature learnt only not to yield to that sollicitation. And yet he cannot be accused for hiding of his talent, being so communicative, that his chamber was a church, and his chair a pulpit. 9, Onely that there might some taste continue of him, son.e of his remains were collected, such as he could not but write, and such as, when written, were out of his power to destroy. These consist of two parts, of Sermons, and of Letters; and each of them proceeded from him upon respective obligations. The letters, though written by himself, yet were wholly in the power of that honourable person to whom they were sent, and by that means they were preserved. The ser mons, preached on several occasions, were snatcht from him by his friends, and, in their hands, the copies were continued, or, by transcription, disperst. 10. As to those letters, written from the Synod of Dort, take notice, that, in his younger days, he was a Calvinist, and even then when he was employed at that Synod, and at the well pressing, Io. iii. 16, by Episcopus, "There I bid John Calvin good night, as he has often told me." * Out of Mr. Farington's letter. + Out of Dr. Pearson's Preface to his Golden Remains. Extracts from the Port-folio of a Man of Letters, THEATRES. public. It is becoming what the Circus WHILE the two great theatres of was at Rome, and the Hippodrome at London were in ashes, it would have been easy for government to buy in the patents, or exclusive grants; and to permit associations of individuals to erect theatres in any parts of the metropolis. In this case, play-houses would be small and numerous. Some would be cheap, in order to tempt the multitude; some would be dear, in order to segregate the luxurious. The greater number of actors would secure a more unremitting growth of excellence in that art; the greater number of exhibitions, would open to dramatic poets a wider range of competition: more plays would be written, and of course more good ones. In small theatres, dialogue can be heard, and acting seen, though naturally executed; but in great theatres, only carica ture is acceptable. Bellman-voices, and features that outgrin Le Brun's Passions, are alone intelligible. Hence the drama loses, in all respects, (see Espriella's XVIIIth Letter), by large play-houses. A new danger, not to the poetic art, but to the political constitution of the country, is growing out of the singleness of the national theatre. It is becoming a poll-booth of faction, a place for giving public suffrages on those questions of pinion, which divide the metropolitan Constantinople. Now let any man read Gibbons's fortieth chapter, and ask himself, whether the size of the theatres was not precisely the cause, which rendered the public opinion expressed there, so imperious throughout the metropolis. It is notorious, that not merely administrations, but even royal families, have been cashiered by the well-timed placards and cockades of the spectators in the Con stantinopolitan hippodrome: and that the emperor Justinian was in a manner deposed by an audience, and restored by an actress. To deliver this country from such dangers, surely the expense of buying in and levelling with the ground the new theatre, ought not for a moment to be grudged. Play-houses, when exclusive privileges are abolished, would become as numerous as conventicles; and indeed might be so constructed as alternately to In this state of serve both purposes. dimension, they could not collect a dangerous assemblage. THE FXAMINATION OF SIR MORGAN ME REDITH, VICAR OF OUR LADY CHURCH THERE. "In primis he sayeth, that he hath bene vicar there xxii yeres. "Itm. that Vicar Frodsham tolde him, that "In primis, that the sayd prior and vicare shall preach and declare the gospell or the epistle, reade upon that daye, in the mother tongue; expounding the same sincerely, as farre as their lernynge will extende, opening to the people the abominable idolatre and deseatfull jugglinge of their predicessors there, in worshippinge, and causinge to be worshipped, a pece of old rotten timber, puttinge the people in belefe the same to be a holy relique, and a taper which had burned without consumynge or wayst, &c. "Itm. The sayd pryor and vicar shall