But alas!-efpecial care is taken, that neither reafon nor patriotifm fhall touch too rudely "The toils of law, where dark, infidious men, And yet Have cumbrous added to perplex the truth, "How glorious were the day that faw these broke, And every man within the reach of right †.” "As to your poets," cried Mr. Cranbourne fupercilioufly"There is no bringing argument against their flowery declamation; fine founding words about rights and liberties, are impofing to fuperficial understandings, but cannot convince others-fine flourishing words are not arguments." "Nor does there," faid I, "need arguments, on what I have afferted-they are matters of fact, and not of fpeculation or opinion-truths, which cannot be denied, and which it would require fome skill to palliate." "As to truth, Sir, it is not always proper to fpeak it, nay, it is not always fafe to the well-being of a ftate-The question, I think is, not whether a thing be exactly conformable to your Utopian and impracticable schemes, but whether it be expedient. We know that truth is not expedient, and that it is the bufinefs of government to enforce obedience, without which it would not go on; not to liften to the reafoning of every wild dogmatift, who fancies him felf a philofopher and able to mend what is already good-all fuch fhould be prevented from diffeminating their pernicious doctrines, which ferve only to make men difcontent with their fituation, to raife murmurs, and to clog the wheels of government." This fentence, which was molt confequentially delivered, was applauded by all the party, as I had nothing to offer against it, but that truth which had just been pronounced to be inexpedient, Í declined the conteft, faying only, "If truth is not to be fpoken, Sir, in a government calling itfelf free, left it fhould be understood by the people, who are governed; and prevent their freely fupplying the oil, that facilitates the movement of the cumbrous machine -If facts, which cannot be denied, be repreffed; and reafon, which cannot be controverted, be ftifled; the time is not far diftant, when fuch a country may fay, adieu liberty!-Let them, therefore, if they are content to do fo, begin with expelling thofe who dare fpeak truth, and are fo impudent as to reafon- Tous ces gens qui raifonnent font la pefte d'un etat f." I then left my adverfary to enjoy the triumph of his imaginary fuperiority.' Having made these large quotations from the political part of this novel, we must be brief and general in our account of *Thomfon.' + Ibid.' Voltaire-"All thefe reafoning people are the very curfes of a government." the narrative part. The tale, which is fhort, but natural and interefting, is that of a young man who entertains an ardent paffion for a married woman, but fuffers it only to lead him through a courfe of generous and courageous fervices, which, on the death of the worthless husband, are happily repaid. The principal characters are boldly fketched and confiftently fupported; except that the virtuous and romantic Defmond fhould not, in his tour through France, have been fuffered fo far to forget himself and his Geraldine, as to have fallen into a crimi nal amour with a married woman. We must be allowed to enrich our Journal with the following beautiful Ode to the Poppy: • Not for the promise of the labor'd field, For dull, to humid eyes appear, I hail the Goddess for her scarlet flower! That doft fo far exceed, The richest gifts gay Flora can bestow; 'Till forrow taught me to confefs thy power. Of laughing fpring's luxuriant fweets, The rofe, or thorn, my numbers crown'd, As Venus fmil'd, or Venus frown'd; But Love, and Joy, and all their train, are flown; And I will fing of thee alone; Unless, perchance, the attributes of grief, The cyprefs bud, and willow leaf, Their pale, funereal foliage, blend with thine. Hail, lovely bloffom!-thou can't ease, The wretched victims of difeafe; Can't clofe thofe weary eyes, in gentle fleep, For, oh! thy potent charm, Can agonizing pain difarm; Expel imperious memory from her feat, And bid the throbbing heart forget to beat. Soul-foothing plant!-that can fuch bleflings give, By thee the hopeless die ! Oh! Oh! ever "friendly to despair," No more I'd fue, that thou fhouldst spread, (Ineftimable flower) Burft thefe terreftrial bonds, and other regions try." E. 8vo. pp. 314. 5s. Boards. ART. VIII. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Jortin, D. D. AMONG the admirers of claffical erudition and elegant tafte, the friends of moderation and liberality, and the advocates for revelation, the name of Jortin has long been held in high efteem. To give fuch a name a diftinguished place in the rolls of biography, is a debt of gratitude which the public, in return for the inftruction and amusement that they have received, are bound to pay. In writing the life of a literary man, his works are doubtless a principal object; and the world will not be displeased to find that a large hare of attention is paid, in these memoirs, to writings of fuch diverfity, and of fuch merit, as thofe of Dr. Jortin. Nevertheless, we have not perufed this volume without regretting that Dr. Difney has not been able to collect more perfonal information concerning this amiable and excellent man. We have extracted from thefe memoirs the following short narrative: John Jortin, the fubject of thefe memoirs, was born in the parifh of St. Giles in the Fields, in the county of Middlefex, October 23, 1698. 