so preach every sundaye and holyday, betwyxte this and in albis. ཅ་ "Itin. The said prior and vicar shall do awaye or cause to be done awaye, all manner of clothes, figured wax, delusions of myracles, shrowdes, and other entysements of the ignorante people, to pilgre mage and ydolatry. "Itm. That they shall take an ynventory of all and every such clothes, wax, shrowdes, and other entysements; and the same shall converte into the use of the pore people, or otherwise to some other good use, making thereof a recknynge in writinge, declarynge the true bestowing and usinge of the same. "Itm. That all and syngular these iniunctyons shall be unviolablyc obserued in payne of contempte." JOHN A PONTE-COLOSSUS OF RHODES. This author (in Conven. utr. Monarch. lib. 3. c. 5. page 32.) says, that the Colossus of Rhodes fell down, like the cessation of the oracles, through the coming of Christ. CANONHERIUS. In his Aphorism. pol. Hippocrat, p. 643. seq. he takes great pains to persuade his readers, that the changes of kingdoms, are not to be ascribed to the powers of the stars, but to bad government. TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. Brothels for the indulgence of a most execrable appetite were built all round it! This is affirmed by Jerom upon Isa. c. 2. Et pueris alienis adhæserunt; by Bozius de signis Eccles. l. 7. 8. 4.; Gasp. Sanctius, ibid. N. 12.; from 4 Kings, 1. 24. v. 2; Mach. c. 4. &c. There has been much controversy about the origin of this word. Prateius, Brissonius, Berucius, Hormannus, Calinus de cer. jur. verb. Paganus. Beda in Cantic. 1. 6. c. 30. et in Marc. c. 15. et in Luc. dicl. l. 6. c. 23. et homil. in Fe riam. 3 Psalm. Joan. Fung. in Etymol. sub. eod. verb. Stephan de urbib. Lorinus in Acta, l. 17. v. 19. Gasp. Sanct. in Isai.. c. 42. Num. 45. p. 445. maintain from Servius, and others, that the word was derived from the Greek παγος, a village, so named from the springs; or as others, the hills around which they were always used to build their towns. Philaster (Hares. c. 3.) thinks, that they were called so, from a certain Paganus, who, he says, was the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and a powerful and famous king, and afterwards worshipped as a god. The writer of this article can find no such name in the Mythologia of Jo. Natalis, &c. nor Lempriere's modern work. If the story has therefore any foundation, it may probably supply a desideratum in mythology. Isidore ( Etym. l. 8. c. 70. ) says, that they were so called from the Athenian pagi, from whence they sprung. For there, in country places and towns, the Gentiles built idols and temples, and had groves, wherefore the worshipper of idols began to be called Pagan. Alcia. tus (l. 1. Parerg, c. 13.) and Connanus (Comment. l. 9. c. 13.) trump up this reason, because they were not soldiers of Christ, nor gave their names to the church militant: for we know, that in the Roman law. (1. quædam ff. de pæn. l. jus nostrum. de reg. jur. l. 1, C. de militari testum. &c.) as many as were exempt from inilitary service, were called Pagans. Paulus Orosius, Bede ubi supr. followed by Cujacius (in Parat. C. de Paganis) from the villages and country places, being far distant from the heavenly city. Wesenb. in ead. Parat. because the Gentile superstition prevailed longer in the villages than in cities, through the greater stupidity of rustics. Dionysius Gothofredus, from contempt as different from, and more ignoble, than Christians. Pet. Opmeer (Chronol. A. Chr. 411. p. 307.) because the Gentiles, and that sink (colluvies) of the human race, who wished idolatry to be restored at Rome, came from country-villages. Gasp. Sanctius, (ubi. sup.)because those, who were not polished by the laws of the gospel, lived, as it were, out of the gospel, in villages and deserts. Cardinal Baronius (Not. ad Martyrolog. Jan. 11.) thinks that the Heathens began to be called Pagans from the time of the Christian emperors, when idolaters being excluded the cities, through the destruction of the temples, took re fuge in the villages; where a variety of superstitions prevailed, as Cicero (1.2. de Leg.) shows; and Augustine (Serm. de Verb. Dom.) shows, that down to the time of Honorius, in which he lived, what idolatry there was subsisted in the villages. This is a very plausible hypothesis, and is further supported by Azórius, (lib. 8. c. 24. col. 1273.) and Anth. Mornacius, (Obs. ad libr. 1. c. sub. d. tib. de Paganis, page 95.) and by the Editors of the Encyclopedie Methodique v. Paganus. It may therefore be assumed, as the real origin of the word. MOLINA. SALONINUS. Father Lewis Molina (de Just. et Jus. tractat. 2. disp. 105. et in Maier, de fide q. 10. art. 8.) says, that because Christ or dered us to preach the gospel every where, we have a right to land on the shores of infidels, seize their ports, occupy their lands, and stay there as long as it shall be necessary: and Salominus adds, (in tom. 1. Tract. de domin. q. 3. art. 1.) that if they resist conversion, they may, with a safe conscience, through the text (shake the dust off your feet, as a testimony against them) be seized, carried off, and sold for slaves. However misapplied may be the texts, Providence has certainly confirmed the construction, Christians (and Christians ouiy) have the rest of the world in subjection. TIBER. DECIANUS. This writer (Respons. 123. N. 25. vəl. 3.) says, that if a prince gives a castie, he is understood to grant the territory And all profits arising from it. LEVINUS LEMNIUS. This writer (. 5. Occult. Nat. Miruc, C. 16.) notes, that sailors and the inhabitants of maritime regions, are prompted to many crimes, and are of a ferocious temper, because the salt humour, which presides in them, obnubilates the intellect, and prompts them to injury. FREITAS. This author (d. c. 10. num. 44. and 45.) thinks, because the Roman law adjudged all the air over our houses to be our private property, that a criminal who escaped to a window, which looked into a church-yard, and there hung by his arms, was entitled to sanctuary. Cu jacius (l. 10. Obs. c. 7. and Petr. Greg. 7. 3. Syntagir. c. 10. n. fin.) notes, that upon this account, some emperors levied taxes upon air and shade. MARRIAGE OF CHARLES I. WITH THE IN FANTA OF SPAIN. This match was broken off, because the Romish church maintained, that no marriage could be valid between a Catholic and a Heretic, lest the one should injure the faith by converting the other. ORIGINAL POETRY. PROLOGUE FOR THE FIRST APPEARANCE LADIES and gentlemen, the Poet's maid! Trick'd out in clothes, (I wish they were all mine!) I scarcely know myself, I am so fine; He bids me come and whine, and coax and leer, And, if 'tis needful, try to squeeze a tear : "DoH "Doll, thou hast got," says he, " two sparkling eyes, And thou canst mingle music with thy sighs: Go, and employ their powers upon the pit, Go, try, for should our comedy but fail, Pay all I owe thee Dolly, every doit; "D'ye think I'll trot my brogues from door to door, Wade through the dirty lanes in cold and rains, And only get my labour for my pains? Honey, pray mark my words, and hear me now, Your crazy pipkin sucks no more my cow." And now the pot boy's saucy tongue I hear, "Why dont you pay the score for ale and beer?" And now the baker impudently howls, Now Robin Fin, the fishmonger roars out, And now the Poulterer Giblet's coarse abuse, "Why dont your master pay me for the goose? D'ye know Miss there are birds call'd snipes and pigeons, Woodcocks and plovers, wild ducks, teal and widgeons, Bid him his money quickly send or bring, Or tar and feather me, I'll clip his wing." And now the butcher Garbage, with his pipe, "Why don't old Tag-rhime pay me for my tripe? A pretty job at other's cost to cram ; Folks fond of eating should be fond of paying! Man, without money, should not be a glutton, What business has the dog with lamb or mutton? " Bid him go out and steal, or beg, or borrow, But should you save this bantling of his brain, I hope to make my curtsy here again. Your clappings would be pretty notes at hand. SONNET AGAINST DESPAIR. Translated from CARLO MARIA MAGGI, By Miss STARKE.; AH why, my Soul, why yield to dire Despair, Tho' Conscience sting thee with severest blame? God claims our love; to slight his claims beware! For are not Love and Confidence the same? Think of those guerdons, rich in grace civine, Which thou, a mite in Being's wondrous scale, |