6 His father, Renatus Jortin, was a native of Bretagne in France, and had ftudied at Saumur. His teftimonial from that academy is dated 1682, and is now in the poffeffion of his defcendants. He came into England a young man, along with his father, uncle, two aunts, and two fifters, about the year 1685, when the Proteftants fled from France, on account of the revocation of the edict of Nantz by Louis the Fourteenth. Soon after his fettlement in this country, he married Martha, daughter of the Rev. Daniel Rogers of Haverfham in Buckinghamshire, who defcended from a family of the fame name that refided at Lees near Chelmsford in Effex, in the Ff3 the reign of Henry the Eighth, and had produced fome clergymen, diflinguifhed by their abilities and learning. Mr. Renatus Jortin was appointed one of the gentlemen of the privy chamber to king William the Third, in the year 1691 *; and was, afterwards, fucceffively fecretary to admiral Edward Ruffel, Earl of Orford, Sir George Rooke, and Sir Cloudefley Shovel; and perished with the latter when his fhip unfortunately ftruck upon the rocks, called "the bishop and his clerks," off Scilly, October 22, 1707. After this melancholy event, Mrs. Jortin removed into the neighbourhood of the Charter-house, the better to accommodate the edu cation of her fon, who was now nine years of age, and fent him to that feminary as a day-fcholar. He learned French at home, and fpake it well. At the age of fifteen he had completed his claffical fledies at fchool, after which he remained at home about a year, and perfected himself in writing and arithmetic. On the 16th of May 1715, he was admitted penfioner of Jefus College in Cambridge; and diflinguifhed him felf fo much by his abilities, that whilft he was an under-graduate, he was engaged by the recommendation of his tutor, the learned Dr. Styan Thirlby, to tranflate fome of Euftathius's notes on Homer for Mr. Pope.'— Mr. Jortin was admitted to the degree of bachelor of arts, in January 1718-19; and was elected fellow of Jefus college, O&ober 9, 1721. He proceeded to take the degree of master of arts at the commencement 1722. On the tenth of October 1722, Mr. Jortin was appointed one of the moderators, at the difputations in the fophs' fchool, and, at Michaelmas in the fucceeding year, he was elected one of the taxors. The learned Dr. Edmund Law, late bishop of Carlisle, who took his first degrees in arts 1723, told me, fome few years before his death, that he kept an opponency under Mr. Jortin when moderator, and though he was every way eminently qualified to difcharge the duty of his office, was a man of few words. The bishop added, however, in the courfe of our converfation, that, in "After this, and before I was born, (fays Dr. Jortin in his Adverfaria) he took a fancy to change his name into JORDAIN, and to give it an English appearance; being fond 1 fuppole of paffing for an Englishman, as he spoke English perfectly, and without any foreign accent. This gave me fome trouble afterwards when I went into deacon's orders under Bishop Kennet, for the regifter of St. Giles in the Fields wrote my name, as it flood there, fordain. I gave the bishop an account how it came to pafs. After my father's death, my mother thought it proper to affume the true name of Jortin; and she and I always wrote it fo. 66 "I did not think there was any perfon left of our name, till lately (1770) I found in a news paper, that a merchantman came to one of our ports, commanded by captain Jortin, from the WestIndies," confequence of that exercife, Mr. Jortin recommended him in the university, and thereby laid the foundation of his future ad vancement. In the course of the year 1722, Mr. Jortin published a few Latin poems, which were well received, entitled "Lufus Poetici." Mr. Jortin was ordained deacon by Dr. White Kennet, bishop of Peterborough, September 22d, 1723; and priest by Dr. Thomas Greene, bishop of Ely, June 24, 1724. On the 20th of January 1726-7, he was prefented by the matter and fellows of Jefus college to the vicarage of Swavefey near Cambridge, and in January 1727-8, agreeably to the ftatutes, he refigned his fellowship. About the month of February 1728, he married Ann daughter of Mr. Chibnall of Newport-Pagnell in Buckinghamshire *. On the In the first volume of the "Mifcellaneous Obfervations," p. 379, and in the first volume of "Tra&ts," &c. p. 47, “the fo!lowing infcription is fubmitted to the judgment of the learned." It was republished, as we are informed by the very ingenious Mr. Thomas Warton, in his "Infcriptionum Romanarum metricarum Delectus," London, 1758; as an ancient infcription. INSCRIPTIONIS FRAGMENTUM. D. M. QUE. TE. SVB. TENERA. RAPVERVNT. PAETA. IVVENTA. O. VTINAM. ME. CRVDELIA. FATA, VOCENT. TV. CAVE. LETHEO. CONTINGAS. ORA. LIQUORE. ET. CITO. VENTVRI. SIS. MEMOR. ORO. VIRI. TE. SEQVAR. OBSCVRVM. PER. ITER. DVX. IBIT. EVNTI. • In Dodfley's "Collection of Poems," vol. iv. p. 188. and in Dr. Jortin's "Tracts," &c. vol. i. p. 472. is a beautiful tranflation of the preceding infcription by the Rev.'Mr. Merrick. "Thee, PÆTA, death's relentless hand Cut off in earliest bloom: Oh! had the fates for me ordain'd With joy this bufy world I'd leave, This hated light refign, To lay me in the peaceful grave, And be for ever thine. Do thou, if Lethe court thy lip, To tafte its stream forbear: |